The name of the message is Christ
Our Answer, Isaiah chapter 11. We'll read verses 1 to 10 this
morning. And there shall come forth a
rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of
his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him. the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel in might, the spirit of knowledge and of
the fear of the Lord, and shall make him of quick understanding
in 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 the little child shall lead them, and the cow
and the bear shall feed their young ones, shall lie down together,
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the suckling
child shall play on the hole of the ass, and the weaned child
shall put his hand on the cockatrice den. They shall not hurt nor
destroy in all my holy mountains. for the earth shall be full of
the knowledge of the Lord, as the water shall cover the sea.
And here's our text, verse 10. And in that day, there shall
be a root of Jesse, the same one that's spoken of in verse
one is the stem of Jesse, the branch. a branch, singular, a
branch. And in that day there shall be
a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people.
To it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious.
Today we'll look at verse 10 of this text, which proclaims
that the branch spoken of in verse 1 is the ensign of God's
people, and to it, to the ensign, will the Gentiles seek. Let's
read verse 10 again. And in that day, there shall
be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek,
and his rest shall be glorious. Now the definition for ensign
according to Merriam-Webster dictionary is a flag that is
flown as a symbol of nationality and that may also be flown with
a distinctive badge added to its design. So an ensign is that
which is flown by the armed forces of a nation and it's a standard
that's out there. It's a symbol of nationality
and it's also again can have a distinctive badge added to
it but it's an ensign that goes forth as an army goes forth it
goes forth before them. Today I'd like us to consider
how Christ is the ensign of his church. He is the standard of
his church. Christ and Christ alone is the
one who the preacher wants to uphold. He's the one that we
want to uphold. He's the one that we want to
proclaim before whoever's listening to us, whether it be whoever's
sitting with us or whether it be whoever hears the messages
that goes forth out to the internet. Christ is the one who the gospel
preacher wants to hold forth before you. And each time we
proclaim the gospel, we proclaim that salvation is only found
in Him. Only found in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He who is the ensign of His born-again
blood-washed people. That's Christ. Christ is the
ensign of His born-again blood-washed people and may God the Holy Spirit
be pleased to illuminate the scriptures today as we look at
them and pour out his spirit upon us and may Christ be in
our midst we know that we're two or three are gathered together
in his name there are there am I in the midst of he tells us
he declares to us and may the Holy Spirit cause we who are
his people to gather around Christ who is our ensign Beloved of
God, we see here in the text in Isaiah, we see Christ proclaimed
in the Old Testament. He's the root of Jesse. He's
the branch spoken of. And it's he who came to this
world. He left heaven. He left the glories
and splendor of heaven. And it was he who came to this
world. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
God incarnate in the flesh. He was God, God with us, Emmanuel,
God with us. God incarnate in the flesh. And
as a man, our Savior was a branch, the branch, singular, the branch,
capital B. Not just any branch, but a branch
sent from God. He grew out of Jesse's roots,
but beloved he is God. is the root from whom Jesse had
his life and his being. He is God is the root from whom
Jesse had his life and his being. And the text which we have read
today is a prophecy of Christ coming into the world and his
being lifted up as the ensign of his people for the gathering
of all the elect through all the ages. unto him in saving
faith because just as the saints of old look to Christ who is
our Anson we look to Christ who is our Anson and future generations
if the Lord tarries we don't know when he's coming but if
he tarries future generations of the Lord's people will look
to Christ who is our ensign as well. Let's read the text again
with this in our minds. Let's look at verse 10 again.
And in that day, that's this blessed gospel age, beloved,
there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign
of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek,
and his rest shall be glorious. Not just any rest, but a glorious
rest. And we could say that as the
people of God, can't we? we can say from our hearts, from
redeemed born-again hearts, we can say truly God's rest is glorious
because that glorious rest is in Christ and Him alone. And
in Christ we have the forgiveness of all our sins. Wrath of God
has been turned away from us because it fell upon our mighty
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. His precious blood was shed to
purchase our eternal souls, what rest we have, what rest we have,
as opposed to religion that says, let's go and do whatever we can.
Well, we have a rest. We get the rest in Christ. We
get the rest in the finished work of Christ. Isn't that wonderful? We've ceased from our labors
like the scripture says, haven't we? And we just rest in our savior.
We rest in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
it's glorious, isn't it? It's absolutely glorious. Now
in ancient times, armies would march into battle with the standard
bearer before them. The general would go before the
standard bearer, then the standard bearer would come, and then would
come the armies behind them. And the standard bearer had the
privilege of holding and walking and marching with the fellow
soldiers, but with the ensign. And the ensign would be a flag
or an ensign of their nation. The Romans had the eagle. Each
legion would march into battle in a column as they were traveling. with a general at the head and
the standard bearer behind them carrying the eagle of the legion.
And then the legion marched in column behind them to battle. In the United States Army, Navy,
Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Air Force, a guidon is a military
standard that a company or a battery or a troop or platoon-sized detachments
carry to signify their unit designation and branch corps. their affiliation,
or the title of the individual who carries it. A basic guidon
can be rectangular, but sometimes has a triangular position, removed
from the fly, known as a swallowtail. Now listen to this. The significance
and importance of the guidon is that it represents the unit.
and its commanding officer. When the commander is in, his
or her guidon is displayed for everyone to see. When the commander
leaves for the day, the guidon is taken down. It is an honor,
it is an honor to be the guidon carrier for a unit that you're
in, to be known as the guidon bearer or guide. Donny Bell and
I were talking the other day, he gave me a call and he said
in the Marine Corps, the guidon, the guidon bearer he called them,
after boot camp would march in front of the platoon and behind
the drill sergeant, similar to what the Romans did. So the drill
sergeant would be in front, then came the guidon, and then came
the platoon behind them. And the Marine Corps did this
in drills and ceremonies. Again, the guidon and the commander
are always in front of the formation. Now, remember the scripture before
us is written by Isaiah and it's written by inspiration of the
Holy Spirit of God. So one may ask, what is Isaiah's
meaning? How are we to understand the
prophecy of Christ being an ensign to the people of God? Again,
the ensign is a standard, a banner. or the flag of an army. And the
standard bearer is the soldier who carries the flag behind the
commander who leads the brigade and directs the battle. Now the
ensign for God's people is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is he who
we who are the people of God rally around. The preacher is
a standard bearer. Holding Christ high, that's all
we do. We hold Christ high through the
preaching of the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
God's elect, his soldiers, his sheep, gather around the ensign,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And beloved, Christ is our ensign,
our rallying point. Left on our own? Could you imagine
the condition we'd be in if our great God just left us to ourselves?
If he didn't rally us around Christ? Could you imagine the
condition we'd be in? we'd be a mess. Christ is our
ensign, our rallying point. He's our rallying point. Like
a scattered army in ancient days who has been routed or scattered
in all different directions. We have a mighty ensign, a mighty
commanding general who appeared before Joshua as the captain
of the Lord's host. And we rally around him, don't
we? Every time we hear the gospel, we rally around him. We rally
around our great God. Maybe through the week we've
wandered a little bit, or our thoughts have wandered. It's
not maybe, is it? It happens to we who are the
people of God. And then when we hear the gospel
preached and proclaimed, whether it be Sunday, Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, whenever we hear the gospel preached
and proclaimed, oh, we rally around our kingdom. Our hearts
are revived and refreshed by the preaching of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ, by Him, Him alone. Turn, if you would,
to Joshua, Joshua chapter five. Here's an Old Testament Christophany,
a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. And look how he appears
to Joshua. Know how this will bring comfort
to the souls of God's people. He's the captain, beloved, of
the Lord's house. He's the captain of all the angels
of God. He's the, he's over everything. He's the ruler over everything.
But look how he appears to Joshua here. Here appears Joshua as
a mighty soldier. Joshua chapter 5 verses 13 to
15. And it came to pass when Joshua
was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold
there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his
hand and Joshua went unto him and he said unto him art thou
for us or for our adversaries? Now listen to the response by
this man who's appeared before him with a sword in his hand. And I can just, in my own mind,
I picture him all armored up and with a sword in his hand,
just ready for battle. My, and listen to what he says
to Joshua. And he said, nay, but as the
captain of the host of the Lord, am I now come. He came, he came
to Joshua, didn't he? He didn't leave Joshua where
he was. He came to his people and he's going to do battle for
them. Look what he says. And Joshua fell on his face to
the earth and did worship and said unto him, what sayeth my
Lord unto his servant? Now remember when an angel appears
to a saint in the scriptures, the angel always says, don't
worship me. Don't, don't bow down to me. But this, this man
didn't say that. Because this is, again, a Christophany,
a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the
captain of the host of the Lord. Everything in heaven is at his
command. Look at his response in verse
15. And the captain of the Lord's hosts said unto Joshua, Loose
thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place wherein thou standest
is holy. And Joshua did so. Now Moses was told the same thing
in the book of Exodus, wasn't he? So this is no ordinary man
appearing before Joshua. This is the Lord Jesus Christ,
my captain, the captain of the host of the Lord, the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. He's a man of war too, isn't
he? Look at that. He's ready to go to battle before
his people. He's ready. And you know, he
has a whole host with him, beloved. Oh my. Those walls, they just
followed his command, don't they? You don't need no help. They
just followed his command. And they did. And they did. So
we see in our text that Christ is the ensign of his people.
And we see in Joshua 5, 13 to 15, that he's the commander of
the Lord's host. And we know he is the commander
of his people. Again, he goes into battle before
us and we follow him. Now think of this. Think of what
we see here. We see a man appear to Joshua
who is the captain of the host of the Lord. That's our Savior,
beloved. That's our Savior. Does he look
like someone who's done all he can do? Now, did he say to Joshua,
well, I've done all I can do and now it's the rest is up to
you. No, he said, I'm here as a captain of the Lord's house.
That's my title. God, God, so it's ridiculous
when people make statements like that. And this is the one who
saved our soul. This is the one. The captain
of the host of the Lord is the one who left heaven, set aside
his glory, beloved, to come down to this earth and to save his
people from their sins. Lord Jesus Christ did that. God
incarnated in the flesh. Let us now consider some ways
that Christ is the ensign of his people. First point, Christ
is an ensign for war. Now an ensign is usually associated
with war. And beloved, let us never forget
that we are in spiritual warfare in this world. We have three
enemies in this world, the world, the flesh, and the devil. And
we are plagued with this body of death, the flesh, which I
believe is our worst enemy. We are plagued with this body
of death until the Lord takes us home. And while we are saved
sinners, we struggle every day, don't we? There's not a day that
goes by. There's not an hour that goes
by. There's not a minute that goes by where we don't struggle
with sin. We're prideful, rebellious human
beings. Even after we're saved, oh my,
even after we're saved, we're just but sinners saved by the
grace of God. And we struggle with sin every
day. If you don't think you do, you're deceiving yourself. And
we also have the world, which is constantly before us, luring
us to look away from Christ, luring us to look away from Christ,
which is the opposite of what the Holy Scriptures proclaim,
right? Paul again said to set your mind on things above. Well,
the world wants you to set your eyes upon the world and the allurements
of the world. And we are so prone, beloved.
Paul wrote those words. Remember to this, that Paul wrote
those words. to set your mind and your affection
in Colossians. He wrote those words, to set
your mind and your affections upon Christ who is above. You
know why he did that? Because we're so prone to forget.
You know why we have to hear the gospel over and over and
over again? Because we're so prone to forget. I was having a wonderful conversation
with a dear sweet sister last night, and she brought that forth. We're so prone just to let our
minds wander, aren't we? And we are. But we know when
we hear the gospel, we're refreshed and rejoiced. When we meet with
other believers and we talk with them about the wondrous things
that the Christ has done for us, oh, it excites our hearts. Our hearts burn within us, don't
they? They just burn within us. Oh, we're so prone to take our
eyes off Christ. But the Scripture constantly,
through the preaching of the Word, the Scripture constantly
brings Christ before us. The Scripture constantly brings
Christ, who is our Ensign, before us. So we're at war in this body
of flesh, beloved. We're at war. This world and
its temptations is constantly at war with the flesh. And we're
at war with Satan, who seeks to destroy the believer. But
never forget, rejoice, beloved of God. He can only do what God
allows. We saw that with Joe. And we
who are the people of God are under constant care and protection
of our great God. So we see then that the church
in this world is always at war, but rejoice, beloved of God,
as Christ is an ensign for his soldiers who are at war with
the world, the flesh, and the devil. He is called a leader
and a commander to the people, Isaiah 55.4. He's called the
captain of our salvation in Hebrews 2.10. And here he is called an
ensign of the people in our text in verse 10. And in that day
there shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an ensign
of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek
and his rest shall be glorious. You see Christianity again is
a warfare. Beloved the people of God are
soldiers, soldiers. So rejoice beloved and look to
our great commander the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our captain,
our commander, our ensign, our refuge, our hiding place, our
all in all, and we are soldiers under the command of our great
God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And as such, we must
endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ, 2 Timothy 2.3. And
we are to stand fast, having our loins girded about with truth,
Ephesians 6, 14, and that's Christ. We know that whole armor of God
is Christ. It's Christ. And we march into
battle behind our great commander, beloved, who goes before us.
In the face of Satan's temptations and despite the world's opposition
and in direct opposition to the desires, tendencies, and pleasures
of the flesh, we march behind our king. Oh my beloved, as he
led Israel through that wilderness, so he leads every one of his
born again blood-bought children through the wilderness of this
world. And you know where he's taking us? Right to home. Right
to home, boy. May God give us grace and strength,
whatever the cost, to follow Christ, who is our ensign, as
good soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Point number two, beloved,
our great ensign, the Lord Jesus Christ is an advancing ensign.
Now a routed army in ancient days rallied around the ensign
and either fell back to safety or advanced again according to
the commander's orders. The Lord Jesus Christ, our great
commander, is ever on the move, beloved, through this world,
constantly advancing, gathering the spoils of his victory at
the cross, which is his people. by the gospel of salvation in
and through him alone. And note on our text, he is said
to stand because he stands forever, immutable. He stands forever
as our immutable Savior, beloved. Look at the text again. And in
that day, there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for
an ensign of the people, to which shall the Gentiles seek, and
his rest shall be glorious. We know Hebrews 13, verse eight,
says Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Oh, he's
unchanging. And Jesus Christ, our Lord, like
the tabernacle of old, moves from place to place as he is
held forth in the preaching of the gospel. And rejoice, beloved
of God, where the gospel is preached, there Christ is. And when the
gospel is taken away, Christ is gone. gone so beloved of God
rejoices we are privileged to have the light of the gospel
here in Elmont Michigan amongst us therefore let us follow the
direction of our ensign Christ who is our ensign John chapter
12 turn there if you would John chapter 12 look at these words
of our Savior in John chapter 12 verses 35 and 36. Then Jesus
said unto them, yet a little while is the light with you.
Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you.
For he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.
They're blindly walking, not knowing where they're going,
walking in darkness. And I ask you, was that not us
before the Lord saved us? Was that not our situation before
the Lord saved us? Were we not just walking around,
groping in the dark before the Lord saved us? Yes, we were.
Oh, yes, we were. Well, ye have the light, believe
in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These
things spake Jesus and departed and did hide himself from them.
Christ is the light. He is the light. The third point
I'd like us to consider is Christ is a gathering ensign. a gathering
ensign. Now in ancient times, and as
we saw earlier in the study with the Marine Corps, the purpose
of the ensign is the gathering of soldiers to rally them before
the commander. And beloved, the standard bearer,
the sent gospel preacher holds forth Christ, who is our ensign. He's our ensign. And the gospel
preacher just holds him forth, just holds him forth. And as
the message goes forth here and into the world, the Lord's people
are gathered. They're gathered by the power
of the Holy Ghost, power of the Holy Spirit of God. And who are
they gathered to? Christ, who is our ensign. That's
who they're gathered to. And through the preaching of
the gospel, Christ by his servant says, come unto me, all ye that
labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. I'll give
you rest. Take up the cross and follow
me. Whosoever will, let him come unto me. Let him come unto me.
Oh my. What a great Savior. What a great
Savior. And when Christ speaks to his
people through the preaching of the Word of God, the truth
of the prophecy we see in verse 10, to him shall the Gentiles
seek. The one who is the ensign is
brought forth all by the power and might of God, the Holy Spirit. We are made to seek God. We are made willing. The unwilling
are made willing. in the day of God's power. And we seek God. We seek God,
don't we? We seek him. And this is a work
of our great God. Look at Isaiah chapter 11. Look
at verse 12. Look at verse 12. This is all
by the power and the work of our great God that we will seek
Christ who is the ensign of God's people. It says in Isaiah 11,
verse 12, and he shall set up an ensign for the nations. God's
people are a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation,
and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together
the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Note
what's said there, and he shall set up an instant. God will do
this. And note what it also says, and shall assemble the outcasts
of Israel. That's us, we're the Israel of God, God's people.
God's born-again, blood-washed people are the outcasts of Israel. And gathered together, dispersed
of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Who's doing that?
Is that those outcasts of Israel saying, well, now I'm gonna make
a decision now? No, it says God will gather them together. This
is a work of God, beloved, and God alone. Genesis chapter 49,
verse 10 says, the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a
lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come. and unto him
shall the gathering of the people be. Isaiah chapter 56, verse
eight, it says, the Lord which gathereth the outcasts of Israel,
there it is again, yet, saith, yet will I gather others to him
beside those that are gathered unto him. Isaiah 56, verse eight. It's God who gathers his people.
It's God who does this mighty work, not man. And beloved of
God, we who are the elect of God are gathered around the ensign
of God. the Lord Jesus Christ, and we
are gathered to him all by the mighty power of God and God alone. It's God who makes this come
to pass. And we flee to Christ who is
our ensign. As the sheep of the shepherd,
we flee to the great shepherd. As the manslayer fled to the
city of refuge, so we seek Christ who is our ensign. We flee to
him. As chickens to the hen when danger comes and she puts her
arms around him, them little chicks. So we flee to Christ. So we flee to Christ. Because
Christ is our guiding ensign, beloved. He's our guiding ensign.
That's the next thing I'd like to look at. Christ is our guiding
ensign. And in ancient days, as the standard
bearer went forth with the eagle, it showed the soldiers which
way to march. which way they were to go. And
it was their duty to follow that ensign. It was their duty as
soldiers to follow that ensign. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the ensign of his people. And it is our duty to follow
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's God's people, isn't it?
It's an honor too, isn't it? It's a privilege. It is. And
we are to follow Him, follow our Lord. He guides us. He guides
His children through this world. No matter where He leads us,
we're to follow Him. No matter how difficult it is,
we're to follow Him. And sometimes it's difficult,
isn't it? Sometimes, as the scripture says, we endure hardship as the
soldiers of Christ. But where to follow him? Follow
him. Peter said, where shall we go, Lord? When the Lord asked
him, are you all going to leave too? He said, where shall we
go, Lord? That was the words of eternal life. We have nowhere
else to go, do we? Nowhere else we'd want to go except to Christ
Jesus, our Lord. So the Lord Jesus Christ guides
us by the Holy Spirit of God through his word. Isaiah chapter
59, if you want to turn there, I'll read verses 20 and 21. The
Lord Jesus Christ guides us by his sovereign providence and
irresistible grace. Look what it says here in Isaiah
59 verses 20 and 21. And the Redeemer, which is Christ,
shall come to Zion, that's the church, and unto them that turn
from transgression to Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this
is my covenant with them, saith the Lord, my spirit that is upon
them and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart
out of thy mouth. nor out of the mouth of thy seed,
nor out of the mouth of thy seed seed, saith the Lord from henceforth.
and forever. Turn now to Psalm 37. Psalm 37,
the Lord Jesus Christ, he guides us by his sovereign, irresistible
grace and providence. How do we know this? Well, look
at Psalm 37, verses 23 and 24. The scripture says this, and
look at this, this is for every single believer, every single
born again, blood washed saint of God. This is true of. It says
here in Psalm 37, 23 and 24, The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. He delights in the
ways of God. God's people, their steps are
ordered by the Lord. And the saint of God, man or
woman, they delight in the Lord. They delight in the ways of God.
It's not burdensome for us, not at all. We rejoice that we're
in the way. And it says, look at this, though
he fall, and oftentimes we do. Oftentimes we do. We fall, we
fall so much. But look what it says. Look at
this wondrous scripture. Though he fall or she fall, the
saint of God, he shall not be utterly cast down. Lord doesn't
leave us where we are. He doesn't leave us to fend for
ourselves, no. No, for the Lord upholdeth him
with his hands. Just like we saw last week, underneath
us are the everlasting arms of God. Glory be to God. Glory be to God. So whatever
trouble we may find ourselves in, beloved of God, in this world,
know that Christ guides us and watches over us and keeps us. Now let us consider that Christ
is an ensign for the people who can only be seen by faith, who
can only be seen by faith. The world cannot see Christ.
They may have heard his name, but to them he remains unseen,
because those who are blind cannot see Christ. I was talking to
your dear brother from Oregon yesterday on the phone. He gave
me a call and we were marveling at how amazing God's grace is
and how we once were blind. We were blind to the things of
God. We were blind to the scriptures.
We were blind to the great Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. But now
we can see Christ. And this is all because we've
been born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And we being given God-given
faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to look to the
ensign, to look to the great ensign, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the world can, they can hear
about certain things of our Lord's life and they can know facts
about his life and facts about his death and resurrection and
his exaltation and his second coming, but they cannot see him
by faith, beloved. They cannot see him by faith.
Those who believe see Christ our Ancestor by God-given faith. He who is invisible to the natural
eye has revealed himself to us because it pleased him to do
so. Glory to his name. And who do
we who are born again blood-washed saints of God see? We see Christ. We see Christ by faith, we see
Christ who is our ensign. We see he who is God incarnate
in the flesh. We see he who saved us from all
our sins and purchased us with his precious, precious blood.
And why did he do it? Oh, because he's loved us with
an everlasting love. And he knew we had no ability
to save ourselves from our sins. Oh, but the great love that he
had for his people, he left the glories and slanders of having
been worshiped as the captain of the Lord's host. He left that,
he set aside his glory, beloved, to come to this world. And if
you're a believer, to redeem you, to redeem me from all our
sins. I'll say my sins and you say
your sins. That's what he did. The king of glory did that. Marvel. Where is he now? Well, he's seated
at the right hand of the Father. Right now, ruling and reigning
in majesty. Right now. Right now. He's interceding
for his people. Ruling and reigning over all
things, visible and invisible. Every single thing that's going
on, he's ruling over it. Oh my. Next point is Christ is
a uniting instance. In ancient times, again, when
an army was being routed or overwhelmed, the general would command the
standard bearer to place the ensign near him so the troops
could reassemble around him and be a united force. At that point,
they are united. Also, though they are many and
varied, they are united as one. They have the same commander.
They're all engaged in one cause. They're not seeking their own
agenda. No, they are united as one with
their commander as they have all sworn allegiance to him.
Beloved, think about this. Christ who is the ensign of his
people. It is he who we are united in.
It's Christ who we're united in. He's the center of our unity.
Even as this church, we gather together, professing that we
are united in Christ. That's the one thing we all have
in common, is that we're saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. So
let us then, as a body, walk in unity. Let us not be divided. Let us not be divided. Christ
died to make Jew and Gentile one. Christ died to make us one
of beloved. And he prayed for the unity of
his people. Turn, if you would, to John chapter 17. Do you know
the Lord Jesus Christ prayed for the unity of his people?
He did. John chapter 17, verses 20 to
23. Neither pray I for these alone,
being the apostles. but for them also, which shall
believe on me through their word, that they all may be one, not
divided, that they may be one. As thou, Father, art in me, and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me. In the glory which thou gavest
me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. We're one in Christ, beloved.
The true born-again, blood-washed believers are one in Christ. Jew and Gentile, I am them, and
thou and me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that
the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved
them as thou hast loved me. And God's grace makes his people
one. Let those who divide God's saints
be warned. Proverbs says, pride goeth before
fall. Pride goeth before destruction.
in an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of an humble
spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.
He that handled the matter wisely shall find good. And who so trusteth
in the Lord happy is he Lastly, let us consider that Christ is
an exalted ensign. Beloved of God, the ensign is
lifted high. The ensign is lifted high above
all the heads of the people, lifted high upon a pole and set
upon a hill. Sometimes when the general would
rally the troops, they would rally them on a hill, on a high
point. or the ensign is on a high tower. And let we who are the
people of God rejoice that Christ our ensign is lifted up and exalted
in three ways. And I want us to think about
something. Every time you drive by and you see a flag of the
United States of America, this great country you live in, that's
the ensign of this country, beloved. And let that be a reminder to
you, each time you see that flag, that Christ is our ensign. He's
our ensign, beloved. He's our ensign. Now here's three
ways to close that our ensign is lifted up and exalted. In
his death, when he died upon the cross, our Lord was lifted
up. He was exalted. The Lord Jesus
Christ said this in John 12, 32 and 33. He said, and if I
be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This,
he said, signifying what death he should die. Oh my, and he's
gonna get every single one of his sheep, wouldn't he? There's
not gonna be one that's gonna be lost. Not one whom he died
for will ever be lost. And then he was lifted up and
exalted in his resurrection and exaltation. Philippians chapter
two, verses eight to 11, it says this, in being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Now let's go back to Joshua.
The captain, the Lord's host, appears to Joshua with a sword
in his hand. That's the one who humbled himself,
became a man, became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross, the scripture says there in Philippians. And then
it goes on to say, wherefore God is... also highly exalted
him and given him a name which is above every name he's exalted
he's risen that at the name of jesus every knee shall bow things
in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth that
every tongue should confess that jesus christ is lord to the glory
of god the father and then christ is also lifted up and exalted
in the preaching of the gospel now turn if you would to john
chapter 3 john chapter 3 verse 14 A lot of people often quote
John 3.16. It seems to be a favorite verse
of a lot of people to quote. And it's a wonderful verse. It's
a beautiful verse. But I don't ever like to quote
John 3.16 without John 3.14-15. Look at this. Christ is exalted
and lifted up through the preaching of his gospel. Look at this,
John chapter three verses 14, 15, and 16. And as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, remember he lifted up that serpent
and all who looked to that ensign, right? That serpent was an ensign. All who looked to that serpent
lived. All who didn't perished, right?
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. Christ was lifted up on that
cross. He was lifted up. That whosoever
believeth in him should not perish. There's the clause, right? Whosoever
believeth in him should not perish. And I'll tell you what, every
born-again, blood-washed saint of God who Christ redeemed on
Calvary's cross shall not perish. That's what the scripture declares
here. But have eternal life, look at that, for God so loved,
why did this occur? Because God so loved the world,
his people, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Again,
it's even in 16, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish
but have everlasting life. So those who do not believe on
Christ, we can conclude from these verses, will perish in
their sins and do not have everlasting life. So rejoice, beloved of
God. Rejoice if Christ is your ensign,
because that's by a work of God. That's by a work of God. To God
be the glory.