to Isaiah 65. Isaiah chapter 65. I'm taking notes. The title of my message this morning is Everything New. Everything New. In this passage, the Holy Spirit, speaking by the prophet Isaiah, declares that which is the glory of God's salvation in Christ. both as it is experienced now on this earth, and as it shall be in the consummation of it in everlasting glory in the world to come.

" Now, let me make five statements by way of introducing the message, and then we'll look at these verses one at a time.

First, the things spoken of in this chapter have both a present and a future application to God's I have stressed that over and over again as we've gone through the book of Isaiah, and particularly through this 65th chapter, but it needs to be understood clearly. It is a mistake to limit this prophecy either to the restoration of the Jews after their Babylonian captivity, or to this present gospel age, or simply to the time when our Lord Jesus comes again in his glory and makes all things new. The things that are written in this chapter must be applied to all three aspects of those things I've mentioned. If Earth speaks of the Jews' restoration from Babylonian captivity, well, that's not all it talks about. The historical deliverance of the Jews was merely a picture in time of the deliverance of God's elect. It certainly speaks of our present deliverance by the grace of God from the dominion of sin and the curse of sin. but it speaks of more than that. It speaks also of our ultimate deliverance into the glorious liberty of the sons of God in the new creation when our Lord Jesus comes again. Without question, these promises apply to all three of those things.

Understand this secondly. We are now new creatures in Christ. The gospel of Christ declares that with regard to believers, old things are passed away, and behold, all things have become new." So that those who are in Christ are already new creatures. Yes, we look for a new heavens and a new earth. Yes, we look for that time when God shall indeed make all things new. But right now, we're new creatures in Christ. The former troubles are forgotten, God says. because they are hid from mine eyes. What a blessed, blessed, had-to-change this is, which is accomplished for us and in us by the almighty power of God's free grace. Our old record of sin is patched away. It's gone. God remembers our sins no more because he has put away our sins by the blood of his dear the former troubles are forgotten. A new record of righteousness is ours by divine imputation so that God looks at us in Christ as just divine."

Now, I want you to understand. Let me stress this a little bit. Our acceptance with God is far more than just the pardon of our sins. being justified is far more than just being forgiven of sin. To be justified is more than just hearing that word just as if I'd never seen it. It's much, much more than that. To be justified is not only to be forgiven of sin, But it is to have the righteousness of Christ imputed to us so that we are looked upon by God as though we had ourselves personally and perpetually, without sin, completely obeyed His law and His will in all things. All things. And because of this, we're righteous in the sight of God. The curse of the old covenant of the law has passed away, and all the blessings of the new covenant of grace are ours in Christ. The old nature of sin, though it is not yet passed away, though it is still with us, is no longer ruling us and reigning us. It is no longer master. We're no longer under its dominion, but rather it is subdued and brought in subjection by the power of God's grace reigning in us through righteousness unto eternal life. So that you, we believe, are no longer the servants of sin, but the servants of righteousness.

And yet, and this is the third thing, while we are already new creatures in Christ, we are looking for a new heavens and a new earth. God says, Behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind. That's just almost when we get older. Those who are converted are so transported by the comforts of the nucleus, so overwhelmed by the grace of God, that all the comforts of this world become as nothing to them. When you look fully in Christ's wonderful face, the things of this world grow strange That's exactly it. We're so overwhelmed with God's glory and grace that the comforts of this present world are no longer of significance. Not only are their former troubles, or former comforts not remembered, but their former grief, as well as their former joys, are swallowed up in this new life in Christ.

But there's an even greater joy awaiting us today. glorified saints in the new heaven and the new earth will be so entirely taken up with that new world that the things of this world shall be entirely forgotten." This is what he says. The former shall not be remembered, or even come to mind. The former shall not be remembered. The former grief, yes, but the former joy in this world shall be as nothing to those who inhabit the new world which God creates for His people. They shall not be remembered or come to mind.

And fourthly, certainly, our text is a display of the inexhaustible omnipotence of our God. they taught the lessons, what I know God's omnipotence. What a blessed study. What a blessed study. But you have to kind of look for words to talk about it. We can't, we can't begin to describe omnipotence. We, when we think about omnipotence, we think about it in the limited terms of our full, limited minds. Omnipotence. Will you understand me? God's mighty power has never been strained or exercised in the flesh. His omnipotence, his omnipotence, you see, just in the power of his will, by his will the world stands. Just his will. And when God Almighty, who created this world and all things out of nothing, shall come again in the glory of Jesus Christ back in the period, and make all things new, it will be of no difficulty to Him to dissolve the present heavens and earth and make everything new by the Word of God. He'll make everything new.

are blessed of God are blessed indeed, and blessed forever, fervently blessed, immutably blessed, and eternally blessed. If you're in Christ, if you're in Christ, that's the... It was all... That's the key to everything, if you're in Christ. If you're in Christ, all things will open. The world is yours, life is yours, death is yours, all things present, all things to come, all things are yours. For ye are Christ's, and Christ is yours. Matthew Henry wrote in commenting on this passage, the future glory of the saints will be so entirely different from what they ever that they may well be called new heavens and new earth. I have not seen, nor heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him. The Lord God, our Savior, makes all things new for His people. He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

Now, in this last parable, verses seventeen through twenty-five, I want to call your attention to seven aspects of this blessed new creation. Now, please remember, let me remind you again, that our text cannot be limited. It is improper, it was not the intention of the Holy Spirit, and it certainly is an improper interpretation of the passage. It is improper to limit this text to any aspect, either of the Jews' deliverance, or of our present deliverance, or even of our everlasting deliverance. It applies to all three. And we will forget for a little while about the Jews' deliverance. Just take it for granted that what the text says certainly came to pass when the Jews came out of Babylonian captivity. But being as how we're not talking to any Jews who were back yonder in the Babylonian captivity, that's not too important. But rather, I want to stress how this text applies to us now, and how it shall apply to us in the future.

First, Isaiah describes a new way. In verse 17, For behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered, nor come to mind. Now, if you will, turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Hold your hands right here and turn to Hebrews chapter 10. This prophecy began to have its accomplishment when the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, and through the preaching of the gospel being made effectual by the mighty power of his grace. The grace of God was established in Jews as well as in Gentiles, in Gentiles as well as in Jews. So that God's almighty work of grace began to build a kingdom, not within the borders of Palestine alone, but through all the world, through the preaching of Christ and of his apostles. By the word of the gospel, this new creation began. I do not doubt at all that Paul had this in mind when he spoke in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 19 of the accomplishments of Christ in bringing about a new and living way. In Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 19, listen, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way. He said, I'll make everything new. Everything new. by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. And having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."

Once the Lord Jesus Christ came, a new way of worship was established, an entirely new way. Now, I cannot suggest at all that in the Old Testament men were saved one way, and in the New Testament they're saved another. Not at all. But in the Old Testament, the way of salvation revealed in worship was revealed in type, in ceremony, in ritual, and in the shadow of the law. When Christ came, the type, the ceremony, the ritual, the shadows of the law were all fulfilled and done away with. If you want to go downstairs and watch some of the ladies teach the little children, good pictures of little children use pictures, because pictures are needed to keep the attention of little children. Pictures are needed to focus their minds on what being taught. Pictures are useful, and the kids will listen while they watch the pictures, and they'll associate things with the pictures.

Well, that's exactly how we describe the book of relations. The Church, during its days of infancy in the Old Testament, had the Gospel given to them in types and in pictures. But now, if Bob Potts needed photographs to be teaching this lesson, I'd be a little concerned about Bob Potts. When it comes to his age, he ought not need pictures anymore. He doesn't need to see the visual image to associate the words with the image. You see what I'm saying?

those pipes and shadows had been done away, and now, we in this age of the Gospel, when the Church has come to spiritual maturity, in the revelation of Jesus Christ, worship God in spirit and in truth, and we don't have the pipes and pictures and shadows. All the old carnal ordinances of legal worship have been abolished altogether because Christ fulfilled them. Therefore, temple worship sacrifices, Sabbath days, holy days, new moons, yearly feasts, carnal offers, and a carnal priesthood have all been abolished, and to use those things in the worship of God is nothing but legal idolatry and carnal worship. It's carnal worship.

John 4, verse 23. Our Lord Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman who said, that we're to worship in this holy mountain. This is a holy, we live here in a holy land, and we worship in this holy mountain. And our Lord said, you don't know anything. You don't know anything. And we still got folks talking about this American woman, they talking about Palestine, and say, I'm going to visit the holy land. It ain't holy. It ain't holy. This land is just like that land, and that land's just like this land. This is what our Lord said.

The hour cometh, and now it when truly worshipers, those who truly worship God, shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Not at an altar, not in a confessional booth, not at some holy place, not in some holy sanctuary, but in spirit and in truth. True worshipers worship the Father in spirit and in truth, and the Father You see that? God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

New ordinances were appointed to be continued in the worship of Christ until His second advent. In the Old Testament, the sign of the covenant of God's people was circumcision. Those who were typically, and I stress the word typically, God's people. The Jews were only typically God's people. God had an elect people among the Jews, but not all who were Jews were God's elect. And the sign, outward and typical sign, that they were God's people were circumcision in the flesh. It's something from post-examination that could be seen. It was something that was permanent. It was done one time, and it lasted a lifetime.

Now, that circumcision in the flesh, of course, It represented the New Testament regeneration. It represented the being born again by the circumcision made with our hands, performed in the heart, the cutting away of the foreskin of the flesh, that is, the subduing of our sin nature by the indwelling power of God's Spirit. But that Old Testament sign of circumcision had been done away. The New Testament sign, the New Testament emblem and hymn that regards The New Testament emblem of many women who are God's elect, who follow Christ, is the Library of Baptism. And so the circumcision is done away in hell. How do you know who God's men are? There are many women who come to Jesus Christ in faith, and they're bearing with Him in baptism, and they walk with Him in the meanness of life. Could have been done one time, last forever. But it's the picture of God's elect, the identifying mark.

The Passover supper of the Old Testament was the celebration of deliverance out of Egypt by the Jews. It was not a celebration of spiritual redemption. It was a picture of spiritual redemption. You see the difference? Many of those who came out of Egypt that night perished in the wilderness because of unbelief. Most of them But it was a picture of spiritual redemption. And now, the Passover supper has given way. We do not observe the Passover. We do not observe the annual feast. But the Passover supper has given away, and we now observe the Lord's Supper, eating the bread and drinking the wine. We remember our Lord's death and celebrate our true redemption by Jesus Christ the Lord.

The Old Covenant was entirely And the new covenant of grace was brought in by Jesus Christ. All right? Second, in verses 18 and 19, in this new creation, God sent to experience a new joy. Look at verse 18. But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create, For behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying." The Lord God causes us to be glad and rejoice in that which He has done for us. He makes us, Jerusalem, His church and His people, a joyful, rejoicing people.

Now, just in case you have missed it along the way, when the Scripture talks about promises to Jerusalem, Rex always calls our attention to it, and he's exactly right. He reads passages like this. When the Scripture talks about blessings and promises to Jerusalem, and blessings and promises to Israel, and blessings and promises to Judah, It's not talking about folks over there who are the physical seed of Abraham. It is not talking about Zionists. That's not what it's talking about at all. But Jerusalem is a picture of the Church, a type of the Church. Judah represents us, God's elect. So that the promise here concerning Jerusalem is God's promise to His Church. He said, I will make my Church, my people, a joyful, rejoicing people, so that all who know God in Christ Rejoice! Rejoice in the Lord all the way until I say, Rejoice!

I think the last time Brother Lindsey preached to you here, he preached out of Philippians 4 in that very text. He said, Let your moderation be known to all men. The Lord's at hand. He makes his people a joy. You see, all who know God, all who know God, no exceptions, all who know God, rejoice in They rejoice in Him. I don't mean they walk around and smile like possum-eating brats. I don't mean they act giddy, civic. But I mean they rejoice in Him, so that their hearts look to Him and find satisfaction in Him and in what He does. They rejoice in His electing laws. Oh, we rejoice in His blood atonement. We rejoice in His gracious forgiveness, we rejoice in His adorable covenants, we rejoice in His solemn goodness, and we rejoice in His great salvation.

He said, My servants shall rejoice, and we live. Though now our joy is meekled with mourning, when at last He brings us into the glory of His everlasting joy shall be full. Our Redeemer will say to us in that day, "'Enter thou into the joy of Thy Lord.'" Enter now into the joy of your Lord. He says, I will rejoice over Jerusalem and joy in My people. He rejoices for us and we rejoice over it, when at last we stand before our God in the perfection of conformity to Christ, in the beauty of the full experience of holiness. Now, we stand before Him right now in the beauty of holiness, and we rejoice in that, we recognize it, but we haven't yet even thought about experiencing it.

All of our, we, you know, we've come close to the magic water But one of these days, oh, one of these glorious days, we who are His shall stand before God in the full experience of perfect holiness, perfect holiness. And when we do, He will rejoice over us, and we will rejoice over Him. He will rejoice in us, and we will rejoice in Him, and there shall be nothing to dampen our joy. No alloy in this glorious, glorious kingdom of gold. This is God's promise. The voice of wicked shall no more be heard. That's a sermon in itself, brother. The voice of weakness shall no more be heard in heaven.

I never think of you. I never think of you. Never. I never mention you to God in prayer, this congregation. Never. Never. But what I rejoice much to make me rejoice, and much to make me weep. I never think of myself and mention myself before God in prayer, but what a rejoice. Oh, he's been so good. And weep, cause there's much to weep. Much to weep. Some of you here yet without Christ, my heart aches. Honestly, my heart aches. I want to tell you something. I want to tell you something. Oh, blessed, blessed, blessed day. The day is coming when there will be no weeping to hinder our joy. No. But God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

All right there, the Prophet describes a new life, a new life of satisfaction, in verse 20. One of the greatest causes of frustration, one of the greatest causes of disappointment in this world, is the sense that there is a lack of fulfillment in our lives. You ever get significant about what I do. Our dreams are often shattered, our plans are frustrated, our work is disappointing, and so we often seek and despair because we feel a terrible sense of worthlessness. We sense that we have done nothing, are doing nothing, and are incapable of doing anything in the future for the glory of God and the benefit of His people. And to a very great extent, that's true. It needs to be recognized and understood we're sinners, and as such we are in ourselves worthless and useless. Worthless and useless. That's what we are by nature. Worthless and useless. Painful and humbling as that fact is, it is nonetheless fact. It's just a fact.

But I want you to get this. Our God is so overwhelmingly gracious that when he has made us new creatures in Christ, he made us a people with a specific mission to accomplish in his kingdom, for his glory. That's what that means. That means that Bobby Estes was created by God for a specific mission, a specific mission. That means that Tony Rolland, bless his soul, was created by God for a specific mission. A specific mission. And not only has He created us for a specific mission, but when He's finished with us, we shall have exactly fulfilled our mission.

Let me see if I can communicate what I'm trying to say. This is God's promise, not to a few special super-saints. Sometimes in our religion, nonsense in this day and age. We think of, you know, well, he's a super-saint. We're down here just, just barely saints. No, this is God's promise to every believer. Every believer. Every believer's life will be a matter of full satisfaction and fulfillment. The lack of fulfillment, the lack of satisfaction, is what unbelievers experience.

The number of the beast is the number of man, six, six, six. Frustration, disappointment, failure, that's the number of man. All but the number of our God is perfection. Perfection. Perfection.

Now look at Isaiah 65 and verse 20. The prophet says, There shall be no more thance an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days. Now, do you imagine that he's saying that the time is coming on this earth when there will be no more babies? No, that won't wash. That won't wash. It is saying there'll be a time when there'll be no more old men. No, that won't wash either.

The prophet said there shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days. And here's the explanation for it. You see that connecting word? That's the explanatory word. For the child shall die an hundred years old. But the sinner, being a hundred years old, shall be accursed."

Now, I can't tell you how many hours I have spent studying this text of scripture over the past several weeks and past number of years as well, but particularly for the last several weeks. The reason I haven't continued the study of Isaiah until now is because I've been working on this twentieth verse, been trying to get this thing fixed in my own heart and mind. I've read everything I could get my hands on on it, and I haven't read much that was any good.

The dispensationalists teach us that this passage of Scripture is talking about a future millennial age when children are going to live to be a hundred years old. Life will be so long that folks will look at a child that's a hundred years old and consider him still to be a child. Well, that's a little nonsensical. But it's even worse when you think of the next phrase when we talk about sinners living to be a hundred years old. And I cannot imagine a millennial kingdom which God creates in perfect righteousness, having sinners living to be a hundred years old, that end in their dying. That certainly is not teaching the text.

Most of the good commentaries stumble around this thing. Most of them say it's talking about a time in the future, in the latter days, when life exists. Somehow you've got to find what it means in its context. And then last week, I sat Saturday afternoon, and studied this passage, and prayed over it, and meditated on it, and I kept working over it, and pah! It came to me. I've been asking God to give me some light, and I said, that's it. And I ran in the kitchen and told everybody, I said, this is what it means. This is what it means.

Now you hang on, and we've got something that'll help you. Insofar as God's elect are concerned, it does not matter they die as infants or as old men, they shall fill their days and fill their purpose on this earth. It's as far as God's electors are concerned. They gain nothing by living to be old men, and they lose nothing by dying in their infancy. There shall be no more infants and infants of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days For the child being a hundred years old, you might write somewhere in the margin of your Bible as a hundred years old, for that's exactly what he's saying. He's saying that the infant of days and the old man shall get for nothing in the kingdom of God. Nothing at all.

In other words, Isaiah is telling us that God's elect who die as infants shall lose nothing by what appears to us to be their untimely death. and the wicked who die at old age shall gain nothing by their long lives upon this earth, but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed. All who are in Christ find complete fulfillment and satisfaction with their lives in Him.

" I meet with a lot of people who never find satisfaction, contentment, fulfillment. Their lives are always in a turmoil. Always in a turmoil. I recall several years ago a preacher said to me, he's no longer pastoring, but he said to me, he said, turned upside down in turmoil, and I thought to myself, that's strange. That's strange. I've never experienced that. When my life is tossed in the winds of adversity, it's still not in turmoil. The believer's life is a life of satisfaction. It's a life of fulfillment. It's a life of purpose. The believer's

Now, there are certain things that are clearly obvious in this text and in other passages. First, I fully believe that all who die in infancy or imbecility are chosen of God. I don't have any question at all concerning that. I'm not going to preach on that subject now. I'm not going to bother trying to explain it. But all who die in infancy or die as imbeciles, all of them, are chosen of God, redeemed by Christ, and shall be regenerated by the Holy Spirit." There's absolutely no question in my mind concerning that.

I'll give you one reason. When David's child was taken from him, David quit weeping. He quit crying. He went into the house of God and worshiped God. He said to his servants, get me something to eat. I'm ready to go back to business. And they said, well, that's all. While the child was alive, you wept and wept and refused to go to the house of God, you refused to eat. And now that the child's dead, yes, I did nothing wrong. And David was saying, ain't nothing wrong. Ain't nothing wrong, everything all right now. He can't come to me, but I'll go to him.

Ah, and he sure would have done that back in the day. I don't think that can be accomplished. Those blessed souls who die in infancy, have no less satisfaction with Christ, or with their lives in Christ, than the oldest, and in our opinions, most useful of God's saints. I love what Matthew Henry had to say on this passage. He said, if a infant in this day is quickly, yet it shall not be reckoned to die untimely, for the shorter its life is, the longer will its rest be. Did you get it? The shorter its life is, the longer will its rest be. They dying in the arms of Christ and belonging to his kingdom are not to be called infants of days, but even the child shall be weakened to die a hundred years old, for he shall rise a day at full age. and in complete satisfaction, in perfect fulfillment.

The old believer also died in his old age, though he has lived long enough to have a lot of regrets. I hope I don't embarrass him, but I couldn't help but think about my friend, Brother Hubert, over here. He's lived long enough to have a lot of regrets, and the longer he lives, the more regrets But once he's entered into his everlasting rest, there will be no regrets. Did you get hold of that? Did you get hold of that? The innocent shall rise in the resurrection with a fulfilled life, having served his purpose for the glory of God. And the old man shall rise in the resurrection with no regrets, with a full life, having served exactly, exactly the purpose of God, for which God put him on the earth and kept him on the earth. So that those who are gods shall spend eternity with a sense of having filled his days by the grace of for the glory of God.

We judge everything here by sight. We judge it by the way we perceive things. You know where he is. Look at Rex's business. He's got him a new shop down the road. Things going pretty good. And that's how you judge business. You look at the measures. That's how you judge it. Well, that's success. If something happens, and he's forced, rather than willingly, he's forced to move back to the old job, you figure, well, something's wrong with the business. That's just how you judge a business. But we bring that judgment over into spiritual things, and we look at it and say, boy, that's a success. And we look at ourselves and say, well, that's a failure.

Paul, listen to me. Listen to me. Walk in your day. serving the interest of God's glory in the place where God's put you, doing what God gives you the means, the opportunity, and the ability to do. And when you leave this world, you will spend eternity with the satisfaction of having healed your days for the glory of God. That the unbeliever if he gains the world and lives to be a hundred years old, will spend eternity unsatisfied and unhappy, for the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed.

So it is really insignificant whether we live to be old men and old women, or whether we die in youth, or whether we die in middle age, or whether we die in old age. That's insignificant. The only thing that matters, God help me to learn this, the only thing that matters is that I live and die in Christ. Nothing else matters.

The Holy Spirit declares that all who are part of this new creation of grace enjoy a new blessedness. Look at verses 20 and 21. I'll not spend much time on these next two or three pages. Frequently you'll remember the Jews built houses and others inhabited them. They planted vineyards and others ate the fruit of them, because they were often under the judgment of God. But in the new creation of grace, there is no such sorrow and no such judgment and no possibility of such sorrow and judgment. Look at verse 21. And they shall build houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.

They shall not build and another inhabit, they shall not plant and another eat, for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

Without question, these verses had their literal fulfillment the Jews came out of Babylon, came back into the land, and built their houses, and planted their vineyards, and dwelt in them, and ate of the fruit of their vineyards for long, long days.

But the spiritual and gracious fulfillment of them is found in our life in Christ, beginning now in this present life, and consummately in our everlasting life with Christ in glory.

It is here promised that those things that we seek, the work of our hands, shall be blessed and made to prosper. We shall at last gain that which we have been seeking.

What are you seeking, Pastor? This one thing, have I desired of thee, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, and behold thy face in righteousness.

" What are you seeking? Oh, I turn all things but lost and dumb for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, that I may know him, that I may be found in him.

Not here in mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness of God, which is my faith. I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, I press toward the mark or the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

What are you seeking? Seekings. I'm seeking Him. I'm seeking Christ himself, perfect conformity to Christ in righteousness. I'm seeking the glory of God.

In this text, he says, I want to have it. I want to have it. You shall not build on another and have it. You shall not plant a vineyard and another eat the fruit thereof.

The promise of blessedness here is a matter of absolute certainty, and it ought to give us contentment upon this earth.

We who have built our house upon the rock of Christ Jesus, shall never see it broken up. We shall eat and drink and enjoy the good of our labor according to the gift of our God.

Now notice the promise is connected with our eternal life in Christ. For as the days of a tree are the days of my people.

John Gill suggests this refers to Christ as being a type of the tree of life, and speaking about eternal life in This is what he's saying.

Christ is a tree of life to us, and within Him, God who let us enjoy the spiritual blessings and comforts typified by the temporal comforts mentioned in these verses.

He is our house, our refuge, our strong tower, our shelter, in whom we reside and find shelter. And He is our venue from whom our fruit is found.

No enemy shall ever deprive us of our house. order of our being. No enemy shall ever disturb or break up our house. No enemy shall take the fruit of our being.

And fifthly, Isaiah speaks of a new generation, rising up in succeeding ages to inherit and enjoy these blessings. Look in verse 23.

And they shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble. For they are the seed of the blessed of the and their offspring with them.

We sometimes get to fretting about the future of God's church and kingdom, but there's no cause for alarm.

God's elect are the seed of the blessed of the Lord. That means two things. We are the seed of Christ, who is the blessed of the Lord.

He was the chosen seed, and we are his chosen We are his ransom seed. We are a generation raised up in this age by God's purpose and grace to serve him, and it means that we are the seed whom the Lord has blessed.

The church is the Lord's spiritual seed, and we are blessed in him with all things temporal, all things spiritual, and all things eternal.

And our offspring shall also be blessed of the Lord. the prophet says that their offspring with them.

Some foolishly imagine that he's saying that this teaches household salvation. It doesn't come close.

The scriptures do not teach household salvation. There are those who so interpret the scriptures as to teach that if believers have children, then their physical seed are automatically given the grace of God, and they shall be blessed of God as well.

Now, very few would say that all the physical seed, or all the physical children of believing men and women are saved.

But if they were the least bit consistent and interpreted the promise this way, they'd have to. It's exactly what that's saying, and certainly that's not the teaching of Scripture.

Isaiah was telling us here about our spiritual offspring, our spiritual children. Those who have been born into the kingdom of God, by the power and grace of the Holy Spirit, through our instrumentality, are our children.

Paul spoke to Timothy that way. He spoke to Onesimus that way. He spoke also to the Galatians as being his children.

We are instruments of God, his church, instruments of God, by which children are born into the kingdom. And you remember that God's curse upon the Jews. You can read it in Deuteronomy 28, 41. He said, I will give you your children, but they shall be troubled and accursed to you. Here the prophet says, you shall not bring hope for sorrow. Our offspring will not be troubled but joyed. those who are born with God's grace, born by God's Spirit, our spiritual offspring, in succeeding generations, serving our King, they shall be equally blessed of the Lord. As they rise up generation after generation, the scripture is fulfilled, which says, a seed shall serve thee, and it shall be counted to the Lord for a generation.

Then, In verse 24, Isaiah describes in this new creation a new priesthood. And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. And I told you earlier, when Christ came and fulfilled the call, he did away with all the carnal ordinances of worship in the Old Testament. Included in that was the Old Testament priesthood. That's the reason we don't have earthly priests.

I remember when Brother Art Young died in Asheville. He was in church there for years and years and years. And he was over at Keaton's daughter's hospital. I think that's where he was. One of the nurses came in, and the family was sitting in one of those quiet rooms, and one of the nurses came in and said, Would you like for us to call the priest? And our son looked up and he said, Our priest is with us right now. We have a priest, not some fellow who wears some silly-looking costume. Not some earthly priest. Not some fellow who says mumbo-jumbo and acts as though he can absolve our sins Oh, no, no, no, no. Jesus Christ is our priest. He's our priest, but we're priests in Him. We're priests in Him.

That means that we, as believers, are those people who are described in 1 Peter 2, verse 9, as a royal priesthood, a holy generation. What's he talking about? A royal priesthood. That means that If Dianne Kendall belongs to God, and Don Fortner belongs to God, neither of us need somebody else to make a way for us to approach God, to worship God, and do business with God. Neither of us. Well, they'd do a little pastoral counseling business, wouldn't they? Believers never find out they're priests! You don't do business with God through the preacher. You do business with God through Christ the priest in the holy place. That's right. You submit to the priest.

This is what he says. Before they call, I will answer. While they're yet speaking, I'll hear them. Here, my Lord, God is encouraging us with the knowledge of our immediate access to God through Christ and prevailing efficacy with Him in prayer, He is encouraging us to come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

One last thing, in verse 25, the Lord describes a new relationship between men and women in this world, a relationship made by grace in the new creation. and the lamb shall feed together. The lion shall eat strong like a bullock, and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all thy holy mountains, saith the Lord." Now, three things are here promised. First, the grace of God, proclaimed in the gospel, makes a great, great change in men. The wolf and the lamb lie down together in Christ in peace and harmony, just like they did in Noah's ark. The lion eats straw like an That simply means that ravening wolves and raging lions, when they're converted by grace, are folded with the lambs of Christ the Lord. That's what it means. No more, no less than that.

The apostle Paul was a persecuted lion, warring against the Church, and he was folded with the lambs. The wolf and the lion wants them in their backyard. Nobody wants them in their backyard. But when converted by grace, the finest people in the world, the people of God, welcomed them in their midst. Rob Barnett told that story of that old lady, Harlot. She even heard him got done preaching. She's sitting in the back row. She walked down to the front of the church. She said to them preachers, she said, God saved me. I will join this church. Of course, things got a little quiet. Everybody knew her. And so they stopped singing and rocked. Said, this lady here says, God saved her. She wants to be baptized on this church. What are you going to do? quiet, you could hear a pin drop. This old lady slipped out of her seat, walked down front, hugged her neck, kissed her on the cheeks, and broke a bone with her. All of a sudden, there they were, the worst woman in town and the finest woman in town, one in Christ. The wolf is folded with the lion. The lion is straw like a book. They dwell together as one in Christ.

The change is wrought, which is a change of nature by grace, so that in regeneration, that man who was a raging lion, a ravening wolf, his nature is subdued by grace, and he's given a new nature of peace, righteousness, and joy. The dissolving of prejudices in Christ. Apostle Paul describes Our relationship in Christ, it says in Christ, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision have made us anything but a new creature. Whether bond or free or Jew or Gentile or male or female, that's no matter. And applying it to 1996 and central part of, southern part of America and the United States, whether black or white, that's insignificant. That's insignificant. Christ is all. Christ is all.

I have a very good friend out in California, a black man. You're going to hear him one of these days for a long time. He's a preacher. Loves the gospel of God's grace. And I wonder if I come out and help him get started in the congregation. Tickle to death. Tickle to death.

Because in Christ, there's a dissolving, a That doesn't mean we don't have any. God's forgiven me. I've got as many as you do. As many as you do. I said, David, it was the first time I was in his house. We were chatting and he said, we don't see color here. I said, David, that's just not so. That's just not so. Forgive me. But I recognize black folks are prejudiced and white ones are too. The difference between us and unbelievers is we deal with our prejudice. We recognize it's wrong. is wrong, and we deal with it.

And in Christ, there is a sweet communion of believers. It's good here, sometimes painful, because believers in this flesh sometimes act so so easily offended, so, so easily provoked, so, so petty in jealousy, so, so conniving, so, oh, weary, weary, weary, starving, needy women, thirsty, needy women, needy women who, riches included, just petty stuff, can't get along, But I'm telling you this, God's people are many women who dwell together in peace. And when He's finished with us, then His church is going to be perfectly, perfectly harmonious.

The text also declares that Satan shall be banished, the serpent shall eat dust. That doesn't mean he's going to literally have dust for a dime. It means he's going to crawl on his belly. That means he's going to be the most abased of all creatures. That means that the great enemy of men's souls, the serpent Sigmund, shall be bound, and he has now been bound by Jesus Christ the Lord. That's what he said in John chapter 12, so that the nations of the world are no longer deceived by him. And one of these days, After our Lord has loosed Him for a little season upon this world again, He shall be bound forever in darkness and damnation.

And this last verse also means that nothing and no one shall ever hurt, not in any way hurt, and certainly not destroy God's Church and The gates of hell shall not prevail against us. The gates of hell shall not prevail against his church, against his cause, against his gospel, against his people, or against his kingdom. And when he's done with the work, when he's finished, when he's finished with everything, and God makes all things new, He's going to put Satan and all reprobate wicked men in a place where they can never, never, never defile or hurt his new creation. That everything shall be perfect righteousness.

What shall we then say to these things? This is my response. If God be for us, if God be for us, amen. All right, let's stand together, and we'll sing a couple of verses of a hymn. And I'll ask Brother Conwood, if he would, to come and dismiss us in prayer, and ask God's blessings upon the meal we're about to receive in the afternoon together.