For a scripture reading, turn
with me to Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 54. You can put
a marker there. I'll be coming back to this passage. Isaiah chapter 54. Sing, O barren, thou that didst
not bear. break forth into singing, and
cry aloud, Thou that didst not prevail with child, for more
are the children of the desolate than the children of the married
wife, saith the Lord. Enlarge the place of thy tent,
and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations,
spare not. Lengthen thy cords, and strengthen
thy stakes, for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on
the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make
the desolate cities to be inhabited. Fear not, for thou shalt not
be ashamed, neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to
shame, for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt
not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy
maker is thine husband, the Lord of hosts is his name, and thy
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall
he be called. For the Lord hath called thee
as a woman forsaken, and grieving in spirit, and a wife of youth,
when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have
I forsaken thee. But with great mercies will I
gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face
from thee for a moment. But with everlasting kindness
will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. For this
is as the waters of Noah unto me. For as I have sworn in the
waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I
sworn that I would not be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee. For
the mountains shall depart, the hills shall be removed, but my
kindness shall not depart from thee. Neither shall the covenant
of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, but have mercy on thee. O thou afflicted, tossed with
tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair
colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphire. And I make thy
windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders
of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be
taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be
established. Thou shalt be far from oppression,
for thou shalt not fear. and from terror, for it shall
not come near thee. Behold, they shall surely gather
together, but not by me. Whosoever shall gather together
against thee shall fall for thy sake. Behold, I have created
the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire and that bringeth
forth an instrument for his work, and I have created the waster
to destroy. No weapon that is formed against
thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against
thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants
of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. Let's take our Bibles now I turn
to Isaiah chapter 54. I want to use verse 17, the last
verse of the chapter, as my text. Some men that I've listened to
in the past affectionately refer to the prophecies of Isaiah as
the gospel according to Isaiah. And indeed the scripture says
to him give all the prophets witness that through his name
whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. Acts
10 43. This is indeed the gospel according
to Isaiah. My subject this morning is the
heritage of God's saints. Now our text in verse 17 says
the heritage of God's servants. But to me, the terms are interchangeable. You cannot be a saint without
being a servant, and you cannot be a servant without being a
saint. What is a saint? A sanctified
woman. That's a saint. Sanctified of
the Lord God. Isaiah 54 follows one of the
most quoted of all the Old Testament prophecies, Isaiah 53. Who hath believed there before?
And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Huh? It's most quoted. The Lord hath
laid on him the iniquity of us all. It's most quoted of all the Old
Testament prophecies. This is what the eunuch was reading,
and from the same The same portion of scripture Philip climbed up
into the chariot with the eunuch and preached the gospel of Christ
to him. Isaiah 53. It's the foretelling
of the condescension of Christ. He'll grow up before us as a
tender plant, as a root out of dry ground. He has no comeliness
that we should desire him. Talking about the condescension
of Christ. He lift the throne of glory. God Almighty. and was manifested
in the flesh as a servant. I can't imagine the humility
of that in itself. And then it says, and he humbled
himself and become obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. Isaiah 53 is the foretelling
of the condescension of Christ, the days of his humility, his
suffering and death, his resurrection, and of God's satisfaction with
all that he did. Isaiah 54 is about the results
of this great person in works. Huh? That's what Isaiah 54 is. I've heard Isaiah 53 preached
on a thousand times. I've never heard Isaiah 54 preached
on. Isaiah 54 is the results of Isaiah 53. The coming, the
doing, and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ is the basis of
all which His saints are promised to have. The scripture says, to Abraham
and his seed were the promises made. He saith not unto seeds
as of many, but of thy seed, which is Christ. Everything in
Isaiah 53 is about Christ. Everything in Isaiah 54 is the
result of his personal work. This prophecy reaches from the
death and resurrection of Christ to his second coming. And he
tells us both the immediate and the future blessings of God
upon his elect. He begins with a symbolic picture
of his church as a barren one. Now, it's an established picture.
This is not something that Isaiah just said from a vision. This is a long established picture.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the patriarch, all had barren women
for wives, every one of them. And as they were all a picture
of Christ, so their bride being a barren woman. All having wives
that were barren and yet producing heirs of God. The Church of the
Living God is an assembly of barren saints. They have no ability
to produce heirs of God. We have no ability to do that.
I can't bear any children, and yet we do. Paul said, I have
begotten you through the gospel. They are as barren women, yet
they can and do produce heirs of God. Verse 5, for thy maker
is thy husband. Oh, that explains it. My maker is thy husband. Oh,
my soul! Our thoughts, they're mixed and
tainted with the confusion and ignorance of this world. And
we think of Jesus. We think, poor little Jesus,
boy, that's always the picture that I get. Lying in the manger,
helpless. That's the picture I get. The
Jesus of this world has nothing to do with the Jesus of the Bible.
It's a whole different person. Thy maker is thy husband. Who
is thy maker? Well, how did he make these things?
He spoke. And they appeared. The Lord of hosts is his name. What's that mean? That means
he's Lord over everything that is. The Lord of hosts is his name,
thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Now listen, the God of
the whole earth shall he be called. The Lord hath called thee as
a woman forsaken, and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth
when thou wast refused, saith thy God. Because of her ignorance
and attitude, She appeared to be forsaken.
She looked just like all the rest. But now she called by her husband.
He not only calls her, but he makes her to understand the reason
for her being refused in her youth and the glory of being
received even now. And then here's the second thing.
He draws another picture. She appears to be just a little
speck in a society of millions. She appears only in Jerusalem
and even there in the minority. Our Lord said to those who lived
there, whose religious base was in Jerusalem, who were titled
priests, and servants and children of God, masters of theology,
he said, you vipers who warn you to flee the wrath
to come. Here's his church. They appear
as a tiny speck even in Jerusalem, the capital of the faithful,
that city of God like unto which heaven is likened. Jerusalem, heaven, I saw heavenly
Jerusalem. coming down. She appears only in Jerusalem
and even there as a minority, but now God tells her that her
children will be, they're going to outnumber what she has calculated
and she will have to enlarge the place of her tent. Well,
I've got plenty of house here for my children. No, no you don't.
No, you don't. No, not for his children. Abraham,
they're going to be like the sands of the seashore. Can you
number them? They're going to be like the
stars in the sky. The number of his elect will
now take on a whole other view. Verse 3, Thou shalt break forth
on the right hand and on the left, and thy seed Christ shall
inherit the Gentiles. and make the desolate cities
to be inhabited. All these places out here where
God never set foot, now he's going to raise up churches. His children are going to dwell
there. They're going to dwell there. The bride shall now begin to
see herself in the revelation of her husband. Oh, don't look
at yourself in the revelation of your works. You'll go home
sorrowful. You'll go home, oh, without any
hope at all. But begin to see yourself, if
God reveals you, in your husband. That tiny baby back there in
Ezekiel, is it Ezekiel 16? That tiny baby cast out there,
navel wasn't cut, it wasn't washed, it was unwanted, it was filthy,
there was nothing appealing about it. Everybody that passed by
just give it up for dead. Except the Lord. And he took
that little baby up in his hand, and it was a time of love. And
oh, what he did with that old unwanted baby. Now we're going
to look at ourselves not as we are in the flesh, not as we are
under the law, but I'm going to look at myself in the revelation
of my husband. That's what he told her. He said,
I put that crown on your head. I put that necklace around your
neck. You're wearing my comeliness. That's why you're so desirable.
That's what makes you desirable, my comeliness, not yours. The bride shall now begin to
see herself in the revelation of her husband, as one yet as
the stars of heaven and the sands of the seashore, one forsaken
for a small moment, but gathered again with everlasting kindness,
everlasting love. His church appeared forsaken
as her husband was nailed on the cross and crucified between
two thieves. She appeared forsaken as the
wrath of God fell upon her Redeemer. But things are not always the
way they seem. Listen to this, verse 9. For this is as the waters of
Noah unto me. The wrath he poured out on this
world was a righteous wrath, and it fell on Noah and his children
as it did on Christ and His church. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord, and so did we. The vision was made for Noah
as it was for the bride of our Redeemer. And when the wrath
of God exhausted itself, God swore he'd never again flood
the world, put his bow in the sky as a reminder. Is there a
cloud on your horizon? It is but the canvas on which
God will paint the picture of his faithfulness. Think about
it. The bow in the sky is of little
profit if we can't discern it. And while the storm forces the
attention of all who are in its path, the bow is only seen and
discovered by those who are preserved through it. They see the bow. The world didn't see it. No,
it did. The bow symbolizes a divine work. It speaks of light and darkness,
hope out of despair, assurance out of fear, and order out of
chaos. What's necessary, therefore, to perceive the bow is an experiential
knowledge of him who puts his bow in the sky. That's what he's
telling us here. Verse 10, well, the mountain
shall depart and the hill shall be removed, but my kindness shall
not depart from me. Neither shall the covenant of
my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on you."
I want you to listen to this because we have problems to face. We have a life to live in this
wicked world. And boy, we so easily set aside,
ain't we? Chase after everything that is
so easily. Sin which does so easily beset
us. without effort. Oh, but here's
the comfort. I'll never leave you. I'll never
leave you. I'll never forsake you. You know, to prove this, he gave
us an example in the book of Hosea. You need to read it. He
married a harlot. Was she a harlot? She was a harlot.
She chased after her lovers. And then finally, When she was
unwanted, used up, down on the auction block, somebody going
to try to get a few more dollars out of her as a servant, she'd
come clean your house or something. Hosea went down and bought his
wife. Verse 11, how he speaks, he speaks
to her as a spiritual temple. A place in which all the divine
mysteries are revealed and where true worship and communion can
take place. He said, I'll lay thy stones
with fair colors. Oh my. I looked at this little
humble building when I pulled up. Not even good metal on it. But that ain't his temple. Where's
the temple? He said, I'm going to lay you
with fair colors. Oh, I lay thy foundation with
sapphires. I make thy windows of agates,
and the gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant
stones. Oh, what a temple! What a temple
is created when the bride and her husband are made one. We
come to him, Peter writes, as unto a living stone, disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God and pregnant. And ye also,
as lively stones, have built up a spiritual house, a holy
priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ. What a building! This is all coming from His death,
His condescension, His work, God's satisfaction with it, His
resurrection of Him, and the preaching of the Gospels even,
told us in Isaiah 53. By His knowledge, His knowledge,
many are going to be justified. What a building He builds, what
a foundation He lays. When led by the Spirit, gold,
silver, and precious stones. And then look at verse 13. All
thy children shall be taught of the Lord. Oh my soul, what
a promise. What a promise. This is not talking
about your natural children, although they could be. But this
is talking about your spiritual brethren. This is talking about
the children of Zion. Thy children shall be taught
of the Lord. How many? All of them. All of
them. They shall all be taught of God.
That's what our Lord said, don't murmur. You can't come to me
unless you're drawn to my Father. It's written, they shall all
be taught of God. This is the verse that he's referring to.
And great shall be the peace of thy children, spiritual children,
born again of gospel seed, savior in type. Paul said it is the
mother of us all. What a promise. Every child produced
by the church from the gospel seed shall be taught of God.
How will God teach his children? By the means and methods he's
ordained. That's how. And it's a grave
mistake to think God will just reveal Himself to His people
no matter where they are or what they're doing or where they go. It's a grave mistake. It pleased
God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And how should they preach if
they're not sinned? Sin of God. Sin of God. Paul told the Thessalonians that
God had from the beginning chosen him to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you
by our gospel." Not Peter's gospel, Paul's gospel. Not Philip's gospel, Paul's gospel. All of the children's side of
Christ will be born of gospel seed and they shall all be taught
of God. We're talking about the church,
the bride of Christ and their children. Verse 14, in righteousness
shalt thou be established. Whose righteousness? His. Boy,
he makes that plain, don't he? Verse 15. They're going to be
established in His righteousness. Now let me tell you something.
If He ever establishes you in His righteousness, you'll never
again glory in yours. And it won't enter into your
judgment and understanding of other men. You'll see yourselves
having no righteousness except His, and by His hand. This righteousness is a righteousness
without the law, even the righteousness of God, which is by faithfulness
of Jesus Christ. And it's to all and upon all
that believe. established in righteousness,
now listen to this, and far removed from oppression. They locked Paul up in prison.
You know what he said? I'm a prisoner of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Huh? Old Pilate looked down at Christ
and he said, don't you know I have the power to set you free or
turn you loose? He said, you ain't got any power
at all except my father gave it to you. You're far removed
from oppression. Far removed. I give unto them eternal life,
he said, and they'll never perish. Now listen, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hands. You can pluck me out of your
society, but you can't pluck me out of his hands. You can
pluck me out of your village, But you can't pluck me out of
his hand. Huh? Ain't that what that says? Neither
shall any man pluck you from my hand. Why? Because our husband
is our maker. He's the God of the whole world. Who's going to touch her without
his approval? Who's going to bring her into
bondage that he set free? Who will make her ignorant that
he's made wise? Fear or terror ought not to be
in the vocabulary of the believer. You ought to just get rid of
it. Perfect love casts it out of you. Get rid of it. Verse 15, Behold, they shall
gather together. They're going to fight you. They're
going to contend with you. But he said, it ain't of me.
I didn't gather them. If I gathered them, you'd be
destroyed. I didn't gather them. They'll climb up. Listen to this,
they'll climb up in their chariots and carry long spears, but I'll
drown them in the sea. You never saw such an army as
Pharaoh took after Israel. They weren't even armed. And here they are crossing the
sea, and he takes off after them. He's got chariots and spears
and trained horsemen, and boy, he's going to have himself a
slaughter. God just buried him in the sea. They'll line up and battle the
wrath, but they'll fall like leaves from a tree. If God be
for us, who can be against us? You see what he's saying? The
church of the living God shall prevail over all her enemies.
Now watch this, verse 17. No weapon that is formed against
thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise
against thee in judgment shall bow condemned. God's children
are a spiritual assembly. And though they're dead, yet
shall they live. And this day Christ said to the
penitent sinner, shalt thou be with me in paradise this day. What a statement to give a man
suffering and dying on a cross beside of him. You think that might have eased
his pain a little? Today shalt thou be with me in
paradise. Oh, listen to this. In an oven
heated seven times hotter than normal, great men of stature
took Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and went up to throw them in
a furnace, and as they did, they were consumed by the flames and
the fire. And Nebuchadnezzar, standing
afar off, looked through the door, and he said, Did not you
cast three men in there? And I see four, and one of them
is like unto the Son of God, and they ain't even charred.
Huh? Who's gonna touch you? Your husband,
your maker. That's what he's telling us.
See yourself in him. Boy, this is... Come on. Can you picture the bride of
God with her head hung down? Of course, she's got dirty shoes
on. Come on. Look at Daniel in the lion's
den. Oh, that king come over there to look in and see about
Daniel. Daniel down there had his head
on a line. He's laying down there using the line for a pillow. Oh, my soul. And what about Elijah? Elijah didn't even come out of
the tent. That little servant of his was so worried, he looked
up there and that great army had surrounded him, completely
around him. He said, don't you know we're
going to perish? He didn't come out of the tent.
He said, Lord, open that young man's eyes. He went out and he
saw an army surrounding them, dwarfed them. Not one going to perish, not
one to be cast out, and not one going to be plucked from his
hand. How is that possible? Because they're dead, and their
life is hid with Christ in God. Nothing can touch them. They're
in God's counsel and purpose, sitting with Christ in the heavenlies.
Whom He did justify them, He did, not going to, He did also
glorify. When? In the person of Christ.
If we're one with Him. If His righteousness is ours,
so is His glorification. See yourself in your husband.
glorified, the churches of the living God, His saints. Oh, that's what God calls them,
my saints. Sanctified by God the Father,
preserved in Jesus Christ He called. And His providence has
been ordered and arranged, their path has been cleared, the servants
of the King are placed along the way, and their angels do
always stand before their Father. Oh, but what of their enemies?
What are their enemies? Oh, you look out here and you
see the multitudes. The multitude. What are their
enemies? What are those tongues that rise
up in judgment against them? What are them who put together
councils and committees and sit in judgment on the saints? Condemn
the saints with their lies and deceit. Take a public stand of
opposition against the bride of Christ. What are them? Thou shalt condemn. I don't understand the silent
tongue that ignores public condemnation of Christ, his church, and his
gospel. Paul don't say the apostles came
to Christ and said, do you know you offended them? Yeah, I meant
to. I meant to. There to be condemned, Paul said,
though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto
you than that which we preached unto you. Let him be accursed.
John the Baptist said to the Pharisees, you vipers, you vipers, bring forth therefore fruits
worthy of repentance. And there's no more deadly enemy
among the souls of men than free will works religion. Legalism. Sound it out. Say it. Don't keep
it to yourself. ceremonialism, sensualism. If it feels good, do it. You
want to be silent about that so you can get along with the
world? You know what he calls it? Getting into bed with the
world. That's why over in James he calls them guilty of fornication. Adulterers and adulteresses.
Not because they actually practice those sexual things. It's because
they got in bed with this world to have what they wanted. The way of salvation is Christ
alone, one mediator between God and me and the man Christ Jesus.
None other name unto heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved. Christ in you, the hope of glory. And all that the Father hath
given me, he says, are going to come to me, and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. Now listen to me. There's a world out there that
hates God. And they'll hate you and publicly condemn you when
they recognize your identification with Him. But know this, one
day we'll sit with our Savior and judge this ungodly world. And it'll be a righteous judgment. 1 Corinthians 6, 2. Listen to
this. Do you not know that the saints
shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged
by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye
not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain
to this life. When our Lord offered Himself
without spot to God and commended His Spirit to Him, the Father
was satisfied, and His blood became the seal of the covenant
blessings of God. That's what Isaiah is talking
about here. that everything promised of God was made sure by the person
and work of his son. So what are you saying, preacher?
I'm saying see yourself in your husband. Don't look to yourself as what
you are. Don't look to yourself in the
sight of this world and by their standards. Don't do it. Don't do it. You're going to
come up sorry. See yourself in the revelation
of your husband. That's how God sees you. There's no other way. When He
comes to get you, and by whatever means, angels or men or whatever
it is, by whatever means He ushers you up to Heaven's gate, there's
no other way that God Almighty in His strict holiness and justice
could look at you and say, well done, my good and faithful son,
enter down here. Huh? God looks at you and His
Son. Huh? Or maybe He'd be pleased
to allow us to do that today, every day.