Turn with me, if you will, to Isaiah chapter 29, starting in verse 22. Therefore, thus says the Lord who redeemed Abraham concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now turn pale. But when he sees his children, the work of my hands in his midst, they will sanctify my name. Indeed, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. Those who err in mind will know the truth, and those who criticize will accept instruction. Let us pray. Our dear Heavenly Father, we do indeed pray that you would make these promises true to us because we Lord are the seed of Jacob. And we lift these things up to you in the name of Jesus. Amen. Therefore, therefore, this passage begins with therefore, which means that we need to take a recap of the previous teaching. Basically, what's happened is that God has delivered His people from the hands of the wicked. He has promised that the wicked will not prevail over them, that He will bring restoration to them, and that He will prevail over their enemies. And not only that, but He will make all things plain to them. He will give them understanding. He will cause them to be able to understand the things that they have gone through. THIS HAD TO HAVE BEEN VERY IMPORTANT TO THE PEOPLE IN ISAIAH'S DAY BECAUSE THEY'RE LIVING IN A TIME OF DARKNESS. THEY ARE HEADING FOR JUDGEMENT. IT IS A JUDGEMENT THAT IS INEXORABLE. THERE'S NOTHING THAT'S GOING TO STOP THIS JUDGEMENT FROM TAKING PLACE. THEY MUST GO THROUGH THE JUDGEMENT. AND YET THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING THERE IS TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT IT. THEY HAVE THE WORD OF GOD. THE WORD OF GOD TEACHES THEM WHAT THE COVENANT IS, WHAT THE CONDITIONS OF THE COVENANT IS, WHAT THE BLESSINGS OF THE COVENANT ARE, AND WHAT THE CURSES OF THE COVENANT ARE. THERE IS THE ASSURANCE FROM ANCIENT TIMES THAT THEY WILL GO INTO EXILE AND BE JUDGED BY GOD. THERE ARE SOME WHO UNDERSTAND THIS. MOST DON'T. Most don't understand it. They can read it, but they can't understand it. As we've seen, the book is sealed to them. The vision of the promises is unknown to them and is unknowable to them. They are as illiterate people, unable to actually make out the words and the sentences and the phrases and the syntax and so forth. They are like drunken people. THEY REEL ABOUT. THEY DON'T HAVE THEIR COGNIZANCE ABOUT THEM AND SO FORTH. ALL OF THIS IS IN SPIRITUAL LANGUAGE SPEAKING TO THEM ABOUT THEIR CONDITION BEFORE THE LORD IN THIS TIME. AND YET A PROMISE IS COMING TO THEM THAT IT'S NOT ALWAYS GOING TO BE THAT WAY. And understand this about that promise. It's not a promise of better, brighter days. It's not a promise of things being better, there being no enemies, building big golden cities, having lots of green grass, or if you're Jehovah's Witness in their literature, yellow grass. Have you ever seen those flyers they have? All the grass is yellow. I don't get that. But anyway. And, you know, all the supposed paradise that's supposed to take place there. No, that's not going to be the condition. The condition of the better, the condition of the improved, of the restoration is one that's in here. It's in the heart. It's in the mind. That's where the restoration takes place. That's always been the case. That's always been the issue. Ever since the law was given and actually since the fall itself, but particularly seen in the fall, in the law. The problem is the heart. The problem is not the ability to go through the letter and to be able to give some kind of exterior display of your ability to do some kind of obedience to laws and precepts and so forth. That's not ever been the issue. The issue was always in the heart because the law penetrated the heart. The law wasn't just something that rested upon the things they were to do. The law said something to them about what they were to be. It told them that they were not only to be obedient to the things that God had told them to do, but that that obedience was to be an obedience of joy, an obedience of gladness. They were to obey God and like it. And so it penetrated to the heart. Throughout the law you see this celebration. You are to celebrate the Lord. You are to love the Lord. You are to be glad in these things. You are to have joy in these things. Obedience is not full obedience until there's joy. Now we can go through, we can go through the physical motions of obeying. And every parent in here knows this at some level. You know, you've told your children that before. It's not just that you just go through the motions of doing what I tell you to do. Do you have an honor in it? Is it something you enjoy doing? If not, it's not complete. Obedience to precept is not finished until it's finished. in joy, in gladness, in love for the Lord, in adoration to Him, and in gratitude. If those are not the fruits of obedience, obedience has not gone its full length yet. The heart is at issue here. And so, from the very beginning, God says to them, your hearts have got to be circumcised. Well now, historically, we're approaching that time when He is going to fulfill this. Now, it was fulfilled in individuals here and there in Israel. But now he's going to do it and begin to gather his body of redeemed people together so that their hearts may knit together with one another. That they're not just an individual bunch of coals that are going out because they don't have one another to keep them hot and alive, alright. So therefore, therefore, therefore, these things you must have. Therefore, thus says the Lord who redeemed Abraham. The covenant Lord, we talked about Him this morning. He is Jesus in our time on this side of the incarnation. The covenant Lord is Yahweh. This is the antecedent of the sentence. The Lord, hang on to that because that's important. Whenever you see that, He is at the priority in this verse. He is at top priority here. The Lord, You know, it says in the American Standard Translation, therefore thus says the Lord. But Lord comes before what He says. Pay attention to the Lord. He is about to speak. The Lord is going to address. Hear Him. The Lord, and who is He going to address? To the house of Israel, of Jacob. To the house of Jacob. HE WHO REDEEMED ABRAHAM." All right? The order in American Standard is, WHO REDEEMED ABRAHAM CONCERNING THE HOUSE OF JACOB. THOSE PHRASES NEED TO BE FLIPPED AROUND, BECAUSE THE FIRST PHRASE HERE IS, TO THE HOUSE OF JACOB, AS IF HE IS MAKING AN ADDRESS. THE LORD SPEAKS, WHO DOES HE SPEAK TO? TO THE HOUSE OF JACOB. All right? and Abraham the redeemed is hanging on that. Alright, it's modifying that. So, have that straight in your mind and you get the idea of what the order of priorities are in this phraseology. Who's the house of Jacob? The house of Jacob is the whole house of Jacob, the redeemed who are heirs of the promise. They are the offspring of Jacob. They will be the physical offspring of Jacob for a long time. BUT THERE IS AN OFFSPRING OF JACOB WITHIN THAT OFFSPRING OF JACOB, AND THAT'S THE ONE THAT WE REALLY WANT TO PAY ATTENTION TO. BUT THEY'RE CONNECTED TO THE REDEMPTION OF ABRAHAM, CONNECTED TO HIM. THEREFORE, THEY ARE HEIRS TO THE PROMISE BY FAITH. AND REMEMBER, ABRAHAM STANDS IN A SORT OF FEDERAL POSITION AS THE RECEIVER OF THE PROMISE. And righteousness has been imputed to him because of his faith. Therefore, this is going to be the pattern for redemption and it always had been up to this point. But for the covenant people, this is going to be revealed as the pattern of salvation. Now, let me say again, it always had been. Abel had to come to Him by faith. We see this in Hebrews chapter 11. But now in the time of Abraham where the promises are being revealed, the covenant is being brought together, God brings that out in bold relief. And Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness. Therefore, he is the holder of the promise. He is the one who holds the promise. And this is typological. Because Jesus is now the one who holds the promise. He now stands in the place of Abraham. He is the one who is the holder of the covenant and it has been committed to him. So Abraham has been redeemed. What does that mean? For the sake of Abraham the redeemed. He is separated, first of all, he was separated from paganism. He was originally an heir of the Chaldees, which was a part of the Akkadian Empire at that time. It was a completely pagan place in Mesopotamia. God came to, visited him there and had him move from there. He moves to Haran, where Syria will be someday. And from Haran, he moves down to Canaan, all right? but he's separated out of paganism. But he's not only separated out of it geographically, but in the course of this journey and in the journey of his life, he is separated out from paganism in the heart as well. In other words, God turns him from the attention that he's played upon false religion in the past and now begins to direct his focus by faith on the only true God, the Maker and the Sovereign and the Covenant Giver. and that's him. And so that's where Abraham's attention is being brought to. If you study the life of Abraham, it is the study of God's workmanship and development in his life of faith, in his life of faith. That's the key thing right there because that is what's going to hold him to that covenant which is so precious to him, to his people, to his seed, to Jesus, to us. The promise is given to him. He is the bearer of the promise by faith. Throughout the Old Covenant period, he is the bearer of the promise by faith. This is why it becomes so important to the Jews later on to say that they are the sons of Abraham because they are not only the sons of Abraham, but they are laying claim to being the heirs to all of the promises of the Covenant. They don't want to reject the thing that Esau rejected for a bowl of soup. For a bowl of soup, He rejected the covenant. He rejected everything having to do with it, which includes salvation. All that for something really cheap. And by the way, in my experience in dealing with people throughout my life, I have found that most people who reject God do it for something really, really cheap. It's never some high thing. It's always something low, which is why Paul can come along and say that they make God their bellies. It's just that low, all right? Nobody goes to hell for high reasons. No one does. You know, you crawl into hell, so to speak, on your belly. So for the sake of Abraham, the redeemed, God is speaking to the house of Jacob, to the house of Jacob. THE PROMISE IS TO ABRAHAM'S SEED. IT IS TO HIS SEED. TURN WITH ME, IF YOU WILL, TO HEBREWS CHAPTER 6. WHEN WE GET INTO THE COVENANT, WHEN WE GET INTO ABRAHAM, WHEN WE GET INTO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE COVENANT AND ABRAHAM AND OURSELVES AND THE PROMISES AND HOW THEY TRANSLATE THROUGH JESUS AND ALL OF THESE KIND OF THINGS, THAT'S WHAT HEBREWS IS THERE FOR. Hebrews takes that and it re-or it interprets it by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It interprets it through Jesus, through Jesus Christ, which is a good clue to how to deal with Scripture. If you're kind of a beginning in Bible study or something like this, this is a freebie while you're looking it up. If you're just beginning in Bible study or something like that, get to know your Old Testament. Know your Old Testament well. If you don't know your Old Testament, you don't know the Bible. It doesn't matter how much New Testament you know. You don't know the Bible. If you don't know the Old Testament, you need to be an expert in the Old Testament. You need to study it real hard, get really good at it, know what the major themes of it are, how it is that it points to Christ. And as you pass through Christ and His incarnation into the New Testament, what do you find them doing in the New Testament, referring back to Old Testament Scripture and referring it to Christ? And this is how they are exegeting Scripture, alright? That's a model to us. This is the way we handle Scripture. This is covenant theology. This is the progressive revelation of the covenant. These things, they come out of this pattern, this right division of the Word of Truth. So, Hebrews is a great book for teaching us a lot about how to deal with the Scriptures. because in it we see so much Old Testament being interpreted through Christ. Hebrews 6, verse 13. We're talking about the promise to Abraham's seed here. For when God made the promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, saying, and here's the promise. By the way, you listen to this promise. This is yours. Do you know that? This promise belongs to all those who are redeemed as Abraham was redeemed. So, here's your promise right here. Hold on to it. I will surely bless you. You feel surely blessed? You don't have to be named Shirley. Are you blessed? I mean, are you certainly blessed by Him? Is it really so? Or, you know, do you just think you get blessed every now and then? Or do you see your life as a life of continual blessing? because that is to be so in the life of the Christian. I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply you. Are you certainly being multiplied? Now this refers to the individual, and it refers to the church, and it's more conditional on the individual. But on the church, as it marches through the ages, it's not conditional. THIS IS A PROMISE. THIS HAS BEEN HAPPENING EVER SINCE THIS WAS SAID TO ABRAHAM. IT'S BEEN HAPPENING EVER SINCE. AND IT IS PARTICULARLY HAPPENING SINCE JESUS CAME INTO THIS WORLD. HE IS SURELY BLESSING HIS CHURCH. HE IS SURELY MULTIPLYING HIS CHURCH. WHEN IS HE GOING TO STOP DOING THAT? HOW LONG DOES HE DO IT BEFORE HE QUITS? Right about the time that somebody in Eastern Europe starts, you know, stirring up that he's the Antichrist, and we can trace his name, 666, all right? That's about the time that all this has got to come to a stop, okay? Because after that, it all just takes a nosedive, right? Right on into the Great Tribulation. Now, he's saying it is a certainty. This blessing and this multiplication is a certainty. It goes on. It doesn't stop. It does not stop until it's time for the end of the world to come. And that end of the world is not an end of the world in defeat. It is an end of the world in victory. a victory that ultimately ends in victory over death itself. Verse 15, and so having patiently waited, this is Abraham, he patiently waited. How patiently did he wait? You know, from the time that he first received the covenant until Isaac was born was about 25 years. So for a quarter of a century, he's waiting and waiting. And what's he waiting on? I mean, it would have been right there when he first got the covenant, it would have been a pretty good time, you know, for Sarah to, you know, become expectant. I mean, she's 65 years old, but hey, you know, we could just get this to work here. 25 years goes by. And by the time that time has gone by, all hope of her becoming expectant with child is gone, known on earth. She's dead for all intents and purposes with respect to childbirth. All right? It's all over. That's exactly what God wanted to do. That was exactly where he wanted, the extent to which he wanted to test the faith of Abraham. This promised child will come. And so he waited patiently. Are you waiting patiently? You waiting patiently on the thing that God has promised to you? He obtained the promise. He obtained it. Why not? God is faithful. HE'S ALWAYS GOING TO GIVE TO HIS PEOPLE WHAT HE HAS PROMISED TO GIVE TO THEM. FOR MEN SWEAR BY ONE GREATER THAN THEMSELVES, AND WITH THEM AN OATH GIVEN AS CONFIRMATION IS AN END OF EVERY DISPUTE. YOU KNOW, BASICALLY WHAT HE'S SAYING HERE IS, IN THE MANNER OF MAN, WHAT HAPPENS? YOU KNOW, WE SWEAR OATHS TO EACH OTHER. And that's it. The dispute is over. Witnesses hear it, the whole nine yards, it's an established thing. If that's true with us, how much more with God? And yet, think about this for a minute. If God says, I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you. Actually, He could have left the word surely out. He could have said, I will bless you, I will multiply you. He could have said it casually. He could have just dropped by with Abraham for a couple of minutes, Don't have a lot of time here. I've just got to let you know one thing. I'm going to bless you. I'm going to multiply you. Bye. He's gone. Okay? Nice and casual. How certain would his word be? Just as certain. Just as certain. Why? Because he said it. But because of the infirmity of man, he swore an oath to him. He makes a demonstration for him in order that man will hear it in his own way. And so he swears an oath to him by himself because there was nobody greater than himself to swear by. Therefore, by his own name, he swore an oath to him. In the same way, God desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose interposed with an oath so that by two unchangeable things, the fact that He said it in the first place and then swore by it and swore by Himself by it to make it to men more certain in our minds, not that it's more certain that He would do it, but in our minds it would be made more certain. by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie. I love the impossibilities of God. And here's one of them right here. It is impossible for God to lie. Our faith hangs on that impossibility. Our faith hangs on it. If God could lie, we would not know what to believe. And we would have no basis whatsoever for anything that we say. There would be no absolutes. God would be a relativistic God. God would be obliterate. He would obliterate Himself. It is impossible for Him to lie. When He, as it were, exerts Himself to say something, the surety of that thing is surety itself because God cannot lie. So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie. We who have taken refuge, isn't that interesting? What are we taking refuge in? We are taking refuge in the fact that He is totally faithful. That He will not turn on us. That His promises are sure. That is a refuge. That is a security for us. It's based on all that He is, all that He claims to be. This is the basis right here of our faith, of our hope, of everything. We live by this. This is our living being here. We breathe this. We eat it. We drink it. So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement. We could have enough encouragement if He just casually told us, I will bless you, I will multiply you. But because He has He has added in demonstration to us this contract arrangement with us, this oath that He's given to us by swearing by His own name. We have strong encouragement, strong encouragement to take hold of the hope that is set before us. You know, as we were talking about this morning in affliction, do you know that you're going to find in affliction there is never a place? You're a Christian, right? You're going to find in affliction there is never a place when there is no hope. There is no hopeless situation for a Christian. Never! Never is there a hopeless situation. This is a hope that with strong encouragement we can take a hold of because it is ever set before us, always set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul. Boy, an anchor is a very important thing to people who are on ships. especially when they're getting close to the shoals. They want to make sure that that ship doesn't keep moving on right on into the shoals and wrecking. You want an anchor that holds into something that is firm. You want it to dig in so that it will stop, so that it will give the security and that will give the safety that is needed. And our hope is like an anchor to the soul. A hope both sure and steadfast. And watch this. Watch this. This passes right out of the Old Covenant and right into the New. And one that enters within the veil. We have a hope that enters within the veil. What does that mean? That can only mean one thing. It can only mean that Jesus has been atoned for us. And that's the source of this hope here. Where Jesus has entered, verse 20, as a forerunner for us having become high priests forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Oh man, that's good stuff. That's great stuff. Because you know what? That is the basis of our surety in all the promises that he has given to us in covenant. Now he renews this promise. He's talking, this covenant Lord is talking to the house of Jacob who redeemed Abraham and says to him, not now, and that's the order that it is in Hebrew. Not now. He wants to make sure that you get that down first. Not now. Not now shall Jacob be ashamed. Not now. He's been ashamed before. He's been in reproach before, but not now. Not now shall Jacob be ashamed." This is a designation that from this time on, from this place where God has seen fit that this restoration is going to take place, from that place on, no more will Jacob be ashamed. Not now shall Jacob be ashamed, nor shall his face now turn pale." And notice that he's not saying here that his face will flush red out of embarrassment. The shame here is a deep shame. This isn't embarrassment. This is a shame that doesn't bring the blood to the face. This is the shame that drains the blood out of the face. This is a shame that is tantamount to damnation. And he's saying, Jacob will never have to worry about this kind of shame. Now, Jacob never worried about his own damnation. That's not our point. Because what is Jacob doing, as we're gonna see here in a minute, he's not looking at himself, he's looking at his seed. And is he gonna be ashamed when he sees his seed? And we'll talk about that in just a minute. So he says he will not be ashamed and his face will not grow pale. The Lord will indeed fulfill his promise to Jacob's seed. God has made this promise to Jacob's seed. I will surely bless you and surely multiply you, which is what he said to Abraham. Now it's passed to Isaac. Now it's passed to Jacob. I will surely multiply you. I will surely bless you. He has made this promise to him. It is sure. It is certain. God Himself has walked through the sacrifice to prove not only two things by walking between the pieces of the sacrifice. God has proved two things. Number one, He has said, if I do not keep the promise, may this happen to me. And secondly, He's saying, and this will happen to the incarnate Son of God. He will walk between the sacrifice in order that this may take place. The Lord will indeed fulfill this promise. Not only would there be many in the house of Jacob, but they would be made holy and not bring reproach anymore upon their fathers. Jacob will not be ashamed. nor shall his face now turn pale, because his children will be seen." They will be seen. What does it mean to be ashamed? To be ashamed. Only the wicked are ashamed, ultimately. You might say, well, you know, I get ashamed sometimes. Not ultimately. Not if you're a child of God. Ultimately, you will not be ashamed. The wicked get ashamed. Well, I don't know. The wicked get honors. They get the Nobel Prize. Actually, I think that's a shame. They get money. They prosper. They become famous. But ultimately, they will get shamed. Psalm 3117, let me not be put to shame, O Lord, for I call upon you. Those who call upon the name of the Lord will not be ashamed. Now, there's going to be hard times in your life. There are going to be embarrassing times in your life. There are going to be times when people are going to have to correct you in your life. There's going to be times when you are going to be embarrassed from time to time, and needfully so. But ultimately, when you pass on into glory with Him, there will be no shame. When you stand before God and Jesus stands there in your stead, there will be no shame. Do not put me to shame, O LORD, for I call upon You." Let the wicked be put to shame. Let them be silent in Sheol. Let me tell you that on the Day of Judgment when God deals with the wicked, He is going to reveal to them everything they have ever done. He is going to dredge up every nasty thing that has ever come out of their minds, out of their feelings, out of their expectations and everything and lay it out before them. And they will not answer Him back because they will have no answer for Him whatsoever. They will be silenced in the Day of Judgment in their shame. and as they pass on below Sheol the grave into Sheol hell. But not so his people. His people will not be ashamed. In Isaiah 26 verse 11, The heirs of the promise answer back. God says, not now shall Jacob be ashamed, for nor shall his face now be pale. And in Isaiah 26, 11, it's as if his people answer back, oh Lord, your hand is lifted up yet. They, the wicked, do not see it. They see your zeal for the people and are put to shame. Indeed, fire will devour your enemies. That's the shame. That's the shame. Now, with an individual Christian, this is not unconditional. As far as your salvation is concerned, it is unconditional. But as far as our treatment of it in our sanctified lives are concerned, we are constantly coming to the Lord, as in Psalm 119.31, saying, I cling to your testimonies. Oh, Lord, Do not put me to shame. Pray it daily. I cling to your testimonies. I meditate upon your law day and night. This is not something for the casual person. Don't presume that you will not be ashamed if you do nothing whatsoever in your life, in your sanctified life. If you do nothing, if you just sit back and wait and think for some reason or another, the deal's been done. Fruit must be born and that fruit must be vindicated. We're not working for our salvation, but we work after our salvation. We work out our salvation. The person who is not seeking his testimonies, the person who is not calling upon his name, There is no assurance for you that you will not be ashamed, none. And check yourself out on that. What is my life like? Is my life a fervent quest for the Lord? And I'm not saying perfect, not by any means, but you know, is the Lord pursuing me? Am I indeed pursuing His word, pursuing His testimonies? Or do I not care? The days, weeks, months, years go by, and I don't even give it a thought. I don't even give it a thought. You may be ashamed. You may be ashamed. Because the Lord, when he brings a person to life, that person begins to behave like him. Why will Jacob be unashamed? Why? Verse 23, because he's gonna see his children. He's going to see his children. What does it mean for Jacob to see his descendants? Does that mean that he sees, you know, that he's there and he's got the grandbabies on his knee and maybe the great grandbabies? That was good. I got to see four generations. I got to see five generations and you die, okay? And that's a great thing. It really is a great thing, but that's not what he's talking about. He's not talking about seeing just a few descendants in his own life. He's talking about seeing his descendants from the time of his life until the end of the world. Jacob seeing his descendants from then on. That's the only way that Jacob's going to see his descendants without shame. I mean if he has to look at his descendants in his own day, you know Judah's HE'S NOT EXACTLY GOING TO GIVE HIM A LOT TO BE PROUD ABOUT, OKAY? THERE'S A LOT OF PROBLEMS HERE. HE'S GOT BROTHERS WHO ARE WILLING TO KILL A BROTHER AND THEN SELL HIM OFF INTO SLAVERY IN EGYPT AND SO FORTH. AND I DON'T THINK THAT'S WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT HERE. JACOB IS GOING TO SEE HIS DESCENDANTS. BUT WHEN HE SEES HIS CHILDREN... AND REMEMBER, ISAIAH IS TALKING HERE. AND HE'S TALKING PROPHETICALLY HERE. AND HE'S TAKING THIS MAN JACOB AND HE'S BRINGING HIM AS IT WERE INTO HIS OWN TIME. AND HE'S SAYING, THIS JACOB IS GOING TO SEE HIS CHILDREN. AND BECAUSE HE'S GOING TO SEE HIS CHILDREN, HE WILL NOT BE ASHAMED. HOW DOES HE SEE HIS DESCENDANTS? HE SEES HIS DESCENDANTS BY FAITH THROUGH CHRIST'S OWN EYES. THROUGH CHRIST'S OWN EYES. In Christ, Jacob has descendants. And these descendants of Jacob's are Christ's own descendants. They are His. Turn with me to Isaiah 53, 10 through 12. Isaiah 53, 10. But the Lord was pleased to crush Jesus. And that's who we're talking about here. This is that great messianic Isaiah 53. The Lord, Jehovah, was pleased to crush Jesus, putting Him to grief. SINCE HE WOULD RENDER HIMSELF AS A GUILT OFFERING. SO HE'S BASICALLY SAYING OF JESUS, HE HAS GIVEN HIMSELF OVER FREELY TO BE A GUILT OFFERING FOR HIS PEOPLE. AND BECAUSE OF THIS, BECAUSE HE HAS GIVEN HIMSELF TO BE A GUILT OFFERING, HE WILL SEE HIS SEED. HE WILL SEE HIS SEED. HE WILL PROLONG HIS DAYS. and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand." What pleasure is that? It pleased the Lord to crush Jesus. How did it please the Lord to crush Him? Because in doing so it brought satisfaction which reconciled His people to Himself. Jesus was pleased to be crushed. Why? Because it was His meat to do the will of His Father. And because of this divine and eternal transaction which took place between the Father and the Son, He died on the cross, crushed by God, murdered by men, a sacrifice of a guilt offering. AND IT IS ON THE BASIS OF THIS THAT HE WILL SEE HIS SEED. JOHN 17, ALL THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN TO ME, AND HE'S TALKING ABOUT ALL OF THOSE, ALL OF THOSE IN THE PAST AND HIS DISCIPLES AND ALL OF THOSE ELECT IN HIS TIME AND ALL THE ELECT IN TIME TO COME. ALL THOSE YOU HAVE GIVEN TO ME, I HAVE, AND HE SPEAKS HERE ANTICIPATORILY, I HAVE NOT LOST ONE OF THEM. I have not lost one of them." That's you and me, the seed of Jacob. And you see, it wasn't enough for him to make these promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But this atonement, this guilt offering had to take place in order that he could secure for us these promises. Do you know that once he made these promises to bless, once he made these promises to multiply, Jesus was bound like a lamb to the horns of the altar. From that point on, actually from before eternity, bound to the horns of the altar. He must now die. And so he was born to die. Why? So that God could fulfill these promises to us. And I say this thing to you because, A, we need to know the promises. You need to be able to just rattle them off. What promises has He given to you in covenant? And not only that, but you need to know there is no way those promises can be broken. There's no way. There's no way. You know what that'll do to your prayer life? All of a sudden, you start praying with expectation. You know what that does to how you raise your children? All of a sudden, the work that you do in the raising of your children starts having meaning. All of a sudden, fruit starts to come forth in your works. Because God begins to bless you more and more. Why? Because you are believing in Him. You are believing in His promises. And there isn't any reason not to. You know, the promises are going to be fulfilled whether you like it or not, or whether you believe it or not, or whether you're even checking it out to see whether it's going to happen. It's going to happen. His promises will be fulfilled. Why? Because they come out of the heart of a loving and a merciful God as we've seen already. And also, the surety of His oath that He made upon His own name and that He has sent His Son into this world to be a guilt offering in order that He might make good on those promises. If Jesus hadn't come into the world, could He bless us? No. Could He multiply us? No. He could only do that. through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. Back to Isaiah 53, verse 11. As a result of the anguish of His soul, of the soul of Jesus, He will sit and be satisfied. This is atonement. This is the language of atonement here. Jesus has been crushed. The burden of the guilt of mankind placed upon Him. All the way to His death He has been crushed. And yet, in seeing the anguish of his soul, he's satisfied. It is satisfactory to God. This work that Jesus did is so perfect that when he presents his blood to him behind the veil, as we've seen already, when he presents his blood to him, there's no way in the world that God is not going to give Jesus everything he wants for life and godliness to all of those who belong to him. So that that entire prayer in John chapter 17, God says, yes, yes, yes, yes. And not only does he say yes, but he says yes now. Yes now, yes now to Jesus. He never refuses his son anything in his prayer. And Jesus prayed for you and for me. He prayed for you and he prayed for me. AND THAT PRAYER CANNOT BE REFUSED. THEREFORE, I WILL ALLOT HIM A PORTION WITH THE GREAT. I WILL GIVE HIM AN INHERITANCE. HE WILL BE THE KING OF KINGS. HE WILL BE THE LORD OF LORDS. HE WILL HAVE ALL AUTHORITY IN HEAVEN AND EARTH AND UNDER THE EARTH AS WE SEE IN EPHESIANS CHAPTER 1. HE WILL HAVE ALL AUTHORITY WHATSOEVER. THAT IS THE EXTENT OF HIS INHERITANCE. And not only will I give an inheritance to him, a portion to him, but he will divide the spoil of it with the strong." All of the blessings of the covenant now come into Christ. All of the promises are given to Him. He is the only Israel left. And in Him, all of the promises to Israel are given. And since all of the promises are given to Him, He dispenses the promises as He will. He divides the spoil with the strong. those whom he has made strong. That's us. All of the promises are given to you, to us. And why? Because he poured out himself like a drink offering on a burnt sacrifice, which he was the burnt sacrifice. In other words, he poured his blood out upon his own flesh, which was being seared by the wrath of God. A wrath that was deserving of your sin and my sin, which was laid upon him. Our guilt laid upon him. He was the drink offering that was poured out. Poured out. because he poured himself out to death and was numbered with the transgressors. There were three crosses up there that are recorded to us. Jesus and two others. And of those three, look what it says, he was numbered with the transgressors, yet he himself bore the sin of many. He himself bore the sin of many. I see three crosses up there. Only one of them is bearing the sins of many. In fact, one of those crosses up there is bearing the sins of one of those other crosses. Only one. There is only one altar. There is only one sacrifice. There is only one atonement for His people. And He interceded for the transgressors. And not only did He intercede with His blood, bringing His sacrifice into the presence of God. Acceptable to Him. and Him satisfied with it. Not only did He do that, but took His blood into the presence of God, but He continually intercedes for us. It is as if His blood is still distilling for us, His people. In other words, it is as if it is continually being shed. for the sins of his people. That's a picture that you see in Revelation where it says the lamb, you know, as of a lamb who is slain, all right? And so his intercession is the ongoing effect. of the shedding of His blood. It's not that His blood had one effect for one time. It is an effect that just keeps on going on for His people forever. So that every time you pray and ask for forgiveness of sin, that blood is there. That blood is there. Constantly He is interceding for us. HE WILL SEE HIS SEED, THE WORK OF MY HANDS," GOD'S TALKING HERE, THE RESULT OF GOD'S REDEMPTIVE WORK. HE'S NOT JUST TALKING ABOUT THE CREATION OF HIS PHYSICAL CHILDREN. HE'S SAYING THESE ARE THE RESULT OF HIS REDEMPTIVE WORK. GOD HAS DONE A WORK IN THEIR HEARTS BY THE SPIRIT. EPHESIANS 2 TEN SAYS, FOR WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP CREATED IN CHRIST JESUS UNTO GOOD WORKS WHICH GOD HATH BEFORE ORDAINED THAT WE SHOULD WALK IN THEM. The work of my hands in His midst, what does that mean? It means that even though there are many sons of Jacob out there within that, within those sons of Jacob, there are those who are truly His promised seeds, truly His promised seeds. There have been many sons of Jacob. There have been myriad sons of Jacob. But there are those within that. We're not talking about physical seed here. We're talking about that faith, that seed which is through faith as the faith of Abraham. So he's referring to the remnant. This is what Isaiah has been talking about throughout here. The seed of a remnant that is the seed of Jacob. And not only that, but the in-gathering adoption of the Gentiles. And that's us, most of us. THEY WILL SANCTIFY MY NAME." AND HERE'S THE REAL REASON WHY JACOB'S NOT GOING TO BE ASHAMED. WHEN HE SEES HIS CHILDREN, HE'S GOING TO SEE, THEY WILL SANCTIFY THE NAME OF THE LORD. WHAT DID MOST OF THE SONS OF JACOB DO HISTORICALLY? THEY BLASPHEMED HIS NAME, FOLLOWED AFTER IDOLS. WELL, THE DAY IS GOING TO COME WHEN JACOB WILL NO LONGER HAVE TO BE ASHAMED IN A PICTURE. When He will look at His seed and He will see them sanctifying the name of the Lord. Now, you know, we can't sanctify God as He sanctifies us and draws us out of the world. But we in our minds and our hearts can sanctify His name from all other names in this world. There is no other name by which man can be saved but by the name of Jesus. And in that we can sanctify His name before us and see Him and Him only, that one cross right there, as our only redemption. He is our only God. He is the one that we adore. Indeed, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, this One who is utterly distinct from all creatures, the God of gods who is totally, absolutely separated from evil. He is the Holy One of Israel. Holiness is what is most basically described of God in the Old Testament. He is holy. Holy and God are one. He is the Holy One of Jacob. And the God of Israel, notice these changes from His old name, Jacob the Trickster, to Israel the Prince. Not only to bring forth the man himself, but the nation. A transformation which had taken place in the life of Jacob, if you think back about it, where at Bethel, he wrestles God until he can say to God, I will not let you go. until you bless me." And then he's Israel, the one who has prevailed with God. Not that God is not as strong as Jacob, not by any means. But that finally, after all the years of chicanery, he finally gets it. It has finally been put into his heart because God has taught it into his heart. I need your blessing, and I will not let you go until you bless me. Is that how you pray? Is that how you pray? Do you come to him in prayer and say, well, Lord, give me this, that, and the other hand, and thank you very much. In the name of Jesus, we pray, man. Or do you come into your prayer saying, I will not let you go until you bless me. Bless me, O Lord. Why? Because what is my life without the blessing of the Lord? I am nothing without your blessing. Bless me, Lord. Multiply me in accordance with your promises, because you have sworn by your own name so to do. Verse 24, those who wander in spirit will know, that is, they will have perception, they will have understanding. This is Matthew 13 language, so to speak. Who bears fruit? The seed enters into the heart of a man and who bears fruit? The one who understands. The one who understands. And he says here, those who wander in spirit, those who have a wandering spirit, the spirit wanderers. Okay, this isn't, you know, Native American stuff or anything like this. Although it could be in a way, I mean, you know, because that would be about the same effect, wandering around, you know, not getting anywhere. But I'll tell you in a minute what this means. They will have perception. See, here's the transformation. The one who wanders in spirit does not have perception, does not have understanding. The one who murmurs is not learning doctrine. But what he's saying is the one who is wandering in spirit will understand. They will be given wisdom. The one who murmurs will learn doctrine. the nature of that person will change. And that's what he's talking about here when he says those who wander in spirit. It is a nature in man to be a wanderer in spirit. And it begins with the fear of the Lord. The God of Israel, they will fear. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and understanding and wisdom and all of those things. And so those who fear the Lord, even though they once wandered in spirit, they will know Look at James chapter 1 because this really, this really brings it home. James 1, verse 5. If any of you lacks wisdom, stop. Alright, who's that? That's me. I can tell you that right now. How about you? Is that you? Does anybody in this room lack wisdom? Yes, you do. Does that mean you don't have wisdom? We have it. We have wisdom. What is wisdom? Wisdom is the experience of the Word of God. Basically, it is how we learn to apply His Word. And that can only be done when the Holy Spirit teaches that to us because He is the applicator. So not only does He teach us from His Word doctrine, and we're not talking necessarily theoretical doctrine, But it's gotta be a doctrine that actually is completed when the grease hits the squeak. In other words, it has to become practical. It has to become applicable. It has to be a part of your life. God works the knowledge from His Word into your life. And so bears fruit. There's where wisdom comes from. But in every situation that you're in, you're going to find yourself lacking in wisdom. Lacking in this wisdom or that wisdom. So you come into a circumstance, problem, something of some sort and you find that you lack wisdom. You know, the first great thing that happens is that we admit it. We admit that we lack wisdom. How many people can do that? You know, most people get so hung on their experience or they worship themselves through their experience so much that they can never, ever, really, truly, from the heart admit, I need wisdom. No, I've already got it. You know, I'm X number of years old. I've been here, I've done this, I've been in these experiences. All of my experiences were positive. They made me what I am today, therefore they're all good. They gotta be, because I am what I am and I'm the best. So therefore, the world just needs to learn from me and my experiences. And nobody can teach me anything at all. You know why? Because I already got it. I already have it. There's a lot of people like that. It's a sad situation. And that's not humility because it isn't a teachable spirit. And humility requires a teachable spirit, which means that no Christian ever gets to the point to where he's not asking God for wisdom. He always is. And even when he knows he's got wisdom in the past, he's suspicious of that. How much of that did I lose? How much of it leaked off? How many things did I add mix into that in my own walk away from that experience that now I don't even remember what it was that he taught me in the first place. You know, we're under the discipline of the cross. We're still in a sinful world. We still have a flesh operating inside of us. There's still corruption that we have to deal with. Don't trust yourself. Just don't. It's futile to trust yourself. When you need wisdom, what do you do? The first thing you do is say so. I need wisdom. That's a biggie. I mean, it's really big. There's a lot of people who can't do that. I need wisdom. Who do you ask it of? You ask it of God. Let him ask of God who gives all. He gives it all. Liberally. See, this is where you want to be a liberal. You want to be a liberal in how you receive the wisdom that you ask for because you know you don't have any. Or you know you don't have any for that moment, for that situation that you're in. God is a liberal. God liberally wants to pour out His wisdom on you. He liberally wants to pour it out on you. He doesn't want to hold back He wants to give you of His wisdom without reproach. It's as if to say that God is talking to His servants and saying to them, drop the sheaves in front of Him, drop the sheaves in front of her so that she won't have to do nearly as much work. Give her the sheaves of wisdom so that she can pick those up and take them and winnow them out for her meal. and do not reproach her for it." Do not reproach her. Don't get on to her. Let her wander on into the fields away, says the Lord of the harvest. That's how He treats us. That's how He gives His gifts to us. He's not stingy about it. He's very liberal about it, and he does not reproach us. He's not saying to us, what are you asking for that for? No, he wants us to ask. And what does he promise? It will be given to him. Have you ever been in a situation where you needed wisdom, you asked God for it, and he didn't give it? If so, you better ask whether or not you are a Christian. because He promises to give it to you. Now you might say, well, you know, I've asked that and it didn't just suddenly happen in my life. We ask Him for wisdom and then we wait. We know how He's going to give it to us. He's going to give it to us His way, but He is going to give it. He promised. What have we been talking about all the way up to this point? Is God a liar? Does He break His promises? If He promises us that He'll give us wisdom, then He'll give us wisdom. Officers in the church, elders, ministers, and dealing with the flock. This is what we need to do. That when we have these problems that come before us and they're hard and they're difficult to deal with, to fall down on our knees before the Lord and say, we do not know what to do for these people. Give us wisdom. Because let me tell you something, people. The elders and the ministers don't always know what to do for you. And oftentimes don't. And need wisdom from God to be able to deal with these things. And so in faith, we need to be on our faces before Him at all times, asking Him to help us to do what it was that He told us to do with the flock in the first place. And that is, feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Ask of God and He gives liberally without reproach and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, no doubting. What is doubting? Doubting is another faith. Saving faith is just saving faith. There's no doubt side to saving faith. You know, it doesn't have its dark side and its light side. Saving faith is saving faith. It does what it does. It doesn't doubt. Doubt is another faith. That's in competition with saving faith. It's the faith you were born with. The one that relies upon you. The one that relies on the world. The one that relies on other people. The one that relies on systems. The one that relies on the universe not completely crashing on top of you all the time. The one that relies on, you know, some nihilistic teenager in McDonald's not putting glass in your hamburger. That faith right there is always in competition with saving faith, and it's called doubt. Doubt. It's the one where when the children of Israel are walking through the desert, They've got two things in mind, two things. One before them, the land of milk and honey, and behind them, the flesh pots of Egypt. And one faith is looking to that, and it's the wrong one. And the other one is looking to that, and it's the right one. And this double-mindedness that takes place that causes us to wander in spirit from wave to wave, from one thing to another, from one human idea and one human theory, one philosophy, one mythology, and one religion, and so forth, one after the other. And we never can settle down. Why? Because we're just surfing in the world all the time on all kinds of ideas and all kinds of expectations. Listening to every kind of speaker out there. Listening to every kind of idea that comes up. Always on the cutting edge of the new thing all the time. There's a wandering spirit for you right there. Alright? And God's saying that wandering spirit is a characteristic of man. It's a sinful characteristic of man. What is it that settles that heart down? It is to know. To know. to know God, to receive wisdom, and to know God. Let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." And what is it that he promises to the seed of Jacob that the wandering spirit will know, will understand, will perceive? Something changes in the heart and he blesses the ear and suddenly now we're beginning to understand him. We can read His Word and the Spirit speaks to us through His Word. We can hear the preaching of the gospel and the Spirit rides upon the wings of that preaching into each one of our lives and deals with each one of our circumstances in accordance with the gifts that He has for each one of us. And the murmurers will learn doctrine. The murmurers. Boy, this sounds like a reflection back on the wilderness too, doesn't it? Turn with me to John chapter 6. We'll end on this. John 6, because I think Jesus really gets at the heart of this one. The murmurers will learn doctrine. John 6, 31, our fathers, the Jews are talking to Jesus, our fathers ate manna in the desert as it is written. HE GAVE THEM BREAD FROM HEAVEN TO EAT. HE, IN THE PSALM, MEANS MOSES. THEN JESUS SAID TO THEM, MOST ASSUREDLY, I SAY TO YOU, MOSES DID NOT GIVE YOU THE BREAD FROM HEAVEN. IS JESUS ARGUING WITH SCRIPTURE? NO. HE'S TAKING THEM FROM MOSES, THE ONE WHO POINTED OUT WHAT GOD HAD SENT TO THEM AND SAID THEY COULD EAT IT. AND HE'S SAYING, GOD IS THE ONE WHO SENT THAT TO YOU. ALL YOU SEE IS THE HAND OF MOSES. But it was God who was the source of that bread that came to you down from heaven. That is down from the sky which is a representation of the heavenly bread as Jesus is going to show us in this. For the bread, 33, for the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Then they said to Him, Lord, give us this bread always. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me." By the way, stop there for just a minute. What did Jesus eat? What was His meal? What was the heavenly bread that Jesus feasted on? He said, my meat, my food is to do the will of my Father. The will of my Father. He's the one who has sent me down here to be your food, to be your food. This is the will of the Father who sent me that all He has given me shall, I should lose nothing, but that they should be raised up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent me that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the last day." The Jews then complained, they murmured about Him because He said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he says that he comes down from heaven? And Jesus therefore answered and said to them, do not murmur among yourselves. Do not murmur among yourselves. By the way, this picture is not new that we see here. There was another time when Jesus was saying to the people, do not murmur. And it was in the wilderness when they complained about every providence that he did on their behalf, murmured about those things. And he said, don't murmur. And yet, those people went on to be stiff-necked people. They did not enter into the land. Their carcasses rotted in the wilderness forever and the next generation had to go in. Now he stands before another generation and he says to them, don't murmur among yourselves. I am presenting you with the bread of life. Why are you complaining? The greatest providence you have ever seen, far greater than Moses, far greater than the manna, the very bread of life himself has now come to you. Why are you murmuring? Why are you complaining? No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up at the last day. Three times he said that. It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught by God. Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God. He has seen the Father. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. How do you believe in Him? The Father must teach Him to you. The murmurers will learn doctrine. They will learn doctrine. And when they learn doctrine, what will happen? They'll stop murmuring. The murmuring will be taken out of their heart. What happens when he gives understanding? The wandering spirit will calm down and become stable and find a resting place. What would happen when they learn doctrine, when they are taught of God? When that happens, the complaint will be taken away. All of the urge within that person to, rather than glorify and thank God with great gratitude, that urge within us to complain against His providences. will be taken away. I don't know about you, but that's me. That's me. I need that. I need to know that he offers to me that kind of transformation. I know I don't just need more money. I know I don't just need some different condition. I know I don't just need a car that will last forever and appliances that will never break down. I know that I don't need these absolutely perfect friends who just pet me in every way and scratch my itch exactly the way I want it done. I know I don't need any of those things. Those won't do me any good. Those will make me worse. Those will cause me to dig even further into my hole. What I need is a God who will transform my heart. What I need is one who will take the complaint away from me. What I need is for a God who promises that through teaching me, through His Word and giving me understanding, that He will cause my heart to stop wondering from one thing to another and will settle down upon His Word and upon His ways and stay there for life. That's what I need. Is that what you need? You know, if you have that, it doesn't matter what the circumstances are. It doesn't matter what the circumstances are. It doesn't matter how bad it gets. Ask anybody who's been through the fires of persecution, through the torture. Ask anybody who, a believer who has been persecuted, long imprisoned and tortured for their faith, Day in and day out, not one in this room that I know of. Not me. And does not see the end of it all. Why? Why? Because he's brought that soul to rest and taken the complaint out of the heart. And it can ride through any circumstance. That's the true measure. of God's promises. It's the true measure of it. Let's pray. Our dear heavenly Father, we do pray that you give us this assurance. We would never doubt you. Take away from our hearts all doubt. Take away from our hearts all waywardness. Take away from our hearts all complaints. Take away from us, Lord, our inability, as it were, to completely rest our souls upon you and give us hearts that can in order, Lord, that we may be an example to this world of the very sacrifice of Christ. Yea, despising shame, taking joy in knowing that the pathway that you have led us upon is in a small, small measure Not like Jesus's, like in a sense, in a representation, but not in the extent of its quality, but yet that our life is given as a sacrifice as well. And Lord, cause us to truly trust in You and truly believe in You. Cause us to see our seed. Cause us to be able to see, as it were, by faith into the future. that you will increase the seed that you have brought forth in us. For those of us who are married and have children, that it is so, even in the physical realm, that from generation to generation, you promise that our seed will go on. Lord, we know that those things are conditional. We know that it is in our particular lives that we are not to neglect the things that you have given to us to be the means of grace. But Lord, we do know that you have made these promises to us and you are sure in them. And so we pray, oh Lord, that you would give us a surety of heart and a certainty that we may know that you attend upon your people at all times and that it will be the treasure of our lives, not so much how our particular life will go, but that we will always know, as they knew in the Old Testament, that we will always know that there will always be a church, that you will always have a people in this world who will sanctify your name, who will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, who will fear the God of Israel, a people who are peculiar to yourself, All these things we lift up to you in the name of Jesus.