Got my wires tangled up. Nothing worse than having a wired
preacher or an unwired preacher. That was good. I like that hymn.
That's good words too. Some of them came right out of
Isaiah, didn't they? Alright, well let's look at the book of
Isaiah chapter 55. Chapter 55. I've entitled tonight's
message, God's Call to the needy." God's call to the needy. Apostle
Paul wrote in one of his epistles to young Timothy, and he made
this statement by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he said,
this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am
chief. And in tonight's message, I'm
going to say it this way, if there are any sinners here tonight
who need some comfort, who need some peace, who need mercy, then
I've got good news for you. This is going to be a delight
for you. I can guarantee it. This is a
call to you because you're needy, as I am. This begins with the
word ho, H-O, and that is a clarion call to listen to what's about
to be said. Listen up. This is good news
for the needy. Now, we need to remember that
we cannot forget or miss the connection that these words here
have direct connection with chapter 53. that great, great chapter,
Isaiah 53, of the substitutionary work of the suffering servant,
the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. If we miss the connection
between Isaiah 55 and 54 that is based on and the fruit of
what Isaiah 53 teaches in the gospel message of the finished
work of Christ, the God-man, then we will miss the driving
force behind the message of God. to His people. Christ and Him
crucified, Christ risen, the gospel itself, the redemptive
work of Christ, is the ground and the power of salvation. And
these chapters are the fruit and the result. It is because
of what Christ did for His people at Calvary that we, and at Isaiah,
even before it happened, and this is an amazing thing, And
let me tell you something, this doesn't deny or diminish the
work of Christ, it exalts it, the power of it, the glory of
it. Isaiah the prophet could stand before the people of Jerusalem
and issue this clarion call, this great call to the needy
because of what Christ was going to come and do. Well, he's done
it, it's finished, and we look back upon the very work accomplished. And here we learn that the work
of Christ on the cross will affect many nations, not just one nation,
wasn't just to the Jews, but it'll affect many nations. God
has a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation all
over this world. Our Lord told his disciples that
before he comes again, the gospel will be preached in every nation.
And with so many justified people in Christ, The Lord tells Israel
that they will be part of that same large tent, all who come
to Him, all who rest in Christ. One so large that Israel will
have to occupy other nations. This is a nation beyond a physical
nation. This is a spiritual nation. Their
land isn't large enough to hold all of them. That's what He says.
And that's a tremendous change for Israel. But you see, he's
not speaking about a physical nation. He's speaking about spiritual
Israel. Look back up at verse 17 of chapter
54. Listen to this. He says, No weapon
that is formed against thee shall prosper. Talking about Israel.
And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou
shalt condemn. In other words, no physical weapon
and no charge from the tongues of your enemies will stick. And
he says, this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord.
And he says, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. That's the work of Christ. Now
this passage shows us that Jerusalem, that's who he's speaking of here,
the city of Jerusalem specifically, that it's invincible. It cannot
be destroyed. But the earthly city of Jerusalem
was destroyed. It was destroyed completely in
A.D. 70. You know, in its 38 centuries of existence, the city
of Jerusalem, the physical city, it's been destroyed through violent
sieges at least 17 times. And its name's been changed on
a lot of occasions. And it's really the oldest continuously
inhabited city in the world, and it's probably the least stable
city in the world, if you think about it, that's ever existed,
having been ruled by at least 25 different peoples, different
nations. Yet God says in verse 17, no
weapon that's formed against you is going to prosper. Every
tongue that rises against you will be condemned. This is the
heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness
is of me. Now, what's the answer? What's he talking about? Well,
the simple answer is this. He's not speaking of earthly
Jerusalem here. He's speaking of the heavenly
Jerusalem. He's speaking of the eternal Jerusalem. Look over
at Galatians chapter 4 with me. We looked at this last time,
but let's look at it again. Galatians chapter 4 and verse
24. Here the Apostle Paul is speaking
concerning the difference between the covenant of works and the
covenant of grace. Salvation. is by grace. Salvation,
listen to me, if salvation is for sinners, it has to be by
grace, sovereign grace, and grace alone. Salvation by works cannot
be for sinners. There is no salvation by works
for sinners, for by deeds of law shall no flesh be justified. And so he's talking about the
difference between salvation by works, the covenant of law,
that the Israelites looked upon and used for Mount Sinai that
condemned them. But he says that's not the covenant
that God's people in Christ are under. We're under a different
covenant. We're under a covenant of grace
that has nothing to do with Sinai and a physical mountain. He says
in verse 24, he says these things are an allegory. These things
are symbolic. He says, for these are the two
covenants, the one from Mount Sinai which gendereth to bondage,
which is Hagar. Talking about Hagar, as you know
the story of Abraham and Hagar. And the issue from that illicit
affair was Ishmael. But now Isaac is the seed of
promise who came through Sarah, and he says Hagar represents
the covenant of law which condemns and puts us in bondage. He says
in verse 25, for this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth
to Jerusalem which now is." That's the city of Jerusalem as it stood
in Paul's day, physical Jerusalem, and is in bondage with her children.
Now what he means by that is this, is that the pervading religion
in the city of Jerusalem in that day was to seek salvation from
God by works of the law. The Israelites had three basic
premises for which they would claim salvation. Number one is
their physical connection with Abraham. And even, well, Isaiah
the prophet, and all the other prophets, and even John the Baptist
told them that God was going to lay the axe to that root.
In other words, if you claim that that's your salvation, then
you have a false claim, an empty claim, and God's going to cut
you asunder from that. The second one was circumcision. The men followed the rite of
circumcision when they were eight days old, and that circumcision
was a physical sign of their physical connection with Abraham.
But in Christ Jesus, circumcision availeth nothing. In fact, Paul
told them, he said in Galatians 5, if you be circumcised in order
to be saved or to be holy or to be righteous, Christ will
profit you nothing. And then the third one was that
they kept the law of Moses. And that's what he's talking
about here. These false preachers that he crept in. But he says
that's the way Jerusalem now is. But look at verse 26. But
Jerusalem which is above. Now what Jerusalem is above? He's talking about the heavenly
Jerusalem. He's talking about spiritual
Jerusalem. He's talking about the kingdom of God's grace in
Christ. Now, if you're in Christ, You're
a citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem. You're not a citizen of the earthly
Jerusalem, and you won't be. But you're a citizen of the heavenly
spiritual Jerusalem of which Christ sits on that throne. It's
the throne of David we're going to see in Isaiah 55, represented
by the sure mercies of David. And so he says, Jerusalem which
is above is free, it's not in bondage. You see, what's that
mean? That means this, those who are
citizens of Jerusalem, which is above, we don't owe a debt
to God's law and justice. Our debt's been paid. Now, are
you a sinner? A bankrupt sinner? You don't
have the least penny, the first penny to pay God for your sins? Well, let me tell you, here's
the good news. Oh, everyone is bankrupt. Listen, Christ paid
it all. He paid the debt of His people
in full. There's not one penny for you
to pay. You owe no legal debt to God. The legal debt's been
paid. Now, we owe Him a debt of love,
don't we? We owe Him our lives. We owe
Him our arms, our legs, our eyes. That's what Paul meant in Romans
12 when he said, present your bodies a living sacrifice unto
God. Our hearts, we owe Him everything. That's a debt that'll never be
paid. That's not a debt of law. That's a debt of love and grace
and gratitude. Oh, eternally thankful to God. And then he says, Which is the
mother of us all, that Jerusalem which is above. There he is speaking
of the Kingdom of Christ. And he says in verse 27, For
it is written, Rejoice thou barren that bearest not, break forth
in crime thou that travailest not. For the desolate hath many
more children than she which hath a husband. Now we, brethren,
as Isaac was, are the children of promise, the promise of grace. The promise of Christ. The Bible
says Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness.
What was imputed to him? What God promised him. What did
God promise him? Christ said it in John chapter
8, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it and he was
what? He was glad. Are you glad? Are you glad at the grace of
God? Look over back at Isaiah 55 now. spiritual Jerusalem. And I'll
tell you what, all the Jews who believed Christ's warning, you
remember our Lord warned them about this in His earthly ministry. And all the Jews who believed
His warning left Jerusalem to the Romans. They left it. And
Rome destroyed it. So in other words, God's heavenly
Jerusalem left the physical Jerusalem. Spiritual Jerusalem left physical
Jerusalem. And when Hebrews was written,
when the Apostle Paul wrote that book by inspiration of the Spirit,
Jerusalem had not even been destroyed by Romans, yet Hebrews 12 speaks
of heavenly Jerusalem, spiritual Jerusalem. Well, look back here. Just as God dealt with Israel's
unbelief in the desert for 40 years, you remember that. So
he waited for 40 years between the crucifixion of Christ in
30 A.D. and the destruction of the physical
city Jerusalem in 70 A.D. And finally, he brought his wrath
down upon them, and that reveals they weren't truly his. But here's
the promise of Isaiah. No weapon that's formed against
you will prosper. So, therefore, why is that? Why is that? Why is the spiritual,
heavenly Jerusalem invincible? But he says it right here, because
it's the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness
is of me, saith the Lord. That's our redemption in and
by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we cannot be destroyed.
That's why no weapon that's formed against us will destroy us. That's
why no charge that Satan and his minions speak out against us will stick,
because who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It's God that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died. Now, based on that, let's issue forth the call. Hold. Look at verse 1. Everyone, Isaiah
55, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he
that hath no money, come ye and buy and eat. That doesn't make
sense, does it? It does to God's people. Doesn't
it? Come and buy without money, without
price. Yea, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. How are we going to buy without
money, without price? What's he talking about? Well,
he's talking about grace. That's what he's talking about.
He's talking about something you can't earn and you can't
deserve. He's talking about something that God gives freely, unconditionally
to His people because the price has already been paid. That's
what he's talking about. Notice here the first thing,
that those who are called. Now, he's talking about those
who are called. This is the call. Everyone that thirsteth. Down
in verse 2, he says, Why do you spend money for that which is
not bread, and your labor for that which satisfies not? Hearken
diligently unto me. Hear me, is what he's saying.
Hear me unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul
delight itself in fatness." Now, the first thing you see there
is those who are called are those who are in need. Isn't that right? Those who think they have no
need are not called in this way. Those who think they have no
need will not come to Christ. They don't need Him. God calls
sinners to listen to Him that they may live. Now, many will
not listen. By nature, our sin is so great. Now, listen to me. By nature,
our sin is so great, our spiritual deadness is so great that we
can and we will ignore God. That's true, isn't it? Spiritually
dead. No man. No man, Christ said,
can come to me except the Spirit. Drawing. Except God. Drawing.
There is a general call. The preaching of the gospel throughout
the world. Preaching to all, every creature,
he says. But the Bible says in Matthew
22 and verse 14, many are called, but few are chosen. There is
also a summons. And this summons is a call that's
so powerful, and it's the power of the Holy Spirit, that it wakens
sinners unto life. It's like the summons. I told
my Sunday school class this morning, I said, you know, if the sheriff
comes up to your door, knocks on the door, and hands you a
sheet of paper and says, you've been served, what is that? That's a summons. Now, that doesn't
mean, well, now, if you have a mind to, come on into court
on this day. That means you be there, or we'll
come and get you. All right? That's what this call
is. It's a summons. And it's a summons
so powerful that it gives life, it wakens life by the power of
the Spirit. It's the invincible calling of
the Holy Spirit in the new birth that brings with Him faith in
Christ and repentance of dead works, shedding abroad in the
hearts of His people the love of God. God promised the nations
to Christ. He said, you're going to have
the nations. So when Christ summons His people in the power of the
Spirit, God ensures that those given to Christ will respond.
He said it, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will unknowwise cast out. Well, what
do I do then? Now, you're sitting there and
I'm standing here. And you hear it. Here's the call. the gospel
preached, the glorious person in the finished work of Christ,
the God-man mediator sent by the Father to do the work that
we couldn't do for ourselves, to pay for our sins when we couldn't
pay the least fine, to establish righteousness when we have none.
What do we do? Somebody says, am I called or
am I not? Have you ever asked that question?
Am I called or am I not? Well, let me ask you this question.
Are you here or are you not? Are you here or are you somewhere
else? Somebody said, well, don't get
silly preaching. We're all here. Are you here? Or are you somewhere
else? Are we all here? You know, you
can be sitting here just looking at me like a like a Cheshire
cat, granted, and not be here. You know, I really kind of mastered
that in school, that technique. Some of our young people, you're
working on it, aren't you? You can be in class and you can
be there, but you can be somewhere else. I'm asking you this, are
you here or are you not? Well, if you're here, let me
tell you something, you are commanded and you are called. Now, somebody
asked this question, well, is it the effectual calling of the
Holy Spirit? Is that the call you're receiving? Well, let me say this first.
God never, in this book now, from Genesis to Revelation, God
never tells any sinner to sit and try to figure out if I'm
called by the Holy Spirit before you come to Christ. You won't
find it in this book. You say, well, I can't come to
Christ because I'm not sure it's the Spirit calling me. That is
totally unscriptural. Did you know that? In fact, I'll
tell you exactly what it is. It's an excuse. It's just one
of Satan's deceptions to keep you from coming to Christ. And
that's his main goal. The one thing Satan does not
want you to do, come to Christ and rest in Him for salvation.
That's what 2 Corinthians chapter 4 says. Aaron read it in the
study. If our gospel be hid, it is hid
to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not. Well, let me tell you how
you can determine from the Scripture if it is the effectual call of
the Spirit. Are you interested in that? I will tell you exactly
how. systematic theology up here and
open it and read to you. I'm going to tell you how and
it's real simple. Now look at it again, verse 1. Ho! Everyone
that what? Thirsty. Are you thirsty? I'm talking about are you thirsty
for the Word of God? Are you thirsty for the water
of life? Are you tired of seeking water
in a dry well of false religion. Human philosophy and works. Are you tired of going to church
services and hearing man's opinions and psychological pep talks and
moral pep talks? Or are you thirsty to hear the
glory of God's grace in Christ? Because I want to tell you something,
if you're thirsty, it's the Holy Spirit who has made you so. You know why most people go to
church and they don't get anything out of it? It's one of two things.
Either nothing, nothing is really being preached that glorifies
Christ and lifts Him up and meets the need of the sinner, or their
cup's already two-fold. Two-fold of themselves, of their
pride, their self-righteousness, and their religion, or two-fold
of the world. That's the only two reasons.
But are you thirsty? to hear the words of life. If you are, it's God the Holy
Spirit. Are you hungry for the bread
of life? Are you hungry to hear God's
Word? I want to hear Christ preached.
I want to hear God's grace and mercy for sinners. I'm a sinner
and I need help. I need salvation. I can't save
myself. I can't contribute to my salvation.
I can't make myself righteous. Tell me about the righteousness
of God in Christ. I need to hear it. That's the
summons. That's the sinner who needs it.
Let me ask you this. Are you bankrupt? If you were physically bankrupt,
financially bankrupt, and a fellow come along, and I know they do
come along, But let's just say this fella really could do what
he says he could do. A fella come along and he said,
I can make you rich now. Right now. Would you be hungry
to hear that? If you owe a debt, let's say
a million dollars to a local bank here in town, and some fella
comes to you and says, I can find you a legal way to have
a million dollars to the good. Would you be interested? You
would if you believed him, wouldn't you? Now, if you didn't believe
him, you shall no longer. Just get out of my head. I'm
just going to wallow in my poverty. But if you believed him, you'd
listen. And if he could deliver, boy, wouldn't you be thankful?
Wouldn't you want to hear more? He probably wouldn't be able
to get rid of you. He'd have to turn around and say, would
you go home just for a few minutes? Well, I'm telling you, that's
what this call is. Are you spiritually bankrupt? Do you need a righteousness
you can't produce? In fact, you're in the negative
column, sin. You're not even on the level.
Well, I'm here to tell you how you can be made rich right now
through God's Word. Now, are you interested? You
who are bankrupt." That's what he's saying here. That's the
clarion call, you see. Do you know that one of the great
acts, the greatest acts, the greatest act of God's love is
what? Sending His Son to die for our
sins. Isn't that right? That's the
greatest act of God's love. He sent His only begotten Son.
to die in the place of a wretched, rotten piece of meat that doesn't
deserve him and can't earn him. That's right. That's the greatest
act of love. But you know, one of the greatest
acts of God's love and kindness and mercy towards His people
is when He truly, by the power of the Spirit, opens up this
Word and shows us what and who we really are. That's right. In one place, it's described
as being slain by the law. Killed by the law. You say, well,
killing doesn't sound too good. It's the best thing that could
happen to us. For us to see that all the law can do for us and
to us, based on our best efforts to keep the law, is to condemn
us to death. Do you ever come to see that?
Do you believe that? I hear these preachers wanting
to bring people back under the law. It's either for salvation
or for holiness or to stay saved. That's the way most people preach.
At least it will keep you saved. You start out by grace, but then
this will... My friend, the best thing that
God could ever do for me and you is to show us that all the
law can do for us based on our best efforts to keep it, is kill
us. That's why Paul called it in
2 Corinthians 3, the killing ladder. The killing ladder. That's why he said, before I
saw the law in Romans chapter 7, I thought I was okay, but
when the law came, sin revived and I what? Died. God and the
Holy Spirit killed him. Killed his spirit. Killed his
thoughts. God said here, my thoughts are
higher than your thoughts. God's going to kill our thoughts.
But oh, listen to his thoughts. He sent his Son. That's his thoughts. To keep that law perfectly. And
to die under the justice of that law for our sins. Look over at
Matthew chapter 5. Do you know this is a simple
message? It's not a complicated message. Here Christ preaches
it in the Sermon on the Mount, the first thing that He said
in His public ministry. Matthew chapter 5. Listen to
what He says here. Verse 3. He opened His mouth,
He taught him, He said in verse 3 of Matthew 5, Blessed are the
poor in spirit. Poverty, poor in spirit. Now
let me say this, do you know that every man and woman by nature
born of Adam is spiritually poor? But that's not what he says here.
He doesn't say blessed are the spiritually poor. Do you see
that? All by nature are spiritually
poor. He says blessed are the poor in spirit. What is it to be What is it to
be spiritually poor? It's to be spiritually bankrupt.
It's to owe that debt, and you can't pay it. That's everybody
by name. But what is it to be poor in
spirit? It's to know it, and believe it, and have a broken
and a contrite heart over sin. That's what it is to be poor
in spirit. That's a work of the Holy Spirit
in the effectual calling. Do you see your spiritual poverty?
You know, everybody is spiritually poor, but everybody doesn't know
it. And most won't admit it. That's why Christ had to say,
I came not to call the righteous, but I came to call sinners to
repent. You know what He was responding
to there? The Pharisees came and told His
disciples, they said, I cannot believe your Master. I just can't
believe a person who would act that way. Well, what's he doing? He's eating supper with publicans
and sinners. Can you imagine a preacher doing
that? Eating supper with publicans and sinners. What was our Lord's
response? That's who I came to save. Not
the righteous, the whole don't need a physician. The doctors
aren't out here trying to make well people well. They're trying to make sick people
well. And that's what he said, I came not to call the righteous.
If you're righteous, you don't need Christ. What are you doing
here? This call's not to you. This is to the thirsty. This
is to the poor in spirit. And here's what he says to them
in verse 3. He says, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven belongs
to them. We who by nature are spiritually
poor, the Holy Spirit makes us poor in spirit, shows us our
sinfulness and depravity, and shows us what we have in Christ.
All spiritual blessings in heavenly places. That is the kingdom of
heaven. We are the owners of a kingdom. And then look down
at verse 4. He says, Blessed are they that
mourn, for they shall be comforted. Are you mourning over sin? For
you'll be comforted. Where is that comfort to be found?
Christ is our comfort. He's the consolation of Israel. That's our comfort. Look on down
at verse 6. He said, Blessed are they that
do hunger and thirst. After what? Righteousness. For they shall be filled. Where
are they going to find it? In Christ. Now look back at Isaiah
55. You see there? Only those hardened in pride
dare to say that they have no need. Are you thirsty? Are you
hungry? The wine and the milk of the
grace of God, but you have no money. You don't have the payment
price, the redemption price. That's all right. Somebody does
and did. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why the clarion call is
to the needy. Don't bring your money. In fact,
it's an insult to God and His glory when you bring your money
to buy this, when you bring your works to buy this. It's a denial
of Christ. It's saying that what He did
wasn't enough. Do you know that? The very moment a sinner comes
to God seeking salvation in any way, to any degree, at any stage
by his works, that's an open denial of Christ saying that
what Christ did is not enough. I've got to add something to
it. And that's just as deadly. as standing up and denying Him
altogether. He says, why, verse 2, why do you spend money for
that which is not bread? Why are you giving your time,
your efforts in false religion? He says, your labor, your work,
which satisfied none. Christ said, come unto Me, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you what? Rest. Religion says, come on, I'll
put you to work. get you busy. Why do you do that? Huh? He says, hearken diligently unto
me. This is not only a call to the
water of life, this is a call to God himself in Christ. For
their needs, sinners will seek satisfaction in some way, but
none of the substitutes will ever satisfy. God demands that
His people listen to Him, and He promises the poor and the
needy and the hungry and the thirsty the very delights and
fullness of having Christ. He says, Hearken diligently unto
me, and eat ye that which is good. and let your soul delight
itself in fatness." Look at verse 3, incline your ear, listen,
and come unto me. It's not just the blessings and
benefits of Christ's work that we receive by grace, but it's
fellowship and communion with God Himself in Christ. Come unto
me, he says, here, and your soul shall live. There's life in Him,
death everywhere else. Do you see your spiritual death?
Well, if you do, the Holy Spirit is the one who showed it to you.
Where are you going to find life? In Christ. That's the clarion
call. He says, I'll make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Now, I want
to turn some scripture on that, but I'm going to wait till next
time because I don't have time. But here's what he's saying,
basically, is this. That's speaking of Christ, the mercy seed. The
sure mercies of David is another phrase that describes our Savior.
He is the sure mercies of David. God made a covenant with David.
He said, your throne will be occupied forever. He wasn't talking
about David's physical throne. He was talking about David, not
personally, but David as a type, a type of Christ. And here's
what he's saying. This is a call to a sure salvation. This is no, as Tim James called
it, this is no yabe, nabe, nabe. This is a sure thing. This is
the sure thing. This is the sure foundation.
This is the tried stone. There's mercy. Do you see your
need of mercy? Then you're the one who's being
effectually called by the Holy Spirit. And let me tell you how
you know it's the Holy Spirit. He's going to show you there's
no mercy but in Christ. the mercy seed in His blood and
His righteousness. If you can find it anywhere else,
if you can find water to quench your thirst, bread to fill your
soul, if you can find life, if you can find peace, comfort,
or mercy in anything but Christ and Him crucified, I'm going
to tell you something, it's an evil spirit, it's a false gospel,
flee from there. It won't last. It may give you,
like a drug, it may give you a high for a little while. But
it will not last. You'll come down sometime, and
let me tell you something, you'll come down hard. Isn't that right? Look to Him. Don't sit around
here wondering if the Holy Spirit's calling you. Are you thirsty?
Are you hungry? Do you need life that you don't
have? Are you listening? Do you need
the sure mercies of David? Do you need mercy that's sure?
There's only one place to find it, and that's Christ, verse
4. Here it is, behold I've given him for a witness to the people,
a leader, that's a shepherd there, and a commander to the people.
He's our shepherd. He keeps us, he guides us, he
feeds us. He died for the sheep. Christ
is our shepherd. He's the true delight of our
souls. He's our prophet, he's our priest,
he's our king, he's our mediator, he's our surety. He is all and
in all. He is all that we need and all
that we must have, and listen to me, He is all that God requires
of us for salvation. He is a commander. He is the
King of Kings. Verse 5, Behold, thou shalt call
a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee
shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the
Holy One of Israel, for He hath glorified thee. The Father speaks
to the Son here and pledges to Him the nations, the calling
of the Gentiles into the Kingdom of God. Aren't you glad? I sure
am. A nation that thou knowest not.
He doesn't mean here that Christ did not know His people. He said,
I know my sheep. He even said this in John 10,
he said, other sheep that I have which are not of this Jewish
foe, them I must brand. He knew his sheep. Paul wrote
this to Timothy, nevertheless the foundation of God stands
sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. He is speaking in contrast to
the old covenant, physical Jerusalem, physical Israel. in that nation. God knew Israel in a temporary
earthly covenant, but he didn't know the Gentiles in that way.
But in the everlasting covenant of grace and in the new covenant,
Christ has a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation,
and he knows them, and he knows them by name, he said. He knows
them by name. He has them on his breastplate
and on his shoulder. And how is He going to call them?
Look at it. He said, for He hath glorified thee. He's going to
call them by the glory of Christ. What does that mean? That means
this. Here's how the Father is going to draw His people by the
power of the Spirit. He's going to draw them by the
beauty and glory of Christ and Him crucified. That's how He's
going to draw them. So you don't have to sit around
wondering if the Spirit is wooing you and calling you. If you're
a sinner, and you know you're a sinner, as you're convinced
of that by the Word of God through the power of the Spirit, and
you see no hope, no peace, no comfort, no salvation but in
Christ and Him alone and what He accomplished at Calvary, my
friend, that's the call. That's the summons. Come on.
Come on. Somebody says, well, am I supposed
to walk an aisle? You can walk an aisle if you
want to. I don't care. What I'm saying is come to Christ.
Now, coming down to this aisle is not coming to Christ. You
say, well, I've got to confess it before me. Yes, you do. And
let me tell you what the Bible says about that. Be baptized. Confess him in believer's baptism.
If you're a believer and you haven't confessed Christ publicly
in believer's baptism, that is the public confession right there.
And you come and talk to me and we'll talk about it. All right?
Okay.