Alright brethren, Isaiah 44,
our subject is Christ our Sovereign Savior. Now in that first hour, I tried to preach His Word. Everything
in this book is His Word. And in that first hour I tried
to preach His Word to you. And I do pray He was the preacher,
preaching into the heart. But this text right here, From
Isaiah 44-24 all the way to Isaiah 45-25 is the Lord Himself preaching. This is His Word. This is His
sermon. We talk about when He walked
this earth and we talk about His sermon on the mount. This
is His sermon from the heavenly mount before as yet He came into
this earth declaring what He would do. I don't know if I'm going to
have time to read everything down to verses 25, but I encourage
you to go home and read this whole sermon from Isaiah 44-24
all the way to Isaiah 45-25. This is one message from the
Lord. It's too good, really, not to read it all, but I just
can't preach it all in the time we have. Let's begin in verse
24. ìThus saith the Lord thy Redeemer,
and He that formed thee from the womb.î Now hear who is speaking. Hear who is speaking. This is
the Lord Jehovah. And who is He? Thy Redeemer. God who came down and took flesh
and redeemed His people. ìHe that formed thee from the
womb, He declares that He's sovereignly, powerfully working His will in
all things. That's the message here. And
He's doing it in all things. He says in creation, He said,
I'm the Lord that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth
the heavens alone, that spreadeth above the earth by Myself. He
works in all things in providence, in unregenerate men as well as
in His elect. He said, I am the Lord that frustrateth
the tokens of the liars and maketh diviners mad, that turneth wise
men backward and maketh their knowledge foolish, that confirmeth
the word of His servant and performeth the counsel of His messengers.
He's sovereign in the hearts of the wicked and He's sovereign
in the hearts of the righteous. and He's sovereign in the salvation
of His people. He said, I'm the Lord that saith
to Jerusalem, thou shalt be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah you
shall be built. I will raise up the decayed places
thereof, that saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy
rivers. That saith of Cyrus, He is my
shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem,
Thou shalt be built, and to the temple thy foundation shall be
laid. You see, God sovereignly brings
to pass everything. He sovereignly brought to pass
everything in creation, He sovereignly brings to pass everything in
providence, in the wicked, and in those He's made righteous,
and He is sovereignly bringing to pass all things in the salvation
of His people. I mean, there's not a second
that anything is out of His power, not a second. This prophecy of
Cyrus, this man Cyrus, this was given by the Lord Nearly, well,
it was given 200 years. 200 years before this man Cyrus
was born. Isaiah is delivering this 200
years before Cyrus was born. And God brought everything to
pass that he declares here. Cyrus was a heathen king who
never knew God. Cyrus was a Mede. He was of the
nation, king of the Medes. His uncle was Darius. But the
Lord anointed Cyrus to be His servant. He said, to be My shepherd. Not savingly. As far as we know
from history, the Lord didn't save this man. But He did it
to use him to deliver the children of Israel out of Babylonian captivity
to bring them back to Jerusalem and lay the foundation of the
temple and rebuild the desolate places. And he did all that to
typify the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our sovereign Redeemer,
God's anointing. Ain't that amazing? 200 years
before the Lord said, I'll do all this with this man's eyes,
then the Lord made him be born, and the Lord did it all. To picture
His Son, the Lord Jesus. Drop down to Isaiah 45. The Lord
says of this man Cyrus, he says, For Jacob my servant's sake,
and Israel my elect, I have even called thee by thy name. I have
surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. Cyrus' father was
likely a shepherd. History says this man Cyrus,
when he was a young boy, was raised a shepherd boy. And we
have a good indication that his dad was a shepherd because that's
probably why his father named him Cyrus, because Cyrus means
shepherd. But unbeknown to his father,
the real reason he named him Cyrus is because 200 years before
that's what God named him. Because God said he's my shepherd. I have even called thee by thy
name. I have surnamed thee. History says Cyrus read this
prophecy. That's what the historians tell
us. Cyrus read this. And he gave lip service to God.
He said he's the God of heaven. But he never knew God spiritually. God says here, I have even called
thee by thy name. I have surnamed thee, though
thou hast not known me. History says Cyrus was a pagan
idolater all the way to the end. He called God, God, but just
like at the end of his life he offered sacrifices to Jupiter,
and to the sun, and to all these other idols he had, and he thanked
them for making him do all the things he did, all his life. But everything God did with Cyrus,
God did it for one reason. Just one reason. Verse 4, he
said, For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect. For my sinful people Jacob, and
for Christ my son, my Israel mine elect. That's why I did
all this. Through Cyrus, though Cyrus didn't
know it, God used him to glorify Christ his son in type. to show
forth Christ who is the salvation of all his elect Jacobs, Jew
and Gentile. Robert Hawker said, How often
in the present hour are men made the unconscious ministers of
God for good to his people, although their heart thought not so, neither
did they intend it. You see, God said, I'm working
in the wicked just like I'm working in my people. Sovereign. Now let's see a few
ways that Cyrus is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. First
of all, the Lord Jesus is God's anointed. He says here in verse
1, Thus saith the Lord to his anointed. Christ means anointed. That's what it means. The Lord
anointed Cyrus to be His servant 200 years before it came to pass. No one knew who Cyrus was yet.
Long before anybody knew the Lord Jesus, long before anybody
knew the Lord Jesus in eternity, God our Father anointed His Son
to be prophet, priest, and king. God anointed Him to be the Christ,
to be the Savior of His people. Psalm 45.7, this is God the Father's
word to His Son in eternity. He said, Thou lovest righteousness
and hatest wickedness. Therefore God, thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. He
said in Psalm 89.20, David typified Christ. But God said this of
Christ. He said this of His Son, I have
found David my servant, but he's speaking of Christ here. I found
him, and with my holy oil I've anointed him. With whom my hand
shall be established, mine arm also shall strengthen him. Also
I make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.
My mercy will I keep for Him forevermore. My covenant shall
stand fast with Him. His seed, that's you who are
His elect, you and me who are His elect. His seed also will
I make to endure forever in His throne as the days of heaven.
That's Christ. That's Christ. What does this
mean for His people? What does that mean for you and
me who are His people? Turn over to Isaiah 61. I'll
show you what it means for us. Since God anointed His Son to
be the Christ, it means our Lord shall save all His people from
our sins. That's what it means. Isaiah
61. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath
anointed me. This is Christ speaking. He's
anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He sent me to
bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives
and the opening of the prison of 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 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 might be glorified. You know, when he
calls us, he first begins to empty us, show us that all our
pretended righteousness is just sin, show us all our pretended
holiness is just vanity. And we become very much saddened
by that, very angry by that. But our spirit, by the Spirit
of the Lord, He creates a new man in you. And He brings you
to be saddened. He brings you to be saddened
spiritually because you see your sins against Him. But He gives
you the oil of joy because He shows you what all He did, what
He accomplished, that He's your righteousness and your holiness.
And brethren, all our days as we go through this world, the
trial is when our faith is proven. That's what the trial of your
faith, that's the proving of your faith. It proves whether
it's genuine or not. You know, religious men are always quoting
James and, show me some good works to prove your faith is
genuine. Listen, God's going to prove that. He's going to
give you some trials that will make you so sad and so gloomy
and make you pout and be so unhappy. except for the fact that Christ
keeps working this in his people through this gospel. He gives
you the oil of joy for mourning, and he makes you happy. He makes
you rejoice in him. He makes you to know everything's
running right according to his purpose, and he's bringing it
all to pass. That's the work that's going
to manifest your faith is genuine. God's people will get twisted
by the trial and we may pout and become upset and act like
we never knew God for a little while, but eventually the Lord's
going to speak this word into the heart because God anointed
Him to be the prophet and He's going to speak this word into
our heart and He's going to give us the the garment of praise
for heaviness, and we're going to glorify Him and rejoice in
Him. And He just keeps doing this
all our days. And those are the works that prove He really gave
you faith. Man can't fake it. God's going
to work it. Christ is the Redeemer who accomplished
the redemption of all God's elect. Not only is He the anointed who
God chose to be His Savior, His Christ, He's the one who came,
the Redeemer who accomplished the redemption of all God's elect.
He said, listen to me, I'm thy Redeemer. Look here in verse
1. He said, of this one he anointed,
he said, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations before
him. Over 200 years later, God used
Cyrus to subdue many enemy nations. He let Israel be taken captive
into Babylon due to their sin. A picture of our fall, a picture
of us being in captivity due to our sin. And then God sent
forth His shepherd, this man Cyrus, and subdued all these
enemy nations. God did it. Cyrus didn't do it.
Cyrus was used, but God did it. God said of Christ, this is what
He says of His Savior. He said, I'll be with Him, my
right hand I'll hold His, and I'll subdue nations before Him.
Christ's trust in the Father. and Christ is subduing nations.
And then he said this, verse 1, And I'll loose the loins of
kings to open before him the two leaved gates, and the gates
shall not be shut. I'll loose the loins of kings. I'll open before him the two
leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut. Well over 200 years
later, after this prophecy, remember Belshazzar, that's Nebuchadnezzar's
son, he's king of Babylon. He was holding the children of
Israel captive in Babylon. And one night he took the vessels
from the house of the Lord and he was in the midst of a drunken
orgy, having a big party. That's what's going on in the
devil's churches all over this world. That's what's going on
in the hearts of undegenerate sinners. Religious men and women,
including God's unregenerate elect people, using God's Word
to have a drunken orgy. That's how God sees it. God showed
Belshazzar the writing on the wall. Remember that? Look over
at Daniel 5. God showed him the writing on
the wall. Daniel 5 verse 9. Then was King Belshazzar, when
the Lord did this, it says in Daniel 6, Then the king's countenance
was changed, and his thoughts troubled him so that, listen
now, the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote
one against another. Isn't that what God said would
happen over 200 years before? God used Daniel to come in there
and preach to Belshazzar. Daniel came in there preaching
the Word of the Lord. He told him, he said, your father thought
he was so proud and thought he had built his kingdom himself. And he said, and God made him
like a beast and put him out in a field and humbled him down. And when he restored his right
mind to him, God taught him that the Most High God rules in the
Kingdom of Heaven. God told him that he appointeth
over it whomsoever he will. And then Daniel interpreted that
writing on the wall. Down in verse 26, Daniel 5.26. This is the interpretation of
the thing. Many means God hath numbered
thy kingdom and He's finished it. Tico, thou art weighed in
the balances and art found wanting. Peres, thy kingdom is divided
and given to the Medes and Persians, given to Cyrus the Mede. Cyrus was king of the Medes.
God made a noise outside the walls of Babylon and God used
Belshazzar. He got all scared because of
this noise and he told him, open the gates and go out there and
see what the noise is. And so God opened the two-leaf
gates. And Belshazzar went in and conquered Babylon. Christ
is God's King. Christ came down from a far country
just like Cyrus did upon Babylon. And by His finished work on Calvary's
cross, brethren, the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed His people from
the curse of the law being made a curse for us. That's what's
pictured in Cyrus delivering the children of Israel out of
Babylonian captivity. The first way this work was accomplished
is Christ came down and was made a curse in place of His people,
and He redeemed His people from the curse of the law. The devil
had us in captivity, using our sin to condemn us before God,
because we were totally guilty. And Christ took all our sin away,
put it away forever, so that there is nothing with which anybody
can charge God's people again before God. He justified all
God's elect from all our sin. He made us the righteousness
of God in Him. He made us perfect in His perfection. He crushed the devil's head on
behalf of His people, just like Cyrus conquered Belshazzar. Now
thirdly, there is another part of this work that had to be done
by Christ. is our shepherd. He's our shepherd. Christ is
our shepherd who comes to eat sheep that He redeemed and He
brings us out. He calls us out and gives us
faith to believe Him. God said to Christ, verse 3,
Isaiah 45, verse 3, He said, And I'll give thee the treasures
of darkness and hidden riches of secret places. That was God
the Father's promise to His Son. Our shepherd comes to his lost
unregenerate child who Christ has already justified from all
our sins. And he comes to us through this
gospel and we're in darkness. We're in darkness. Just like
you could just picture the children of Israel in a dungeon in Babylon
in darkness. And here comes Cyrus. and opened
the prison door and called them out. We were in darkness, but
God's elect, Christ redeemed those He paid this price for.
They're His treasures hidden in the darkness. They're His
treasures. I'll give you the treasures of
darkness. They're His treasures. Every one of His people. We were
hidden, we were bound in secret places. God said, I'll give you
the hidden riches of secret places. We were the hidden riches that
belonged to Christ. We were His portion, hidden in
secret places. No man knew where we were. We
didn't even know we were His. But God's elect are Christ's
hidden riches in secret places. There He is, and He knows where
they are. We were bound in captivity in Babylon by the devil and by
our sin nature. We were captive behind the gates
of brass and bars of iron. But Christ declared, remember
when He said, the gates of hell shall not prevail against Me.
They won't prevail against My church. They won't prevail against
My gospel. Just like those children of Israel
behind those gates in Babylon, those gates didn't prevail to
keep Cyrus out of there. God opened those gates. And brethren,
verse 1, he says, he'll open before him the two leaf gates
and the gates shall not be shut. Verse 2, Christ our shepherd
will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut and sunder the
bars of iron. In mercy and in grace, Christ
came to us and He found us where we were in our secret hidden
place. He found us and there was no bars of the devil, there
was no defenses the devil had around us that could keep the
word of the gospel out of our heart. Christ penetrated our
heart, brought the gospel to us and made us hear what He had
to say. And in mercy and grace and power,
Christ loosed our loins in regeneration. That's what He did. He made us
hear the law and He made us know our sins. It's the only thing
that will humble a man. You know what will keep us from
being offended at the gospel? You know what will keep us from
being offended at one another? There's only one thing. Christ making you know you are
the sinner. That's it. Because that humbles you down
to where you think, I don't have a reason to be offended at anybody. I'm getting what I deserve. But verse 26. Isaiah 44, 26,
God said, He confirmeth the word of His servant and performeth
the counsel of His messengers. He says to Jerusalem, Thou shalt
be inhabited. To the cities of Judah you shall
be built. I'll raise up the decayed places
thereof. And Christ works all of God's
pleasure. He works it all. When Christ
confirms the gospel of His messenger in our hearts, He loosens our
loins. He humbles us down. He makes
us fearful of God, afraid, because He makes you see your sin. But
then He makes you know Him. He makes you know Him. And He
gives us His unsearchable riches. You see, we're His portion, we're
His riches, and He's our riches. And He gives us His riches, the
riches hidden from us by nature, the riches that were in secret
places, hidden in Christ Jesus that we didn't even know about.
He gives us His riches. The riches that He gives us is
Christ our wisdom. Think of the riches of the Lord
coming to you, blind, spiritually dead, unable to hear the gospel,
unable to believe the gospel, unable to do anything but what
your sin nature dictated for you to do. And all the while
thinking we were righteous, thinking we were holy, thinking we were
godly, thinking God was pleased with us. And didn't even know
Him. And think of the riches of God
coming and making you, giving you the mind of Christ, making
Christ your wisdom, and making you know Him. Talk about riches. Remember,
it's a hidden rich. Remember Christ said, Father,
I thank you. You've hidden these things from
the wise and prudent, but you've revealed them to babes. He makes
us a babe. He brings us down. The riches
that He gives us is Christ our righteousness. He makes us see
we didn't have a righteousness, we didn't have anything we could
trust in, we had no way of standing before God. Guilty! And He makes you see, I'm your
righteousness. I fulfilled the law for you.
I did everything the law demands of you. I did it. I gave it perfect
obedience and God is well pleased with me and in me God is well
pleased with you. That's what He reveals to you.
And He reveals to you and God will never be anything but pleased
with you. It's an eternal righteousness. It's a perfect righteousness,
unchanging. That's riches. The riches He gives us, brethren,
is when He enters into the heart There is a new creation created
in the image of Christ and continually renewed in knowledge after the
image of Christ that created it. And He makes you know now
in this new holy man. I saw this yesterday. I was preaching
the preacher school and I was preaching yesterday morning and
last night to the church over there. And I saw something I
never really thought about. When the Lord said, it's not
Jew or Gentile, that in the new man there's neither Jew nor Gentile,
that's race. The Jewish race and the Gentile
race, that's race. But in this new creation, you
know what God calls us in the new man? He calls you a holy
generation. You know what that word means
in Scripture? A race, a holy race. Your flesh had nothing
to do with it. Your flesh had nothing to do
with creating anything. Nothing in this world contributed to
creating this. Christ created it and has created
the new man in His image. Here's what I saw. That's why
Christ said, they are not of the world even as I'm not of
the world. Nothing of this world had anything to do with making
us holy. Christ did it all. That's riches. And He makes you know He's your
redemption. He sets you free. When you get
this news, you can't be in bondage anymore. But the chains just
fall off. Bonds can't hold you anymore.
You see, I've been redeemed from the curse of the law. I've been
redeemed from my sin nature. I'm free. Do you reckon that
God's true people in bondage in Babylon who were just saw
what awful shape they were in and wanted so badly to go back
to Jerusalem. Do you think they had to be begged
to come out of Babylon when Cyrus came in there and set them free? I tell you what, here's the sad
thing. There were some in Israel who weren't God's elect, who
God hadn't quickened in their heart. And you know what they
did? They said, we like it here in Babylon. We'll just stay.
And they didn't go back to Jerusalem. But when He comes and makes you
know what all He's done for you, He sets you free. And you don't
have to be talked into following Him. And that's so all our days,
brother. We come into captivity. Paul
said, my old man brings me into captivity. And there you are
in captivity. But God's working that. And the sins are all your
fault and my fault, but God is overruling that just like He
overruled our fallen Adam. Why is He doing that? He's doing
it so we don't ever trust ourselves again. He makes you to know,
who shall deliver me from the bondage of this body of death? And He makes you know, it's only
Christ. You're a Redeemer. And so you
thank God through Christ Jesus our Lord that He's the one that
redeemed you. Verse 3, this is why He does it all, "...that
thou mayest know that I, the Lord which call thee by thy name,
am the God of Israel." That's why He does it. Has He made you know the writing
on the wall? That you're weighed in a balance
and found wanting? that you've been dethroned, and your kingdom belongs to another.
What you thought was your kingdom, Christ's been the king all along,
and He's now your king. Has He done that for you? I tell
you from the day He gives us faith to believe on Him and follow
Him. Christ is our shepherd. From that day on, we know it,
we believe it, And He keeps us knowing it and believing it.
He said in verse 2, I will go before thee and make the crooked
places straight. Christ our shepherd all our days.
Christ makes us know He's the way. He's the way. You know, oh man, we get so complicated
over things. With doctrine, teaching different
things. No man comes to the Father but by Him. What's he teaching
us in this life when we get off track and we're turned aside
by the sin that so easily besets us? We're in our crooked ways. How's that way going to be made
straight? God said, Hebrews 12, He said
that He chastens us for our profit, why? That we might be partakers
of His holiness. What is that? That's, alright,
let's say this right here is the way. Here's what it is. Here we are in our sin, and well,
we think we're glorifying God and we're going this way. Completely
away from Christ. We haven't been turned aside.
by our sin, our wisdom, our righteousness, our holiness, thinking we're
our redemption. And it's God giving us a trial
and just putting a roadblock right in front of our way. And
we try to go this way, He puts a roadblock right in front of
that way. We try to go this way, He puts a thorn hedge in that
way. You can't go that way. And He turns you back into Christ
the way to see Christ is the way. And you know what he's done? He showed you he's your sanctifier
and he's your sanctification. He's the one who keeps you in
the way and he is the way. The high way of holiness. That's Christ. That's the shepherd. That's the work of the shepherd.
That's not my work and your work. We can't do that. Or else we'd
glory. He gets glory for that. Pilate
asked Christ, he said, what is truth? You ever have that happen? You speak of the truth and somebody
will go, what is truth? You know what Pilate was insinuating
by that? Christ was a liar. And that's generally what men
are insinuating when they ask that question. You know what
Christ has to do? When we're in our crooked way
and we're asking, well, what is truth? Christ has to turn
us again to Him and make us to know all men are liars, including
ourselves, and Christ is the truth. He said, I'm the way,
the life, and the truth. He's the truth. When we're seeking
life by the works of our hands, Crooked ways. Can a believer
do that? We do it all the time. Even if it's just in temporal
things and we work our job and we have some success of our job,
what's the next thing you find us doing? Oh, look what I accomplished. He did it. Christ turns us back into Him
and makes us know, I'm the life. I'm your life. That's how He makes our crooked
places straight. And He keeps being our shepherd
from here on out. I can't preach the rest of what
God says here, but I want to read this, a little bit of this
with you. Here's how He makes the crooked places straight.
He's continually renewing His child to know this. Here's what
He makes you know. Verse 5, I am the Lord. There
is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee. though thou hast
not known me. When you were dead in your sin,
I came to you and girded you, that they, all my people, may
know from the rising of the sun and from the west, there is none
beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none
else. I form the light and create darkness.
You want to know why that darkness came into your path? He said,
I form the light and create darkness. You want to know why you were
turned back to Christ the light? He said, I form the light. I
make peace and create evil. Oh, you're attributing to God
evil. I'm not. That's God saying that.
That is Him who is perfectly good saying, I create the evil. The evil is all of man. The evil
is all our fault. Men want to blame God for the
evil in the world. Evil only comes about by the
hands of men. But here's what God means. If evil comes about,
it's going to give glory to God and fulfill His purpose. And
the rest of the evil that could come about, God restrains it
and don't let it come about. You know what hell will be? Hell
will be God taking that restraining hand off of men and letting them
do whatever they want to do. Can you imagine? Wailing and
gnashing of teeth. That's why hell, the lowest hell
will be for the false preacher. You know why? Everybody he led
to hell will be there just gnashing on it. Why didn't you tell me
the truth? He's preaching serious business. God's going to hold
us accountable. I, the Lord, do all these things.
Drop down, ye heaven from above. Let the skies pour down righteousness."
They did over 2,000 years of that go when Christ Jesus, our
righteousness, came down. They did when He sent the Gospel
to you and poured down righteousness and made you know He's your righteousness.
They do every time He turns you back to Him and makes you know
He's your only righteousness. He pours down righteousness from
the heavens. And everything He's doing in
this world is righteous. All His judgments are right.
When He afflicts us, He does it in judgment and faithfulness
to keep us. And let the earth open. And He
makes you and me who are earthy, He opens us up and makes us receive
the righteousness. Let Him bring forth salvation.
He puts salvation in your heart and on your lips and He makes
you praise Him for salvation. and let righteousness spring
up together. He makes you to grow up before
Him as one. He is perfectly made righteous
in Him. And you trust Him alone. And He says to you all your days,
I the Lord created it. I did it. I was going to read
out and give you just some headers on the rest of that, but I don't
have time. But we'll look at the rest of
it next time. You go home tonight and you read the rest of it.
When we pout, when we're not content with God's providence,
we begin to murmur and complain about God's providence, we strive
with unregenerate men, He comes to you and says, Woe to him that
striveth with his maker. We're going to question God?
You just go on down through there and read it. And here's the main
point of the whole thing, brethren. Our King's accomplished redemption.
He called you that are His. He's calling each one using us
to preach the Gospel. He's leading us through this
wilderness. He alone delivers His elect Israel from Babylonian
captivity. And He's going to carry us all
the way back to heavenly Jerusalem. And we're living stones built
on this one foundation, and He's the temple, and we're one in
Him. Just like the stones are one
with the foundation. And this foundation, those tornadoes
were awful bad, and they blew some houses right off their foundation.
There ain't a storm ever going to blow this temple off its foundation,
ever, because we're united and inseparable. He created that. He did that. It's all of the
Lord. Amen. Brother Greg.