Turn again to the passage we
read, Isaiah chapter 11. We read a passage from verse
1. And there shall come forth a
rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of
his roots, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord, and
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. But 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 shall
he slay the wicked. and righteousness shall be the
girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The
wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie
down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fat
lint together, and a little child shall lead them. and the cow
and the bear shall feed, their young one shall lie down together,
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the sucking
child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child
shall put his hand on the cockatrice den. They shall not hurt nor
destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of
the knowledge of the Lord. as the waters cover the sea. And shall come forth a rod out
of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of
the fear of the Lord. This prophecy of Isaiah is often referred to as the Gospel
according to Isaiah because of the various prophecies, of the
various prophets we have recorded in the scripture, Isaiah is so
full of so many clear pictures of Christ. So many different
references to His coming. So many different references
to His suffering. So many different references
to His victory. So many ways in which He is described. And here in chapter 11 we have
one of them before us. Speaking of His coming, there
shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch
shall grow out of his roots. a branch, one born of Jesse's
lineage, one prefigured by King David as a king, a priest, a
prophet, that one of whom all the scriptures speak, that Messiah
who should come, that Redeemer of his people, that Saviour of
sinners, Christ the Son of God, this one, there shall come forth
a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of
his roots. This one is described here in
chapter 2. as having the Spirit of the Lord
resting upon him. The Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit
of understanding, the Spirit of counsel, the Spirit of might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord.
What a description, what a character. How different from any other
man who has ever lived. What a picture. What a name for him. A branch
shall grow out of Jesse's roots. The branch of Jesse. The branch. This is a name used elsewhere
in Zechariah's prophecy. There is that prophecy of the
Lord's servant coming forth called the branch. For behold I will
bring forth my servant the branch, Zechariah 3.8. Zechariah 6.12
it says speak unto him saying thus speaketh the Lord of hosts
saying behold the man whose name is the branch and he shall grow
up out of his place and he shall build the temple of the Lord. The branch. What a name this
is. Why the branch? Well a branch
grows forth from a tree. A branch is that which grows
up. A branch is that which brings
forth fruit. A branch is that which has an
ancestry and which has descendants. and here Christ is the Saviour
coming here is referred to as that branch, that stem of Jesse
showing that he came from that lineage in which God said he
would come from that lineage in which David came of a royal
lineage and showing that out of such
ancestry growing out of such roots this branch should be that
which brings forth fruit and the fruit of his coming is set
forth here in this chapter so wonderfully that he should be
of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord that he should
not judge after the sight of his eyes neither reprove after
the hearing of his ears but with righteousness he would judge
with righteousness and the consequence of his coming and his judgment
and the righteousness which he brings will be the peace and
the salvation of his people. The wolf will dwell with the
lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the
young lion and the fatling together. There will be peace where there
was once war. There will be harmony where there
was once discord, there will be righteousness where there
was once sin and death because of this one who should come out
of the stem of Jesse called the branch. David of course was that king
who typified him, the son of Jesse. The one whom God favoured,
anointed by God to be king. There was a king whom the people
chose before him. The people chose themselves a
king called Saul. They looked upon Saul as a man
mighty in their eyes, as one full of strength, one who would
lead them aright, a great king, one whom the other kings and
other nations in this world would fear, oh if they were led by
this one they would do well. But the people's choice was wrong. and brought them into desperate
straits. They brought themselves into
great trouble. They brought themselves great
evil into their land and into their nation. Because men always
judge with their eyes. And they reprove with the hearing
of their ears. And they seek after that which
is earthly and which appears great and wonderful in the eyes
of men. And the people's choice then
was as wrong as the people's choice today is. People are born, they grow up
and they make their decisions. And if they hear of Jesus Christ,
they will turn aside and they will follow another whoever it
may be and whatever it may be anyone and anything else but
Christ they will bow down and worship they will look with their
eyes and hear with their ears and say this idea, this one,
this ideology, this life is for me and they bring upon themselves
death. But they despise the Lord's anointed. But when Saul had brought Israel
into ruin, and God appointed David as his
successor, God gave them a king who would deliver them from their
enemies. God gave them a king after his
own heart. God gave them a king who would
bring them peace. And David's successor, the one
of whom David was but the type and the figure, the son of God,
Jesus Christ, the king of kings the stem of Jesse the branch
which would grow out of his roots would be that king who would
deliver his people from all their enemies who would deliver his
people from all their trouble who would deliver his people
from their sin who would bring them into a world of peace in
which the wolf will dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall
lie down with the kid and the calf and the young lion and the
fatling together and a little child shall lead them. He'll
bring them to his holy mountain where there is no sin and no
destruction and no sorrow. And wherein that heaven and earth
to come, wherein dwelleth righteousness, it will be full of the knowledge
of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. There is a great and an almighty
Saviour of whom Isaiah speaks, described as the Branch. David The figure of this one in Psalm 110 speaks in this way. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion. rule
thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the
womb of the morning. Thou hast the dew of thy youth. David himself, as an ancestor
of Christ, could be said to be part of that root from which
the branch sprang. And yet David himself referred
to his own son, generations hence, as being his Lord. The Lord said
unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand. He's his Lord. He knew that he as king was but
a figure of that real root, that real stem of Jesse, that real
branch that should grow out of his roots. He knew that his savior
was to come and he looked for him and he knew the power that would come when his saviour
came in his gospel. My people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. He knew it. The branch. See the connection
of the branch here with trees. Throughout the scripture we read
of trees. There are trees at the beginning
of time in the Garden of Eden. There is a tree mentioned at
the end of time in the Book of Revelation. There are trees of
righteousness mentioned in various places. There is a constant reference
to trees. There were two trees in the Garden. The tree of life in the midst
of the Garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life was a picture
of Christ, it is Christ, the one in whom is everlasting life. But the tree that the man and
the woman were seduced into eating from, which to their eyes, and
to their judgment, made after the sight of their eyes, appeared
good, was a tree which slew them. they ate of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil and its fruit was death but there is another
tree which if they had eaten of would have given them everlasting
and eternal life a tree of life a tree that tree is Christ who
is also called the branch If we know this tree, and if
we know the life which is in this tree, then we will know
what it is to be a branch of this tree, to be united with
Him. There's a union here, portrayed
through the Scriptures, between all God's people, all united
in one tree. There is a root, and a tree,
and a branch, and fruit from the branches, and all God's people
throughout all time are in that tree. As Christ would say to
His disciples, as He would speak of in John's Gospel, He is our
vine and we are the branches upon Him, we are united with
Him. He is the bringer of life. There
is no life if you're not connected to the root, to the tree, to
that through which the life, the sap springs forth. We're
one with Him if we're in Him. We're one with Him if we know
Him. If we ever come to know His salvation
and His life and His grace, we are branches of His vine. There is no life and no salvation
which is independent of Christ. We must be one with Him, we must
be united to Him. He doesn't give anyone eternal
life as though it's a quality which is distinct from Him. We
read of life and eternal life and salvation in the scriptures.
That is not something which is separate from Christ. He doesn't
have life that He gives to this one and to that one that they
then go off and live on their own. But He is their life. He is the branch from which they
spring forth. You will not know life except
you know Christ. and you will not know life, except
you are one with Christ. And if you are one with Christ,
then you are united to Him, walking every day in union with Him,
listening to Him, looking for Him, feeling Him. There's a closeness
of union. Some speak of believing on Jesus,
some speak of being saved, some speak of being born again, who
live in this world and walk in this world as though Christ was
just someone they heard of 20 years ago and as though they
are walking and living alone. There's no daily walk, no daily
communion, no daily love for Him and no daily sorrow when
they fall into sin and when he seems to stand afar off. But
the believer cannot be such. The believer must have Christ because he grows forth from he
who is the branch which grows out of the roots of Jesse. That
tree of life is his. Yes, Christ is a branch and he
is a tree, a tree of life. of life and life is characterized
by the spirit which is within it the breath within in the garden
when God created Adam the first man and put him in the garden
in that garden wherein those two trees were he breathed life
into him He breathed into him and that was what made him live. He wasn't just the dust from
which he was made, he wasn't just the flesh and bones, what
Adam was, was the life which was breathed into him, the spirit
within. And to have the life of God in
the soul, to have life from Christ is to have the life, the spirit
of Christ within. We must have life. But there are two kinds of life
and two kinds of spirit and two kinds of manhood in this world. One is eternal and one is earthly. and full of sin that life breathed into Adam was an earthly life was a life into which sin entered
when he fell is now a life which is full of corruption and full
of death. And every descendant of Adam,
you and I included, everyone who has ever lived and walked
upon this earth born of Adam, except for Jesus Christ, every
other man, woman and child upon this earth has inherited from
Adam. That nature and that life which
is tainted by the sin which entered into him when he rebelled against
his God and Maker, when he ate of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, of which he was commanded not to eat. He has a life, yes, but it's
a life full of sin upon which the sentence of death has already
been sounded. It's a life which is death itself. We call it life. We call our
lives here lives. We talk about living, but it's
all death. There is no true life outside
of Christ. What we call life in this natural
realm is full of wickedness, full of condemnation, full of
sorrow, full of sickness, full of trouble, full of strife, and
it's but for a moment. And if that's all we know, and
if that's all we have, when we come to the end of our days in
this earthly realm, when our 70 years are up, or our 80 years,
whatever it may be, and we pass out of this realm, we will stand
before God, full of sin, to be cast out into outer darkness
forevermore. It's just death. But that's what we have naturally.
That's what our spirit is naturally. but there is another spirit and
another life which is contrasted here by Isaiah which is presented
to us here as an absolute contrast with that spirit and that life
which is in us by nature that spirit and that life which is
in the branch, the tree of life, the Lord Jesus Christ is of a
quality unlike that which is in Adam totally contrasted Adam
was earthy of this earth Christ is heavenly eternal everlasting
he always was and always shall be there's no beginning and no
end to his life and he's full of righteousness. He's full of
righteousness, as the passage tells us. With righteousness
shall he judge the poor, and reprove the equity for the meek
of the earth. And righteousness shall be the
girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. Of who
else could you speak in such a way? that righteousness shall
be the girdle of his loins, he is without sin, perfect, pure,
holy, righteous and everlasting, almighty and in him is a life,
a breath and a spirit, unlike, totally unlike that which is
in man, totally unlike that which is in you and me by nature. It's described here in verse
2 of chapter 11 in seven respects. We read of the spirit of the
Lord resting upon him and then we read of six more spirits coupled
as the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might
and the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Seven distinct qualities. The Spirit of the Lord. The Spirit
of Wisdom. The Spirit of Understanding.
The Spirit of Counsel. The Spirit of Might. The Spirit
of Knowledge. And the Spirit of the Fear of
the Lord. Perfect Spirit. Seven Spirits. Perfect Life. Eternal Life. The Life of God. Unlike any other. Seven spirits. In the book of Revelation, we
read several times of seven spirits. Throughout Revelation, the word
seven is used repetitively because it speaks of perfection and the
perfection of God and the perfection of Christ. In chapter three and verse one,
We read, and unto the angel of the church in Sardis write, these
things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and the
seven stars. The seven spirits of God and
the seven stars. I know thy works that thou hast
the name that thou livest and are dead. What does this one with seven
spirits and seven stars say of this church at Sardis? This earthly
church full of men, full of the life and spirit of Adam within. I know thy works that thou hast
the name that thou livest and are dead. You say you live, you
say you have life, but you're dead. Your life is no more than
the natural life of Adam within, full of sin, even though you
are a church, professing my name. Even though you claim to follow
me, you claim to be religious, you're as dead as anyone else. You have a name that thou livest,
and you are dead. There is no life within you other
than that life you inherited from Adam which is dead from
the moment you inherited it. For oh the contrast with the
life in the one who speaks unto it, who has the seven spirits
of God. In chapter five and verse six
we read again, here even more closely bringing us
in line with what Isaiah has written. Chapter 5 We'll read from verse 1, And
I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book
written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And
I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy
to open the book and to loose the seals thereof? And no man
in heaven nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to
open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because
no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither
to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto
me, Weep not. Behold the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, the bronze. The root of David
hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals
thereof. And I beheld, and lo, in the
midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst
of the elders, stood a lamb as it had been slain, Christ, having
seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God,
sent forth into all the earth. Oh what power this Lamb of God
has with seven horns. Oh what sight He has with seven
eyes. And oh what life He has with
the seven spirits of God. Perfect life. Perfect sight. Perfect power. This is the one
of whom Isaiah speaks when he says, the spirit of the Lord
shall rest upon him and the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding,
the spirit of counsel, the spirit of might, the spirit of knowledge
and the spirit of the fear of the Lord. What a description. What a wonderful description
of the character and person of Jesus Christ. How glorious He
is in all His aspects. How glorious, how different from
us. Perfect, divine, God. God made man unlike any other. Consider these seven spirits,
these seven descriptions of the spirit of the Lord within him
and contrast them with man. Firstly, the spirit of the Lord
shall rest upon him. The spirit of the Lord, not the
spirit of man. Not the spirit of man. The spirit
of man which was in Adam, which is in you by nature, which is
in me by nature, brought man to rebel against God. Hardly
a moment had man been on this earth. Hardly a command or a
restriction had been placed upon him. God gave him all good things,
all the trees of the garden in Eden. He was innocent and pure,
strong, free to walk with God in the garden, having all good
riches from his Maker. And yet he was told, one thing,
don't eat of this tree. A man couldn't stand with one
restriction. Oh, he must fight against it. Oh, that tree looks so good. Why should God prevent me from
eating of that? It's so good. It's the knowledge
of good and evil. That's a wonderful thing to know
about. I want to know. So a man turned from God and
followed the woman and ate the tree, ate of the tree. And doing
so, he plunged into death. Oh, the sin and the corruption
which entered. and which has passed down upon
you and me, which we would repeat in a moment, put in the same
shoes in the same circumstance, which we have repeated, which
we do repeat, we're full of sin, full of rebellion, we will not
be told not to. We will do what we will do, and
we will seek our own glory, and our own pride, and our own selfish
ways. because it's in our spirit which
is tainted with sin. We love ourselves and we hate
God and his rule over us. We will not have this man to
reign over us. We will not have Christ and his
rule upon us. We will not bow the knee to him. We will not hear his gospel.
We will not bow the knee to God. We will seek our own ways. Haven't you just? Don't you just? Don't you get angry with everyone
that tells you to do this or to do that. You will do what
you will do. How different is the spirit of
man to the spirit of the Lord that rested upon the branch. The spirit of the Lord which
rested upon Christ. was a spirit which caused him
to ever follow the will of his Father. From the day he was born
to the day he was nailed to a cross, he never sought his own will,
he never sought his own ways, he always sought the glory of
God the Father, he always sought to glorify the Father, he always
sought to honour his God, he always sought to lay aside his
own pleasure, his own peace, his own ease. He always sought
to do that which was honouring to God. He lived before God. He loved God. He came for others. The reason he entered this world
was because he loved not his own life unto death, but he was
willing to lay down his own life for the sake of those whom he
loved, those whom he would save, those for whom he would suffer.
He came to save a people. He came because there are a people
born of Adam. rebellious, full of hatred, full
of sin, full of pride, full of selfishness, which he loved,
a people whom he loved, a people whom he would save. Though they despised him, though
they hated him, nevertheless the spirit of the Lord which
rested upon him was such that he was willing to take their
hatred, to take their rebellion and to walk before them and to
go in their place and their stead to a place of execution and to
lay down his life for them in order to take their sins away. This is a life and a spirit all
together at contrast with that which is within them. And in
order to deliver them from that spirit, that selfishness, that
sin which was within them, he must take it upon himself, he
must bear their sins, and he must be executed and judged by
God in their place. And that's why he came. What
a difference, what a difference of character, what a difference
of character we see throughout his lifetime. How he loved others,
how he walked with sinners, how he condescended, how he, how
when that woman caught in adultery was brought before him and the
legalist would condemn, how he said he forgave, how he came
to forgive and to save, not to destroy. What a difference of character. Secondly, the spirit of wisdom. He had the spirit of wisdom.
What we read in the scriptures of more than one form of wisdom,
one Corinthian 1 and 2 especially tell us where we see the contrast
between the spirit of wisdom, the wisdom which is in man, and
the wisdom which is in Christ Jesus. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved it
is the power of God, for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom
of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of
the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Have not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? for after that in the wisdom
of God the world by wisdom knew not God It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. There's a
wisdom in this world, a wisdom which man has, in which he glories,
in which he prides himself, in which you glory. You're full
of your own wisdom, you're full of your own intellect, you're
full of your own knowledge. Oh, you know, don't you just? You've studied it. You're the
great philosopher. You're the great teacher. You're
the great wise man. And the gospel, the message of
Jesus Christ, Christianity, is all utter foolishness and nonsense,
isn't it? that's what your heart says by
nature it's all just nonsense and it's all coming to nothing
and us in our wise intellectual 21st century have moved beyond
such mythological middle ages nonsense foolish people in the
past may have believed such things but not us we're wiser than that yes to you And to me at one point,
and to all of us by nature, the preaching of the cross, the person
of Jesus Christ, His death, His resurrection, His ascension,
His salvation, His gospel, is foolishness. But we are amongst them when
we say so, who are heading for destruction. for the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us
which are saved though we once thought it was foolishness when
we come to hear it at the voice of Jesus Christ when he takes
that message and makes it known unto us we discover that this
is not foolishness but this is the wisdom of God the power of
God and that Christ whom we despised is not full of foolishness, but
he's full of wisdom. He's full of wisdom. We preach
Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the
Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called, both Jews
and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. What wisdom do you have? The
wisdom of this world will lead to your destruction. By it you
call the cross foolishness. By it you will perish. But there was another spirit
of wisdom which rested upon Christ and another spirit of understanding. He had an understanding unlike
any that man can contrive. Romans 1.31 says of man by nature
that he is without understanding. He says he sees, he says he understands,
he says he knows, and all his conclusions are false. In his
heart, Though all around him demonstrates the almighty power
of God. Though the heavens and the earth
around him show the handiwork of God's creation. Though his
heart beats because God causes it to beat. Though he lives because
God sustains his life. Though the Scriptures testify
of who God is, what He has done and what He is doing, though
there are those in this world who come unto Him preaching the
salvation of God through Jesus Christ His Son, man's heart,
in his heart, says of all these things, they are foolishness. Says of all his things, they
are not true. Says in his heart, there is no
God. He's without understanding. Jeremiah says, Hear now this,
O foolish people and without understanding, which have eyes
and see not, and which have ears and hear not. You say you have
eyes. You say you have ears. You say
you see. But all you see is the outward
things. All you see are the trees and
the fields and the roads. And you cannot see the God who
made these things. All you see are the floods. and
the tsunamis and the disasters and all you see is the movement
of the gases and the air and the planets and all the natural
forces and you can't see the God behind them that makes them
happen. You say you see and you're blind. You are without understanding. Yet there is One who came into
this world and stood before you and preached unto you and preached
unto mankind and who continues to preach even to this day from
heaven on high by His Spirit through preachers whom He sends
who speaks with the Spirit of wisdom and speaks with the Spirit
of understanding and says these things are so, these things are
true. I am the way the truth and the
life. No man cometh unto the Father
except by me. My gospel is true. I am almighty God. I am the Son
of God. I am the Saviour of sinners. And I rule this world and your
life is in my hands. Turn from your sin, repent of
your sin, and come unto me. See my cross, see my salvation,
O foolish men, without understanding. He has upon him the spirit of
counsel, the spirit of counsel. Well there is a council which
is found in Christ and of God and there is a council which
is found in man. And the council of man leads
to destruction. Psalm 1 speaks of the council
of man and the ungodly. where it says, Blessed is the
man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth
in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful,
but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth
he meditate day and night, and he shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water. The man who follows not the counsel
of this world, and the counsel of ungodly men in this world,
and follows not their scornful mocking of the gospel, delights
in God's word, delights in God's gospel, and he's like a tree,
because he's one with the tree of life, one with the branch. planted by God by rivers of water,
living water and brings forth his fruit in his season. His leaf shall not wither and
whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. But the counsel of the ungodly
is different because the ungodly, it says, are not so. They are
like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly
shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation
of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way
of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Whose counsel do you follow? You can hear what men and women
say in this world of Jesus and of his gospel and of Christians
and those who follow him and they're scorning and they're
mocking and they're derision and you can follow them and you'll
follow them to your peril. But if God by grace opened your
eyes to see and your ears to hear the one upon whom the Spirit
of the Lord rests, then you will hear a counsel to hear his word,
to hear his wisdom, to hear his truth, to hear his understanding
and in hearing you will live. The spirit of counsel, the spirit
of might, might. There is a might which man speaks
of, a strength in which man rejoices, He thinks he has strength, but
man is so small. Think of this world. Think of
the multitudes within it. Think of the men and women upon
the surface of this world. They're born, they die. They're
born, they die. They come and go. They're like
grass which grows up one day and which is cut down the next
day. They're like grasshoppers, nothing. Think of Almighty God
who looks down upon this foolish world and these evil people within
and think of the might of man so-called in contrast with the
might of God in Jesus Christ. It's nothing. Man in reality
as Romans tells us is without strength. For when we were yet
without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Man is weak, his might does not last. He grows old, he has a
strength in the days of his youth, in his twenties say. But he grows
old and frail, he's nothing. All the might of his body, all
the might of his intellect is nothing. He's blown about by
this thinking and that thinking. He's led along by the counsel
of the ungodly. He's nothing. But Christ is all-powerful. He is God. He spake and the worlds
were created. He will speak and the worlds
will be burnt up with fire. He speaks and the blind do see. He speaks and the deaf do hear. He speaks and the dead in the
graves are brought to life. He is a mighty saviour. He went
to the cross and at the cross he bore the sins of a multitude
of people upon his back. He bore them up, he carried them
through the rivers of death with him. He led them through dry
shod. He is mighty. He has the spirit of knowledge. Of knowledge. Well there's one
sort of knowledge which leads unto life everlasting and there's
one sort of knowledge which leads unto death. And we saw that in
the garden in those two trees. If man had eaten off the tree
of life he'd have had a knowledge unlike any other but no, he went
after the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He thought
this knowledge would bring him to be wonderful would bring him
such strength. But that knowledge brought about
his death. Oh, the knowledge of man is a snare, it leads to death. Man vaunts his knowledge, he
thinks he knows all things when he knows nothing. How many times
through the ages, through history can you look back and see what
people fought in one generation and then the next generation
discovers something else and it overturns all that the previous
generation fought and each generation as it learns new things is so
taken up in the pride of what it's discovered. But it will
discover when laid in the grave that another generation follows
that discovers new things that make the previous generation
foolish. But their knowledge and their
discovery is nothing. And the knowledge that they truly
need, the knowledge they should truly embrace is that which is
made known and which is unchanging throughout all time. And they
shut their ears and their eyes to that knowledge and count it
foolishness. But the knowledge they need is
the knowledge of salvation in Christ. The knowledge of the
Tree of Life, the knowledge of the Branch, the Saviour. They
shut their ears to it. and the eat of the knowledge
of good and evil. Man in religion, faced with the
gospel, will always turn back from Christ, back to the law,
back to the knowledge of good and evil. It glistens before
him. He thinks that he can live by
that knowledge. When all he needs and when all
he has is in Christ and how he brings himself back into bondage,
back into death as he turns back to his own strength and his own
knowledge that he gleans from the law and from the knowledge
of the good and evil which is born on that tree. Man's knowledge
always leads to death. But the truth which is found
in Christ always leads, when made known unto you by the revelation
of the Spirit of God, always leads unto salvation. Finally,
the seventh spirit described here is that of the fear of the
Lord. The fear of the Lord. Well, the fear of the Lord leads
to salvation. But the fear of man The fear
of man is a snare. As Proverbs 29 tells us, the
fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in
the Lord shall be safe. Who do you fear? For this gets
to the heart of everything. Who do you fear? Do you fear
God? And what He can do to you justly
should you stand before Him? Do you fear your Maker? Do you
have a reverence for Him and an awareness of Him and understanding
and knowledge? Do you know that you will stand
before Almighty God one day and you will have to answer for all
that you have thought, done and said in this world? Have you
got any fear of Him? Or do you only fear men? Do you
live in this life simply thinking about what others will think
and say and do unto you? Do you live your life scared
of other men, trying to please other men, trying to fit in with
other men? Because that's the snare in which
just about everyone is taken up. They live to seek the pleasure
and approval of others. And when others scorn God, they
join in and scorn God. And when others mock Jesus Christ,
to please them, they join in and mock Jesus Christ. And not
one, even though they may know, even though God may begin to
open their eyes inwardly, Even though they may begin to wonder,
what happens after death? Why am I here? What is life about? Even when they begin to think,
yes, there is a God, the fear of man is such a snare that they
don't stand up before anyone. They don't stand up before their
friends and say, but surely there is. because their friends will
laugh and jeer and mock them and they're so scared of what
others will say that they keep their mouth shut. They compromise. Oh what a snare this is, and
what a snare it is in every realm of life. The religious are so
scared of men, so scared of what other men will say, so scared
of what other religious men will say. Well we've always done things
this way, we've always thought this, we've always believed this. Are you sure? Well it's better
to be sure that what you believe is the truth of God as revealed
by God in His Word than to fit in with other men and other religious
men and other traditions for a peaceful time here below when
you will have to answer for it in the world to come. Yes the
fear of man is a snare, a snare to all But Christ was not full of the
fear of man. He was full of the spirit of
the fear of the Lord. He knew his God and he walked
and loved his God. And he knew what man was and
he was prepared to have men hate him. All men hate him. He was
prepared to die. Prepared to die. because he loved
his people and came to save them and he would not bow to the fear
of man. He did not come seeking the approval
of any. He did not come seeking to bring
a message which appealed to any. He came with a message which
offended us all because he came Speaking righteousness, he came
with righteousness to judge the poor and reprove with equity
the meek of the earth. He came smiting the earth with
the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he would
slay the wicked, but in righteousness he would deliver his people.
Righteousness shall be the girdle of his lines, and faithfulness
the girdle of his reins, because this was in his spirit. A spirit
so in contrast with the spirit of man. What do you know of this
spirit? There's a life which is of God
in Christ and a life which you inherit from Adam by nature in
man. The life you have by nature is
death, full of sin. But there is a life in Christ
which is eternal life, righteousness and salvation. You need that
life. and that life only comes in this
Gospel, in the Gospel, in Christ as he speaks by his Spirit to
your soul. Have you heard his voice? Have
you heard his Gospel? If you do, then you will know
what it is to be born again. born by God, born by the Spirit
of God from on high, having a new birth, a new life within. And
you will know what it is to have within you Christ dwelling within. You'll know something of the
Spirit of the Lord resting upon Christ within you, resting upon
you. You'll know the spirit of wisdom
and understanding. You'll know the spirit of counsel
and might. You'll know the spirit of knowledge
and of the fear of the Lord. and you'll only know it by this
Gospel. Have you heard it? Do you know
it? If you do, then you will know
what it is to be brought into this wonderful place at the end
of this passage from verse 5 through to verse 9. This wonderful place,
you'll know what it is to be one with that Saviour. whose
righteousness is the girdle of His loins, whose faithfulness
is the girdle of His reins, and you'll know what it is to enter
into that eternal world to come, that everlasting glory which
is promised for the saints of God, redeemed by the blood of
the Lamb of God, saved by Him who laid down His life for them.
You'll know what it is to enter in one day to that place where
the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie
down with the kid and the calf and the young lion and the fatling
together and a little child shall lead them the cow and the bear
shall feed the young one shall lie down together the lion shall
eat straw like the ox the sucking child shall play on the hole
of the asp the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice
den they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountains Are
you going there? Do you know this Saviour and
His salvation and His Spirit? Do you know the seven Spirits
of God in Christ? Has His salvation come unto you? Will you enter into that earth,
that new heavens and that new earth, which will be full of
the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Oh thank God He sent His Son. Thank God Christ came for His
own. Thank God He was called Jesus
for He shall save His people from their sins. Thank God that
the Spirit of the Lord rested upon Him and rests upon Him.
Do you know Him? Is He yours? Are you one with
Him? Are you fruit growing forth from
His branch? Look up, may God give you faith
to see, to open your eyes, to see not with man's understanding
but with faith, the one upon whom the Spirit of the Lord rests
both now and forevermore, the Saviour of sinners, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen.