Isaiah 51. I wanted to look at
just a few verses in this chapter. We've gone through the whole
chapter, but there's just a couple of verses that we need to go
back and look at. And one of those is verse 22.
Verse 22. Thus saith thy Lord, thee Lord,
and thy God. Now, if you're one that the Holy
Spirit's given faith so that you trust entirely in the Lord
Jesus Christ to be all your acceptance with God, all your salvation.
You trust Christ only. If that's so, this is his word
to you. This is not a man speaking. This
is not Isaiah speaking. This is not me speaking. This
is the Lord speaking to his people. Verse 22, thus saith thy Lord,
the Lord, and thy God. That's what the Lord said. You
notice the differences there in the spelling of the word Lord,
or the lowercase means it's Christ Jesus. The uppercase means Christ
Jesus is God. This is the God man speaking.
He's only speaking to his people. Thus saith thy Lord, thee Lord,
and thy God. It's one thing for you and me
to own him as our God and our Lord, But it's another thing
when he owns himself to be your Lord and your God. When he says
to you, I'm thy Lord and thy God. This is not everybody. He's not speaking to everybody.
He told his apostles, you've not chosen me, I've chosen you.
I've chosen you, I've ordained you. He told them if you were
of the world, the world would love his own. But because you're
not of the world, how did you get to be not of the world? He
said, I have chosen you out of the world. Therefore, the world
hateth you. What does he declare to his people?
Thus saith thy Lord, thee Lord, and thy God, that pleadeth the
cause of his people. Behold, I have taken out of thine
hand the cup of trembling. The dregs of the cup of my fury
thou shalt No more, drink it again. That's our subject. God pleads his people's cause. He does, he pled our cause in
eternity. He pled our cause on the cross. He pleads our cause throughout
our lives. And he will plead our cause in
the day of judgment. That will be our four divisions.
Eternity, on the cross, in our lives, and in the day of judgment.
Our Lord pleads our cause. In eternity, before the Lord
made the world, before he created anything, God our Father elected
a people unto salvation. That's the best news a believer
could ever hear. God our Father chose who he would
save by his grace. It's his sovereign right as God
to do with his own what he would. And he chose who he would save
in Christ before this world began. And when he chose us in Christ,
Christ voluntarily, willingly became our surety. What does
that mean? He said what Judah said of Benjamin. Genesis 43, 9, he said, I will
be surety for him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not unto thee
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever.
That's what Christ said of his people in eternity. Look to me,
don't look to them. I will take care of everything
for them, and I'll bring them to you again. He said what Paul
said to Philemon concerning Onesimus. Paul said, if he hath wronged
thee or oweth thee all, put that on mine account. That's what
Christ said in eternity. Whatever they're gonna owe you,
Father, put it on my account. Put it on my account. He willingly
became our surety, knowing we would fall in sin and knowing
what he would have to suffer to honor God's justice and redeem
us from our sin. He knew. He knew the payment
would involve much more than God just charging it to his account. When it came time to pay it,
he knew he's gonna have to be made sin for us and then bear
the curse, the dregs of the cup of God's fury, he would have
to, and he willingly, knowing that, he willingly became our
surety. By becoming our surety in eternity,
nothing's made, nothing has been made in eternity, he became what
Revelation 13, eight says, He became the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. You know, really and truly, this
covenant engagement that the Father and the Son enter to in
eternity, that is the foundation of the world, that covenant word. When it says he upholdeth all
things by the word of his power, it's more than his sovereign
word and his sovereign power, it's that covenant promise he
made to bring all his people to God. That's what this world
is settled on, founded on. The very thing that makes God
God, the very thing that makes him to be different from all
man's vain idols is that God declares the end from the beginning. Acts 15, 18 says, known unto
God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Let's
hear it in Isaiah. Go back to Isaiah 41. We've looked
at several of all of these from Isaiah 40 up to where we are,
but let's go back and read this. When God challenged men and their
vain gods, this is what he said, Isaiah 41, verse 22. Isaiah 41,
22. He said, let them bring forth
and show us what shall happen. Let them show the former things
what they be. that we may consider them and
know the latter end of them. Or declare us things far to come. Show the things that are to come
hereafter that we may know that ye are God. See, that's what
makes God God. He tells you what shall come
to pass before it comes to pass, then he brings it to pass. There is no other that does that
but the one true living God. He does this. He said, do good
or do evil that we may be dismayed and behold it together. This
is God. This is God. You know, it's called
the immutability of his counsel. That means it can't, it has immutability. It has no change and it can't
be changed. Whatever he counseled, whatever
he determined in eternity, he shall bring to pass. It cannot
be changed. The counsel of the Lord standeth
forever. the thoughts of his heart to
all generations. You know, there's people that
deny this. There's people that deny that in Christ the works
were finished from the foundation of the world. He's the Lamb slain,
and people deny that, but this is so of God. Whatsoever the
Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and earth and the seas
and all deep places. It's so certain that Christ shall
not fail that whenever Christ became our surety, it was settled
in eternity. It was settled. Look at Isaiah
44, look at verse six. Isaiah 44, verse six. Thus saith
the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of
hosts. I am the first and I am the last,
and beside me there is no God. And who, as I, shall call and
shall declare it and set it in order for me, since I appointed
the ancient people? And the things that are coming
and shall come, let them show unto them. Fear ye not, neither
be afraid. Have not I told thee from that
time and have declared it? You're my witnesses. Is there
a God beside me? There is no God. I know not any.
Look at Isaiah 45, verse 21. I'm just trying to show you that
when God entered, when God became surety with God, when Christ
entered surety with the Father, brethren, this thing was settled
in Christ in eternity. He pled our cause in eternity.
Isaiah 45, 21, tell ye and bring them near, yea, let them take
counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who's declared this from eternity?
Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? There's
no God else beside me, a just God and a savior. That's such an important declaration
right there. A just God. He will pour out
the dregs of the cup of his fury. on every guilty person, but he's
a savior. He will save his people, and
he'll be just to show us mercy. He's a just God and a savior,
and there's none beside him. One more place, Isaiah 46, verse
nine. Remember the former things of
old, for I'm God and there's none else. I'm God and there's
none like me, declaring the end from the beginning. And from
ancient times of things that are not yet done, saying, my
counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. That ravenous
bird, Cyrus, is a picture of Christ. Christ came from a far
country. He came from heaven to this earth
to execute God's counsel. What Christ promised from eternity,
that's what he came to accomplish. Yeah, I've spoken it, I will
also bring it to pass. He said, I've purposed it, I'll
also do it. You know, this is what Titus
tells us, Titus 1, 2. Paul said, in hope, we have a
hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before
the world began. How could he do that? How could
God promise all his elect eternal life from eternity? The only
way he could do that is if he certainly brings every word of
his counsel to pass. That's how he, God who cannot
lie, promised us eternal life before he made anything, and
he shall give it to each one he promised it to because he
cannot fail. See, I'm trying to show you,
he pled our cause in eternity, in eternity. He chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and without blame before him in love. And truly, the father
never looked to his people. He always looked to the Lord
Jesus. And in him, we were holy and
without blame in Christ because he's holy and without blame.
That's from eternity. Now, let's go to time now. Let's go to the cross. At the
cross, our Lord Jesus pled the cause of his people. Only his
people, only his elect, he pled our cause at the cross. The reason
Christ came into this world, Romans 3 clearly declares this,
the chief reason, number one reason, even above your salvation
and mine, the number one reason was to manifest the righteousness
of God. That's the number one reason,
to manifest the righteousness of God. Look at Proverbs 17.
And look at verse 15. Proverbs 17, and look at verse
15. He that justifieth the wicked,
and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination
to the Lord. That declares to us, brethren,
God is absolutely, perfectly just. He is righteous. Everything
he does is righteous. Our Savior knew no sin. He came into this world born
of a virgin, not born of a man. He is the woman seed. He came
into this world holy, holy. He knew no sin. And our Lord
Jesus is perfect, holy, spotless, Lamb of God, and in perfect obedience
to God, just like He promised from eternity, in perfect obedience
to God, the just Savior presented Himself to the Father to bear
the sin of His people. Listen, God is so righteous.
Now, you heard what Proverbs 17 said. God, it's an abomination
for a man to justify the wicked, the guilty, and it's an abomination
for a man to condemn the righteous? Well, Christ is righteous in
himself. Everything he did is righteous in himself. Is God
gonna pour out the dregs of the cup of his fury on our Lord Jesus
when he's holy and righteous and perfect? God said, that's
an abomination to me. How would that manifest that
God always does what's right and just? How would that? How
would that? We would settle for that with
a judge in our courts in this land. So what did God do? He hath made him sin for us who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him. Isaiah 53, six said, all we like
sheep have gone astray and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity
of us all. God took all the sin of all his
elect and laid it on our Lord Jesus. He made him the sin of
all his people. That's why he had to be made
of a woman. That's why he had to be made
under the law. That's why he had to go to that
cross and be made sin for us, because that's the only way God
would be just to make him a curse and pour out the dregs of his
fury and his justice on our Redeemer. And so he, his own self, bear
our sins and his body on the tree. I don't, I'm not, I'm not,
called on to explain it. I'm not called on to try to get
into the intricate details of how that was accomplished. God
gives you faith to believe him. And we believe him. We believe
him. The perfect righteousness of God. Here's how holy and just
and righteous God is. This is his glory, brethren.
When sin was found on his own son, he spared him not. but delivered
him up for all his elect people. That's how holy and just God
is. His own beloved son, his only begotten son, when sin was
found on his son, he would not, he would not let it go. He poured out strict justice
on his son. And because he did that, our
Lord Jesus pled our cause. He perfectly, fully, entirely
put away all the sin of his people and made his people the righteousness
of God in him. Here's another thing. When God
declares his child is righteous, God is not treating you as if
you're righteous when you're not. He's declaring to you what
is so, what Christ has accomplished. By the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. By Christ's obedience, by his
going to the Father and bearing our sin and bearing our curse,
and receiving what was due unto us in our room instead. He took
that cup out of our hand and he drank that cup. He told Peter when they came
to arrest him, he said, Peter, put your sword up. Put it up. He said, the cup which my father
had given me, shall I not drink it? That's what he's declaring
in our text. I've taken the cup out of your
hand. Well, what did he do with it? For his people, he drank
it. That's the justice of God. The dregs all the way to the
bottom, to the dregs. He endured all the justice of
God. Everything God could pour out
on our Savior was poured out on him. Justly, justly, justly. And he justified everybody for
whom he died. And he rose again. And he says
to you, when he calls you and he gives you faith to behold
what he's done, he says to you what our text says in verse Isaiah
51, 22. He says, behold, I have taken
out of thine hand the cup of trembling. Even the dregs of
the cup of my fury, thou shalt no more drink it again. But you
better know this, brethren. The only way he can say that
to you and me is he drank it. He suffered it. and he accomplished
it, all right? Thirdly, now this is what our
text is really speaking about, is this third point. Throughout
our lives, the Lord Jesus pleased the cause of his people, throughout
our lives. Before we knew him, before we
knew him, the only reason God didn't condemn you and cast you
into hell when you were conceived in your mother's womb The only
reason he didn't do it, when you came forth into this world
speaking lies, is because Christ pled the cause of his people.
Christ was there at God's right hand, having already made you
perfectly righteous in him, put away all your sin by what he
did, and he there, as the intercessor, is the one reason God didn't
condemn you and me, his elect child, when we were born, because
we were already righteous in Christ. The very reason that
we know him now. You know why we know him now?
Because Christ pled our cause. He said this in John 14, 16.
He said, I will pray the Father. I will pray the Father. I'll
intercede for you with the Father. And the Father shall give you
another comforter. He'll send the Holy Spirit to
you that he may abide with you forever. Why were you born again? Why did the Holy Spirit enter
into you and cause you to be born again? Because Christ prayed
the Father on your behalf, and the Father sent the Holy Spirit,
and that will be so for everybody Christ justified. It pleased
God to save a people for himself, and Christ promised the Father
from eternity he would bring them all to the Father, and he's
not willing that any should perish. He justified them. It wouldn't
be just for any to perish. because he justified us. Well,
after we know him, after we know him, we've looked at before we
knew him, he pled our cause. Then the reason we know him,
he pled our cause, sent the spirit. After we know him, when we sin,
there's one reason, one reason that we still are accepted of
holy, holy, holy God, and it's this. When any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and
he is the propitiation for our sin, and it's so of his people
all over the world. That's why he pleads our cause. I wanna read to you what John
Bunyan said about that. John Bunyan said, when God doth
provide an advocate, he doth as good as say, my people are
subject to infirmities. When he provides you an advocate,
God is saying, my people are gonna sin. Do not therefore think
of thyself above what thou art bound to think. Christ ever lives
to make intercession for thee. For this reason, thou art at
thy best, and in thy best exercising of all thy graces, but a poor,
pitiful, sorry, sinful man. that would be certainly cast
away, did not thy high priest take away for thee the iniquity
of thy holy things? That's the only reason. At your
very best, you're a pitiful, sorry, sinful man, and the only
reason God doesn't cast you away is because Christ takes away
the iniquity of even your most holy deeds. That's what it says
about us that Christ is always our advocate with the Father.
That's what it says about us. That's such a good statement
John Bunyan made, that's what it says. The very fact we have
an advocate, it says we're sinners still. Now, our text specifically
is referring to Christ pleading our cause when men are our enemies. The cup that he took out of our
hands, he drank that cup of justice for us, but that justice that
he took that he turned from us, having fulfilled it himself,
he will pour it out on our enemies. That's what it's declaring. He
said there in Isaiah 51, verse 22, verse 23, he said, I've taken
it out of your hand, but I will put it into the hand of them
that afflict thee, which it said to thy soul, bow down, that we
may go over, and thou hast laid thy body as the ground and as
the street to them that went over. Now let me show you this
from scripture. Psalm 35, and you know, when we hear David
pray these things in the Psalms, we're hearing Christ. And this is how he pleads our
cause. Psalm 35, one, he said, plead my cause, O Lord, with
them that strive with me. Fight against them that fight
against me. You see that? This is in regard
to men or the enemies of his people. Let me just give you
this one. You be turning to Jeremiah 50. Jeremiah 50. Proverbs 22, 23
says, concerning his poor people, he promises, the Lord will plead
their cause and spoil the soul of those that spoil them. Look
here in Jeremiah 50, in verse 34. Jeremiah 50, 34. Their Redeemer
is strong, the Lord of hosts is his name, and he shall throughly
plead their cause that he may give rest to the land and disquiet
the inhabitants of Babylon. You see that when he talks about
pleading our cause and giving us peace, he also talks about
disquieting those that would harm us. Jeremiah 51, verse 36. He says, therefore, thus saith
the Lord, behold, I will plead thy cause and take vengeance
for thee, and I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry,
and Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons,
an astonishment, a hissing without inhabitant. I wanna give you
one more. I want you to go to Lamentations
3. Now, when we sin, One of the ways God corrects his people
is he will use men to correct it. He'll use men to chasten
us. Sometimes he uses brethren that do it, but sometimes he'll
use enemies to do it. But we don't take vengeance.
We don't. We trust the Lord because he's
the only one that pleads our cause. And you think about this. If we tried to plead our own
cause before men and defend ourselves before men, and justify ourselves
before men and take vengeance on men ourselves. What's different
in that than a man trying to plead his own cause before the
law of God and say he's made himself righteous by his own
works? There really is no difference. You see, we're trusting Christ
to plead our cause in every way. And that's what he does for his
people. Look here at Lamentations 3, verse 58. And I want you, now you hear
Christ praying this. You hear Christ praying this. He says, O Lord, thou hast pleaded
the causes of my soul. That was so of Christ on the
cross. Remember he said, we saw in Isaiah, he said, he said,
he is near that justifies me. He said, he will justify me. That's what he said of the father. He trusted the father perfectly.
And here he says, O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my
soul. Thou hast redeemed my life. O
Lord, thou hast seen my wrong. Judge thou my cause. When sin
was made his, he owned it to be his. Judge thou my cause. Thou hast seen all their vengeance
and all their imaginations against me. Thou hast heard their reproach,
O Lord, and all their imaginations against me. the lips of those
that rose up against me and their device against me all the day.
Behold, they're sitting down and they're rising up. I am their
music. Render unto them a recompense,
O Lord, according to the work of their hands. Give them sorrow
of heart, thy curse unto them. That's what we're talking about
here when we talk about the dregs of the cup of his fury. We're
talking about the curse, the condemnation of God. He says,
give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them. persecute and
destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord. The
same as God pleads the cause of his people, our Lord Jesus
pleads the cause of his people, in doing so, he pleads against
those that are his enemies, that harm his people. What does that
tell you, I mean? Don't you ever reproach one of
God's people. Our whole second message is gonna
be about reproach, so I'll say more then. You see what the Lord,
He's gonna do this to those that are the enemies of His people.
That's so now. Micah 7, I read this to you the
other day. This is toward the end of the
Old Testament. But I'll read it again because
it shows this clearly. I didn't even realize this had
that phrase in it about pleading our cause. But listen to this,
Micah 7, 7. He said, therefore I will look unto the Lord I will
wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Rejoice
not against me, O mine enemy. When I fall, I shall arise. When
I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear
the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against
him, until he plead my cause and execute judgment for me.
He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his
righteousness. Then she that is mine enemy shall
see it. And shame shall cover her which
said unto me, where is the Lord thy God? Mine eyes shall behold
her, now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.
In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall
the decree be far removed. That's what the Lord's doing
for his people. He's pleading our cause. You
know, he goes against all our reasons. But you think about
it, whenever Moses and the children of Israel were at that Red Sea,
and the most powerful man in the world at that time, with
the most powerful army in the world at that time, was coming
on him fast. And what did the Lord tell him
to do? He told him to sit still. He told him to stop murmuring,
sit still, and behold the salvation of the Lord. And the Lord saved
him. The Lord saved him. He pleads
the cause of his people against those that would harm his people.
Now, here's the last thing. In the day of judgment, the Lord
shall plead the cause of his people, and you and I, who are
his, shall be silent. We shall be silent. I just wanna
read Matthew 25 to you, because the Lord declares it here better
than I could, and we'll just read this. This'll be our last
scripture, Matthew 25. In that day, the Lord will please
the cause of his people. Matthew 25, 31. When the Son of Man shall come
in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he
sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divided his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, come, ye blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. How was it prepared from the
foundation of the world? It was Christ with our surety,
even from eternity. It was prepared then by the Father
in Christ. Verse 35, for I was hungered
and you gave me meat. I was thirsty and you gave me
drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in, naked, and you
clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me.
I was in prison, and you came unto me. Then shall the righteous
answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee a-hungered, and fed
thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger,
and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee? or when shall we
thee sick or in prison and came unto thee? And the king shall
answer and say unto them, verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you
have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you
have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them
on the left hand, depart from me ye cursed into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was a hungered,
and you gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me
no drink. I was a stranger, and you took me not in. Naked, and
you clothed me not. Sick, and in prison, and you
visited me not. Now listen to how they will answer. Then shall they also answer him,
saying, Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, or a thirst, or a
stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister
unto thee? Ooh, that's a lot different than
the righteous, isn't it? Righteous said, Lord, when do
we do any of these things? The self-righteous said, when
do we not do these things? Then shall he answer them, saying,
verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you did it not to one of the
least of these, talking about his people, he said, you did
it not unto me. See, the Lord and his people
are one. Lord and you are one, brethren, one spirit. A husband
and a wife become one flesh. He's made us one with him, inseparably
one with him. And what we do to one of his
least brethren, that one fallen, that one that just appears to
you to be the least, what you do to him, you do it to Christ. He said, and these on the left,
they'll go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous
into life eternal. He promised in Isaiah 53, 12,
he shall divide the spoiled with the strong. The strong, who are
the strong? You that know you are absolutely
totally weak. Totally weak. What'd he say?
When I'm weak, then I'm strong. That's what Paul learned. When
I'm the weak, when I'm weak, that's when I'm strong. We say
with the Lord, the strong are the utterly helpless. He said,
I'll divide the spoil with the strong because he had poured
out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors
and he bared the sin of many and made intercession for the
transgressors. The Lord pleads the cause of
his people. Let's go to him. Father, how
we thank you, Lord, that you chose your son to have all the
glory, that you entrusted us to him, and you never once looked
to us. Oh, Lord, how we thank you that
you have provided an advocate, an intercessor, one that pleads
our cause. Lord, not unto us, not unto us,
but unto our Lord Jesus be the glory. Your holy name could not
be manifest better to us than in your son. Your righteousness,
your long-suffering, your mercy, your grace, your justice, everything
about you, Lord, we see in our Lord Jesus, and we thank you.
Thank you that you've provided one to plead our cause. Lord,
the only way we come to you now is in his name. Help us, Lord,
to help Your people, help us to always remember your people,
to do whatever we can for one another, knowing that what we
do to them, we do to you. Be with your people everywhere,
Lord. Continue to bless us by your spirit, by your gospel,
by your dear son. How we do thank you for grace
and mercy and free salvation. Thank you, Lord. In Christ's
name, amen.