Okay, let's see if this is starting.
Yes, that's good. Right, so we're going to look
at Isaiah 54 this morning. Last week we dipped our toe,
as it were, into Isaiah 53. And Isaiah 53 stands out in the
Old Testament Scriptures, it's surely the clearest statement
in the Old Testament of redemption from the curse of sin by the
sufferings and death of Christ, his people's substitute. It speaks
there of him, rejected of men, despised, a man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief, bearing the griefs of his people, bearing the punishment
due to his people, the sorrows of his people, stricken and afflicted
for his people by the justice of God that must punish sin.
We saw him there wounded for the transgressions, the sins
of his people, bruised on that cross, under the curse, bearing
the curse of the justice of God for the sins of his people, and
bearing the iniquity of all his people. We saw it there so clearly,
and how his soul was made an offering for sin, and how God
delights in that offering, and how God is pleased to say this
is enough, I'm satisfied, this is plenty, this has satisfied
all the demands. And so the people of God are
saved from their sins in Him, because God has decreed that
the sin debt of His chosen people can be paid by one who is fitting
and able. The sin debt must be paid either
by the people themselves or, in the purposes of God, by one
who is fitting and able to stand as a substitute, as a sacrifice
in their place, and that one is Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is He? He is infinite God,
and yet He is perfect man. He is sinless. He was proven. You know when He came? He lived
under the law of God, in perfect righteousness. Why did He do
that? It was to prove, as they used
to test The sacrificial lamb for the Passover, it had to be
kept and observed for 14 days to prove that it was without
blemish and without spot. And he lived in perfect sinlessness
before the law of God. So he is a fitting substitute,
because you cannot have a substitute, you cannot have a sacrifice that
has sins of his own that must be paid for first. You read about
the Old Testament priests, and even in their picturing of what
Christ had to do, there had to be an offering for their own
sins before they could do anything else in the picture. Not that
any of the blood of those animals achieved anything, it was just
a picture of that which Christ would do. But he was proven to
be without blemish under God's holy law, and so he had no sin
of his own to pay for. And he came, God, God, who thought,
he was in the form of God and thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, but he came as a man in the likeness of sinful
flesh, yet without sin, and as a dying man, a man. with human blood in his veins,
as a dying man he answers perfectly and to the uttermost all that
God's offended justice demands regarding the sin of his people. The law of God says the soul
that sins it shall die. it shall give up its life. The
book of God says the life is in the blood. The book of God
says without the shedding of blood there is no remission,
there is no forgiveness, there is no putting away of sin. And
so he came as a man with human blood to put away the sin of
his people by dying in their place on the cross of Calvary.
And that's what Isaiah 53 is all about. His coming into the
world In the Old Testament, he's coming into the world, his life
and death are foretold in minute detail, in Old Testament scripture,
in minute detail. And the people, some, some, some,
the majority knew nothing of it, but a few, a remnant, according
to the election of grace, says Romans, a remnant knew about
the Saviour who was to come, the Messiah who was to come,
and they were looking, they were looking at the Scriptures, and
they were saying, they were heeding the signs of the times, and they
were saying, it must be about now. So you have Simeon in the
temple, waiting, and he sees the baby Jesus brought in to
perform the rites according to the law for him, and he says,
my eyes have seen the salvation of God. and Anna, the old prophetess,
she's a very old woman, and she's lived speaking of this one to
come, and she's now seen him, and she spoke to everyone there
that she could, that she's seen the Messiah of God, the salvation
of God has come. What Isaiah foretold in 53, chapter
53, actually happened. All of this bearing the sins
of his people, it actually happened. You know, he came At the fullness
of the time, Galatians 4 verse 4, he came made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem those who are under the law, his people,
that he might give them the adoption of sons, that we might have the
adopt, we might say Abba Father, that the people of God might
know that they're the children of God, by adoption, because
of what Christ has done. He came and accomplished everything
that the Scriptures said He would. So in Galatians 3.13, Christ
redeemed His people, us, from the curse of the law. Cursed
is everyone that continues not in all things written in the
book of the law to do them perfectly forever. He redeemed us from
that curse. How? By Himself being made a
curse for us in our place, as our substitute, as our sacrifice.
He was indeed, as Romans 4.25 says, He was lifted up on that
cross for our transgressions. He was lifted up, as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, the brazen serpent, the brass
serpent that pictured the vile thing that was causing death
in the camp. So Christ was made a curse, and
he was lifted up on that cursed tree, on that cursed cross, on
that cross of shame, for the transgressions of his people
was he stricken. but he didn't stay dead. He died,
but he didn't stay dead. He was raised, it says, for our
justification. He was raised to prove that the
law and justice of God is satisfied, and the people of God in him
are justified. From all things, all laws, all
sins, for which you couldn't be justified, says Peter, in
the Acts of the Apostles, we couldn't be justified by trying
to keep the law of Moses. Christ justified his people.
and salvation from sin for the multitude for whom Christ died. He died for His elect, which
is a multitude that no man can number, but it's clear there
in Scripture, He died for His elect, a specific, particular
multitude. We don't know who they all are,
but He does. He does. God knows every last
one of them, and their salvation based on what Christ has done
in his doing and dying and rising again, their salvation is accomplished. I've called this message, The
Fruit of Accomplished Redemption, because chapter 53 is about the
redemption Christ accomplished. His people are saved from their
sins, and what's the result of that? What's the purpose of that?
This is it. The kingdom of God The kingdom
of heaven, the eternity of God, will be fully populated with
justified sinners. The heaven of God will be fully
populated by sinners who shouldn't be there, but are qualified to
be there by virtue of what Christ has done. And the result? God
has, God will have, for all eternity, all of the glory, all glory to
Him. But from Christ coming and dying
and returning to heaven, to the end of time when He comes again,
is a long time. And the Church of Christ is left
here in this world on purpose. It's the purpose of God that
His people should be left here. In John 17, when Jesus is praying
the night before He goes to the cross, He prays in verse 15,
I pray not that you should take them, that is His people, out
of the world. No, leave the people in the...
He said, I'm not in the world, I'm going back to heaven, but
I pray for my people that you should not take them out of the
world. No, leave them there in the world for a time, but we're
not left without divine promises and comfort. And that's what
Isaiah 54 gives us. Isaiah 54 gives to the redeemed
Church of God in this world five promises of grace. five promises
of grace. I can show you that it is talking
about the redeemed Church of God in this world, because in
Galatians, you see, how do we interpret the Old Testament?
Wherever possible, we interpret it by what the New Testament
says. We interpret it by how the apostles interpreted it.
And Paul the Apostle, writing in Galatians chapter 4, the same
chapter where he said in verse 4, when the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth his Son made of a woman, made under
the law to redeem them that were under the law, in that same chapter,
in verse 26, He quotes Isaiah 54 verse 1. He says, Jerusalem,
which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. This
is Zion, the church of the living God. Jerusalem, the city, the
pile of bricks and stones in the Middle East today, is a city
which was the symbol of the people of God, but it isn't the people
of God. Jerusalem, which is above, is Zion, the church of the living
God. For it is written, where is it written? Isaiah 54 verse
1, it is written, Rejoice, sing it says in Isaiah 54 verse 1,
but it's the same thing. Rejoice, thou barren that bearest
not. Rejoice, church. Break forth
and cry, thou that travailest not. For the desolate hath many
more children than she which hath a husband. This chapter
is about the Church of God and promises of grace. Five promises
of grace to the people of God. So I want to look at these five
briefly this morning. I'm not going to take them in
the order in which they appear in the text. I'm going to start
with the last one first, which is in verses 15 to 17. Stephen read the chapter to us
earlier. In verses 15 to 17, we read about a situation of
this world in which we are now. Now we're in a world which is
a hostile environment. What do you mean? I mean it's
an environment which is hostile to the doctrine of God. It's
a world which is hostile to the Gospel of God. Generally speaking,
the people all around us despise the Gospel of God. What do you
mean, but Jesus is gentle, meek and mild, how can they despise
him? They despise his doctrine, just as they did in his day.
Why? because he says it's God that's sovereign, and not you.
He said it's God who rules over all, and not you. He said it
is God who determines whom he will save and whom he will not
save, and not you. Oh, that's not fair! God is the
God of his universe. God is the God of his universe,
and this world is a hostile environment to it. I've often referred you
to Revelation 13, which is the chapter describing the kingdom
of Antichrist at its very worst, and I believe it is a very accurate
description of the day in which we live. The world around seems
to be conspiring every evil doctrine and philosophy it possibly can,
which is contrary to the Word of God. The world around us,
the systems, the politics, the morals, everything about it is
utterly opposed to the truth and grace and peace and righteousness
of the Kingdom of God. Everything around it. And it's
described there in Revelation 13. But in that environment,
which is the environment in which we're living today, an environment
in which the Church of God is so persecuted that it has all
but disappeared from visible view in most society, certainly
the society in which we live, the true Church of God preach...
I'm not talking about loads of stuff that calls itself Christian.
that claps its hands and jumps around and has all sorts of a
good time, and at the other end of the extreme, the ones that
reckon that they so much have the gold standard of right thinking,
etc. I'm talking about those who preach
the true gospel of grace, of sovereign grace, and particular
redemption. That church is in a tiny minority
in this day, in this hostile world, But Christ has prayed
to his Father. In that verse where he says,
I pray not that you should take them out of the world, keep them
in the world. But he says in that same verse, keep them from
the evil. Why do we need to be kept from
the evil? What is the evil? The prince
of the power of the air, the scripture describes him as. Satan
and his hordes, seeking whom he can destroy. 1 Peter chapter
5 verse 8, Peter writes to believers, your adversary, your enemy, the
devil, as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour. The picture is, imagine it, that
we see a great big lion as it was in the zoo and it's walking
around the garden out there. Would you go outside at the moment,
Timmy, if there was a great big lion out there? You wouldn't,
would you? You wouldn't go and stroke it,
you know, nice little pussycat, you know, pat its back and stroke
its fur, tickle its ears, because it would have you for lunch,
wouldn't it? You wouldn't do it. And Peter says, the devil
is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. But God protects
his people. Look what it says in verse 15.
They shall surely gather together, but not by me, says God. Whosoever
shall gather together against you, my church, my people, shall
fall. May not appear like it at the
moment, but they shall fall because of you, because they can't bring
any ultimate eternal harm against you. They shall fall for your
sake. Verse 17, they have weapons,
you know, the blacksmith creates the weapons of opposition. And
verse 17, no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. In
the days of the martyrs, and there are still martyrs in these
days in some parts of the world, but in the days of the martyrs
of the Reformation, Weapons were formed against the people of
God. Bedford jail was formed to lock
up John Bunyan. The rack was formed to stretch
those who believed the truth. The stake where saints of God
were burned for their faith, for not renouncing their faith.
The terrible things that were done. but their souls were eternally
safe. 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, says the Lord. All
these weapons of the enemy are ineffective weapons, and the
people of God will be vindicated on judgment day We're armed with
an unassailable heritage. What's the heritage? The heritage
of the servants of the Lord. It's righteousness from God. Righteousness from God. God has
made his people righteous. What does that other verse that
you should surely know? 2 Corinthians 5.21, God has made
Him, Christ, who knew no sin, to be made sin for us, His people,
made the sin of His people, made that sin put over to His account,
made guilty of it, made responsible for it, to bear its punishment.
Why? That we, His people, might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. Their righteousness is
of me, says the Lord. When God looks upon his people,
his believing people, he doesn't see sinners. Oh, he knows that
in our flesh we are. But in his divine justice, he
looks upon us and he sees us justified in his sight. For we
truly are justified in his sight, in the Lord Jesus Christ. So
that, again, a text I quote very often, Romans 8, 33 and 34, who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? I'm not making
this thing about election up. There it is. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? God has justified them. How? In Christ by his death and his
resurrection, lifted up for our transgressions, raised for our
justification. God has justified his people.
Who is he that condemns? You know, Satan is the accuser
of the brethren, bringing accusations against the people of God that
they're sinners and they're not qualified to be in heaven. But
who is he that condemns? He's got no right. It is Christ
that's died. And in his death he's utterly
disarmed Satan, for in his death he's dealt with the very accusation
that Satan brings. He's died, but rather is risen
again for our justification, who is even at the right hand
of God. And oh, so often I don't know what to pray for as I ought,
but He makes intercession for us. He's there interceding for
us. We, who in the flesh are sinners,
and God, who dwells in unapproachable light of perfect holiness, Christ
makes intercession. Satan, the archenemy of God's
people, their accuser, Satan the accuser of the brethren,
as it says in Revelation 12, Satan the accuser of the brethren,
he is rendered impotent. He is rendered utterly disarmed,
because whatever accusation he brings, Christ has died. He's
got nothing to say. Whatever the road seems like,
you who are believers this morning, think of this. the road of this
life, whatever the road seems like, however difficult and hostile,
however you find that you are prone to doubts, to fears, to
fleshly weakness, all who believe Christ will arrive in glory,
in full possession of the holiness needed to see God. I love remembering
about that old woman, an old believer, and she was a long
time dying, and she was in her deathbed, and somebody went to
visit her, as people had been doing. She'd been expected to
die for a long time. And this visitor goes in and
he says to her, Oh, I see you're still in the land of the living.
She said, No, I'm still in the land of the dying, but I hope
soon to be in the land of the living. We're going to glory. The people of God are going to
eternal glory. Secondly, We have the promise
of overarching love from God despite times of seeming desertion. Now this is in verses 6 to 10,
and I particularly want to focus on verses 7 and 8. He says, 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." Note how he likes
to remind us, he is Lord, he is God, he is sovereign, but
He is the One who redeems His people. What is it to redeem
His people? It is to pay the ransom price
for His people. I am the Lord who has paid the
ransom price for your release from the curse of the law, for
your release from the bondage of sin, for your release from
the condemnation, so that there is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in the Lord, their Redeemer. As the redeemed
people of God journey through this world to eternity, as we
are doing now, we live in flesh which is so prone to sin And
that flesh and that sin brings upon us, as God's Word tells
us so often, if we're truly His legitimate children by faith,
He puts us through times of chastisement, of punishment. As a good, loving
parent chastises their child to train them, in goodness and
rightness, so God does his people. And some of those times bring
times of apparent desertion by God, as it says. For a small,
small moment have I forsaken thee. And at times it seems as
though we're under God's wrath. In a little wrath I hid my face
from thee. But look, he says, with great
mercies I will gather thee. With everlasting kindness will
I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. He says in
Jeremiah, I have loved thee, my people, with an everlasting
love. Although it seems for a while
that He's withdrawn His love, although it seems for a while
as though His felt presence is withdrawn from us in times of
chastisement because of this world of sin and this flesh and
the things that would drag us down, yet they are but for our
eternal good. And overall, all of the time,
God everlastingly loves His people. Note how He says, I will have
mercy on thee. God is a God who delights in
mercy. Is that not the greatest of good
news to sinners condemned? God is a God who delights in
mercy. God is a God who is everlastingly
kind to his people. Even the most apparently solid
things will be removed. Look at verse 10. The mountains
shall depart. You know, of all the things on
the face of the planet, the mountains seem the most unmovable, don't
they? Huge, huge great things. But
the mountains shall depart, and the hills shall be removed. But
the kindness of God is more solid. is more stable, is more enduring,
is impossible to remove. It shall not depart from thee.
How do we know it shall not depart from his people? Because it's
God that has promised that it will not depart. Neither shall
the covenant of my peace be removed from you, saith the Lord that
hath mercy on you. a covenant of peace. The covenant
of peace? The covenant He made with His
Son and with His Holy Spirit to redeem His people from the
curse of the law, that Christ should stand surety for His people. Do you trust the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you trust him? If you read
in the bulletin, I've put in a piece by Philpot that was sent
out by the lady who very kindly sends out Philpot readings each
day to those of you that get them, and I thought it was so
good the other day, Beholding the Glory of Christ by Faith.
What is it truly to feel in your soul the salvation that you have
in Christ. Read that article in the bulletin.
Do you trust Him? Do you trust Christ? But do you
find times when God seems distant, when prayer seems difficult,
when it seems that you're praying to nothing, when your assurance
is wavering, God says, this is par for the course for this life,
for this time in which we are. Those feelings from time to time
are par for the course for the believer, but truly, Remember
Romans 8, 28. We know all things, all things,
everything that happens does what? Works together for good
to those who love God, who are the called according to his purpose. He is the one who has said, I
will never leave you nor forsake you. Don't be afraid. I will
never leave you nor forsake you. Then we have, thirdly, the promise
of divine comfort in this alien world, and that's in verses 13
and 14. 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,
thou shalt not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come
near thee. Redeemed Church of God, Church
of God redeemed by what Isaiah 53 tells us, here we have a promise
from God. that his people, his children,
will be divinely comforted in this alien world, as we journey
through this alien world. from believing in Christ until
that time when we're taken to be with him. The kingdom of Antichrist
is really a place of oppression and terror. It's there. Oppression
and fear and terror in verse 14. That's the kingdom of Antichrist
in which we live. But you know that Revelation
13 chapter is immediately followed by chapter 14, verse 1. And look,
I beheld and On Mount Zion I saw a lamb as it had been slain with
his 144,000. This is the Church of God with
Christ in the midst. As we read in Revelation 1 and
2 and 3, in the midst of his people, in amongst the golden
candlesticks, the seven golden candlesticks, picturing his church
in this world. Christ is here with his people
now. We're reigning on Mount Zion
with Christ, for He truly is in control of all things, whatever
it seems like to the contrary. God promises here to His redeemed
people that they will be comforted, and they will be comforted, look,
thy children shall all be taught of the Lord. He'll comfort us
with divine knowledge. As we go through this life, oh,
what a blessing it is. to have the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge that are hidden in the Lord Jesus Christ. For
Christ is made unto us, says 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse
30. Christ is made unto us wisdom
from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
But he's made wisdom from God to understand something of how
things are. You know the philosophers wriggle
and struggle to understand and despair and many of them commit
suicide because they find it all such a pointless exercise. But when you know Christ, you
understand why things are the way they are. This is all the
outworking of the purpose of God. This creation is the canvas
upon which God is painting that glorious work of redemption,
that glorious work of salvation, of grace. That's how I look at
it and interpret it. The whole creation all around
is by Christ, He created it, by whom He made the worlds, and
for Christ, for His purposes of salvation to be accomplished.
And the children of God, the believing people of God, whatever
else is happening, are taught these things. We see such confusion,
such trial, such turmoil all around, such conflict. The huge
great fuss that's being made about climate change and how
it's within our power to save the planet from destruction and
all the other things that go with it. I'm not saying we shouldn't
be careful with resources. I've always thought that before
all of this nonsense started. But it's a great big bandwagon
trying to distract from the truth of God. But for the child of
God, we know how things are. We know that all things, as Stephen
said in his prayer, all things are coming to an end. It's not
in our power to save this world, it's not in our power to do it.
We can all stop driving our cars tomorrow entirely over the entire
face of the planet. It isn't going to alter what
God has purposed that he will do in bringing his people to
glory. But he also promises peace and
serenity in the assurance of accomplished redemption. Peace,
great shall be the peace of thy children. He promises righteousness,
we've already seen this. Righteousness that is imputed. What does imputed righteousness
mean? It means righteousness that is not ours, but that is
made ours. If you've got a bank account
with no money in it, and somebody rich comes along and puts £100,000
in it, that's imputed money into your account. You didn't do anything
to earn it, but it's your money now, it's in your account. That's
imputed righteousness. But not only that, he gives an
imparted righteousness. a righteous nature by His Spirit. There is a new nature within
that loves the things of the Spirit of God, that hates to
offend God, that wants to do the will of God, that wants to
delight in the promises and the word and the work of God, and
to serve Him and to serve Christ. This world in which we live,
in these days as we are now, in this country, Brexit politics
as it's called, it's such turmoil, such Such violence of words and
of accusations. And the whole thing makes me
mad. Politicians twisting words for their own ends. Never seen
anything quite as bad. Chaos and near anarchy all around. Economic uncertainty. But God's
children truly are kept and protected and assured because God has guaranteed
it and none can frustrate his intentions. Children of God,
if you're redeemed, as Isaiah 53 says, this is the promise.
Whatever else seems to be going on, peace, peace, tranquility,
peace of thy children, righteousness, establishment, it's there, forcefully. There's a promise of blessing
on an afflicted church, and it's in verses 11 and 12, and I have
to be quick. There's an awful lot of symbology in that
that we could dig into and we could spend a sermon and a half
just digging into what are these agates and these carbuncles and
what are these colours and all of these fair stones and all
that sort of thing. The thing is that the church's
lot in this world is to suffer affliction for the sake and cause
of Christ. That's the fact. He says, O thou
afflicted, tossed with tempest and not comforted. He's speaking
to his church. That's the lot of his church in this world.
Philippians 1.29 says this, Unto you, the church, the believers,
unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe
on him, You know, you're saved by grace, through faith, and
that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. It is given,
not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake in
this world, in this alien world. We're on a rough way, a narrow
way. As Pilgrim's Progress describes
it, the way to heaven is uphill difficulty. It's through the
slough of despond. We walk often through the valley
of the shadow of death. There are afflictions of this
physical time. We experience like all people,
we experience. The people of God, all of us,
we're not immune. from problems of health, because
these bodies are still those frail bodies that are going to
get diseases and are going to decay and are going to die. We
suffer the same ups and downs of providence and prosperity.
when things get hard financially. We suffer the same anguish of
emotion with family issues, family concerns. We have problems in
our careers and what we're trying to do. All of these things, and
in addition to these physical ones, there are spiritual afflictions
that the children of God know about. We constantly find every
day sin. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. We have its guilt.
We have the accusations that come all the time from Satan
onto our consciences. We have the weakness of faith.
We're prone to despair when we look at our church and we see
such a small number and so widely dispersed and nothing there.
And we're not comforted, as it says, not comforted. unlike easy
religion, which finds easy comfort all around. We're like, as we
looked a few weeks ago in Isaiah 50 verse 10, the true people
of God walk in darkness and have no light. Oh, we have times when
we know about the full brilliance of the sun at noonday, but we
walk through many times where we don't have that, we have a
mere twilight. We're aware of the brightness
of the sun, but we don't have it. And often that's how it is
with us, not comforted. Often, the church seems like
a ruined building. What does it say in Revelation
11 about the witnesses, the two witnesses, the church and the
ministers, the preachers of the church? They're lying dead in
the streets. In the day in which we live,
the visible Church, the visible true Church in this country is
as good as lying dead in the streets. To the vast, vast, vast
majority of the people of this country, the Church of Christ,
the true Church of Christ is an utter irrelevance. It's a
laughingstock. It's not even worth laughing
at, it's so irrelevant. It's like a ruined building,
but God promises to build it and adorn it. In verses 11 and
12 he says, I will lay thy stones with fair colors. I will lay
thy foundations with sapphires. I will make thy windows of agates
and thy gates of carbuncles. These are all beautiful stones.
The Lord says, Psalm 102 verse 16, the Lord shall build up Zion. The Lord shall build his church.
The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Upon the faith that
Peter expressed when Christ asked, who do you say that I am? And
he said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And
Jesus said, you are Peter, and upon this rock, not meaning Peter,
but that rock of faith, that rock of truth, will I build my
church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
He will build his church. God is in the midst of her. Zion,
city of God, that's who is in the midst. God is in the midst
of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that
right early. What do these adornments represent,
these beautiful stones? Surely, surely, they must represent
Christ in the soul, Christ in the fellowship of His people,
and with His people, Christ in the midst. As we said, Revelation
14 verse 1, I looked and lo, a lamb stood on the Mount Zion,
and with Him, 144,000 having His Father's name written in
their foreheads. That is, in this world, in this
world, in Satan's kingdom, we're standing there with Christ on
Mount Zion. All this results from the redemption
described and accomplished in Isaiah 53. This is a fruit of
accomplished redemption. Assurance that God's church in
this world is unassailable. The gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. Heaven is certain, Christ is
victorious. So how should God's people respond? And very quickly, just in a couple
of minutes, the final promise, a promise of success. a promise
of success. It's in the first five verses
of this chapter. Sing, O barren, thou that didst
not bear. Sing, rejoice. The true church
of God shall prosper. It's pictured as a tent where,
you know, you need to slacken off the ropes and make more space
because of the people coming in. It talks about Thy seed shall
inherit the Gentiles. The numbers coming in. Think
about it. Don't be depressed by superficial
sight. How small in the world was true
Israel? You know, when the great empires
across the world were prospering, how small was true Israel? And
how even smaller was the remnant according to the election of
grace amongst them? When Christ came himself, he
would say, oh, for a ministry like the ministry of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Do you know, his ministry, if
we're looking purely at numbers, his ministry was not very successful,
was it? Do you remember John Lennon blasphemously
said that the Beatles had been more successful than Jesus Christ?
Well, it might have been blasphemy, but what he said was actually
true. You know when Jesus had finished his ministry, and died,
and risen, and come back to that upper room, and in the upper
room they were all waiting, Do you know there were about 120
believers in the entire world? 120! I reckon we've got more
than 120 follow our sermons on the internet, on sermon audio.
So don't go saying that the ministry of Jesus, in the respect of there
being an apparent abundance of numbers, it wasn't successful.
But look what happened shortly thereafter. Look what happened
shortly after that. Well at that time from Revelation
we know that Satan was restrained for the symbolical thousand years
so that his deception of the nations was curtailed and Pentecost
came and Peter preached. and 3,000 souls were saved on
one day, and many, many more. And the spread of the Gospel
by the missionary journeys of Paul and those with him, and
the churches that were established, and it went to the extent that
people got very worried, and in Acts 17, verse 6, they said
in Greece, they said, oh look, they've arrived here, these people
that have turned the world upside down, from a few hundred and
twenty In just a short number of years, it's known throughout
the civilized world as the people that have turned the world upside
down. Many, many, many true believers. Through the dark ages, through
the superstitions of potpourri, and then maybe in a monastery
here and there, a few monks who are not corrupted, have seen
the light, and have the scriptures, and know the Latin, and they
believe the gospel of grace, though the politics of it suppresses
them. And multitudes of Gentiles come to believe through the Reformation,
multitudes, multitudes, and our country has been totally transformed,
and our civilization totally transformed by the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
fruits of accomplished redemption. In our day, in the last 50 to
100 years, there's been such a decline of gospel truth, so
much compromise, the visible church is effectively dead in
the streets, and then what happens? The internet comes along. and
little groups like us can reach out to hundreds spread around. The ministry of Free Grace Radio
and the 50 or 60 preachers on there, how many thousands, how
many hundreds of thousands, millions probably, does it extend to in
this day? Lengthen the cords of your tent.
You see, it's the triumph of God's church. Heavenly triumph,
that's the guarantee. Verse 5, thy maker is thine husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name. Now, I'm going to close. Whose
side are you on? Are you on the side of Satan
and the world and of Antichrist? Because there's only two, there's
that and there's the kingdom of God. Are you on the side of
God, who in Christ has accomplished his people's qualification for
eternal bliss. Amen.