Isaiah chapter 11. I'd like for us to see this evening
three points. The promise of the Savior, the
qualifications of the Savior, and the effect of the Savior.
Now, in this preceding chapter, we saw a prophecy, how God said
He would defeat the enemies of Israel. At the time Isaiah was
writing, those enemies were just causing Israel so much pain and
suffering. They're plundering the country. They're putting the people under
severe conditions. They're killing people, taking
people captive. And we saw God promised a temporal
deliverance from those enemies. And I showed you how that's a
picture of salvation. That temporal deliverance is
a picture of spiritual deliverance from sin. Now we know that that
spiritual salvation, the spiritual deliverance that Isaiah prophesied
of, comes to us in and by and through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So now in chapter 11, Isaiah gives us a prophecy of the Savior.
First he gave us a prophecy of deliverance. Now he's going to
give us a prophecy and description of the deliverer. In verse 1,
here's where the first thing we see, the promise of the Savior.
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and
a branch shall grow out of its roots." Now, this is a prophecy
we've seen before in many other places in Scripture. And you
know full well, Isaiah is telling us here that the Savior who's
coming will be both God and man. That's what this prophecy means. He's coming as God who has the
power to save and the righteousness to save. And He's coming as a
man who can be the representative and the substitute, the sacrifice
for sinful He's coming as a man who will have blood to shed and
a body to be broken for sin. Let me see if I can show you
that. Isaiah prophesies here a rod will spring forth. That
word rod is a sprig or a twig just easily broken. A twig is
so easy to just break between your fingers. That's the humanity
of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ when He
was born was a real baby. He looked just like we did. He
didn't have a glow around him. He just looked like a regular,
ordinary baby. He was as helpless as you and
I were when we were born. Completely dependent on his mother
to take care of him and to feed him, to keep him alive, just
like all of us were. But this real baby is no ordinary
baby. This baby is God. You think of that. That baby
lying there in Mary's hands is God. How our Lord humbled Himself. He humiliated Himself to become
a man. To take on Him flesh, human. To clothe Himself in human flesh
and be made of a woman. The Son of God humbled Himself
to become a man. That's humiliating enough. But
He went further. He humbled himself even more
by the family that he was born into. The family of Jesse. Now, all through scripture we
read about Christ as the son of David, the son of David, the
son of David. That's how we hear it all the
time. But Isaiah here doesn't call him the son of David, does
he? It doesn't say a stem of David. He says a stem of Jesse. I think I can show you why that
is. It's part of him humbling himself. David was a famous Powerful
king. Almost everybody still today
knows who David is. But Jesse, he's an unknown nobody
from nowhere. That's who our Lord came to identify
himself with. Are you a nobody from nowhere?
That's who Christ came to save. Remember when David sent his
men down to Nabal to get provisions for his men? Nabal was a rich
man. And David said, I'm not going to give you any provisions.
And what was his insult to David? Who is this son of Jesse? He's
a nobody. And that's who the Messiah came
through, this nobody from nowhere. And when the Lord Jesus was born,
the house of Jesse was almost non-existent. The word stem there
means stump. The house of Jesse, the house
of David, which at one time started out very humble beginnings, didn't
it? It grew to a Mighty tree. David
was a mighty king. His house was mighty. His son
Solomon was one of the greatest kings to ever live. But by the
time our Lord Jesus was born, that stump had been cut down
right up next to the ground. It was just so small that the
grass grew taller than the stump. It was so just insignificant. Nobody would give the descendants
of David a room in the inn. This is the descendants of King
David. I don't care, go sleep in the barn. If you're about
to have a baby, what's that to me? Go have it in the barn. The
house of David, the house of Jesse, was just a stump. And
the Lord Jesus Christ humbled Himself to come as a lowly man
in that family. Now can anything of value grow
out of that stump? There that stump is. It's nothing. Nobody
thinks anything of it. Nobody thinks it has any value
or any worth. Can anything good come out of that stump? Is there
any hope left if that stump looks dead? Look at Job 14. Well, it doesn't look like it
to you and me, does it? It doesn't look like there's much hope. Look at Job 14. Verse 7, For there is hope with the tree,
if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender
branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old
in the earth, and the stalk thereof die in the ground, yet through
the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a
plant. The key to life from that stump
is the root. Isn't that right? Janet had a
tree. She loves this tree. It's a crape
myrtle. Grew up in our front yard. It
grew up so pretty. She just, oh, she loved that
tree. This winter killed it, we thought. I mean, just nothing. A neighbor, our neighbor, came
and cut most of it down. She's wanting to leave these
old dead sticks sticking up out of the ground. Thinking, maybe
they'll sprout. Maybe they'll sprout. And she said that verse.
She said, remember what Joe said? She said, maybe this tree will
sprout. You know what it did? It did. Some of those old dead
sticks have blossoms coming out on them, and they're coming back
up out of the root. The life is in the root. The stump looks
dead, but there's life in the root. If there's life in the
root, there's going to be life in the tree. That's where we
see the Lord Jesus Christ is God. He's the root. He's the man because He's the
stem. He's the twig. But he's also God, because he's
the root. Look back in our text, Isaiah 11, verse 10. He's the
root. And in that day, there shall
be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people.
Now here, Isaiah says he's the root of Jesse. Up there he says
he's the stem of Jesse. Well, which is he? Is he the
root or is he the twin? Which is he? He's both. Now look in Revelations 5, I'll
show you that. He's both. He's the root, and
he's the twig. Revelation 5, verse 5, this shows
us that this prophecy of Isaiah is talking about no one except
our Lord Jesus Christ. Look what he says, Revelation
5, verse 5. And one of the elders saith unto
me, Weep not. Behold the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David. hath prevailed to open the book,
and to loose the seven seals thereof." Now that root of David
tells us plainly this prophecy is referring to our Lord Jesus
Christ. Well, all right, which is he? He still hasn't answered
the question. Is he the root or is he the stem? Look in Revelation
22. He's both. Revelation 22, verse 16. has sent mine angel to testify
unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the
offspring of David, the bright and morning star. I'm the root
and I'm the offspring. The root and the twig. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the root of Jesse. He's the one who existed before
Jesse existed. He's the root that gave Jesse
life. Jesse draws his life from the root. That's Christ. The
Son of God. But Christ is also the offspring. He's also the twig that grew
from Jesse's house. He's both David's son and David's
Lord. That's what the Pharisees never
could figure out. He's the God-man, David's son and Lord. Now listen
to me. This is not just sound doctrine.
It is sound doctrine, but it's not just sound doctrine. This
is written for the comfort of God's people. It seems very unlikely
that anything will grow from this stump that's become of Jesse's
house. But God brought the Messiah.
He brought the Savior from that stump. That stump, out of that
stump came salvation, came mercy, came grace, came life, came every
spiritual blessing that you know of came from that stump. And
I'll show you this in a minute how this applies to you and me.
When you look at us, It surely looks like nothing good can come
out of that snot, doesn't it? It's dead. It's stinking and
rotting. It's dead and trespasses and
sins. Well, don't give up hope, because life is in the root.
We are dead, but keep praying. Keep asking for mercy. Keep waiting
on the Lord. He's able. How many times has
He showed us that? How many more times does He have
to show us? He's able. He's willing. How many times do I have to show
us that till we get this through our head? There's hope in God's
mercy and God's power. I hear this little sprig, this
twig sprouts from a stump. It's got awful humble beginnings,
doesn't it? It looks like the stump's dead,
just a little twig. A cold snap will kill it. But
that twig is going to grow to a rod that rules the entire world. Look at verse 2. Here's the qualifications
of the Savior. And the Spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon Him. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding.
The Spirit of counsel and might. The Spirit of knowledge and of
the fear of the Lord. And here's the qualifications
of our Savior. The Spirit of the Lord will rest
upon Him. He's not going to come and leave
and stay for a while and leave for a while and come back. No,
He's going to stay upon Him because He is God. He is one with God. He's one with the Holy Spirit.
So he has the Spirit without measure. Every believer has the
Holy Spirit dwelling in you. You have the Spirit, but now
it's in measure. It's in a small amount. It's
always small. We wish it was a whole lot more.
Christ had the Spirit without measure because he is God. We received the Holy Spirit in
the new birth. Christ was filled with the Spirit
from the womb. Because He is God. When He was formed in the
womb, He was God. So even then, He was filled with
the Holy Spirit. And that's a qualification of
our Savior. That qualified the Lord to preach
the Gospel to the poor. As our Lord began His very first
public recorded message, He began with these words, The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach
the Gospel to the poor. This Spirit qualified Him to
bring the Gospel to the poorest spirit, like you and me, and
having the spirit without measure, qualified our Savior to give
every spiritual blessing to His people. He received those gifts
from His Father, and He gives them to His people. See, that's
not just doctrine, is it? That's the comfort of God's people.
Next, our Lord had the spirit of wisdom and understanding.
Not only could that boy baffle the doctors of his day, the theologians,
Not only could our Lord Jesus answer every question those Pharisees
threw at Him, He could turn around and stump them. But much more
important than that, having the Spirit of wisdom and understanding
enabled our Savior to reveal to men the wisdom of God and
salvation. He can give an understanding
of salvation to His people. God in His wisdom found a ransom
that enables God to be both the just and justifier of sinners. The only way you can see that
wisdom is in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he gives
that understanding to his people. The Lord Jesus Christ himself,
he's the one who teaches his people. And he teaches us who
he is. Now he can do that because here's
another qualification. He's got the spirit of counsel.
He's the great counselor. He can teach. He teaches the
hearts of His people and He reveals to us the mind and the will of
God. You can only know that, the mind
and the will of God in Christ. Then next, He's qualified to
be the Savior because He has the Spirit of might. That Spirit
of might qualifies our Savior to bear the sins of His people
away. Take them away so that we never see them again. He's
mighty to save. Only Christ has the power and
the might to bear the punishment of His people and to obtain eternal
redemption for them. He's the only one mighty enough.
Only the Lord Jesus Christ has the might, has the power to defeat
all of our enemies. And brethren, He has done just
that. He didn't come to make an attempt.
He came to do it. He shall not fail. nor be discouraged,
till he hath set judgment on the earth." He's got the spirit
of life. Next, our Savior is qualified
because he has a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord. Now, of
course, our Lord came with a knowledge of the Father. He's one with
the Father. He knows the Father. Of course He came with a knowledge
of the Father. But again, now this is more than just sound
doctrine. It's good news. No man knows the Father save
the Son. Isn't that right? He knows the Father because nobody
knows the Father save the Son. And He to Whomsoever the Son
will reveal. He came to reveal. He knows the
Father. He came to reveal the Father
to His people. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden
in the Lord Jesus Christ. So that in Christ we know the
Father. In Christ we have all those treasures of wisdom and
knowledge. If you know Christ, you know
the Father. And the Savior, he knew the mind
and the purpose of God. He had that knowledge of God.
So as a man, he feared God. He reverenced God. He had a zeal
for his Father. He obeyed his Father perfectly. See, knowledge and fear, knowledge
and reverence have to go together. That's our Lord. And this fear,
look over in Hebrews chapter 5, this fear of reverence is
very important. If you look in Hebrews chapter
5, I'll show you how important this is. Now we're reading the
qualifications of our Savior, the qualifications of our high
priest. You want your high priest to
be heard? He makes an offering for you. He's going with the
blood behind the veil for your sins. You want him to be heard?
Look at Hebrews 5 verse 4. Now no man taketh this honor
unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.
So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest.
But he that said unto him, Thou art my son, today have I begotten
thee. As he saith also in another place,
Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. who
in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and
supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able
to save him from death, he was heard. In that, because of that,
he feared. He has the knowledge of God,
knowledge and fear. Then verse 3, back in our text. And shall make him of quick understanding
in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge after the
sight of his eyes, neither approve after the hearing of his ears.
The Savior is qualified to be the judge. He has quick understanding. And because of that quick understanding,
he never makes a mistake. He doesn't have to rely on witnesses.
He doesn't have to sit there and listen to this whole string
of witnesses come and witness and tell him what happened. He
already knows. He knows all things. He doesn't
need those witnesses. He already knows the heart of
every man. He knows the thoughts and intents
of every heart. I'm thankful for that. I'm so
thankful. And every believer's thankful.
Because if you had to be my judge, you'd have to rely on what you
see. What you see me do. My actions
you have to judge based upon my words. My outward actions. You'd have to rely on other witnesses
to come tell you Frank did this. Frank said that. You'd have to
rely on those witnesses. But you couldn't see my heart.
You couldn't see the intents and thoughts of my heart. Now,
I'll be real honest with you. I'm glad. I don't want you to
see the secrets of my heart. It would be humiliating. But
I do want Christ. I want, I need my Savior to know
all the secrets both my hearts. I need Him to know the secrets
of my new heart and I need Him to know the secrets of my old
heart. I need Christ as my Savior to know all the secrets of my
old heart so that He can cleanse me of every sin. Not one of them
is hid from Him. Not if He knows everything. And
if not one of them is hid from Him, He'll cleanse them all.
I need Him to know the secrets of my old heart. And I need Christ,
my Savior, to know the secrets of my new heart. I need Him to
know it all, so that despite how I act, despite what I may
say, He knows. He knows I love Him. He knows
I believe Him. If you and I were the judge,
we'd have said Peter doesn't know the Lord, wouldn't we? After
we saw Peter deny the Lord three times, he denied Him with an
oath. And then, he left the ministry and went back to fishing. He
wasn't going on a fishing trip to Lake Erie. He was going back
to commercial fishing to make his living fishing. We'd have
said, look at him, he doesn't know the Lord. But Peter could
rely on the perfect knowledge and the quick understanding of
our Lord and plead, Lord, you know all things. You know I love
you. You know my heart. You know the
new heart that You gave me loves You and trusts You. That's our
confidence. And then verse 4. Here's an all-important
qualification of the Savior. Righteousness. 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 girl of His loins In faithfulness,
the girdle of His reigns. Now, verse 5 says that the Savior
is adorned with righteousness. His beauty is His righteousness.
He's strengthened by His righteousness. He's strengthened by His faithfulness
to do righteousness at all times. And because of that, in verse
4, He can judge the poor in righteousness. who hungers and thirsts after
righteousness. Does that describe anybody here?
Are you a sinner who hungers and thirsts? You need something.
You only thirst for something that's not inside you. Do you
hunger and thirst after a righteousness you don't have? Christ makes
that sinner the righteousness of God in him. The Lord Jesus
Christ justifies that sinner in righteousness Because those
sins were already judged in Christ our substitute. He suffered for
all that sin. So in justice, He makes that
sinner righteous. Christ saves His people by righteousness. But He also saves them in righteousness.
In a righteous salvation. So they can't lose their salvation.
And that sinner is made righteous freely. Without any cost. Without doing anything to earn
it. Without doing anything to deserve it. And it's a good thing,
because this righteousness has come to the poor, hasn't it?
A sinner that's so poor, he can't pay anything. If you don't have
anything to pay, that's the sinner Christ will make righteous. But
that's the only one. If you've got something to contribute,
you can't be made righteous in him. The only sinner that Christ
will justify in his righteousness is the sinner that's so poor
and so needy, he has nothing to pay. that sinner be justified,
made righteous in Christ. How are you sure? How can you
be sure? How can you be sure every sinner
is going to hear Christ and come to Him to be saved? By the rod
of His mouth. He will smite the earth with
the rod of His mouth. But what's the rod of His mouth?
It's the Word of God. It's going to go forth into all
the world, and it will find the elect. It'll conquer every rebel. It'll break every stony heart. It's the rod of His mouth. That's
His Word. How can you be sure no one's
going to be missed? How can you be sure nobody will
not hear? Because God, the Holy Spirit, will speak to it. The
breath of His lips, that's the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit
is going to take the Word of God. He's going to slay that
old man and give him life. He's going to give the new man
in the new birth. God the Holy Spirit will see
to it. That's the qualifications of the Savior. Now third, the
effect of the Savior's work is peace. Look at verse 6. 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 fat one
together, and a little child shall lead them. Now normally,
the wolf attacks the sheep, doesn't he? The wolf tries to come in
among the sheep. Maybe he tries to sneak in under
the cover of darkness. Maybe he comes in wearing sheep's
clothing, and then he gets in so he can devour the sheep. But
his purpose is to devour the sheep, to eat the sheep. But
now, because of Christ and His work of redemption, the wolf
and the sheep are at peace. They dwell at peace, in unity,
side by side. The leopard, he normally stalks
the kid. The kid doesn't have any defense. He eventually tears it up, shreds
it to pieces. He bites and devours it. Now
in Christ, they lie down together in love. On a cold night, they
snuggle up to one another. The leopard and the kid, they
keep each other warm. They're friends. And the lion,
he normally lies in wait to eat that fatty cat. And they eat
that lamb. Now they lie down together. Where'd all this peace and friendship
come from? It came from the new birth. The
wolf and the lion are born again. So they don't attack the sheep
anymore. They're given a new nature in the new birth. Now
the wolf and the lion can't change their nature, can they? But God
can give them a new one. And that leopard? cannot change
his spots. You know what scripture says?
He can't change his spots. But God can. God makes a new
man born. A man without spot or blemish. Look in Galatians chapter 1.
Here is a glaring example. We've been looking at this in
our Bible lessons on Sunday morning. A glaring example of the fulfillment
of this prophecy in Isaiah is Saul of Tarsus. Galatians 1 verse
21, Paul says, Afterwards I came
into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and was unknown by faith
unto the churches of Judea, which were in Christ. But now they
heard his name. They knew about him, but they
heard only that he which persecuted us, he which devoured and bit
and scratched and clawed and ate us, he which persecuted us
in time past Now preach the faith which he once destroyed. And
the only thing they could do is glorify God in him. That's
the only thing they could do. That's a fulfillment. That old
lion, Saul of Tarsus, was born again. So that he'd go give his
life to preach to those sheep. So those sheep would be fed.
And Isaiah says a little child shall lead them. Can you imagine
taking one of these little children and letting them lead a wolf?
And a lion? And a leopard? Because of the
work of Christ, the effect of His work, a child can lead that
wolf and leopard and that lion. Because they became as little
children themselves and were converted. And they're led by
a little child. That's one of God's preachers.
That wolf is willing to submit himself to the leadership of
that little child, God's pastor. Now how on earth can that happen? Only in Christ. The effect of
His work is peace. The effect of Christ's work for
them and in them in the new birth is peace. Now I can only think
of two times what Isaiah is saying here actually happened. The first
one is in the first creation. God created all the animals and
put them in the garden. They didn't eat and devour one
another. And the second time I can think of that happening
is in the ark. Noah put those animals in the
ark The lion didn't eat the lamb. The leopard didn't devour the
kid. Why not? Let me tell you. In that first
creation, the lion didn't eat the lamb. The leopard didn't
eat the kid and to bite and devour and lie in wait. Because that's
a picture of creation. In the new birth, in the second
creation, we're given a new nature. A nature that not only doesn't
want to sin, but a nature that cannot sin. that loves what we
once hated and dwells in peace with even our enemies. And then
in the ark, Noah put all those animals in the ark. What's that
ark a picture of? It's a picture of salvation in
Christ. I saw this special about the ark of Noah and this smart
aleck was saying, well, that can't be. The only thing you've
got to say to prove Noah's ark did not exist is termites. What's
that to God? He gave that termite a new nature.
He didn't eat through that heart, just like He gives His people
a new nature. In Christ, everyone's got a new
nature. And they dwell together in peace.
Look in Ephesians chapter 2. All this happens because of the
sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. His blood was shed and His blood
was applied to the hearts of His people. And they're a new
creature. Ephesians 2 verse 12, that at that time you are without
Christ, the aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from
the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the
world. But now, in Christ Jesus, just like being in that ark,
in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by
the blood of Christ, for He is our peace, who hath made both
one and hath broken down the middle wall partitioned between
us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one
new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby."
All the enmity is slain. The hatred that we have toward
God and the hatred we have toward one another is slain. by the
crucifixion, the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. And He came
and preached peace to you which were far off and to them that
were nigh. For through Him we both have
access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore, you're
no more strangers and foreigners. You're not wolves and lions and
leopards anymore. You're fellow citizens with the
saints and of the household of God." He made peace. by giving you a new nature. Look
back in our text, verse 7. He gave you new nature and he
changed your diet. The cow and the bear shall feed. The young ones shall lie down
together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. Now in nature,
cows eat grass and lions and bears eat cows. Now they're eating
the same thing. They're both eating grass. That's
God giving His people a new diet, a new nature. God's elect come
from all different backgrounds. You all come from different backgrounds,
different walks of life, different likes and dislikes, different
education levels. But every one of God's people,
every one of His children, they're born again. And they all have
exactly the same nature. And they all have an appetite
for the same spiritual food. Christ, the bread of life. They
feed together. Verse 8, And the suckling child
shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall
put his hand on the cockatrice den. Now that child can play
on top of a snake pit. He can put his hand down there
in that snake pit. Because the curse of sin is removed. Before the falls, snakes weren't
cursed. They were beautiful. Eve wasn't
afraid of that snake. We wouldn't be today. She wasn't.
The curse hadn't come yet, but Satan took the form of that beautiful
serpent to deceive Eve and God cursed him for it. He cursed
that serpent. And now, because of the new birth,
those who were part of that generation of vipers, they're becoming little
children. They're converted. There's no
more curse. They can play with the snakes.
There's nothing to fear. The curse has been removed. The
only way that's possible is Christ bore the curse of sin away when
he was made a curse for his people. In verse 9, here's more peace.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for
the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the
waters cover the sea. The effect of Christ's work for
his people is peace. What Isaiah describes here is
God's children, they're living together in peace. They don't
look to hurt and harm one another, they're in peace. Look at verse
13. The envy also of Ephraim shall
depart. That envy's gone. And the adversaries
of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not vex Judah,
and Judah shall not, or Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah
shall not vex Ephraim. This thing's been going on between
Judah and Ephraim. That's over when they're born
again. They live together in peace. In God's holy mountain,
all the evil is kept out of that mountain and it'll never hurt
God's people again. They live in peace. In God's
elect, they come from the four corners of the earth. And every
one of them, every generation of them, every language, every
tribe, they'll all be drawn to Christ. Look at verse 10. And
that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for
an instant of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek.
of the whole world, and his rest shall be glorious." Now, how
can you be sure everyone for whom Christ died will come to
him? How can you be sure? Our Lord said, if I be lifted
up from the earth, I'll draw all unto me. That root of Jesse
is the enzyme. He's the banner. This is Jehovah
Nissi, the Lord, our banner. And when that banner is lifted
up, Sinners from the four corners of the earth will come to him
look at verse 12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations
and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together
the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth you
just lift up Christ his people will come When Christ our banners
lifted up all the soldiers the elect Come to the banner Wayne. They can't help themselves. You
just lift him up. They'll come When Christ is lifted
up, the soldiers know where to look. They look to Christ. When
Christ our banner is lifted up, the soldiers know where to march.
They just follow the banner. When Christ our banner is lifted
up, the soldiers know where they ought to gather and where they
ought not gather. All they got to do is look at
the banner. When Christ is lifted up, the soldiers see victory
and their spirits are lifted. I read stories about these guys
that carried the flag in the Civil War. I would not have volunteered
for that job, because that's a fella. Everybody's shooting
at him. And it looks like the battle is lost. I mean, it looks
like they're just devastated. And everybody's running in fear.
And somebody picks up that flag and charges toward the enemy.
And all those other soldiers see that banner lifted up. A
minute ago, they were afraid and running for their lives.
They see that banner lifted up and now they see victory. And
off they go to rout the enemy. The gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. Just lift the banner up. Even
us Gentiles will come. From the whole earth. He says
there in verse 9, O earth shall be full of the knowledge of the
Lord. Even Gentiles like us. Even heathen like you and me.
Just lift up the banner. They'll come. How do you know they'll come?
Now something could hinder him, couldn't it? I mean, boy, life's
busy. I mean, maybe they'll miss it.
Maybe something will happen. No. Every obstacle be removed. Luke verse 16. And there shall
be a highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be
left from Assyria, like as it was to Israel in the day when
he came up out of the land of Egypt. Israel came out of the
land of Egypt. They came to the Red Sea. Well,
there's an obstacle. Can't get past this. No highway
can be there. And they went over on dry ground
and nothing hindered them. Nothing but your own sin hindered
them. Every obstacle will be removed. There is smooth sailing
on this highway. It's not going to be like Andrew
and Judy coming back from the beach and they were behind that
big fire in that tunnel and the highway was a parking lot. This
highway would never be like that. Every obstacle is removed. Smooth
sailing. And the last effect. Christ's
work for His people is rest. His rest shall be glorious. Now, when creation was finished,
Scripture says God rested from His work. Now, I rest from my
work because I'm tired. God rested from His work because
the work was finished. And He said it was good. It was
very good. So He rested because the work
was finished. And when our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, He
rested from his work of redemption. Not because he was tired. Not
because somebody took his life away from him. Because the work
was finished. As he died, what did the Savior
cry? It is finished. The work's complete. Nothing
else, not only needs to be done, nothing else can be done. It's
finished. And because the work is finished,
he rested. And after three days, he rose
again. But he didn't rise again to start
working again. Every morning, I rise to start
working. He didn't rise to start working.
He arose so that he would ascend on high and sit down enthroned
in glory. Our Savior sits on the throne
because the work's finished. He's not pacing the floors of
glory, wringing his hands and worrying if somebody will accept
him or not. His elect will come to Him. He sits on the throne
to guarantee it. The work of redemption is finished.
He's just carrying it out. That's His glorious rest. Now
again, that's not just sound doctrine. That's the comfort
and rest of His people. When those sinners are drawn
to Christ, they enter into His glorious rest. Our Lord says,
come unto Me. All ye that labor, and are heavy
laden. Are you tired of trying to do
better? Are you tired of trying to keep
the law? Are you tired of trying to establish
a righteousness that's not in you? Are you tired of propping
up that dead corpse? Constantly trying to prop up
that righteousness? Are you weary and heavy laden? The Savior says, come to Me. I'll give you rest. Glorious
rest. You rest in His finished work. You don't have to do anything
to obtain salvation. You just rest. You don't have
to do anything to keep it. You just rest in Him. Just rest
in Christ. Look at Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews 4 verse 9. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. For he that is entered into his
rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from
his." Now let's labor, let's desire, let's seek therefore
to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example
of unbelief. Now whose rest do we enter? Verse
10 says, his rest. We enter into him. It's his rest,
because the work is finished. One more scripture. Genesis chapter
8. Here is such a good example of
what I've been telling you about this rest. It's in Christ and
His finished work. Genesis 8 verse 6. And it came to pass at the end
of forty days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he
had made. And he sent forth a raven. which went to and fro until the
waters were dried up from off the earth." That raven didn't
have to come back to the ark. That raven, all those dead carcasses
out there floating in the water, that raven could live off them.
Then verse 8, Noah also sent forth a dove from him to see
if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground. But
the dove found no rest for the soul of her foot. She couldn't
live off all those dead carcasses. So what did she do? She returned
unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the
whole of her. Then he put forth his hand, and
he took her, and he pulled her in unto him into the ark. That dove flew all around, found
no place of rest, found nothing to eat. She couldn't survive
on anything out there. And she came back to Noah, and
he stuck his hand out, and she landed there. He took her into
the ark. She couldn't rest flying over
all those waters, could she? But in the ark, she rested. She wasn't worried about one
of those animals jumping up, a cat jumping up and getting
her. In the ark, she rested. That's the believer's rest in
Christ. We'll die the eternal death without
this rest. There's nothing in us and there's
nothing in this world that can give us life, that can sustain
eternal life. So come to Christ. and rest in
Him. Enter into Him and rest. That
is His glorious rest. That's the effect of the Savior's
work for His people. Let's bow in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, how thankful
we are for the promised Savior. How thankful we are that You
qualified Him to do the work necessary for the salvation of
Your people. and how thankful we are that
the Savior is not just words on paper, not just doctrine,
but He came in person and accomplished the salvation of His people.
And He applies that salvation to the heart of His people and
gives us peace, gives us rest in Him. Father, we're thankful. Cause us to rest. Cause us to
rest in Christ. Cause each soul here this evening
to look to Christ and find rest and peace and joy and salvation. Every spiritual blessing in Him. He's worthy. Father, we're thankful. We give thanks in that name which
is above every name. The name of our precious Savior,
our Lord Jesus Christ.