Well I've been thinking in this
week just gone by about the idea of the universality of salvation. Now that's going to shock you.
We don't believe in universalism. No we don't. I don't mean by
that that in the end everybody that's ever lived is going to
be saved, which is what some people think. No I don't mean
that at all. I don't believe that in the slightest.
But what I do mean is that there is only one salvation for whoever
you are on this earth, who has ever lived in all time. Only one. Look at Romans chapter
10 before we come back to Isaiah. Romans chapter 10 and verse 11. Romans 10 verse 11. For the scripture
says, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For
there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, the Gentile. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now what does that
say to you? No difference, no difference between Jew and Gentile. No difference between kinds of
mankind. No difference. There's one thing. Whosoever believeth on him, on
Christ, on God, on the gospel of salvation, shall not be ashamed
or shall not be confounded in the day of judgment, shall not
be found wanting, shall not be found lacking anything. Whosoever
shall call, whosoever. No distinction of race. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. There is
no difference whosoever. You see, we're about answering
the question that Job posed. Job 9 verse 2. How should a man
be just with God? If we believe in God, and surely,
as the scripture says, Only a fool doesn't believe in God. The fool
has said in his heart, no God for me, there is no God. The
fool has said that. And you say, well, there's an
awful lot of fools in this world. Oh, yes, there are. The vast
majority are fools who say in their heart, no God for me. It
doesn't matter how clever they are academically, from the highest
professor down to the lowliest, meanest, most ignorant man. They're
a fool if they say there is no God, if they say no God for me. Because God is evident everywhere
to the eye that looks. God is evident everywhere. And
if there is a God who is powerful enough to create what we see,
If there is a God who does what he does, who upholds all things,
if there is a God who is holy, as he reveals himself to be in
his word, then we must ask the question, how should a man be
just with God? Now, has the answer to that question
changed? In the history of time, has the
answer to that question changed? In Old Testament times, were
people justified or made righteous with God, just with God, differently
than they are now in the New Testament age? Was law and legal
obedience the way to justification in Old Testament times? This
do and live. Was that right? Is that what
it was? Do this and you shall live, whereas now in New Testament
times, whosoever shall call. You see, there's a lot of people
in religion, a lot of people in very orthodox religion, who
think like this. They think that God had plan
A, for getting people to be right with him and that plan A was
you obey the commandments and if you obey the commandments
you'll be right with God and he keeps having a good try and
he keeps trying to get them to obey but oh they're such stubborn
people and you read the history of the Jewish nation, the Israelites
and you see how despite all that they had revealed to them they
were such stubborn, ignorant, rebellious people and they kept
on disobeying. So plan A kept failing. Plan
A didn't bring anybody to, so God came up with the gospel and
that's plan B. So now we believe plan B. That's what so many people
in religion, orthodox religion, seem to think. They seem to think
that the gospel of believing Christ is God's plan B, when
plan A, which was obey his commandments, didn't work. But no. You see,
The New Testament, in Romans 10, quotes the Old Testament. The Scripture says. When Paul
wrote the Scripture, what Scripture does he mean? He means the Old
Testament Scriptures. The Old Testament Scriptures.
Let me give you some examples. Isaiah 28 verse 16, Isaiah again,
chapter 28 verse 16, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone,
a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth
shall not make haste, or, could be translated again, be ashamed,
or be confounded, or be found wanting in the day of judgment.
because you must believe on that cornerstone, that tridestone,
that foundation stone, that sure foundation, which is the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Christ of God, the Messiah of God, all that
he is. Joel, the prophet, chapter 2,
verse 32, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, this
is Old Testament times, In the Old Testament it says, Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered, for
in Mount Zion, the people of God, and in Jerusalem shall be
deliverance, as the Lord hath said. And in the remnant whom
the Lord shall call. Who's that? That's his elect,
his elect people. In Romans 10, Paul is quoting
Old Testament scriptures. Let me give you another one.
Isaiah 60, again, Isaiah verse 3. and the Gentiles shall come
to thy light." This is Old Testament times. The Gentiles! This is
what the Word of God in Old Testament times says. The Gentiles, the
non-Jews, the Jews, the Israelites, were the special people of God
in those days. But there, in their scriptures,
it says, the Gentiles shall come to thy light, speaking of the
New Testament gospel age. So although in the Old Testament,
The doctrine of salvation was only revealed in physical Israel. There was nowhere else on earth
where the doctrine... There was nowhere else that gave
an answer to that question of Job, how should a man be just
with God? If in Old Testament times you
wanted to answer how should a man be just with God, you had to
go to Israel. You had to look at the scriptures
of the Israelites. And so people came from all over
the world. the Queen of Sheba came to Solomon,
because she knew there in Jerusalem they knew was the true God. Many,
many people knew that. If you wanted to know the truth,
to answer the question, how should a man be just with God, you went
to Jerusalem, you went to the Jews. There was no revelation
of it outside of physical Israel. And the way God saves his elect
has always remained the same, even in those days of Old Testament
Israel. The way God saves his elect has
always remained the same. What is it? faith in Christ and
all that he has accomplished, looking to Christ and all that
he has accomplished, looking to the promised seed of the woman
and all that he has accomplished. When was the promised seed given
to the woman? Genesis chapter 3, to the woman,
to Eve, after they fell from that state of sinless perfection
in rebellion, following the temptation of Satan, and there, there, When
the curse was pronounced, there God pronounced the word of grace,
that there was a seed of the woman who would come, and that
seed of the woman would be the one who would redeem his people
from their sins. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 30
with me, just for a moment. Deuteronomy chapter 30 in verse
10, and don't worry if you can't get there, I'll just read it
to you. This is in the middle of the Mosaic, well, the end
of the Mosaic law. It's sort of drawing a line underneath. Deuteronomy means second time
round. Reminder. Reminder of the law. And it's
underlining, and we're at chapter 30. There's only a couple more
chapters to go and that's the end of the books of Moses. And
in chapter 30, verse 10, we read this. if thou shalt hearken unto
the voice of the Lord thy God to keep his commandments and
his statutes which are written in this book of the law and if
thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with
all thy soul then then he's saying you you will you will find blessing
following God for verse 11 this commandment which I command thee
this day it is not hidden from thee neither is it far off No,
it's not hidden from you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven
that thou should say, who shall go up for us to heaven and bring
it unto us, that we may hear it and do it. Neither is it beyond
the sea that you should say, who shall go over the sea for
us and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it. But
the word is very nigh unto thee in thy mouth and in thy heart,
that thou mayest do it. And he sets before them good
and evil. Compare those words with Romans
chapter 10. Romans chapter 10, verse six.
The righteousness which is of, not the law, the faith. The righteousness
which is of faith speaketh on this wise. And then look what
Paul does. He quotes Deuteronomy chapter
30, verses 11 to 14. Say not in thine heart, who shall
ascend unto heaven, You know, who's going to go on this arduous
journey into heaven to get the truth for us? That's to bring
Christ down from above. He's already come down. Or who
shall descend into the deep? Let's go on this long journey
on the sea that is to bring Christ up again from the dead. But what
saith it? And he's quoting Deuteronomy 30. The word is nigh thee, even
in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which
we preach. Is it not the same gospel in
Deuteronomy and Romans 10? It is the word of faith which
we preach. And what is that word? That if
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth Confession is made
unto salvation, for the scripture says, whosoever believeth on
him shall not be ashamed. There is no difference, Jew nor
Greek, no difference, the same Lord. Whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. You see, in the Old Testament,
the gospel was wrapped up in the law, in the precepts of the
law. The gospel was wrapped up. It
was foreshadowed in type and picture in the Old Testament
law, in the sacrifices, in the temple, in the priesthood, in
all of those things. But in the New Testament, salvation
is revealed without the law. It's, as it were, as if there's
a wrapper around the true gospel. The wrapper of the law showed
a picture of the gospel blessing it contained. I don't know if
you still have, do we still have cellophane these days? I remember
when we were kids, you used to get sweets that were wrapped
in a cellophane wrapper, you know, it was a see-through wrapper.
Well if you like, the law, the Old Testament law is like a cellophane
wrapper around the New Testament gospel. It's there, the same,
all the time. It's never any different. the
blessing of the gospel that was contained in the law in the New
Testament That is unwrapped. That blessing is unwrapped. And
the wrapper is thrown away. Why? We don't need it anymore.
For the reality has come. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness. For the righteousness that the
law said, do this and live. Christ is the end of it to everyone
that believeth. The law as a medium of gospel
revelation was abrogated, was ended when Christ came. Because
why? the New Testament reality, that
He Himself had come, and there He was. And now, in the New Testament
era, the blessing of the Gospel of Grace is what we read in the
end of Romans 8, that all things work together for good to those
who are the called of God, called according to His purpose. All
things. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? For Christ has
died. These are all the blessings of the Gospel. Now, with that
rather long and rambling introduction, let us now come to Isaiah 10
and 11 and pick up where we were looking at Isaiah in the next
part of it. Remember that as with all scripture,
this is the revelation of God's salvation to his elect multitude,
his whosoever, whosoever, whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed. Now, really we can't look at
Isaiah 11 verses 1 to 10 until you have in mind the context
of chapter 10. So, very briefly, I just want
to give you a summary, a brief summary of chapter 10, because
it sets the context for chapter 11. Remember, we're thinking. This is the same revelation of
exactly the same New Testament gospel of grace. How should a
man be just with God? Christ has satisfied righteousness,
justice, law for us, for his people, in our place, as our
substitute, as our surety, as the one who has guaranteed it,
as our guarantor. of salvation. He has come and
he has done everything that is necessary, so that there is nothing
left outstanding. And that same truth is revealed
here throughout the Old Testament. So, putting this in context,
chapter 10. Firstly, in verses 1 to 4 of
chapter 10, and what I would say to you is, you won't be able
to keep up with me, so read it for yourselves later, but just
let me give you a summary now. In verses one to four, we read
about God's just and deserved judgments on sin. It's very clear. If God is real, and God's word
is his truth, then you cannot avoid the fact that God is a
God of holiness, who cannot tolerate sin. And we are sinners, and
he judges sin, and his justice and his character must demand
a penalty. The soul that sins, it shall
die. God's just and deserved judgments. Israel had been a very unfaithful
nation, and that's why they were being punished for their sins.
Secondly, in verses 5 to 19, We read about God using wicked
men and wicked nations to execute his purposes in judging sin. And in this case he used the
Assyrian nation, which was a mighty powerful nation. I've told you
many times before, go down to the British Museum and look there,
you will see the artifacts of the Assyrian Empire from about
700 BC, 700 to 800 BC. Three or four hundred years of
the Assyrian Empire being a very powerful empire. God used them
to punish Israel for their disobedience, for their unfaithfulness. He
used the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, likewise. He uses wicked men
and wicked nations, even to execute his purposes. He's not wringing
his hands in frustrated inability to do anything about them. He
uses them for his purposes. He uses them to execute his judgments
on infidelity. Then thirdly, in verses 20 to
23, he states clearly his objective of the spiritual eternal good
of the elect, purging out of them that which is false teaching
his saints to lean on him, calling his elect from afar. Look, for
the Lord God of hosts, where does it say that? Yet a remnant
of them shall return. You see, he's calling his elect
from afar. And fourthly, verses 24 to 26,
he gives a word of comfort. In the context of that judgment
on sin, he gives a word of comfort to God's saints in the world
to fear nothing. What is the message of Isaiah
40, the first couple of verses there? What are preachers to
do to the people of God? Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people. Most who call themselves preachers
just get a rod out and start whipping and beating the people
and telling them what they haven't done right and how much more
they need to do. But he says, comfort my people, says your
God. And then fifthly, in verses 27 to 34, we get confirmation
that finally God will destroy all opposition to his rule and
he will save his elect. But you might ask, how will God
accomplish his revealed will? And the answer comes in chapter
11. So that's where we come to now.
The redeemer of God's elect is revealed here, in these verses
at the start of chapter 11. Isaiah has already given us notice
of Christ's coming into the world. Isaiah 7, 14, Behold, a virgin
shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel,
God with us. Isaiah 9, verses 6 and 7, 4,
Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government
shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counsellor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Of his kingdom and of his government there shall be no end, and he
will reign on the throne of David forever." Clear messages about
the coming of Christ. But how will God save his people
out of the certain judgment that must come by virtue of the nature
and character of God on all sin? Romans 3.23 says all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God. How will God save his people
out of the certain judgment that there is? on sin. How will God
save his people, yet maintain his strict justice, that the
soul that sins, it shall die? How will he do that? How will
he be a just God who can in no wise clear the guilty, and yet
a saviour of sinners who come to him? How can he be just as
God, perfectly just, Perfect. Do you know, we look at cases
in the law, and so often, and I know the press, the papers,
like to make a big thing of it because it stirs public emotions,
but we get outraged when we see what we regard as injustice.
That somebody gets a two-year prison sentence for driving like
a lunatic, carelessly, and killing several people, and they get
a two-year prison, and everybody says, that's not justice. You
know, the families of those people, they've lost those people forever,
for the rest of their lives, and yet our courts only put them
in prison for a couple of years for doing that. That's not justice.
People have this strong sense of justice. Well, how will God
maintain his strict justice and yet declare justified people
who by nature are sinners? The answer that the scripture
gives is in the doing and the dying of his son, the promised
Messiah. the Christ. Do you have any sense
of your perilous standing before God, of your inherent unrighteousness,
of the just condemnation which is your due? Do you have any
cry from the heart, what must I do to be saved? What must I
do to be saved from this judgment? Do you not see your need of a
Saviour, of Christ, to make peace for you? We sing these hymns
And you'll have noticed, you know, what's the theme over and
over again? Matchless condescension. In the
person of the Savior, all his majesty is seen. We would view
his brightest glory. Here it shines in Jesus' face. In his highest work, redemption.
See his glory, the glory of God in a blaze. True to sweet and
solemn pleasure. God to view in Christ the Lord. Marguerite said right at the
start reading these hymns, she said, their sermons in themselves,
they are absolutely full of the glories of Christ, of the sweetness
of Christ, of the preciousness of Christ, of the... This will embarrass the little
boys, this, because you don't know about being in love, do
you yet? You don't know about... I know some of the little boys
have a lot of girlfriends at school and he might be learning
something about love, but you know, you know that feeling when
your heart is stricken with love for the one you love. It's absolutely
melted. You're apart and you can think
of nothing but being with that person. Do you know it's like
that for the true believer with the Lord Jesus Christ? To be
with Him, to desire Him, to find Him altogether lovely. Read the
Son of Solomon. Oh, you are altogether lovely.
Oh, my love, my undefiled. This is Christ and his people
speaking to each other. It's a love story, the preciousness
of Christ. Do you not see your need for
a savior, for a Christ, to make peace for you with God? In verse
one, here is God's answer to the penitent sinner's dilemma.
There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and
a branch shall grow out of his roots. How is he going to save
his people? With a rod out of the stem of
Jesse and a branch out of his roots. Unlike what the world
might expect. What would the world expect?
What did the Jews of the time of Christ expect when Messiah
would come? Ah, they expected a mighty conquering
victor who would come and defeat the Romans and liberate them
from Roman tyranny and reign in Jerusalem on a throne and
make them the most powerful nation in the world. That's what they
expected. That's what the world expects of a saviour. But no,
there was no great fanfare universally seen, was there? Oh yes, there
was a fanfare above Bethlehem on that night when Jesus was
born. There was a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God
and saying glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
goodwill toward men. But only a few saw it. Only a
few of the magi, the wise men of the Old Testament, only a
few of them saw it. Not many. Not many. Not hordes
of them. There wasn't a great fanfare.
There wasn't a powerful world ruler born in a palace to save
his people from their sins. but a rather weak-looking shoot,
a little branch that springs up out of roots that are left
behind. About four years ago, I cut down
a rather large holly tree in our back garden, and I cut it
right down so its root was almost level with the ground. And now,
four years later, there are little twigs sprouting from that root.
and they look so inconsequential, they look so insignificant. And
you know something? That is just what this is speaking
of. It is just speaking of this very thing, that he doesn't appear
strong. He's not a strong branch, he's
a little twig. He's a little twig in terms of
the you know, what you might expect.
This is what this verse is saying. When God in Christ comes to save
his elect people out of the just condemnation for their sin, his
appearance is lowly and obscure. Notice, whose son is he? Who is Christ's son? Oh, David,
you would say. Ah, but here it says the stem
of Jesse, not of David. Why does it say that? Jesse was
David's father. You know when David was anointed
king, David was the most meek of all the brothers that Samuel
called to be brought before him, because of them was to be the
king that would replace Saul who was fallen. But here it says
that this Messiah who will come is of the stem of Jesse. When
Samuel went to visit Jesse and his sons, they were not in the
king's palace that David lived in later in his life. They were
not in the majesty and riches of Solomon, Jesse's grandson,
later in life. No, they were in poverty. This
is where he came. Our Lord Jesus Christ was born
of Mary. He was raised as the son of Mary
and Joseph in poverty-stricken Nazareth. He was born in a stable,
not even in an inn room, a hotel room. He was revealed to a few,
yes, but not emblazoned. In the news bulletins of the
country at the time, he was the lowly carpenter's apprentice
in the little village of Nazareth, of which the upper-class Pharisees,
the Jews in Jerusalem, said, can anything good come out of
Nazareth? You know, it's like we might
say of parts of this country, you know, the South tends to
look down on parts of the North, and sort of say, could anything
good possibly come out of there? As if, of course it couldn't.
Jesus came from a little northern hovel in that country, the carpenter's
apprentice. No Jerusalem education, meek
and lowly. Listen what it says, you know,
Though he was in the form of God in Philippians 2, he thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form, it doesn't say of a mighty king,
he took upon him the form of a servant, and made in the likeness
of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself. He, the God of the universe,
he the creator, of the stars and the galaxies, he humbled
himself and became obedient. How obedient? Unto death. Unto
which death? Even the death of the cross.
Even the shameful death of the cross. Why? To purchase his people
from their sins. To purchase his people by paying
the debt, the sin debt, that secures their ransom and their
release. Oh, how much a sinner like you
and me, needs Christ. Oh, how precious. To you who
believe, says Peter, to you who believe, to you who believe,
do you believe? Then he's precious to you. Think
of the things that you count precious. Think of the things
that you count most precious. Your husband or your wife in
this life, but do you know, to you who believe, Christ is more
precious. He is the most precious. This is the stem of Jesse, the
rod out of the stem of Jesse, that is the Messiah who is promised
to come and accomplish that salvation. Verses 2 and 3. The Spirit of
the Lord shall rest upon him, and the spirit of wisdom and
understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit
of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. And he shall make
him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. And he
shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove
after the hearing of his ears. Lowly, yes, but oh, was he anointed
for his commission. Look at verse 27 of chapter 10. It says there, the yoke shall
be destroyed because of the anointing. That's alluding to the anointing
of the Messiah who would come to do this. Lowly but anointed
for his commission. God's servants always were to
be anointed for their role. The prophets were to be anointed
for their role of being the mouthpiece of God to men. So our humble
Saviour as a man had the Spirit of God poured upon him. And humble
though he was, he was mighty in understanding. Never man,
they said, spake like this man. Where did this man get his learning
from? Which school did he go to? He didn't. It was given from
God. As a real man, as a real man,
born as a real baby and growing as a child, just like we grow
as people from infancy, he grew in divine wisdom. You know, he
wasn't the finished article when he was born. He grew in divine
wisdom, so that when he was come to maturity, 30, 31, 32, 33 years
old, when he was come to maturity, He was a fully formed Saviour. Please don't misunderstand me,
I'm not being blasphemous or undermining the glory of Christ
at all, but His life was a formation of the One who was to be the
Passover Lamb of His people. You know how they kept the Passover
Lamb? 14 days, to examine it, to ensure that this Lamb must
be without blemish and without spot, and so He was a fully formed
Saviour. He, when he came to maturity
with the anointing of the Lord upon him, was qualified to stand
as surety before divine justice. Verses four and five. With righteousness
shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek
of the earth. And he shall smite the earth
with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he
shall slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the
girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. Not
so lowly now. He is one who is ruling, lowly
entrance, but a righteous king of God's kingdom. He is the King
of kings and Lord of lords. You know, in any society, for
it to be a truly civilized society, that by far the most important
thing that it must have is not a National Health Service. I'm
sorry, all those people out there who would die in a ditch because
of the... Yes, the National Health Service is a good thing and we
like it in this country. Please don't let anybody elsewhere
misunderstand us. We like having healthcare available
to us. But do you know something? Compared
with the rule of law, it's very, very secondary. If we don't have
the rule of law in your society, there's not much point having
a good health service to look after you when you're ill. If
somebody can come and take your property away from you with impunity,
without answering to the law, without standing before the courts,
without paying the penalty for their crimes, there's not much
point having the other things. But in this kingdom of God, oh
what rule of glorious righteous law there is in this one who
is the rod out of the stem of Jesse who would come. The law
of Christ. That easy yoke. That glorious
easy yoke. the righteousness of Christ,
his faithfulness, his sympathy here is being spoken of, his
sympathy with sinners, his empathy for our condition. He knows what
it's like. He's tempted in all points like
as we are, yet without sin, and yet with his words, how he put
to flight This humble one, this is why he's so frustrated, those
arrogant Pharisees. With his words he slew the wicked. He slew those who opposed him.
With the rod of his mouth, it says in Psalm 2, he shall break
them with a rod of iron. Yes, humble, but don't underestimate
this one. This is King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. In verses six to nine, we read
them earlier. It speaks of a kingdom of peace,
of peace between true believers in a gospel age. You know, people
say that religion causes strife. Yes, it does, but that's because
it's not true gospel religion. true gospel religion, those who
believe what this book says, who bow to what this book says,
we've all experienced it. You come across people you've
never met in the flesh before, but they believe this gospel
and you immediately embrace, as it were. You immediately are
comfortable. Peter said to the Lord Jesus
Christ, we've left all to follow you, what shall we then have?
And Jesus said to him, In this life you will have husbands,
and wives, and children, and fathers, and mothers, and brothers,
and sisters, and houses, and lands, and all sorts of things,
and in the life to come, eternal life. If we go to visit friends in
America, you know, their house is our house. If they come and
visit us, our house is their house. You see, we just have
that bond together. We have that bond of fellowship.
It's not mine and you're not having any of it. It's that which
the Lord has given us. And these are brethren. And it's
a kingdom of peace because of the true gospel that we believe.
And then, In the second half of verse nine, the earth shall
be full. How this little insignificant little sappy twig
from this root of this tree, this inconsequential thing that
doesn't look like it's got any strength whatsoever, do you know
something? The earth shall be full of the
knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea from such
humble beginnings. Look now, Look now, as much as
there is unbelief worldwide, ah, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is believed all over this planet. And there's one banner
over all of them. There are Chinese, there are
Indians, there are Americans, there are Peruvians, there are
Australians, there are British, there are French, all sorts,
but there is one banner over all. A sign will stand which
will stand for a sign an ensign to the people, the root of Jesse.
To it shall the Gentiles seek. God's elect called out of all
the world. Is that not what we read from
Isaiah 61? To it shall the Gentiles come
to that light. The Gentiles shall come to your
light. The elect called out of the whole world, sought by the
Gentiles. sought by the Gentiles. Eternal
life, peace with God, sought by the Gentiles. Hosea said,
I will call them a people which were not my people, and I will
call her beloved which was not beloved. That was Hosea, talking
about the children of Hosea and Goma, which pictured how God
would call his true people. So then, I said I've been thinking
about the universality of salvation. Whether Old Testament or New
Testament, salvation is exactly the same. It is, whosoever shall
call, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall not
be ashamed, shall be saved. It is not based on law works,
but on faith. It is looking through the wrapper
of the Old Testament legal system to the reality. That's what Abraham
did. It says Abraham believed God.
And it was counted to him for righteousness. What? Abraham's
believing? No. Not Abraham's act of believing. What Abraham believed in was
counted to him. What did Abraham believed in?
He believed in the seed coming from him, from his descendants. The seed coming from his descendants. And that seed that came from
his descendants would be the one who would save his people
from their sins. And he Trusting in that, on the
strength of that, not because of his trust, but because of
what Christ has done, he, Abraham, is counted the righteousness
of God in Christ. And so with everyone in the Old
Testament, from Abel right the way down, all the way through,
the righteousness of God in Christ. From the fall in the Garden of
Eden, in Genesis chapter 3, there has never been another way of
peace with God. than that which God in Christ
has accomplished, making satisfaction to offended justice. And its
accomplishment, look, at the end of verse 10, his rest shall
be glorious. Its accomplishment is glorious
rest. Come unto me, said Jesus in Matthew
11, verse 28. Come unto me, who, who, everybody? No, no, no. Jesus didn't say
everybody come. Jesus said this, come unto me
all you who labor and are heavy laden with sin. Ah, are you laboring
under a burden of sin? I know that I must face a holy
God, and I know I'm in my sins, and I know it's appointed to
man to die once and then the judgment, and it's a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Do you know
that? Are you burdened? Are you laden? Come unto me,
all you. who are burdened and heavy laden with sin, and I will
give you rest. His rest shall be glorious. I
will give you rest for your souls. Take my yoke upon you, for my
yoke, my law, the law of Christ, my yoke is not burdensome. My yoke is easy, and my burden
is light. and you shall find rest for your
souls. Have you looked to him and found
peace with God? That's it, that's it. As Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, look, look unto me,
says God. Isaiah 45, verse 22. Look unto
me, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved, for I am God,
and there is none other. Amen.