If you would, let's turn to 3.56.
3.56. Nearer my God to Thee. 356, 357, I'm sorry, hold on, let me start
over. I'm sorry, you're right, Eric. Yeah, hold on, it is 356. Yeah,
no, I'm glad you said that, because I was gonna sing 357, so thank
you, Eric. Yeah. So, okay, let me just reconnect
here with my brain a little bit. 356, near to the heart of God.
All right, thank you. There is a place of quiet rest
near to the heart of God. A place for sin cannot molest
near to the heart of God. O Jesus, blessed Redeemer, sent
from the heart of God, hold us who wait before Thee near to
the heart of God. There is a place of comfort sweet,
near to the heart of God. A place where we our Savior meet,
near to the heart of God. O Jesus, blessed Redeemer, sent
from the heart of God, hold us who wait before Thee, near to
the heart of God. ? There is a place of full release
? ? Near to the heart of God ? ? A place where all is joy
and peace ? ? Near to the heart of God ? ? O Jesus, blessed Redeemer
? That's nice, huh? The scriptures tell us that it
became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in
bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings." That comes from Hebrews 2, verse
10, but we're going to be in Isaiah 63. Isaiah 63 is our text looking at verses 1 through 4. These verses, they don't give
us the details of the sufferings of Christ. In fact, it's the
opposite of that. We see him triumphant. We see a mighty warrior coming
triumphantly, returning from the battle. He's won the battle. He's the triumphant, glorious,
mighty Savior. He's our captain. He's the one
who gathers his people together. He's the one who leads his people. We follow him. Following him,
we don't walk in darkness. We don't walk in ignorance of
the truth anymore. We know who salvation is, and
we come to him as our savior and our salvation. It's all of
him. It's all of him. He's our savior. He's our champion. And when I
say that word champion, it makes me, I like it because we're the
church, we're his bride and we behold our husband, our mighty
savior, his strong hand. And we're fully vested in him,
meaning that we don't have a plan B. We don't have any other option. We have no other hope. We know
that salvation is of the Lord. And He's put all the work of
salvation in the hands of His Son. He's given us to Him. And His success is our success. His glory is our glory. His life
is our life. because His righteousness is
our righteousness. He's everything. He's all that
we have, and we are satisfied in Him. We're satisfied in Him,
and this one's returning from His warfare as the servant of
God, who triumphed over all His enemies, and who accomplished
the redemption, the salvation of His chosen people. Now our text begins in verse
1, Isaiah 63 verse 1. Who is this? Who is this that cometh from
Edom with dyed garments from Basra? This that is glorious
in his apparel, he's decked out in his apparel, traveling in
the greatness of his strength. That's the question. Those are
the questions there. Here's the answer. I that speak
in righteousness, mighty to save. And so we have the prophet Isaiah
here, who is speaking on behalf of the church. He's speaking
as a type of the church, asking these questions. He's asking,
who is this? Who is this one that cometh? He's asking the question that
every Sinner once answered, everyone who is made to know, I'm a sinner. How can a man be just with God? How can I be justified of God?
How is it that God is going to say to me, you're righteous? Well done, thou good and faithful
servant. How will I ever hear those words,
seeing that I am the sinner that I am? But who's this one? who's returned from the battle.
Who's this glorious one? Who is this? There's a conquering that occurred.
There's a victory that was gained. There was a warfare. And we see
the mighty warrior returning from the battle. And we want
to know, who is this? And the reality is, everyone
has an interest in knowing who this one is. Because our Lord
tells us that concerning His Son, doesn't matter who you are,
believer, unbeliever, One who knows God, one who doesn't know
God, male or female, Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, smart or unintelligent,
doesn't matter who you are, we're told that at the name of Jesus,
every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord. Whether you're in heaven, in
earth, or under the earth, doesn't matter who or where you are,
all are going to bow the knee before the Lord Jesus Christ,
and every tongue is going to confess that He is Lord, to the
glory and praise of the Father, who gave us to the Son to accomplish
this salvation. So this is the one, this is the
one who, it's the Lord Jesus Christ and he's come from the
warfare where he's obtained our redemption, our salvation, the
forgiveness of our sins. There at this warfare he destroyed
our enemies and delivered his bride from the wrath of God. He delivered us from the wrath
of God and broke the yoke of the enmity that was in us and
all our enemies. He's glorious, and I want to
show you why we rejoice in Him, why we are so thankful to God
for the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to show you why He's the
glorious one and why we have such an interest in Him. Now, we're given a description
of Him in verse 1, and we're going to look at that. 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." Who is this? Now, we're told he comes from
Edom, and from a place called Basra in Edom. Now, Edom is known
to have enmity against God. They're the enemy of God. They're
the enemy of God's people. And this place is to the south,
which is a picture of man in the earth, south of heaven. We
are beneath. We are below. We are south. And it's actually a little to
the east of Israel as well. It's about across from the southernmost
part of Judah. So if you're looking at a map
here and you see Judah and Israel, it would be down here below Moab. And so it's south and it's east
where all the wicked religions come out of the east. They all
do. It's a picture, I guess, that
the Lord gives us to show that the religion of man is abundant,
it's prolific, and it's all lies. It cannot save. And that's where
Edom comes from. It's a place of man who is the
enemy of God and God's people. Edom is the place where Esau
settled. This is his inheritance, which
he received. Esau is the twin brother of Jacob. And we know that Jacob hated
his brother. Jacob persecuted his brother. Jacob wanted, sorry, Esau persecuted
his brother Jacob. And Esau wanted to kill his brother
Jacob. And that's what the natural man
is against the sons of God. He is enmity against God. He is enmity against the Lord's
people. And the reason why he persecuted
Jacob, whether he fully understood it or not, it was because God
loved Jacob. And God was with Jacob. And God
provided for Jacob. And God kept Jacob. And so he
persecuted Jacob, just as Ishmael persecuted Isaac, just as all
the people who are left in darkness persecute those who are the friends
of God, as we've seen in John 15. Now, the name Esau means
red, means red, and it's actually a word which is very close to
the word, that word Edom is very close to the word Adam. It's
very close and it means red. Because Adam was red. Adam was
made of the red dirt. And so that's how he got his
name. And his name means basically
mankind. It's the word for mankind. And so Esau is a man. Esau pictures man who left to
himself is enmity against the true and living God. And that's
true of us because we're born of the seed of man. We're born
of the seed of Adam. We come forth corrupt. We come
forth dead in trespasses and sins, having not the Spirit of
God in us. We come forth fighters against
the true and living God. And so this Esar, this Edom here,
pictures the natural man. This is a picture of what we
are in ourselves. Now, Basra. Basra is a city in
Edom. Basra means sheepfold, and Basra
means fortress. fortress. That, brethren, is
a picture of us. Even though we were chosen of
God and are the sheep of God in eternity, when God chose us
and gave us to Christ, yet in this flesh we are bound in a
fortress. We are in a prison of darkness,
unable to deliver ourselves, to get ourselves free of our
captivity. But here comes Christ coming
from that place, and he has a description that he has dyed garments from
Basra. And what they're saying to us
is that he's dressed like a servant. He looks like he's the one who's
been doing work. He's the one who looks like a
servant. This is what you send a servant
to do, and he's coming in those clothes. He looks like he's been
laboring and working and battling hard. He comes with dyed garments
of Basra. And people despise servants.
People despise people of a mean labor. We shouldn't, and not
everyone does, but a lot of people do show what they think of people
who do small jobs. who empty garbage cans and things
like that, as though they're somehow less than us. And yet
without them, we're nothing. But Christ came as a servant. And we're told in Isaiah 53.3
that He is despised and rejected of men. a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces
from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not." And so this one, Christ, comes dressed as a servant. When
was Christ ever dressed as a servant? When was our Lord ever dressed
as a servant? When the Word was made flesh
and dwelt among us. When He came in the flesh, He
came just like us. He came as the servant of God. He came stripped down of all
His power and glory, and He depended upon the Father for all things. He came in the flesh to do the
work of a servant. He came in the flesh to do the
work which we would not do, And we could not do it, and we wouldn't
do it. We had no desire, no willingness
to do these things, and we couldn't do it even if we wanted to, but
we didn't. We wouldn't even come to the true and living God. Now
we know that men of renown, men who are great and mighty and
have many things, They have their servants do the menial tasks.
They have their servants do the hard and difficult and laborious
things that nobody else wants to do. And yet Christ came and
he did that very work, that very labor, that difficult, impossible
work, which none of us could do. Christ came and he did it. Why? Because not a man was found. No one was found able. No one
was found righteous. No one was found able to do this
work. As the scriptures tell us, God
hath, or the scriptures hath concluded all under sin. Every one of us under sin. You know, we're like, our Lord
gives an example of the fig tree as a picture of Israel. where
the fig tree is planted in the vineyard of God. And when he
came to look for fruit, he found nothing on it. That's every one
of us. We're like the fig tree, planted,
cared for, and yet when you come to us and look for fruit, righteous
fruit, fruit that is born of the Spirit of God, there's nothing
in us left to ourselves, nothing in us of this nature that brings
forth good fruit, profitable things. This flesh, all it can
bring forth are thorns, thistles, bramble bushes, things that are
from the curse, things that came about under the curse. That's
what we bring forth in this flesh. And so our Lord is telling us
that there's none righteous, no, not one. There is no Savior
who could deliver the people. Every Savior we read of, when
we go through judges, every Savior is but a picture, a type of the
Lord Jesus Christ who is the Savior, who is the captain, who
is the champion of his people. And so he says, look down at
verse five in Isaiah 63, verse five. He says there, 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. I like when the
Lord says, and I wondered. He knows. He knows. But it causes us, huh, I should
wonder too. I should stop and think about
that. When you read that John in Revelation, when the book
was sealed, and there was no one found in heaven who was worthy
to open that book and unloose those seals, and John wept, that
should make every one of us realize, I'm that sinful, that wretched,
that wicked. Every one of us is, because none
of us is worthy to fulfill the will of God. But Jesus Christ
is the lamb of God. He is the worthy one. And he
came and took the book out of the father's hand and opens it,
showing that he is fulfilling all the will of his father in
the earth. And so because none was found,
Christ, the son of God, as the son of God, the eternal son of
God, laid aside the glory which he had with the father. And he
took upon him the flesh of a man, even becoming a baby. in the
womb of Mary and was born like every one of us when the Holy
Spirit overshadowed her and he was conceived in her womb by
God. And so Christ comes forth to
do the work of the servant in the likeness of our flesh, yet
without sin. And Christ is the God-man mediator
because God has shown us, none of us is perfect, none of us
is righteous, none of us can work goodness, none of us can
do this for ourselves, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ
might be given to them that believe. Meaning, this salvation is given
to us, to who? Them that believe. That is, he
manifests his salvation in his people by giving them faith which
looks not to self, but to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he is
described also in this manner in verse 1. This that is glorious
in his apparel, or he is decked out in his apparel, traveling
in the greatness of his strength. So that it is clear to those
who are given the eye of faith, who are given faith by the Spirit
of God, given life. by the Spirit of God to behold
and to understand, we see that this man, this one, is the Lord
Jesus Christ, and he's not like any other man. He's not like
us. In fact, I was quoting from John
1, 14 earlier, saying that the word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, but the rest of that verse says, and we beheld. We,
those with faith, now see and behold His glory, the glory as
of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And so we behold this One who
is mighty, who is the Savior, who is our strength, who is our
all, who is our salvation. This is the Son of God, manifest
in the flesh of a man, come as the servant of God to bring to
pass what only the God-man mediator is able to bring to pass. Only
the one whom God sent. Only he is able to work salvation
and to redeem the people of God. And he must do this work because
we see what we are. We are prisoners in Basra. Prisoners of what man is. An enemy of the true and living
God. A sinner. One who has accrued great debt. through many trespasses and iniquities
and sins against the true and living God. We sinned in Adam
and we sin ourselves coming out of the womb. We are corrupt and
defiled and ruined in this flesh. As men and women, we are ruined
and we have no hope. We are bound in that fortress
called Basra of mankind, which is an enmity against the true
and living God. But we have a Savior. We see
this one and he went to the battle, the mighty warrior. He did battle
against Satan, the enemy of God's people. He did battle against
sin. He did battle against death.
He did battle against the grave. He did battle against all the
enemies which opposed him of the Jews. who all the powers
and the principalities and the leaders and the contradicting
of everything that Christ said and did, they opposed him. He
did battle with them and he did battle against the body of sin,
which is that dominion of sin in us, ruling over our nature.
He did battle against that, that we would be delivered from the
body of sin. And that speaks to the enmity
which is in our own nature. We too were enemies of God in
our minds by wicked works, by foolish thoughts, by the corruption
from which we were born, we're sinners. We were enmity against
God. Well, I liked God. No, you didn't.
You liked a false God. That's the God that we all worshiped,
but God delivers us from those dead works, those false views,
those lies that cannot save, and he delivers us into the hands
of Christ who saves us. And then on the other side, those
were the enemies. On the other side, we see one.
Lord Jesus Christ and only one can be the winner either those
things or Christ is the winner who won this one who returns
this one who's coming this one who comes strong and mighty risen
from the dead and he's bloody and he's glorious and victory
he's glorious and victory he is wonderful counselor the mighty
God the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. This is our
mighty God, our Savior. He's our champion, brethren,
and He's the one who returned. What happened over there? I know
who won, I know who's the savior, I know who the champion is, Christ. I don't understand everything
that happened on the cross, but I know that God is satisfied,
my sins are put away, and Christ is risen, God declaring that
you, who hope in him, are justified of all your sins. You are righteous,
you have an inheritance. You have been given the hope
of the saints, and glory in the sun. You have everything, brethren,
in the Lord Jesus Christ, this that is glorious in His apparel,
traveling in the greatness of His strength. He's not weak. He's not stumbling. He's not
worn out. He's not beat up. He comes triumphantly. And this one rules and reigns
and is doing everything that God purposes to do. Nothing is
happening except God permitted, except your Lord Jesus Christ
allow it. Who is this, you ask? And the
risen Christ answers, I that speak in righteousness mighty
to save. Never any man spake like this
man. And it's a joy for the people of God when we read these scriptures
We're looking for him. Who is this? Lord, can I see
you here? Don't hide, Lord, let me see
you. Through the lattice of your word, let me see my Savior, the
one whom I love, because he first loved me. Let me see him, this
one, that we may know him. When Christ came, he spoke the
truth. He declared the truth, and sometimes, You know, we've been in those
situations where we've heard the truth about ourselves or
something like that, and it's hard to hear. It's hard to hear. It's not always easy to hear
the truth, especially when it's personal. It's very difficult
to hear. But Christ came and declared
the truth. He said exactly what we needed
to hear. We need to know that all our
religion is done in vain. Just like our brother preached
on Sunday, it was all worthless. And he's so thankful to God that
God preached that truth to him and gave him an ear to hear.
Everything you're doing, Joe, it's vain. It's worthless. It
cannot save. It's just religious shackles.
It's bondage. It's fetters is what you're in. And that's what he shows to every
one of us. that we all, by our religion, by our works, by our
thoughts, are in fetters, and in bondage, and in darkness,
and we need salvation, and that salvation is in Christ. It's
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He declared the truth by declaring
himself. You know, when he was speaking
to the Jews, he declared himself to be the bread of heaven. And
you think about that time. Israel was in the wilderness.
They couldn't go to the supermarket. They didn't even have farms that
they could go to and get food at that time. They were in the
wilderness where there was no food, insufficient to feed all
those people. But God, in sending that manna,
it wasn't just filling their bellies and providing a little
extra nutrition. You would be right in saying
that was their salvation. That bread from heaven saved
those people alive and kept them alive. That bread, so long as
that bread from heaven came, they lived. And when Christ said,
I am the bread from heaven, He's saying to us, I am your salvation. You don't live without me. You
don't have life apart from me. And those Jews despised it. They couldn't hear it. Turn over
there to John 6. John 6 verse 60. These men were
offended and his own disciples, many of his own disciples, it
says, turned against him and walked no more with him. John
6.60, but understand that when he said, I'm the bread of heaven,
he's saying, just like that bread sustained them in the wilderness,
that's what he's saying to us. I am your salvation, not a component,
not just a piece. I'm everything, every part of
it. I am your salvation. And it says verse 60, many therefore
of his disciples, when they heard this said, this is an hard saying,
who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that
his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, doth this
offend you? And what's he doing there? He's
shining a light on the darkness that's in our heart. He's saying,
oh, this offends you? What if ye shall see the Son
of Man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that
quickeneth. What if you see me seated on
the right hand of the throne of God? I came from the Father,
sent of him. It is the spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. Paul was right when he
said, we worship God in the spirit and have no confidence in the
flesh. Philippians 3.3. We don't have
confidence because the flesh doesn't profit. It's the spirit
that quickeneth and gives life. And so he's declaring heavenly
things to them, but they can't hear it. But there are some of
you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were, that believe not and who should betray him. And
he said, therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto
me, except it were given unto him of my father. And we see
there how God blows away the chaff from the wheat. He'll separate his people from
the chaff and drive them away in the truth, through truth. From that time, many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him. Do you suppose that
those people who went away from Christ, did they just leave religion? I doubt it. They probably were
very religious people and they probably continued to put on
a good show and do things the way that they thought they should
be done. Religion doesn't save us. We've
got to be delivered from the bondage and the fetters of religion.
We need life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then said Jesus unto
the twelve, will ye also go away? Will ye go away? And here's the
fruit brought in them of God. Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ,
the Son of the living God. That's this mighty Savior. This is the one. Who is this?
It's the Lord Jesus Christ, mighty to save. He's the one of whom
these scriptures speak. We search them, thinking that
we have eternal life, No, not if you don't see Christ. It's
Christ. He's all our hope and all our
salvation. And He's the one who gave His
life to deliver us from Basra, that fortress of Basra, to deliver
His sheep and take them from that stronghold of man's enmity,
man's dead religion, man's dead carcass, and brought us into
the light and life which is in Christ Himself. Now, let me just
read a few verses from our text, verses two through three. You
know what? Now's a good time to stop. We'll
stop right there, actually. And we'll come back to this,
Lord willing, as we go through the chapter. But this is the
mighty one. This is your Savior. This is
your God and Savior. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the name in whom we have life and liberty and salvation. He's wonderful. He's the champion.
He's the captain of our salvation. Rejoice in him, brethren. Give
God thanks and praise. And every day, thank the Lord
for his mercy to you. Begin right there. I don't know
what to pray. Just begin thanking the Lord for his mercy to you.
to sustain you that night, to keep you that day. Amen. All right, let's go to the Lord
in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you, Father, for your
mercy. We thank you for your grace. Lord, we thank you for
your strong, sufficient, perfect, full, mighty salvation in the
Son of God, our mediator, our all. our salvation. Lord we thank you. Lord keep
us ever feeding upon his flesh and drinking his blood that that
he would be all our salvation everything Lord that we would
see in him all sufficiency and Lord we're so thankful that even
when we don't see as we ought to see And even when we are faithless
and unbelieving, Lord, we thank you that you do not deny yourself. You don't turn from your promise
to save your people, to keep them, to establish them in the
covenant of your grace and your son. Lord, thank you. Father,
bless this word to the heart of your people. Help us, Lord,
in the struggles and difficulties that we have. and glorify your
name in our hearts, and in our minds, and in our words, and
especially as we just serve and minister in the midst of one
another, that you would be glorified, and that we would love one another
as we ought to, even as our Savior loves us. It's in Christ's name
we pray and give thanks. Amen. Our closing hymn will be 294.
294, Savior, like a shepherd lead us. Savior, like a shepherd, lead
us, much we need thy tender care. In thy pleasant pastures feed
us, for our use thy foes prepare. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast bought us, Thine we are. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast bought us, Thine we are. We are thine, do thou befriend
us, be the guardian of our way. Keep thy flock from sin, defend
us, seek us when we go astray. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
hear, oh hear us when we pray. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
hear, oh hear us when we pray. Thou hast promised to receive
us, poor and simple though we be. Thou hast mercy to relieve
us, grace to cleanse and power to free. Blessed Jesus, blessed
Jesus, early let us turn to Thee. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
early let us turn to Thee. Early let us seek Thy face, Early
let us do Thy will. Blessed Lord and only Savior,
With Thy love our bosoms fill. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast loved us, loved us still. Blessed Jesus, blessed
Jesus, Thou hast loved us, loved us still. Thank you.