Friend, let's turn to Isaiah
chapter 63. Isaiah 63. I want to read the first six verses. Who
is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Basra? This that is glorious in his
apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength. I that speak in righteousness,
mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine
apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat?
I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people there
was none with me. For I will tread them in mine
anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be
sprinkled upon my garments. and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in
my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked,
and there was none to help, and I wondered that there was none
to uphold. Therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me,
and my fury it upheld me. And I will tread down the people
in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will
bring down their strength to the earth." Now this passage
is speaking of Christ and it is Christ speaking. And He's speaking here both of
what He accomplished when He came the first time and what
He shall accomplish when He comes again. He speaks here of what he's accomplishing
even now. This has to do with what he did
the first time, has to do what he's going to do in the end.
The conflict here is with sin. The conflict here is with the
powers of darkness. It's a matter of upholding justice
and vengeance, taking vengeance of justice out and of redeeming
his people. A two-fold work that he's doing
and treading this winepress. And by Him conquering, you see
here, He's conquered His enemies. All by Himself, He's conquered
His enemies. And by Christ doing that, He makes His people more
than conquerors through Him. Now, what I want you to see today
is Christ by Himself is victorious. He's the conquering Redeemer.
He's victorious. He shall not fail. He's victorious. Now, the first question we have
here is, who is this that comes from Edom with dyed garments
from Basra? Well, this one is coming from
Edom. Edom. Remember, Edom is where
Esau. It's from Esau. Remember Esau,
Jacob and Esau? Esau was the son who despised
his birthright. and gave up his birthright, despised
God's salvation, despised God. And this one is coming from Edom,
coming from that sin-cursed place. And this Edom is a picture of
where we live. This Edom is you and me, this
sin-cursed earth we're in. And you have this one coming
up from this sin-cursed place. But he's coming up from this
place victorious. Look at him in verse 1. This
that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of
his strength. Seems like a warrior returning
from battle. Now, what would you think would
be our Savior's glorious apparel? He says here he's in this glorious
apparel. What do you think the glorious
apparel would be? He says he's going in the greatness
of his strength. What do you think Where are you
going to see the greatness of His strength? Well, we're going
to see in a moment it's His apparel that's spotted with blood. That's
His glorious apparel. Spotted with blood as the Lamb
of God. That's where you see God's glory.
That's where you see His glorious apparel and His strength. So
here's the answer to this first question. Who is this now that
comes in this glorious apparel? Traveling the greatness of his
strength Christ himself answers in verse 1 I that speak in righteousness
mighty to save I That speak in righteousness mighty to say Christ
Jesus is the one who speaks in righteousness He is righteousness
He came into this earth and established righteousness for his people
He's the Word who speaks and teaches His people that He is
righteousness. He's the Word that speaks effectually.
And He speaks in righteousness. Are you convinced that everything
in God's Word is true? You know, when you're dealing
with folks in the world, you just can't... you don't know
if what they say is true or not. And you and I don't speak in
righteousness. We got our little white lies
and our little fibs and what have you. That's unrighteousness. He speaks in righteousness. I
heard a story about the lady that was dying. And a man was
reading scripture to her, you know. And he kept commenting
on the scripture. And she said, just read the scripture
to me. It's too hard and I don't have
the strength to think about what you're saying to determine if
it's true or not. But you read his word and I know it's true.
I can just sit and hear it and know that's true. Because He
speaks in righteousness. Everything He says is true. And
He says here, He's mighty to save. In all ways, at all times,
He's mighty to save. Now, if there's two things I
want, I want somebody that's going to be truthful, speaking
righteousness to me, and somebody that's got the strength and the
might to save me. That's the God I want. That's
the Savior I want. Well, that's who Christ is. That's
who He is. Now, here's the second question.
He says, verse 2, Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel? And
that garment's like him that's treaded in the wine fat. Now,
you get the picture here. You picture a big wine fat. And you've got the grapes in
there. And somebody's in there just treading that out. Crushing those grapes and squeezing
that blood of those grapes out of there. And they're dressed
in white apparel. What's their apparel going to
look like? It's going to be covered in the red juice of those grapes,
isn't it? And that's the picture here.
He says here, it's red like blood. It's red
like blood. Why is that glorious apparel?
Why is that glorious apparel? Because Christ alone by himself
poured out judgment on all his people. And Christ
himself bore that judgment for all his people. Now look at verse
3. I have trodden the winepress
alone, and of the people there was none with me, for I will
tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and
their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will
stain all my raiment." Now, this justice, this winepress represents
the justice of God. That's what we're talking about
here, the justice of God. The winepress of God's justice was
tread by Christ, all by himself, all alone. I've treaded alone,
he said. I've trodden the winepress alone,
and of the people there was none with me. We hear people going
around all the time talking about, you know, helping out the Lord
and how they're helping and what they're doing for the Lord. Where
were you when He went to the cross? Where was I when He went
to the cross? He did it alone. And He's doing
it all alone. He's God, our Savior. He said,
I did it alone. And Christ took the place of
His people on that cross. He bore the fury. He was bearing
the fury of God's judgment. And at the same time, he was
also God pouring out that fury. I will tread them in mine anger
and trample them in my fury. And I will stain all my garments,
he said. He's both. The blood on his garments
is his own blood. But, because he's representing
his people, God says it's the blood of His people. It's the
blood of His people. Because justice had to be poured
out on them. The blood had to be poured out. Our blood had to be shed. Because
we sinned against God. We broke the law. Justice got
to be poured out. You read that article in the
Bulletin. No exceptions. Two things, there's no exceptions.
Every sin is going to receive a just due. God will not clear
the guilty. He's going to pour out judgment.
But everybody for whom Christ died will never bear that judgment
because it's finished. Christ bore it. Now if you want
to think about something that really is too big for your mind,
you just think about that fact that He's God poured out fury,
and at the same time, He's man bearing the fury. That's what
was taking place on the cross. You see the just judge of heaven
and earth, and you see the substitute of His people bearing that judgment. I'll tell you how one He became
with us, with His people on that cross. You know Ezekiel 18.20
says, The soul that sinneth, it shall die. It's God's Word. The son shall not bear the iniquity
of the father, Neither shall the Father bear the iniquity
of the Son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on
Him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on Him." God's
saying there, I'm not pretending. Whatever man he is, that's what
he's bearing. Either righteousness or wickedness.
Christ became His sons, His children. He became God's elect. That the
wickedness of the wicked would be upon Him, so that the righteousness
of Christ, our righteousness, would be upon us. But you see,
He became that one with us. God didn't say... God looked
at Him as being the one who was not only the sin bearer, but
the one who was guilty and poured out judgment on Him in the place
of His people. That's how one He became with
us. So that what He did, we did. And what He satisfied, we satisfied.
And where He is now, that's where we are now. Because we're one
with Him. Now why was that necessary? Why
was the cross necessary? Look at verse 4. Two things. 4. Because the day of vengeance
is in my heart, and the year of my redeeming has come. There's
the two things. Christ on the cross avenged,
He satisfied, He executed in full the justice of God. He took
vengeance on all our sins. the justice of God, on the sins
of His people. And that was the day, that was
the year of our redemption. That's when He redeemed us. He
brought us from under the curse by pouring out that vengeance
and redeeming us all at the same time. That's what we read, mercy
and truth. Mercy is the day of our redemption. Truth is vengeance. Mercy and truth are met together.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. And you know
what Solomon wrote in Proverbs? He said, mercy and truth preserve
the king. That's what it was about. It
was about upholding God's righteousness. Mercy and truth meeting together
in harmony preserve the king, preserve his subjects. God's
just so he had to pour out that judgment. And the only way He
could have mercy on us was to do it in a way that was just.
And He did that. He does that. Isn't that good?
Listen to Romans 3. Let's look over there. I want
to show you what I'm trying to say. Romans 3, verse 24. Being justified freely by His
grace, through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. You see
that? Justification. Vengeance being poured out on
Christ. And that's redemption. That's
our redemption. Redemption that's in Christ,
whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness. Look down at verse 26. What do
you mean to declare His righteousness? That He might be just, His justice
is satisfied and that He might be the justifier. The one who
justified us from our sins. Of him which believeth in Jesus.
Look at verse 28. Therefore we conclude a man's
justified by faith without the deeds of the law. That's what
He was doing. Now go back to our text here
and look at this work now. Be sure to get this. It's accomplished
by Christ alone. Verse 5. And I looked and there
was none to help. And I wondered that there was
none to uphold. There was none to help him. There was none to
uphold God's justice. Why? Because we all sinned. We
all sin and come short of the glory of God. There's none righteous.
So we couldn't do anything to help. We couldn't do anything
to uphold righteousness. We're the guilty ones. We're
the guilty ones. Here's a good therefore. Look
at this. Therefore, mine own arm brought salvation to me,
and my fury It upheld me. He is the salvation of His people.
God said, My own arm brought salvation unto me. He's the arm
of God, the power of God, the right arm of God, and the salvation
for His people. And it was His fury, His judgment,
His justice poured out that upheld Him. So that's the good news,
isn't it? What does that mean for His people?
For those that truly trust Him? You saw this morning, I read
Romans 10. He's the end of the law for righteousness,
not to everybody, but to everyone that believeth. Everybody that
believes Him. He's a propitiation through faith
in His blood. Resting in Him, trusting that
He is my righteousness. He is my justification from all
my sins. He is my full, complete, total
acceptance with God. He's the one of whom it's written,
listen to this, for all that trust in Him, this is what He
said, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Jesus Christ who walk not after the flesh but after
the Spirit. Why? Because He finished it. He satisfied it. Alright
now, lastly, here's a word of warning. A word of warning. This is a word of warning for
all who will not cast their care on Christ. Because Christ is coming again.
Do you know that? Unless God works in our heart,
and He teaches us this in our heart, we don't believe that.
That's why men get up every day and go through life like it's
going to last forever. That's why we get so astonished
when somebody close to us dies. like we're shocked. Well, we're
going to do that too. But this world's going to...
Christ is coming back. Death is not going to stop us
from standing before God in judgment. Christ is coming again. And when
He comes again and He finds those that are not in Him, those that
are trying to stand on their own and try to save themselves
and are convinced, Lord, Lord, we've done many wonderful works.
When He comes again, The only place we need to be found is
in Christ. Not having our own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is by His faith, by His
fidelity, given to us through faith. That's who we need. That's
where we need to be found. Look at this. Everything that
He says here about treading them down, that judgment that took
place on the cross, when He comes back, it's going to be the day
of vengeance, where He's going to pour out fury. on His enemies. And it's going to be the day
of the redeem, when He redeems us fully into His glorious presence,
all His people. Now look here at the end, we'll
just sum it up with this one verse, 6. And I will tread down
the people in mine anger, and I'll make them drunk in my fury,
and I'll bring down their strength to the earth. Now look at Acts
17 with me, Acts chapter 17. You know, we get to comparing
ourselves with ourselves, and we think, you know, well, I'm
not that bad, or I'm not as bad as that one or this one or whatever.
And the natural man goes through life like that, thinking, you
know, well, I messed up with that particular sin, but I'm
doing pretty good with this one, what have you. Well, look at
this. Here's the judgment right here. Here's the judgment line.
This is the plumb line. This is where you got to go and
see, have I measured up to this right here? Verse 31, Acts 17,
31, "...he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world
in righteousness by that man, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he
hath ordained, whereof he has given assurance unto all men,
and that he hath raised him from the dead." There's going to come
a day when Christ is going to return, and Christ is going to
be the one Those that come to God boasting of their own works
and their own righteousness, Christ is going to be the one
by which they're going to be judged. His righteousness. You know, it wouldn't even make
sense to want to try to come into God's presence boasting
that we have some kind of righteousness that we worked out that's more
preferred by us and what we think is better than His own Son. I
don't imagine that's going to fly, do you? It's not. It's not. But he's the one. It's
not your fellow sinner that you look at and say, well, I'm not
as bad as him. Are you as good as God? That's the question. Are you righteous as Christ?
That's the question. Only through faith. To all who
won't come confessing your sins, confessing your need of mercy,
listen to this, 2 Thessalonians 1. He says, I'm going to tread
them down in my fury. Listen to this, 2 Thessalonians
1, look at verse 7. To you who are troubled, rest
with us. Wait in Christ. Rest in Christ
with us. When the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire,
Taking vengeance on who? He's not going to take vengeance
on his people because he bore that. He poured that out and
he bore that at Calvary. Who's he going to take vengeance
on? Taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the gospel. I'm preaching his gospel. We're
going to obey Him. We're going to bow to Him. Listen
to this. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.
But what about those for whom He died? When He comes back,
He says, now I'm treading them down. I'm treading my enemies
down. He conquered all our enemies on Calvary's tree. Every enemy
of His people He conquered. He satisfied justice. He fulfilled
the law. He brought in everlasting righteousness
for us. He made us to where God can find
no fault in His people ever again. Now, will He destroy all His
enemies when He comes back? Yes, He will. He's going to destroy
every enemy. He's pulling His people out of
this world. He's pulling His people out of this world. And
when He gets done pulling His people out of this world, He's
coming back. And when He comes back, those that are found standing
on their own, He's going to pour out vengeance on them. Justice!
Because if we hadn't measured up, even if we could work out
some sort of righteousness, we still got to pay for our sins
if we're going to stand outside of Him. He took care of that
for His people though. So what's He going to be for
His people when He returns? Verse 10, when He shall come
to be glorified in His saints. and to be admired in all them
that believe, because our testimony among you was believed." Do you
believe His testimony? Do you believe His testimony?
If the works are finished, that He's right now, what are we doing
here? What are we in this world for?
What's our purpose of being here? So we can work and live and get
an education and get houses and get lands and name them after
us and then die and leave them to our children so they can squabble
over them and fight and fuss and fall out with one another?
No. It's so that we can preach this
testimony. His testimony. To send it far
and wide into this world because He's calling His people out by
it. And when He's done that, He's coming to be glorified in
His saints. And just what Brother Robbie
read, that's going to be our song. To Him be all the honor
and all the glory and all the praise and all the dominion forever
and ever. Amen. Because He is the glorious
Amen. Now I'm urging you, and I pray
that when I say this, I mean this with all my heart, you can't
believe on Him unless He makes you believe on Him. Unless He
makes you willing in the day of His power, there's no way
you're going to cast your care on Him. But if you find yourself
believing Him, don't get bogged down in the what-ifs and the
maybes and all that stuff. Take sides with God. Take sides
with God. I tell you this all the time
when we talk about the election of God's grace. You know, a carnal
man hears that. God's elect. A carnal man always
takes the side with the goats. Always. He always takes that
side and says, well, what if I'm not elect? You know what
happens when God gives you a new heart? He makes you take sides
and say, God chose me. I'm so thankful He did it. Take
that side. Bow down and say, Lord, thank
You. Thank You. Let's stand together, brethren. Father, thank You for Your Word.
We pray that You would be with Your people now and keep it in
our hearts. Keep us thinking on it and rejoicing
in what You've done. And Lord, call out your lost
sheep when you're pleased to do so. Pray that you would be
with those that are sick and sorrowful over various things,
that you would continue to remind us that, Lord, you're in complete
control and it's for our good and your glory. Pray now that
you'd bless the last song. Send us out of here with a heart
full of rejoicing. Forgive us our sins, Lord. We
ask it in Christ's name. Amen. All right.