a plan for which every believer today is a part of. And so, you don't want to just say, well that's again this old stuff about Isaiah, I just don't get it, don't see how it connects. We're going to connect it and see how this applies to us today in our current day that we live in. So my title is Redemption with a Subtitle, Redemption Exalted, Explained and Exhibited. Redemption exalted, redemption explained, redemption exhibited, displayed. That's what God is after. He wants it displayed. He wants His holy arm displayed and seen throughout all the ends of the earth. Redemption exalted, point number one. Exalted, we mean to raise to a higher position. For Israel to be back in Jerusalem was to put them back into the exalted place that God had placed Israel. They're very low right now, they've got bands around the neck, verse 2, they've got chains like a collar connected, sometimes they put them around the wrist, the feet here, the collars around the neck, there's a chain and the Babylonians have complete control, so it seems. God announces redemption, He announces They're going back to Jerusalem, which was literally an exalted place. It was up on a hill. You had to climb Mount Zion to get there. But spiritually, redemption is God placing us in a position of exaltedness by His sovereign grace. Two phrases that speak of this in verse one and two. The first one, awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion, put on thy beautiful garments, which presupposes they don't have them on. Their garments are filthy, soiled, dusty. Put on the beautiful garments. That's a rising up. Verse 2, shake yourself from the dust, arise, sit down. Now he's not just saying get up, sit back down. Arise, ascend and be seated in an elevated position. Now literally from Babylon to Jerusalem is going to be elevated. But spiritually, what do these two phrases mean? Well, the word beautiful is in the Hebrew to mean glory, honor, splendor. He is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great king. A splendid place Jerusalem was and the people aren't there. They're not fulfilling God's purpose of redemption in captivity. He's going to redeem. He's going to reunite. put on beautiful garments. The first time we see this Hebrew word in the Bible is in Exodus 28, and it refers to the holy garments of Aaron the high priest and his sons, for which Moses was to make for that purpose. They were to minister to God, serve God, always with these holy garments. And God said these holy garments are for glory and for beauty. Beauty is the same Hebrew word. It's the first time we see it, it's mentioned other times in the Bible. Put on your beautiful garments, Aaron, put on the beautiful garments of the priesthood and serve and minister to God. Now if you read Exodus 28, God said the holy garments would be composed of a breastplate. Four rows of three stones, precious, beautiful. Each stone representing the birthstone, as it were, of each tribe of Israel. All 12 on the heart, on the breastplate, fastened to the high priest. Next, the ephod. It was a shoulder piece. Now on the ephod, there were two onyx stones on each end. Six names here, six names here, composing the 12 tribes of Israel. Attached to the ephod, connected to the breastplate, were wreath golden chains connected to the front and the back. After the ephod, there was the robe, no seam, one piece holding the top to go down over the head of Aaron and the sons as they ministered in the place of a priest in Jerusalem, in the sanctuary, in the holy of holies and holy place. Then the coat, coat was to be worn, embroidered. At the ends of the robe, they would have pomegranate bell, pomegranate bell. God says unless they die when they're in ministering there, you don't hear a bell, you can get them out. It was said, historically, that there was a rope attached if they went into the Holies of Holies because nobody goes in there but the high priest. You know, if he dies there, I'm not going in to get him because you just death one after another. They drag him out. That's what it was said, historically. After the coat, you have the robe, the coat, you have the mitre, the diadem, the headpiece. On the headpiece was a solid gold plate that said, holiness unto the Lord. Holiness to the Lord. and then after that the girdle, the waist piece. They were to not minister to the Lord unless they had on these priestly beautiful garments. Put on your beautiful garments. Now these garments were made of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, fine twine linen, which men that were cunning, that were skilled, that God had specifically gifted to be able to make these garments. Beautiful colors. amazing, beautiful garments. Now you're probably thinking, well, I don't get the connection because that was for the priest and this is the people of Israel. But you might remember when God brings the people of Israel to Mount Sinai in Exodus 19.6, He says, if you obey my voice, you will be to me a kingdom of priests. There's one problem with that text. If you obey my voice, where are the people of Israel? in captivity. Why? They did not obey the voice of the Lord. And guess what, friend? You haven't either. You're condemned. We come to this world depraved. No one has obeyed. We're all in darkness without Christ. How then is it said of Israel, put on your beautiful garments when they've disobeyed the Lord and the Lord's going to redeem them, buy them back and bring them to this exalted place where they are then to put on the garments of the priesthood, the beautiful robes as it were, symbolizing this exalted position as a kingdom of priests. It's because in Zechariah chapter 3 we find Joshua the high priest standing by the angel of the Lord, the messenger of the covenant, and Satan is there to oppose him. And the angel says to Joshua with filthy, filthy garment, soiled with iniquity. He says, take off those filthy garments because I have caused your iniquity to pass from you. How does God do that? Just pass. Be gone. That's not how he causes it. The word pass is pass over or cross over. You see Isaiah 53 gives us that beautiful love story of the Passover lamb, the substitute. He is the high priest. He is the high priest for which Aaron and his sons prefigured. He has caused the iniquity of true Israel to pass away because it crossed over to the Lamb for which He was slaughtered for our disobedience. He was slaughtered for our iniquity. And He's given us a new clothing, holy garments, beautiful, beautiful garments for which we're to assume and to wear. because of this high priest. You'll know that the book of Hebrews speaks of the work of the high priest over and over when it says, for by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. Just one time. Aaron goes in year after year. The sons sacrifice day after day, standing daily, ministering. But this high priest, after he made one sacrifice with his own blood, sat down at the right hand of the Father indicating perfected, complete. The garments have been purchased with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He, in Hebrews 9.12, having gone in with His blood, has obtained eternal redemption for us. It's complete. If you're a believer, you've been purchased. You've been bought back. To assume God's exalted position is to embrace the holy garments. What are they in the New Testament? Hebrews 4.25, Paul says that you put on, that you put on this clothing, the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. It's an imputed righteousness. It's the imputation of Christ's holiness. You've been clothed with it. Now every day, put on the clothing of what you already are in Christ. You as a Christian are commanded by God, because of His plan of redemption, to wear this exalted clothing by being low at the feet of Jesus Christ, acknowledging Him, trusting Him, and embracing His Word in such a way that day by day as we crucify the flesh were to take on these garments of holiness, the garments of righteousness, because Israel was holiness to the Lord. Not in themselves, not in something that they could do, but something that Christ, the high priest that was to come for true Israel, and Christ, our high priest that's passed into the heavens, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, on our behalf today. So the New Testament very much applies this to the New Testament believer and the Old Testament believer in that you've been given a new set of garments. God says to you today, beloved, wake up, put on your holy garments, assume it, embrace it, it's been purchased for you. Secondly, in verse two, he says, rise up, shake off the dust and sit down. How is it that Israel had this assigned seat in Jerusalem? It wasn't for the Philistines, it wasn't for the Babylonians. It wasn't for any other nation. It was for the Israelites. They had been given an assigned seat to sit down, as it were, in Jerusalem. An assigned seat can be a wonderful thing, but it can be a terrible thing too. If you're on the airplane and you decide you're gonna move to a better seat and somebody comes on and says, that's my seat, that's a horrible thing. It's a nice seat, you gotta get up, move on. but if the seat has been purchased for you, it's a wonderful thing. I remember being at the conference a few weeks ago, 10,000 pastors, if you don't get there early, guess what? Hard to find a seat. So I'm, the whole row was vacant. One man sitting at the end, excuse me, can I sit there? Saved. Okay, I had to kind of, you know, bite my tongue, say, well, you're saved, I guess that's right, I guess it's okay. I searched for 30 minutes. There are seats everywhere, I can't get into one of them. You know, here you are, 10,000 pastors, at least then you better act like Christians. Okay, you know, God be with you, save your seat. So, you know, if I find myself in an exalted position up in the nose blade, I'm scared to death. I mean, once you get up to the top, the incline goes up like this. I'm shimmying, trying to get to my chair. I think if somebody pushes me, I'm a goner. But you see, beloved, this assigned seat, I thought, wouldn't it be wonderful? Because on every seat, there was a number on the back of every seat. I just thought, what if I could say, you know what? I'm sorry, that's my seat. Well, how did you get there? Somebody purchased it for me. That's what it was for Jerusalem. It was an assigned seat purchased by the Lamb of God. That's why these people are going back. Redemption. was accomplished without money, without price, without reward, but with a cost. Peter says it's the precious blood of the Lamb. Oh, how precious is the name of Jesus. How is it that you come into this assigned seat? Look at Isaiah 51 verse 1. God wants to remind Israel how they came into this position, this exalted position, seated, As it were in Jerusalem where they were going back, He wanted them to know so that they could be comforted by this message, verse 1 of 51 of Isaiah. Listen to me, hearken to me ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord. Look unto the rock when she are hewn and to the hole of the pit when she are digged. Look unto Abraham your father and unto Sarah that bear you for I called him alone and blessed him and increased him for the Lord shall comfort Zion. Now note how God comforts Zion. You want comfort? You want comfort, I'm going to bring you back to Jerusalem? Look to the pit in which you were digged." That was a quarry. The word here means quarry. A quarry is a massive pit where you take rock out of the quarry. So, Israel, how did you get this assigned seat? God stood at the edge of the quarry, first with Abraham, and says, I want him. I choose him. Wow, why did you choose him? Because it pleased me to do so, Ephesians chapter one. According to his good pleasure, you want comfort? You want comfort, you'll make it to the end? You want comfort, you'll stay a believer? You look to the comfort of the covenant where God says, I have chosen you, Abraham. What, that moon-worshiping idolater? Yes. not because of anything foreseen in him, because he's dead, he's nothing. So God stands at the quarry of humanity and says, I choose him or her. Now if that offends your sense of autonomy and your sense of freedom, then you need to take that up with God, because that's what he says, beloved. He has a sovereign right to choose and be merciful to whomsoever he wills, and what does it say? I bear called Abraham alone, nobody else. I mean, masses of people in that day just says, you and her are the call day, you're gonna follow me, I'm gonna redeem you. That ought to comfort us. Martin Luther once said, if we don't understand who takes credit in salvation, then it affects our worship of God. Do you know who gets the credit? Do you know who bare you? Do you know in the quarry of condemnation and depravity that you are only redeemed because God says, I choose you. and the choice that you make in response, the belief that comes in response to that sovereign choice is owing to the fruit of divine election because you've been predestinated to be adopted and be exalted into the high position of the family of God. There is no greater exaltedness than to be called a child of the King. That's how Israel got there. How was the promised seed bare? It says, look unto your father, Abraham and Sarah, that bare you, which came from Isaac. Well, how did Isaac get into the world? Well, you know, Sarah and Abraham, no, no, they didn't. They were dead, reproductively, 99 years old. Can't happen, impossible. Sovereign power of God quickened death. That's what He does for everyone He chooses. So He's comforting you. How did you get this assigned seat? Why do you get to go back to Israel? Why are you in Jerusalem and the Babylon's are not? Because I delighted to set my affections upon you. That's an amazing story. If we don't understand the grace of God, how can we worship God rightly if we don't know who to assign the credit to? I mean, do you get it or does God? See, it affects our worship. That's why it's so important, so important. Now, when God is going to give this description to Israel, this exalted position, He used four descriptors. You're a chosen people. You're a peculiar treasure. You're a kingdom of priests and you're a holy nation. Why did you give these people this exalted position? You've been chosen to be mine, my own possessed people. to serve sacrificially as a kingdom of priests in a community called Israel. Now Peter takes the four descriptive phrases and applies them to the church in 1 Peter 2.9. See, here's how we connect this old stuff with people that dressed a lot different, had long beards. No offense if you like those or have one. Long beards and dressed in sandals, how does that apply to me? Here's what Peter says to you. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. You've been chosen. You've been chosen to be gods. You've been redeemed. You've been chosen to be gods, to serve. in a holy community called church, not nation anymore. People come out of those nations into churches. Church, you have been exalted to a high position. That's why Paul would say in Ephesians 2, 4, But God, who is rich in mercy, with the great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. For by grace, parenthesis, are you saved. What does it mean to be saved by grace? It means you were dead. Dead, just following your own course, prince of the power air, just like everybody else, children of wrath, just dead. until God in His rich mercy quickened from the pit of darkness, made you alive. Then what did He do? He's raised us up together, here's the exaltus, and made us sit together. What's the text? Shake off the dust, rise up, sit down. Do you know in Christ you have been raised up to be seated? in the exalted heavenly places with Christ? Spiritually, my friends, His death was your death, His resurrection is your resurrection, and you are seated in the heavenly places, exalted in Christ alone. Do you ever feel like you're disadvantaged? Do you ever feel like, woe is me? Let us hush our mouths. We have been redeemed. We have been exalted. We are seated in the heavenly places. And Paul says, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of the Father. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, what happens then? You will appear exalted with Him in glory. So redemption means exaltation, and exaltation now means explanation. So let's explain this further. What are we supposed to do? How does this work out? God starts to tell them how this works out, beginning in verse 3. Alright, so you have this exalted position, for them it was temporarily in Jerusalem because we know the uncircumcised in verse 1 and the unclean did enter again to Jerusalem, right? So there's something prefigured here more than literal Jerusalem because the Romans entered in, ransacked it, Jerusalem's gone, gone today, can't be that. Because He said, no more of this is going to happen. We're talking about a heavenly Jerusalem. We're talking about the people of God today, the church of God, the New Jerusalem. So explain this further, verse 3, here's the explanation of redemption. For thus saith the Lord, you have sold yourselves for naught, and you shall be redeemed without money. For thus saith the Lord God, my people went down aforetime into Egypt to live there. What happened? They were oppressed. Now God is showing them His motive and His power. He's going to explain the motive of redemption and the power of it. What happened when they went down into Egypt? Redeemed. He came. He got them. Next, the Assyrian oppressed them. Sennacherib and Tilgath-Pileser oppressed them at different times. Isaiah 37, Hezekiah, spreads the letter of rapture before the Lord. And what does the Lord do? Comes in and redeems, delivers. takes the Nechareb out. 185,000 men killed by one angel. What's God doing? I'm coming. Now, I like this, verse 5. Now, therefore, what do I have here? What's happening here, Baba? What am I to do here? The same thing I did in Egypt and with Assyria. What do I have here, saith the Lord, in verse 5, that my people is taken away for naught, meaning unjustly, From God's perspective, it was just, He raised up the Chaldeans, but from the human perspective, the Chaldeans had no just cause to do what they were doing, from the human perspective, and God's going to judge them for it. They were a bitter and hasty nation. The cruelty that they did, they had no just cause. They were just being used by God as an instrument. So what are they doing? They that rule over them make them to howl. saith the Lord, and my name continually every day is blaspheme." Therefore my people shall know my name, therefore they shall know in that day that I am He that does speak, behold it is I, verse 7, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth the good tidings of the good news of good, that publishes salvation, that saith to Zion, your God rules. So in the explanation of redemption we have the reason, the remedy, and the rule. The reason for redemption, my name, is being defamed and blasphemed. There is no stronger motive you can find in the Bible for the sovereign activity and the action of God on behalf of His people than His name being blasphemed and vilified and defamed. not only among the Israelites in captivity, but among the Babylonians. And on every occasion, Egypt, Assyria, and now here, God acted that His name might be declared, and He acted that His name might be known, both of the unjust and the justified." He did that in Egypt, He did that in Assyria, read Isaiah 37. He's going to act again for His name's sake. So the reason for redemption explained is God's name is being blasphemed. The remedy for it, what's God's remedy? What's He going to do? Verse 6, therefore, because of verse 5, my people shall know my name. What are you going to do, God? You look on and say, what do I have here? You see the people are blaspheming your name every day continually. What's the remedy? They will know my name. And then thirdly, we know that verse 7 is applied to the New Testament ministry of the gospel in Romans 10. The declaration design, the declaration to the people of God is that God rules. He rules and He reigns. So when you put all three of those together, you have this. The rule of God is always aiming at God being known in verse 6. And when God is known, blasphemy is overcome. Let me say that again. The rule of God, providentially or provisional, I don't care how He rules, is always aiming for the good of knowing Him, period. That's the end. And when people know God, blasphemy is overturned. That's what God is saying. That's the explanation of redemption. Now somebody asked me just recently, what do you mean by no God? What do you mean by that? You know, you preachers sometimes, you're talking to preacher and he goes, no Jesus, no God. So I'm gonna explain that now. In case you're kind of wondering, well, what is that? Yeah, I guess I know him. I mean, maybe I know him, maybe I don't know him. What does it mean to know him? I'll give you five ways the Bible speaks of. This is not exhaustive and we're not gonna spend a lot of time on it, but I'll give you five ways in which it means to know God, for which God is explaining, this is what's gonna happen, to overcome blasphemy against my name, you're gonna know that name. So I'd like to know what that means. And then I wanna get to one root issue that'll be sort of like the reason that permeates all the others. It'll be a root that permeates every other reason I give, okay? The first one, to know God, to know Christ means to have eternal life and to follow Him. If you know Him, you follow. Jesus said in John 17, 4, this is eternal life, that you may know Thee, the true God, and Me, the Son, whom He has sent. So it's equated with eternal life. If you don't know Jesus, whatever that means, you don't have eternal life. That's what it means. It's a covenant knowledge that God gives, and when God gives it, He overcomes blasphemy and the defamation of His name. He's very serious about that. He's very concerned about it. Jesus said in John 10.14 and John 10.27, He equates knowing Him with following Him like this. John 10.14, I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep and am known of mine. They know me. Again, I mean, what does that mean? Here's John 10.27. My sheep hear My voice, that's parallel with the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd speaks and they hear His voice. I know them, there's a second parallel, the Good Shepherd knows His sheep, John 10, 27, I know them, they follow Me. Parallel with what? I am known of Mine. If you know Jesus, you follow. You walk with Him. You want to learn Him. You want to know of His graciousness, His glory, His meekness, His humility, His priesthood, His exaltedness, His prayers, His intercession, His love. You follow, you keep following, that's present tense word. What does it mean to know Jesus? You keep on following, because you know Him. See how Jesus equates the two? So it means you're a follower. Are you a follower of Jesus Christ? Have you taken up your cross in gospel baptism and followed? Then you know Him. You know Him. Secondly, to know Jesus means you love Jesus. You love Him. 1 John 2, 4 says, Hereby do we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. What's the commandment? Love your neighbor. Love your neighbor. How do you do that? Love Jesus. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. If you know Me, if you love Me, you'll keep My commandments. What does it mean to know Jesus? You love Him. Do you love Jesus Christ? I love the church, I love the... Do you love Him? Have you seen Him? Do you know Him? Do you love Him? Do you have affection for Him? Do you have joy in Him? Do you have an interest in His person? Do you want to learn and read what He said to you? Do you want to hear His voice in Scripture, in the Gospels? Or is it just, you know, these people keep telling me I've got to do this. Dad says, read the Bible, okay. Or is it something inward that you love? Because John says, if you know Him, you love your neighbor, which means, You love God because He first loved you. That's what it means to know, to love. Thirdly, it means you obey the gospel. See, in 2 Thessalonians 1.8, when Jesus comes in flaming fire, He's going to take vengeance on people. Who? Well, those that don't know Him and don't obey His gospel. Well, that's a mouthful of theology. Listen to what He's saying. The word know is the perfect tense, which means something having been completed in the past with ongoing results, except it's negative. They don't know. They never have known Him in the past, and the ongoing results in the future is they do not obey His gospel. They don't listen. I don't like that. I don't listen. I listen, but, you know, the in one ear, out the other. It doesn't lodge there. That means He's not going to take vengeance on those who know Him. Perfect tense. Having known Him in the past. Ongoing results is what? They obey. They obey. Are you obedient to the voice of Jesus Christ? You say, now wait a minute, I'm not perfect. Surely you're not. I'm still a sinner. Surely you are. But the question is, do you obey Him? Are you interested in obeying Him? Does that ever cross your mind? Boy, I feel miserable. I really want... to trust and obey, because obedience comes from faith. Contextually in the same chapter, it says he'll come to be admired in all those that believe, you see. So if you know Jesus Christ, you follow, you love him, you obey him. That's present tense word, just keeps going. Because he sustains you in it. Next, you know you're a sinner in relation to him. Right? Verse 9, 520 says, The Son of God has come to give us an understanding that we may know Him that is true. You must know Jesus as God. If you don't know Jesus as God and say He's a good man, you don't know Him. You're not saved. The person says Jesus is a good man but He's not really who He said He was, they don't know Him. But if you understand who He is and you know Him, contextually in 1 John 1, 8, 9, and 10, then you know you are a sinner, right? If any man say, I have no sin, he deceives himself and the truth is not in him. That means you don't know Jesus. If you can stand before Christ and say, you know, I'm ready to be received based on what I've done, and I really don't have any sin. You don't know the Lamb. Because to understand His glory and His atonement for sinners is to know I'm a sinner. But look how John takes it further. We've got to be careful. Somebody says, yeah, I'm a sinner, I'm a sinner, I'm a sinner. But he says if we confess our sins, do you confess sins specific? So you could go, I'm a sinner, I'm a sinner. Well, what's your sin? I guess I don't have it, I don't know. See, we must not generalize sin. I'm a sinner, I'm a sinner. True, but what is your sin? Well, say it to God. Homolego is the word. The same, homo, homogenized. Same, speak. Speak the same. God wants to hear you say it. God, I confess I said the wrong words to my wife. Forgive me for the wrong words and the wrong heart and the wrong thought and the wrong action. I want you to confess it. See, when you confess sin to know you're a sinner, then you wouldn't do that if you didn't know Jesus. Because you'd be thinking, hey, I made a few mistakes. But all in all, I'm a pretty good person. You don't know the cross, right? That's what John says. And so we confess our sins. You do that, you know Jesus. You have a relationship with Jesus. But here's the root that's going to kind of permeate all these. You no longer walk. in the imagination of your own heart. Look at Jeremiah 23. I'm turning there because Jeremiah is going to use the same Hebrew word for blasphemy because God says, My name is blasphemed and the way He overcomes blasphemy is to know Him. So in Jeremiah 23, as you turn there, Jeremiah is going to use the Hebrew word for blasphemy and tell how these very people, these are the people going to Babylon, Jeremiah as well, he's prophesying to these same people, he's going to tell them what blasphemy is in relation to the heart and the imagination of the heart. Jeremiah 23, verse 16, put your eyes on that text. Jeremiah 23, 16, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, hearken not unto the words of the prophets, that prophesy unto you that make you vain, they speak a vision of their own heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord." Now Jeremiah is the true prophet, there were many false ones. God said, don't listen to them. What were they saying? They say still unto them that despise me, the word is blasphemy. So the prophets that are not saying the right thing are speaking to the people of God, they're speaking to the people that blaspheme God continually every day His name. So we're on track now with our text in Isaiah 52. How are they blaspheming Him every day? That's why they're going to captivity. So here's what the prophet said, the Lord has said, you will have peace, it'll go well, you'll do good, That's appealing. Now look at the next part. And they say unto everyone that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, no evil shall come upon you. Now when you put that together, they say to those that blaspheme God, they say to those that walk after their own imagination, which means what? Blasphemy is walking after the imagination of your own heart. What does that mean? Now, Jeremiah, when he uses this phrase over and over, he often inserts evil, evil heart. What kind of imagination could be in the heart of a person that is so evil? What would you say it is? What is the worst evil on the planet that you've ever heard? Just the most vile, worst, despicable, wretched, deplorable. Can't think of any more words Think of it right now. You missed it. You're not even close. The word imagination means lust. When you walk after your own desires, you are evil in the worst possible sense. Evil, God says. Whoa, I thought it was when I hurt somebody. That's evil too. whenever we forsake the fountain of living waters, Jeremiah 2.13, and we start digging in dirt, saying, it's here, I'm gonna find my pleasure, what I'm after, what I desire, because I can't stay in that water. That is evil in the nth degree, evil. And when we don't know God, our evil is in the heart. in a distorted, vile pursuit of pleasure and joy in creation. And Jesus had to atone, if there was to be atonement, for that vile, evil, despicable imagination. Because what were they wanting? We just want peace. How is that evil? Because they wanted a kind of health and prosperity that had nothing to do with God. That's evil, friend. Evil. Because that's what God says. So what's God gonna do? He's gonna overcome the blasphemy of the imagination of the hearts of his people by giving them a new heart so that they would know Him, and thereby knowing Him would overcome disimagination. Look how Jeremiah says it in relation to the covenant of grace, which we know is that they shall know Me, Jeremiah says. Jeremiah 31-34, remember? Jeremiah says, they shall not teach every man his neighbor, every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know Me from the least to the greatest. One of the time Jeremiah uses the expression from the least to the greatest. Jeremiah 6.13, for every one of them from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness, a yearning, a yearning for something. Friends, if that something's not God, you're a blasphemer, and I'm a blasphemer. Yearning for something way above God. How's God going to overcome that? From the least to the greatest they shall know me, from the least to the greatest they are covetous. God overcomes our yearnings for everything but him because we don't like the taste of his water with a knowledge of his supremacy that says, now I yearn for you. Now I hunger for Christ. Now I'm thirsty for Him. That is called sovereign grace. And that's what Jesus came to redeem, and that's how redemption is explained, both in the Old Testament and the New. Now let's look at a New Testament example to see how this plays out in the New, and see if we're on the right track. because the New Testament looks back at the old and illuminates it after the coming of Christ. And so Paul writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6. I want you to see, we've got blasphemy here, we've got covetous, and we've got contentment. And that's what we have in Jeremiah, that's what we have in Isaiah. Israel goes into captivity for idolatry and everyone is given from the least to the greatest to just yearning for everything but God. And that's evil. Jesus overcomes that so that we know Him and now we start pursuing something else. We still struggle, we still battle covetousness, but we're no longer captive to it. We're no longer dominated by it. Why? We've been redeemed. 1 Timothy 6, 1. Look with me at this chapter. First Timothy 6 verse 1, let as many servants, slaves, these are the kind of slaves, this is voluntary, they were either poor and they were in debt, they needed to work it off, they'd put themselves in slavery, not the kind we had in our country, totally different. So Paul says, let as many slaves who are under the yoke, Owned by another person, we know that happened in the Roman Empire. Some of these slaves then became Christians like the one in Philemon, runs away, converted, comes back, serves Philemon in the place of a servant or a slave. So not condoned in Scripture, but this was the reality. That as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and His doctrine be not blaspheme. If you don't do this, you're blaspheming God and His doctrine. What does that mean? We'll see in a moment. Verse 2, and they that have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather do them service. Do the service of a servant to your masters, whether unbeliever or believing, but if he's believing, well then, they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort. Verse 3, if any man teach otherwise, key phrase, other than what? Other than servants doing service to their masters so that they not blaspheme and defame the name of God and His doctrine? That's the otherwise. That's a huge otherwise. If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 3, put your eyes on it, and to the doctrine which leads to godliness. Next clue. The doctrine of God and the name of God leads a person, even a servant that's under the yoke, into godliness, but this other man teaches otherwise. His doctrine does not lead to godliness and rather defames the name of God, blasphemes it. That's what Paul is saying here. Let's keep reading. Verse 4, he, that is the man that teaches otherwise, he is proud, he doesn't know anything, but doting about questions and strifes of words whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, third clue. What is it? Destitute, he does not know God. He doesn't know Him. Now let's put this together. This man that teaches otherwise, he doesn't know God, and therefore he doesn't know godliness, and therefore he blasphemes the name of God and the doctrine of God. That's three clues there together. We still haven't connected what exactly it is to blaspheme God's name here. Let's read further. This man that's destitute of the truth in verse five, he is supposing, here's the blasphemy, he supposes that gain is godliness. Turn away from him. That statement means he supposes that godliness is a means to gain. And servant, you ain't getting it, man. You're under the yoke. Where's the gain there? You need to get out and get a job. You can't do well there. Get out of there. You're a Christian. You just serve God. Don't serve that man. What's he supposing? If you obey God, you get gain. If you're godly, you get gain. And beloved, we all have that in our thinking. It's wired in us. And so let's not point the finger over there and say, well, you know, I've heard, no, right here. The idea is if I do well, then the gain is something other than God. So what's happening? You're defaming God. You're defaming Him. Paul said to Timothy, don't teach that way. Now here's the further connection proof, verse 6, but godliness with contentment is great gain. You know what contentment means? Enough. So if I'm godly as a servant, I don't have any money, I don't have any retirement, I don't have any job, I don't have any vacation, I can't go to the beach, can't do anything, I'm just a servant, then that's gain? Why? Because God is enough. That's what it means. And this man's teaching, well, no, in fact, he's not enough. He's not supreme. You need to get out from under that yoke. You don't need to be there. You need to leave that marriage. You need to get out of that deadbeat job, even if it's in lawful, doesn't matter how you get out, even if it's not right before God, just because there's no gain there. But godliness with contentment is great gain. Why, Paul? For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. What did you have when you came into this world? Nothing. What do you have when you leave? Nothing except, I trust, Christ. Christ is sufficient. He's enough. Beloved, your redemptive assignment from God is to display that Jesus is enough. He enriches out of them, and the servant has nothing. That's the redemptive assignment. How well are we doing? Is Jesus enough? Job, is he enough? You see, Satan supposes that Gain is godly. That's what he said to God. He says, God, I get it. He's godly because you give him so much. He obeys you because of the children and the land and the camels and the asses and the servants and everything The devil supposes the gain is godless. God says, okay, take it away. Go ahead. What's Job's response? Godliness with contentment is great gain. Oh God, you're enough. I'm in pain. You're enough. You're all I need. You are supreme. I'm satisfied. I'm content with who you are, even though I'm broken. What's Job's assignment? Job, your assignment is to declare that God is enough and by grace He did so. And only by grace can we do so. Titus 2.10, Titus teaches the people the same thing. Servants, slaves, be obedient to your own masters in everything. Not answering again, don't talk back. That fits for servants like children and employees to employers. Don't talk back to them, right? What's your assignment? Show that God is enough when you're being passed over for promotion, when you're being unjustly treated, 1 Peter 2, because it's acceptable with God if you'd be buffeted when you didn't do anything wrong. Why? Because you're showing God is enough. He's enough. So don't answer again, not purloining, don't embezzle. that being faithful in all things, that you may adorn the doctrine of God, that you may attract the doctrine of God, which is the name of God, for which you don't want to blaspheme." How do you do that? Well, you don't embezzle. Wait a minute, all the slaves embezzle, right? I mean, that's what all the employees do at your work. I mean, these stock market companies have so much, they're wicked people anyway, right? So, you go to work, and you know it's unlawful, but you pack it, you embezzle. And then you say, everybody does it. And boy, how the slaves did it, because they were really in a difficult spot. Look, man, make the most of it. We're here, we're owned, we don't wanna be here, we gotta pay off this debt, the master's rich, he's very filthy rich, he has more than he needs, just skim off the top. Then somebody comes to you and says, why don't you embezzle, man? Why don't you get what you can? Which you may ask him, why are you embezzling? I don't have enough, I just don't have enough, I need more. For which the servant says, that's exactly why I don't embezzle. I got enough. You don't have anything. What, you just got food and clothing? And you have to live in somebody's house? You don't have anything? I have Jesus. You adorn the doctrine of God and show the supremacy of Christ when you don't embezzle because the motive is not people look at you and say, what a great person you are. You're such a moral person. You're doing so well. Jesus is enough. Oh, beloved. Is He enough? Could it be that God is preparing you in this very hour for a day when you're going to be able to say, He's enough? Now look, you can say that with a good job and a good house, but you can't say it as well as you can when you lose your job, and you lose your house, and you're reproached, persecuted for the name of Christ. It just gets more clear. You can do it, but it's going to get very vivid. And then people start saying, What's your hope? Where's your expectation? Jesus is enough. You can cry when Jesus is enough. You can hurt when Jesus is enough. But you can still say, Jesus is enough. Redemption exalted. Redemption explained. Redemption exhibited. Because you see, when you say that, that's exactly what God is after in redemption. Look how He says it in Isaiah. This is what He's after. Go back to Isaiah 50. Verse 8. So the rule of God is such that you would know God, that His blasphemy is overcome, that's what salvation's all about. Redemption is explained, now exhibited. Verse eight of Isaiah 52. Thy watchman shall lift up the voice, with the voice together shall they sing. That's the runner that's bringing the good news in verse seven. The watchman in Jerusalem sees him coming with the good news and they both start singing and rejoicing together because they hear the news. Victory's accomplished. Redemption accomplished. Jerusalem shall be inhabited. Verse 9, break forth into joy, sing together ye waste places of Jerusalem, the uninhabited, ruined, dusty, rubble, for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, why? And all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Redemption exhibited. You know sometimes these young men with a roll up sleeve, Bear, not a holy arm, just muscle. God aims to bear his holy arm through you. Because they're gonna see the salvation of your God. They're gonna see his holy arm through your life. Exhibition of redemption. It's his whole game. That's what he's after. How do you exhibit it? Well, when you sing and when you have joy, when you're, He's enough and His name is not, it's glorified. You know, you glorify your treasure. You talk about it, you long for it, you embrace it, you hold it. All the ways that we glorify treasures on earth by rejoicing in them, loving them, desiring them. God's redemptive aim in a new heart that knows Him is that now we're pursuing Him in the pathway of holiness that then reveals and exhibits and displays God's salvation. How does that happen specifically? Look at verse 11. Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing, and go ye out of the midst of her, be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. Now for Israel, it was a separation very physically. Leave the unclean place of the Gentiles, go back to Jerusalem. But for you it's not a geographical separation, it's a heart separation. See? See sometimes we We like to be around Christians, and we sort of bring heaven to earth, and so we have obviously Christians in the church, that's certainly right, and Christian school, and we have all Christians in the workplace, and we live in a community, we're sound about Christians, and Christians, Christians, Christians, and who are you shining the light to? that God never intended for you to be isolated, but to be in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, where you shine and exhibit and display the hope of God around non-Christian. Now, that's great if you work in an all-Christian place. I'm not saying go get another job, but it's not complete isolation that God is after. He's after a separation. Don't touch the unclean thing. Paul applies that to the church in 2 Corinthians. I look at 1 Peter where Peter is applying redemption in the Old Testament to the New. And I finish on these few verses with the two minutes I have left. How does this happen? 1 Peter 2, verse 5. Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house. What's that? Allusion to the temple. Now the church. Where were the sacrifices? In the temple. Who did it? The priesthood. You're the spiritual house. What are you doing? A holy priesthood. you have on the beautiful garments. You're the priesthood of Christ. What do you do in the spiritual house as a holy priesthood? Next part, 1 Peter 2, 5. You offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Everybody knows a sacrifice. In the world, you ask people, what's a sacrifice? Well, that's when you give up something you want to keep, you know? You give your full glass of prune juice to your brother, that's no sacrifice. There's nothing, no, nothing. A sacrifice is when you like something and it has value and you depart with it. What are the sacrifices in 1 Peter? They lost their property. Did they want their property? Yeah. Was it wrong to want property? No. Scattered. They lost their health. Is it wrong to have health? No. They had their backs flayed and they had their lives taken. I'd say that's a loss of health. What about reputation? Is reputation a good thing? A good reputation? Solomon says yes. It was gone. They were reproached for the name of Christ. These are things they could have wanted, but sacrificed. What's the root of the sacrifice? Verse three, if so be that you've tasted that the Lord is gracious. You cannot sacrifice, you cannot sacrifice what you value unless you taste something of greater value. Desire, the sincere milk of the word, if you've tasted God's grace, now you're offering sacrifices, you're giving up things that have value because Jesus is enough. He tastes better. He's just better than my property. I like my home, but he's better. I'd like to have some money to feed my family, but he's better. He's better. I've tasted it. Sacrifices. The disobedient, which disallow this stone, can't sacrifice like this. They're mentioned in verse seven. Why? They haven't tasted Jesus. They don't know what he tastes like. Can't do it. Alright, there's the sacrifices. That's the purpose of redemption. They've been exalted. They've been saved. Redemption's being explained by Peter. They're a chosen generation. Where's the exhibition? Verse 9. that you should show forth the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. So you're making these sacrifices. They're acceptable in Christ because you've tasted He's better than what you're giving up. And then in that, you're displaying the supremacy and the excellencies of Jesus. Redemption exhibited. As they see your good works, verse 13, 14, and they glorify your Father which is in heaven, what's happening? Redemption exhibition. What are you showing? Jesus is my joy. He's my all. He's enough. You took my money, that hurt. You took my family, that hurt. But Jesus is enough. He is, isn't he? And so God brings him back to Jerusalem. He says, now, put on your holy garments. This is what redemption's about. It's about my name. Pursue me, follow me. know me, I'm enough, I'm sufficient, my grace, be satisfied with me, long for me, pursue me, rejoice in me, and in that, you display, you exhibit, Jesus is enough. How can I do that? Only by the grace of the Lamb that was slain. Let's pray.