Isaiah 60. And we're going to pick up here with God's promise to the church. This is why every promise that God has made shall be brought to pass. We're gonna see why. Let's begin reading and let's read it one more time in verse nine. Surely the owls shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, unto the Holy One of Israel. because he hath glorified thee.

And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee. For in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favor I have had mercy on thee. Therefore thy gates shall be opened continually. They shall not be shut day nor night, that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish. Yea, those nations that will not serve thee shall be utterly wasted.

The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together to beautify the place of my sanctuary and I will make the place of my feet glorious. The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee, and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet, and they shall call thee the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Now this is the Lord's word to the church. This is his word to his spiritual Israel, his church, which is the city of God, the Zion of God.

It's easy for us to become cast down because we're a remnant in the midst of a world that does not believe God. And even amongst so many churches, there's just a very small remnant that really preach the gospel and believe the gospel. And it's easy to be cast down by that. It's easy to become discouraged.

But Isaiah 60 is the promise of God to us. This is God's promise to his people. God only speaks in absolutes. He says here in verse nine, surely the owls shall wait for me. When our Lord makes a promise to his people, He declares what He shall do for us.

There's no maybes about it. He's not frustrated by any man or anything. He is sovereign God and He rules every heart and He rules all His creation. He is sovereign over all. Now the head of the church is the God-man, the Lord Jesus. And when He ascended, He took the throne All power has been given to him. All power in heaven, earth, and all deep places. The end of Ephesians 1 tells us he has all power. He's ruling all, and it's Christ that fills all in all. He is the one that gets the glory.

The Lord's promise here now is spoken particularly to those he called out when he first came. The latter days, they don't begin at the end of time. They begin, one is very clear. God hath in these last days spoken to us by his son. And he began with his lost sheep among the house of Israel.

He called them first. And so he's speaking here, particularly to them, but we're included. And what he says to them, he's saying to us. This is as true today as it was in Isaiah's day, as it was when the Lord first called Peter and Paul and James and John. It's as true now as it was then. Now, we're gonna start here. We ended last time by seeing that the Lord is gonna draw all his elect to Christ. It's to him that he's drawing his people. He said, there surely the isles, that's his elect, and islands all over the world. He said, surely they will wait for me. And the ships of Tarshish first to bring thy sons from far.

They're our children who God calls. They're our children. The picture is Christ is the husband, the church is the bride, and the gospel is the incorruptible seed, and children are conceived. Children are born. So these are thy children he's bringing.

And he says, and they'll bring their gold with them. He's gonna make full provision for everything we need, the Lord will. But look what they're coming, they're coming to the name of the Lord thy God. They're coming to the Holy One of Israel because he hath glorified thee. We saw that means because he gave you the glory being able to preach him and gave you the privilege, gave us the privilege to preach his gospel. That's how he glorified us. Revealed Christ in us and gave us the privilege to preach him.

Now let's see what he says he will do. First of all, we're gonna see why this promise is certain. And it's certain because Christ finished the work on the cross. That's why it's certain. Look here now, verse 10. And the sons of strangers, that's Gentiles, that's me and you, the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls. We're made to be living stones. We're made to be the walls. And he says, and their kings shall minister unto thee, for, now here's the reason, here's why this promise is certain, for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favor have I had mercy on thee.

Now, the physical picture the Lord made for us is God smote the political nation Israel at that time because of their sin, and they were carried captive into Babylon. But we've seen in this word, in Isaiah, how that he sent King Cyrus, a picture of Christ, and he delivered them out of Babylonian captivity and he delivered them all the way back to Jerusalem. Now that's the picture. That's what God did in history to give us the picture.

But the spiritual good news of that is the reason God's promises are sure to all his elect is because God smoked his elect in Christ when he smote Christ on the cross. That's why these promises are sure. He smote us. He smote us. In my wrath, I smote thee. He did that when he smote Christ on the cross. That's when he smote us.

God is holy and he's just. So that means everything God does is gonna be done in a way that's holy. in a way that is absolutely just. He loves us, but that's not his chief ruling attribute. His chief ruling attribute is holiness. He's gonna love us with a holy love. That's why he loves his people in Christ. But he's gonna do everything just, everything holy.

Now the wages of sin is death. That's what we earn. By our sin, when Adams fell, we fell. We became guilty. And we came into this world speaking lies and everything we've ever done has been sin. And the wages of sin is death. And God will by no means clear the guilty. He will pour out the just judgment, condemnation on every sinner with no exceptions.

But it was God's grace, it was his mercy that he chose his people in Christ before the foundation of the world so that When Christ came, he stood in the place of all his people. He was the one man God looked to, the one, the God man. Now brethren, substitution is the gospel. Substitution is the glorious good news. It is the good news. God's preacher never grows weary of preaching substitution and God's people never grow weary of hearing it. Because this is our salvation.

In Hebrews 2 and verse 17, let's look there real quick. Hebrews 2, 17. It's telling us here why the Lord Jesus took flesh, why he came. And it says in Hebrews 2, 17, it says, in all things, wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren. that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Now, our Lord Jesus really and truly was made of a woman. His children were, those he came to save were, so he was made of a woman. And our Savior really was made under the law.

At eight days old, he was circumcised. And the scripture says, Paul told the Galatians, if you're circumcised, you're a debtor to do the whole law. That was under the old covenant, that picture of man is under the whole law. And our Lord was circumcised at eight days old. He was made under the law. Now, was he really made of a woman? Did he really become a man? He certainly did.

Gnosticism is what John was dealing with, and the Gnostic said, He couldn't have been made a man or he would have been, he'd have been a sinner. It was just as if he was made a man, that's what they said. And they said, and it was just as if he was made under the law, just as if, it was all just as if. And that's why James, John was so clear that he said, if a man denies that Christ has come in the flesh, he's antichrist.

This is essential. it behooved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren. He that sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are all of one. So the point I'm making to you is he really took our place. He was made of a woman and was the one man God looked to. He was made under the law for his people.

And when the time came, as 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, He made Him sin for us who knew no sin, and He really did. He was made sin for us so real that Christ owned our sin to be His sin. And God the Father looked at Him, and it was perfectly just for God to make Him a curse for us because He was made sin for us. God didn't, they didn't bring that lamb, that spotless lamb. They didn't bring it to the priest and then just kill it. They first did a ceremony to picture the sin of the people being put on that lamb. Then they slew the lamb.

Well, the Lord Jesus is not the picture. He's what it pictured. He's the express image. And the Lord would not make him a curse till he first bore the sin of his people. because what he's doing on that cross is showing that God is perfectly righteous. God will not justify a guilty man and he will not condemn a righteous man. He said, anybody that does either of those is an abomination to me. God is perfectly just in everything he does.

We want a just God. You want a just God. Judges in this world can be bought, they can be bribed, And we don't want that when it comes to God. We want a just God. And our God is perfectly righteous. And when the Lord bore the sin of his people, Romans 8 says, he spared not his own son. That's how just God is. When sin was found on his son, he spared not his own son. But he poured out wrath upon him. And when he smote him, Just like our text says, he smote his people. He struck us when he struck his son.

When our Savior cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That was God forsaking all his people in Christ because that's the judgment that we earned. The second death, eternal judgment, that's what we earned. and our Lord bore that, and this is God's righteousness, brethren.

God's not pretending. He didn't treat our Savior as if He made Him bear our sin, and then He bore the full brunt of God's holy justice, and He satisfied it. He satisfied it completely. And that's what our, that's why this promise we have in our text is so sure to God's people.

It's because God said what Brother Ben read, in the last service, awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts, smite the shepherd. And when he smote him, he did it to all his people. But look what he says here, verse 10. In my wrath I smote thee, but in my favor have I had mercy on thee.

God really smote us, he really smote us, and we really We really suffered under the just judgment of God when Christ bore it, but he really and truly made his people the righteousness of God in him. That is, that's righteous, the righteousness of God. We've been made the righteousness of God. That's how righteous we have to be. the righteousness of God.

There is therefore now no condemnation, no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. So that's why this promise is sure. Christ justified everybody he died for. Now, secondly, in our text Isaiah 60, The reason this promise of God is sure to his people, to his church, is because Christ justified his people.

He made his people righteous, so they must be called to faith. Every one of his people must be given faith. Verse 11, look how it begins, therefore. He said, but I had grace toward you and I showed mercy to you. Therefore, thy gates shall be opened continually, and they shall not be shut day nor night, that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. The doors to his church, the doors to his city, shall not be shut day nor night. They'll never be shut. It's not that we're keeping the doors open, Christ is keeping the doors open.

And the reason he's doing it is he must bring his lost sheep under the sound of the gospel because he justified them. He made them the righteousness of God. There's lost Gentiles that have to be saved. Peter was sent to the lost Jews, the elect, and he preached to them. Paul was sent to elect Gentiles. And we saw there in verse six, he said, Midian and Ephah and Sheba, those were Arabs. He says there, even kings shall be brought.

This is what, turn to Revelation 5.9.

I'm gonna show you, Revelation 5.9. When our Savior laid down his life, here's what he accomplished.

Revelation 5.9.

Listen to the song. They sung a new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for thou was slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. And has made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth. Go with me to 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy. Our Lord Jesus redeemed his people, and there are people out of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people on this earth from all walks of life. Some are rich, some are poor, some are educated, some are uneducated. There are all different kinds of sinners.

He said in our text, there's gonna be some Gentiles, there's gonna be some Jews, there's gonna be some kings, and this is who Paul is talking about, the Spirit of God is talking about in 1 Timothy 2.1. He says, I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for all kinds of men, for kings and for all that are in authority. that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all. to be testified in due time. Whereunto I'm ordained a preacher, an apostle. I speak the truth in Christ and lie not. I'm a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.

He said there in verse four, God will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. because Christ died and gave himself a ransom for all. And this will be testified in due time. He's talking about the same thing our text is saying. All kinds of sinners. Is he saying all men without exception? No. Why? How do you know that's so? Because Christ did not fail. Christ justified his people. He made his people the righteousness of God. He's talking about He has a people all over this world. Some are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are rich or poor, male and female, bond and free, out of every kindred, tribe, tongue, and people on this earth.

And whatever God is willing to happen, that's what will happen. It's not like men read that and they say, see, God wants everybody to be saved. The false God men preach might want for everybody to be saved, but the true God of this Bible works His will. And His will is that Christ died for the elect and He ransomed all of the elect and they will all be brought to faith in Christ because justice demands they be brought. Our Lord Jesus Christ paid the sins of all his people, and the very justice that demanded he had to die in place of his people now demands everyone he died for must be called to faith in Christ.

And if it's God's will, God will perform it. He said to be testified in due time. God set the time. He predestinated his people into the adoption of children. and Christ is gonna bring them out of the gospel, and the Spirit of God is going to regenerate them, and he's gonna give them faith, and they're gonna repent and believe on the Lord.

2 Peter 3.9, I wanna show you. That's exactly what Peter's declaring right here. People think God's slack concerning his promise. We're looking at his promise, and his promise is certain. That's what he's telling us.

And he said here in 2 Peter 3.9, The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to usward, to all his elect. He's longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Guess what's going to happen because he's not willing. They're not going to perish. They're not going to perish. Not one of them is going to perish because God's not willing.

It's not like this world preaches. They say, God, they make you to be the sovereign one that can let God do what he will, and God just really wants to save you if you just let him. That's not the God of the Bible. This God works his will. He works his will in the army of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or even question him.

Look, he's long suffering to us. We're not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repent us. Look at verse 15. So account, that word is impute, that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. It will end in the salvation of all his people. His longsuffering will terminate in the salvation of all his people. The only reason this world's held in store is because Christ still has some lost sheep that he bought with his blood that have to, they have to hear the gospel and have to be called, and they shall.

Now, let's go back to our text and we'll see the last. Lastly, let's hear our Savior's promise concerning the world around us. Verse 12. He said, for the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish. Those nations shall be utterly wasted. Now here's the verse.

If you saw, What was the senator from Texas? You saw him interviewed by Tucker Carlson. He said, I know it's somewhere in the Bible. I don't know where, but he said, if you don't help out the political nation Israel, God'll get you. That's where it came from right here. Verse 12, the nation in Kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish, yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. He is not talking about political Israel. He's talking about you and me who are his church. who this world don't even recognize. That's who he's talking about.

The king of kings is our savior, and he's ruling the hearts of every man in this world, and he's using all the nations in this world to serve his church. You might not understand it, we may not see and understand why or how they're doing it, but they are. Everything that's taking place is serving his people. And those that will not serve us, Those that don't come and bow to the gospel of our king and believe on Christ will eventually be utterly wasted. But he's talking about his spiritual Israel, his church, his people.

Each sinner that Christ calls, he gets all the glory. They're a tree of righteousness, robed in his righteousness that Christ planted. Look at verse 13. The glory of Lebanon, they were known for these big, tall, mighty cedars. And he's using trees here to picture his people. And he said, the glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee. The fir tree and the pine tree and the box tree, evergreen trees is what they are. And he gives his people eternal life. We're gonna be evergreen. And he says, and they will beautify the place of my sanctuary.

Listen, the Lord Jesus Christ, this again is speaking of all kinds of people in his church. but they shall all be brought, and Christ will not fail to perform it. He will bring every one of his people, but they're gonna all be his workmanship, his planting, and he gets the glory.

Look over at chapter 61, look at verse 3 at the end. 61, 3 at the end. He said, the Lord sent him to preach. He's the chief shepherd. He sends his under-shepherds, but it's Christ who makes the word effectual in the heart. And here's what he does. He said, verse three, I give them the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. And this is what's so in his church.

Everybody he saved gives him all the glory. We don't take any credit for anything in our salvation. We give him the glory. And each one that he plants is made beautiful in his beauty. He said there in Isaiah 60, in our text there in verse 12, I'm sorry, verse 13, he said, I will bring them to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of my feet glorious. The thing that makes us beautiful is Christ, what he did, and in him, everything that he did. Isaiah said over there in the next chapter, he said, I'll greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation.

He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness. His holiness makes our new man holy. His righteousness robes us. He's our light. He's our wisdom. He's our strength. Before God the Father, John said, as he is, so are we. His people, if God looks at his son, and his people are just like he is, that's our beauty, him.

Now, notice here in verse 13, he said, and I will make the place of my feet glorious. He brought us to his feet. He said, I'll make the place of my feet glorious. King Solomon typified our Lord Jesus, and he had a throne. You can find this in 2 Chronicles 9 18, but let me just give it to you for now. He had a throne, a golden throne, and it had a footstool of gold fastened to the throne.

Christ has a people, you that he's called, you that he abides in. who are his footstool, who he has inseparably fastened to him, and you can't be separated from him, ever. Not ever. You remember when the father said, sit here at my right hand, henceforth expecting to your enemies be made your footstool. Well, that certainly does include all who do not bow and believe Christ, but what were being you by nature? enemies in our minds by wicked works, by our self-righteous, proud works.

And the Lord quickened us and called us, and he brought us to his footstool, his church, the place of his feet. And we're inseparably united to him, made beautiful in his beauty, so that we say, this is what the church says in Psalm 132 7, we will go into his tabernacles, we will worship at his footstool. That's what we do. we worship at his footstool. Now, when it comes to our enemies, we don't try to take vengeance on any of our enemies, because here's God's word to us.

Verse 14, Isaiah 60, verse 14. The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee, and all they that despise thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet, and they shall call thee the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Now, for some, that'll be in judgment, but there's also gonna be many that it will be in mercy. God will save them, and he will bring them, and they will say, you're the city of the Lord.

You're the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. I fully believe this, that whenever the Lord says, let your light so shine, this text began with arise, shine, your light has come. God's light's come upon you and glorified you. Let your light so shine. And he said that in the day of visitation, they'll glorify the Lord. And the Lord makes his people shine the light by preaching Christ in him crucified. We don't have light to shine. People say, we want to live so they see Christ in us. They didn't see Christ in Christ. They're not going to see Christ in you.

We preach Christ. And the spirit of God works in the heart of his people and brings them to believe on Christ. And when you have only preached Christ, and you've prayed to Christ, and you've waited on Christ, when the day of visitation, when he gives them a heart to believe, they will glorify God for making you do what no other church in this world ever did. These other churches using all these vain methods, trying to attract people by what they do, by making people see them pray, and see them give alms, and see their humanitarian efforts, and join us because they look at all that we do.

The Lord said, Paul said, I was with you in weakness and fear and trembling because I didn't want your faith to stand in my power. I wanted it to stand in the power of God, in the spirit of God. And he said, I was determined to preach nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified. And that's, when you do that, the only way you're gonna do it is by the spirit of the Lord.

And when he visits his child and gives them faith, they're gonna say, Lord, thank you. You work this in these people. They're the city of God. This is the sign of God. You work this, and they're gonna glorify God. That's how you let your light shine. You give, you point people to Christ the light, to him only, not to us.

Now, brethren, you are the city of the Lord, the sign of the only one of Israel, and it's just like Abraham, we're not, we're sojourning here. We're not, this is not our home. We're looking for a city who's builder and maker is God. One day we're going to be with only God's people. And, and for now though, Paul told the church of Philippi, he said, our, our conversation and that word is our citizenship is in heaven. From whence we look for the savior.

And when he comes, he's gonna change this vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body with that power wherewith he's able to subdue all things to himself. See, all these promises are assured. He's gonna keep us, and he's gonna keep us preaching him, and he's gonna call his people. And the reason he's gonna do that, we can be sure it's gonna happen, is because he justified all his people. They must be called. And as long as he's got one left, he's gonna keep the gospel going forth and he's gonna call them. And so all the promises of God are in Christ, yes, and in Christ, amen, to the glory of God.

That's 2 Corinthians 1.20. That's how we know these promises are sure. Christ shall not fail.

So I'll tell you what the Apostle Paul told the church of Philippi. He said, therefore, my brethren, Dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown. So stand fast in the Lord. Stand fast in the Lord. You keep looking to Christ. You keep trusting Christ.

All these promises will be brought to pass by him because he shall not fail. He shall not fail. Father, we thank you for your word. Lord, thank you for your son. In him, we know your promises are sure. We say with David, Lord, this is all our salvation. You've ordered it. You've made it sure in your blood. This is all our hope, all our salvation, your dear son.

Lord, keep us believing. Keep us looking to him and knowing that you shall save your people. Lord, be with us this weekend and keep us until we come again. And Lord, we pray that you would Keep this word in our heart and keep us feeding upon it till the end. In Christ's name we pray, amen. All right.