May God be pleased to bless our
souls this evening as we consider his word together. Let us turn
to the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 63 and we'll read the first verse.
Isaiah chapter 63 and reading verse 1. Who is this that cometh
from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah this that is glorious
in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength,
I that speak in righteousness mighty to save." There is a wonderful and glorious
theme which follows through the word of God from Genesis to Revelation. And what is that theme? Well,
that theme is, of course, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And it is a blessing that as
we read the Word of God, wherever we may read it, that we always
may be concerned to find that spiritual view of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Because the Word of God spells
out to us, again from Genesis Revelation, the sad condition
of fallen man and the great need he has to be saved. And the only way to be saved
is through the death and mercy and love and grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so as we consider His Word,
whenever we consider it, may this theme always be before our
eyes. Wherever we may turn to in the
Word of God, may we be concerned to hear and to observe and to
recognise the glory of the Gospel. And let us never forget, there
is so much blessing and so much instruction in the Old Testament,
so wonderfully prophetic it is. And we today are gloriously blessed
to know what occurred when the Lord came on this earth, and
how he lived and how he died, and how he rose again and ascended
into glory. And we see then the effect that
was spoken of in the Old Testament through those prophets and through
the books of Moses and Solomon and David. Wonderful revelation given to
them to be able to write the truth of God. And as we recognize
this, it is very strengthening to our faith because it's strengthening
in this way to realize that God ordained from the history, from
the beginning of the world, to set forth the glory of the Saviour. And those things came to pass. They came to pass. They were
not mythical. They were not fairy tales. As
many people today would adverse, they are the truth of God. And
we are able today to testify of the fulfilment of those things
which refer to the blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
we have read together this evening, in this 63rd chapter of Isaiah,
much of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is questions put by the
Prophet, and there are answers given by the Saviour. And so,
as we think of this, the great theme really is this, the Lord
is mighty to save. And how important it is that
we all realise that, because the world at large today are
ignorant of the need of salvation. We can imagine it, can't we,
as the world at large is travelling down a broad road, a nice easy
smooth journey with plenty of things on either side to attract
their attention and to satisfy their needs. And they're all
rushing along down this broad road. What they don't realise
is, the broad road has an end. And the broad road has an abrupt
end sometimes. A very abrupt end. And as they are travelling down
this broad road, they come to the end. And they can't stop
there. They can't stop there. What happens? They go down into
outer darkness, where there is gnashing of teeth. It's a very
solemn picture that the Lord Jesus gives. on several occasions
with regards to the view and the position of those who are
lost and those who are not saved. No returning, no coming back. A time of grace forever past. It is a very solemn situation
and we are reminded, aren't we, of the suddenness of death very
often in our lives. And we hear of these things,
and they pass often over our head. We don't really take them
to heart. And yet the Word of God speaks
to us very solemnly. And we should not be ignorant
of the truth of God's Word. And we should not think that
such a day will not come. Because it will come. And may
we not be found then in that broad way which comes to an end
and we find ourselves in outer darkness and gnashing of teeth. It's a very solemn description,
isn't it? Something which is hard for us
to really fully understand. But you may perhaps have been
out in a very dark night and you can't see very much. Well
you can see something often because of the stars and the and the
moon, and even when it's cloudy, there's still the effect of the
stars and moon shining through. But, to think of outer darkness,
where there'd be nothing to lighten it. Total darkness. And what gnashing of teeth there'll
be when people realise they've ignored the Word of God, they've
carried on in their wild career, pleasing themselves, with no
desire and no concern about their soul's eternal standing. So here we have in this verse
this great and glorious truth referring to the Lord Jesus Christ
and what a blessing it is, who tells us he is mighty to save. Well may we know in our own lives
that we are saved that we're not lost. We won't, as it were,
go with that edge into outer darkness, but that we will instead
go into glory, that place of eternal light. What a difference,
you know, don't you? The difference between light
and darkness is very vivid, isn't it? And that's the difference
between heaven and hell. One is dark, one is light. No
need of the sun now. eternal light in heaven, because
the Lord Jesus Christ is the light. Well, we have here in
this chapter in Isaiah, another statement really, speaking of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And Isaiah asks the question.
The question he asks is this, who is this? that cometh from
Eden with dyed garments of Bosra." He has a vision of this person
coming. He's asking the question, he's
asking the question to the Lord. This that is glorious in his
apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength. So that's the
question, and what's the answer? The Lord answers in this way,
I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Then just briefly,
Isaiah asks the next question, Wherefore art thou red in thine
apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the white
fat? And then the Lord again responds
and gives the answer down to the end of the sixth verse. Well, it is important for us
to have some understanding of what this great and glorious
Saviour is, and the description of Him, because it is very relevant
to our right and proper understanding. And so, The question is asked,
and it's pointed out with dyed garments from Bosra, this that
is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength. Well, we know that the Lord God
was, of course, Almighty God, and he laid aside his glory.
He laid aside his glorious apparel, and he was willing to come into
this sinful world. and to live in this sinful world
and to die a martyr's death, willing to die that you and I
might be redeemed from all our sin. He is indeed mighty to save. When we think of that, to think
that the Lord Jesus Christ was mighty, so great, to save all
his people. All his people. Not one left
out. Not one left behind. You know, when Israel came out
of Egypt, they all came out. There was none left behind. My
friends, the Church of God will all get safe home to glory. None
will be left behind. And the Lord indeed is mighty
to save. So we have then a picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ who describes himself as treading the winepress
alone. Now the people that were called
upon to tread the winepress, what that means is there was
a press usually a circular press enclosed with boards and the
grapes were put in there and people stood and trampled those
grapes to extract the juice. And the people that did that
were the lowest people. It was the poorest job really. It was to tread out those grapes. And here we have then again the
picture of the Saviour who made himself of no reputation. Yes, he took on himself the form
of a servant, my friends, the very lowest servant, treading
out the wine fat. This great and glorious God was
so willing to lower himself to the very lowest position, in
order to satisfy the great, holy demands of Almighty God. He was willing to take the lowest
place and he tells us, I have trodden the winepress
alone. Just ponder that for a moment.
The Lord Jesus Christ who had enjoyed that wonderful eternity
with his father in glory. And now, having left that place,
come to this earth, and in this way, the description, not physically
put in the winepress, but in that spiritual way, we see the
Lord lowered himself down to this very low position and condition. Why? So that he might be mighty
to save. So that he might perform that
which the Father designed for him to do. He came down to that
low position. And we read what the Prophet
asks, Wherefore art thou read in thine apparel, and thy garments
like him that treadeth in the wine-fat." Well, we have a little
picture, don't we? We know that generally speaking
the wine was red and clearly it signified the evidence of
that shedding of blood. So we see here the picture of
these garments spotted and covered in blood. The Lord Jesus' suffering,
of His sufferings so intense, angels have no perfect sense. It is not possible for us to
enter into the great depth of Christ's sufferings. We can only
touch the very edge of what He endured. to save our souls. But what a wonderful blessing
for us today, if as we think of ourselves lost, and perhaps
going down that broad road, and then to be blessed with that
understanding, the Lord has taken us from that way, from that broad
way, And He's placed us in that narrow way. In that narrow way
which leads to eternal life. And that's not an easy journey.
But my friends, it is a good journey. And it's a journey which
will cause us to be often looking to Jesus. Looking to Jesus as
our Saviour. That one who is mighty to save.
That one who has come to deliver us from what we deserve. What do we deserve? Many people
will acknowledge they have sinned here and there. But they won't
acknowledge they really sinned against God. They have offended
the most high God. And because of their sins they
deserve endless punishment. When the Spirit of God works
in our hearts, we will come to that realisation that we do deserve
endless punishment for our sins. And it's a very striking condition
to be found in. And it's a condition which may
make you shake and tremble in the presence of a holy God. as
that God shines into your heart and directs you to see how unholy
you are and how in and of yourselves there is no hope of salvation. There is no possibility of you
saving yourself. But because of your sin, you
are lost. What will that condition do?
Well, by the Spirit of God, this God who is mighty to save, as
it were, stretch out His hand and pluck you as a brand from
the burning. Pluck you from that condition
of endless punishment, which we deserve by nature, and direct
you to Himself, that He has suffered in your place. He's bore the
punishment instead. It is really a most wonderful
thing to consider, that Almighty God, that One who created all
things, has bore the punishment due to you and me, instead of
us. He stood in our place, the harmless,
spotless Son of God. He was condemned to bear our
sin. My friends, He bore the punishment
instead. Surely that is a most wonderful
and glorious theme to meditate upon. Surely, we can say this
great Saviour is mighty to save. Because when you think of it,
He did not only bore each of our punishment, He bore all of
our punishment. Every one of His church, He bore
it. Oh, what a punishment there was.
You know, God is holy. God cannot look upon sin. A holy
righteous God. And yet we sin, don't we? Oh,
we sin and we continue to sin. It would be a good thing if when
we sin we find it grievous. Our old nature loves sin. The new nature hates sin. And it would be a great blessing
if that new nature rules in our life, so that when we sin, which
we will do because it's in us, we don't enjoy it, we are ashamed
of it, and we confess our sins, and we plead for mercy. And where's
that to be found? In his Saviour, who is mighty
to save. just ponder this great blessing
and the enormous cost of our salvation. Let us never underestimate
that the Lord God graciously looked upon us in eternity past
and chose us and has called us, directed us to look to Himself. Now the blessing is when we see
our Saviour like this, suffering for us, bearing the curse that
was due to us. We could not pay the price. There was no other good enough
to pay the price of sin. We could not pay for our sins. We could not. What a favour then
to know that we have almighty God who graciously and gloriously
condescended to come into this world in order to save our souls
from eternal hell. Yes, and to set our feet upon
a rock, that means to set our feet upon Himself, to be established
in Him and to have that blessed belief that Lord Jesus came to
die for my sins. He came and He suffered to pay
the penalty due to me. We couldn't pay it ourselves.
But the Lord Jesus Christ was so willing to pay that price. I have trodden the winepress
alone, and of the people that were 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 mine heart, and the year of my
redeemed is come." The year of the redeemed came,
did it not? When the blessed Saviour died
upon that cross to redeem our souls, to free us from that condemnation
which was due to us, The wonderful thing is to know
that we have such a Saviour who has paid the price of our sin.
And as He paid that price, He paid it with His blood. That
was the price of our sin. Consider the cost it was. Our redemption involved paying
that redemption with His blood. Nothing less would do. Nothing
less would do. He had to give His life. That means He had to give His
all. Give His all that He might redeem us from all sin. Mighty to save. Is it not a great
and a glorious truth and favour to know that we have a record
of these things in the Word of God to encourage us today, as
we travel through this life, and to be ever looking unto Jesus. Oh, that you and I might be able
to be found, as the Apostle said, consider Him, consider Him, How many other things we consider,
don't we? How many other things we waste
our time on, don't we? Oh, consider him. Yes, it's a
good thing to do. It's a wonderful thing. As the
apostle spoke when he wrote to the Hebrews in those words, and
he said, and he said, consider him that endured. Such contradiction
of sinners against himself. Lest ye be wearied. Oh, the journey
is a hard journey. It's not an easy journey. And
we will be wearied. And the opposition is very great.
It's very difficult. Our old nature keeps on churning
away. But we are then told here in
these conditions to consider him who endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your
minds. Perhaps you think the warfare's
too great, it's too difficult, the battle's just getting too
hot, and you seem to fail so often. It seems such a failure. Well, let us thank our God. We have such a Saviour who is
mighty to save. And so we have this wonderful
statement, ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against
sin. There is a striving against sin,
my friends. It's not a settling down and
saying, oh, well, that's just my old nature. the Spirit of
God will enable us to strive against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not
thou the chasing of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked
of him. We don't like to be chased and
we don't like to be told off, don't we? We don't like to be
stopped, do we? But when the Spirit of God points
the finger at us, points to our heart, and directs us to what
we're doing and saying in our condition, and then to remember,
whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth. This is the path of a child of
God. This is the direction the Lord
leads us in. And it's an evidence that we
are a son or a daughter of the Most High God. If you endure
chastening, that means to fall down under it, to accept it as
the good hand of God, the Lord chastens us. And I believe when
the Lord chastens us, what does it do? It directs us to Jesus. It makes us look to Him. What
do we observe then? A despised, crucified man. A man who was so willing to suffer
in our place for all our sins. God dealeth with you as with
sons. For what son is he whom the Father
chasteneth not? And then he says, If ye be without
chastisement, whereof all our partakers then are you bastards
and not sons." So if you and I carry on our life without any
correction in our spiritual life, we just carry on sinning without
any conscience, keep on tapping at our heart, we carry on in
an evil way, there's no evidence. that we are possessors of life
eternal. But if we're blessed with the
Holy Spirit of God bringing us into subjection to His will,
and that subjection directs us to the suffering Saviour, and
to realise then, oh bless God, He is mighty to save, to save
my soul, You know, the Apostle continues with this theme. It's
not something which is perhaps something we always like to think
about. Furthermore, we have had fathers
of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence.
Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of
spirits and live? For they verily for a few days
chastened us after their own pleasure. but he for our profit
that we might be partakers of his holiness. And then he just
says now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous
but grievous nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit
of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. You see the dealings of God with
our souls will direct us to Christ. God's dealings with our souls
will direct us to Christ. And it may be that we wander
away. It may be that we become hard-hearted
and we need bringing back. Well, when the Spirit of God
brings you back, and touches your heart with a view of the
suffering Saviour, and to recognise that this great, glorious Jesus
is the one who is so mighty to save, that he's watching over
us and looking after us, and dealing with us as sons and daughters
of the Most High, and is leading us in this narrow way which leads
to eternal life, And it's a narrow way and it's a hard way. And
you won't be allowed then to settle down comfortably in this
old world. Very simply because this old
world is not your home. The children of God are travelling
home to God. And when they die, They don't leave home, they go
home. The world leaves home. The people of God go home. What a blessing, therefore, if
we have that grace and glorious prospect before us. The Saviour
tells us, then the year of my redeemed has come. It's no greater
favour than to know that you and I are one of the redeemed
of the Lord. One of His blessed Saviour has
suffered for us through the winepress alone. He's endured such difficulty
and hardship and all the opposition that the devil could thrust at
Him. My friends, He finished the work that His Father gave
Him to do. And then you see the Prophet
goes on, he tells us, I will mention the loving-kindnesses
of the Lord. The loving-kindnesses of the
Lord will direct you and me to the right way. The loving-kindnesses
of the Lord will deal with us in love to our soul, so that we are kept by the power
of God. We are kept in that narrow way
which leads to eternal life. I will mention the loving-kindnesses
of the Lord. Well, in that respect, I wonder
tonight whether we have reason to mention the loving-kindnesses
of the Lord, how He's dealt with our souls in love. He's corrected
us. We've needed it. He's chastised
us. We've needed it. Why? In love to our souls. So we're able to say, I will
mention the loving-kindnesses of the Lord and the praises of
the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us
and the great goodness toward the house of Israel. Well, are
we partakers of this great goodness? We shall be if we know this God
as mighty to save. There's no one who escapes of
God's children. He saves everyone. Doesn't matter
how far they wander away. How far off they may have gone.
He knows where they are. He's watched over them. And His
mighty hand goes out to save them. So you bless God tonight. for such a saviour. And do you desire to acknowledge
that this great God is mighty to save you? You haven't got
a little saviour, you've got a great saviour. If you're a
great sinner, you'll need a great saviour. You'll bless God that
he is so, and that he's been so willing to endure the cross,
despising the shame. The Lord of life and glory, suffering
in our place, in our stead, that we by His grace and His amazing
love might one day be found in glory around His throne, praising
Him for what He's done in saving our souls, in redeeming us from
the wrath to come. It is a wonderful prospect and
consideration to think that our little life will end. Not then to fall into darkness
and despair, but to rise and to be found in glory, received
by the Saviour. He received those for whom he
has given his life, those whose he's saved, those he's watched
over, those he's blessed. He brings them safe home to glory. Those who he's gone to prepare
a place for, he said, I go to prepare a place for you. If I
go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also. Now listen
to this. The children of God desire to
be with Christ. The people of the world have
no desire to be with Christ. They wouldn't be happy in glory.
The Church of God look forward to that eternal blessing of being
able to praise the Lord without any sinful heart for all that
He's done in saving their soul, Mighty to save. I that speak
in righteousness, mighty to save. Well, what a favourite it is.
If we know anything of these things, what does the prophet
say later on in this chapter we read together? He said, Look
down from heaven, prayer, and behold from the habitation of
thy holiness and of thy glory, where is thy zeal and thy strength?
The sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me, Are
they restrained? They may have been restrained,
but I'll pray the Lord will pour forth a blessing into our souls. My friends, the Lord is a great
God. He is able. He is willing. Doubt no more. And so the prophet
closes and says, we are thine. Those for whom Christ has died,
we are thine. What a blessing tonight, if you
and I can come in with the evidence that we do possess the light
of God in our soul, that Christ Jesus has died for us. He's made
it known to us, sinners as we were, and lost as we were, we've
been saved through the blood, his precious blood, of the dear
Redeemer. and therefore with that humble
confidence to be able to say and not deny, we are not to deny
the work of God in the soul. We are to acknowledge his blessing
and favour to us and to be able then to come and say, we are
thine. We are thine. What a favour that
is, to be able to say with that humble confidence, we are thine. and it is because of the great
blessing and favour from Almighty God. Who is this that cometh
from Eden with dyed garments from Bosra, this that is glorious
in his apparel, trampling in the greatness of his strength?
I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save, and by his grace
all his people one day will be with him around that throne in
heaven to praise him for His redeeming love. Amen.