So, So, He's coming with a singing sweet,
sweet, sweet lyric, sweet for my soul. Sweep over my soul. Sweep over my soul. Sweet Spirit, sweep over my soul. Good evening. Miss Franny tells
me to tell everybody hello. She called me just a few minutes
ago. Let's stand together and sing hymn number 327. We'll sing
it to the tune of Oh for a Thousand Tongues. 327. O for a faith that will not shrink,
though pressed by many a foe, that will not tremble on the
brink of any earthly woe, of any earthly woe, that will not
murmur nor complain beneath the chastening rod. But in the hour of grief or pain
will lean upon its God, will lean upon its God. A faith that shines more bright
and clear When tempests rage without That when in danger knows
no fear In darkness feels no doubt In darkness feels no doubt
Lord, give me such a faith as this, and then what e'er may
come, I'll taste ye now the hallowed bliss of an eternal home, of
an eternal home. be seated we'll sing hymn number
266. 266. Fade, fade, each earthly joy,
Jesus is mine. Break every tender tie, Jesus
is mine. Dark is the wilderness, Earth
has no resting place, Jesus alone can bless, Jesus is mine. Tim not my soul away, Jesus is
mine. Here would I ever stay, Jesus
is mine. Perishing things of claim, Born
but for one brief day, passed from my heart away, Jesus is
mine. Farewell, ye dreams of night,
Jesus is mine. Lost in this dawning bright,
Jesus is mine. All that my soul has tried, Let
utter dismal void Jesus has satisfied, Jesus is mine. Farewell mortality, Jesus is
mine. Welcome eternity, Jesus is mine. Welcome, oh loved and blessed,
Welcome, sweet scenes of rest. Welcome, my Savior's breast. Jesus is mine. Isaiah 11. I'll read the whole
chapter. There's another fellow who's
supposed to read tonight, but he's not here, so I'll do it. Isaiah 11. And there shall come forth a
rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch that shall grow
up out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of
the fear of the Lord, and shall make him of a quick understanding. That word quick means scent or
smell. And the fear of the Lord, and
he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove
after the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness shall
he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the
earth. And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And
righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness
the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with
the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid. and the
calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little
child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall
feed, the young ones shall lie down together, the lion shall
eat straw like the ox, and the sucking child shall play on the
hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the
cocker Christ's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy
in all my holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. And in
that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for
an instant of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek,
and his rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the Lord shall set his hand against the second
time to recover the remnant of his people. which shall be left
from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathos, and from Cush,
and from Elam, from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands
of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign
for the nations, and shall assemble the outcast of Israel, and gather
together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the
earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries
of Judah shall be cut off Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah
shall not vex Ephraim. But they shall fly upon the shoulders
of the Philistines toward the west. They shall spoil them of
the east together. They shall lay their hand upon
Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon shall obey them. And
the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea.
And with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river.
and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over
dry shod. And there shall be a highway
for the remnant of his people, where it shall be left from Assyria
like it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the
land of Egypt." Our Father, and our blessed Savior,
our Lord Jesus Christ. We come, as we always do, with
thanksgiving, so thankful, Lord, from the heart of our hearts,
for your great mercy and grace given to us in Christ. And Lord,
we thank you for your word, your word, the power that's in your
word, the instruction that's in your word, the comfort that's
in your word, the salvation that's in your word, The revelation
that you give of yourself in your word, nothing like your
word on this earth. And Lord, enable me to speak
tonight. Enable me to be a blessing to your children here. Enable
me to be a blessing to the saints of God that are listening. And
we pray especially for those who are sick, who are unable
to attend because of their frailty of body. And our blessed Savior,
please have mercy upon our children and our grandchildren. Spring
glory to yourself through us tonight, for Christ's sake. Meet
the needs of our hearts and understanding, and we'll bless you for all that
you do, and all that you even don't do, Lord, because we acknowledge
you in all things. Our faith says that you're God,
and beside you there is none other. And we bless you for being
that. In Christ's name, amen. How deep the Father's love for
us, how vast beyond all measure, that He should give His only
Son to make a registration turns his face away, as wounds
which mar the chosen one bring many sons to glory. shame, I hear my mocking voice
call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held him there
until His dying breath has brought
me life. I know that it is fixed. wisdom, but I will boast in Jesus
Christ, his death and resurrection. Why should I gain from give an answer. But this I know with all my heart. His wounds have paid my ransom. I know with all my heart his
wounds have paid my ransom. I don't know how many times,
some of the best singers in Tennessee. I've heard a lot of folks saying,
you know, some famous singers from Tennessee. I was coming
back into the country from somewhere and going through customs and
this guy asked me, he said, who's the most famous person from Tennessee?
I said, Andrew Jackson. He said, no, no, no, that can't
be right. I said, who? He said, Elvis Presley. But I tell you, these girls think
so much better than that. So much better than that. I want
to get my subject out of verse 10, if I can this evening. Verse
10 of Isaiah 11. Verse 10. And in that day, it was often times it says in
that day, There's a day of God's making. There's a day of God's
appointment. There's a day for all of us. There shall be a root of Jesse,
and the root means that he comes from Jesse. Jesse was David's
father. We shall stand for an ensign
of the people. To it, the ensign, shall the
Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious. And that's my subject
tonight. His rest shall be glorious. His rest. Let me say this at the outset. Everything about our Lord is
glorious. Everything about him is glorious.
I don't care what subject you bring up about him, he's glorious.
He is a glorious Savior, glorious King, a glorious Prince, a glorious
King sitting on His throne. And I'll tell you something,
He had the glory of God before the world ever began. Our Lord
said in John 17, as He prayed, He said, Father, glorify Thou
me with Thine own self, with the glory that I had with You
before the world ever was. Oh, he had glory before the world
and he entered back into his glory. And our Lord Jesus Christ,
glorious in all of his attributes and his power and his grace and
his love and his mercy and his kindness and his patience. Oh,
and I tell you, he was glorious in his birth. No one has ever
been born like our Lord Jesus Christ was. when nobody announcement
was ever given concerning his birth like Christ was. The angels,
the day he was born, the angels saying, glory to God in the highest. On this day in the city of David
is born a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And there was a star. that they watched, those wise
men watched that star, and that star only showed one time, never
has shined again, and it went right over where Christ was born,
and they said, this is it. And they went in, and they saw
the Lord Jesus Christ, and they come to worship Him. And oh my,
how glorious He was in His holy, sinless life. No one had a life
like our Lord. No one was as glorious as he
was. I'll tell you, his life was sinful,
I mean sinless, perfectly sinless. Never thought sin, never did
sin, never imagined sin. And oh my, what a holy, sinless
life. He said, which of you convinces
me of sin? And you know the most glorious
thing that ever happened between the eternities. eternity before
Christ came, and the eternity after Christ came, the most glorious
event that ever happened in time, the most glorious thing that
ever happened in time, that God had pointed, and that was the
glorious death of our Lord Jesus Christ. How glorious it must
have been that God took His death, and put our sins on him, and
how glorious it must have been that he had such power and such
grace and such ability to bear our sins in his own body on that
tree. And by that one sacrifice, put
away the sins of a multitude of people that cannot be numbered. Oh, what a glorious death he
had. And all the sufferings in his
death, it was not for his own, it was somebody else. And oh,
what about, what about his resurrection? What a glorious resurrection.
You know, I've never seen anybody raised from the dead. There was
one preacher years and years ago, from somewhere out in West
Tennessee, and he was supposed to raise again from the dead.
He was supposed to raise himself back up from the dead. Well,
they put him in a glass coffin. And they sat there and watched
and waited, and watched and waited, and watched and waited, and watched
and waited, but he never got up. But I tell you, when they
went to the tomb, they said, it's empty. Who are you looking
for? Jesus of Nazareth. He's not here. Where's he at? He's risen. Guess
where he's going to be? He's going to be over in Galilee,
waiting on you fellas, where he told you to be. My and what
about his ascension how glorious he was in his ascension? you
know It's the most glorious thing you can think of about our Lord. They stood watching him You know,
there was some apostles. They went outside Jerusalem and
he was standing there talking with him and he said now you
stay right here in Jerusalem don't you leave Jerusalem until
you get the Holy Ghost sent from you from heaven and And you stay
right here. And then he started losing gravity. He started going up. And he went
up so high that he started being in the clouds. And he said, why,
you men of Israel, you stand gazing up into heaven? This same
Jesus who you see going away, he'd go come back the same way.
They watched him go up in the clouds. And then they went about
their business. Oh, our Lord. And then look what
he says about himself. He himself encouraged us to come
to him and rest. And this says there in verse
10, and his rest shall be glorious. Oh, a rest, what a glorious rest
it is. What a glorious rest it is. Well,
hardly anybody knows about what rest really is. But those who
trust Christ and know Christ, they know what it is to rest
in Him, rest in what He did. You know, it's a glorious rest
because of who we're resting in. We're resting in the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's a glorious rest because
of what He does for us. And He's rest for us because
of the great, great change that's taken place. And it's a glorious
rest for us because of the security of the character of this rest.
And then I'm going to close with how somebody gets into this rest.
How you get this rest? Where do you get this rest? How
do you enter into this rest? And oh my. And they said, look,
he says, his rest shall be glorious. And you know what makes it so
glorious for us is because who we're resting in. You know who
we're resting in? We're not resting in ourselves.
We're not resting in a profession. We're not resting in our church
membership. We're not resting in our faith.
We're not resting in any work that we've ever done. We're resting
in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our rest himself. And look
who he says he is up there in verse one. And there shall come
forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow
out of his roots, He's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ there,
David's son, Christ the branch. Now let me say something about
this branch. Now you keep Isaiah 11 and look at Zechariah with
me. Now let me tell you where Zechariah
is. Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament, right before
Matthew. Malachi is. And then Zechariah
is right before Malachi. So in Zechariah chapter 6, look
with me. They're talking about our Lord
Jesus Christ bringing the branch. And you know when you talk about
David's son, Christ was David's son according to the flesh. And
when he talks about a branch, It's a living branch. It's something
that our Lord said, I'm the vine and you're the branches. But
do you know, he's a living branch. Look what he said here in Zechariah
6 in verse 12. And speak unto him, saying, Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man who is the branch. A man's a branch. He shall grow
up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord.
How's a branch going to build the temple of the Lord? Because
he's a man. And even he shall build the temple
of the Lord, and listen to this now, and shall bear the glory
and shall sit and rule upon his throne. My you know, he he is special. I mean, you know when you talk
about the branch, I got a message on the branch I don't remember
what all I said about it, but we're not talking about the branch.
We're talking about our rest Talking about our rest, but all
we're rested in Christ the root of David we're resting in the
branch the man who is the branch and And then look what it says
here in verse two. This is what makes this rest
so blessed for us. And the spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him. Oh my. The spirit of the Lord
shall rest upon him, upon Christ. Let me tell you, you know, God
the Father identified himself with the Lord Jesus Christ. God
the Father and Christ himself was one in the same. You know,
God gave him the Spirit without measure, and God, the Spirit
of the Lord, rested upon him. And when we talk about the Spirit
of the Lord, before Christ came, only the special people had the
Spirit of God. But after Christ came, Everybody
has the Spirit of God. Everybody has the Spirit of the
Lord. Everybody has the Holy Spirit. Because that's how God
saves us, by His Holy Spirit. And you know, God gave him the
Spirit without measure. And John says this, he said,
I didn't know him. I said, him that cometh after
me, he said, I'm not worthy to unlatch his shoelaces. But he
that told me and sent me said, this is how I would recognize
him when he came. He said, whomsoever the Spirit
of God you saw descending upon him in the form of a dove, the
same is he that come, and the Spirit of the Lord shall be upon
him. And you know, they said to our Lord Jesus Christ, show
us the Father, and it'll satisfy us. He said, have I been with
you such a long time, and you've not seen me? He said, he that
has seen me has seen the Father. That's one of those great mysteries
of godliness, that God and the Father, if you can get this right
here, this is God the Father and God the Son are the same
age. Now how can that be? I'm exactly
20 years older than my son, 22 years older than my daughter. But Christ and the Father both
exist from eternity. Well, God cannot be seen and
God cannot be known, so how's God gonna make Himself known?
How can we see? He come in the person of His
Son and took on Himself the flesh as the seed of David. That's
what makes it so glorious. That's what makes it so glorious.
Look what else it says about Him. in verse 2. And the Spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him. And listen to this, the Spirit of wisdom and
understanding. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding.
Who in the world ever was wise and had the understanding of
our Lord Jesus Christ? In Luke chapter 2, his mother and daddy, they all
went up to worship the Lord. And they started back home. And
they was gone. And they said, where's the Lord
Jesus Christ at? Where's my son at? And they turned
around, and they thought he was with them, but with the neighbors.
And that's what a lot of people think. They just assume that
Christ is there, Christ is with them. But our Lord Jesus Christ
didn't go. They said, well, he's with our
other families, with my sisters, with my brother. And nobody,
they said, where's he at? Where's he at? They couldn't
find him. And they turned around and went back to Jerusalem. You
know what he was doing? He was 12 years old. He was meeting
the wisest men of his day, the scholars of his day, the smartest
men of his day. 12 years old, he confounded them. And you know what he promised
us? Those that believe on him shall never be confounded. will
never be confounded. And oh, he had this, oh, he had
this, the treasures of the wisdom of God is in him. And you know,
he confronted when he was 12 and made those look like a bunch
of fools. He himself is our wisdom. What do I mean by that? How can
we know God apart from Christ? God gave us the wisdom of the
Spirit of God that we could understand the scriptures, that we can know
what it is to pray, that we can know what it is to trust Christ.
If we have a wisdom, Christ Himself is our wisdom. When we look for
any reason for God to do anything for us, Christ is that power
by which God does it for us. Christ is that wisdom by which
God does it for us. And He gives us the power and
wisdom both. And they're both found in our
Lord Jesus Christ. And the first thing He said over
in Proverbs, lean not to your own understanding. Don't do it. Understanding and wisdom just
comes from Him. Oh, ain't you grateful? That's
a rest. I mean, I can rest in Christ,
in His wisdom, in His understanding. Oh, my. And this word, understanding, that's something I've, oh, my.
I pray for understanding every time I get up to preach, every
time I open the Bible. But here's the things He gives
us that gives us rest. He gives us an understanding
of God. I mean, not just any God, the
God of the Bible, the living God, the true God. He gives us
understanding of God. And I'll tell you something else,
He gives us an understanding of ourselves. And when we have
an understanding of ourselves, we know that we can't rest in
ourselves. We know we can't trust in ourselves.
So what do we do? We don't lean to our understanding,
we lean on His. His understanding. And then,
bless His holy name, He gives an understanding of who He Himself
is. Oh, my. He broke into time from eternity
to give us this wisdom and understanding. Oh, He gives us a wisdom and
understanding of Himself. of his self. And then look what
else it says about him. In verse two, the spirit of counsel
and might. That means he's got the power.
That means he got all the power. He got all the counsel. A fellow
wrote the other day, wrote, and he said, over in Proverbs says,
Who knows his name, and who knows the father's name, and who knows
his name, and the father's name, and the son's name? And I said,
oh my, I said, I know his name. He wrote back, and you know what
he says? Thou shalt call his name Wonderful, Counselor, the
Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace, and
the government shall be on his shoulders. You need counsel? I love what Bruce Crabtree said.
People come to him for counsel. He said, listen, the only counsel
I do is from the pulpit. I'll tell you what, you have
a question. You have something going on in
your life or in your mind. And sure enough, as sure as you
come to the surface, God will meet your needs in the gospel.
It's never failed. Old Bruce Daley used to say all
the time, he said, you been reading my mail? You've been reading my mail.
You know, and that's the thing about it. It's just, you know,
and the counsel, he gives us the strength. He counsels us,
makes us know our need. And he's mighty enough and glorious
enough and powerful enough to bring us to God. He brings us
to God, making many souls unto glory. And oh, look what else
it says about him. And the spirit of knowledge and
the fear of the Lord. Oh, my. Nobody knows God like he did.
And you know, this is an amazing thing, but Christ had the fear
of the Lord in him. Had the fear of the Lord in him.
He didn't fear God like, you know, in the sense that there
was a dread no more than we fear God like there's a dread or something.
But it means that he had such a reverence, such a willingness
to do what his father appointed him to do. Because he would not
fail him in any way. I will not fail him in any way.
And then let me give you the second point here. He's glorious,
our glorious rest because what he does, look down verse three. Not only has he had the fear
of the Lord, but the Lord shall make him quick of understanding. And look what it says. And he,
and he shall not judge after the sight of the eyes nor reprove
after the hearing of the ears." Now, that's different than what
you and I do. He don't judge by sight. He don't judge by sight. We judge by sight. But you know,
you remember when Samuel was going to anoint a king over Israel,
and he went down to Jesse's house. Jesse had seven boys. And he
went down there to anoint a king. And boy, the first, he sent all
of his six sons down, and there was one missing. And there on
Elihu, he stood up and he said, oh, said, this has got to be
the one. He's the big, handsome, and oldest, strongest one. Stood
up before Samuel. It's not him. He went through
all six of them, said, you got any children left? We do. He's just a boy. And he's out
there tending sheep. Go fetch him, go get him, bring
him. And when he stood before him, you know this is what Samuel
said. He said, this is the one. He
poured oil over him and said, you're the king of Israel from
now on. And you know what? And Samuel said this, God does
not look on the outward appearance. God looks on the heart. And he looks on the heart. He
don't look on the outside. He looks on the heart, and I'm
so glad He does. And He knows the thoughts and
the intents of our hearts. And that's what He tells us.
And then look what it says, He won't reprove after the hearing
of His ears. He don't reprove us after the
hearing of His ears. You know what He reproves after?
After us not doing what His Word says. And oh, man, you know,
he don't reprove by the hearing of the year. He doesn't do that.
Oh, my. We hear rumors, you know, as
two ugly sisters. I mentioned them before, and
I've done several things that I need to make a bulletin article
about. As two ugly sisters, let me tell
you who they are. Rumor and gossip. They're two
ugly sisters. Rumor starts a rumor, and I tell
you as old Joe McSherry said, a lie will get up and go a mile
around the block before the truth will get off the stoop. And gossip,
when it goes, did you hear? Did you hear? Did you hear? Did
you hear? And you know the only thing that'll
stop gossip? Don't listen to it. Don't don't
list the rumors and that's what he said to ugly sister and that's
why our Lord said he don't reprove with the hearing ear He hears what we say he don't
have to reprove us he's already knows what we're going he knows
what we're gonna think before we think it I'm gonna go down
and see what they said You know, most people in religion,
that's what they think they got to do. It's like when all those
false prophets of Baal was with Elisha. They went to jumping
up and down and screaming and hollering and everything and
said, calling on their God. They called for all day long.
He said he never answered. Never answered. Make all kinds
of noise, never answered. Then look what, look what else
it says of what makes our rest glorious. Look what it says here
in verse four. I love this. With righteousness
shall he judge the poor. Righteousness shall he judge
the poor. Now, he's not talking about people with poverty of
money. That's not what he's talking
about. That's not what he's talking about. But who is the poor before
the Lord? Who is really poor before the
Lord? Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs shall be the
kingdom of God. And who is poor before the Lord?
Everyone is. They may not know it, but oh
my, some know their poverty. And you know, our Lord said he
preaches the gospel to the poor, poor in spirit, poor in spirit. And that's what he's talking
about. You know, he says here, with righteousness shall he judge
the poor. And he does it righteously. He
don't go around here and see who's, you know, look, see how
much money somebody's got. He's talking about poverty of
spirit. And then the people that's rich and increased with goods
and have need of nothing, you don't pay attention to them.
He's not talking about money or possessions, about heart,
spirit. God resists the proud. And look
what else it says here now. That he with equity, the make
of the earth. And I love this right here. Look
what he said. He shall smite the earth with the rod of his
mouth and with the breath of his lips, shall he say the wicked.
Up here, he's got the spirit of wisdom and understanding.
Down here, he's a judge. He's a judge. Now, where in the
world is that at? You keep this and look with me
over in Revelations 19. Look in Revelations 19. Well,
Revelations 2 first. Let's look in Revelations 2.
Then we'll go to Revelation. Talking about our Lord Jesus
Christ. You know, he shall smite the
earth. with the rod of his mouth. He don't have to use anything
but his mouth. With the breath of his lips shall he slay, just
breathe on him, slay the wicked. Look what he said here in Revelations
2 27. And he shall rule them with a
rod of iron and the vessels of potter shall be broken to shivers
even as I received from my father. And then look what it says over
here in Revelations 19 15. This is how glorious Christ is. This is the one we're resting
in. All he got to do is just the rod of his mouth, he slays
the wicked. With the breath of his mouth,
he slays the wicked. That's what he said here in verse
15. And out of his mouth shall goeth a sharp sword, and with
it he shall smite the nations, shall rule them with a rod of
iron, And he treads the winepress of the wrath, the fierceness
of the wrath of the almighty God. Oh my, that's all it takes
for him to destroy somebody. Just speak, just speak. That's all it takes, that's all
it takes. Slay the wicked with the breath of his mouth. And
he's qualified to do this because it says in verse five, His righteousness shall be the
girdle of his loins. And with righteousness, he's
going to judge the people. You know, he's qualified. Do
you know why he's qualified? And I'm going to have you look
at another verse. You got to see this at Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23, you got to see this. Do you know why? Because his
righteousness is the girdle of his loins. Jeremiah 23. Look what it says in verse 5. Oh, he's qualified because he's
righteous and he's faithful. And behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch. And a king shall reign and prosper,
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. That's
Christ. And in his days, Judah shall
be saved, Israel shall delve safely, and this is the name
whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteous. He judges in righteousness. He
can't judge any other way. He's righteous himself. Can't
judge any of it. Back over here to chapter 11
now. And oh, what a glorious press
rest because of the great change that he has brought and has taken
place. Look what he said in verse 6
and 7 down through here. You're talking about a change. The wolf also shall dwell with
the lamb. And the leopards shall lie down
with the kid, and the calf and the young lion, the fatly together,
and the little child shall leave them. Now, what in the world
is he talking about here? Our Lord Jesus changes our nature
so dramatically and so gloriously that there's people that's like
ravening wolves. They're like a wolf. I mean,
they're fierce. They're wild. And then he said,
but I'm going to change their nature to such that they can
lay down with me, lay down with the lamb. You know, I'm going to change,
I'm going to change their nature so much that they're going to
be able to lay down with the lamb. Now that's something only
God can do that. And look what else he said here.
And the leper shall lie down with the kid. Leopards, you know,
they were killed it would eat that lamb. It would eat that
kid, but God changes the nature so much You know a leopard you
Dougie was when they went over to South Africa. They went on
safari and there was a Lion up in a tree that he had got a big
animal some kind of an animal had up in that tree and he had
the picture up and he was chewing on that thing and you could hear
the bones crack and Well, that's why lepers are. They want to
kill. They want to destroy. But God
changes that nature so much that they can lay down with a baby
goat. And here's the thing about him.
He takes all these different animals, and all these different
types, and all these cruel things, and he brings us all together,
and makes us all of one mind, and one heart, and one nature,
till we all can dwell together at peace. Huh? He changes us
so, you know, so radically. Oh, my. And then he said, the
calf shall lie down with the lion. Oh, my. A young lion and a fat calf can
lay down together. That just, only God can do that. Only God can do that. Everybody
think that's gonna be in the future. This is what the gospel
does for us. Changes our nature so dramatically
that rough men, you know, who could have been rougher than
those James and John and Simon Peter? And yet God made them
lay down and with the lamb. And oh my, and look what it says.
And a little child shall lead them. You know what our Lord
said about a little child? Those fellows running around
trying to figure out which one of them was going to be the greatest
in the kingdom of God. And our Lord never even listened,
you know. They was off talking to themselves and they got up
to where Christ was. And Christ, they just arrived
there and he got a little baby. got a little baby, and he said
to that little baby and that little child in front of those,
you know, except you become as this little child, you can't
enter the kingdom of God. They're just bragging, so who's
going to be the greatest? And you know, God does. He's got to make it. We're as
dependent upon Christ as a baby is upon its mama. All we're able
to do, I'm telling you, I'm telling you, I'm telling you, all we're
able to do is make a mess, and Christ is the only one who can
clean it up. A child shall lead them. And
you know what that shows, when a child shall lead them. I thank
thee, Father, hid these things from the wise and prudent and
revealed them unto me. It shows humility and meekness,
except you become as this little child. Oh, my. And he, you came into the kingdom,
he reveals the truth to babes, to babies, to little babies.
And then look at the security. Look at the security of the people
in God's kingdom. And look what it says in verse
eight and nine. And the sucking child shall play on the hole
of an asp, poisonous thing. The weaned child shall put his
hand on the cockatrice den, that's an adder. And they shall not
hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall
be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the
sea. Oh, it tells us the security,
no matter what goes on in this world. Whether you're a baby,
whether you're a child of God, whatever. When, you know, when
our Lord says, you know, you'll handle snakes and all that, He's
talking about people. He said, the poison of Asp is
under their lips. The poison of Asp is in their
tongue. And you know, these people with their tongues and with the
poison of Asp, they don't hurt us. A baby plays with them and
they don't hurt them. And Adam won't hurt them. You
know why? These serpents, generation of vipers and serpents is what
our Lord called them. And that's what he said, a child
shall play on these things and won't hurt them. And you know,
we've been around a lot of serpents in our day. I've been around
a lot of them. And their bite does not hurt
a bit. It don't hurt. It don't hurt. All right. And look what it says
there. In verse 9, they shall not hurt
or destroy in all my holy mountain. God's people don't hurt or destroy
anything in God's kingdom. That's not our nature. It's not
our nature to hurt. It's not our nature to destroy.
It's not our nature to tear down. God gave us this new nature.
And oh, look at that security of that rest. You know, sucking
child, the earth shall be full. And let me show, look in Isaiah
43, look in Isaiah 43, talking about how secure we are. You
know, the sucking child, the sucking child to do this, the
weaned child. And look what he said here in
Isaiah 43 in verse two. This is how secure we are. When we're playing up with these
serpents and playing around these serpents and these adders and
these vipers, when thou passest through the waters, I'll be with
you. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire,
thou shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon you. And oh, you know what our Lord
said, I'll never, ever, never, ever leave you. I won't do it. And you know, that's one thing
about the pores of asbestos under their lips. And then look what
he says there in verse 10. Go back to the last verse. And in that day, in that day,
he says, there shall be out of the roots of David, the root
of Jesse, shall stand for an ensign, an ensign. You know what
an ensign is? An ensign's a banner. a banner,
a badge, colors, a coat of arms, something you recognize immediately. You know, when I was in the Marine
Corps, when we was in boot camp, every platoon has a guide on. He leads the march, and he's
got the colors of that particular a platoon with him. And when
you look at that, that made you understand what platoon you was
in. And then there's people that have coats of arms. And that's
what it means. It's a banner, a big banner that
comes up there. And you see and you understand
immediately what it means. And look what it says, and to
this instant of the people, and it's for the people, This branch,
this root of Jesse, look what it says. This instant, when we
see it, when we see these colors, we see this badge, we see this
banner, we see this coat of arms of our Savior, the Gentiles start
looking at it. The Gentiles start seeking. Oh,
my. Don't say nothing about the Jews.
Talk about us Gentiles. He, the Lord, is our righteousness.
Now, how in the world, and this is my last point, I hope I haven't
weird you. But my last point is how do you
enter into this rest? How do you enter into it? His
rest shall be glorious. Well, look in Isaiah 53, and
I'll show you one thing. Isaiah 53. This is how you enter into this rest.
By knowledge of the Lord. Look what he says in Isaiah 53
in verse 11. yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him, to bruise Christ. God put Christ to grief. When
you made his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. And he shall
see of the travail of his soul, the pain of his soul, and shall
be satisfied." And listen to this, "'And by his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities.'" That's how you got to know. You got to know
the Lord. You got to know the Lord. This
is eternal life, that they might know God. And I want to show
you the last thing in Hebrews chapter 4. And I'm done. I'm
done. Look at Hebrews chapter 4 with me. Look what our Lord said here.
Now, we're talking about entering into rest. His rest is glorious. How do you enter into this rest? How does a person have this rest?
When I was in religion, I never had any rest, never had any peace. But now I've got rest. Look what
he said in verse 1 of Hebrews 4. Let us, therefore, fear, lest
a promise being left of us entering into his rest, any of you should
seem to come short of it. Miss it by a day, a day late
and a dollar short, as they say. And this is the reason for unto
us God preached the gospel. as well as he did unto them.
But the word, the gospel that was preached to them did not
profit them, didn't do them any good at all, not being mixed
with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed
do enter into rest, do enter into rest. And he said, I've
sworn in my wrath that they shall enter into my rest, although
the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
And then look what he says down there in verse 6. Seeing therefore
it remaineth that some must enter therein into whom it was first
preached entered not in because of unbelief. Everybody that left
Egypt that was over 20 years of old died in the wilderness. Everybody 20 years and younger
didn't. And so they was, if you was 20,
you was 40 when you got out of the wilderness. God killed every
one of them. because they murmured and complained and had the gospel
preached. But look what he says. And then he talks about Joshua
down in verse four. If Joshua had given them rest,
then would not afterwards spoken of another day. There remaineth
therefore a rest. And that means a keeping of the
Sabbath. God, when he created on the seventh
day, he rested from his works. And this is the key to it right
here. For he that entereth into his rest, into God's rest, he
hath also ceased from his own works as God did his. That's how you enter into rest.
Stop working. Just quit working. Just quit
working. Quit working. You're all shirtless
sons. He goes to a church, and that's
where your wife go, and he said, I hate going there. All they
want to do is just motivate you, motivate you, motivate you to
do better, to do better, to do better. Well, listen, we're not
looking to do better. You can't be better than Christ.
You can't have a better salvation, a better rest, a better hope,
a better faith than what Christ gives us. You can't do it, can
you? Can't do it. Oh, blessed, blessed Savior,
how wonderfully gracious you are, how wonderfully kind, how
wonderfully gracious and merciful you are. Lord, we cry out to
you as people in the Bible did, and you stop and you listen to
us and you receive us. There's so much about you and
your word that we don't understand, but oh, Lord, we love it and
we believe it. Oh, we love it and we believe
it. Thank you for making us new creatures. Thank you for giving
us new hearts. Thank you for being our righteousness.
Thank you for giving us this blessed hope. Thank you for the
faith that you gave us in Christ before the world ever began.
Oh, Lord, thank you that you said it, God's right hand. And
right now, you intercede for us. You understand us when we
don't know what we're even praying for, don't know have words to
put it in. But you understand us, just like
a mother understands her baby that just cries and jabbers. When we cry and jabber, Lord,
you understand us, and we're thankful for that. God bless
my dear brothers and sisters as they go on their ways. God
bless those that watch tonight and listen tonight. And, Lord,
thank you for another day of mercy and grace given us in Christ. And, Lord, blessed be your holy
name. Amen. Amen. 318. 318, the hymn book. We'll stand together and then
you'll be at liberty to go. 318. 318. I love this old song. I need Thee every hour, most
gracious Lord. No tender voice like Thine can
peace afford. I need Thee, oh, I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior. I need Thee every hour. Stay thou nearby, temptations
lose their power, when thou art nigh. I need Thee, oh, I need
Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior. I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour. Enjoy your pain. Come quickly and abide, or life
is vain. I need Thee, O Lord, I need You. Every hour. I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior.
I come to you, Lord, I come to you. I need thee every hour, most holy
one. Oh, make me thine indeed, for
life is vain. I need thee, oh, I need thee. Every hour I need thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior. I come to thee. The Lord bless you and keep you,
and I'll see you Wednesday, God willing. Oh, I can't go on. So, uh, you know, that's why
I called you here. That's what I'm saying. Man,
you don't know a better man than I do. Oh, yeah, I'd like to be
there. I'd like to be there. I'd like to be there. I'd like to be there.
I'd like to be there. I'd like to be there. I'd like
to be there. I'd like to be there. I'd like to be there. I'd like
to be there. I'd like to be there. I'd like to be there. I'd like
to be there. I'd like to be there. I'd like to be there. I'd like
to be there. I'd like to be there. I'd like to be there. I'd like
to be there. I'd like to be there. I'd like to be there. I'd like to
be there. I'd like to be there. I'd like
to be there. I'd like to be there. I'd like to be there. I'd like Thank you. Thank you. Pass over and talk fish in it. I saw a big old ground. I've got a picture of it. I've
got a picture of it. And I had all the clothes on
that I got. And that was the first time I
ever saw one like these. And I went down to look at it. And I looked at all these guys. And I'm going to have all these
guys in my heart. And there was one sitting right
there in the lane. Thank you all for this. Oh, my
goodness. I don't know why in the world
I didn't have to say more about this. I'll do it for another
party. I couldn't possibly. Listen.
You know, I just don't think I could do
that.