Come with me, please. O Gracious and Merciful Father,
Lord, as I stand here in this pulpit this morning, You know
my heart and You know my prayer. My prayer is that You might be
glorified. You've called me, Lord, to preach Your Gospel.
You've called me to preach those that You have drawn to this place
and to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. Enable me, dear
Father, to do that which You have called me to do. Enable
Your people to hear what You have for them. You've sent Your
Son to set the captives free. Oh, dear Father, I pray that
You might set us, each one, free today by making Your Word which
You've given me to preach effective in all of our hearts. Oh, may
it be a comfort May it be a blessing to us in Christ for Your glory. In Jesus' name, Amen. Our text this morning is from
Isaiah 61 which is a marvelous Old Testament prophecy about
the life and work of Christ and the salvation of His people.
So put your finger there in Isaiah 61. But it is also a chapter which should
be read along with Luke 4. If we're going to let Scripture
understand Scripture, then I think it's kind of important to understand
what it says in Luke 4. So, turn first to Luke 4, verse
14. We'll be looking at verses 14
to 21. And keep your finger in Isaiah
61. Not long after Jesus began His
public ministry, Word had gotten back as Word often has a way
of traveling. It had gotten back to Nazareth
concerning Jesus and what He was doing as He went about preaching.
The people of Nazareth knew Jesus well because He had been brought
up in their small little town. He worked in his father's carpentry
shop. But now the people were hearing
about some of the great things that Jesus had done and the things
that He had said as He began to become famous in His public
ministry. And so they were very anxious
to see Him. In Luke 4, beginning in verse 14, it says, And Jesus
returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and there
went out a theme of Him through all of the region round about.
And he taught in their synagogue being glorified of all. Jesus
had come back to Nazareth. So the people all gathered at
the synagogue on the Sabbath day. They knew that he would
be there in that synagogue because that's with his custom. In the
past, he had stood up in the synagogue and he had read from
the Scriptures. That was his custom when he had
lived there before. In Luke 4, verse 16, it says,
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as
his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath
day and he stood up to read. If there was ever any doubt at
all that Isaiah 61 is about Christ,
that our Lord Jesus removed all of that doubt that day. Because
when He visited with that Jewish synagogue in Nazareth, it was
from Isaiah 61 that Jesus read. And after He read it out loud
to the people, as it says in Luke 4, verses 20 and 21, He
closed the book. And He gave it again to the minister.
And He sat down. They used to sit down to preach
in those days. I'm going to institute that maybe
here. I think it would be a good idea. Jesus read the book, gave
it to the minister, and he sat down. And the eyes of all of
them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he
began to say to them, this day, this day is this Scripture fulfilled
in your ears. It's my prayer. that as we look
at this prophecy of Christ this morning, this prophecy which
the Holy Spirit of God gave to Isaiah and which Christ so clearly
said applied to Him, it's my prayer that we all might see
by God's grace that Jesus Christ came to save His people from
their sin, making them free from their bondage to sin, Satan,
the world, and the lusts of our flesh. But that day when Jesus
read these first three verses of Isaiah 61 to them, the people
in Nazareth didn't understand Him. They didn't understand Jesus
and why He had come. They didn't understand His ministry.
They didn't understand, that is, until He said, this day is
this Scripture fulfilled in your ears. That they understood. That made them so angry that
they tried to kill Him. In Luke 4 verses 28 to 30 it
says, And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things,
were filled with wrath. They hated what He said. And
they hated Him so much that they wanted to kill Him. And so they
rose up and they thrust Him out of the city and led Him into
the brow of the hill whereon the city was built. that they
might cast him down headlong. But then look at that next verse.
Then he, passing through the midst of them, went his way. I don't know about you, but I'm
always a little bit surprised that the Gospel, the good news
that God became a man to save us from our sin, I'm always a
little surprised that it's such an offense to those who don't
believe it. But it is always an offense. And that's just more evidence
that people love their sin. Their sin has made them prisoners.
Yet still, they love their sin and they hate God. If you would
like to be free, free of your sin, then that's because it is
God who is doing a work in your heart. Because we naturally love
our sin. Sometimes in our natural state
we may think that we want to be free. But by nature, by nature
we are slaves to our sin. And what we need is a Savior. A Savior, as we learned in Sunday
School today, who would change our hearts. making our stony
hearts hearts of flesh, setting us free, free from our sin. Turn now please to Isaiah 61,
verses 1-3. And let's look at what Jesus
read that day. And as we read it, I ask you
to please notice carefully how the prophet of God describes
the great liberating work of our Savior. that liberating work
which sets us free. Because if we can discover what
this Scripture is saying, if the Holy Spirit will teach us
what this Spirit is saying, then the Spirit will give us an understanding.
An understanding of the person and the work of Jesus Christ,
the great Messiah. And how I pray that we might
apply it to our hearts. the Holy Spirit would apply His
Word to our hearts, giving us a love for Christ that is greater
than our love for our sin. Beginning in verse 1 of Isaiah
61, this is what Jesus read. The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me, Jesus read, because the Lord has anointed me to preach
good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison
to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn,
to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty
for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees
of righteousness, the planning of the Lord that he may be glorified."
The first thing there that Jesus read is this prophecy about himself,
was that the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings. These
words prophetically describe the first great work of the Lord.
God had said that Christ the Messiah was to come as a preacher. Did you hear what I said? He
was to come as a preacher, the Messiah. Not only is the eternal
Son of God the author of the Gospel, not only is He the subject
of the Gospel, but He is the only effectual preacher of the
Gospel. Jesus Christ, you see, is the
messenger of the covenant. It was through Christ's incarnation,
through His birth, through His death that Christ Jesus created
the Gospel and He is the only One, the only One who can effectually
preach the Gospel. Oh yeah, it's true. God calls men and He uses them
to preach the Gospel. But it's the Word. It's Jesus
Christ who is preached by those that God calls to preach. And
only Christ can make it effective in the hearts of His people.
to the salvation and comfort of their souls. Captives are
not set free until Christ is applied by God to our hearts
and until Christ sets the captives free. Our Lord did proclaim the
Gospel through the prophets of the Old Testament in anticipation
of His atoning sacrifice. He did speak through them. They
were His mouthpieces. And it was Christ who went and
preached through Noah to Noah's disobedient generation when the
long-suffering God waited while the ark was being prepared. But
when those holy men of old prophesied of the grace that should come,
it was the Spirit of Christ within them testifying beforehand the
sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. It
was Christ who preached to them. And it was during His life here
on earth that our Lord proclaimed the Gospel of the Kingdom of
God and of the love of the Heavenly Father for His wayward children
and of God's anointed King. It was Jesus Christ who condescended
to seek and to save that which was lost. It was Christ who went
to the publicans and sinners. He went to the dregs of society
and He proclaimed God's redeeming mercy to them. And it was Christ
Himself who brought the good news of salvation to the Samaritans.
And after His resurrection, it was the resurrected Christ who
commanded His disciples in all ages to proclaim the Gospel to
every creature, promising them that they would have the power
of His presence as they obediently went about preaching about Jesus
Christ. And so it was Christ who poured
out His Spirit on the day of Pentecost, like tongues of fire
on those who were saved through the merits of His death and resurrection. And it was Jesus Christ who preached
the Gospel to Saul of Tarsus. Later, we know Saul of Tarsus
as Paul. Every true preacher of the Gospel
today speaks in Christ's name. Or maybe it would be more accurate
to say that it was Jesus Christ who preaches through those that
God has called to be His ambassadors. But every true Gospel preacher
is able to say with Paul, we pray you in Christ's stead, be
ye reconciled to God. That's the Gospel message that
they preach. Be ye reconciled to God in Jesus
Christ. That's the Gospel that I preach
to you. Turn now to Galatians 3, verses 22 and 23. We preach, but it is Christ alone
who preaches effectually. It was Jesus Christ who created
the Gospel. He is the theme of the Gospel,
and in truth, He is the one and only preacher of the Gospel,
because He applies the Gospel irresistibly by His Holy Spirit,
giving new birth to sinners and changing their stony hearts to
hearts of flesh. And so it's when Christ preaches
that salvation comes and sinners are saved and set free from the
bondage of sin and death. You see, by nature, we are all
captives. We're captives in bondage to
sin, Satan, the world, and to the lusts of our flesh. We all
once walked according to the course of this world. Moreover,
we are all, nature prisoners in bondage to and under the curse
of God's holy law. As Paul said in Galatians 3,
verses 22 and 23, the scripture has concluded all under sin that
the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them
that believe. But before faith came, we were
kept under the law. We were shut up under the faith
which should afterwards be revealed. Now hold your places there in
Galatians 3 for a few minutes. I want you to look at verse 13
of Galatians 3. Before Christ came to us in God's
saving grace and by the power of His Holy Spirit, we all lived
under the curse of law and under the sentence of death. We were
just waiting for our execution for the crimes that we had committed
against God. But at the appointed time of
love, by the blessed, sovereign, effectual operation of His saving
grace, the Lord Jesus Christ came as the liberator of our
souls, and He set the captives free. That's exactly what the
prophet Isaiah said that Jesus would do. And so on that day
in the synagogue in Nazareth, our all-glorious Christ, who
is the mighty, saving liberator of our souls, said, this day,
This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your eyes, in your ears. Our
great Savior purchased freedom for us by His precious blood
when He died as our substitute on the cross. As it says in Galatians
3 verse 13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law
by being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that hangs on a tree. When our great Redeemer died
as our substitute, when He died under the curse of God's holy
law, He effectively attained eternal redemption for all of
His people, because He bore the curse of the law for them as
their substitute. He didn't make it possible for
them to be saved. He saved them. He then, but then
at a pointed time of mercy, The Son of God, or actually, it's
the Spirit of Christ who comes to chosen redeemed sinners, comes
in the preaching of the Gospel, and He proclaims liberty to captives,
setting them free from the law of sin and death. You can't believe
how humbling it is to me. But whenever God calls and then
sends a Gospel preacher in the power of His Holy Spirit to preach
the Gospel, it's the Spirit of Christ that is in that preacher
and who preaches God's Word. It's the Spirit of Christ who
gives the Word of God power in the hearts of God's people. It's
a humbling thing. I cannot tell you how humbling
it is. But it is Jesus Christ Himself who speaks by those that
God has called to be His messengers. And it is through them that Christ
proclaims liberty accomplished, liberty obtained, liberty purchased
by His blood. Christ proclaims unconditional
and free liberty to hearts that have been prepared by God to
receive the good news that in Christ they have been set free
from their captivity and bondage. Now turn please to John chapter
8 and verse 32. And I want to give you a big
however. However, the Lord Jesus Christ does a whole lot more
than just to proclaim liberty to sinners. He actually accomplishes
liberty for poor captives, affectionately bringing His elect into the glorious
liberty of His grace by the power of His Spirit. As that grand
old hymn, O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing, says in the fourth verse,
He breaks the power of canceled sin He sets the prisoners free. His blood can make the foulest
clean. His blood availeth me." The instrument
by which the Lord Jesus brings liberty to His people is the
Word of God. Because in John 8, verse 32,
Jesus our Redeemer said, and He shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. And I think Christ there is talking
about Himself. because let's not ever forget
that it is Jesus Christ who is the literal Word of God. And
as Jesus said Himself in John 14, verse 6, when He answered
Thomas who had asked the way to the Father, Jesus said to
Thomas, I am the way and the truth and the life. No man cometh
unto the Father but by me. The preaching of the Gospel of
Christ is like the blowing of a jubilee trumpet The more clearly
the truths of the Gospel are preached and understood, the
more fully liberty is enjoyed. Bondage comes from error, but
liberty is the result of truth being preached by the power of
God to needy sinners who have been given ears to hear. And
as Paul said in Romans 10, verse 17, faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. Now look back again at verse
1 of Isaiah 61. The second thing that we see
about Jesus is that He said that the Spirit
of the Lord is upon Me. It's clear that even the Savior's
mission and ministry were dependent upon the Spirit of God. You see,
Jesus was not only God, fully God, but He was a man. He was fully man. Not a little
bit God. Not a little bit man. But He
was fully God and fully man. I don't fully understand that,
but that's what Scripture teaches us. Jesus Christ was dependent
on the Spirit of God. In Mark 1, verses 9-11, it says,
And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth
of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway,
coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens open, and the
Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him. And there came a voice
from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased." And in John 3, verses 34 and 35, it says about
Christ Jesus, For he whom God has sent speaketh the words of
God. For God hath not the Spirit by measure unto him, The Father
loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hands." God
gave the Holy Spirit of God to Jesus in full measure. The Spirit indwelled Him fully. And after Jesus was baptized,
when the Holy Spirit had descended on Him, it says in Luke 4 verse
1, And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan,
and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. being 40 days
tempted of the devil. And in those days, he did eat
nothing. And when they were ended, he afterward hungered." Do you
see what happened? I hope you can. Do you see what
God did for His Son who became a man? The Father ordained and
anointed the God-Man and He gave Him the Holy Spirit. God anointed
Christ Jesus to be our surety substitute, sin offering, and
Savior. And He gave the Holy Spirit to
the Son of Man without measure. Jesus Christ came from the Father
on behalf of His elect to accomplish the Father's will, to speak His
words, and to perform His work. He came to honor God's law and
to satisfy God's justice. Turn to 2 Corinthians 12 and
verse 9, please. In Paul's weakness, Paul went
to the Lord three times, he says, asking each time that it might
be removed from him, this weakness. But it wasn't God's will that
Paul became strong in himself. No, God wanted Paul, Paul of
all men, to be trusting in Jesus Christ, in his strength, not
his own. In verse 9 of 2 Corinthians 12, the Lord said to Paul, My
grace is sufficient for thee, Paul, for my strength is made
perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, Paul
says, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power
of Christ may rest upon me. Oh, please, I pray. I pray you
can understand We're not set free from our sin by our own
work and our own effort. We're set free by Jesus Christ,
by His power, and by His indwelling Holy Spirit. It's the power of
Jesus Christ that sets us free. I'll turn ahead to 2 Corinthians
13 and verses 8 and 9, please. All that we might know the power
of this Holy Spirit that we might know the leading of the Holy
Spirit. That it might lead us according
to God's will in all that we do. Because without Him, without
Christ, we're nothing. We're absolutely nothing. As
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 13, verses 8 and 9, and remember,
Paul is talking about the Holy Spirit of God. Holy Spirit of
Christ. For we can do nothing against
the truth, but for the truth. For we are glad when we are weak
and we are strong. And let us also, we wish, even
your perfection. Now turn to Ephesians 1, verses
12 and 13. Being set free by the power of
Christ, we are enabled, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit
of God. And in that, God is glorified. If it was in our power, if Paul
had had the answer to his prayer, if Paul had been able to do what
God had asked him to do in his own power, Paul would have been
glorified. But it isn't in Paul's power. It isn't in our power. It's in
God's power and God is glorified. So that Paul said in Ephesians
1, verses 12 and 13, that we should be the depraves of His
glory who first trusted in Christ. His glory. God who first trusted
in Christ. The Father who first trusted
in Christ. Verse 13, in whom He also trusted after you heard
the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also
after that you believed. You were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until
the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
His glory. It's all for the glory of God,
isn't it? And so it's the Holy Spirit of
God who is on the man Jesus Christ and who is also enabling us to
serve God in Christ. Not only in the preaching of
the Gospel of Christ, but in all that God asks us to do. As Jesus said in John 15 verse
5, I am the vine and you are the branches. He that abideth
in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For
without me, Jesus says, you can do nothing. Then again, looking
back at verse 1 of Isaiah 61, the third thing that we see about
Jesus that the Lord has anointed Him to preach good tidings to
the meek. Good tidings to the meek. which
I take to mean that the Lord has anointed Jesus Christ to
peace the gospel to poor and needy sinners. Those are the
ones that are meek. Those who are rich in their own
righteousness, they're not meek. But poor and needy sinners, those
who know that they're poor and needy, those are the ones who
are meek. Turn to Matthew 4, verse 17,
please. It was after Christ's baptism,
after His temptation by Satan, all of which involve the Holy
Spirit, that Matthew 4, verse 17 says, from that time Jesus
began to preach and to say, repent for the kingdom is at hand. Our
Lord preached by His words, but He also preached by His miracles
and by His silence. And sometimes He preached with
a look. as He did when He looked at Peter
after Peter had denied Him three times. Jesus lived as the Prince
of Preachers and He died as the theme of all of His preaching.
And He rose again as the Lord of Preachers. Jesus Christ preached
good tidings of grace and mercy and forgiveness of sin to the
poor. But when I talk about poor, I'm
not talking about those who are poor monetarily. No, I'm talking
about those who are poor in spirit. Rich people are often poor spiritually. But our Lord and our Savior preached
to the poor in spirit. The poor in spirit are those
that God has made sensible to the sinfulness of their sins.
And so He has humbled them and made them poor because of their
sin. These poor don't claim to have any righteousness of their
own. And so they stand naked and they stand condemned before
God. These poor in spirit have nothing and they know nothing
and they can do nothing which is acceptable to God. And they
know it. And so they are in desperate
need of all things. And so they praise God for all
that they receive. Everything that they receive,
they praise God for, knowing that it is theirs only by the
grace of God. And still looking in verse 1
of Isaiah 61, Jesus continues to read. He says, He has sent
me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. Now turn
to Psalm 34 and verse 18, please. A heart that has been broken,
a heart that has been humbled by God is a painful heart. It's a heart that can't find
any relief in the flesh for its distress and for its pain. And
a heart that has been broken by the preaching of the Gospel
of Christ is a helpless heart. We know what to do when we get
a broken arm, but a broken heart needs a heart transplant. A broken
heart needs a new heart, which only our Lord can give us. Yet
most people try to make themselves over into new creatures. Well,
it can't be done. You can't give yourself a new
birth. You can't make yourself something that you're not. But
listen to this good news. And it is wonderful news. In
Psalm 34, verse 18, we are told, The Lord is nigh unto them that
are of a broken heart, and He saves such as be of a contrite
spirit. And in Psalm 51, verse 17, David
said as he grieved over his sin, the sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. O God, Thou wilt not despise. Now turn to Ezekiel 36 and verses
25-27. Probably the first time a sinner
sees the sinfulness of his sin is when his heart truly breaks
And as painful as that is, Jesus Christ is the balm of Gilead
which heals the sin-sick soul. It's very true that Jesus Christ,
the God-man, has come to heal the brokenhearted. He first breaks
our hearts and then He heals them in the process of saving
us. As Christ says to the brokenhearted in Ezekiel 36, verses 25-27, Then will I sprinkle clean water
on them after their hearts are broken. Then will I spring clean
water on you and ye shall be clean. You'll be clean from all
of your filthiness and from all of your idols will I cleanse
you. A new heart will I also give
you and a new spirit will I put within you." That's the Spirit
of God. A new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of
flesh. and I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk
in My statutes and you shall keep My judgments and do them."
Turn to Romans, please. Romans 8, verses 33 and 34. Christ Jesus has come. He is
God come as a man to proclaim liberty to the captives. In reading
some things that Don Fortner wrote, He reminds us that in
September of 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued an Emancipation
Proclamation, which became effective in January 1 of 1863. That presidential
proclamation freed all of the slaves. It wasn't a request. It wasn't an invitation. It wasn't
a suggestion. It was a proclamation. The commander-in-chief
had set the prisoners free. He had set all of those slaves
free by proclamation. And in much the same way, our
Lord, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, came to set the captives
of the law free from its curse. And he did it. He proclaimed
it, and he did it. The captives of Satan, the captives
of sin, are set free from the dominion of the penalty of sin.
All believers have been set free in Christ from the law of sin
and death because Christ proclaimed them that they were free. In
Romans 8, verses 33 and 34, Paul asks this question. He asks,
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is
God that justifies. Who is He that condemns? It is
Christ that died, yea, rather He is risen again. who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Now turn please to Hebrews 10 verses 12-14. If Christ makes you free, you
are free indeed. By God's grace through the sacrificial
and substitutionary offerings of Jesus Christ, we are set free
forever. We're set free forever from the
law of sin and death. Can you believe it? Oh, I pray
that you can. As Hebrews 10, verses 12 to 14
says about Christ, But this man, as he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, he sat down on the right hand of God, and
from henceforth expect him till his enemies may be his footstool.
For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Now turn to Galatians 5 in verse
1, please. The prison is opened to them
that are bound. They are set free. There is nothing
any longer to hold them. Believers who have been bound
by sin and in bondage to the flesh are set free. But also,
some are set free from the darkness and bondage of false religion.
Saul of Tarsus was one of those. Paul was not only set free from
his sin, but he was set free from his false religion too.
Believers are made completely free. False religion, tradition,
and legalism are a prison. We are delivered from that prison
by Christ just as well as we are delivered from our sin. In
Galatians 5 verse 1, Paul said, Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ has made us free. and be not entangled again
with a yoke of bondage." Then going back to Isaiah 61 again,
let's move on to verse 2. Isaiah 61 and verse 2. Christ
says that He also came to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all that mourn. Turn, please, while you keep
your finger in Isaiah 61, but turn, please, to Leviticus 25
and verses 8 to 10. Christ's coming is the fulfillment
of the prophecy of the year of the Jubilee. The year of the
Jubilee was a picture of the results of salvation by Christ
in which debts are forgiven and captives are set free. In Leviticus
25, verses 8 to 10, God says, And thou shalt number seven Sabbaths
of years unto thee, seven times seven years, and the space of
the seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet
of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month
in the day of atonement. Shall ye make the trumpet sound
throughout all your land. And you shall howl the fiftieth
year and proclaim liberty, throughout all the land unto the inhabitants
thereof. It shall be a jubilee unto you,
and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall
return every man unto his family." Every seventh year was the Lord's
year and was a Sabbath of rest to the land. But on the year
following the seventh of those sevens was the year of jubilee. when every man sold into slavery
was set free. All property and family, land,
was redeemed in return. All debts were canceled just
as if they had been paid, and a year of rest was proclaimed.
Jesus Christ, our kinsman redeemer, has done all of this for us in
fulfillment of God's prophecy. Our souls are free. Our inheritance
is restored. our debts are paid, and we have
entered into His rest forever. We don't have time to look at
it this morning, but Boaz in the book of Ruth is a picture
of Christ as our Kinsman Redeemer. All that Ruth needed, Boaz provided
for her. And so Isaiah 61 verse 2 says
that Christ came to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
or the year of Jubilee, and the day of vengeance of our God.
I want you to notice that last phrase, the day of vengeance
of our God. When you first read about the
day of vengeance of our God, you might think that this is
a prophecy of that awful day of vengeance when God was pleased
to visit all of the iniquity and transgressions of His people
on Jesus Christ, His Son. It did please the Lord to bruise
Him. He was smitten of God and afflicted. This is true. but
the Gospel is proclaimed with a two-fold effect. You see, all
men don't believe. Some believe and some don't believe. The Gospel preached is a fragrance
of life to those that have life, but it's an odor of death and
judgment to those who will not believe. God will visit His wrath
on those who will not believe, And this is the day of vengeance
of our God that is being prophesied by God here in Isaiah 61 and
verse 2. In John 3 verse 36 it says, He
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. And he that
believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God
abideth on him. And in Mark 16 verses 15 and
16, the resurrected Christ Jesus said unto His disciples, Go ye
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
and he that believeth is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned." And in 2 Corinthians 2 verses 14-16
Paul says, Now thanks be unto God which always causes us to
triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the savor of His knowledge
by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savor
of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish, to the
one we are the saver of death unto death, and to the other
the saver of life unto life. And who is sufficient for such
things? Well, none of us is sufficient
for these things, are we? That's why we need a Savior.
This is what God is saying here in Isaiah 61, verse 2. Jesus
Christ came as the God-man to proclaim the acceptable year
of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God. to comfort all that
mourn. Jesus Christ is the true comfort
of all true mourners. They mourn under a sense of sin,
their own sin and the sin of others. They mourn under the
trial and the affliction. They mourn when they can't repent
as they should and believe as they should or pray as they should
or love God as they should or do any of the other things that
God has asked them to do as they should do. But here's the Gospel. Those who mourn Those who truly
mourn find their comfort in Jesus Christ. They find their comfort
in His blood and in His intercession and in the precious promises
of His Word. Oh, dear people, how I pray you
could learn this, learn it in a way that would be a comfort
to your lives. All things are in Christ. Whatever
our trial or difficulty, Christ is the comfort of those who mourn.
We suffer and we are in pain, but mostly because we refuse
to look to Christ. But Christ says, I have come
to comfort all that mourn. Then in verse 3 of Isaiah 61,
Christ says that He came to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion,
to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they
might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that
He may be glorified." Turn please to Ezekiel 16 and verse 14. Jesus Christ came to those who
mourn and to give those who mourn beauty
for ashes. When you see ashes in a fireplace,
it usually means that the fire has gone out. Our fire of joy
and life and hope was burned out in Adam. But Jesus Christ
restores the beauty and the warmth of a spiritual fire. And ashes
also mean death. Dust to death and ashes to ashes.
But in Christ, we have eternal life and we will never die. And
ashes also represent sorrow. In extreme sorrow, there were
ashes in sackcloth. But Christ took our death. He
took our mourning. He bore our sorrows, giving to
us a beauty which was His beauty. As Ezekiel 16, verse 14 says,
Jesus Christ is our renown. Thy renown went forth among the
heathen for thy beauty. For it was perfect through my
comeliness which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord. God put
that beauty in Christ. He put His Holy Spirit in Christ.
Then look at verse 3 of Isaiah 61 again. It says that Christ
will give them that mourn in Zion beauty of ashes, oil of
joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
Here's what I believe that Isaiah is saying. The Lord Jesus gives
His mourners the beautiful garments of His salvation. He gives them
that robe of His righteousness, the graces of His Spirit, and
His gracious presence together with His Word. And these gifts
of God yield joy and peace and comfort through all of our pilgrim
journey. But why does Christ give us these
gifts? Look at the rest of verse 3 and
I think you'll find out. God gives these gifts to His
people so that they might be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. That suggests
to me several things. Turn to Matthew 15, verses 12
and 13, please. First, these trees which are
symbols of people are planted by someone. These trees of righteousness
are planted by God. They're planted by the Lord.
In Matthew 15, verses 12 and 13, it says, Then came His disciples. His disciples came to Jesus.
And they said unto Him, Knowest Thou that the Pharisees were
offended after they had heard this saying? But He answered
and said, Every plant, every plant which My Father hath not
planted shall be rooted up. The Gospel is an offense to them. And so they reject it. And God
roots them up. Turn, please, to Matthew 13 and
verse 6. Trees that live have their roots in water. And for
those who believe and trust in Christ, our root is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ who is the living
water. In Matthew 13, Jesus gives us
the parable of the sower. And in verse 6, Jesus says about
the seed that was planted, And when the sun was dried up, they,
the seed planted in shallow ground, when the sun was dried up, the
seed planted in shallow ground, were scorched. And because they
had no root, they withered away. And in Psalm 1 verse 3 it says
about the blessed man, And he shall be like a tree planted
in the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in season. His
leaf shall not wither, and whatsoever he does shall prosper. Do you
see All things that we need, I mean absolutely everything
that we need is found in Jesus Christ. Can you see that? He is the source. He is that
living water that we need. Turn please to John 7, verses
37-39. And the third thing that we learn
about these trees, these trees of righteousness, is that the
life of the trees is the sap within it. The Spirit of God
dwells in believers giving life to the believer. In John 7, verses
37 to 39, it says, In the last day, that great day of the feast,
Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come
unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the
Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. But this He spoke of the Spirit,
which they that believe on Him should receive. For the Holy
Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Turn please to Galatians 5 verses 22 and 23. This is one of my
favorite passages. At least it's become one of my
favorite passages. The trees which God plants always
bear good fruit. And remember what that fruit
is. In Galatians 5 verses 22 and 23 it says, But the fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law.
Now turn to Psalm 1, verses 3 and 4. This is something that needy
sinners will really rejoice in. And I pray that everyone here
would be needy. The trees which God plants never
wither. In Psalm 1 verses 3 and 4, it
says about the man blessed by God, and he shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit
in season. His leaf also shall not wither,
and whatsoever he does shall prosper. In verse 4, the ungodly
are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth
away. Now going back to Isaiah 61,
we see something very important in the last phrase of verse 3.
The planning by God of these trees of righteousness, which
picture the salvation of God's people, is so that the Lord might
be glorified. Turn to John 17 in verses 1 to
4, please. Now, you know that John 17 is
a remarkable prayer by Jesus. He's praying in the Garden of
Gethsemane, and he's about to go to the cross to die for the
sins of his people. It's a prayer that in particular
part of that prayer, Jesus is praying that God would be glorified.
And from beginning to the end, as God redeems a sinner, God
is glorified. Man isn't glorified in salvation.
God is glorified. In John 17, verses 1-4, in Jesus'
prayer, it says, these words spoke Jesus and lifted up His
eyes to heaven and said, The hour has come. Glorify Thy Son. Thy Son also may glorify Thee,
as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should
give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. And this
is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God
of Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee,
Father, on the earth. I have finished the work which
Thou gavest Me to do. O dear Father, how I pray you
might glorify yourself in the salvation and comfort of your
people today. Jesus Christ died that night
on the cross. He died to set the captives free
so that God might be glorified. And my prayer is that we each
might abundantly bear the fruit which God has caused us to bear,
and that it all might be to the glory of God in Jesus Christ,
in whose name I have preached the gospel to you today. And
by His name I have in prayer asked that it would be made effective
and a comfort in your hearts and souls for the glory of God. Amen.