In verse 5 of Isaiah 66. The Lord says, hear the word
of the Lord. Ye that tremble at his word. Now he is speaking to that person
who actually. Trembles. At the word of God. They believe. It is God's word. And they bow to what God's Word
says. Now that would be a description
of every believer. They tremble at what this book
has to say. This is the Word of God. I believe that. I really do. I don't believe it simply because
I've been indoctrinated in it. I don't think. I believe because
I really believe this is the Word of God. And by His grace,
I bow to what it says. And he says, now you hear the
word of the Lord, you that tremble at his word. Your brethren, verse
five, your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my
namesake, said, let the Lord be glorified. But he shall appear
to your joy, and they shall be ashamed." And notice he speaks
of those who hate that person who trembles at the Word of God,
your brethren that hated you for my name's sake. Do you know
the true believer, the one who trembles at the Word of God,
will be hated if he's true to his faith? Our gospel Has never been popular
with the world. And it never will be. And if
I'm honest to this word, I will be hated. For what I believe. And this religious world will
cast you out. Notice how he says they cast
you out for my name's sake. They will exclude you and look
down upon you as insignificant. You don't even count. That's
the way the world looks at those who believe the gospel. I mean,
look how small and insignificant and powerless your church is.
Look how you don't seem to have the influence in the community
that we do. You're insignificant. They will
cast you out and then they'll say in a real pious way, let
the Lord be glorified. But we're given this comfort.
He says to these people who are cast out, he shall appear to
your joy and they shall be ashamed. Now, one of these days, everything
is going to be brought to light. That's a wonderful thing to think
about. One of these days, everything
is going to be brought to light. One of these days, we'll see
who was serving the Lord and who was not. Now, it says the
Lord will appear to the joy of many. They will be seen to be
His, and they will experience joy at that time, and they will
be vindicated by the Lord Himself. Now, I've said this before, and
I want to say this with the right attitude. I tell you, preaching
the gospel so hard, getting up with the right attitude, pray
for me. Pray for me. Remember me. I'm
a weak person, and I need the prayers of God's people, just
like you do. And I want to say this with the
right attitude. But when I've said this on numerous occasions,
when people have been opposed to our preaching and to our doctrine
and have been vocal in their opposition against what we stand
for and what we preach and what we believe, I've made this statement.
And I hope I'm not being arrogant, and I hope I'm not being haughty
when I say this, but I do say this. I'm willing to wait to
Judgment Day. And we'll find out who was serving
the Lord and who wasn't. I'm willing to wait to Judgment
Day when the Lord will bring to light the hidden things of
darkness. And then shall every man have
praise of God. Then we'll know who was serving
the Lord and who wasn't. And he says, your brethren, they
cast you out. They hate you. They exclude you. He said, but
I'll appear to vindicate you. And I'll appear to their shame,
they're going to be made to be ashamed of their stance against
the gospel. He says in verse six, a voice
of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the
Lord that renders recompense to his enemies. Now, the voice
of vengeance is what is being spoken of here. You know, I repeat,
nobody's going to get by with the thing. The Lord said vengeance
is mine. I will repay, sayeth the Lord,
and you can write that down. That's a sobering thought, isn't
it? Vengeance, he says. Vengeance
is mine. I will repay, save the Lord.
He will recompense. Look in verse 7. Before she prevailed. Now this is talking about Zion.
This is talking about the church. Before she prevailed. She brought
forth. She didn't go through any pain.
She simply birthed these children before her pain came. She was
delivered of a man child. I'd like to say a few things
about the church as I consider this passage of Scripture. God
works. God reveals himself through the
church. He calls the church the pillar
and ground of the truth. What we're doing right now, meeting
together as a body, This is how God speaks. He speaks from his
word to the church. He said, where two or three are
gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Christ is still the one who walks
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. You know, the Lord's
presence is here right now. He's promised it, this is not
an iffy thing. This is not a, I hope he is. Now we beg for
his presence. You notice when we pray every time Lord grant
us your presence, give us your blessing. I don't want to meet
in vain. I don't want to meet without him. But do you know
he has promised his presence whenever the church meets together
where two or three are met together in his name. This is talking
about public worship. And this is why this is so important. When I absent myself from public
worship, when the Lord is pleased to meet with his people, When
I absent myself from public worship, I'm absenting myself from a place
where he is. Now, that's the significance
of church attendance. He's here. He's here. Whether
I feel it or not, sometimes I feel more of his presence than others,
but he's promised I'm here. This is how he speaks. And when
I absent myself from this public worship service, I'm absenting
myself. I'm saying, well, he's there,
but it's not. I'm not going to show up. Now, that's how significant
this is. The Lord works through the church. The Lord births through the church. The Lord gives life through what
we're doing right now, through his people meeting together.
And that's how important this is. And notice how it says, before
she prevailed, she brought forth. Before her pain came, she was
delivered of a man child. Birth comes. through what we're
doing right now. Life comes through what we're
doing right now. People are brought to a saving
knowledge of Christ through what we're doing right now. Now, that's
how important this is. But look what is emphasized in
this verse. These births that come through the church happened
before her pain and travail. Now, obviously, I don't know
anything about pain and travail. I've never, for obvious reasons,
I've never had a child. But from what I understand, it's
extremely painful. Extremely painful. I can't imagine
how painful it must be. I don't even like to think about
it, what a woman goes through in giving birth to a child. Men, we've got it made, don't
we? I mean, I'd a whole lot rather be a man than a woman, you know,
just to get out of this. The pain that a woman experiences
in giving birth, giving life to a child. Yet this passage
of Scripture says, These people who were brought to life happened
before there was any travail. It's easy. There was no effort
involved, no travail involved, no pain involved. The emphasis is salvation is
God's work. Salvation is of the Lord. We don't attribute salvation
to the church. The church may be the instrument, but what's
an instrument? It's an instrument. That's it. There's no saving
power in it. Salvation is God's work. And
these births, the lives that come forth, come not because
of the travail and the pain of the church, but because salvation
is of the Lord. Now, this is what we believe. It's what the scripture teaches.
Salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord in its planning.
God planned who would be saved. It's of the Lord in His purchase.
He paid for the salvation of everybody He saves. He planned
who would be saved. He paid their debts. He paid
for their salvation. He applies it. He's the one who
gives us faith. He's the one who gives us life.
He's the one who grants us repentance. Any spiritual desire I have comes
from Him, doesn't it? It's His work and His work alone. And so these births, these lives
that come through the church, the church is not She got them
before she prevailed or had any pain. This is the work of the
Lord and the work of the Lord alone. The salvation of a soul
in the church is not because of anything they did. It's God's
work. You ever want anybody to Christ? I haven't. There's only one who
brings people to the knowledge of Christ. That's Christ himself. You ever led anybody to the Lord? Now I realize we desire to be
the instrument of that. I do. Probably a lot of vain
reasons for us wanting that. And there's some good reasons
too. I'm going to talk more about that in a minute. But remember this.
You didn't bring anybody to Christ. I didn't bring anybody to Christ.
He saves His people. And that's what the emphasis
is here in verse 7. Look what verse 8 says. Who hath
heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall
the earth be made to bring forth in one day? I mean, when you
plant the seed and all of a sudden the harvest is in the same day.
Has anybody ever seen anything like that? Well, that's how God
says, if that happens, you know, it's God's work, don't you? You
can't attribute this to the brilliance of the farmer. If the harvest
comes in one day, that means it's God's work. And he says
in verse eight, shall a nation be born at once? An entire nation
simply be born at once? Well, yes. Yes. The whole nation of God's elect
was born in the travail of the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall see
the travail of his soul. And he shall be satisfied by
his knowledge. His knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. For he shall bear their iniquity.
Yes, a nation was born at once when the Lord Jesus said, It
is finished. The entire company, the entire
nation of God's elect was born at that time. Now let me back
this up with the Scripture. Would you turn with me to Ephesians
chapter 2? Hold your finger there in Isaiah 66. Ephesians 2. Verse 4. But God, Ephesians 2 verse 4,
but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith
he loved us even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us, hath birthed us, hath given us life. He hath quickened us
together with Christ. Now, do you know when I lived
before God? When Christ was raised from the dead. At that time,
Todd Nybert lived. That's my life. When he was raised
from the dead, I was raised with him. I was quickened together
with Christ. And my life is his life. Yes, a nation was born
at once. And you can't attribute this
to the church, can you? This is the work of the Lord. But
look what's said next. It's very different. Look what's
said next in verse 8. The last phrase for as soon as Zion prevailed. She brought forth her children. Now he speaks of travail, the
pain and the agony of childbirth, the pain and agony of the church,
as soon as Zion speaking of the church, that's what Zion is,
the church of the living God. As soon as Zion prevailed and
brought forth this agony. She brought forth her children.
Now, all of God's elect. Will be saved, you know, we have
that assurance, don't we? Everybody that Christ died for,
they're going to be saved, all the elect are going to be saved
and they're going to be saved through. He says here, the travail,
the agonizing travail of the church, they'll be saved through
the travail of God's people. We will be burdened for the salvation
of sinners. Now, I want to say this right. You know, in religion, and many
of you grew up in churches like this, where the main emphasis
in your average church is witnessing. Witness it. We need to witness.
We need to bring people to the Lord. We need to see people saved.
And there's such an emphasis on that. Everybody wants to be
used. I want to feel like God's using me. He's using me. I'm
feeling good about myself. I must be doing something right.
He's not using you. You must be doing something wrong. And
there's just a wrong emphasis on this thing of witnessing.
It's what you call proselytizing. Remember what the Lord said to
the Pharisees? You encompass sea and land to make one proselyte
to yourself. And when you've made him, you
make him sevenfold more the child of hell than yourself. Now, I
want to be very careful in talking about this because I don't want
us to get into this attitude of proselytizing and trying to
win people. That's not what we're about. We're about telling the truth.
Now, that being said, that being said, it's also of utmost importance. Our mission, our reason for being
here, our purpose for being here is to be his witness. That's
your main purpose. That's my main purpose for being
here on this earth. It's to be his witness. What was the last thing he said
to his disciples? You should be witnesses of me. And my purpose in whatever I'm
doing, my purpose is to be his witness, and I want to see men
and women brought to a knowledge of the Savior. Don't you want
to see people brought to a saving knowledge of Christ? I know you
do. And as soon as Zion prevailed, not before then, as soon as she
prevailed, I want to remind you and I want to remind myself that
our purpose every day is to be His witness. Is our Lord not
worthy of bearing witness to? Is His gospel not worthy of telling
everybody you care about? As soon as Zion prevailed, she
agonized. She's seeking the salvation of
souls. She's asking the Lord to save people. Hold your finger
there, Isaiah, and turn to Ezekiel 36. May the Lord deliver us from
a proselytizing spirit, but may the Lord deliver us from an apathetic
spirit about the salvation of souls. Oh, I want to see the
Lord bring people to the knowledge of Christ. And as soon as the
Zion prevailed, that had something to do with childbirth and agony
and pain. She brought forth her children. Not until then. Look
here now, Ezekiel 36, verse 36. Then the heathen that are left
round about you shall know that I, the Lord, build the ruined
places and plant that that was desolate. The Lord has spoken
and I will do it. Thus saith the Lord God. I will
yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it
for them. I'll increase them with men like
a flock. Now, are you inquiring of the
Lord to do this for you? This is this is what we're called
on as the Lord's witnesses to Lord. Enable me to be a faithful
witness of thy dear son. Increase us with men like a flock."
You know, the Lord, if He's pleased, He can make the Todd's Road Grace
Church have 10,000 of His elect here. He certainly can. He can
do it in a moment if He's pleased to do it. You know, when Peter
preached on Pentecost, 3,000 people were truly brought to
a saving knowledge of Christ in that day. Now, if there's
one, if the Lord's in it, it's successful. If there's one, numbers
really don't matter. If the truth is preached, that's
the measure of success. Not numbers, not how many people
are together, but if the truth is preached, there's our success.
But I pray the Lord will increase us with men like a flock, that
we might see men and women brought to bow the knee to the Lord Jesus
and find their complete all in Him. As soon as Zion prevailed,
she brought forth her children. Oh, that the Lord would make
us fishers of men. That's my purpose. That's your
purpose, just as much as it is my purpose. Didn't the Lord say,
follow me? And what else did he say? I'll
make you fishers of men. Let's go on reading verse nine.
Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth? Now
here we're reminded once again, this birthing, this giving of
life is God's work. Shall I bring to the birth and
shall I not cause to bring forth, saith the Lord? Shall I cause
to bring forth and shut the womb, saith my God? What I thought about when I thought
of that verse is Philippians 1.6, where Paul said, being confident
of this very thing, that He that hath begun this good work in
you, this good work of birthing, this good work of giving you
life, He'll perform it. He'll perform it. And to the
day of Jesus Christ, God will birth people into His kingdom,
and you and I are proof of that, aren't we? You know, the Lord,
until the last of the elect are saved, the Lord is still going
to be birthing people into His kingdom and bringing people to
a saving knowledge of His dear Son. So we read in verse 10,
Rejoice ye with Jerusalem. That's the church. That's God's
people. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye
that love her. Rejoice for joy with her, all
ye that mourn for her. Now the Lord is speaking to people
who love and are interested in His church. They love her. You know, we sing that song, I love
thy kingdom, Lord. And you know, I do. I love His
kingdom. I love His church. I love His
people. You know, we're taught to pray
our Father. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. We want his name to be glorified.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. We're looking
for the increase of his kingdom. We love his church. We love his
people. And we love God's people. And he says, you who mourn over
Jerusalem. There's a love there and there's
a mourning. there. And I thought that was,
I don't remember ever having noticed that verse of scripture
before, when he talks about those people who have this attitude
toward the church. First, they're to love her. Oh, how we are called
on to love one another, to forgive one another, to be an encouragement
one to another. And don't you love people who
love the Lord Jesus Christ? I'll tell you what, if you love
Christ, you're fine with me. That's I love folks who love
Christ. I really do. They're top drawer
to me. I mean that. If somebody loved
Jesus Christ, I love that person. He that loveth him that begat,
loveth also him that's begotten of him. We love the church of
the Lord Jesus Christ. But this passage of Scripture
says something about mourning over the church. Mourning over
the church. What's that all about? Well, if you love God's people,
you can't help, you can't keep from being grieved when you see
her in decline. I don't care if you're talking
about a church or if you're talking about individuals. You can't
help but grieve when you see God's people losing their first
love. Losing their zeal. losing their
desire to hear the gospel preached, where there's a hardening effect,
where you're hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. And
when someone becomes hard and they're just... worship is almost
a... just try to squeeze it in. It's not really their life. And
you mourn when you see people declining in the things of the
Lord, declining in their love, in their zeal, in their, that
first love. You know, there's nothing more
wonderful than first love. First love, that first love.
That's what the Lord rebuked the church at Ephesus about.
He said, you've left your first love. And how, how sad it is,
how we mourn when we see people decline in the things of the
Lord. And you know what I'm talking
about. And I hope if you're declining, you see it in yourself. And you
think, am I declining in the things of the Lord? Am I going
backwards instead of forwards? Am I becoming more of a discouragement
than an encouragement? Now, when you see that, you mourn,
don't you? It's a grievous thing. He says
you love Jerusalem, and yet you mourn for her. But He gives these
people who mourn some encouragement. He says in verse 10, He says,
Rejoice! Ye with Jerusalem, and be glad
with her, all ye that love her. Rejoice for joy with her, all
ye that mourn for her." Now, here's why we can rejoice even
if we're mourning. Salvation still of the Lord.
And He's going to save every one of His people. And they're
going to be made just like Christ. And we can rejoice even in our
mourning. I see things that I mourn over. But thank God, the Lord's
going to save His people. He's going to do his work. Verse 11. Rejoice that you may
suck and be satisfied with the breast of her consolation that
you may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.
Now, what is the consolation of the gospel? Now, when I'm
mourning over myself, when I'm mourning over my own, I got so
much about myself to mourn about and when I mourn over something
that I see in somebody in this assembly, It's always because
of a lack of something that's not right. There's a lack, something
that's missing. That's why you mourn. You mourn over your lack
of love, your lack of zeal, your lack of whatever the lack may
be. But here's the consolation of the gospel. Here's the comfort
of the gospel. It's found in Colossians 2, verse 10, and I
can, oh, this is the milk of consolation that comes from the
breasts of the gospel. Here it is, in him, Colossians
2, 9 and 10, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
in a body, and you are complete. I get such consolation from that.
I get such comfort from that. I am, whatever I may perceive
that I'm lacking, whatever I may perceive that you're lacking,
none of God's people lack. You are complete, lacking nothing. Now, you feel like you lack plenty,
don't you? But hear what God says, and this is the consolation
to the gospel. You are complete. You're plumb full. Nothing can
be added to you. You can't get any more saved
than you are. You can't get any more sanctified than you are.
You can't get any more holy than you are. You can't get any more
justified than you are. You are complete in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Do you find that consoling? That's such consolation in that
message. That's what a true believer finds
satisfaction in. I'm not looking for anything
else. I'm not looking for anything else. I am complete in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and I'm satisfied with that. That's why it says
that you may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolation,
that you may milk out and be delighted with the abundance
of her glory. For thus saith the Lord, verse
12, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river. You know that song, like a river
glorious is God's perfect peace? That comes from this verse of
Scripture. I will extend peace to her like a river. Now, hold
your finger there and turn with me to Romans, Chapter four. Here's
the peace that's being spoken of. Romans, Chapter four, the last
verse of Romans, Chapter four is talking about the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and it says he was delivered for our
offenses. That's why he died. And he was
raised again for our justification. Now I read here of offenses.
I know something about offenses. My sin. But it says he was delivered
from my sin. That's why I died on the cross.
But he was raised again for or because of our justification. Now here's where peace comes
from. His justifying work. When he was raised from the dead,
I was justified. Now, remember what justification
is. Justification means that I'm not guilty. It means that
I don't have anything to feel bad about. I don't have anything
to feel guilty about. I am just in God's sight. In God's sight, truly, I have
never sinned. How holy is Jesus Christ? How
pleasing to God is Jesus Christ? How accepted by God is Jesus
Christ? How just before God is Jesus
Christ? That is precisely how just I
am. That's so. Now, you want to talk
about peace. Because my justification, my
salvation, my acceptance before God was accomplished before I
was even born. It happened before I had any
works to mess it up. Accomplished by Christ. That's what gives me peace. A
salvation outside of my personal subjective experience. That's
what gives this sinner peace. I get such peace from that. What's
the evidence he did it for you? Here's my experience. My experience
is I believe on him and I get peace from what he did. He extends
peace like a river. Doesn't that give you peace to
know that He is your justification before God? You know, I love
the feeling of peace. I love feeling peace. It's a
wonderful feeling, isn't it? I hate turmoil. I hate doubt. But oh, how I love peace and
what peace there is and joy in believing. Believing that He
is my salvation before God. Wherefore, well, back to our
text in Isaiah 66. Oh, let me let me finish saying
Romans five. Therefore, he was delivered for
our fences and raised again for our justification. Therefore,
being justified, it reads literally having been justified. Having been justified. Since that's the case, by faith
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that's
the peace he's speaking of, that peace that Christ is my justification
before God. Now, back to our text in Isaiah
66. For thus saith the Lord, verse 12, I will extend peace
to her like a river and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing
stream. Then shall you suck. You shall
be born upon her sides. Your Lord here has compared Himself
to a mother. A mother holding a baby on His hip. And how the
Lord condescends to give us this imagery. And be dandled upon
her knees the way a mother dandles her baby on her knees and loves
her. Verse 13, As one whom his mother
comforteth, so will I comfort you, and you shall be comforted
in Jerusalem. There's nobody that can comfort.
like a mother. And the Lord compares himself
to a mother comforting his children. And what comfort there is in
the gospel. And you know the comfort that Isaiah is speaking
of. Turn over to Isaiah 40. Verse 1. Comfort ye. Comfort ye my people, sayeth
your God. Speak ye comfortably to the heart,
is what my margin says, to Jerusalem. And cry unto her, make sure she
hears this, that her warfare is accomplished and her iniquity
is pardoned. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins. Now, that's the comfort
of the gospel that all of God's people get to enjoy. And he says,
I comfort you as a mother comforts her kids. Verse 14, and when
you see this, your heart shall rejoice. Now,
does it rejoice your heart when you see that your sin is pardoned,
it's covered, it's gone? It rejoices my heart. Your bones shall flourish like
an herb you're going to grow and the hand of the Lord shall
be known toward his servants and his indignation toward his
enemies. Now, when you see this, the comforts
of the gospel, your heart will rejoice, you'll grow, you'll
be like a bone that will flourish when you see his mercy toward
his people and his indignation toward his enemies. Now, as we
prepare to partake of the Lord's table, May God give us grace to do this
in the comforts of the gospel, the consolations of the gospel. I don't know how many years I
dreaded the Lord's table. I did not enjoy partaking of
the Lord's table because I thought of that scripture, it says, he
that eats or drinks unworthily is guilty of the body and blood
of the Lord. And I was always scared to death that I was doing
it unworthily. Remember. What we're doing is
saying we deserve to be damned and he took our place. And we
are rejoicing in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as we partake
of this Lord's table, this the broken body, the wrath he endured.
The that's the bread, the wine, his blood, that's the salvation
he procured. And this is a celebration. We do this with peace and we
do this with joy. Now, if you're not fit to take
the Lord's table, you're not fit to die, are you? Not really. What is the requirement
to take the Lord's table? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the only requirement. If I said anything else, I'd
be wrong. Faith in Christ. Do you believe
that His broken body and His shed blood actually accomplished
the salvation of all who believe? Do you really believe that? Then rejoice. Rejoice. This is a celebration, and we
do so in the consolation and the comfort of the gospel. Remember,
because of His shed blood and His broken body, you are complete
in Him. Let's pray.