Well finally, after a three-week
break, we're coming back to Isaiah, and I want to turn your attention
to the verses from Isaiah 26 and verse 20, down to the sixth
verse of chapter 27. And I've called this message,
God's Israel in an Alien World. God's Israel in an Alien World. Now in our little detour, we've
been thinking about true spiritual life from God. It's not a mechanical
thing, believing God. It's not mechanical. Do this,
do this, do this, and then you'll... No, it's belief of the truth. But where does that belief come
from? It is the gift of God, faith. By grace are you safe.
Through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God. By grace, through faith, it's the gift of God. We must
have spiritual life from God in order to see the things of
God. We must, as Jesus said to Nicodemus, be born again. The
Holy Spirit must come and take that which is dead in trespasses
and sins and implant new life, the life of the new man, of the
Spirit of God within. And that new man has an ability
that the flesh doesn't have, for the natural man cannot receive
the things of the Spirit of God, for they're foolishness to him.
Neither can he know them. They're spiritually discerned.
So you must have spiritual discernment. And spiritual discernment comes
from God the Holy Spirit, who gives us faith to believe, gives
us eyes to see biblical truth, to see the biblical truth of
salvation from condemnation for sin, just condemnation for sin. But in Christ is salvation from
that just condemnation for the people for whom he lived and
died. We saw last week the power of
God's heavenly and earthly witnesses to that truth. That there's a
heavenly witness, the Trinity of God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit,
Father, the Word, and the Spirit in heaven, testifying of the
truth of the gospel that has been accomplished in the work
of Christ. And the earthly witnesses, the Spirit, the water, and the
blood, and we looked at the various things that they could be, and
I'm not going to repeat any of that now. But the child of God
is born again with eyes to see. Jesus said to Nicodemus, except
ye be born again, Nicodemus, you cannot see the kingdom of
God. But when you are of the spirit
of God, you're given the eyes of faith to see the kingdom of
God. You're adopted into God's family. I'm turning to Galatians chapter
four. You can keep up with this if you can. If not, don't worry.
you can look them up later, but Galatians 4 and verses 4 and
5, I know there's rarely a week goes by when I don't quote this
verse or one similar to you, but I just thought I'd just turn
to it this time. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman not born
made made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were
under the law why why that so that we might receive the adoption
of sons you see adopted into God's family if you're born again
you are adopted into the family of God where God is angry with
the wicked every day and is a consuming fire and cannot look upon sin
you become the child of God You become one who cries out, Abba,
Father. Look, verse six, because ye are
sons, and when it says sons, it doesn't mean the male of the
species, it means sons of God. I get so annoyed in this politically
correct day, you know, they talk about the chairwoman. No, the
person that's controlling a meeting is the chairman. Doesn't mean
he's male, it's the person that's controlling the meeting. A woman
can be the chairman of a meeting. I really get annoyed with all
this person and chairwoman and so-and-so. It's just political
correctness, it's nonsense, and as it would be here. It doesn't
say sons and daughters, it says sons, because it means all. In
Christ Jesus, there is no difference. Male, female, Jew, Gentile. In
Christ Jesus, all are one in the grace of God. To redeem them
that were under the law that we might receive the adoption
of sons. And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the spirit
of his son into your hearts. And what does that spirit cry
out? What does that new man cry out? Daddy. To God. To the God of the universe, who
made all things. Daddy. Father. That's the feeling
of this new man of the Spirit of God. Sons of God. Look again
at 1 John, chapter 3. You know these verses, I know.
Behold, first two verses. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us. When we're born again, what manner
of love he's bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. Yes, male and female, we're the
sons of God. It doth not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be
like him, for we shall see him as he is. Sons of God. Inhabitants of Zion. Look at
Hebrews chapter 12. you're going to be, we used to
do with Sunday schools years ago, we used to do what was called
sword drill and the teacher would stand at the front and would
shout out a verse and the child that could look it up the quickest
and stand up and recite it, they were winning and there used to
be points for sword drill. Well it's going to be a bit like
sword drill this morning. So Hebrews chapter 12, Hebrews
12 and verse 22. Where are you come to, you born-again
believers? You are come not to Mount Sinai,
and the law, and the fear, and the smoke, and the terror of
the judgment of God on sin, but you are come unto Mount Sinai,
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.
You, believer, do you trust in Christ this morning? This is
where you are come, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable
company of angels. to the general assembly and church
of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, those the Father gave
to the Son before the beginning of time, whom he came into this
world to redeem, those who were under the law, that they might
receive the adoption of sons, and to God the judge of all,
and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the
mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that
speaketh better things than that of Abel, you come to Zion, you're
citizens of Zion, you're members of the kingdom of God, you are
Israelites in actual fact, God's Israelites, God's Israel in an
alien world. Now, back to Isaiah, back to
Isaiah chapter 27. And in verse six of Isaiah 27,
he shall cause them to come of Jacob to take root. Israel shall
blossom and bud. Israel shall blossom and bud
the Israel of God as Galatians 6 verse 16 Paul writes to the
Galatians Speaking of Jews and Gentiles all male and female
all if they're in Christ Jesus We are all the Israel of God
the Israel of God. What does it say in that verse?
Jacob's all that have come of Jacob all that have come of Jacob
to take root Israel shall blossom Jacob becomes Israel back in
Genesis chapter 32 and verse 28, don't look at it now, but
that's where God told Jacob that he would no longer be called
Jacob, because do you know what Jacob means? Cheat. Sinful cheat. Sinful swindler. Deceiver. The one who robbed his brother
of his birthright through a process of deception. Jacob, the sinner. made into, he said, you will
no longer be called Jacob, you will be called Israel. Do you
know what Israel means? Israel means prince with God,
a prince with God. You will be no longer called
the sinner, the cheat, but the prince with God. This is what
God does to his people who are dead in trespasses and sins.
He brings them to the truth of God, to the salvation of God. He makes them princes with God.
When it talks about Israel, please I know I've told you before but
honestly there's so much of it about in this world today. We're
not talking about Jews in Palestine. We're not talking about that
political state of Israel in the Middle East around which
is so much trouble and so much world conflict and problems and
issues and discord and disharmony and fighting. and terrorism,
and all of that sort of stuff. We're not talking about that.
Let me make it clear. God has no promises to the Jews,
or anyone else for that matter, based on their race, the nation
they come from, or their ethnicity. God promises nothing to any one
nation above any other nation. Because all of God's promises,
all of God's promises, are in Christ and Christ alone. Irrespective
of whether you're Jew or Gentile, whether you're from Russia, from
America, from Britain, from Australia, from Africa, wherever you're
from, The promises of God are all and only in Jesus Christ. And they are all and only of
pure grace. Not of him that wills, not of
him that runs, but of God that shows mercy. Not of him that
was better than the rest because he exercised faith in God. No.
all, all, from beginning to end, of pure grace, revealed to a
world of sinners, without distinction of race. God so loved the world
of sinners. It doesn't mean everyone without
exception in the world, it means people with no distinction of
ethnicity. Nothing specific for the Jews
as such, and he reveals it through the medium of faith. The Bible
is clear. The Jewish nation, called Israel
in the Middle East in these days, enjoys no special privileges
from God whatsoever, nor will it. And those who call themselves
Christians in their hordes, especially in North America, who have caused
such enormous political turmoil by claiming that he does, they
make such a gross mistake. That's not what the Bible teaches.
That nation, the Jewish nation, as a nation, has been cast off
for unbelief. and rejection of Christ. And
the attempt to make a political nation in the Middle East is
nothing other than a political disaster. They're cast off. Jesus
said they would be. They were cast off. As soon as
he'd been crucified and raised, well, I say as soon as, in A.D.
70, very soon, Tiberius, the Roman emperor, came and utterly
destroyed Jerusalem. And ever since, there hasn't
been a temple in Jerusalem. There have been no animal sacrifices.
There hasn't been a priesthood in Jerusalem, because that's
the only place there can be. And there hasn't been, because
God hasn't allowed it. Why hasn't God allowed it? Because he said
he was going to bring it to an end, when Christ had died for
sin. Born-again believers alone are
the Israel of God. We need to understand that. Born-again
believers alone are the Israel of God. I heard on the news this
morning that today the Pope, Pope Francis, is canonizing some
bishop from South America that was murdered in the 1970s. I
forget. Oliver... I don't know, I can't
remember his name exactly off the top of my head. And so he's
now going to be saint, whatever, because the Pope said so. Let
me debunk that idea as well. Born-again believers alone are
the only saints in the world. And all of them, each and every
one of them, is a saint. No, they're the people of God,
the ones that have been given the Spirit of God in the new
birth. Paul says to the Philippians,
we are the circumcision, we are the true Jews, is what he's saying.
What do we do? We worship God in the Spirit. not in outward form or ritual.
We rejoice. Where's your rejoicing? In Christ
Jesus alone. I don't rejoice in what I am
or what I've done or how sanctified I'm becoming. I don't rejoice
in that. I don't rejoice in what I know
per se, for knowledge's own sake. I rejoice in Christ Jesus because
everything I need before the God of eternity is all there
for me in Christ. I am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day of
judgment that's coming and he'll keep me safe in it. And I have
no confidence in the flesh. Who are the true Jews? Who's
the Israel of God? Those people. That's the message
of the Bible. The message of the Bible is God's
message to his true spiritual Israel concerning their salvation
by grace out of this present evil world. Now, here in Isaiah,
and in these verses at the end of 26 and into 27, we see God's
favor on his Israel in this world. And so I want to show you from
these verses what a blessed thing it is to be a member of God's
Israel. Because you see, Where we are,
the world in which we live, is the kingdom of Antichrist. That
is absolutely clear. It's the kingdom of Antichrist.
Look at verse 21 of chapter 26 and verse 1 of chapter 27. For
behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants
of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose
her blood and shall no more cover her slain. In that day the Lord
with his saw and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan,
the piercing serpent, even Leviathan, that crooked serpent, and he
shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. The world in which
we live and move and have our being As Paul said to the Athenians,
this is the world in which we live and move and have our being
by virtue of God giving us life. This world is the kingdom of
Antichrist. It's the kingdom of Antichrist.
Jesus many times spoke of the prince of this world, the prince
of this world. The prince of this world is the
one who somehow has got a position of authority in this world. But
how has he got it? This Satan, this serpent. Remember that in the Garden of
Eden, in the day of the fall, Satan, having fallen from heaven,
came to Eve in the form of a serpent. The serpent Leviathan, this monster,
this sea monster, the sea speaking of the world in general all around. And the philosophy of the kingdom
of Antichrist, because this is the world we live in, you watch
its news every day, you listen to its philosophies, its ideas,
the things that it thinks ought to be done, the paradigm, you've
heard that word before, paradigm, you know, the recipe for living
or the formula that they live by. The formula that they live
by of the kingdom of Antichrist is that eternal good can be attained
without the need for the satisfaction of offended divine justice. Is that clear? Let me say it
again. This is the philosophy of the kingdom of Antichrist,
this world in which we live. They think that it will be well
with my soul. Oh, I'll be all right. When I
die, I'll either just be annihilated or we'll all go to be together.
All our old mates up there in heaven, all looking down and
all having a good time. And how are you going to get
there? Well, there's no such thing as divine justice. There's
no such thing as sin. Some are worse than others. And
the ones that are really bad don't deserve to be there, but
you know, we'll all be there. Divine justice which has been
offended by sin, which is such an appalling affront to the righteousness
and holiness and justice of God, that doesn't need to be put right.
There's no need to satisfy the demands of the offended law of
God. What does the offended law of God cry out for? Death, the
soul that sins, it shall die. That's what it cries out for.
Ah, no, says Satan and his kingdom of Antichrist. No, that's not
necessary. Has God really said is what Satan
said to Eve in the Garden of Eden. Has God really said you
shouldn't eat of this? Oh, he knows. Ah, I'll tell you
why he said that, said Satan. He knows when you eat it, you'll
be like him. You'll know the things he knows and you'll be
as good as him. That's what God doesn't want
you to eat that for. That's the reason. No. They say
that there's no need for the Christ of God. They say that
there's no need for redemption. They say that there's no need
for the righteousness of God to attain heaven. No need for
it! Think about it. How did it come about? In creation,
in the beginning, the book tells us that God created the heavens
and the earth, and all of that perfectly. And God delegated
rule of this creation to Adam. He delegated the rule over this
creation to Adam. But by the fall, when Adam sinned,
when Adam consciously sinned, knowing what he was doing, he
surrendered the rule of this creation to Satan. Because in
his sin, he said, okay, I'll agree with you. There's no need
for the righteousness of God. And iniquity came in. And sin
came in. And by that one act, all have
become sinners. All. Romans tells us that. By
the act of that one man, we're all sinners. And you say, well,
that's not fair. But then look at it. You all
sin. We all sin. Nobody can deny it.
Iniquity is what is here in this world. The Lord comes out of
his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. Iniquity. Sin. Violation of the
law of God. Violation of the justice and
holiness of God. Imagine, just for sake of an
illustration, it's a very weak illustration, but imagine that
a man gets himself a dog and He looks after that dog, he gives
it a place of safety, he feeds it, he cares for it, he tries
to train it, he tries to show it affection, he tries to speak
to it and communicate with it, and that dog refuses to hear
its master. And that dog says, effectively,
I don't believe that there's such a thing as my master. All
of this that I have, it's all come about by itself just for
me. I don't need my master. I need nothing to do with my
master. Can you imagine how that master, even at a human level,
would feel about that dog? There used to be a woman on telly
that used to train dogs called Barbara Woodhouse, and she loved
dogs, but I tell you, whenever she came across a dog that had
an inherently bad nature, blimey, the political correct people
would be up in arms today, because she had one solution for a dog
that was inherently bad-natured. You take it to the vet and you
have it put down. It was as simple as that, and I think she was
dead right in that. You see, this is what we are
by nature, mankind by nature. No, there's no God for me. The
fool has said in his heart, no God for me, says Psalm 14 verse
1. You see, everything in this world
is in opposition to the character and holiness of God, and it deserves
punishment. And look how he describes it.
He's coming. in verse 1 of 27, with his sore
and great and strong sword. The punishment of God is absolutely
strict and absolutely just against the kingdom of Antichrist. It's
absolutely strict and everyone in it is absolutely just. That kingdom of Antichrist is
described in the vision of Revelation 13. We're not going to return
to it now, you can read it for yourself later, but you might
remember from when we did our series on Revelation that Revelation
13 is a horrendous chapter of Scripture were it not for the
fact that we know that all things are in the control of God. Because
it describes the kingdom of Antichrist, it describes the beast and the
false prophet of Satan, the Antichrist, that which is against Christ,
that which is against the redemption that Christ has accomplished,
with all of its material wizardry that we see all around us in
these days, mesmerizing humanity into spiritual sleep. Are they
not? The people you work with, the
people you associate with, look at them. They're all as if they're
blindfolded with their fingers in their ears, totally oblivious
to the truth of God and the righteousness of God. They're mesmerized by
the things around them. How easily they're mesmerized
by the tricks of technology and all sorts of other things that
we see today into spiritual sleep. And they're all marked for destruction.
And it's all destined for judgment, this world. This is what God
says. It's all destined for judgment. It's not destined for gradual
improvement by Christian influence. If only the Christians will get
more and more of them to come along and do things together
and we can all be good friends together and we can all make
this world so much of a better place. That is not the message
of the Word of God. It's becoming increasingly difficult
for believers to live here. Increasingly difficult because
you see in the book of Revelation there are two marks, there are
two seals that are clearly shown. In Revelation 7, verses 3 and
4, we see the seal of God on the elect of God. It's a mark
in their foreheads, it says. It's not a literal mark, but
it's that the people of God... Do you know something? If you
believe the gospel, and you live by the precepts of the Gospel,
even as much as you try, as the Word says, to live at peace with
all men, and be sociable with your neighbours, you will find,
at work, wherever, you will find that they will cut you out, because
they've seen the mark. You might not see it on your
forehead, but they'll cut you out. You'll find that at work
there's a group of colleagues going off for some sort of lunchtime
party and they've deliberately left you out of it because they
know you're that person that believes the God of heaven. You'll
find that your neighbours decide that they're going to get together
and not involve you with it because they want to speak about things
of blasphemy and sin and they don't want you there because
you're going to act like a bucket of cold water on the proceedings
if they have you there. It's increasingly difficult for
believers to live here. You have to have what Revelation
13 verses 16 and 17 calls the mark of the beast. which is the mark of this world,
of the kingdom of Satan, of the kingdom of Antichrist. And only
those, which is the vast majority, who affirm allegiance to Antichrist's
paradigm of life can do various things. I've told you before,
back in the 1970s, I was a science teacher. I'm sure if I went for
a job as a science teacher today, if I was young enough to do it,
they wouldn't have me because I'm too old now, If I was young
enough to do it and I went for a job as a science teacher, do
you know I wouldn't be employed in the vast majority of schools
in this country? Do you know why? I believe in
intelligent design. And according to the science
of the Kingdom of Antichrist, you can believe more or less
what you want, but if you believe in intelligent design, you're
not fit to be a scientist. Because the paradigm of antichrist
science is that there's no need for God. Just like there's no
need for Christ in salvation, there's no need for God in anything.
It becomes increasingly difficult for believers to live in this
world. And many so-called Christians
tell us the world is there to be reached with the message of
Jesus if only we'll present it reasonably. and attractively,
appealing to the flesh with gimmicks and all sorts of things, oh this
works well, we got lots of people in and look at them now, they
like the meal we gave them and now they're coming along because
they found us such friendly people and who knows before too long
they might believe the stuff we're telling them about this
Jesus. False Christ, false Christ. The Bible contradicts that philosophy
completely. The Bible doesn't say that, read
my article. But this is where believers the
Israel of God, the true church, this is where we live now. Look
at it in John 17. Now John 17 is the great high
priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's praying the
night before he goes to Calvary, to the cross, to pay with his
blood the price of the sins of his people. And he says of his
people in verse 14, he says, I have given them thy word. He's
given his word to his people. And the world has hated them
because they are not of the world. You see, they've got the mark
of God, the Holy Spirit in them, not the mark of the beast. So
the world hates them because they're not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Now look what Jesus says to his
father. I pray not that thou should take them out of the world,
but that thou should keep them from the evil. They are not of
the world, even as I am not of the world. This is what Jesus
said to his father. He prayed to his father. You
see, we're in an alien world. The Israel of God is living in
an alien world, but he didn't say, take them out of that world.
He didn't say that. No, he said, Keep them there. Keep them from the evil. Keep
them from it. Keep them from the evil in the
world. They're of the world, they're in the world, but they're
not of the world. They live in this world, they
have to. We live and breathe and eat its
food and drink its drink and... We breathe its air, we have to
do all of these things, but we're not of it in terms of the philosophy
of the kingdom of Antichrist. We're in a wilderness separation
from it. Remember, that was Revelation
12, wasn't it? The wilderness separation from it. We'll see
more of that in a moment. Now hear what God says to his
people. In verse 20 of Isaiah 26, he says, Come, my people,
enter thou into thy chambers and shut thy doors about Hide
thyself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation
be overpassed. Come in, into your chambers,
the chambers of God's people. Come in and shut the doors. Look
back at verse 1 of chapter 26. There's the song that is being sung in the land
of Judah, and the words of the song, we have a strong city. Salvation will God appoint for
walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates that the righteous
nation, which keepeth truth, may enter in. It's the same thing
as these chambers. Come into your chambers, come
in to the kingdom of God, come into that place of safety in
the kingdom of God, into that strong city, into that place
of accomplished redemption, a place of God-given separation from
Antichrist. I want you to turn to Revelation
chapter 12. Revelation chapter 12. Again,
as I say, you don't have to go there. I'll read it out to you.
But Revelation chapter 12 and verse 6. The woman fled into
the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that
they should feed her there a thousand, two hundred, and threescore days.
The woman is the church, the Israel of God, the people of
God, and she has a place in a wilderness. A wilderness? A wilderness of
separation from this world. Can you imagine it like that?
The world around us, all around us, all interacting, all on one
common philosophy that there's no need for God and no need for
Christ and no need for his salvation, that world has a place of separation,
a wilderness of separation from it, which is where God puts his
people, a place prepared of God. God has made that place for his
people. Verse 14, to the woman were given
two wings of a great eagle. What are those wings? They're
the wings of faith. the wings of faith to fly out
of this world of Antichrist, the wings of faith to fly into
the wilderness prepared by God, to her place that God's prepared
for, where she is fed, she's nourished for a time, times and
half a time. What's that? It's the time that
God ordains for us to be here. after Christ has gone back to
glory, the time that God ordains that we should be here until
he comes again and brings an end to all of these things, protected
from the flood of Satan that he's trying to wash his people
back into conformity with this fallen world of Antichrist. But
yet all of the time, just if you're there, turn to verse one
of chapter 14. Lo, I looked, and lo, a lamb
stood on the Mount Zion, and with him an hundred and forty
and four thousand, having his father's name written in their
foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven,
as the voice of many waters. This is a view on earth in that
kingdom of Antichrist of chapter 13, verse 1. is that there God
has his people. He has his Israel in this alien
world. He has his Israel on Mount Zion
reigning with Christ the Lamb. The Lamb of God stood on Mount
Zion in this world with his 144,000, symbolical of all the people
that belong to God at any one time living on this earth. He
has his people there in this world on Mount Zion. Hide here. because God's just punishment
is falling and will fall finally on the world. Is that not what
it tells us to do? Come into this chamber and hide yourself
while the indignation of God against sin is passed. He's going
to punish all that opposes God. Isaiah chapter 2 and verse 11
talks about the lofty looks of man shall be humbled. We see
it all around. Why do the heathen rage and imagine
a vain thing against the Lord? The lofty looks of man shall
be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and
the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. Who's going to be
exalted? The Lord alone shall be exalted. Those that want to make themselves
haughty and lofty the Lord alone shall be exalted. Hide, he says,
for a little moment, for a little moment, a time that is determined
by our loving Heavenly Father, and none can change it. It's
what Revelation calls the time, the times and the half a time,
the 1260 days, the 42 months, all of those symbolical pictures,
it's a time that is entirely determined by God. And what is
it to wait? It's to believe. What is it to
wait for God? It's to believe God. It's to trust God. It's
to rest peaceful in the knowledge that God controls all things.
We can't hasten anything, but everything he does is for the
eternal good of his people. We will say, when we're in heaven,
we will say that there is not a thing that he brought to pass
that was not good for our souls, not good for our eventual arrival
there in heaven. It's just for a little moment,
and then we'll be taken to glory, and during that time we'll be
kept from harm. So now, briefly, we've got just
a few minutes left, but let's look at the promised blessings
in verses 2 to 6 of chapter 27. In that day sing ye unto her
a vineyard of red wine, I the Lord do keep it. I the Lord do
keep it. For those that come from Jacob,
as we saw in verse six, sinners given the same faith as Abraham,
this is who they are, this is what Romans says, just briefly,
Romans chapter four, Romans chapter four and verse 11, he, Abraham,
received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of
the faith which he had, yet being uncircumcised, that he might
be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised,
that righteousness might be imputed to them also, and the father
of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only,
but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham,
which he had yet being uncircumcised. And verse 16, therefore it is
of faith that it might be by grace to the end that the promise
might be sure to all the seed, not only to that which is of
the law, Jews, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham,
who is the father of us all. In Galatians, we can read this,
Galatians 3.29, if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed. and
heirs according to the promise. You see, this is to believers,
to the church of the living God, to believers. It's God's vineyard. God has a vineyard, it's his
church. He's got a sheepfold, he's got all sorts of metaphors
and similes for the kingdom of God, but here it's a vineyard.
Do you know, there's great talk because of this lovely summer
that we've had that the English vineyards are gonna have the
best harvest they've ever had this year. I saw a piece on the
TV the other day and the harvest is four times what it usually
is. It's just been such a good year. It's so full of sun and
fruit and fruitiness. But when you look at the pictures,
those vineyards are just not allowed to do what they want.
They're not wild. They're very, very carefully
pruned and trained and kept. And God says He prunes and trains
and keeps His vineyard. His church is a vineyard, God's
vineyard, under His special care, personal care by God Himself.
Look, I, the Lord, do keep it. I will water it every moment,
lest any hurt it. I will keep it night and day.
You who are Abraham's seed by grace, that's me and you if we're
in Christ, do you feel a need for divine keeping? Of course
we do, constantly. We have no strength in ourselves,
no strength whatsoever. We rely entirely on the promise
of God to keep us. John 10, 29, no man is able to
pluck his people out of his father's hand. John 6, 39, this is the
father's will. which hath sent me, of all that
he hath given me, of all the people that the Father gave to
the Son, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the
last day." John 17, that high priestly prayer, verse 24, he
prayed, Father, I will. This is the will of God. This
is the will of the God-man. It's the will of God, the will
of our Lord Jesus Christ. I will that they also, whom thou
hast given me, his people, his Israel in this world, be with
me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast
given me. Is it happening? Revelation 19
verse 1, John looked and I saw much people in heaven. Yes, of
course, it's accomplished. Every bit of it is accomplished.
Kept right into heaven by the unchangeable will of God. Watered
every moment. What's the watering? Watered
every moment. An endless supply of life-giving
spiritual water. You remember what Jesus said
to the woman at the Samaritan well? He who believes in me shall
have a well of water springing up inside. That's the Spirit
of God. While this world of Antichrist goes on its evil way, God keeps
his people safely. Believe it. Do you rest in that? While this world of Antichrist
goes on its evil way, whatever happen, God keeps his people
safely, preserved from hurt. Night and day, he says there,
I will keep it night and day in his everlasting arms. Therefore,
I will lay me down and sleep in peace as the psalmist in Psalm
4. For thou, God, only, causest me to dwell in safety. In verse
four, verse four, talks about fury. Fury is not in me. Safe,
the people of God, the Israel of God, we're safe from the just
fury of God against sin. Because we read Jeremiah 50,
verse 20, when you look there, he talks of the day of judgment
and he looks for the sin of his people, of Israel and of Judah.
He looks for the sin in the Israel of God. And what does he say?
There isn't any. I can't find it. Why can't he
find it? Why can't God find sin in his people? I'll tell you
why. Because Christ has taken it away. Yes, now, in the flesh,
before then, yes, we're aware of sin. But as far as the justice
of God is concerned, we're judged in Christ. And it's been paid
for. It's been paid for and taken away. Christ has made propitiation. He's turned away the anger of
God against the sin of his people, by dying for his people, by shedding
his precious blood for his people. And verse 5, he says, take hold
of my strength. Take hold of it. You people of
God, you Israel of God, take hold of his strength. What does
that mean? What is the strength of God? Is it not Christ and
the salvation he's accomplished? Grasp the strength of God. How
do you grasp it? By faith. By faith. You grasp
the strength of God by believing in Christ. The Philippian jailer
said to Paul, what must I do to be saved? And what did he
say? Effectively, he said, grasp the strength, take hold of the
strength of God, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall
be saved. The strength of God by faith.
in Christ and find peace, it says there in verse 5. Make peace
with me and he shall make peace with me. Find peace. All of the
peace offerings of the Levitical law in the book of Leviticus,
every single one of them, you know what they all required?
Every single one of them without exception. There was no peace
without blood. It had to be blood. Without the
shedding of blood there is no remission of sin, says Hebrews.
Colossians 1.20, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, he has
made peace for his people through the blood of his cross, and therefore
there is no condemnation in judgment. Romans 8, who is he that condemneth? Because Satan would love to condemn.
But who is he that condemns? Christ has died. Yea, rather,
is risen again. So the penalty was accepted. The penalty paid the price. And
he's at the right hand of God and he makes intercession for
us. So who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Nothing.
Doesn't matter what happens. Nothing, nothing, nothing shall
separate us from the love of Christ. And ultimately, in verse
6, Israel shall blossom and bud. and fill with fruit. The earth
shall be filled with its fruit." I was reminded when I read that
of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. I know what people are going
to say, there's far too much in this sermon. We're going to so many
different places, but you can't help it because there's just
so much there. But do you remember Nebuchadnezzar's
dream in Daniel? Daniel chapter 2. Nebuchadnezzar
had a dream that troubled him, and he was going to have all
the magicians put to death, and they found Daniel, who was one
of the one of the captives from Israel and they brought him in
and Daniel said, I'll pray to God and I will show you what
the vision was. And in that vision there was
a great big fearsome statue and the head was of gold and the
chest and arms were of silver and the midriff was of bronze
and the legs were of iron and the feet were mixed with clay
and iron. and it was a picture of world kingdoms to come, with
Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom being the golden head, and then the
Greeks and Alexander the Great being the silver torso, and then,
no, hold on, no, Persians was the silver torso, and then the
Greeks was the bronze midriff, and then the Romans were the
strength of iron, the strong legs, and then it all went with
feet of clay, you know, that expression, it's fundamentally
weak. And in that Dream was a little stone that was cut out without
hands and that little stone rolled and filled the whole earth and
crushed that great statue down to powder and filled the whole
world. What was that little stone? That
rock was Christ. The crushing of all world power
by the kingdom of Christ. As Habakkuk says, the earth shall
be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord Just
as the waters cover the sea, so shall the world be filled
with it. It doesn't seem like it today. In this world that
is marked for destruction, God calls his people by the gospel,
by preaching, to come to Christ in faith, believing, to find
peace and safety in his chambers, his chambers of salvation, his
city of Zion, with its walls of salvation, until he takes
them, takes us, to eternal glory. Now then, let me ask you, Does
that not sound like a good place, a safe place, a blessed place
to be? You who don't believe, does that
not sound like a good place to believe in this world of such
turmoil and uncertainty? So how do you get it? How do
you become a member? How do you get in? I'll just
say this. Ask God. Ask. Seek and you shall find. Ask
God to reveal the truth of it to your immortal soul, whosoever
comes to him in faith, sincerely seeking, he will in no wise cast
out. Amen.