Well, let's turn to Isaiah 48.
It's been good to be with you again. I've enjoyed it so much.
Paul and Mindy, thank y'all so much. We're going to read our text here,
and as we do, I'm going to try to make a few comments to help
us understand this. as we go, and I want you to understand
historically what took place here, too, as we look at what
took place here spiritually, because it's amazing to me how
God used whole nations to show forth a picture of redemption
by His Son, Christ Jesus. God's that powerful and He's
that wise that He could move whole nations and use whole nations
and men in those nations to show forth the salvation that we have
in Christ. So we'll look first here at the
historical, and then I'll show you what spiritually it means
as we read it. Now, historically, Israel was
captivity in Babylon. That's where they were. They
were in Babylon. And the Lord sent Isaiah to preach the Gospel
to them. They were there because they
sinned against the Lord. He sent Isaiah to preach this
Gospel to them. You see, Isaiah here says at
the beginning, verse 16, Come ye near unto me, hear ye this."
I've not spoken in secret from the beginning. Isaiah preached
what he was sent to preach. He spoke clearly. From the time
that it was, there am I, and now the Lord God and His Spirit
hath sent me. And here's the message. He said,
Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. This
is what the Lord would have him to speak. He said, I'm the Lord
thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by
the way that thou shouldest go. But now you know God's elect
Israel was in bondage in Babylon. And Christ was sent forth, and
Christ came forth. And now read this again, and
hear Christ speaking. Come ye near unto me, hear ye
this. I have not spoken in secret from
the beginning. From the time that it was, there
am I. And now the Lord God and His Spirit hath sent me. Thus
saith the Lord thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am
the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to prophesy. Which leadeth
thee by the way that thou shouldest go. Now let's look at these next
two verses. Let me give you a little context
here. Israel wouldn't listen. When Isaiah went forth and preached
it, Israel didn't listen. Most in Babylon wouldn't heed
the word. They wouldn't heed the word that
came forth. But you remember when Christ
came forth. And he preached the gospel in Israel, in Jerusalem. At that time, they had become
spiritual Babylon. That's where they were. They
were in bondage and sin. And they didn't hear the Lord
and they couldn't hear Him. And he came forth and he just
preached the message, the holy commandment, believe on me and
believe one another. And they wouldn't hear Him. They
wouldn't hear Him. And this is what he said there in verse 18,
Oh, that thou hast hearkened to my commandment. Remember when
he stood in the earth? Remember in Matthew 23, 37, it
said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets,
thou that stonest them that are sent to thee, how often I would
have gathered thy children together as a hen gathered her chicks
under her wings, and you would not. And he said, Behold, your
house is left desolate. Now read this here with me and
hear Christ speaking. Verse 18, O that thou hast hearkened
to my commandments, Then had thy peace been as a river, and
thy righteousness as the waves of the sea, thy seed also had
been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel
thereof. His name should have not been
cut off nor destroyed from before me." But the Lord said, but now
is your house left desolate. Left desolate. But he had an
elect remnant in there, and the Lord was going to bring him out.
He brought out a remnant that day historically out of Babylon.
He brought him out. And so he said this, to them
there in verse 20. He says, now to those that he's
called, those that he's sent forth to send a decree, his messengers,
this is his gospel preachers going forth, and he says this,
go ye forth of Babylon, this is their marriage, come out of
Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, come out of her, with a voice
of singing, declare ye, tell this, utter it, even to the end
of the earth, say ye, the Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob. You know Christ is that Redeemer.
He's the one that's done it. That's our message now. Now when
they came out of Babylon, historically, He provided what they called
the King's Highway. And they went from Babylon all
the way back to Jerusalem. And that remnant was delivered
safely and He made all provision for them all the way so that
they came back to Jerusalem. And that's what He's doing for
us spiritually. When He calls us out, He brings us into the
King's highway. And He's leading us to heavenly
Zion, to heavenly Jerusalem. And this tells us He's making
all the provision along the way. Look at verse 21. They thirsted
not when He led them through the deserts. He caused the waters
to flow out of the rock for them. He clathed the rock also, and
the waters dusted out. That's talking about that day
when they left Babylon and went back to Jerusalem. This is the
sad case, though, for those that wouldn't come out, those that
wouldn't heed the message. They wouldn't leave Babylon.
Some just wanted to stay there. They liked it. They said, we'll
serve their gods. Same happened when the Lord came that day and
spoke in Jerusalem. Some just said, we like it here. We're not coming out. Same so
today. But here's the sad case for those
that won't heed His Word. Verse 22, there's no peace, said
the Lord unto the wicked. No peace. I've titled this, Peace
Like a River, and I want to show you three things here. First
of all, Christ is God the Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ, that man,
that Son of Man who walked this earth, is God the Son, God our
Savior. Secondly, we'll see here that
Christ is the tender, loving, successful Savior. He's the tender,
loving, successful Savior. And then the third thing, Christ
commands us. Those He's called out to declare.
We'll see what He commands us to preach, what He tells us to
go forth and declare. Alright, let's look here at the
first thing. The Lord Jesus Christ is God the Savior. Now listen
to what He says in verse 16. He says, Come ye near unto Me,
and hear ye this. Now this is His Word. This is
His command. He says, Now come near. Draw
near. You see how he's speaking? He
says, come near, draw near. Now, and hear this. Hear what
I'm about to take, preach to you. This is the gospel going
out, the general call going out that he's giving now. If any
of you don't come near and hear him, it's not because he hasn't
issued the call. Here he says, come near. Alright,
now he hasn't spoken in secret. He's spoken openly. Look at verse
16. I'm not spoken in secret, he
says. From the beginning, from the
time that it was, there am I. And now the Lord God and His
Spirit has sent me. Nothing's been hidden. Christ
has spoken from the beginning. He's spoken from the beginning.
When is the beginning? When did He start to speak? He
said, from the time that it was, there am I. He's eternal God,
Christ is. It was Christ speaking. God gave
the whole work into His his son's hand. And it was him that come
forward, saved through a mediator. It's him who was speaking in
the garden. It's him who was calling Adam out of darkness
and declared the seed of woman. He's the seed of woman. It was
Christ who spoke to Noah in Noah's day. He's Christ the ark. It's
Christ who was speaking to Abraham. Remember Abraham when that everlasting
covenant was made with him? Abraham saw some animals slain.
He was in the midst of them all around. Animals slain. Christ
had slain one. He saw a furnace smoking. It wasn't on fire. It was just
smoking. Because Christ put the fire out. The fire of justice.
He put it out for us. So it's just smoking. And he
reached through that smoke. And He held out a burning lamp
to Him. And that's our gospel. And He
said, this lamp will always be burning. It's the light we walk
in. Christ was speaking that whole
time. He existed before His incarnation. He's the Word, the Son of God,
the eternal Word. But now, He says, now in the
end of the world, He says, the Lord God and His Spirit has sent
me. He sent me and He's come into
this earth and spoken. John 8, 42, the Lord said to
them, if God were your Father, you would love me. He said, for
I proceeded forth and came from God, neither came I of myself,
but He sent me. He sent me. He said, and I spoke
openly to the world. He said, I never did. He said,
I spoke in the synagogue and in the temple, wherever the Jews
resorted. I've spoken. I have been secret.
I've said nothing. I've been speaking this message,
he said, from the beginning. And he spoke it clearly from
the beginning when he came. And in the beginning of his ministry,
he stood up. This is what he publicly said.
Look at Isaiah 61. Remember that? And he stood up
publicly and he began to preach. This is what he said. Chapter
61, verse 1, "...the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because
the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the
meek." Good tidings. He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to claim liberty to the captives in the opening of the prison
to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn
in Zion, to give them, appoint them that mourn beauty for ashes,
oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise in the place
of the Spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of
righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified. This has been His message, brethren.
This is His message now. God has come now. God has spoken
different manners in times past. In these last days, the Hebrew
Bible said, He's spoken to us by His Son. And this is the conclusion
of that. This is the conclusion of that
matter. Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to
the things which we've heard, lest at any time we let them
slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, that
law came forth, and every transgression, every disobedience received a
just recompense over the war, how shall we escape? If we neglect
so great salvation, which at first, He said, at first began
to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by them that
heard Him. So He's spoken openly. He's spoken. Alright, what's
He spoken? What's His gospel? What's the
gospel of our Lord, our Redeemer? Let's look here now at verse
17. Isaiah 48, 17. Thus saith the Lord. See the
capital L-O-R-D right there? Thus saith the Lord. When you
read that in scripture, it means Jehovah God. This is Jehovah
God speaking. This is who's speaking. He's
Jehovah Jesus, and He's speaking, and this is what He says. He's
the Redeemer. He says, verse 17, I'm thy Redeemer. He could say that to national
Israel because he's the one who brought them out of Egypt. He
brought them out naturally, the natural sons of Abraham. He brought
them out and led them the whole way. He's that cloud that went
before them. He's that rock that went before them. He's the one
who led them out of Babylon and brought them out of Babylon.
He's the one that's going to bring his children out. Particularly,
he says, I'm thy redeemer. He has a particular people and
he's thy redeemer. And when it says he's thy Redeemer,
it means he's successful. It means he did the redeeming.
It means he did everything necessary to bring his people out. He is
the Redeemer. He is the Redeemer. He says,
for the transgression of my people was he stricken. That's who he
is. And then look who he says he is. Verse 17, the Holy One
of Israel. Of Israel. He came out of Israel.
His children were flesh and blood. Those he came to save, the elect
of God, they were flesh and blood. So he took flesh and blood. He
took flesh and blood. And he came out of Israel. He
sprang out of Israel. So he's the holy one of Israel.
And he's the holy one. He's the only one who was holy,
who came forth holy from his mother's womb. And he's the holy
one who makes his people holy. He makes his people holy. robing
us in His righteousness, creating us anew within, purging us, making
us holy to be accepted of God. Got to be perfect to come into
God's presence. He's that one who makes us so.
And He teaches us and He leads us in the profitable way. Look
at verse 17. I am the Lord thy God which teacheth
thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest
go. There's absolutely nothing that
the Lord teaches us that's not profitable to us. Why would the
Lord say anything to us that wasn't profitable to us? What
incentive would he have to tell sinners a lie about anything? Why should he tell us something
that's not profitable? So everything he says is prophet.
Everything he teaches. And he takes his children, effectually. If you're going to be taught
the gospel, it's going to be because he teaches it. And he's
going to take you by the hand. Spirits will reach in and grab
you and take you and take his child. Each one. He's not going
to bring this in. He's going to take them. And
he's going to leave his children. He's going to leave his children
in the way that they should go. And not let go of us. We think we're holding his hand.
Got the little one, you know, walking along, and you're holding
their hand, and they think they're holding your hand. But then when
they turn to try to take off into danger, we find out who's
holding whose hand, don't we? You're holding their hand. Well,
He's holding our hand, and He's leading us in the way we should
go. So we see, first of all here, this is God. Christ is God. That's who He is. Alright, let's
look at this second thing. Christ our Savior is the tender,
loving, successful Savior. Look now at this thing here in
verse 18. He said, "...all that thou hast
hearkened to My commandments." You see, there's some folks in
this world who regard God, our Redeemer, our Savior, as being
hard, as being unmerciful, as being... He chose a people from
before the foundation of the world and He just shut up heaven
so that we can't go in. The rest of us can't go in. I'll
tell you something about that. My son did something one day,
making a good illustration on that. He came out one day and
he said, Daddy, he said, Emma won't let me go in her room.
She won't let me in her room. And I said, well, do you want
to go in her room? And he said, no, I don't want
to go in there. And I said, why are you worried about it? He
said, I just don't want her telling me I can't go in there. Well, it's
not that those that God doesn't call are wanting to go in. They just don't want to be told
they can't go in except by His grace. That's the problem. But
He says, He said, Oh, that you would have hearkened to My commandments.
He came forth in the world and He spoke and He said, Believe
on Me. Salvation's yours. Trust me, salvation is yours.
That's what he said. That was his message when he
came forth. And the problem was, he said, ye would not. You see, the problem is, is in
our nature. When we come forth, our will
is not a will to come to God. Our will is to go away from God.
Our will is to try to make a God, carve it out in our imagination
like we think God is, and bring God down to our level to where
we can make God do what we will. And that's not God. The problem
is, we're not willing. He said, search the Scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life. And these are they
that speak of me, and you won't come to me. You know, that's
just, you think about that. I mean, he walked right there
in person. You talk about the hardness of
our heart by nature. You'll talk about the depravity
of a man by nature, the blindness of a man by nature, the unwillingness
of a man by nature. There he stood face to face.
The Prince of Life, God of Glory, came here and stood face-to-face
with sinners, and said plainly, he didn't speak in big words,
too hard to be understood, he spoke plainly, and he said, these
scriptures are talking about me. You're not going to look
in these scriptures and find something in these scriptures
that you can do to give yourself eternal life. That's what he
told them. He said, these scriptures are speaking of me. And he said,
and this is the problem. He said, you won't come to Me
that you might have life. There He stood. All they had
to do was turn to Him and say, Lord, have mercy on us. And come as a beggar seeking
mercy. A hard, proud, haughty man by
nature won't come to Him seeking mercy. Just won't come to Him
seeking mercy. You know, that's just how we
are. If we're out in a boat or something like that and we get
a little leak in the boat, It's going to take it to the point
to where that water's come in where we just cannot stop the
water coming in before we'll cry for somebody's help. We're
just too embarrassed to call out and say, would y'all come
help me? I got a leak in my boat. That's just how we are by nature.
It's got to get bad before we'll call somebody and say, would
you come help me? So God's got to make us see our sin. But don't
think everything, don't ever enter into the idea that God's
withholding salvation from anybody. He's not. He says His grace,
His message, His grace is free. His grace is to sinners that
can't save themselves. His grace is all our salvation. The problem is with us. The problem
is with us. If anybody wants to boast about
their free will, if anybody wants to boast about their will and
their ability, if there's anybody here that says that, let me ask
you this question. Why then have you not believed
on Him? The problem is, the reason is,
you're not willing. Why haven't you let go of what
you did, what you've done, what I, I, I, I. Why haven't you let
go of I, I, I and grabbed onto Him? It's because you're not
willing. And if you're honest with yourself,
the truth is, you know you can't make yourself willing. You can't
make yourself willing. But I can tell you this, if He
comes, He's going to make His children willing. He's going
to make us willing in the day of His power. And if He ever
makes you willing to come to Him, to cry out for mercy to
Him, you find yourself willing to come to Him and cry out for
mercy, you may not know, you may think at that time that you're
really coming yourself, that you're really doing it yourself.
But what you're going to find out is, as He teaches you in
the heart, He was drawing you all along. He was bringing you
to Himself all along. That's what we'll find out. But
don't anybody ever think that God, He says this, He said, As
I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the
wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye,
turn ye from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house
of Israel? If we die and we perish in our sins, it won't be because
the gospel wasn't sent to us. It won't be because He didn't
say, come near and hear this. It won't be because He didn't
say, how often I would have gathered you. It'll be because we would
not come. If we're saved, He gets all the
glory. If we won't come and perish,
it's all our own fault. Alright, let's look here now
at this next thing. This next thing. He says, He
delights in peace and righteousness. It never says in Scripture he
delights in vengeance. Just what's called a strange
word, but it does say he delights in mercy. He delights in mercy.
Here's what he said, if you'd have hearkened to me, this is
what he said, verse 18, then had thy peace been as a river
and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea. I love a river. When I was growing up, that's
where I spent most of my time, was at the river. I loved the
river. I'd go down there, we had a little
metal boat, I'd go down there in my dad's boat and we had drums
that were under the water and they would make a real deep bass
sound at night. And I used to love to go out
there and just kill the motor and we'd be waiting on trot lines
or something, you know, just kill the motor, float down the
river and look up at the stars and you'd listen to the drum
under the water just with that bass, that real deep bass just
drumming under the water. That's the most peaceful place
on the face of the earth to be. Today, when me and Melinda are
driving down the road, she laughs at me all the time. We pass by
a river, and we'd be in the middle of a conversation, and I'll just
sort of drift off looking down that river, because it's just
peaceful. Peace like a river. That's what he gives to his children. Peace like a river. Reconciliation. We were enemies. Here we were,
we were fighting, we were fighting, we were fighting to devour one
another, we were hateful, hating God, and hating one another.
That's all. Without Christ, without God, without hope, that's all
we were. And yet, when we were enemies,
He came to where we are. And He reconciled us to God. By His own death, by His own
blood, by laying down His life. Not when we were righteous, not
when we were calling on Him. When we were enemies, He died
for the ungodly. And made us, brought us back
into friendship with God. Now, He's done that. And He brought
us back in. He comes to us and makes it known
to us what He's done for us. And brought us back into favor
with God. And He draws us to Him and says, now, He reconciled
to God. You come now and laid down at
His feet. And when He does this, you know
what we have? Being justified by faith. We have peace with
God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace with God. That means the
warfare is over. It's accomplished. God's got
nothing against His children anymore. And we got nothing but
just good thoughts toward God because why wouldn't we? He's
done everything for us. Peace with God. Peace with Him. He said mercy and truth are met
together. God's going to be merciful to
these people. He's going to save them. He's
going to save His elect people. But justice, they've sinned,
they've broken the law. Justice has got to be satisfied.
Mercy. He's going to show mercy, but
justice has got to be satisfied. How are mercy and peace going
to kiss? How are mercy and truth going
to kiss? How are mercy and righteousness
going to come together? How are they going to come together
in harmony, mercy and truth? In one, in Christ. Here He comes
and He takes the place of His people. And He willingly, willingly,
He's made sin. He's got to be perfect to be
made sin. He's got to be perfect or he
cannot be made sin. And he walked like that spotless
lamb was put up and proven that it's spotless. He's spotless.
He walked spotless in this world. No sin, within or without. Spotless. Now he's that fifth lamb. He's
that fifth lamb. And the reason he came into this
world is to declare the God righteous in saving his people. That's
why he came. God's not going to pour out wrath on him in unrighteousness. He's not going to pour out wrath
on him in unrighteousness. He laid on him the iniquity of
all his children. Iniquity means two things in
Scripture. If you look it up, it means two things in Scripture.
Iniquity means the sin, and iniquity means the punishment for that
sin. That's what iniquity means in Scripture. And He laid on
him our sin. He made Him, who knew no sin,
sin for us. That's what He did. He made Him
sin for us. And now God's judged to pour
out justice upon Him in our place. And He laid on Him the iniquity,
the punishment for that sin, and poured it out on Him. And
He answered it unto death and satisfied it. God so well pleased, he raised
him from the dead and set him in his right hand. He said, you
ask me whatever, whatever you want. I'll give you the healing
for your inheritance. You know what he wants? You know
what the Lord Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation wants?
He said, I will that they be with me where I am. That's what
he wants. He's going to get what he wants.
He's going to get what he wants. Justice is satisfied. And this
is the answer that the work of... Look at this, Isaiah 32, just
back a couple of pages. Isaiah 32. Righteousness and
peace, now they've kissed each other. Look at this, Isaiah 32,
17. And the work of righteousness,
this is what it'll be when it's done. The work of righteousness
shall be peace, And the effect of righteousness, quietness and
assurance forever. And when He comes and speaks
in our hearts, He says, the work's done. You know what we have?
We have peace. We have quietness. We have assurance
forever. It's done. It's done. Look here
now at this next thing. He says, and it's righteousness
as the waves of the sea. White righteousness as the waves
of the sea. He said, if you'd have hearkened, your righteousness
would have been as the waves of the sea. Where did the water
in the sea come from? There's only been one kind of
water, just one water ever made at the beginning, and God made
all the water. That water that came and was
judgment to the people in Noah's day and was death to them, that
same water, That same gospel, that same water,
that's a savor of death and of death to some is a savor of life
and of life to others. And the water, all the water,
all the water came from one place. It came from one place. It came
from God. This is what he says about our
righteousness at the end of Isaiah 54. He says, their righteousness
is of me, saith the Lord. That's their inheritance. Their
righteousness is of them. Waves, like righteousness as
waves of the sea. Their righteousness is of me. They're like those waves, like
waters of him. How long have those waves in
that sea been coming one after another? You go down there to
the ocean and you sit there and the whole time you're there.
You spend one whole day there. And it's just one wave after
another, one wave after another. And you think about it, from
the day God made that sea, it's been one wave after another,
one wave after another. And when we're gone, it'll still
be one wave after another, one wave after another. You know
what His righteousness is called? Everlasting righteousness. Like way, everlasting, everlasting. And then, when you think of that
wave, it's what Brother Paul and I were talking about the
other day, you think about those waves, you watch them. Up where
we are, we have rocky shorelines, you know, and you see those waves
come in and they'll hit those rocks. Man, they're just coming
in, and they're strong waves, and you watch the little old
boat out there on those waves, and it'll just carry that boat
wherever it goes. Power. That's what it is. It's powerful.
God's righteousness that He's wrought in His Son is so powerful. He says, who? Who? Who's strong enough to lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. It's
Christ that's redeemed His people. We're in Him. We're standing
in Him. And there's no one powerful enough to resist the Lord our
righteousness. This is what Spurgeon said. He
said, I was born in sin and shaped in iniquity. But Christ is that
holy thing which is born of the Virgin. And the holiness of Christ's
birth takes away the unholiness of my nativity." Isn't that good? He said, I committed sins in
my childhood, sins against my parents, but Jesus Christ was
a child full of the Spirit. And Christ's childish perfection
is imputed to me and hides my childish sins. I've had heart sins. Christ had
heart virtues. I've had sins in worship. Christ
purged the temple. Served the Father in perfection
in spirit and truth. I have the sins of a servant.
Christ has the virtues of a servant. That's the good news for the
believer. Christ's obedience has been made our obedience.
And God is as pleased with you sitting here right here today
that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as He is with His own
Son. It don't get better than that.
I don't care what kind of news you get. It can be some good
news. We've had some good news come our way. That's the best
news. It just doesn't get better than that news. Okay, let's look. And he makes us fruitful, too.
Look at verse 19. He said, If you would have hearkened
to me, thy seed also had been as the sand and the offspring
of thy boughs like the gravel thereof. And for you who have
hearkened to Him, who have rested in Him, you think about this. We go some places sometimes and
there's little groups of folks here and there and they're worshiping
together, you know, and they think that it's just them. They
think, well, it's just us. You know, we're just this little
group here. You know, the whole family in heaven and in earth
are our family. That's what He said in Hebrews.
Hebrews 12, he said, you've not come to the mount that touched
and was quaking. He said, you've come to Mount
Zion, to the spirits of just men made perfect. Every time
I read that, to the innumerable company of angels, the God, the
judge of all, the Christ, the mediator of the new covenant.
His blood speaks better things than April. You know what I picture
every time I hear that? I picture us sitting here right
now worshiping God. And I picture the whole, all
our brothers and sisters in glory that are perfect. I picture them
sitting there with us right now. We're all looking at the same
one. We're all together worshiping the same, all the angels there,
all together looking at the same one. We're never, we're never
in a little group. We're never in a little, just
a little pocket somewhere. We're in the whole family of
God. It's made us a fruitful, the household of God, the household
of God. And he, he, uh, they wouldn't
listen. Some of them there wouldn't listen,
you know, and, and, uh, he said, but it doesn't matter. And he
said, the number of the children of Israel was going to be as
the sand of the sea. He had a remnant there and he brought out, but
he said, I've got a remnant among the Gentiles too. And he said,
I'm going to call him out. As soon as he gets through, in
this chapter, he's talking to these, this chapter is him standing
in Jerusalem, talking to those ones in Jerusalem. Look how 1st
49 starts. Listen, O Isles unto me, and
hearken, ye people from far. As soon as he gets through talking
to his elect in Israel, he turns to his elect in the Gentile world
and says, now you listen to me too. He's got a people of them,
Jew and Gentile, he's bringing them all. And look at this next
thing, I like this too, verse 19. He says, if you would have
hearken, he said, his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed
from before me. We've hearkened, you have been
called and this is made to heed his word by grace. Our name won't
ever be cut off. It won't ever be cut off. Some
men go through this world and they set out from day one and
they're trying to make a name for themselves. They're trying
to make a name and build up a name in this earth and leave something,
some kind of legacy behind so people will remember their name
in generations to come. If we come to God and try to
make a name for ourselves by our many wonderful works, casting
out devils, everything we think we've done to make ourselves
acceptable to God, our name will be cut off. it will be cut off
because it's not a name worth mentioning. But this is the name
of those who He calls. In Jeremiah 23.6, it says, His
name is the Lord our righteousness. And in Jeremiah 33.16, it says,
and this is the name whereby she shall be called, the Lord
our righteousness. And because our name is His name,
it won't ever be cut off. We have a bunch of young people
in our congregation, a bunch of young girls, and I keep telling
them, when you get married, if your husband is not worth taking
his last name, don't marry him. He's not worth marrying if he's
not worth taking his last name. And the reason I say that is
because here's our husband, and he's worth taking his name. Our
name's his name. So we see, not only is Christ
God our Savior, but He's the tender, loving, successful Savior. And then thirdly, Let's see what
he commands us to go forth and declare. This is what he tells
us now, that he's called us, he says, now this is what you
go forth and declare. Cyrus came in there historically,
and he said, now go forth and announce to the people, the Israel
in there, that they're redeemed. Go and tell them, I've broken
down the bars, they're free to come out. And he says, tell them
to the ends of the earth, to wherever they're scattered, and
tell them this, and tell them, come now, come back to Jerusalem.
That's what Christ is sending out his ambassadors, and he's
sending them out with this gospel, and this is what he sent them,
us, to tell. Go ye forth to Babylon, flee
ye from the Chaldeans. Is there anybody here, anybody
here that's still in Babylon? Anybody that's in falsehood?
That's what Babylon is, all falsehood, all spiritual falsehood, whoredom,
Babylon. He says, leave it. Leave it.
Leave it. Don't stay in Babylon. Don't
stay in Babylon. You're not going to be able to
reform Babylon. Say, I'm trying to do something here. I think
maybe the Lord will use me. I know my preacher's not preaching
the truth, but I think maybe the Lord will use me to help
him. You're not going to help him. The only way you're going
to bear witness to him is come out. Come out. Be strong enough
to leave it. Because as long as you're still
in Babylon, you're still in Babylon. Still there. He says this in
Revelation, I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out
of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, that
you receive not of her plague. This is what Paul said. We can't
have fellowship with idols. We can't have fellowship. How
can a man that's been made righteous have fellowship with darkness?
Light and darkness can't exist side by side. And he says, the
scriptures said, come out of her and I'll be your God and
you'll be my people. And he said, therefore, let us
cleanse ourselves from all unrighteousness, all iniquity, perfecting holiness
in the fear of God. You know what? When we perfect
holiness in the fear of God, you know what that means? It
means you're either in Babylon or you're out of Babylon. If
you're out of Babylon, you've been brought out. That work has
been perfected. You've been brought out. You're
out. You're either in darkness or you're in light. You're either
unfit and under the wrath of God, or you've been made fit
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. And when
He sanctifies His people, He brings us out, and He makes us
to see Christ so fully, so freely, forever redeemed us, He makes
us wash our hands for good of that. We're done with it. We're
out of that. We don't want to go back to it
anymore. Lord, keep me out of that. This is what He said. Come
out of her. And then we declare as we go
forth that this redemption is complete. It's accomplished.
Verse 20. With a voice of singing, declare
ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth. Say
ye, the Lord hath redeemed His servant Jacob. It doesn't matter
what end of the earth you're in. It doesn't matter where you
are. The salvation is the same no matter where we are, no matter
who we are, no matter whether we are rich or poor, educated
or uneducated, Jew or Gentile, bond or free, salvation is one
place no matter where we are. The Lord has redeemed Jacob.
He has redeemed his people. He has finished the work. He
has accomplished redemption. Are you one of Jacob? Are you
one of his people? If you say the work's done and
I'm not trying to do it anymore, I'm resting in Him now. I have
laid down in my Sabbath rest and I'm resting now. If you could
say that, rejoicing in Him. That's what all His redeemed
do. They lay down and rest. And this is what He says to Clare.
Look at verse 21. He says, you go tell them what
you've lacked. Go tell them what you've lacked
since He called you out. You go tell them what have you
lacked, been lacking since God called you. Anything? Nothing. Look at verse 21. They
thirsted not when He led them through the desert. Historically, there was this
thing called the King's Highway. And the King's Highway, you know
what it did? It made the valleys come up, because it was a bridge
across the valleys. And it made the mountains come
down because it was a tunnel right through the mountains where
they could travel. And it was built up so nothing
could get up on that highway and just go on back straight
to Jerusalem. Look at Isaiah 35a. Isaiah 35a. This highway is Christ. This
highway is Christ. He's the King. And the highway
is in Christ. It's in Him. We're in Him. When
you've been called out of Babylon, He calls you out of Babylon into
Christ. And you're in the highway. And
we're going in the highway to Mount Zion, the heaven of Jerusalem.
That's where we're traveling to right now. And look at what
He says about it. Verse 8, A highway shall be there
and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness. That's what
it is when you've been called in this way. You're holy. You're
holy. We've got to have holiness to
enter into glory. Does that mean I've got to start
working and trying to get some holiness? Without holiness, no
man will see God. No man. No man will see God without
holiness. That thief on the cross had his
hands and his feet nailed to the cross. He couldn't do a thing. And he entered into glory that
day with the Lord. You know why? He had the holiness
without which no man shall see the Lord. Christ Jesus, our holiness. He says, this is the way of holiness.
He's the way. He's our holiness. The unclean
shall not pass over it. You don't enter into this way
until he's cleansed you. That's why you enter into this
way. He cleanses us, watching us in regeneration. We enter
this way. Look, he says, it shall be for those the wayfaring men. That's us. We're pilgrims. We're
just going on our way. Those fools, that's what we are.
That's what we still are. We're just so feeble in our understanding.
But we won't err. We won't err. They shall not
err, he said. He's leading us. Verse 9. No
lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up on
this highway. It shall not be found there.
He's not going to allow that. He's not going to allow a lion
to come out of the way and destroy us in this way. But the redeemed
shall walk there. We're going to walk there. We're
walking right along. Walking there. And the ransomed,
those bought by the Lord, shall return and come to Zion with
songs and everlasting joy on their heads and they'll obtain
joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing and shall flee away.
No ifs, ands, or maybes about it. Just shalls. That's what
He said. Just shalls. That's right. This is why we
have it. Back in our text, verse 21, Isaiah
48, 21, He causes the waters to flow out of the rock for us.
He's the rock, isn't He? He claved the rock and the waters
gushed out. He clathed it when He gave His
back to the smiters. He clathed it when He willingly
gave His body to bear our sins. He clathed the rock when He willingly
gave His blood to justify us. And out of Him comes the waters,
gushing life, pardon, righteousness, peace with God. And He keeps
giving us this water, giving us this water. He promised us,
whoever pranks of this takes, believe it or not, me out of
his belly of flowing living waters. He'll never hunger, he'll never
thirst again. He's filling us as we walk and as we're heading
towards this sign. He's taking care of us. Now here's
the sad thing. Here's the sad thing. Those who
sat there in Babylon that day when Isaiah came forth and he
said, Cyrus has redeemed you. You're free to go back to Jerusalem. Some of them said, we're going
to stay right here. We'll serve their God. You know what they
said? They said just what people say in our day. They were saying,
what's so different about the God you claim to be God and the
rest of the Babylonian gods? They do a lot of the very same
things you do. Speak the same words you speak.
What's the difference? We're just staying here. We've
got it good here, they said. And they just stayed there. And
they died. They perished in Babylon. In
Jerusalem, when the Lord spoke. That's what they did. They were
trying their best to get Christ out of the way, get him out of
the way, and just be done with him so they could go back to
their religion and continue in the religion of Babylon. That's
what they were trying to do. And in 78 B.E., he destroyed
the whole thing, and they died there. And that's what's going
to happen in our day. Folks in our day who hear this
message who keep saying, I'm content with my God. I'm content
where I am. They'll be destroyed. Verse 21
says, there's no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked. But
look at Revelation 21. The flip side of that is, though,
for those who would trust the Lord, there is peace, everlasting
peace unto the righteous. Look at Revelation 21. Some of us are just getting in
this way and just starting out. Some of us are a little further
along in the way and almost there. Some have already gone ahead
of us and they're already there. But this is where we're all coming.
This is where God's people are coming. This is where this highway
ends, right here. Revelation 21. I saw a new heaven and a new
earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away. There was no more sea. No more
division. I, John, saw the holy city, New
Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband. And I heard a grave voice out
of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people,
and God Himself shall be with them and be their God. And God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be
No more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there
be any more pain, for the former things are passed away." We're
not passing away, brethren. All these former things are.
We're not passing away. These former things are passing
away. And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all
things new. And he said unto me, Write, for
these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It's done.
I'm Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto
him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
And he that overcometh shall inherit all things. And I'll
be his God, and he'll be my son. Thank y'all so much for this
weekend. It's a privilege to me, I think,
to get to come down and preach the gospel to Brother Henry. And I thought about this. Wouldn't it be something to be
in my 80s someday and have somebody that the Lord
used me to preach the gospel to and say, to preach the gospel
to me. It would be wonderful. Thank you.