Sermon #39                                                            Series:  Isaiah

 

          Title:       The Lord Shall Recover His Remnant!

          Text:       Isaiah 11:10-16

          Subject:  The Calling of God’s Elect

          Date:      Sunday Evening - March 11, 1990

          Tape #

 

          Introduction:

 

          God will save his own elect.  Of this fact we are given constant assurances throughout the word of God.  It is written, in verse 11, “that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people.”  That is my subject this evening:  The Lord Shall Recover His Remnant.  God shall save the remnant of his people.

 

Proposition:  You can mark this down as a matter of absolute certainty - God will save his own elect!

 

·        Not one sinner Chosen by God in eternal election shall perish.

·        Not one sinner Redeemed by Christ’s sin-atoning death shall perish.

·        Not one sinner Regenerated by God the Holy Spirit shall perish.

 

          Every elect, redeemed sinner shall, at God’s appointed time, be born again, by the irresistable grace and power of God the Holy Spirit, and effectually called to Christ.   As the result of God’s election, Christ’s redemption, and the Spirit’s call, all who are born of God believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  And

 

·        Not one sinner who Believes on the Lord Jesus Christ shall perish.

 

          “It shall come to pass in that day,” in the day appointed and ordained by God from eternity, in the day of his grace, in this great dispensation of the grace of God, “It shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people.”  This is what God is doing in the world today - He is recovering the remnant of his people by the right hand of his grace.

 

          The theologians and commentators have written many different opinions about the historical event referred to in this passage.  It may have reference to the time of Hezekiah’s reign.  It may allude to the deliverance of God’s elect from Babylonian captivity.  Without question, that was typical of the redemption of God’s elect.  But Hezekiah and Babylonians have been dead for a long, long time.  So we do not need to be concerned about them.

 

          The prophet’s eye here looks beyond Hezekiah to another, far greater King, even the King of kings and Lord of lords.  Isaiah looks past the deliverance of Israel from Babylon to the deliverance of God’s elect from the bondage of sin.  He looks here to the coming of Him whose name is called “Jesus,” who “shall save his people from their sins” - (Matt. 1:21).  The passage before us is an inspired prophecy regarding the person and works of the Lord Jesus Christ, our great Savior.  We know that it is because the Holy Spirit tells us so in Romans 15:12.  This passage of Scripture is a prophecy of the sure and certain salvation of God’s elect throughout the world through the merits of his Son and the gracious operations of his Spirit.

 

          In these verses the Prophet of God tells us seven things about the Lord Jesus Christ and his great works of grace.

 

I.      CHRIST THE MESSIAH, OUR REDEEMER, IS THE ETERNAL, ALMIGHTY GOD (V. 10).

 

          In verse 1 He is called “the stem of Jesse,” and “a branch which grew out of his roots.”  That verse refers to our Lord’s humanity.  We rejoice to know that he is a man touched with the feeling of our infirmities.  But, were he only a man, he could not be our Savior.  We could not trust him to bring us to God.  That One who undertakes to reconcile fallen man to the holy God, who assumes the work of righteousness, and pledges himself to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself must be infinitely more than a man.  The One upon whom we rely for the salvation of our immortal souls must himself be God.  And when Isaiah says “there shall be a root of Jesse,” he is declaring that Christ is God almighty, the source of Jesse’s life and existence.  Christ is both the Root from which Jesse came and Branch growing out of Jesse’s roots - (See Rev. 22:16; 5:5).

 

          Christ our Redeemer is a real man.  Therefore he was able to suffer the wrath of God for us.  And he is God almighty.  Therefore he was able to satisfy the infinite wrath and justice of God as our Substitute.  Were he not man, he could not suffer.  Were he not God, he could not satisfy.  But the God-man both suffered and satisfied!

 

II.   THE LORD JESUS CHRIST HAS BEEN SET UP, AND FOREVER STANDS, AS AN ENSIGN FOR SINNERS (v. 10).

 

          An ensign is a sign, or banner, displayed for the gathering of soldiers to battle.  It is a sign for preparation and encouragement, the rallying point of warriors on the battle field.  And it is the banner of victory, set on a hill when the warfare has been terminated with victory.  Here the Prophet of God says that Christ shall “stand as an ensign of the people!”

 

A.  He was set up from eternity as an ensign.

 

·        He must lead the charge against the enemy.

·        He must gather the troops of the army of heaven.

·        He must give direction to the soldiers.

·        He must accomplish the victory.

·        He must be the first to ascend to triumph.

 

B. When he was crucified as our Substitute, our Savior was set up as an ensign, a banner of grace, that he might draw all men to himself (John 12:32).

 

·        A Banner of Hope.

·        A Banner for All.

·        A Banner of Redemption Accomplished.

 

C. Christ is the ensign set up on high for the gathering of God’s elect scattered throughout the world (John 11:52).

 

·        He gathers in those who have been scattered abroad.

·        He is the rallying point of his church and kingdom - He is the place of unity, the common link among all the redeemed.

 

D. Christ stands as an ensign, set up on the everlasting gospel of His grace.

 

·        Christ is the Standard, the Banner.

·        Preachers are Standard Bearers.  Our only usefulness is in holding forth Christ, as Moses held up the serpent of brass. 

·        We hold forth the banner of his love to allure sinners to the Savior.

·        We hold forth the banner of his truth to lead his people.

 

III. CHRIST IS THE SAVIOR WHOM WE MUST TRUST (v. 10).

 

          Isaiah says, “To it shall the Gentiles seek.”  In John 12 some Gentiles came to the disciples, saying, “Sir, we would see Jesus” - (v. 21).  Oh, may it please God to cause some of you here tonight to seek him.  To seek him is…

 

·        To know your need of Him.

·        To realize who He is and what He has done.

·        To trust Him (Rom. 15:12).

·        To be saved by Him.  “Seek and ye shall find!”

 

IV. CHRIST’S REST SHALL BE GLORIOUS (v. 10).

 

·        The Rest which He obtained - (Heb. 10:10-14).

·        The Rest which He gives - (Matt. 11:28-30).

·        The Rest which He promises - (Heb. 4:9-11).

 

                   Illus:  The Sabbath.

 

V.  A REMNANT, ACCORDING TO THE ELECTION OF GRACE, SHALL BE SAVED (vv. 11-12).

 

          There is a remnant of lost sinners among both Jews and Gentiles who must be saved.  At any one time, it appears to be a small remnant.  But, when all are gathered in, it shall be a great multitude which no man can number.  As in the past, typical deliverances of Israel God delivered his people and gathered them out of the countries where he had scattered them (Ps. 106:47; Jer. 16:15-16), so he will the second time, in another way, by the irresistible grace and power of his Holy Spirit, gather his elect from the four corners of the earth to Christ.  “And so all Israel shall be saved” (Rom. 11:26).  The arm of the Lord will do it!

 

          God’s elect must be and shall be saved!

 

·        The Purpose of God cannot be Nullified.

·        The Blood of Christ cannot be Shed in Vain.

·        The Power of God’s Grace cannot be Resisted.

·        The Love of God cannot be Destroyed.

·        The Will of God cannot be Frustrated.

·        The Word of God cannot be Broken.

 

VI. IN CHRIST REDEEMED, JUSTIFIED, SAVED SINNERS ARE UNITED AS ONE (vv. 13-14).

 

          The grace of God breaks down the barriers that separate men and nations and brings those who were once enemies into one holy, happy, peaceful family - (Eph. 2:15; Col. 3:10-11).

 

VII. CHRIST, THE GOSPEL OF HIS GRACE, AND HIS CHURCH SHALL BE SUCCESSFUL AND TRIUMPHANT AT LAST (vv. 15-16) - (Matt. 16:18).

 

          Everything that might hinder the progress and success of the gospel shall be taken out of the way.  As God dried up the waters of the Red Sea and drove back the Jordan to give his people victory in the past, so shall he destroy every obstacle to the accomplishment of his purpose of grace in the future.

 

·        When the set time has come for God to bring a sinner to himself, nothing shall hinder him.

·        And when sinners turn to seek the Lord, every obstacle shall be taken out of the way.

 

          There is “a highway for the remnant of his people.”  Christ is the way.  He is -

 

·        The Only Way.

·        The Strait and Narrow Way.

·        The Sure and Safe Way.

·        The Highway.