Turn in our Bibles to Isaiah
chapter 60. Isaiah chapter 60. We begin our reading in verse 10. Therefore, thy gates shall be
open continually. They should 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 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. I'll 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.
Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went
through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, the joy
of many generations. Thou shalt also suck the milk
of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings, And thou
shalt know that I, the Lord, am thy Savior, and thy Redeemer,
the mighty one of Jacob. For brass I will bring gold,
and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones
iron. I will also make thy officers
peace, and thine exactors righteousness. Violence shall no more be heard
in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders. But thou
shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates praise. The sun
should be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall
the moon give light unto thee, but the Lord shall be unto thee
an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. The sun should
no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself, for
the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning
shall be ended. Thy people also shall be all
righteous. They shall inherit the land forever,
the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may
be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand
and a small one a strong nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it in
His time. Let's bow in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, how thankful
we are that this is the day appointed. We can gather together from the
world in the middle of the week and have a time of refreshing. Father, I pray that this evening
you'd give us an hour of true worship. How we beg of thee that
you speak to us by your spirit, that you speak to our hearts
as your word is open to us. Father, enable us to see and
believe and lay hold upon our Lord Jesus Christ. Let the name
of our Savior be exalted and magnified. Enable us, Father,
to, in awe and wonder, worship Him with hearts of thanksgiving
and praise. And what we pray for ourselves,
we pray for all of your people who are meeting together tonight
to worship. Father, cause your word to run
well, to bring glory to your name, to comfort and instruct
and edify and encourage your people. Father, we're thankful
for this place that you've given to us, a place where we could
meet together in love and peace and unity. And Father, I pray
that you would watch over this congregation, that you'd give
us wisdom as we go forward, that you'd give us a heart of love
that seeks the unity and peace of this body, that seeks the
good of others. Father, bless us, we pray, for
your great namesake. And I pray you'd bless each home,
each family, richly with your presence and your mercy and your
grace. Father, for those whom you've brought into the time
of trouble and trial, we pray for them. We pray that you'd
be with our sister Amy in this surgery tomorrow, that you'd
be with the doctors and nurses that treat her, that you'd give
us a good report, that you'd give them the skill and the compassion
to treat your daughter with great care, that you'd use them as
an instrument to heal and strengthen her body. We pray for Mike as
he recovers from this surgery. We pray for Dale as he's waiting
on a surgery date. Father, all these situations
can overwhelm us. How thankful we are that this
is not a difficult case with thee. This is not out of control. It's not out of your hand, It's
under your direct control. All these things happen according
to your eternal will and purpose. We're thankful to know it. Father,
give us the grace to believe, to believe what we know to be
true and to rest in your good providence, we pray. Father,
we're thankful for all these children that you've given to
us, how we love them and we care for them. As they begin another
school year, they continue to step out and grow. Those who
are preparing yet to begin this new school year, Father, we pray
that you go with them. As they go out, Father, go with
them. Watch over them, protect them,
give them a ready mind to learn the things that are necessary
that they get a good education. And Father, above all, how we
pray mercy for their souls, that you would teach them the Lord
Jesus Christ. Reveal yourself to them in mercy
and grace, we pray. Father, bless us as we look into
your word. Give us a heart of true worship.
First, in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we give
thanks and we ask these blessings. Amen. All right, now I've entitled
the message this evening, The Mighty One of Jacob. I got that
title from the end of verse 16, He says that thou shalt know
that I, the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the mighty
one of Jacob. Now, one of the names that Isaiah
gives to our Savior is the mighty one of Jacob. When I first read
that, that caught my attention. I kind of expected him to say
the mighty one of Israel, but he didn't say that. He said the
mighty one of Jacob. Now, why is that? Well, we know
from scripture that God is the God of Jacob. Look back in Psalm
46. The phrase, the God of Jacob
is used 25 times in scripture. So God must be the God of Jacob. And he uses that phrase twice
in this Psalm 46, beginning in verse seven. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Come behold the works of the
Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh
wars to cease unto the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow
and cutteth the spear and sunder. He burneth the chariot in the
fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among
the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth.
The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. God calls himself the God of
Jacob. And that must be good news to
God's people because David says the God of Jacob is our refuge. It's good news that God is the
God of Jacob because that tells me God saves sinners. He saves
people who are just like Jacob. Now who was Jacob? You all pretty
much, I think everybody knows the story of Jacob. Jacob was
born not deserving the birthright. He wasn't born first, he was
born second. That birthright belonged to Esau,
not to Jacob. He wasn't born deserving of birthright.
And that's a picture of you and me. We're born in Adam. We're not born deserving God's
mercy and blessing. We're born deserving God's wrath
because we're born in Adam. And Jacob, he lived his life
as a cheat. His name means heel catcher.
It's like someone who reaches out and tries to trip their opponent,
you know, so they can win a race. I get fascinated every four years
with the Olympics. I've been watching the Olympics
and I like the swimming and I like track and field. Will you just
imagine how angry you'd be if some Russian caught the heel
and tripped, you know, some American sprinter, you know, running for
victory. That's Jacob. He's a cheat. He cheats in the
race, tries to trip people up, you know, so he can win. by any
means necessary, mostly dishonest. Jacob came out of the womb that
way. Jacob came out of the womb, hanging on to the heel of Esau,
trying to pull Esau back into the womb so Jacob could be born
first. He was cheating, trying to get
that birthright. And that's the nature all of
us have. Every one of us has that nature. By nature, you know
what we do? We try to get what doesn't belong
to us by dishonest means. Somehow, we're trying to figure
a way to cheat God's holiness, to circumvent God's holy law
and just, you know, do the best we can somehow to kind of trick
God into accepting us because we did the best that we can.
And God in His words gives us the honest way to come to Him.
The honest way to come to God is in Christ as a sinner seeking
mercy. But we won't do it. We try to
find some other way. Just any way. Some way that has
something to do with our own doing. And when we do that, you
know what we're doing? We're cheating. We're cheating
Christ of His glory and salvation. That's Jacob. He's a cheat. He's
a heel catcher. And Jacob was dishonest. And
buddy, it didn't matter who. He was going to just try to get
whatever it was he wanted. Jacob was willing to be dishonest
and deceive his very own father and steal from his brother. I
mean, this man's a dishonest man. Dishonest, trying to get
what doesn't belong to him. That's us. That's our very nature.
What is more dishonest than trying to claim we've earned a righteousness
with our fallen nature? And that's what our nature desires
to do. Nothing's more dishonest than
acting like we can do something to get God to save us. That somehow
we can do something that God will accept us. That's so dishonest. But that's the nature we're born
with. That's Jacob. That's us. That's a pretty ugly
picture, isn't it? But here's the good news. Jacob,
the worst of the lot, was an object of God's mercy. You remember
when God met Jacob? That one who met Jacob is a pre-incarnate
appearance of Christ. He met Jacob in mercy. And when he did, he wrestled
with him all night. The Lord Jesus Christ gave Jacob
a new name. Jacob, no longer are you cheap. No longer are you a heel catcher.
Now your name is Israel. Prince with God. You know why
Jacob got a new name? Jacob got a new nature when he
met the Lord. If God ever meets you and me
in mercy, we're going to get a new nature. And when we get
a new nature, we're going to get a new name. No longer will
we have to bear the worthless name of Adam, but we'll bear
the name of our Redeemer. Jeremiah said, this is the name
wherewith she shall be called Jehovah Sid Kenneth, the Lord,
our righteousness. We're given a new name because
we've been given a new nature and the new birth. And when God
met Jacob in mercy, Jacob never walked the same again the whole
rest of his life. As they were wrestling there,
the Lord reached out and touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh.
And he limped on that thing the rest of his days. Jacob's walk
was changed forever. He met the Lord Jesus Christ.
If God ever meets you and me in mercy, we're going to have
a changed walk. We're going to have a changed
walk because we've got a changed nature, a new nature that God
gave us in the new birth. The songwriter said, he touched
me. Oh, he touched me. Oh, the joy
that floods my soul. Something happened. And now I
know what it was. He touched me and he made me
whole. I never walked the same again.
And his whole life long, Even though Jacob was a cheat, even
though he was dishonest, Jacob was blessed of God his whole
life long. When his life was nearly over,
Jacob looked back over his life. He'd suffered, hadn't he? He'd
suffered many sorrows and heartaches, many trials, but he looked over
his life and he said, he told his son Joseph, he said, Joseph,
I've had a blessed life. God's blessed. He said, Joseph,
God has shepherded me my whole life long. He fed me. He watched
over me. He led me. He guided me. He kept
me from wandering off. He led me beside those still
waters. He guided me into those green, rich pastures of feed
on his grass. And the only explanation for
it, Joseph, is God made me an object of his sovereign mercy.
And what God did for Jacob, the God of Jacob, does for all of
his Jacobs, does for every sinner that he chose to love. And I
want us to look this evening at some of those blessings that
Isaiah lists here. Blessings that we have because
Christ our Savior is the God of Jacob and because he's accomplished
the salvation of his people. And the first thing I want us
to look at is this. The God of Jacob will reveal himself to
the hearts of each one of his people individually. Look what
he says here in at the end of verse 16, that you may know that
you shall know I, the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer. If you believe the Lord Jesus
Christ, he is thy Savior, he's your Savior, he's your Redeemer. As our Lord suffered and died
at Calvary, he didn't consider himself to be saving a a nameless
mass of people that nobody could count. The Savior died saving
each one of his people with each one of their name individually
on his heart. Like you were the only one he
was saving. Like it was you that he was shedding
his blood for. Because it was. He was shedding
his blood for you who believe. He's thy Savior. Now we love
to gather together in public worship. I always look forward
to those days. It's a day of public worship.
And public worship is public, isn't it? But you know there's
something very personal about worship. It's personal. Worship is personal. It's from
the heart. Praise is personal from the heart. Even though we're in public,
that worship is personal. Baptism. We had a baptismal service
Sunday. That's a very public confession.
Baptism must be done publicly. But it's also intensely personal,
isn't it? Confessing Christ died for me,
for my sins. The Lord's table is part of public
worship. It's what we do in public. But
the Lord's table is intensely personal, isn't it? When the
men distribute the bread and the wine, I must eat and I must
drink. I must take that bread, confessing,
believing Christ's body was broken for me. I take that wine and
I drink it, confessing His blood was shed to put away my sin. The only hope I have that my
sin has been purged is the broken body and the shed blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we do that in public, but
yet it's very personal, isn't it? Public worship is public. I preach to people who are gathered
together, a congregation of people gathered together in public to
hear the gospel preached. But I'll tell you where the blessing
of public worship comes from. It comes from God. The Holy Spirit
speaking to the heart of each individual one of his people.
I mean, I'm talking to everybody here, my, you know, voice in
your ears. But I'll tell you what God does
for his people. He speaks to their heart. He
speaks to your heart. Like that message was just for
you. I don't know how many times I said that to Brother Henry
and how many times some of you said that to me. God gave you
that message for me. Why do you feel that way? Because
God spoke to your heart. He speaks to the heart of his
people, each one of them. Second, look back at verse 10.
Christ, the mighty one of Jacob, he saved his people. He's their
Redeemer. He redeemed them by the sacrifice
of himself. Verse 10. And the sons of strangers
shall build up thy walls and their kings shall minister unto
thee. For in my wrath I smoked thee, but in my favor have I
had mercy on thee. Now I understand exactly what
Isaiah is saying there when he says, in my favor have I had
mercy on thee. I understand that. God had mercy
on his people. He didn't give us the damnation
we deserve. But what does Isaiah mean when he says, in my wrath,
I smoke thee? We weren't smitten, were we?
Christ was smitten for our sins. So what does Isaiah mean here?
He says, well, I smoke thee. Well, he's talking about the
believer's union with Christ. When Christ, our substitute,
was smitten for our sin, so were we who believed. Our sin has
been punished already in the person of our substitute. When
he was smitten, when he was punished, so were we. When Christ our substitute
died for our sin, so do we who believe. The law says we're free. We're completely set free because
the law is satisfied. Because the law says you already
died. When you were smitten, you died in the person of our
substitute. And when Christ arose from the
dead, So did we who believe. We live in Christ. Christ suffered
and he died as our substitute under the wrath of God for the
sin of his people. So now in justice, God shows
mercy to his people. Do you know why God so freely
pours out mercy upon his people? Because he poured out his wrath
against our sin upon our substitute. So now he pours out mercy upon
his people. Thirdly, Christ, the mighty one
of Jacob, has built a wall around his people. Verse 10, he says,
and the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls and their
king shall minister unto thee. Christ has built up the walls
of his kingdom. You know, those cities of old,
how, you know, they built the city and had these huge walls
around them for defense. Walls are built to protect us
by keeping the enemy out so the enemy can't come in and kill
us. Christ Himself, Scripture says, is a wall of fire about
us. He's the wall surrounding us,
protecting His people, keeping the enemy out so the enemy can't
come in and touch us. The almighty hand of God is a
wall about us. He holds His people in His hand. That fist, He's got it completely
surrounded and enclosed in the hand of God. That's a pretty
secure wall. I know it's secure because the
Savior said, no man can pluck them out of my Father's hand.
It's a wall of defense about us. The enemy can never touch
us, can never get to us because of this wall that's built about
us. But you know, walls serve a dual purpose. Walls also keep
people in, don't they? Sheepfolds have walls and those
walls serve two purposes. Number one, they keep the wolves
out. And number two, they keep the sheep in. What would happen
if that wall wasn't there? Sheep just wander off, wouldn't
they? The wolf wouldn't have to come to them. They'd wander
off to the wolf, you know. Those walls are there for our
protection. Now, they're not like prison
walls, because we'll see this in a minute. The gates are open.
But they're walls to protect God's sheep, to protect us from
the wolf and to protect us from ourselves. And those walls mean
this, that believers are safe. secure in the mighty one of Jacob. We'll never leave him and never
wander off, and the enemy won't come and take us away from him.
We're protected by Christ the wall above us. Fourthly, Christ,
the mighty one of Jacob, gives his people access, constant free
access to the Father. In verse 11, Therefore, thy gates shall be
open continually. They should not be shut day nor
night, that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles,
and that their kings may be brought. These open gates represent Christ
opening the way to God for people like Jacob. And you who believe,
I'll tell you what that means. You can come to God at all times. At all times. about anything. What's bothering you? What's
troubled your heart? Is it three o'clock in the morning
and nobody else is awake? Can't call so-and-so, you'll
be asleep. You can call on God. The way's open and it will never
be closed because the blood of Christ has opened up the way,
given us free access to God. There will never be an unforeseen
event that will stop you, stop the way from you coming to God.
Sunday afternoon, Sunday evening, I was supposed to preach at Todd's
Road Grace Church in Lexington. And Jonathan was driving me up
there. We got on the road. We're making our merry way to
Lexington. And all of a sudden, everything
comes to a screeching halt. There had been a wreck. 1230,
1245 something, on the eastbound lane
of I-64 that closed both the east and westbound lanes. It
was a bad wreck. Been closed since 1 o'clock,
and there we sit. I was nervous. I'm thinking,
oh boy, I'm not going to make it. I'm going to have to call
Todd. What am I going to do? What am I going to do? What am I going
to do? So we finally determined to do this. The way it's closed.
We can't get there this way. So we turned around. We went
back to Mount Sterling and we found some path Daniel Boone
must have made. I don't know. I mean, this thing
was crooked as a snake. But it sure enough, it came out
somewhere down. We came into Todd's Road, you
know, on the other way. That will never happen to you. If you come to God in Christ,
never. You'll never have to look for
some crooked, obscure way. You'll always come straight in
the front door, straight in the highway of holiness, right into
the very presence of God, because the mighty one of Jacob has opened
the way for you by his blood. Let me show you that in Hebrews
chapter 10. Beginning in verse 17. and their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Now, where remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, which he hath consecrated, which he hath newly
made for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh, and
having the high priest over the house of God, let us draw near
with a true heart and full assurance of faith. having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. A child of God has boldness,
freedom to enter into the very presence of God Almighty because
the blood of Christ has made us accept. The blood of Christ
has cleansed us from all of our sin. So the Holy God will always
accept us with open arms because our sin's gone. There's no reason
for him not to accept us. Christ died for us. Christ opened
the way for Jacob to come before God through the blood of Christ. So let's never be guilty of not
coming to Him. Let's come to God in full assurance
of faith. Full assurance that we're accepted.
Full assurance that we're heard. Full assurance that we're loved.
Full assurance of faith. And not any assurance in anything
we've done. We come to God in full assurance of faith. Faith
in Christ because we're assured of who He is and what He's accomplished.
We come to God with faith that believes the sacrifice of Christ
is all I need to be forgiven. I don't have to do one blessed
thing to contribute to it. Christ in His sacrifice did it
all. We come to God in assurance with
faith that believes that the obedience of Christ is all it
takes to make me righteous. I don't have to keep one law.
Christ did it all for me. We have free, open access to
God because the gate's always open. And if you look back in
our text, verse 18, Isaiah 60, verse 18, this gives us a summary
of the blessings that we have because of these walls and gates.
Violence should no more be heard in thy land. Wasting or destruction
within thy borders But thou shalt call thy walls salvation, and
thy gates praise. Those walls that keep us close
to Christ and keep our enemies from coming and taking us away
from Him, those walls are the assurance of our salvation. And
those open gates are our reason to praise God, because Christ
opened the way for us to come to God through His blood. That's the full assurance of
faith. But now look up in verse 12. You know, the opposite side
of faith is unbelief, isn't it? And unbelief is going to end
in utter destruction. Verse 12. For the nation and
kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish. Yea, those nations
shall be utterly wasted. Those who don't come to God in
faith, those who don't come to God through Christ, they'll be
utterly destroyed, utterly wasted. But those that come to Him in
faith, through the blood and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ,
will always be accepted. Now you come pour out your heart
before him and you'll be accepted. He'll hear you. Fifth, Christ,
the mighty one of Jacob, is going to humble his people and bring
them to worship at his feet. Verse 13, 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. Now by nature, we don't
want to sit humbly at anybody's feet, do we? That is just too
humble of a place for people, proud people like us. But Christ,
the mighty one of Jacob, he's got the power. He'll break his
people. He'll break them and he'll give
them a new nature that loves to sit at his feet. When God
gives you a new nature, you see how beautiful, how glorious it
is to sit at the feet of Christ and to hear His Word. You see
how glorious it is to sit at His feet and just worship Him. Every believer admires Mary,
don't they? Mary, who sat at the feet of
Christ, she heard His words as she sat at His feet because she
chose that good part, that one thing every believer admires,
every believer wants to be heard, choosing that good part, desiring
to hear that one thing needful. And Christ brings all of his
people to the exact same place Mary was, to sit at his feet
and worship him in beauty and glory. Now that's a blessing
found in the mighty one of Jacob. Six, the mighty one of Jacob
will always feed his people with his word. They'll never go hungry.
Verse 16. Thou shalt also suck the milk
of the Gentiles, and thou shalt suck the breasts of kings. And
thou shalt know that I, the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer,
the mighty one of Jacob. And what Isaiah is talking about
there is what happened in natural, national Israel, is the Gentiles
gave them all this stuff, you know, to rebuild their kingdom.
But what he's really talking about is a babe in Christ. coming
and being able to nurse and have the sincere milk of the word
of God to feed them and strengthen them. And you're the milk of
the word. The milk of the word, the simplicity
of the gospel is not just for babes in Christ. The simple milk
of the word is what feeds and strengthens. It blesses the heart
of the oldest believer. This is something that I've learned
over the years. The older, more mature, more
well-taught a believer is, the more they love very simple preaching
of Christ. That's the milk of the word.
The gospel is really very, very, very simple, isn't it? You children,
you understand the gospel, what we're teaching about the gospel.
You don't understand algebra or trigonometry, not yet, but
I mean, you will someday, but you don't understand the gospel
because it's simple. Yet that simple gospel continues
to bless and encourage the heart of a believer that's heard it
10,000 times before. That's the gospel. The Lord's
table is so simple, just simple, common, ordinary elements. Handed
out without any fanfare, without any ritual and ceremony of religion. Just very simple. You just take
the bread, you eat it. You take the wine, you drink
it. But what a rich blessing that clear, simple ceremony ordinance
is. It's a clear reminder of the
Lord's sacrifice to put away our sins. Baptism is very simple. You dump somebody in the water,
bring them back up. But what a rich blessing, that
very simple ordinance is a clear picture that we're confessing,
this is how Christ saved me. His death is barely his resurrection.
The gospel's simple. And that's what this milk, it's
simple milk. And it's for sinners. It's for
people like Jacob. That's why Isaiah calls it the
milk of the Gentiles. This milk, number one, it's for
the Gentiles. It's for the Gentiles who the
Jews considered to be the worst of the worst. Just dogs. If you want to just insult a
Jew, you call it Gentile. What horrible sinners. That's
who this milk is for. The milk of the Gentiles. And
I'll tell you what it also is, secondly. It's milk that's preached
by Gentiles now. The Lord took his presence from
the nation Israel. And that milk of the gospel is
preached by those Gentile sinners now. The gospel is preached by
sinful men for sinful men and women. That's how God feeds and
strengthens and encourages his people. And he'll always feed
them with the milk of the word. Seventh, Christ, the mighty one
of Jacob, enriches all of his people. Verse 17. For brass, I will bring gold.
and for iron I'll bring silver, and for wood, brass, and for
stones, iron. I'll also make thy officers peace
and thine exactors righteousness. And nothing enriches a believer
except Christ. We're not enriched by anything
we do. It's all in Christ. Before God
saved us, before he revealed himself to you, what did you
try to do? You tried to bring your work
to God, didn't you? That's what we all do. Our nature has not
changed one bit from Cain bringing his fruits and vegetables to
God. We haven't changed one bit. We're
always trying to bring our best to God, hoping that'll help make
us accepted. But our works aren't good enough.
Our works aren't valuable enough to make us accepted. But Christ
is. Christ is. And that's how we're
saved. And everything about grace is
richer than anything about works. By nature, we brought brass to
God. Christ brought gold. Now what
is brass? Brass is an alloy. It's an alloy,
a mixture of copper and zinc. That's what we try to bring to
God. A mixture, an alloy. Grace and works mixed together.
God will never accept it. But Christ came. And he brought
before his father the pure gold of his deity, and the father
accepted it. And the father accepts his people
in him because of his pure grace. We brought iron to God, but Christ
brought silver. We brought iron. It's the hardness
of our human nature. It's cold and it's dead, and
God will never accept it. It's worthless. Christ, he brought
pure silver. And what was silver used for
in the Old Testament? Silver was the price of redemption.
The redemption price was paid with how much ever silver, I
don't know the amount, but it was silver, paid with silver.
That silver is a picture of the pure, sinless blood of Christ,
which paid the redemption price for his people, redeemed them
from their sin. We brought wood to God, but Christ,
brought brass. We brought the wood, hay, and
stubble of our works. And what happens to wood, hay,
and stubble in fire? It just burns up. It's incinerated.
That's our works, easily burned up by the fire of God's wrath.
Christ brought this brass. Brass was an alloy. He did. He brought an alloy. He brought
his divine nature in a human body. His mixture, that mixture
that God made. As Brother Scott said, as much
God as if He were not man and as much man as if He were not
God. He brought His divine nature in that human body and He hung
on Calvary's tree and the human body suffered and died and that
divine nature withstood the fire of God's wrath. The fire went
out, not because the sacrifice was consumed. The fire went out
because the sacrifice consumed the fire. Sin was gone. That's how Christ put away the
sin of his people. He could endure the fire of God's
wrath. And he says, that's the gospel
I'm going to give to men to preach to you. He says here, I'll make
thy officers peace and not exactors righteousness. The officers and
the exactors, the words there are overseers. They're God's
pastors who are the overseers. And their message is going to
be peace in Christ alone. Their message is going to be
righteousness in Christ alone, because he's the one who died
to purchase our salvation. Then Christ, the mighty one of
Jacob, gives his people light they can never lose. Verse 19. The sun should be no more thy
light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto
thee, but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light. thy
God, thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down,
neither shall thy moon withdraw itself. For the Lord shall be
thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall
be ended." Now clearly, this is talking about Christ, the
light of the world, the light of his people. And we read about
light in scripture, there's several things that it means. First of
all, light is life. You can't have life without light. Christ is the light of His people. So He's the life of His people.
Secondly, light means understanding. You know, when we finally understand
something, we say, oh, the lights were turned on. We have light.
Now I see. In Christ, now we see. Now we see how sinful and depraved
and horrible we are in the light of His perfection. But we also
see this. Now I see. How God can save a
sinner, a Jacob like me, and still be just and show mercy
to somebody like me. It's through the sacrifice of
Christ. In Christ we have understanding.
And thirdly, light is joy. And Christ is the believer's
joy. In Him we have joy. And that's what he says here
at the end of the verse, the days of thy mourning shall be
ended. Our mourning is ended. We have
joy now because Christ Himself bore our griefs and carried our
sorrows and took them away. We have joy in Him. And the life
that we have in Christ is everlasting. It'll never end. If you believe
Christ in this life, you'll never lose that life. You never will. And certainly in the life to
come. That day will be just one glorious,
eternal day. And glory will have that light,
and this life, and this understanding, and this joy perfectly forever. It's life that never ends. Then
last, Christ, the mighty one of Jacob, makes his people righteous. Verse 21. Thy people also shall
be all righteous. They shall inherit the land forever,
the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may
be glorified." I want you to notice this doesn't say, Thy
people shall be called righteous. He says, Thy people also shall
be all righteous. Actually, that word, those words
shall be are in italics. They were added at what it literally
says is, Thy people also all righteous. They're not just going
to be righteous someday, but right now. All of God's people
have been made righteous in Christ. Righteous is not something you
have to wait to get till you die in your glory. No, God's
people are made righteous right now. We've been made all righteous
through the obedience of Christ. And they're the works of Christ's
hand. So he gets all the glory. See,
this righteousness comes to us through union with Christ. That's
what this planting is talking about. We've been planted in
Christ. So that when Christ was obedient, we were obedient in
Him. A believer is planted into Christ,
joined to Christ, made part of the body of Christ. If you look
in chapter 61, verse 3, he says, to appoint unto them that mourn
in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that he might be glorified. He's the one that's
planted. I mean, he's the one that's made
them righteous so that he will be glorified. You look at all
those, those Jacobs now, they've been planted into Christ. We
have made part of his body. But I'm telling you, they look
pretty little now, don't they? They look pretty no count now.
This isn't a very big group, you know, compared to all the
people that live in this area. They look no count now. And in
themselves, they are. They're little, they're no count
now. I'll tell you what, the mighty one of Jacob is going
to make them a great, strong nation in him. But when's he
going to do that? He'll do it in his time. Look
here at verse 22. A little one should become a
thousand, and a small one a strong nation. I, the Lord, will hasten
it in His time. He's going to do it. The only
thing I can think of to say to that is, Lord, hasten the day.
Lord, accomplish Your will and Your purpose. Alright, let's
bow. Our Father, we thank You for
Your Word. We thank You for this description
Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the mighty one of Jacob. I would
thank you for salvation in him. All of our sin, all the sin of
your people is vile, black, horrible, as rebellious as it is, has all
been put away through the sacrifice of the mighty one of Jacob, the
mighty Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we're thankful. And we only come to you in his
name. And how thankful we are to have
just read that we can come boldly in full assurance of faith, completely
confident in our Lord Jesus Christ that will be heard and accepted
in him. Father, for the great name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray that you'd bless us. We pray
that you'd bless this word to the hearts of your people. we'd
see the glory of our Savior, that we'd leave here comforted
and strengthened and edified for the coming days, that we
would, by your grace, being able to rest and trust more fully
in our Lord Jesus Christ, to worship Him and praise Him as
you ought to be praised. Lord, use this word to call your
people out, to call them out of themselves and call them to
Christ, to come running to Him, have in Him everything that they
need. Father, bless us, we pray, for Your great namesake.