In the sermon 'A Highway for the Remnant' by Scott Brown, the focus is on Isaiah 11:10-16, which describes the restoration and unification of God's people through the Messiah, the 'root of Jesse.' The sermon explains that believers should not fear because God has set a plan for recovery and unity, gathering the outcasts and dispersed from all corners of the earth. This involves the cessation of envy and the establishment of a highway for the remnant, akin to the deliverance from Egypt. The Messiah serves as a banner of hope and rest, offering salvation and peace. The sermon encourages believers to depend on God, draw from the wells of salvation, and engage in the unified spreading of the Gospel, emphasizing the importance of rest in Christ and the transformative power of His sacrifice.

Please take out your Bibles and open to Isaiah chapter 11. We'll be reading verses 10 through 16 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse We shall stand as a banner to the people for the Gentiles shall seek him and His resting place shall be glorious. 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 who are left, from Assyria and Egypt, from Bathrus and Cush, from Elam and Shinar, from Hamath and the islands of the sea. He will set up a banner for the nations and will assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off.

Ephraim shall not envy Judah and Judah shall not harass Ephraim, But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the West. Together they shall plunder the people of the East. They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab, and the people of Ammon shall obey them. The Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt. With His mighty wind, He will shake His fist over the river and strike it in the seven streams and make men cross over Dry Shod.

There will be a highway for the remnant of His people, who will be left from Assyria, as it was for Israel in the day that he came up from the land of Egypt. Let's pray. Lord we rejoice before you this morning we worship your great name. Lord we thank you for that amazing grace that we just sang about completely undeserved, Lord. We thank you that you have called a people that were not a people to be yours.

Lord, those who were far off have been brought near to you by the blood of Jesus Christ. Lord, though we receive it freely, we see that it costs you a great deal, more than we could ever imagine. And we thank you. We can't even put words together to thank you for the great sacrifice, the atoning sacrifice that He made for us. We appreciate you so much for that, Lord.

Thank you for opening up a way that we could cross over this sea, separating us. Lord, that you made a way for us to be able to walk dry shod. Lord, thank you for this highway that you've made and put in place for us. And Lord, we pray for those here today, this morning, that are here that perhaps have not yet crossed over, Lord. In church, yes, singing the songs, yes, praying, yes, but have not yet crossed over, have not bowed their knee.

We pray that Lord, the words Mr. Brown will share with us today would convict Would give hope life And lord that we would walk out of here renewed. We pray that you would please bless him as he preaches Lord that the words would would flow forth from you and hit their mark, Father. We appreciate you so much. We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, for your presence in our midst this morning.

In Jesus' wonderful name, Amen. Well, as we come to Chapter 11, we come to the end of a section in Isaiah that runs from Chapter 1 all the way to Chapter 12. And so, Chapter 11 is actually a poem. And if you look at it, you'll see what a beautiful poem it is. We've already covered the first half of that poem, and now we'll finish it up.

But This part of the poem, the second half, it really exposes the whole stream of history and the wonderful things that the Messiah has planned. And it shows the way that God keeps love alive in the world. It shows the way that he will banish fear from his people, because so much of what has been said in the last couple chapters has to do with fear and a fearful people. And what do you do with a fearful people? What do you say to them?

And what we have here is what God says to fearful people. And so it's so helpful in that way. And so in verses 10 through 16, There are multiple reasons that you should stop fearing, or at least that Judas should stop fearing, because they have been a people gripped with fear, and God has been speaking to them about why they should not fear. He's already said to them, do not fear the Assyrian. And then he gives these reasons.

There are many of them here, but he's already given many reasons in the first half of the poem. And there's so many reasons that you should not fear here in this section here. He holds up a banner to lead you. He prepares a glorious resting place. He waves his hand, and he recovers a remnant.

These are reasons that you should not fear. He'll assemble the outcasts. He'll banish envy in the heart that always destroys the people of God. And he'll unify his people, and they'll serve in unity, and they'll plunder his enemies. And finally, he'll make a highway for his remnant.

There's so many reasons not to fear. And Judah is a fearful people, because there are many threats on the outside. And he's speaking of the remnant here. He will deliver the remnant. And so in the second part of the poem, it really begins with verse 10.

And verse 10 is a link between the first part and the second part. It sort of forms the seam, the connection point of the two. The first part of the poem focuses in on the identity and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The second part of the poem focuses in on the spread of the Gospel, the power of God at work in history. Nothing can stop God in history.

You can try to stamp out the Gospel. It will not happen. God will absolutely make His word spread. And it will spread so much it'll be like the waters that cover the sea. And so there's this testimony of why you should not fear.

Now remember Isaiah has been appealing to the people not to fear. And really, Chapter 11 forms the final conclusion of the reasons why you should not fear. And it's because of the Messiah. But strangely enough, he goes further than just saying, well, it's the Messiah. He shouldn't fear because of the Messiah.

But in verse three, in chapter 11, I'd like you to look at it with me. He says, his delight is in the fear of the Lord and he shall not judge by the side of his eyes nor decide by the hearing of his ears." So what what Isaiah is saying is look to the Messiah, look to Jesus And what does Jesus do? His delight is in the fear of the Lord. So, do you see the logic that Isaiah is walking us through? There's the fearful heart of man who fears man.

And his only hope really is to look to his Savior. And what does his Savior do? His Savior delights in the fear of the Lord. And that's the whole logic that is here. Looking to Christ.

Not looking at your circumstances, not looking at the threats that are upon you, but looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. And what happens when you look at Christ? Will you recognize that He delighted in the fear of the Lord. It was His great delight. There's really no delight in the soul that's truly delightful unless it's grounded in Christ.

You can fill your life with all kinds of temporal pleasures, but they do nothing for the soul like Jesus does. Because His delight is in the fear of the Lord. And when you look to Him, when you love Him, He gives you a delight. He gives you a rest that all of your hope is in the Lord and not in the circumstances or the threats that are around you. You know, the picture that's being played is you have Ephraim in the northern kingdom, or Israel, and you have Judah in the southern kingdom.

And Isaiah is constantly speaking of both. Israel is a picture of the apostate church, the church that has rejected God, rejected the worship of God. It's the church that doesn't, that really just wants to have its own portion in this world, and they'll do anything they can to get it. But yet, they're very religious. But there you have in the southern kingdom, you really have a picture of the remnant, the people of God.

But there's a problem with the remnant. The remnant is also embraced Eastern ways. But yet it still is a remnant. God is going to restore and bring his remnant back. So the first part of this poem is the stem of Jesse.

In other words, the things that the Messiah is doing outwardly. And it goes even further, the root of Jesse causes something to happen in verse 10. And that has to do with the expansion of the Gospel. Now, just pulling back a little bit further again, in chapters 1 through 12, it's helpful to see the whole context. Chapter 1 begins with a lament.

It's a lament of the sin that so gripped the people and how it's harmed everyone so terribly. Sin will destroy your soul. Sin is so bad. And he says, a last sinful nation, a laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers. It's just a terrible picture of people who've walked away from God.

Well, that's how it begins. But how does it end? Chapter 12. Look at it with me. It ends with a song.

Chapter 11 is a poem. Chapter 12 is a song. And it casts a vision of the hope that there is. And he says in chapter 12, and in that day you will say, Lord, I will praise you, though you were angry with me, your anger is turned away and you come for me. Behold, God is my salvation.

I will trust and will not be afraid." So that's the first section. It begins with, alas, sinful nation of people laden with iniquity, and it ends with a heart that has been set free. It ends with the happiness of the Kingdom of Heaven. That's the progression that you see in these first twelve chapters. Now next week we'll cover this last chapter and see how it fits with the whole rest of this section.

The whole message from Isaiah chapter 1 to chapter 2 to chapter 12 is this. Depend on the Lord. Stop depending on the ways of man. Look at chapter 10 verse 20. I think this is one of the keys to the whole section.

And it will come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, as such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, will never again depend on him who defeated them, but will depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The whole message of chapters 1-12 is this, depend on the Lord, rest in Him, cease striving, and know that He is God. Who's your Assyrian? Don't fear the Assyrian. And then it ends with this beautiful verse in chapter 12 verse 3.

Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. So it's a picture of people laden, broken, burdened, terrified, worried about everything. Have you ever been like that? Have you ever been worried about this potentiality, that situation that's going on in your life? You know, the history of Israel is the parable of the history of the church and this church as well.

I don't think our church is any different than Judah. We constantly find ourselves in this state. What's our only hope? Draw water from the wells of salvation with joy. You know, that's really the whole purpose of our gatherings.

That when we come together we would be drawing the water, bringing it up, hauling it up, one word at a time from the Word of God, one note at a time from the words of the songs, you know, one drop at a time from the prayers that are prayed in the church. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. That's why we're here. Let's draw water. Let's draw as much as we can as we go through this passage of Scripture and recognize that we have a Savior whose delight was in the fear of the Lord.

And He did not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor the sight by the hearing of his ears. He was submissive to his father. He listened to his father. He did fear God. And so here in chapter 11, in the poem, we've already been given, I think, probably at least a dozen reasons not to fear.

Because he's so full of wisdom. He has a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and might, a spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord. That's why you shouldn't fear, because Jesus Christ is here to give you all these things. And so now, there are many, many other reasons why you should not fear. Why you should depend on the Lord.

Why you should cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you." Why should you do that? Why should you draw the water out of the wells of salvation? Well, it's because He's so good. And there's seven things here, or rather six things, six reasons that you should fear Christ alone. And that you should cast all of your cares on Him and put none of your hope in this world.

So Here's the first, verse 10. He makes a glorious resting place for the Gentiles. First reason you should cast all your cares on him is because he's making a glorious resting place for the Gentiles, verse 10. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse who shall stand as a banner to the people for the Gentiles shall seek him and his resting place shall be glorious. So as I said earlier, verse 10 connects the first part of the poem to the second part of the poem.

Isn't the Word of God wonderful? There are poems, there are songs, there are didactic sections, there are stories. It's so remarkable. But here in this poem you have this middle section and there are three elements to this connecting section of the poem. And I think that verse 10, it summarizes the first half and the second half as well by using the words that are used here.

There are three elements to it. First of all, there's the root. Second, there's the banner. And third, there is the resting place. And I think all of those seem to collect up what is said in both the first half and the second half of the poem.

So he says that there's a root of Jesse and in that day there shall be a root of Jesse. There's this root that you cannot kill. It's the life-giving root and it keeps, it cannot die. And this is such a marvelous thing to know. When you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, a root is taken home.

You may take three steps forward and two steps back, but the root doesn't die. What a wonderful thing that is. Have you ever taken a couple steps back? Well, recognize the kindness of God. He has made it so that the root won't die.

You might become indolent, you might become rebellious, You might go through a season where you've really resisted the Holy Spirit. But the root doesn't die. And He calls you back again. Maybe that's what's happening now. And you've heard me say, draw water from the well to salvation with joy.

And in your heart you're saying, oh Lord, I want to return, I want to return to the joy of my salvation. Lord, restore to me the joy of my salvation." Well, it's such a marvelous thing that God is kind to his people, that even when they might resist the Holy Spirit and quench the Holy Spirit, the Spirit and the Bride say, Come, Jesus says, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon me and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart." Well this is the essence of the root. It doesn't die and it keeps on giving life. And it produces fruit.

And it would be a long and glorious study to consider What is the use of the root in the Bible? But here is this image of the root. And the idea is that the tree has been cut down. It's an image of restoration. It looks like it's destroyed, but it's not destroyed.

It's still growing even though it's small to the outside observer and maybe even hardly even visible. You might even have friends like that, where the root is still alive. The tree seems to be chopped down because of a time of disobedience. But God is so kind. God created trees and roots and stems to remind us of a number of things.

First thing, God can lop off the branch and he can cut down the tree in a moment and he can bring life from that tree that's cut down. And he's not cutting the tree down to destroy it, but he's cutting it down to cause it to bear fruit. And so Isaiah's using this picture of these trees that are reduced, you know, the trees of Lebanon that have been cut down. And then there's the banner. It's interesting he mixes the metaphors.

He says the root is a banner. So how does a root become a banner? I mean, you know, if you're an English major, this would just drive you bananas, right? But here, the root is the banner at the same time. If you were editing this as an editor, you would make the metaphors match.

But God doesn't have to do that. He's perfect. And so, he says that there is this banner, this banner, he says, and there should be a root of Jesse who shall stand as a banner to the people." So this is the second image is it's the banner and again you should ask what does it mean in the Bible that there's a banner what would it what is that? A banner is something that's lifted up It's something that you lift up your eyes to see, and it says something to you. Your eyes see something, and it speaks a message to you.

And so the Lord Jesus Christ is a banner. He sets himself up and we look unto him. You do that all day long, don't you? You lift up your eyes under the hills from whence your help comes. You say like Solomon, I am my beloved and he is mine.

His banner over me is love. His banner over me is love." That's what he's saying to you. He's a God of love. And here he will stand as a banner to the people. And it's like what the Lord Jesus said in John chapter 3, verse 14.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so, the Son of Man should be lifted up. He's lifted up. He's a banner. We look unto Him. It's like He said in John 12, 32, And if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me.

You know, the Lord Jesus Christ is always standing as a banner, no matter where you are in this world. I don't care where you are. If you're in the deepest, darkest prison, if you're in a hospital bed, you know, it doesn't matter where you are. In this church, walking along, driving along, just recognize the Son of Man is lifted up. And it's such an act of love of God that He would make it that way, that we could lift up our eyes under the hills from where our help comes.

His banner over you is love. You can always look to Him for hope and encouragement, help, or correction, whatever it might be. But this is His picture, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ being lifted up, and the connection with the serpent in the wilderness, as Jesus spoke of in John 13, it was a symbol of healing. That's where the healing comes from. You look to Him and you're healed.

You're so fretful. You're so envious. You're so dissatisfied. You're so angry with your situation. And you look up and you're healed.

And He gives you a heavenly adjustment, and He sets all things back in order again. What a marvelous thing it is. But it's a picture, this whole picture of a banner, that you have the people that are looking longingly, they're looking appreciatively, they're looking hopefully and thankfully and submissively to the banner. So not only does He give you a root, He gives you a banner, and His banner over you really is love. In Isaiah 59, verse 19, the same language is used.

They shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. Here the context is when an enemy is coming against you, the Lord lifts up a standard, and instead of obsessing about your enemy, you look longingly, and hopefully, to the standard, to the banner, to the ensign, I believe is what the King James Bible says. This idea of the banner is spoken of in so many places. Romans 15 speaks of it.

Numbers chapter 1 verse 52 speaks of it as well. In Romans 15 verse 12 it says, And there shall be a root of Jesse, And he who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles in him, the Gentiles shall hope." Now this use of this passage of Scripture in Romans 15 is really all about hope. That the God of hope would fill you with hope. And so He gives you a root to give you hope, to know that the root will not die. He gives you a banner that is ever-present, to give you hope in the world so that no matter where you walk, whether you're in the deepest, darkest dungeon or driving in your car or you're having a birthday celebration with your child, you can look up to that banner.

The banner is raised high and it says, for the Gentiles shall seek Him. The Gentiles shall seek Him. Now who are the Gentiles? Well, the Gentiles are the goyim, the filthy, unclean of this world. Those who know nothing of God, nothing of the Kingdom of God, nothing of His Word, nothing of His goodness.

They're without hope and without God in the world. Those are the Gentiles. They don't have the promises of God They didn't grow up that way they grew up with nothing and Yet God rescues them and again. Here's just another beautiful picture of the power of God The wells of water the waters of salvation The water is so good. It can cleanse the filthy It can cleanse the person who's been so disconnected from God beyond imagination to live in paganism and then finally to be rescued.

That's the hope. That is the hope of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then there's rest. And His resting place shall be glorious. Again, I just remembered this verse 10.

It's the scene, it's the central element of the poem. That you have the root and you have the banner and you have this resting place. This place of ease, of quiet and stillness. It's a picture of heaven. You know, Jesus did say, I will give you rest.

You know, the people of Judah were not at rest. They were fearful. They had fears on the left and fears on the right, fears on the inside, just like the Apostle Paul spoke of, that he had in his own ministry. But he says that there's a resting place. That's why Jesus said, in my Father's house, there are many dwelling places.

These are houses of rest. This is heaven. He said I'll never leave you or forsake you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you.

This is the rest of Jesus Christ. He makes you lie down in green pastures and He leads you beside still waters and He gives you a day of rest to remind you of that eternal rest. So that all work would be suspended, all buying and selling would be suspended so that you could just consider the water and you would just draw water from the wells of salvation with joy. That's really the purpose of our day today. You know we're so we're so worldly It's hard for us to really experience the full measure of the joy of the rest on the Sabbath day, isn't it?

To me, it's something that I'm so grateful for. But it makes me long for more rest. It makes me long for a greater heart for true rest, doesn't it, you? It makes me long for heaven, because even on the Sabbath day, as wonderful as it is, it's not even enough, is it? Heaven is enough, though.

There's a rest out there. Our attempts to rest, and the rest that we do get, the beauty of it, the helpful nature of it, it reminds us that there is a complete rest that's there. If you've ever struggled with rest on the Sabbath day, take heart in this. There will be a day when you won't struggle. And the struggle that you're being given now in the rest, I think it's really to drive you to recognize how great that rest in heaven really is.

And there's so many things like that that God has given us. He's given us marriages that are wonderful, but they're not perfectly wonderful. It makes us long for the marriage in heaven. Their meals, their feasts that we have, they're wonderful, but they're not that wonderful. There's something greater in heaven.

And all these things have been given to us for that. And so many of the signposts, and there are probably hundreds of millions of signposts in heaven that are around us every day. They're wonderful, but they're not all wonderful. The light, the bread, the water, all of it is really a foretaste. You know, we were so happy, many of us, to be involved in the wedding of Joshua Harris and Tabitha Mello yesterday.

Well, it was wonderful, wasn't it? Well, but it wasn't perfectly wonderful. And it won't be perfectly wonderful, but it is designed to point to truly, eternally wonderful things. So it will be glorious, it says. And this is the word that is used in Isaiah 6, kavod, heavy.

It's the same word that the Seraphim used when he said, holy, holy, holy, the whole earth is full of his glory, kavod. This rest will be, it will be heavy in the very best sense of the word, just wonderfully, wonderfully solid, wonderfully stable and heavy, immovable. And the rest will be immovable. Right now your rest is movable, isn't it? In heaven it will be.

And so we've been given a picture of that. So first of all, you know, why should you stop fearing? Well, because He makes a glorious resting place for the Gentiles. And it's like a root, it's like a banner, it's like heaven. And it's there.

It's real. And the second reason not to fear is that his hand will recover the remnant. Verse 11. And 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 who are left from Assyria and Egypt, from Pathras and Cush, from Elam and Shinar, from Hamoth and the islands of the sea. Well, this verse, verse 11, starts out with a time marker in that day.

Well, what is that day? It's the day of the Messiah. The Apostle Paul makes this so clear all throughout this. He's quoting this section. And he's saying, this is that, this that is happening by the work of Jesus Christ.

And he shed blood on the cross and his resurrection, this is that. So make no mistake about it. So the time marker is there, it's the days of the Messiah. And then he speaks of something that happened the first time and something that happened the second time. Now when did he do it the first time?

It was in Egypt. In the third month after the Exodus, the children of Israel came out to the base of Mount Sinai and they camped there. And the Lord speaks to Moses, and he tells them what the Exodus was all about. And it was about the rescue of a remnant out of Egypt. And so the first rescue was Egypt.

Now, Egypt is used as a picture of salvation over and over again. I used to know how many times, but it's the most prominent picture of salvation from the Old Testament. And it's the rescue of Egypt. Out of Egypt, I have called my son. Egypt, the place of bondage.

Egypt, the place of Pharaoh, A terrible taskmaster. You remember what it was like living under Pharaoh? You remember how the devil treated you? You remember how he messed with your emotions? You remember how he destroyed your body in different ways, your mind?

He caused you to think corruptly, and he made you angry and envious. That's what he did to you. He's an abusive taskmaster. So the picture of Egypt is a picture of deliverance from Pharaoh. To get away from Pharaoh, That's the best thing you can ever do in your life, is to escape his land.

But the Lord shall set his hand the second time. The second time is the coming of Jesus Christ. Because the deliverance from Egypt is the type of Jesus Christ and his own deliverance, where he buys back his people from bondage. He buys them off the slave block. He pays for them and he takes them into the promised land.

And he does it by his hand. Again, we've seen the doctrine of the hand in the Bible. There are two parts of it. On the one hand, there's the hand of judgment. His hand is raised up still.

In other words, nothing will stop His judgment. You cannot stop His judgment. It will be raised up into the end. And He will either raise up His hand to destroy you in hell forever, or He will raise up His hand against His Son and He will lay your sins upon His Son and all the punishment that you deserve will be laid upon Him as He raises His hand to punish his son for you. But God will punish his sin.

And here he raised up his hand in a different way. He says, I will raise it up in the same way. And it's the way of deliverance. That's the way. This is another use of his hand.

And the hand is used for so many beautiful purposes. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. That's this way here. My hand will lead you. I will write your name on the palm of my hand." Well, on the one hand his hand strikes in judgment, but on the other he comes to recover.

And here, this is it. It's His hand that recovers. His hand is stretched out, not to punish, but to recover, to bring something back. It's a beautiful picture. And it's a remnant that is being brought back.

The remnant is used in scripture in many different ways. I'm going to give you just three meanings of the remnant in scripture. The remnant is in the world for different reasons. God restores His remnant and brings them back with his hand for different reasons. I'm gonna give you three reasons.

One, to restrain evil, to keep society from becoming like Sodom. If you think you're part of the remnant of God in the world, recognize one of your roles in the world, and that is to keep society from becoming like Sodom. That's why in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 9 that the apostle Paul quotes, he says, unless the Lord of hosts had left us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom. We would have been made like Gomorrah. In other words, without the remnant, everything becomes like Sodom and Gamora.

You know, what a blessing it is to be, to perform the function of the remnant. To walk into places of business, to walk in on the streets, to have conversations, and you do not fall into the wickedness that's there. In fact, you resist the wickedness that's there. So it's to restrain evil. Secondly, for enlightenment and revival, God preserves the remnant to cause revival to take place in the land.

Ezra 9, 8 says, and now for a little while, grace has been shown from the Lord our God to leave us a remnant to escape and to give us a peg in this holy place that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a measure of revival in our bondage. So, remnants are used, it's like a little peg in the wall to hang on, just something to hang on. But what's hanging? Revival, enlightenment. That's why the remnant exists.

Hey, the remnant is always small, but it can have a big impact. Don't ever despise the day of small things. Don't despise the fact that the church is small in the world. It is a peg in the wall, but it is for revival in our bondage. And that's the function of the remnant in the world.

God works through remnants. And thirdly, he works for remnants for a vision of hope, because they have hope. Now Isaiah, Paul quotes Isaiah 11 in Romans 15 And he says that in verse 8, And now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made to the fathers, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, I will confess to you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. And again he says, rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.

And again, praise the Lord, you Gentiles, laud him, all you peoples. And again, Isaiah says, there shall be a root of Jefse, and he who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles in him, the Gentiles shall hope. So Paul is using Isaiah to talk about hope, that this banner is a banner of hope, that then he says this in verse 13, in Romans 15, Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." And so, the remnant has a function in the world, and that is to give hope. You know, when there is a people who turn toward God truly in their hearts and genuinely, with all sincerity of heart, and it's real, it brings hope. You know, I really experienced that yesterday in that wedding that I was part of.

It gives me so much hope when I see a young couple who they have their eyes fixed on Jesus. And they genuinely, with their heart of hearts, they want their lives to be a picture of Heaven. They really do. Now they know they have a long way to go, and they sorrow for their inadequacies, but when you have a couple who's saying they're a remnant, who's really acting like a remnant. It's a beautiful thing.

And I'm so full of hope when I see a remnant acting like that. For me, I've been involved in some weddings of the younger generation over the last few years. And every time it fills me with hope. It's the hope of a remnant that says, I want to follow the Lord Jesus. I don't want to follow the ways of the world.

Lord, help this marriage be such a living picture of the happiness of heaven. Those are the kind of marriages that I'm seeing. You know, they're marriages that have been formed with a desire for honor for their father and mother, desire for purity, desire to walk in the ways of the Lord, not the ways of the Gentiles. To be married for the glory of God, and not just for a pretty face or for some kind of other benefit. A remnant gives hope.

And that's what is spoken of here. His hand will recover the remnant. Notice who does it. God does it. You can't force it.

It just happens because of the power of God. And then thirdly, the outcasts are gathered together in verse 12. He will set a banner for the nations. Notice the word banner is used again. It was banner for the people, right?

The people of Judah, and I think also the people of Israel, both the apostate church of whom some can be saved and I'm also the religious who become worldly. That was the banner for Judah and Israel. Now it's the banner for the nations. Do you see that? It's the same banner.

And it will assemble the outcasts of Israel and will gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. This is a picture of an in-gathering from the four corners of the earth. And God will assemble out of the ungodly nations an assembly, an ecclesia, a church, a gathered people, just like we are here today. You think of the four corners of the earth that God has gathered us from. The different sectors of society, the different places that God has brought us.

It's a marvelous picture. But notice there are two categories here. Look very carefully. There are the outcasts of Israel, that's one category. The outcasts of Israel and the dispersed of Judah.

Two different kinds of people. And so this is, the outcasts of Judah are, you know, the people who had ceased to be the people of God. They were cast out. This is the Northern Kingdom, pictured in Jeremiah 3, where God divorces Israel. They're banished, they're thrust away, they're cast aside.

And this is the same picture in the New Testament church, where the Jew and the Gentile will come and be part of one body. And again, the formerly religious will return, those from Judah. And you can see this in Romans 11 as well. Isaiah 11 and Romans 11 are connected. You know, the Apostle Paul is connecting to this chapter for particular purposes.

And his purpose really is to explain that God is going to rescue the filthy goyim from the world. And so in Romans 11 you will see how that works, how God gave them a spirit of stupor in Romans 11. But their spirit of stupor had a purpose, and that is that the Gentiles would be included and there would be a jealousy. So perhaps you could take a look at that when you go home today. Romans 11 is really an explanation of verse 12 in Isaiah chapter 11.

Now, they come from the four corners of the earth. Now, this doesn't mean that God believes that there are corners to the earth and the earth is square and flat. That's not actually what this means. If you go to atheist websites, they'll say, see how stupid God is, because He thinks that the earth has four corners. Well, it's figurative language.

And it's really reminiscent of what Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24, verse 1, when he said, he will send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. The four winds, it has to do with, you know, speaking from everywhere, the four corners, from the four winds, from absolutely everywhere, he will gather the people together. In Matthew 24, he's talking about judgment, where he brings everyone who's ever been born from every part of the world together to stand before him and he will separate the sheep from the goats and he will put the sheep on his right and he will put the goats on his left and the sheep he will bring into his kingdom, and the goats he will cast into everlasting fire. But this is the picture in verse 12, that he will gather the Gentiles from the four corners of the earth. And then, and that's why you should not fear.

It's another reason. God is going to do this. He is going to gather His people from the four corners of the earth. And then, Number four, envy departs. Verse 13.

Also, the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim. So, again, isn't it interesting how often Isaiah goes back and he speaks of the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom. By the way, by the time we get through Isaiah, it ought to be really clear to everyone in the church what the whole thing happened with the northern and the southern kingdom.

Please don't let your children get by the study of Isaiah without understanding what happened as the northern and the southern kingdom split, because it really forms so much of the structure of Isaiah and his argument that he's making here. But it was envy that split the northern and the southern kingdom. It was jealousy. The word in Isaiah 11, 13 is also used of jealousy. The Northern Kingdom wanted the advantages of the Southern Kingdom.

Judah had the temple, And Israel wanted to have the same religious advantages, at least outwardly, perhaps only outwardly, than Judah. They had all the stuff and they were envied by Ephraim. And, you know, this envy here is something that always wrecks the relationships in the Church of Jesus Christ. Envy is one of the worst things that can grip a person in the church. And we see how devastating as it was.

It's when you think you deserve something and you get offended if you don't have it. 1 Kings chapter 12 paints this picture of the envy. It's a long chapter and I would encourage you to look at it, but you see how Jeroboam and Rehoboam were sparring for favor. And the Northern Kingdom was losing the people. And so they, instead of losing the people, they established their own worship in the Northern Kingdom.

And they made, they made altars everywhere and they appointed, you know, Tom, Dick, and Harry, pretty much anybody, you know, who was living and breathing to go and conduct the worship of God. They wanted it so badly they just did whatever they had to do. And it really was all about envy. If you read the story of the woman of the well in John chapter 4, you know, she says, you worship at Jerusalem. Well, she was from Samaria.

She was one of those from Ephraim. And, but the division was over envy. And often, often if you look at division that happens between one person and another or a person with their church, Very often you can trace it down to envy. You know, my experience is that there's always somebody in the church that's on the way out, always. And we've just had a whole year where nobody left the church.

But when you have somebody who is on the way out, often envy isn't the root of it. They're not getting something that they want. Somebody else has something. Usually it's some kind of favor. And there are a lot of different ways that it expresses itself.

But you just might ask yourself, is envy growing or are you killing it? You know, John Owen said, do you mortify? Do you make it your daily work? Be killing sin or it'll be killing you. But envy is like that.

It starts little and it grows. It's nursed. And one drop at a time, it grows just like a baby grows as it nurses from its mother. It grows and it grows and it grows and finally it gets so big it just has to go get its food somewhere else. And that's what happens to people often.

But envy was the driving force behind the division of Israel and Judah. But here, the envy will depart. This is the promise of the Messiah, that Jesus Christ will make it so that envy will depart from his children. We saw a picture of it earlier in the chapter where the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat. In other words, those who are in opposition are not in opposition anymore.

God changes people's hearts so much, changes the whole relational landscape so that people have some ability to be together in unity. He's the Prince of Peace. And then, unity prevails. Unity prevails in verse 14. But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west.

Together they shall plunder the people of the East, they shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab, and the people of Ammon shall obey them." So instead of walking in envy, now they're flying together in unity. And it's a picture of the unified labors of the body of Christ to bring the gospel into the world. It's how churches gather together in unity to spread the gospel. It says, I love the language, they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines to the west. They will fly down on the shoulder.

But it really is a picture of unity. It's like David said when he cried out, behold how good and how pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell together. It's a beautiful thing when the brethren dwell together. This is, this is, he is prophesying the missionaries who will go to the four corners of the earth and spread the gospel. He's picturing churches in unity who are sending people out to fly down, fly down onto the shoulders of the Philistines, to fly out there and go spread the Gospel to a place.

You know, I just can't read this without thinking of the Maxin family in Malawi. They've flown down there, and our hearts are with them. We're unified with them. And they are on the shoulder of the Philistines to the West. It's such a remarkable picture and it shows how God triumphs over his enemies.

Who were the Philistines? Well, they were the giants, the giants from which Goliath had come. Who were the people of the East? Well, we've already been told you're filled up with Eastern ways. They definitely were pagans.

This is where the Magi came from. The people who hated God. Who were the Edomites? They were the descendants of Esau. Who were the Moabites?

They were Lot's daughters' children. And Who were the Ammonites? They were also the descendants of Lot's daughters, her son, Ammon. These also were giants. Lot's daughters gave birth to the giants, Ogobation And the Zamzumim in Genesis chapter 14, these huge people that God placed on the earth, the giants are there.

And all of these splinter groups that are mentioned here, they came from the people of God. And then they began to oppress the people of God. And they're the apostate people who turned away from the true God. And then they began to punish the people of God. But here, they'll fly down and they'll plunder, they'll take the spoil, like the Egyptians.

The Egyptians gave them their jewels and gave them their wealth. They wanted them to leave the land of Egypt. So it's a picture of the church flying down and sitting on the shoulder of the apostate Gentile nation and preaching the gospel there. Do we have enough missionaries in this church? No.

It's a great gap. It's a great weakness of our church. It's something that needs to be repaired. We've not involved ourselves in this unified flying down on the shoulders of the Philistines like we ought to. It's something we ought to commit to prayer.

We should commit our resources to it. But my view is Hope Baptist Church is way, way behind the curve when it comes to missionary outreach and activity. And we need to consider this really as a correction, as a vision of a different kind of life than we've been living. It should sharpen us. It should chastise us a little bit.

And it should help us to see how important it is to fly down and to go sit on the shoulder of the Philistine, to go out there and plunder, make plunder, to bring treasure home, to bring the treasure of souls saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says, and Amon shall obey them. I mean, this is what happens when you spread the Gospel. People obey the Lord. That's the point.

And in chapter two of Isaiah, it's obedience to the prophets and the law of God that marks the remnant, marks the saved. And in the most prominent passage of Scripture on this whole subject, at the end of Matthew, Matthew 28, the passage on the Great Commission, The Lord Jesus says, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And then he says in verse 20, teaching them to obey all things that I have commanded. So this matter of obedience is really the heart of the Great Commission. The Great Commission isn't just going out and declaring something.

It's that you declare it and you see an obedient people arise out of it. If you don't see an obedient people, the Gospel hasn't been embraced. But God is looking for an obedient people. That's why he says, an Ammon shall obey them. These Ammonites who rejected God, they come to God for obedience so that their ways would be cleansed.

And so you have this unified work together to spread the gospel. Hey, let's be a more unified people in 2014 for the purpose of the spread of the gospel. I know there are many here whose hearts are burning with this. Let those flames come and ignite the rest of us. It's a good thing.

And then, sixthly, and finally, the Lord will destroy the works of the devil as with Egypt. This is another reason you should not fear. There's so many reasons not to fear. And here in verse 15 and 16 we see what will happen as a result of this root. The Lord will destroy the works of the devil.

He says he will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt. Now what is that? We'll get to that in a moment. With his mighty wind he will shake his fist over the river and strike it in the seven streams and make men cross over dry shod. There will be a highway for the remnant of his people, who will be left from Assyria, as it was for Israel in the day that he came up from the land of Egypt." Here we find the principle that God is invincible.

That's a reason you shouldn't fear. God can rescue a people any time, any way he wants. And he did it in Egypt. There will be a reenactment of the power of God that he showed in Egypt. What is that reenactment?

It's the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the power of the resurrection working in the people of God until he comes again. That's what is being spoken of here. There is a reenactment of the Exodus where God will rescue people from the bondage of the devil. And he speaks of this tongue, the tongue of the Sea of Egypt. What is that?

Well, he's referring to the crossing of the Red Sea. And the tongue of the Egyptian Sea will be obliterated. In other words, it won't even be there. You know, In the first deliverance, the water parted and they walked across. In the second deliverance, the tongue will be completely destroyed.

It's a better covenant. It's better promises. It's a better deliverance. It's God continuing to pour out His Spirit. And He gets rid of the seed, not just parts of it.

This is the power of the Holy Spirit, I believe, in the life of the believer. God does more wonderful things in the new covenant that he did in the old covenant. And there's more power there. There's really more joy there. I don't think you would have wanted to be Moses.

I don't think you would have wanted to be David. You know what? If you were, I think you'd feel differently. I think your life would be different on the downgrade side. Because the Holy Spirit is such an improving influence.

And It's marvelous to look to Moses and David, but we have to always recognize these are just shadows. They're shadows of things to come. They do give us details, but they always point to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And It's right to point back to the shadow of the Apostle. All the apostles do that.

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself was constantly looking back to the shadows. So on the one hand we should look at the shadows, but we should also recognize that there's something greater than a shadow here. And the Lord Jesus Christ, He completely destroys the tongue of the Sea of Egypt. He takes away all the roadblocks. And I think this is reflected in Peter's sermon in the book of Acts on the Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, where He's quoting Psalm 110 that Jesus Christ is reigning.

And he's speaking of the historical effects of the Messiah. That He will bring justice and righteousness to the nations. That He will bring His power, the power of His salvation. And it's a power that can be seen. The remedy for everything is Jesus Christ in his kingdom.

He's wonderful in his councils. He's wonderful in all of his works. And he brings his church together. He makes a glorious resting place for the Gentiles. He recovers a remnant.

He takes the outcasts and he gathers them together. He brings the people together and what happens to them? Envy departs and they love one another from the heart. And unity prevails and they gather together, they gather their energies, their resources, they gather their people together and they send some to fly out to go sit on the shoulder of the Philistines, to go be with them, to preach the gospel to them. And then he provides a highway.

There will be a highway for the remnant of his people, who will be left from Assyria, as it was for Israel, in the day that he came up from the land of Egypt. Well, we've just seen a marvelous picture of Jesus Christ. Why you shouldn't fear? Why should you not fear? Because he has the Spirit of counsel and might, wisdom and understanding, knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

Why should you not fear? Because He's made a resting place for you. Because He is recovering you. He's taking the outcast. You should not fear.

There's no reason. Now, but you do fear, don't you? You do fear. And you struggle with it. But Jesus Christ has come.

And He has come as the one who fears. He always feared God like you never could. He always trusted in His Father when you struggled with it, from one trial to the next. The Lord Jesus Christ, it is He who fears His Father. And because of His fear of His Father, His fear becomes your fear.

The best of him was laid on you, and the worst of you was laid on him." So when the Bible says, "'him you shall fear, ' recognize there is only one person who ever feared perfectly. It was Jesus Christ. He always feared his Father. And that is why you neither need to fear nor do you need to fret. Because Jesus Christ is your sacrifice.

That's really your only hope when you pray with me. Lord, Lord we thank you for this chapter That has led us to consider the water of the wells of salvation, the beautiful Savior, the root, the branch, the banner, the wisdom, the loving kindness. Oh Lord, The hand stretched out, stretched out to redeem. The taking away of the obstacles of the Red Sea. You O Lord are so good.

I pray Lord that as we're here in this passage, that we're here in this section, that you would change us, that you would make us a people so like what we're reading about here. Amen.