Well, we come back to Isaiah,
the book of Isaiah and the 19th chapter and those verses from
18 to 25 that we read earlier. The day of God's grace, in that
day, says it four times, in that day, in that day, in what day?
In the day of God's grace. Now, if you remember back a couple
of years when we were going through the book of Revelation, I think
The one thing that struck us more than anything else, struck
me anyway, struck us more than anything else, was the fact that
it is not God's purpose to make this world a better place, which
is what false Christianity constantly tells us, doesn't it? False Christianity
constantly has themes like, let's make poverty history. And let's
do this good thing, and let's do... Now, please do not misunderstand. I'm not saying for one moment
that we should not seek to do good to all men wherever we get
the opportunity to do it. But it is not the overriding
purpose of God, it is not the purpose of the gospel of grace
to make this world a better place. It is God's purpose, ultimately,
to destroy this world. For it's the kingdom of Satan.
It's the kingdom of Antichrist. The thing that is God's purpose
is the establishment of his unrivaled kingdom of grace and mercy and
peace, the kingdom of God. Thy kingdom come. That is the
purpose of God. Not to make this world better,
not sitting there wringing his hands in sorrow because men and
women do not get on with one another, and not getting on with
one another. They don't do those nice things
that make the world a better place. And oh, if only we would
do this, that, and the other. the Russians wouldn't fight the
Americans, and the Palestinians wouldn't fight the Israelis,
and the Northern Irish wouldn't fight the Southern, blah blah
blah, all these things that people constantly seek in the name of
so-called Christianity to make peace. It's not the purpose of
God in Scripture, no. God's purpose is to justly reward
this world this world, the people in it, for iniquity, and establish
his own triumphant kingdom of peace, justice, and righteousness.
And that's the message of all Scripture, not just of Revelation.
Revelation underlined it at the end. But that's the message of
all Scripture. Now in these chapters of Isaiah
from about 13 to 24, judgment is very clearly pronounced on
the nations. One by one there's a catalogue
of iniquity by the nations that God says He will judge and how
He will judge it. But it's interspersed throughout
with gems of gracious salvation. You see, All, without exception,
are completely lost and justly condemned. All have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God. There's none righteous, no, not
one. But God is gracious to a multitude. In spite of sin, God is gracious
to a multitude. How? for the multitude whom He
chose, His elect from before the beginning of time, He has
made atonement, atonement. He has made peace in the blood
of the cross of His Son. He has satisfied the offended
justice of God. The sins of the people has offended
the justice of God, and the soul that sins, it shall die, and
it must die, and it must receive the just retribution for its
sin. But in the person of Christ,
atonement has been made. Atonement. Redemption has been
accomplished. The debt has been paid. So that
God is consistently a just God and a Saviour. He's not a just
God and then, oh, He says, oh, we won't bother about those sins.
No, He's punished all sins. He's either punished them and
will punish them in the individual sinner, or He's punished them
in His Son on behalf of the sinners of His choice. He's a just God
and a Saviour. And so law works, you know, do
this and live, law works never was the way of salvation. The
works for which these nations are condemned and we are all
condemned in the flesh, do good and you shall live, never was
the way of salvation. For as Paul writes to the Galatians,
21. For if there had been a law given, which could have given
life if you had kept it, verily righteousness should have been
by the law. But it isn't, because you can't.
Why? Because of the weakness of the flesh. We cannot do it. You may think, well, I've put
it all behind me, and now I'm living a very, very good life.
What about the sins that are gone? If James says, you say
you keep the law of God, if you offend in one point, you're guilty
of all. So then, how were they saved
in the Old Testament times before Christ came? People were saved
then. David was saved. Abraham was
saved. Noah was saved. How were they
saved? Old Testament saints were saved
not by law-keeping. They were not. You read the record
of their lives, they were not. David didn't keep the law. Abraham
didn't keep the law. Even Noah didn't keep the law.
They didn't keep the law. They couldn't because they were
weak in the flesh. How were they saved? They were saved by grace
through faith. As Ephesians 2 verse 8 says,
it's not just a New Testament doctrine, it's throughout. How? Looking to Christ. How did they
look to Christ in the Old Testament? They looked to the temple, to
the tabernacle. to the promises of God. Christ
was symbolized in the temple, in the priesthood, in the sacrifices,
in the shedding of blood, for without the shedding of blood
there is no remission of sins. It wasn't the shedding of animals'
blood that remitted the sins of those Old Testament saints,
it was the shedding of Christ's blood to which that animal blood
pointed as a picture that dealt with the sins of those people.
So do this and live. Never was an alternative way
to peace with God. It never was. Mechanical letter
of law obedience never equated to heart faith. Think of the
Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said, you have heard it
said, you shall not murder, you shall not kill, but I say to
you, Whoever looks with hate on his brother has offended in
the law. You've heard it said, you shall not commit adultery.
And you think, oh, well, that's me. I'm absolutely fine. I say
unto you, whoever has looked on a woman with lust in his heart
has already committed adultery with her. You see, mechanical
letter of law obedience never equated to heart faith. That's
what Jesus taught. And now in the New Testament,
the relationship of the believer to God is not based on the law. It is not based on the law. There are those, there are so
many, who reckon that they're so orthodox and right who will
tell us, ah, ha, ha, but it is, it is, you know, you believe
in grace for your salvation, for justification, ah, but then
you have to live as if you're under the law, otherwise you'd
get up to all sorts of things. You'd do all sorts of terrible
things if you didn't. No, that's not what the scripture
teaches, Romans 6, 14 and 15. Ye are not, you believers, you
are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin
because we're not under the law but under grace? God forbid,
of course not. Don't be silly. Don't be blasphemous. Don't be offensive to God. Of
course not. You are not under law but under
grace. So why was the law given? Galatians tells us. The law was
given to define sin. That's what it was given for.
The law was not given to be, to serve as the believer's rule
of life. It wasn't. It couldn't be. There's
some very honest words by Peter in Acts 13, 38 and 39. He says, in preaching, he says,
through this man, through Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, the God-man,
through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
How are my sins going to be forgiven? Through this man, through him.
And by him, by Christ, all that believe are justified from all
things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. By keeping the law of Moses would
not justify you. If you kept it perfectly would
not justify you, because it's external in the flesh. Christ
and faith in him is the believer's rule of life. Let me say it again,
Christ and faith in him is the believer's rule of life, not
the law. And so then, in Isaiah 19 verses 18 to 25, we have this
clear declaration of the grace of God in the midst of God's
just condemnation on the sins of the nations round about. And
it's exactly the same today. God declares grace. In the midst
of condemnation for the sins of the flesh, He declares grace. So then, my first point. in just
wrath, remember mercy. In Habakkuk chapter 3 and verse
2 we read the prophet saying to God, as it were, in wrath,
remember mercy. In your just wrath, in your deserved
wrath against sin, in the midst of that absolutely right thing
that God does in judging and punishing sin, remember mercy. Lord our God, remember mercy.
Yes, we deserve it, but remember mercy. But for mercy, where would
we be but lost? Here we have a declaration of
God's eternal purposes in election. Now, did you notice when we read
it before, it's about Egypt, and it's about Assyria, and then
a bit about Israel. Egypt and Assyria. They were
the height of world power. The Egyptians were always a symbol
of world power. The Egyptians were always a symbol
of where the people of God are kept in bondage. So the Israelites
in Egypt, from the days of Joseph onwards and then on into the
Exodus, That's a picture of believers in this world, and the world
oppresses believers, and Egypt oppressed Israel, the people
of God, and kept them in bondage. Egypt is a symbol of the height
of world power. The great empires of history
were Egypt, Assyria, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, the
Romans, and then we're into New Testament days. Those are the
great empires of history. You read about them in Revelation,
in Revelation 19, you'll see a summary of world history in
there. And these nations had no need
for God. They had no need for God. And
they were justly condemned for their sin. And they were deserving
of divine wrath, as these chapters of Isaiah spell out absolutely
clearly. But God is merciful. Our God
is a merciful God. He has chosen a multitude that
no man can number. Everyone known to Him, everyone
absolutely clearly known to Him, of every tribe and kindred, not
just Jews, but of all mankind. For God so loved the world that
he gave. He didn't just love Jews that
he gave his only begotten son. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son. Even Egypt. What? Even that which
oppressed the people of God, God had his people there whom
he loved from before the beginning of time. Egypt is symbolical
of the world. You know the world all around
us? You know, people we come across every day, they say, proudly,
they say, well, you know me, I've got no thought for God.
I pay no attention to the things of God. If you want to do that,
you go and do it, but it's not for me. It's not for me. Until
the day I die, I might give it some thought then. It might be
a bit late then. They echo what Pharaoh said.
Moses was sent by the Lord to Pharaoh to say, the Lord commands
you to let my people go. Moses went in there with his
brother Aaron. The Lord commands you, Pharaoh, to let my people
go. And Pharaoh said, who is the
Lord that I should obey him? And is that not what the world
around us says? Who is the Lord? The Lord says this about your
lifestyle. Who is the Lord that I should
obey him? Who is he? That's exactly this
world in which we live. But in God's day of grace, look
in verse 18, in that day, in God's day of grace, five cities
in the land of Egypt shall speak the language of Canaan. Five
cities shall speak the language of the people of God. That's
what it's symbolical of. Though these people are snatched
as brands from the burning, as bits of wood. You know, boys,
you know when you have a bonfire going, and there's bits of wood
burning all around, and you know, you can actually find a bit that
is burning, but the end of it's not, and you can grab hold of
it and take it out of the fire. It's a bit dangerous, but you
know what I mean? It's nearly burnt up, but you can rescue
it from the fire, can't you? Well, here in Egypt, they're
all worthy of condemnation, but God in grace bring some out of
it, snatched as brands from the burning. You see, some of them
live in a city called destruction. Remember that, Pilgrim's Progress?
Pilgrim lived in the city of destruction, in Vanity Fair,
the city of destruction. That's where he lived. The city
that is going to be destroyed justly for its sin. But by grace,
God comes to the worst of people. Isn't that comforting? How many
people do you know that will never ever believe the gospel?
You can think of them, can't you? You can think of people
who will never, ever believe the gospel, but do you know,
none of them are beyond the reach of God's saving arm. The arm
of the Lord is not shortened, but it cannot save. We keep mentioning
him, but Saul of Tarsus, think of what a violent opposer of
the things of Christ was Saul of Tarsus until God met him.
And that arm, that saving arm of God reached down and saved
him, and called him out of darkness into his marvellous light. And
he preached, more than any of the other apostles, the saving
grace of God in Christ. No, he calls them out of destruction,
this city of destruction, he calls them out, even those that
are in Egypt. Even those there. How? By preaching. By declaration. What do we do
in preaching? Do we, do we, yes we do try to
persuade, the scripture says that we try to persuade. people
to believe the truth. We present them with arguments
that are aimed at doing that. But no, it's not our power of
persuasion. What we do is we declare, we
declare the accomplishment of salvation. We declare the holiness
of God. We declare the justice of God.
We declare the condemnation of sin. But we declare that in Christ
salvation is accomplished for a multitude. We declare substitutionary
atonement that has procured peace with God. Is there anything more
blessed than peace with God? What are the things that you've
got? Oh, I've got this thing, that thing. I tell you, it pales into
insignificance if you've got peace with God. Oh, what a blessing
is peace with God. What riches are in peace with
God. I know that it is well with my
soul. You see, there was nothing of
any worth in any of these people. There was no tradition. No, they
had no tradition. They had no tradition of faith.
They had no inherent goodness. They had nothing that would persuade
a holy God to be kind to them. But God has said, God has said,
you know, what's... Do you remember when Moses asked
God, you know, churches have, have straplines and mottos, you
know, that people matter to God and things like that. Well, if
I can use this without sounding irreverent, But do you know what
God's strapline is? I will be merciful to whom I
choose to be merciful, and I will be gracious to whom I choose
to be gracious. Are we not just as unworthy as
Egypt, as it's described here, and yet he shows grace to Egypt? Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
one and verse 26. 1 Corinthians one verse 26. For
you see your calling, brethren, you people in Corinth, you people
here in Nedwith, you people out there on the internet, wherever
you are today, you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise
men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. No, it's not according to class
or status or lineage, but God has chosen the foolish things. the unworthy things, the weak
things of the world, to confound the wise. And God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things that are
mighty, and the base things of the world, and the things which
are despised hath God chosen." He's even chosen Egypt. He's
even chosen people out of such a place as Egypt in that Old
Testament prophecy. And us today, even us, even us,
Gentiles, naturally without any knowledge of God, to bring to
nought the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his
presence." Oh, I'm very proud of... Do you know, I once heard
somebody tell me about a man who was a pastor and I had all
sorts of problems with that man because of his preaching and
his practice. many other things about him. And somebody said
to me, I think the problem with him is he's a very proud man.
And I thought, what a condemnation. What a thing to say, a very proud
man. Pride comes before the fall.
No, to bring to nothing things that are, that no flesh should
glory in his presence. Because what are you if you're
a believer? Of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made
unto us wisdom. Where do you have wisdom? If
you're a believer, it's in Christ and Him alone, for in Him are
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and righteousness.
Are you righteous before God? Are you getting more sanctified
before God? No, of course you're not. Your sanctification is in
Him, your choice of God, your dedication to God is in Him,
and your redemption, the payment of your sin debt, is in Him by
what He has done. That according as it is written,
He that glories let him glory, not in what he is, but in the
Lord. We're just as unworthy. In just
wrath, remember mercy. Then, in grace, he reveals a
saviour." Now, if you look at various commentaries on this
passage, I mean, people can make a dozen or more points out of
it, and that's not my purpose this morning, because of the
limit of time that we have. I'm just going to bring out the
what I see as the pinnacles of this. But there's a Savior revealed. And that Savior's revealed in
the most unlikely place. Look at verses 19 and 20. In
that day, that day of grace, shall there be an altar to the
Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the
border thereof to the Lord. And it shall be for a sign and
for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. For
they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors. and
he shall send them a Saviour and a Great One, and he shall
deliver them." Where? In the most unlikely place. In
Egypt. Even in Egypt, which is the very
enemy of the people of God. In the world. There. There shall
be an altar. Not a physical altar. Not a physical
altar. There shall be an altar, and
a pillar, and a saviour. An altar, a pillar, and a saviour. Not a physical altar. Not a physical
pillar. No, a spiritual one. And that
altar is Christ. For we have an altar, says Hebrews
13 verse 10. We have an altar. You know, you
go into an Anglican church and Catholic church and there are
high altars and they make such a fuss about the altar, lead
me to the... No. Where does that come in? That's
just Old Testament symbolism. We're in the New Testament now.
The altar that we have is Christ by faith, seeing Him, accomplishing
salvation, making peace through the blood of His cross. That's
the altar that we have, not a physical altar, and it's that altar that
will be there in that country that represents the world in
Egypt, in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar, a pillar,
A pillar at the border. The pillar? What's the pillar?
Well, I think of this, 1st Timothy 3.15, Paul writes to Timothy,
talking about the church of the living God, which is the pillar
and ground of the truth. It's the church, it's the people
of God, it's the pastors and witnesses to the truth of the
Savior will be there in Egypt, will be there in that symbol
of the world in Egypt, in this world in which we live. doing
his work, proclaiming salvation accomplished, proclaiming redemption
accomplished. And the working of God's Spirit
in hearts will cause them to pray, for they shall cry unto
the Lord. Why do they cry? For the Spirit
of God stirs up in them the need to pray, because of the oppressors,
because he gives them a consciousness of the oppressors. What are the
oppressors that we're talking about? They become conscious
of sin. They become conscious of what
they are as unholy things before God. They become conscious of
Satan and his determination to take them down to hell. They
become conscious of the law of God which calls for perfect obedience
and they know, they know that unless they continue in all things
written in the book of the law to do them, they shall be cursed. They shall be cursed. These are
the oppressors, and so they cry out for a saviour. And God shall
send them a saviour. And God shall show them that
where they are under the curse, where they have not continued
in all things that are written in the book of the law to do
them, that Christ has come and been made a curse for his people. He's born that curse. He's born
that curse on the cursed tree, for cursed is everyone that hangs
on a tree, on the cross of Calvary. And in that, He has sent them
a Saviour, who has put an end to their sin, who has taken it
away, who has removed it as far as the east is from the west.
And not just a Saviour, but a Great One. What a great Saviour. Hallelujah, what a Saviour. Condemned
was he to die, hallelujah, what a saviour, and he shall deliver
them. A deliverer, one who will deliver
his people from the condemnation, from the bondage in which they
abide. One able to save, as Hebrews 7.25 says, able to save to the
uttermost. A great Saviour, able to deliver
them, able to deal with every sin, everything that would separate
them from a holy God, He has dealt with for His people. By
union with Him, by eternal union with Him, by Him coming in flesh,
in the same flesh, in the likeness of sinful flesh, being found
in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, even unto death, even
the death of the cross, a Deliverer. Romans 11, 26, there shall come
out of Zion the Deliverer. This is the Saviour, this is
Christ, and He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, from
the elect of God, wherever they're found, even the elect that are
found in symbolical Egypt, a Saviour perfectly suited to the desperate
need of those that cry unto the Lord. And what do they cry? They're
oppressed with these oppressors, sin, Satan, and the law, and
they cry like the disciples did in the boat on the storm-tossed
sea, and Jesus was asleep in the stern, and they cried out,
Save us, Lord, for we perish. Save us, Lord. What must I do
to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and you shall be saved, you and all your household who believe
with you. a saviour, a great saviour, who is made of God unto
his people, as we just read in 1 Corinthians, who is made wisdom
from God, who is made the wisdom of God. That's the wisdom you
need, not the wisdom of this world, not the wisdom of science,
falsely so-called. No, the wisdom of God. He is
made unto us wisdom from God and righteousness. Pursue holiness,
righteousness, without which no man shall see the Lord. How
do I get righteousness? Will I ever be able to do it?
No. But He is made unto His people righteousness. And sanctification. Oh, you must be set apart for
the service of God to be in His heaven. And Christ is made unto
His people sanctification. And there's a sin debt that must
be paid. There's a price that must be paid, and He has paid
it. Redemption. And so therefore, those that
glory, let them glory in the Lord. He sends them a saviour,
these people. He sends them a gospel. He sends
them witnesses to preach the gospel, an altar and a pillar
in the land, pastors and witnesses to testify in this world. God
is gracious. This is what this is telling
us. God is gracious. And then, verse 21, The Lord
shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the
Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation. Yea,
they shall vow a vow unto the Lord and perform it. the knowledge
of God. God by grace, you know, natural
man, men and women all around us naturally have no knowledge
of God. They're ignorant of God. They
have no knowledge of God. God is not known to them. God
is not known in them or by them, no. But by grace, God makes himself
known to his people and causes his people to know him. And he
gives them a right and a reverential filial, that's the fear that
children have of their father. That's not a fear of terror,
but that is a respect, because he's my dad. Well, he gives his
children a reverential filial fear. Turn to Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31, which is quoted
widely throughout the rest of scripture, but in the book of
Hebrews particularly. And in verse 31 of Jeremiah 31,
we read, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make
a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house
of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring them
out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they break, although
I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord. You see, they tried
by works of the law and they failed. They broke it. They broke
it. But this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,
saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and
write it in their hearts. And it won't be in written letter,
it will be in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall
be my people. And they shall teach no more
every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord. For they shall all know me, from
the least of them, unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For
I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin
no more." God will remember their sin no more. That's what he says. The knowledge of God. He will
give his people the knowledge of God. In the day of God's grace,
he who so loved a world of sinners, not just Jews, has declared he
shall be known by Egyptians, by Gentiles. Those in Israel
and Judah in Isaiah's day who thought God was obliged to save
only them must have been staggered by this. That God is saying,
I will be known by Egyptians. Egyptians shall know the Lord
in that day and shall do sacrifice and oblation. They shall do that
religious service which is the desire of the truly saved person. They shall worship Him. They
shall perform the vow. They'll make a vow. I will serve
you. Choose you this day whom you will serve. But as for me
and my house, we will serve the Lord. We will perform the vow. We will do it. We will worship.
Because this is the true people of God who worship God in the
Spirit, who rejoice in Christ Jesus, who have no confidence
in their flesh, but know that it is all of Him and of His grace. In John 6, 45 it is written in
the prophets we read there and they shall all be taught of God. God teaches his people, each
one of them. Yes, he gives pastors and teachers
and ministry gifts to build up the church of God, but in their
hearts, each one is taught of God. Jesus quotes Isaiah 54 verse
13. In that passage in John, all
thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall
be the peace of thy children. This is an inward knowledge taught
by God's Spirit. individually, and it's only obtained
by grace, because even here, in symbolical Egypt, even here,
God says, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And not only that,
verse 22, but in grace, and it may not seem like it at the time,
but in grace, He graciously chastises his people. And the Lord shall
smite Egypt, and he shall smite and heal it. And they shall return
even to the Lord, and he shall be entreated of them and shall
heal them. Smite and heal, for the purpose that they shall return. As a father chastens the son
that he loves, disciplines the son that he loves, The purpose
of it is eternal good. It is the Lord. We were hearing
the other night, Wednesday night, when we were listening to Gabe
Stolnicker preaching. It is the Lord, said Eli to the
young Samuel. Let him do what seemeth him good.
That is submitting to the purposes of God in chastisement. It is
the Lord. It's believing God. It's truly
believing God, that all of his purposes for his children are
for their eternal good. We suffer as we go through this
life. We suffer at times of history,
physically, financially, in all sorts of hard ways of oppression,
etc. At other times it's much more
psychological, like the days in which we live. It's much more,
the days in which we live, it's much more an absolute opposition
of the culture and philosophy and the thinking of the world
around us. But we suffer. But it's all in the purposes
of God. to bring us to himself. And Paul says, the present sufferings
are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be
revealed in us. It is but for a moment, it is
but for our good. He will smite and heal it. He heals his people. By grace,
God constrains his children to the narrow way through this life
on to eternal bliss. And you go through things and
you think, why has God sent this? He sent it because he's seeking
to chip away from you that reliance on the flesh and the things that
are not of the kingdom of God. Again, this induces to prayer. He shall be entreated of them,
and he shall heal them. He causes his people to pray.
He sent Paul the apostle, a thorn in the flesh, and he prayed three
times that it might be taken away, and God said, no, this
is to teach you that my grace is sufficient for you. And my
strength is made perfect in your weakness. That's when you know
the strength that comes from God. When you have lost, who
are the circumcision? No confidence in the flesh. Isaiah
65 verse 1, God says, I am inquired of by them that ask not for me. Here it is, shall be entreated
of the Egyptians. Those that inquired not of him,
I am inquired of by them that ask not for me. And I am found
of them that sought me not. How is he found of them that
sought him not? It's because he's a God of grace.
He's a God of grace who comes down graciously. and touches
one he chose in Christ from before the foundation of the world,
causes them to hear a saving gospel of grace, and gives them
faith to believe it. And then, verses 23 and 24, in
that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria. And
the Assyrians shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptians into
Assyria. And the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In
that day shall Israel be a third, with Egypt and with Assyria.
Three parties there. Even a blessing in the midst
of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed
be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel
mine inheritance. Now, Do you see this? You know,
in the days in which we live, how all the worldwide powers,
the United Nations, the G7, the G8, whatever they're called these
days, all these great summits, the European Union, they're constantly
getting together to try to bring about peace and worldwide unity,
and the removal of borders, and the removal of restrictions,
and the freedom of movement, and so on and so forth, all trying
to establish a worldwide unity. And it constantly, constantly,
constantly fails. It constantly ends in frustration
and disappointment. And they say, oh, the one above
all, if only we could solve the dispute between Israel and the
Palestinians, and then, oh, that is the most intractable of human
disputes, and if only we could bring about worldwide unity.
Well, I tell you, what the world's politicians strive for and fail
to achieve God's grace delivers. Is that not what these two verses,
three verses tell us? What the world's politicians
constantly strive to achieve in terms of world unity, God's
grace delivers. Those by grace from every nation
who are made citizens of Zion, whatever their ethnic origin,
They're fellow citizens together in the kingdom of God. They're
joint heirs with Christ. They truly are brethren together. They speak the same language.
Ah, but some speak this foreign language and some speak English
and some speak another language. What are you talking about? I'm
talking about the language of grace. I'm talking about the
language of grace. Do you know, I've had conversation
with a man that I couldn't understand any of his language, but because
we were brothers together in the things of Christ, I remember
there being just an inherent unity between us of understanding
what it is to be saved by Christ. We understand the language of
grace and the gospel of Christ. And we mingle freely. It's that
highway between them. And they shall mingle freely.
This is free movement. This is free movement without
borders. But this is God's free movement in God's kingdom without
borders. They freely share assets together. They serve God together. Jews
and Gentiles together. They share what we're going to
do shortly. They share communion together.
They discern the same body and blood of our common Lord Jesus
Christ, the one that we own together, whether we're Egyptians or Assyrians
or Jews or whatever, wherever we're from. Real worldwide unity. Blessed of the Lord. Verse 25,
blessed be Egypt, my people. God calls Egypt his people. Is
that not a blessing? You and I who are Gentiles by
descent, He calls us blessed. He calls us his people, blessed.
Assyria, he says, they're the work of my hands, because the
ones that he's called out of Assyria are the work of his hands. And Israel, because we're all
the Israel of God, he makes us all the elect, the Israel of
God. Israel, mine inheritance, my
people, my work, my inheritance. If God has blessed them, What
can possibly frustrate that intention? If God be for us, asked Paul
in Romans 8, if God be for us, all of us, who can be against
us? If you know this grace in your
heart, this all rings exactly true, does it not? If not, if
you're outside of Christ, let me ask you. What I've described,
what the world strives to achieve and fails, but what grace clearly
delivers, Is this not a thing greatly to be desired? Ought
you not to seek it while it may be found? Seek the Lord while
he may be found. Seek and you shall find, is what
his word promises. Amen.