Now, turn back with me to Isaiah
chapter 11, and I'm continuing on the same subject that I started
on in verse 10 of Isaiah 11 on Christ and ensign for the nations. Look at verse 10 of Isaiah 11. Now, as you remember, the first
verses of this chapter was a revelation of Christ, the Messiah, the coming
of the Messiah, and what he would do in his great work. in establishing
salvation for his people. And it says in that day, verse
10, and in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, referring
to Christ and his humanity who came from the seed of David according
to the flesh, for he is both God and man in one person. We
always look at him as such, for that's who our Savior is. When
we speak of the Savior that we need, we speak of one who is
able and who is willing to save us from our sins. And this one
who would be a root out of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign
of the people. And to it shall the Gentiles
seek, to this ensign." Now speaking of a person here now, I know
it says it here, but it's referring back to that word ensign. And
that word ensign is a banner. It's a banner that's lifted up.
It was often a banner that was lifted up to call soldiers to
battle, to be alert, to be ready. is also an ensign of assembly,
a banner of assembly that calls people together to assemble to
worship and to identify under that same banner. There was only
one banner, not two. And this ensign, to this ensign
shall the Gentiles seek, that is God's people, God's Christ's
sheep out of the Gentiles, and His rest, that is the rest of
Christ, His rest, that is His finished work, shall be glorious,
shall be their glory, shall be their confidence, their boast,
and all things." Now, this instant speaks of the banner that is
lifted high. Christ lifted up. You remember
in the last message on this, I spoke of Christ lifted up in
three ways. Number one, Christ must be lifted
up on the cross to do his great redemptive work. That refers
to his work of redemption. His obedience unto death, the
establishment of the ground of salvation where He paid the penalty,
the debt of our sins in full and established righteousness
whereby God is just to justify the ungodly. God justifies the
ungodly based upon the righteousness that Christ accomplished and
wrought out and finished in His obedience unto death. He must
be lifted up on the cross. And then secondly, Christ must
be lifted up in the preaching of the gospel. It is God's purpose
and God's way, as he has ordained, to save his people by what he
describes in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 as the foolishness of preaching. The reason he describes it that
way is not because we preach foolishness. Notice he didn't
say. That it's God's will that he save his people by the preaching
of foolishness. It's not that. It's the foolishness
of preaching. The reason he describes it that
way is because that's the way the natural man sees it. God's
going to bring his people into the kingdom through the preaching
of Christ and him crucified. Lifting up Christ. Exalting him
in the glory of his person. Telling sinners who he is. and
exalting him in the power of his finished work, telling sinners
what he accomplished, telling sinners what we need by nature
because we're such sinners, for by grace are you saved, through
faith. And that faith not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast. That's what we need. And when
we lift up Christ in the preaching of the gospel, we speak of the
holiness of God. We speak of the sovereignty of
God. We speak of the mercy of God and the grace of God. We
speak of the sinfulness of man, the depravity of man, showing
us that not even our best efforts at obedience can save us because
they're not good enough. They're poor, pitiful, wretched,
sinful activities of the natural man lifted up in pride. We tell
sinners of how God saves sinners through Christ and that He is
the only way for there's none other foundation that can be
laid, and that which is laid, Jesus Christ, in Him crucified.
We tell sinners of what He accomplished on the cross, and how He finished
the work, and that He sat down at the right hand of the Father,
ever living to make intercession for us. And therefore, when we
come by faith to Christ, repenting of our own dead works, we essentially
rest in Him. He is our Sabbath. That's what
this is talking about here. His rest shall be glorious. Our glory. Paul wrote it this
way in Galatians 6 and verse 14, God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the
message of grace. But not only must he be lifted
up on the cross, and not only must he be lifted up in the preaching
of the gospel, he must be lifted up in the sinner's heart by the
power of the Holy Spirit. And that's what this is talking
about beginning at verse 11. What he's saying is that God
has a people whom he is going to save, and they shall be saved
and they shall come to him. And he says here very plainly,
very distinctively, that all of this is going to be accomplished
because God purposed it and because Christ did the work, met all
the conditions, fulfilled all the requirements and stipulations,
And he's an ensign of the people for the gathering of God's elect
scattered throughout the whole world." You think about this.
Look at it. He says in verse 11, he says,
"...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 which shall be left from Assyria." That is when the
kingdom, the nation, the empire of Assyria does its work. and from Egypt, and from Pathros,
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," now this is Christ, 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." The
Gentiles and the Jews, God has a people out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue, and nation, both Jew and Gentile, that he
is going to bring unto himself. And these Gentiles will seek
after the Lord. But also God's remnant among
the Jews will seek after the Lord. When he says here in verse
11, the second time, he is referring to the spiritual recovery of
all of his people from the islands of the sea and from the four
corners of the earth. And that's the end-gathering
of God's elect into one body, the Church, in the new covenant.
He's not speaking of a universal salvation here, as if to say
all without exception are going to come to him and be saved.
We know the Bible doesn't teach that, and that's not a reality.
But it is universal in its scope. In other words, it's all without
distinction who come to Christ and rest in him. whether they
be Jew or Gentile, male or female, bond or free, black or white.
And he says it's the second time. Now, when was the first time?
You know, many people take that term, the second time, and they
use that to project it to after the second coming of Christ.
But that's not what this is talking about at all. This second, the
first time that he's speaking of, he mentions it down in verse
16, when he mentions Egypt. Look at verse 16. He says, "...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." The first time refers
to the temporal, earthly deliverance of the Jewish nation, the recovery
of the Hebrew children out of Egypt. That was the first time. Now, that first time was a temporal
redemption and recovery. It was a physical. redemption
and recovery of a nation. But now the second time is a
greater redemption. The second time is a spiritual
redemption. The second time is an eternal
redemption, not just of an earthly nation, but of a spiritual nation. We studied that last Sunday night. The spiritual nation, spiritual
Israel, a people made up of Jew and Gentile, all who come to
Christ. for salvation. Now look over
at Galatians chapter 3 with me. We looked at several verses in
the book of Romans that spoke of this very thing. But look
at Galatians chapter 3 with me. This is the nation. We're going
to identify the nation, the spiritual nation now, that he described
in verses 11 and 12. He mentioned Gentile nations
there, Assyria, Cush, all that. And what he's doing, he's using
all of those countries that were spread out all over the known
world at that time to describe, as a metaphor, the four corners
of the earth. In other words, God's got a people
all over this world. That's why he said in Matthew
chapter 24, Christ teaching his disciples, he said, before Christ
comes back, the gospel must be preached in every nation. And
he said the same thing in Revelation 14, how the gospel's got to go
out to all the nations. He told his disciples before
he ascended unto the Father in the Great Commission, he told
them, go into all the world and do what? Preach the gospel to
every nation. You teach them, you tell them,
he that believeth. All of this, this is the gospel
of God's grace preached out to the nations. Now look at verse
26 of Galatians chapter 3. He says in verse 26, for you
are all the children of God. Now who's he talking about? Well,
he's writing to the churches in Galatia. Now in the churches
of Galatia, that was in Asia Minor, that was a Gentile area. There were Jews and there were
Gentiles, both. But he says, you are all the
children of God. Now, how did they become children
of God? Was it by circumcision? No. Was it by a physical connection
with Abraham, their pedigree? No. Was it by keeping the law
of Moses? No. For by grace are you saved,
not of works, you see. So how did he identify them as
children of God? For you are all the children
of God, listen to it, by faith in Jesus Christ. Now that's just another way of
saying that what the prophet Isaiah says over here in verse
10, his rest shall be glorious. If you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, if you truly believe in him, by the gift of saving
faith As described in Ephesians 2.8, if you truly believe in
Him, you are glorying in His rest. Right? You're resting in the finished
work of Christ. You're not trying to save yourself by your works
and your efforts. You've repented of that. That's
repentance of dead works. Now you're resting in His blood. For the forgiveness of all your
sins. You're resting in His righteousness
for your right standing and acceptance before God. You're not looking
to self anymore. You're not leaning on the arm
of the flesh. You're trusting Christ and Him crucified. Now,
you know who does that? Children of God. Jew and Gentile. And we go on here in Galatians
3, verse 27. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. Now, the baptized
there does not mean water baptism. That's not what he's talking
about. Now, are believers to be baptized in water? Yes, that's
an ordinance. That's an ordinance of confession.
That's a confession, that's a public confession of something that's
already taken place inwardly, isn't it? Those who have been
born again and come to Christ. The baptized here means placed
into, it means in union with. Well, when were we baptized into
Christ in this way? Well, he's talking about the
new birth here. When that sinner who'd been born again by the
Spirit, evidenced first by his coming to Christ, what does he
do? He puts on Christ. What does that mean? It means
he rests in Him. He believes in Him. He's pleading
Christ's righteousness and not his own. He's wearing the robe
of Christ's righteousness. He's seeing that God has washed
him in the blood of Christ. That's what it means to put on
Christ. It means you lay hold of it. You hold on to it. You rest in Him. You believe
in Him. You trust in Him. He is your
all in all. He is your hope. And you put
Him on. Now look at verse 28. Now here's
the key. Look at it. Now in this state,
in this standing, in Christ, there is neither, now listen
to it, there's neither Jew nor Greek. Now Greek was just a general
way, a term used to refer to Gentiles of that day because
it was a Greek world. A Greco-Roman world, as they
say. And that was just a way of referring
to Gentiles. So, if you're in Christ, the
distinction of Jew and Gentile is no longer. Now, is that what
that says? Somebody says, well, that's what
my Bible says. Well, if it's God's Word, it's
any Bible that says that. That distinction is gone now.
It means nothing. He says there's neither bond
nor free. It doesn't matter if you're a servant or if you're
a free man. There's neither male nor female.
Now, that doesn't mean that these distinctions don't exist. It
means in the kingdom of God, as to salvation by the grace
of God, they mean nothing. Somebody says, well, I'm saved
and I'm in Christ, but I'm a little better than you because I'm a
Jew. No, that means nothing in the kingdom of God. Gentiles
are a little lower than that. No. We're all on an equal plane
before God in Christ. His blood washes me from my sins. If you're washed from your sins,
it's His blood alone. His righteousness makes me right
before God, justifies me. His righteousness imputed. Now,
if you're right before God, if you have a right standing, it's
the same righteousness. No more, no less. And that's
what he's saying. He says, for you are all one
in Christ Jesus. We'll go on, verse 29. And if
you be Christ, if you belong to Him, then are you Abraham's
seed. Now, what seed is he speaking
of? I'm a Gentile. I don't have any Jewish blood
running through my pedigree or my heritage. But he says, if
you belong to Christ, then are you Abraham's seed. Well, what
is he talking about? He's talking about Abraham's spiritual seed.
We're connected with Abraham because we belong to Christ.
How do you know that? Well, Christ said in John chapter
8, He said, Abraham, rejoice to see my day. And he saw it
and he was glad. Isn't that right? What connects
me with Abraham? I'm Bill Parker. I was born in
Kentucky. Don't have any? What connects
me with Abraham? I belong to Christ. Abraham did too. I believe in Christ. I rest in
Him. He's my wisdom, my righteousness,
my holiness, my redemption. That's what Abraham says too.
That's the seed of Abraham and he proves it here in the next
phrase, and heirs according to the promise. Now what is the
promise? Well, God promises to save any and every sinner who
comes to Him pleading the merits of Christ. Any sinner who comes
to Him at the mercy seat seeking salvation by grace through Christ. Now look over at Philippians
chapter 3 and look at verse 3. Now, this is what he's talking
about. There's going to be Gentiles who will come to Christ by the
power of God's grace, and there's going to be Jews who will do
it. Not every Gentile without exception. Not every Jew without
exception. But I'll tell you who will. These
right here that he's speaking of. Just hold on there. Look
at Philippians 3 and verse 3. Now, he says, for we are the
circumcision. Now, the circumcision Paul is speaking of here is spiritual
circumcision of the heart, not physical circumcision. He defined
it back in Romans 2 and 28 and 29 that I went to Sunday night.
Circumcision is of the heart, not of the faith. That's the
new birth. And he says, for we are the circumcision, how do
you know? Well, we worship God in the Spirit. What does that
mean? It means two things, I believe.
Number one, we worship God as God reveals Himself. You see,
there are too many people today that say they worship God But
they think God is like themselves. They claim to worship God, but
they don't worship God according to truth. You see, there's truth
that God reveals of Himself, and it's in this Word. In other
words, whatever God says about Himself in this book, that's
what we believe. I hear people say, well, God
wouldn't do this. Well, if God says in this book
that He would do that, then you better bow to it. Some people
say, well, God wouldn't do that. Well, God says He would. So we
worship God in the Spirit. But secondly, it means this,
we worship God from the heart. It's not just outward show. It's
not just outward circumstance and ceremony and visual aids
and emotionalism. Now, let me say that there's
nothing wrong with emotions, but emotionalism is bad. We worship
God in spirit. We worship the true and living
God. We worship the God of all grace. We worship the God who
justifies the ungodly through Christ. And you can't worship
God without Christ. You can't know God without Christ,
for he is the revelation of God. And then he goes on, he says,
and rejoice in Christ Jesus. Now the word rejoice there means
to have confidence in it. It doesn't mean to be happy.
Sometimes when the Bible uses rejoice or joy, it means to be
happy. But here it means to have confidence
in it. It's translated in another verse
as glory. And he says, we rejoice in Christ. Our confidence is in Christ.
Now what did Isaiah say back over here in verse 10? His rest
shall be glory. And that's what Paul means here.
We rejoice in Christ Jesus. Our rest is in Him. We rest in His rest. His person
and His work is our glory, our confidence, our assurance of
salvation. And then he says we have no confidence
in the flesh. Now, one more. Go back to Galatians
again. Go to Galatians chapter 6. And you can tie these all together.
I mean, what I'm showing you is just repeated so often in
the New Testament, in the commentary. Look at Galatians 6, look at
verse 14. He says, But God forbid that
I should glory. Now, that word glory there is
the same word as rejoice in Philippians 3. And he said, God forbid that
I should boast or should have confidence, save or accept in
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, His finished work, His rest,
His blood, His righteousness, you see, by whom the world is
crucified unto me and I unto the world. In other words, our
identification with Christ and our rest in Him and our glory
in Him cuts us off from the world and the world off from us. The
world looks at us as cursed. And we look upon the world as
cursed. Without Christ, what are they? What is a person without
Christ? He's cursed. And then he says
in verse 15, For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth
anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. Now to say
that in Christ neither circumcision or uncircumcision availeth anything
is the same thing as what Paul wrote in Galatians 3 when he
said there's neither Jew nor Greek in Christ. It doesn't matter
whether you're circumcised physically or uncircumcised. It doesn't
matter whether you're a Jew or a Gentile, you see. That means
nothing. Well, what does? A new creation. Now, who's the author of the
new creation? No preachers. No denominations. No center. God is. We are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Good works are not
the cause. They're the fruit. Good works
are not the source. They're the effect of it, the
evidence of it. And he says, now look at verse
16. And as many as walk according to this rule. Now the word rule
there means our doctrine. Or you could say it this way.
This is not what the word actually means, but it's a parallel. You
could say it this way, as many as walk under this banner. What banner? God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross. That instant, Christ and him
crucified. Now listen to what he says. Peace
be on them. What does that mean? That means
they're at peace with God. And mercy. They are recipients
of the mercy of God. And listen to what he says here.
And upon the Israel of God. They're the Israel of God. Now,
let me show you this. Look at John chapter 12. Christ must be lifted up. And
when He is lifted up in the preaching of the gospel by the power of
the Spirit, His people will hear that call and come to Him. And that's what He's talking
about here. In verse 32 of John chapter 12, He says, If I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all unto me." Now, what is he saying? Well,
look at verse 33. This, he says, signifying what death he should
die. He is being lifted up from the
earth. He is referring to his cross experience, his death on
the cross. And he said, if that takes place,
I will draw all unto me. Now, who are the all? It's not
all without exception, because all without exception are drawn
unto him. That means they're going to come
to him, they're going to rest in him, they're going to believe
in him, they're going to be saved. Who is the all? I'll tell you
exactly who the all are. All who are drawn unto him. Who
are they? Look at John 6. And look at verse 37. He says in John 6, 37, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. You see that? All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which
he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again. at the last day. That's the purpose. That's the power of God. Now,
go back to Isaiah 11. Well, what's the point now? Here's
the point. Somebody said, well, where does
that leave me? It leaves me exactly where you need. It leaves me
and you exactly where we need to be. And that's this. With no hope of salvation except
in Christ. Now, you run to Him. You believe
in Him. Don't you wait another second.
Don't hold back another minute. You've got no reason to wait.
You've got no reason to hold back. Look at it again, verse
11. 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. God's going to recover his people.
Just like he recovered them out of Egypt the first time when
he brought that nation out physically. God has a spiritual Israel, a
spiritual people, and He's going to call them out of the bondage
of sin, out of the bondage of Satan, and out from under the
curse of the law. And in that number, there's going
to be Gentiles, there's going to be those from Pathros, Cush,
Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and all the islands of the earth, and
He's going to even call His outcast of Israel, the dispersed of Judah,
from the four corners of the earth. God has a people. God
chose them, Christ redeemed them, the Holy Spirit's going to call
them, they're going to come to Him. How are they going to do
it? They're going to hear that gospel with the ear of faith.
They're going to see the glory of God. Look at verse 13 now.
Now, in Christ, redeemed, justified, saved sinners are united as one. Now, we've already seen that,
son, but look here. He says in verse 13, Now, Ephraim
was a way of referring to the northern kingdom of Israel. But
the envy also of Ephraim and the adversaries of Judas shall
be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah,
and Judas shall not vex or trouble Ephraim. He says, but they shall
fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west.
Now, the Philistines were notorious enemies of Israel. Throughout
their history, they were plagued off and on. by the Philistines. And so he's using them as an
emblem of the enemies of Israel. And what he's saying is that
when God calls his remnant into the kingdom, they're not going
to be fighting among themselves and envying and hating each other,
like the Philistines hate them. They're going to side together. They're going to be loyal to
each other against the world, against the enemies of Christ.
He goes on, he says, "...they shall spoil them of the east
together," and the key there is together, this is the people
of God together, "...they shall lay their hand upon Edom and
Moab," that is, that's a united front, you see. They're going
to present a united front, "...and the children of Ammon shall obey
them." In other words, they're going to be defeated by them,
all of this. So here we have a further explanation. of what he prophesied of over
here in verse 6 about the wolf dwelling with the lamb, the leopard
lying down with the kid. What he's talking about is those
who are enemies by nature will be brought together in Christ. The church. That's what we were
reading about over here in Ephesians chapter 2. That's why I read
that passage and told you that that was the theme of this message.
Look back there, Ephesians chapter 2. Talking about God calling
the Gentiles. They were far off, they were
foreigners, they were without Christ, without God, without
hope. But now in Christ Jesus, verse
13, you who were sometimes afar off are made nigh by the blood
of Christ. He is our peace. He hath made both one and hath
broken down the middle wall partition between us. That middle wall
partition was in the temple of our Lord's day that Herod was
building. They had a wall that separated
the outer court of the Gentiles. A Gentile convert could come
into the temple and worship God, but he could only go so far,
and that wall stopped him and he could not go inside. In fact,
one historian said they had a sign there that basically said, death
to any Gentile that goes beyond this point. But on into that
inner court was the court of the Jews. So a Gentile, he could
worship God, but only so far in that outer court. The Jew
could go on in further. You see, he had a higher standing.
That was the issue of that middle wall partition. But you see now,
in Christ, that kind of thinking, that kind of attitude, and that
kind of segregation has to be abolished. It's gone. He abolished it. And he says,
having abolished in his flesh the enmity, that enmity is hatred,
even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for
to make in himself of twain one new man, and so making peace.
That's the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, one new man. And
then he says that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by
the cross. You say, having slain the enmity
thereby. It's the cross that brings us
nigh unto God, and it's the cross that brings us together in unity
and fellowship. Salvation is by grace through
Christ for the Jew and for the Gentile. And that's what he's
talking about. Well, what's he saying, basically? Go back to Isaiah 11 now. He's
saying this. The grace of God, now listen
to me very carefully, the grace of God breaks down the barriers
that separate men and nations and brings those who were once
enemies into one holy, holy in Christ, happy, peaceful family. That's what he's saying. Now, we may be a little perplexed
by that, especially when we consider that there can be fightings and
divisions even among believers. Isn't that right? Well, that's
another matter to deal with. That takes several long messages
to deal with. So you'll be thankful if I don't
jump into that tonight. But I want to give you some things
to consider on that issue before we go further and finish this
chapter. Let me give you these things to consider. Number one,
you've got to understand that not all who claim to be believers
are believers. Scripture says that. Just because
a person says, I love Christ, doesn't really mean they love
Christ. In fact, if you want a good measure, a scriptural
measure of how much we love Christ, measure it on this plane. How
much do we love one another? We're going to be talking quite
a bit about the love. of brethren in 1 John chapter
3 coming up here this Sunday morning, starting on that. And
it's a real convicting subject, no doubt. But it's also a real
comforting subject if you understand what God's Word teaches. But
understand this, that just because a person says, I love Christ
and I love the truth, does not mean that they do. As I said,
measure it by our love to one another. Talking about our family
and Christ, our spiritual family. Even believers have to deal with
remaining sin and selfishness. We're still not what we should
be. We're not perfect in ourselves. We do love God and we do love
the brethren. And that's a reality. Listen
to me now. Loving God and loving the brethren is not a goal for
which we're to reach. It's something we have and something
we do. Now, perfect love is a goal that
we strive for and strive to reach. That is a goal. Perfect love.
in ourselves. But we don't have that. But we
do love God and we do love the brethren. But we still have to
fight sin and selfishness, self-love. It's a warfare. Thirdly, when
believers divide, the Word of God alone must settle the issues
over which they divide. You go anywhere else, it's going
to get worse. You go anywhere but God's Word, it's going to
get worse. I don't care who you go to. You go to the old wise
man on the mountain, it's going to get worse. You go to the preacher
you think the most of, it's going to get worse. If you don't go
to God's Word and God's Word alone, the split's going to be
even bigger. God's Word must settle it, and
only God's Word. Fourthly, When believers divide,
the Word of God alone must direct the way that we operate. If I
have a matter against a brother or sister in Christ, how should
I go about doing things? Should I ignore it? Leave it
alone? Is there a process to go through? Well, there is in
the Bible. What does the Word of God say
to do? How should I proceed, if I should
proceed at all? Most of the time I find we shouldn't
even proceed at all. But if it's a matter that we
have to proceed on, how should we do it? Well, the Word of God
has to tell us how to do it. Fifthly, when believers divide,
now listen to this, the glory of God, the good of the church,
and that includes unity, the witness of the gospel in the
community to the world must be the ultimate issues for which
we're striving. Not what I want, not what I prefer,
Not how I think things should go. Not my system. Not my intelligence. Not my discernment. Not my wisdom. But these things right here.
What will glorify God? What will exalt Christ? What
will edify the brethren? What will build up the brethren?
What will promote the preaching of the gospel in the community?
In the world? Now there's your standards. There's
your issues. Sixthly, When believers divide,
the love of God and love of the brethren must be the motivating
force behind all decisions and all manners of operation. Loving
God and loving the brethren. And then seventh, when believers
divide, it is God and God alone who chastises His children when
they go astray. He's the only one who has the
wisdom and the power to do so. So think about that. Well, look
at verse 15, and let me close with this. Here's the success
of Christ in his church, triumphant. And the Lord shall utterly destroy
the tongue of the Egyptian sea, that is, that which would destroy
us, God will destroy them. And with his mighty wind shall
he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven
streams. That's a complete victory. That's
what that means. God's judgment of the wicked
will be complete, and God's deliverance of his people will be complete.
There will be nothing left undone, that's what he's saying. It's
like I've always said it, there will be no vacancies in heaven. And he says here, he says, he
shall smite it in the seven streams and make men go over dry shod. You know what that's a reference
to, when God opened up the Red Sea, And the children of Israel
walked over dry land, dry shot. But when they got over to the
other side, Moses stood up, and Pharaoh and his army coming after
that sea closed down, and they were destroyed. So he says in
verse 16, And 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.
In other words, everything that might hinder the progress and
success of the gospel in reaching his remnant shall be taken out
of the way. And just as God dried up the
waters of the Red Sea and drove back the Jordan to give his people
victory in the past, so shall he destroy every obstacle to
the accomplishment of his purpose of grace in the future. That
is what Isaiah is prophesying. And when that set time has come
for God to bring a sinner to himself, Nothing is going to
stop it. Nothing. It's invincible grace.
Irresistible grace. Nothing will hinder it. Paul
said it this way. Here's Saul of Tarsus on the
road to Damascus with his mind set on wiping the name of Jesus
of Nazareth off the face of the earth and arresting Christians.
And it said, when it pleased God, he said, to reveal his Son
in me. And it couldn't be stopped. And
he was put in the dust. Let me tell you something. When
sinners turn to seek the Lord, every obstacle will be taken
out of your way. There's a highway for the remnant of His people.
What is that highway? Well, Christ is the way. He said,
I'm the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto
the Father but by me. And He is a high way. Every other
way is a low way, and it means no way. He's the only way. sure way, the narrow way that
leads unto life, and the sure way of salvation. All right. Let's sing hymn number 355 as
our closing hymn, From Every Stormy Wind, 355.