[0:00] In Isaiah 59, we read at verse 19, So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun.
[0:15] When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. In this chapter which we have, the 59th of Isaiah, the context is found in that which we have in the preceding chapter, where we find the people of Israel, or Judah, saying at verse 3, for example, Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?
[0:44] Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. You fast for strife, and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness, and so on. And then we begin this chapter 59, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot see, nor is ear heavy, that it cannot hear.
[1:02] The context is that the people of Judah say, look, we've done all the religious things. Look, we're fasting, we're praying, we're making our sacrifices, we're coming and going through the motions. How is God not hearing us?
[1:14] How are we not being delivered from our enemies? How are we not being given, you know, victories and being blessed? How is it that God is not saving us? When we're doing all the, we're ticking all the boxes.
[1:26] How is it that we're not getting delivered? Is it because God isn't able to save us? Is it because he's withdrawn from us, or that somehow he's not strong enough to do this?
[1:37] And this is why the prophet is inspired, at the beginning of chapter 59, to utter this word, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.
[1:51] And then these two verses, which are in the second person, plural, So that the prophet Isaiah is being inspired by the Lord to speak this word to the people of Judah.
[2:19] Those who cry out and say, you know, why have we fasted? And thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul? Thou takest no knowledge. How is it that we are busy going through the religious motions and God isn't appealing to bless?
[2:33] This is the verses 2 and 3 here, speaking directly to them. The extent to which iniquity, sin, is through and through every aspect of their lives.
[2:45] Your iniquities have separated between you and your God. It's like a wall that has been built up, brick by brick, between us and God, or between them, in this case, and God.
[2:57] Now, of course, you can't build a wall. Even the most capable brickie in the world cannot make a wall whoosh appear suddenly in a moment. He's got to sort of lay down a little foundation with cement and so on and concrete first.
[3:09] And then he can put down the bricks and cement in between them. And then layer by layer it will go up. And even if he works really efficiently and really quickly, the wall can only go up brick by brick.
[3:21] One brick at a time. And so, likewise, our sins, as we continue in them, we commit one. And then that makes it a little easier to commit another.
[3:31] And then, you know, it doesn't seem so bad because then that sort of normalizes the situation. For the next one, and little by little, stone by stone, brick by brick, layer by layer, this wall is built up between us and our God.
[3:44] And at the same time, as the rays of his warmth and his love, likewise, are diminished or increasingly obscured by this rising wall of darkness, indifference, sin that comes between us and the Lord.
[3:58] So as we cease to be warmed so much by his love, we grow colder. And because, as Jesus says in the New Testament, Because iniquity shall abound, because this wall is being built up brick by brick, the love of many shall wax cold.
[4:11] Your iniquities have separated between you and your God. And your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity.
[4:22] Your lips have spoken lies and your tongue have uttered perverseness. Now notice that it is moving, in this verse 3, it is moving from the general to the particular. Hands is one, fingers is more specific.
[4:35] What you do with the hands could just be a general reference to the actions that you do. What you do with your fingers implies that which is more precise, that which is more detailed. And it is both in the general and in the particular, in the sort of ordinary stuff and also in the detail that sin is through the people of Judah, through sinners in general.
[4:56] Likewise, your lips have spoken lies and your tongue hath muttered perverseness. Now, the lips, of course, we can see outwardly with the naked eye. We can see people's lips moving and so on and that's which we speak.
[5:09] But the tongue, of course, that's often hidden inside the mouth. And also the sense here, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. It implies a sort of secretive, kind of, you know, under the breath.
[5:20] You know, that which is public, that which is open, is what we speak with our lips. That which is sort of muttered away in secret. That is more personal. And it's moving, again, from the general to the particular. Both with the hands to the fingers.
[5:31] Both with the lips to the tongue. And this, of course, is the opposite of what it ought to be if the Lord is in us and through us. If you think of Psalm 144, for example, where David says, Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight.
[5:51] And there he is moving from the general to the particular with the strength of the Lord. When the adversity comes in, when the enemy comes in, there is David able to resist him because the Lord is his strength.
[6:06] The Lord is the power to his arm, to his hands, to his fingers. So we have here the reason why there isn't blessing on Israel, on Judah.
[6:17] Because sinners have built up this wall between them and the Lord. But lest it may seem as though the prophet is saying, Oh, you terrible people. You're not like me.
[6:27] The good prophet, Isaiah. You are just all sinners and I am good. Rather, we see then after verse 3, that from verse 4 onwards then to verse 8, we see, rather to verse 9, we see that it moves then into the third person.
[6:44] And it is describing not so much you as they, and it's becoming in a sense less personal and more of a general description. None calleth for justice, nor any pleader for truth.
[6:57] They trust in vanity and speak lies. They conceive mischief. They hatch cockatrices, eggs, and so on. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood.
[7:08] Remember, of course, what it says in the Proverbs, I think it's in chapter 6. These six things that the Lord gave, he said, are an abomination unto him. A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood.
[7:20] And heart that deviseth wicked imaginations. Feet that be swift and running to evil. A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. Feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood.
[7:34] Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. The way of peace they know not. So, from addressing the plural you, now he says they, so it's everybody that's guilty.
[7:45] And now, from verse 9 on to verse 15, it is like a confession. Because Isaiah now counts himself in with them. He is now speaking on behalf of the people, as it were, to the Lord.
[8:00] And acknowledging that, yes, they are guilty. You, Israel, are guilty. I am guilty. We are all of us together. Therefore is judgment far from us.
[8:11] Neither doth justice overtake us. We wait for light, but behold obscurity. For brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind.
[8:21] You see how it's changed now. Now it's the first person, plural, in which it is addressed. We roar all like bears and mourn like doves. The sense here is of a bear who has no food.
[8:32] It is roaring with hunger. The dove whose sound, the sort of cooing of the dove sounds mournful. And this is the sense of it here. We look for judgment in the sense of justice.
[8:44] But there is none for salvation. But it is far off from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us. So you see what is happening here.
[8:54] Israel, Judah, is quite content to go on in sin. But sin has consequences. And what they are finding is that as they are sown, so they are reaping.
[9:07] And what we find is that as we build that wall of sin between us and the Lord, and then we think, oh, there isn't the warmth of the rays of the sun coming through anymore. There isn't the sort of warmth of God's love.
[9:18] I wonder why that is. Why I'm getting colder here. I wonder why it's darker than it used to be. Oh, that's not so good. And we find that if we build this wall between us and the Lord, if we put sin before the Lord, because it's easier, because it's nicer, and it suits our nature better, then that blocks out the light, the warmth, the grace, the wisdom that the Lord desires to give us.
[9:42] Our transgressions are multiplied before thee. And so likewise, our sins testify against us. In transgressing and lying against the Lord, departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, judgment and sense again of justice is turned away backward.
[9:58] For justice standeth afar off. Truth is fallen in the street. Equity cannot enter. Now, of course, we would say that they are suffering injustice now.
[10:09] The enemy is attacking them. They're not getting the protection of the Lord. And they say, we don't have any justice. We don't have any judgment in the sense of righteousness. Why aren't we getting it? Why is it the Lord helping us?
[10:21] Well, of course, in one sense, justice is exactly what they are getting. You know, you can't make your life jacket out of lead. And then expect it to bear you up in the water.
[10:31] You can't shoot your lifeboat full of holes. And then wonder why it begins to sink. So likewise, if we turn away from the only source of light, inevitably, we can't complain about the darkness.
[10:44] If we embrace, instead of the one who's the Lord of life, we can't complain that death seems to be sort of working its way into our existence. Yea, truth, Philip.
[10:55] And he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. The one that stands out or the witnesses against it is made out like he's a troubler of Israel, just as Jeremiah was in his day.
[11:06] And Elijah likewise. Because they're breaking racks. And they're not just going away of evil that everybody else wants. And the Lord saw it. And it displeased him that there was no judgment.
[11:18] And he saw, verse 16, that there was no man. And wondered that there was no intercessor. Now when he says there is no man, it doesn't mean there are many adults in Israel.
[11:30] But rather it's man in the sense of one who is strong. One who is prepared to stand up and be the Lord. The senses of what we find in 1 Kings chapter 2, where we see, as David says to Solomon, I go the way of all the earth.
[11:44] 1 Kings chapter 2, verse 2. Be thou strong, therefore, and show thyself a man. Now what does he mean when he says show thyself a man? He doesn't say, hey, gather yourself 700 wives and 300 concubines.
[11:58] And then, what a man you'll be. Oh, you'll be Jack the lad. You'll be so showing your manly prowess. All that that's doing is multiplying a particular activity. Which, you know, let's face it, dogs, horses, beasts of the field can do.
[12:12] That doesn't show that you're a man. That just shows you're doing what a dog on heat can do. But rather, when David says show yourself a man, let's get the context. 1 Kings chapter 2, verses 1 to 3.
[12:23] Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die. And he charged Solomon his son, saying, I go the way of all the earth. Be thou strong, therefore, and show thyself a man.
[12:34] And keep the charge of the Lord thy God to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes and his commandments and his judgments and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself.
[12:53] That is to be the man, the man of God, the one who is filled with the knowledge, the love, the word of the Lord. And that becomes his strength, as David said in Psalm 144 there.
[13:06] Blessed be the Lord my strength, who teaches my hands to war and my fingers to fight. While Solomon walks in the ways of the Lord, he will be the man like no other, the king like no other.
[13:20] While he is focused on the temple, upon fulfilling his father's command and honoring the Lord, he is strong, he is powerful, he is wise, he is mighty, as no other was before him, because the Lord lives and breathes and works through him.
[13:35] Because he does, as David has, keep the charge of the Lord thy God to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes and his commandments and his judgments and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses.
[13:46] Now what happens, of course, in his later life? Well, we read, of course, Solomon loved many strange women and when he was old, his many wives and his concubines turned his heart away from the Lord.
[13:57] And to please them, he built altars and shrines and temples for the gods and the pagan nations round about. And his heart was not right with the Lord. He ceased to be a man in that sense.
[14:09] He became more like an animal. Well, because animals can do what he did with his 300 wives and 300 concubines, but only a man, in the sense of a man of God, can be one who rules with the word of God in his heart and with the commandments desired to be fulfilled as David was seeking to teach it.
[14:31] And this is the sense in which we read, he saw that there was no man, no man in the sense of one filled with the Lord's love and power and desire and wonder that there was no intercessor.
[14:45] Therefore, his arm brought salvation unto him and his righteousness it sustained. And he's talking about the Lord's power. He's essentially talking about the Messiah. God himself brought salvation.
[14:59] There is no prophet, no priest, no individual man, however powerful, however filled with the knowledge or love of the Lord. Even, you know, James tells us, Elijah was a man of like passions with us.
[15:13] He had the same weaknesses. He had the same propensity for sin. Even though he was a man full of the Spirit that did great things for the Lord, he was of like passions with us.
[15:23] He had the same weaknesses, the same failures. So did Solomon. So did David. To a lest extent, so do all men and women. But one comes then who is sinless in the fullness of time.
[15:37] One who is holy God as well as holy man. He saw that there was no man and wondered there was no intercessor. Therefore, his arm brought salvation unto him and his righteousness it sustained him.
[15:53] What Jeremiah calls the Lord, our righteousness. Here is the deliverer coming. Here is the Messiah coming. Here is this which testifies of Christ.
[16:05] The only one who is able to stand in the gap and make up the hedge. That's what we read again in Ezekiel 22, verse 30. I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it, but I found none.
[16:25] Therefore have I poured out my indignation upon them. He found none. Now God could just have left us in that condition. He could just have said, well, there's nobody. There's nobody that's worthy of my attention.
[16:37] Nobody worthy of my blessing. You know, they're all gone aside. There's none that do with righteousness. No, not one. Just as we read in Psalm 14 there. And he could have said, well, that's it. I'm done with them all.
[16:48] I'm just going to ignore them. I'm going to draw into heaven and leave the world all to be destroyed. And they can just go for a funny running jump in that sense. And they can forget about salvation. But no, he doesn't leave that.
[16:59] He doesn't leave mankind in that condition. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoso believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
[17:13] For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world. There's enough condemnation. Our own sins condemn us. Our own brick walls that we have built between us and the Lord condemn us.
[17:24] We effectively have built our own cell round about us brick by brick. And it has no door. And it has no way of getting out. It is only the Lord who is able to break down that middle wall of partition between us as Ephesians tells us.
[17:39] And to make for us an opening, a way to escape. He saw there was no man, wondered there was no transintercessor. Therefore, his arm brought salvation unto him.
[17:50] His righteousness it sustained. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation upon his head. Now the sense here is of armor.
[18:02] Armor for war. Because you only put on armor, apart from on ceremonial occasions, if you're anticipating battle. A breastplate is to protect the vital organs, the heart, the liver, the kidneys, and so on, to protect you in fight, in battle.
[18:19] The helmet to protect the head. Obviously the brain. If the head is attacked, a head wound can be fatal. But rather we read, he put on righteousness as a breastplate. And a helmet of salvation upon his head.
[18:32] He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a cloak. This does not apply to any nearings of the Jew. This does not apply to David. It doesn't apply to Solomon.
[18:43] It doesn't apply to Elijah. It doesn't apply to Isaiah himself. Or to any of the prophets. It applies only to the Messiah. The one who is clothed in this righteousness. But we ourselves are taught.
[18:55] We are told likewise that we must be clothed similarly to what he himself likewise does. We are to be as he is.
[19:07] We are to be faithful as he is. And clothed in that righteousness is similar to what he is. I mean, obviously this reference to the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation, we can't ignore the fact that what Paul writes to the Ephesians references this with the armor of God.
[19:26] In Ephesians 6, in verse 14, Stand therefore, having your loins girded about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness. And in verse 17, Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
[19:40] So Paul takes this and he sort of builds on it and makes a fuller kind of armor of God that he's building on the illustration that Isaiah has been inspired to utter.
[19:51] And likewise, he references it again slightly in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 8, But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
[20:06] So this with which we are to be clothed, this is part of our being enabled to be as Christ is, clothed with that righteousness which he alone can give.
[20:18] When he writes to the Romans, the Apostle Paul says this, But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's to be our clothing. That's to be our covenant. And make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust at all.
[20:31] In Galatians 3, verse 47, For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. So if this is the ultimate deliverer, the ultimate protection, this is what the Lord's people are to be clothed in.
[20:46] He put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation upon his head. He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
[20:58] What do we understand by vengeance? Paul, of course, writes in the New Testament, says, you know, remember the one who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, said the Lord. And this was in the context of saying to the Christians that they were not to take revenge themselves, but rather leave it all with God, whose vengeance and whose justice will be perfect, will be measured, will be proportionate, and it will be absolutely just in a way that our human vengeance often is not.
[21:28] It's often mixed with sort of, you know, our own kind of outrage and our own anger and our own desire to sort of get even and then some. What does vengeance imply? Vengeance implies a righteous recompense.
[21:43] A righteous recompense in the hand of an offended judge. And what we have here, vengeance for clothing, the garments of vengeance for clothing was clad with zeal as with a cloak.
[21:56] It means that he is determined to repay in kind this recompense. So, for example, if people think it's okay to go around shedding innocent blood, then their blood, innocent or otherwise, they obviously consider it's okay to be shed.
[22:16] He delivered by the sword, shall die by the sword, Jesus said. So, likewise, if they think it's okay to lie and to steal, then if they are lied to or they are stolen from, then, of course, there would be outraged.
[22:29] He said, oh, I lied to me. He took that which wasn't mine. Well, that's, of course, what they have themselves done. They said, oh, I don't like it when other people do it to me.
[22:48] And this is how so often we govern our own idea of what is right or wrong. We think it's okay for me. It's okay for me to do it to other people, but I don't like it when other people do it to me.
[22:59] And so the Lord against whom, ultimately, he is the one against whom we sin whenever we sin. Remember David's cry in Psalm 51. You could say he'd sinned against Bathsheba.
[23:11] You could say he'd sinned against Uriah the Hittite. He'd sinned against, you know, all the people, their families and so on. Yet he says to God, against thee, thee only have I sinned.
[23:21] I've done this evil in my sight. So the Lord will recompense all such evil. There will be a vengeance against sin. Now, if you think, oh, that's a terrifying prospect.
[23:34] You know, who's going to stand? Well, nobody. Psalm 130, remember, you know. If thou, O Lord, shits mark iniquity, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared.
[23:48] And what is this forgiveness? It is not God says, oh, well, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. It's okay, I'll turn a blind eye. Because it's you, I'll forget about it. Because, you know, you've not been a bad person.
[23:58] You've done lots of good things in your life. You know, you've helped other people and you've been kind to some people and, you know, you've tried to do your best. Ah, well, I'm going to let you off with this one.
[24:09] That is not how the law of the land works. And it's not how the law of God is going to work. It's not how the justice and righteousness of God is going to work. Every sin merits eternal damnation.
[24:22] Let me say that again. Every sin merits eternal damnation because it is a sin against the eternal God whose righteousness is perfect and who cannot behold iniquity in his presence.
[24:38] Therefore, it must be cast out from his presence. What is going to become of the sin that is now part and parcel of us? It must be accounted for. It must be paid for.
[24:50] Vengeance must be taken upon it. But the Lord knows that we cannot pay that price. Therefore, what we read again at verse 16, there was no intercessor.
[25:02] Therefore, his arm brought salvation. The fact of saving unto him. And his righteousness, it sustained him. He himself goes to bear the price of all those sins upon the cross.
[25:18] He himself, who is God and man, the divine Messiah, the divine intercessor, takes that sin upon himself. And the vengeance of God against sin is unleashed.
[25:31] Where? Not upon us if we are trusting in him, but upon himself, upon the cross. And he takes all of that upon himself. And all that we are called upon to do is to believe in that sacrifice he has made and to follow him.
[25:50] And if we will not, well, the vengeance of God must go somewhere. It must end up being earthed or must end up finally being unleashed on something or someone.
[26:01] If we have not a savior, if we turn our backs on the only possibility of salvation, we say, well, there's nowhere else to go but to me, to myself. I must pay the price of my own sin.
[26:13] Well, you'll be paying it a long time. If you run up a debt of, say, half a million pounds, it might take you quite a long time to pay it. You might have to negotiate, well, I'll pay off so many thousands, you know, every half year, every quarter, or so many hundred every month.
[26:31] And you have this sort of plan of repayment over years and years and years and years. If somebody's a multi-billionaire, Bill Gates or somebody like that, he could just write a check or push a button, make an electronic transfer, and that which would be small change to him could be paid in a moment.
[26:48] But you and I, we'd be paying it forever. And it's the same with our sins. It will take us all eternity to pay for our own sin.
[26:59] But if there is somebody who will himself stand in the gap and who will pay the price for us, that is what we have in this divine intercessor, in this Messiah.
[27:11] He put on righteousness as a breastplate and helmet of salvation upon his head. That is the helmet for that which will save. He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, was clad with zeal as a cloak, according to their deeds, accordingly he will repay.
[27:27] He will repay fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies, to the islands he will repay recompense. You see, when we are judged for our sins, none of us can complain.
[27:39] Because part of, part of the righteousness of God's judgment will be that as we stand before him, and we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, then all that he needs to do is, if we can say it reverently, the equipment will press a button and show us our own lives, show us the film of our own lives, every word we've spoken, every deed we've done, he won't need to say anything, he won't need to accuse us, he won't need to make a case against him, our own life will be the case, our own life will be the evidence, and it will be run out there and played out in the presence of all the angels, and all the redeemed, and there we will be shown for what we are, and for ourselves, we will just want to get smaller, and smaller, and smaller, and if there was a way we could dig a hole and hide in it before the presence of God, like Adam tried to hide himself in the garden of Eden, then we would do it, but there is nowhere to hide, we read in Revelation of how every great man and every slave and free man and kings and all the lowest and the greatest of the earth will see to the hills, follow us, and to the mountains, hide us from the presence of the wrath of the Lamb, but there is nowhere to hide, all the Lord needs to do is play out the film of our lives, and show us what we are, and show all the court of hand, what we have done, what we have said, what we have thought, and yes, okay, all our good deeds will be there too, but they will be seen to be, as Isaiah said to us, we're filthy, nothing pathetic, compared to the sins that we have committed, so shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun, according to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, and I don't know about you, but I certainly cannot stand before such a judgment,
[29:30] I know that my life will not be sustained before the Lord of its own merits, of its own strength, even my own feeble conscience convicts me, how much more, when every last detail is searched out, by the eyes of the Lord, who sees all things, I will not stand, I need a Sager, I need a Redeemer, I need the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world, there is no other sacrifice for sin, and if I am redeemed by his precious blood, then there is nothing less, nothing more that I can do, than simply humbly follow where he now leads, because what is my life without him, it is nothing, it is worthless, it is the condemned man, with a rope around his neck, standing on the trap door, already condemned, already convicted, a breath away from his eternal execution, just waiting for the trap door to open, and that is what I am without the Lord, and that is what every soul is, without a Sager, so shall they fear, the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun, from one end of the earth to the other, everyone will come to know, as Philippians says, you know they shall all, bow the knee before the Lord, and every tongue shall confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, when the enemy shall come in, like a flood, the spirit of the Lord, shall lift up a standard, against him, now the enemy of course, does come in like a flood, he comes against us, with great power, and with that, which seems to be unstoppable, now a flood of course, we think of it as being, just a great sort of big massive amount of water, and of course, as I mentioned on a previous occasion, a description was given, about a flood, that wiped away a town in Pennsylvania, in the 19th century, and how eyewitnesses said, that as it swept down the valley, it had by then swept away, you know buildings, and houses, and goodness knows all water, all the debris, of bits of forestation, and construction, and so on, that were with it, they said, as they saw this wall of water coming, it didn't look like a wall of water at all, it just looked like a wall of kind of junk, it was sort of bits of, bits of housing, bits of wood, and fabric, and so on, just this coming down the valley, and it didn't look like water at all, because all of this, was in and through the water, it was sweeping everything before it, and gathering up everything in it, there's no standing before the flood, when it comes, but the only way to resist it, is to be higher than it, when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord, shall lift up a standard, against him, standard of course, it's kind of the implications, like on the old fashioned battlefields, when you had your regimental colours, and where the commander was, then those who might be sort of, in the confusion, and the noise of battle, and we turn around, there's the regimental colour, there's the flag, we head to that, we gather around the commander, this is where our regiment, is to take its stand, around the colours, when the standard is raised up, we know where we are to go, when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord, shall lift up a standard, against him, who is the standard, that is lifted up, what is the standard, it is Christ, and if we do not, flee to that standard, if we do not gather around, that standard, and take our stand, with them there, we will simply be swept away, because there is nothing, higher than the flood, when the Lord, brought the flood, over all the earth, remember in the days of Noah, he had previously, warned Noah, to make an ark, that would sit on top, of a flood, it would float, like a barge, on top of the flood, so no matter, how high the waters came, those redeemed, by the Lord's grace,
[33:30] would always be higher than it, and so likewise, when the enemy, comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord, shall lift up a standard, against him, and we are to flee, to that standard, and all, who will, recognize Christ, as their savior, will likewise, flee to it, Jesus says, in John 12, verse 31, now is the judgment, of this world, now shall the prince, of this world, be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up, from the earth, will draw all men, unto me, it doesn't mean, every single person, that ever lived, but it means, all who will look to me, look to me, on the ends of the earth, and be ye saved, for I am God, and there is none else, Isaiah says, look to Christ, and come to his standard, Psalm 60, and verse 4, likewise, we read, thou hast given a banner, to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed, because of the truth, when that banner, is lifted up, we know, where we should go, that banner, is Christ, and there is none else, to whom we can go, how shall we know, when the enemy, comes in like a flood, well of course, a flood appears, to sweep all before it, but remember, that in any flood, even in that, which cover the whole earth, in any flood, there are always, survivors,
[34:57] I'll say that again, in any flood, there are always, survivors, survivors, and no flood, is forever, no flood, is forever, it always, after it comes in, like a flood, it recedes, at the last, and it goes down, again, and there will be, survivors, after it, so likewise, even that flood, which covered, the whole earth, it went down, eventually, and there were survivors, preserved, by God's grace, but only by him, when the enemy, shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord, shall lift up a standard, against him, that standard, is Christ, to whom we must look, and in whom we must trust, and we think, yeah, but surely, you know, he died, 2000 years ago, how will we be able to, how can we go to him, how can we trust in him, it is only by his spirit, that we are enabled, to look to him, to trust in him, to confess our sin, in his name, which only, through his spirit, that we are enabled, to put our faith, and our trust, in Christ, natural man, cannot do it,
[36:09] Zechariah, I remember, puts it this way, chapter 4, verse 6, not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord, the host, the spirit of the Lord, shall lift up, a standard, against him, thou hast given, a banner to them, that fear thee, that it may be displayed, because of the truth, and does that mean then, that prior to that, in all the floods, everybody is swept away, with the flood, well, not everybody, it will never, always be everybody, there are always, those, who survive, the flood, there are always there, those who, hold on, in the flood, even when a flood, of iniquity, engulfs, what seemingly, all the people, think when Moses, came down the mountain, and he found, all the children, of Israel, you know, engaged in, idolatrous, that's putting it kindly, practically, pagan, worship of the golden calf, and it seemed, as if they had all, gone that way, and he takes Aaron, to task, you know, what did this people, unto the, that thou has brought, so great a sin upon that, and when Moses, saw the people, were naked, for Aaron, had made them naked, unto their shame, among their enemies, then Moses, stood in the gate, of the camp, and said, who is on the Lord's side, let him come unto me, and all the sons, of Levi, gathered themselves, together unto them, now what do we conclude, about the sons, of Levi, that we conclude, that while all this, idolatry was going on, that they were keeping, themselves pure, and apart, where some of them, sucked into it, and sort of carried along, with the flow of it, but when there was, the cry said, who is on the Lord's side, they thought, well stop this, we're going back to the Lord, or whether those, were sort of, differing in between, we don't know, we only know, that when the cry went up, who is on the Lord's side, when the standard, was raised up, these are the ones, that flocked to it, the whole tribe, of Levi, all the sons, of Levi, gathered themselves, together unto them, who is on the Lord's side, and this was the cry, that Moses gave, in the midst, of their idolatry, when the enemy, shall come in, like a flood, the spirit of the Lord, shall lift up, a standard against them, so likewise,
[38:19] Ezekiel, prophesies of a time, of when iniquity, shall fill Jerusalem, and all, seemingly all Judah, we read in chapter 9, verse 3, the glory of the God of Israel, was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house, and he called to the man, clothed with linen, which had the writers, in corn, by his side, and the Lord said unto him, go through the midst, of the city, through the midst, of Jerusalem, and set a mark, upon the foreheads, of the men, that sigh, and that cry, for all the abominations, that be done, in the midst thereof, and to the others, he said in my hearing, go ye after him, through the city, and smite, let not your eyes spare, neither have ye pity, slay utterly old, and young, both maids, and little children, and women, but come not near, any man, upon whom is the mark, and begin at my sanctuary, then they began, at the ancient men, which were before, the house, and I think, oh that's, that's not very nice is it, and you know what, there's all these people, getting slaughtered, by the vengeance of God, but it's, it's not so much, as we see from this chapter, in Isaiah, it's not so much,
[39:28] God visiting them with wrath, it's that they have chosen, to put this wall, between them and God, and that which we choose, is that which we will reap, and it is only the Lord, who is able to break down, that wall of partition, between us, it is only the Lord, who is able to redeem, he saw that there was no man, no intercessor, therefore his arm, brought salvation, and then his righteousness, it sustained him, when the enemy, shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord, shall lift up a standard, against them, it is to this standard, that we must go, when the flood comes in, and it does, and it shall, it sweeps, or it appears, to sweep all before it, but not all, there are those, that sigh, and that cry, for the state of things, in Jerusalem, and Israel, and the Lord, has to be marked, Noah was a preacher, of righteousness, and the Lord, marked him out, and his family, saved and redeemed them, okay, some of them, went back into sin, pretty quick, after the flood, but when the floods came, they were still spared, there are always survivors, no matter how great the flood, and the flood, no matter how powerful, and great, will always recede, but the standard, will remain, when the enemy, shall come in, like a flood, the spirit of the Lord, shall lift up, a standard, against them, and the redeemer, shall come to Zion, and unto them, the turn from transgression, in Jacob, saith the Lord, as for me, this is my covenant, with them, saith the Lord, my spirit, that is upon thee, and my words, which I put in my mouth, shall not depart, of thy mouth, nor of the mouth, of thy seed, out of the mouth, of thy seed, seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth, and forever, now of course, he is addressing, ultimately, the Messiah here, he is addressing, the one who has purchased, those who are his, and the word of the Lord, will not depart, out of the mouth, of his children, or his children's children, or all the generations, that are to come, and when he addresses, the bride, as it were, of Christ, in Psalm 45, it says, verse 16, instead of thy fathers, shall be thy children, upon whom thou mayest, make princes, in the earth, and so likewise, when one generation, passes away, the Lord will raise up, others, children's children, and the next generations, and that's not referring, so much to biological children, it's rather referring, to those, whom the Lord converts, and then through, their witness of testimony, others are converted, these become, as it were, the spiritual children's children, and then those, who are converted, through their witness, and testimony, likewise, the children's children's children, and this is what it means, it shall not depart, under thy mouth, nor out of the mouth, of thy seed, nor out of the mouth, of thy seed, seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth, and forever, he shall seal, the travail of his soul, and be satisfied, the Lord, will not leave himself, without a witness, from generation, to generation, to the end of time, but this is your generation, and my generation, and in this day, the enemy comes in, like a flood, in this day, he seems so powerful, in this day, he seems to sweet, all before him, but a standard, is lifted up, against him, by the spirit, of the Lord, and who will flock, to this standard, who will take, their place, on the high ground, around the banner, of the Lord, that has been displayed, because of the truth, who is on the Lord's side, that is the cry, that Moses made, not knowing, who would come, and it is the cry, that each makes, in every generation, not knowing, who will gather, for the elect, of God, are known to him, but not known to us, therefore, the standard, is raised, not by men, nor by human hands, nor by a physical flag, but by the spirit, of the Lord, and those, who are his, will be drawn, to it,
[43:28] not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts, the enemy, and the flood, is all around us, but the banner, is there, and where, will we go, now, is the question, before us, not for our children's, children, or for the previous, generations, that have been, but now, in this present day, this is your generation, this is your hour, is it the power, of darkness, or is it the dawning, of a new day, let us pray, again.