When I was thirteen years old,
I had a large paper route, and New York City hosted the Olympics, and they had some contests. Fellas who sold the most new
customers' subscriptions got a free trip to the World's Fair
in New York City. And I had a large paper route,
about 350—actually, I had two of them, combined about 350 customers.
And I won the trip. I was with several other fellows,
a busload of us who did that. I happened to be the youngest
one. The rest of them were 16, 17, 18 years old. I was bigger
than any of them, but I was the youngest one in a bunch. And
I recall the first time we stopped going through Washington, D.C.
First time I'd ever been there. And I well remember things that
struck my mind and lodged a place in my memory permanently. None
stands out to me quite like the Iwo Jima Memorial, the Marine
Corps Memorial. That statue, that huge statue
of those six soldiers hand in hand raising the United States
flag on Iwo Jima. Even as a 13-year-old boy, my
very soul burst within me with patriotic pride, zeal, and thankfulness
for the place where I lived. And I was just 13 years old,
and I've not forgotten it. I still have that same inspiration
of patriotism, and my blood is raised just a little higher every
time I see a picture of that monument or the picture that
inspired the monument. But I'm not here to talk to you
about such a memorial or about patriotism, though certainly
in this generation. Somebody needs to teach this
generation something about patriotism and something about a spirit
of patriotism and loyalty. But I want to talk to you about
another incident. In the Psalms, Psalmist David
said, thou hast given a banner. to them that fear thee, that
it may be displayed because of truth. Turn with me, if you will,
to Isaiah, the 11th chapter, and I want to talk to you about
Christ, our ensign. Christ, our ensign. As I do, I pray that God will
cause our hearts and souls to erupt with devotion to him. gratitude to him, that we may
follow him all the days of our lives. Isaiah chapter 11 and
verse 10. Christ is the ensign, the banner,
the standard of his church. In that day, in this gospel age,
when Christ the Messiah comes and accomplishes redemption,
there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign
of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek,
and his rest shall be glorious." The root of Jesse, of whom Isaiah
speaks, of course, is our Lord Jesus Christ. He came into this
world, according to the flesh, from Jesse, the father of King
David. As a man, our Savior was a branch
which grew out of Jesse's roots. But as God, he is the root from
whom Jesse had his life and being. Our text is a prophecy of our
saviors coming into the world to accomplish redemption. And
here the prophet speaks of this one who accomplishes redemption
as one who is an ensign, a banner, a standard for the people to
whom his people would be gathered. An ensign raised by God for the
gathering of his elect unto him throughout all the world in saving
faith. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior,
is that instant, that banner to whom God's elect are gathered
in faith, and gathering to Him, they find rest in Him, and His
rest is glorious. Now in Exodus 15, you'll remember
Moses built an altar and called it Jehovah Nissi. Our Savior
Jesus Christ is Jehovah Nissi, the Lord our banner or the Lord
our ensign. So that in the majesty of his
person, in the efficacy of his work, in the merit of his blood,
in the perfection of his righteousness, in the certainty of his triumph,
in his glorious reign, and in his absolute infinite preeminence
over all things, Jesus Christ is the banner of his church,
the banner under which we fight, the banner by which we shall
prevail, and that banner to which God's people are rallied continually. What is Isaiah's meaning when
he says that Christ is a banner, an ensign? An ensign is either
the flag itself of a brigade or of a nation, or it is the
man who carries the flag, the standard bearer. An ensign is
that soldier who leads the brigade in battle. And our Lord Jesus
Christ is our ensign in all these ways. It is he who is our banner. He is he who represents the whole
of the nation of God, the whole of the people of God, and it
is he who carries the banner and leads his army through this
world. But what kind of incident is
it? Now, there's nothing complicated about what I have to say this
evening. I'm going to make some plain, simple statements that
I hope will make Christ more precious to you and will inspire
in your heart a desire to know him, to see him, to follow him,
and to do war with him and for him. Christ is obviously an ensign
for war. An ensign for war. An ensign
is usually associated with conflict. And the church of God is at war. For God's church in this world,
there is no insignia for peace. Our Savior said, I came not to
send peace, but a sword. When we confessed Christ in believers'
baptism, as believing men and women, we enlisted under the
banner of Jesus Christ, joined with his church, militant upon
the earth, always at war. Our Savior is called a leader
and a commander to the people. He is called the captain of our
salvation. He is our man of war, and he
is here called the ensign of his people. You see, God's church
is always at war, never at peace in this world. Christianity is
warfare. Contrary to popular opinion,
Christianity is a constant conflict. Our captain, our commander, Our
ensign is the son of God, and we're soldiers under his command.
We're not here to conquer the world in the sense that some
folks had the idea of the churches to take over the government,
take over the rule of the world, have no aspirations in that regard.
That's the way of Islam. That's the way of religions of
all kinds throughout history, but not the way of the religion
of Christ. Our business is to conquer the
hearts of men with the gospel of God's free grace. And while
we go about the business of preaching Jesus Christ with the battery
ram of the gospel, knocking down the gates of hell, we do so not
with any kind of physical violence, but with the violence of the
grace of God by which we pray God to conquer the souls of men. but while we walk through this
world, God's people who preach the gospel of peace. What is there about the gospel
of Christ that enrages men? What is there in what you hear
from this pulpit that anyone, anyone in their right mind should
have any objection to? We teach folks how to get along
with each other, Teach them how to do good for each other. Teach
them how to benefit one another. How to walk together in peace.
How to have a house, a family that's strong and lasting. How to have relationships that
are permanent. We teach all those things that
alone unite the hearts of men. And yet, the church of God is
constantly at war. Constantly under assault. Under assault from hell. Under
assault by the world, the flesh, and the devil. Under assault
by the world, both secular and religious. under assault from
our own flesh, the corruptions of our own nature, and Apollyon,
the fiend of hell, who constantly wars against the woman, God's
church, our savior's bride, his people. As soldiers enlisted
in the army of Christ, we're taught of God to endure hardness
as good soldiers of Christ. to endure hardness, to endure
hardness, whatever the conflict is, as Christ our ensign goes
before us. As he leads the way and he sets
the standard, you just stay with it. Endure hardness, whatever
the difficulty. Brother Rex, in his prayer just
a moment ago, spoke of things that shatter our hearts. And
they do. And they do. Shatter our hearts. What do you do? You endure hardness
as the soldiers of Christ. No battle would ever be won on
any battlefield without soldiers enduring hardness with determination. So you and I must persevere,
following our Redeemer, letting nothing turn us to the right
hand or to the left. God make me such a follower of
Christ. When I was younger, I used to
do a little hunting in the mountains of West Virginia, and it's cold. Two feet of snow or more on the
ground, out hunting, and wind blowing, and you'd get cold.
And what you'd do, making your way through the woods and across
the ridges, is you'd pull your collar up around your neck, and
you'd bow your back and bend your head and walk into the wind. This is the way we go. We must,
as God's people in this world, when we can do nothing else,
follow our Redeemer, enduring hardness, having our loins girt
about with truth that we may follow our Savior. In the face
of Satan's temptations, in the teeth of the world's opposition,
its charms and its allurements, and in opposition to the lust
of our flesh, Whatever the cost, let us follow our ensign as good
soldiers of Christ. For consider him who endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your
minds. Next time you get to thinking,
well, I've done my part. I need to step back now and let
somebody else do this. Consider Him. Consider Him. Lest ye be weary and faint in
your minds. Unlike Him, you've not yet resisted
unto blood, striving against sin. Our Lord Jesus is not only
an instant of war, He is an advancing instance. Other instances are
found in retreat, but not Christ. He's ever on the move through
this world, constantly advancing, gathering the spoils of his victory
at Calvary by the gospel. In our text, he said to stand
because he stands forever immutable. Jesus Christ the same yesterday
and today and forever. But as an ensign, like the tabernacle
of old, our Lord Jesus is always moving. The children of Israel
going through all that wilderness land toward Canaan. All the time
they were moving about the tabernacle. Actually, the tabernacle moved
them about. As the pillar of fire and the
pillar of cloud moved, so the tabernacle was carried and moved,
and the children of Israel followed the direction of God, moving
through this world. Our Lord Jesus is held forth
by the preaching of the gospel, and where the gospel is preached,
there Christ is. When the gospel is taken away,
Christ is gone. Wherever the gospel is preached,
there Christ is. When the gospel is taken away,
Christ is gone. Like the Gadarenes, many foolishly
bid Christ depart from them. You stepped in where you're not
wanted. Get out of our land. You've interfered
with the way we live. and many others not speaking
such words so foolishly, by their deeds, by their contempt, by
their disregard, by refusing to hear him, they say to him,
depart from us. And when we do, we depart from
all blessings. Happy is that people, you read
just a little while ago, whose God is the Lord. Happy is that
people whose God is the Lord. Blessed are we to have the influence
of the gospel. Not many folks living in any
part of the world are privileged like we are in this part of the
world. We have gospel churches literally, all around us, gospel
churches, we have friends in almost every state, preachers
in almost every state preaching the gospel of God's grace. Numerous
churches right here in this state. Dear friends, and where the gospel
is preached, Christ is. But where the gospel is taken
away, Christ is not. Cherish, then, the privilege.
Cherish the privilege. And while we're privileged to
have the light of the gospel, let's take advantage of the privileges
we have and follow the direction of our ensign. For the night
comes when no man can work. When God takes away from any
people the light of the gospel of his grace, he takes away from
that people any ability to serve the souls of men or to do good
to anyone for the glory of God. Here's the third thing. Our blessed
Savior, our crucified Redeemer is a gathering instance. gathering
instance. Some of you I know have seen
Mel Gibson's movie, what's it called, The Patriot, and they're
gathering for battle and folks all kind of disheartened until
this fellow comes with that flag galloping on his horse and everybody
is gathered to him. That's the picture we have right
here in Isaiah. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
incident held forth by the gospel unto which the people of God
are gathered. God's people gathered by his
spirit to Christ the Lord. As he's lifted up in the preaching
of the word, God gathers his own to himself. And he is the
point not only of the rallying of his people, but he is that
one whom his people seek. Look in verse 12. He shall set
up an ensign for the nations and shall assemble the outcast
of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the
four corners of the earth. When Shiloh has come, to him
shall the gathering of the people be. By this ensign, God gathers
his elect. And by the gospel, Christ, the
King of heaven, calls sinners, all who will, to come to him. Like sheep come to the shepherd,
like a dove comes to its winner. As Noah came into the ark, so
the Savior bid sinners come to him. Come to the Savior and this
one who is our ensign is our guide. Guiding us through this
world of conflict. Soldiers follow the banner. They follow the ensign. He leads
the way. Christ Jesus is our guide through
this world. Our guide in three ways, turn
to Isaiah 59, Isaiah 59. He guides us by his spirit through
his word. His word is a lamp to our feet,
a light to our pathway. Let me tell you what that means.
This book alone is our law. This book alone is our law. Well, I don't like to use that
term to refer to the scriptures. That's the term God uses. Read
the 119th Psalm. This book, the revelation of
God, is our law. That means this book determines
for us all that's right and all that's wrong. This book alone,
not the whims of men, Not the acceptable trends of the day,
not the philosophy of the age, not the dogma of the age, but
this book alone is our law if we're gods. Not only that, this
book is our roadmap. This book is our roadmap. I,
like some of you, travel in other countries and I had been in places
where I really didn't know exactly where I was. And I would get
a map of the area and I could find out where I was and find
my way to where I needed to go. All you got to do is read the
map. This book is our map to guide us through this world into
heaven's glory. Marking out the way for us. It
is ours to follow it Isaiah 59 verse 20 and the Redeemer shall
come to Zion And under them that turned from transgression in
Jacob saith the Lord as for me This is my covenant with them
saith the Lord My spirit that is upon thee and my words which
I put in thy mouth Shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out
of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed
seed, saith the Lord from henceforth and forever. Our Savior guides
us through this world by his spirit, through his word. Not by just impulses, by his
spirit, through his word. I get correspondence regularly
from people who have the idea that somehow God impresses them
to do something, and they put out feeders to see if this is
of God, because they have a notion in their noggin. And disregard
what God says in His Word. God guides you who are His by
His Spirit, through His Word, not some other way. By His Word. His word that He sets in our
hearts. And our Savior guides us by His example. In John 13,
He washed His disciples' feet. And He said, what I've done,
you go do to one another. And here's a good rule to live
by. Here's a good rule to live by.
Oh God, give me grace to live by it. Seize every opportunity
to do good for somebody else. to benefit their souls, to comfort
them, to refresh them, to make their life easier, to make their
life happier. And our Savior left us another
example. When he suffered, he reviled not against those
who reviled him. And when he suffered, he threatened
no one. but committed himself to him
that judgeth righteously, leaving us an example that we should
follow in his steps. Again, my God, I beg of you,
teach me. So to follow my Savior, never
to retaliate, never to revile, never to rebel. But to commit
myself, I mean by that the totality of my life, to him who judges
righteously. And our Savior guides us by his
sovereign providence and irresistible grace. So that as Celeste sang
this morning, and David sang in Psalm 37, the steps of a good man are ordered by
the Lord. That's the steps, Merle, of a
man made good by God's grace, made righteous, redeemed, justified,
sanctified in Christ. His steps are ordered by the
Lord. All the years of your life, my
brother, all the years of your life, my sister, Every step of
every day has been ordered by your God, our Father. Every step, every way, every
day, ordered of the Lord, and he orders our steps today, and
he will order our steps tomorrow, and he delighteth in the way. this ensign I've already hinted
at, is the rallying point of his people. And Christ our Savior,
the Lord Jesus, is our uniting ensign. The ensign unites the
soldiers on the field. That's their point of unity.
They are many and varied, come from lots of backgrounds, but
they're united as one. that picture, that statue, the
War Memorial, the Marine Memorial, every one of those six Marines
had his hands on the pole raising that flag, united in a cause. That's what Christ does for his
people. He unites them in himself in
a cause, the cause for which David went out against Goliath,
the glory of God. and in that cause, nothing else
matters. Neither male nor female, bond
nor free, learned nor unlearned, black or white, it doesn't matter.
Christ Jesus unites his people in one cause, his cause, his
glory, his church, his kingdom. One of the books Shelby bought
me for Christmas was The Battle of New Orleans. Brian Kilbead
wrote about Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans. And
if you are like me, know so little about that battle, I knew little
about it before, very little, know a little bit more now, it's
a remarkable piece of writing, remarkable piece of history.
Andrew Jackson, led an army of volunteers mostly, almost all
volunteers from Tennessee and Kentucky, some from North Carolina,
some from the general area. And they were made up, made up
an army, made up an army of folks fighting with freed black men
and black men who had been born free and with Indians against
whom they used to fight. And they even made a pact with
the Barbary pirates, united together in one cause. United together
in one cause. And learned to trust one another
in that cause. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that
amazing? I wouldn't trust him as far as
I could throw. I will in this cause. He's got as much at stake
as I do. I wouldn't trust that woman.
I will in this cause. She's got as much stake as I
do. The cause is the glory of God, the gospel of God, the church
of God, the nation of God's elect, the people of God. And Christ
unites them. He so unites them that they cannot
be divided. Is Christ divided? Never, never. He's united us to God. He unites
Jew and Gentile, and he unites his people by his grace, making
them one. Let all who would divide God's
saints be warned. Let me show you two-text description. I'll wrap this up. Turn to 1
Corinthians 3, and after you find that, turn back to Proverbs
6. 1 Corinthians 3, Proverbs 6. First Corinthians 316. Know ye
not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God
dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple
of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy,
which temple you are. Now, if you want to get a concordance
and check me out, please feel free to do so. The word defile
at the beginning of verse 17 and the word destroy in the next
clause are exactly the same word in the Greek text. Exactly the
same word. Paul says, this assembly here
at Corinth, this assembly here at Corinth that has been divided
by so many gossiping tongues, by so many yakking busybodies. This assembly, this assembly,
this is God's temple. If you destroy this temple, God
will destroy you. If you defile God's house by
dividing God's people, God will destroy you. Turn back to Proverbs
6, verse 12. A naughty person, a wicked man,
walketh with a froward mouth. He doesn't hesitate to talk about
anybody and say what he thinks about anybody. That's exactly
what he's saying. He yaks. He yaks. You run across people who never
have a good thing to say about anybody. You know Brother Campbell,
he's a fine fella, but... The intention was not to say
he's a fine fellow. The intention was what follows the but. A froward
person, he winketh with his eyes. He speaketh with his feet. He
teacheth with his fingers. Frowardness is in his heart. He deviseth mischief continually. He soweth discord. Therefore
shall his calamity come suddenly. Suddenly shall he be broken without
remedy. These six things doth the Lord
hate. Yea, seven are an abomination
to him. A proud look, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that deviseth
wicked imaginations, feet that will be swift in running to mischief,
a false witness that speaketh lies. Now listen. to who that
is, he that soweth discord among his brethren. The Lord Jesus
Christ is our insignia. Let us follow him as a united
people in this world and lift high the banner. Lift high the
banner. Oh God, use us for this purpose. To lift high Jesus Christ crucified,
who has promised that if he's lifted up, he will draw all men
unto him. That is, he will gather the Gentiles. He will gather his elect. He
will gather his ransomed from the north and the south and the
east and the west. And they who come to him shall
find his rest glorious. come to Christ. He bid you come
and find his yoke easy and find rest for your souls. And when
you come, you will find his rest glorious. I was a troubled man,
troubled because of trouble I made. I knew nothing of peace, nothing
of hope for prospect and nothing
of any kind of happiness. I was misery. I made folks miserable
until the Lord Jesus, by the power of his spirit, drew me
to the instant. And bowing to Christ, my Redeemer
and King, I found now for 50 years, his rest is glorious. The word might be read this way,
his rest is his glory. What? What? The rest he enjoyed,
Brother Rex read about a little bit ago, in heaven's glory, sat
down. That's his glory. His rest, Rex,
is the saving of his people. and giving His people rest, that's
His glory. Oh, may He give you rest in your
soul, gathering you to Christ, the banner, the ensign of His
people. Amen.