Good evening, let's all stand
and sing 269 under his wings. 269. Under his wings, I am safely
abiding. Though the night deepens and
tempests are wild, still I can trust him, I know he will keep
me. He has redeemed me, and I am
his child. Under his wings, under his wings,
Who from His love can sever? Under His wings my soul shall
abide, Safely abide forever. Under his wings, what a refuge
in sorrow, how the heart yearningly turns to his rest. Often when earth has no balm
for my healing, there I find comfort and there I am blessed. Under his wings, under his wings,
Who from his love can sever? Under his wings my soul shall
abide, Safely abide forever. Under his wings, oh, what a precious
enjoyment! There will I hide till life's
trials are o'er. Sheltered, protected, no evil
can harm me. Resting in Jesus, I'm safe evermore. Under His wings, under His wings,
who from His love can sever? Under his wings my soul shall
abide, safely abide forever. Thank you. Good evening. Let's turn to Isaiah. Our text is going to be in Isaiah
54, so I'd like to read Isaiah 53, because that's what our text
comes on the back of, is the glorious good news, the glorious
report of what our Savior has done for his people. I think I have a little bit of
that something starting in my throat. All right, Isaiah 53 verse 1. Who hath believed our report,
and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow
up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him, There is no beauty that we should desire
him. 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. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep
have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. and the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death. Because he had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief, when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul, and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and
he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bear the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors." Let's close in
prayer, or let's go to prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your for the glorious sacrifice, the gift of your son,
Jesus Christ, Lord, that you sent him to be the sacrifice of your people
and that you spared him not, but delivered him up for us all
that by his blood, by his death and resurrection, Lord, we are
redeemed. We are delivered from death and
we are forgiven of You by Your Son, through Your Son. Lord,
we thank You for this mercy and grace. Lord, we could never do
what was required of us, but You've provided it all in Your
Son. And how we rejoice in Him and
give thanks for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Lord, we
we pray that your spirit would be with us this night. That you
would rest upon your people. That you would. Soften our hearts
and open our ears and help us to hear the. The blessed word,
the glorious good news of your son and what he's accomplished
for his people. How about the works are finished?
How that we are healed as you through him. Lord, we pray that
you would minister your peace and your spirit to your people,
those that are suffering and troubled by the loss in their
life, Lord, that you would comfort them. give them peace and help
them in ministering to others in their family. We think of
our brother Lee here and pray that you would be merciful to
him. Help him, Lord, in this difficult time. And, Lord, we
pray for those that are sick, that you would heal them, that
you would help them to get well and to do the things that they
need to do, and that you would join all your people together
to hear your gospel and to be fed by the Great Shepherd, our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray and
give thanks. Amen. As you remain sitting, let us
sing 496. Victory in Jesus, 496. I heard an old, old story, how
a Savior came from glory, how he gave his life on Calvary to
save a wretch like me. I heard about His groaning, of
His precious blood's atoning. Then I repented of my sins and
won the victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my Saviour
forever. He sought me and bought me with
His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew Him, and
all my love is due Him. He plunged me to victory beneath
the cleansing flood. I heard about His healing, of
His cleansing power revealing, how He made the lame to walk
again and caused the blind to see. And then I cried, Dear Jesus,
come and heal my broken spirit. And somehow Jesus came and brought
to me the victory. O victory in Jesus, my Saviour
forever! He sought me and bought me with
His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew Him, and
all my love is to Him. He plunged me to victory beneath
the cleansing flood. I heard about a mansion heavenly
in glory. And I heard about the streets
of gold beyond the crystal sea. About the angels singing and
the old redemption story And some sweet day I'll sing up there
the song of victory O victory in Jesus, my Saviour forever! He sought me and bought me with
His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew him, and
all my love is due him. He plunged me to victory beneath
the cleansing flood. Thank you. Good evening. All right, we're going to be
in Isaiah chapter 54, and I want to look at the first five verses
with you this evening. Back in Isaiah 53, our Lord declared
to us that glorious testament of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, the glorious report of what He accomplished in the death
of Himself for His chosen people. We read there in Isaiah 53 verse
11, I just want to highlight this, we're told that He shall
see of the travail of His soul, his labor, his travail, and shall
be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. There's a specific people there,
the many whom our Savior bore the iniquities for. He gave His
life for that many spoken of there in the scripture. And we're
told that our Lord is satisfied with His work. He's satisfied
because for His loved children, His chosen children, the works
are finished. Salvation is brought unto them
in the time of God's love, because it's all accomplished in and
by the Lord Jesus Christ, so there's nothing for the sinner
left to do. You know, one way to understand
that is, is if there was anything for the sinner to do, and I'll
make it even, we'll use me as the example, if there's anything
that I had to do for my salvation, I will come short of the glory
of God. I will fail to do that which
is necessary for my salvation because a sinner in this flesh
can do nothing, can do no good thing. We can do nothing to please
and earn God's favor. It rests entirely on the Lord
Jesus Christ and that's good news for the sinner who has no
righteousness and no strength and no ability to please God.
We're thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ who is satisfied because
he accomplished the salvation of his people. Now the work that
Christ accomplished, the salvation he accomplished, it shall be
wrought in his people. He's going to bring forth by
His glory and power, He'll bring forth the works of His salvation
by the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is given to the people,
to His people by the Father and the Son. He gives his spirit,
which will bring forth those gifts, those spiritual fruits,
which are wrought in the people of God, all to the praise and
glory of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so because
these works must be done, because Christ is satisfied, because
of his work, because he's satisfied, so it is that Christ's church
shall be gathered together. He's going to seek out his people. He's going to find his people,
and he's going to gather them in under the blood of Jesus Christ,
and he's going to gather them into his church. And he does
this by the preaching of the gospel, which is made effectual
to the hearing, to the ear of faith, which is wrought in the
believer by the Holy Spirit. He makes this, his word, effectual
in the hearts of his people, so that in the day of his choosing
they shall hear the voice of Christ. In John 10.27 our Lord
said, My sheep hear my voice. They didn't always hear it. There
was a lot of times where they never came under the sound of
the gospel. And there's many who did come under the sound
of the gospel, but they didn't hear it. But then there was a
day when the Lord gave his spirit and made it effectual in your
hearts, and you heard the voice of the Son of God. He says, I
know them, and they follow me. because they're of the many for
whom Christ gave his life. They follow me, and I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand, not even ourselves. We cannot
get ourselves out of Christ's hand, because he's holding us. It's all of his work. And because
it's all of his work, there's nothing we do to get ourselves
in there, and there's nothing we do to take ourselves out It's
all by the power, grace, and glory of our Savior. Now, tonight's
message, it's an encouragement to the people of God. It's to comfort and encourage
the heart of the Lord's people in that it's declaring the good
news. It's calling us to rejoice. The
bells of victory are ringing. We're sounding the bells of victory
and we're rejoicing in what our Savior has accomplished for us. It declares that all the promises
of God in Christ are yea and in Him, amen, unto the glory
of God by us. He works it in his people. and
we praise him and rejoice in him. I've titled the message,
Sing, O Barron. Sing, O Barron. And that's where
we're going to begin, looking at the first verse, at this barren
one that sings. So the barren, in verse one,
are commanded to sing. If you want to call it a command,
it's an exhortation. It's wrought in the people of
God who are rejoicing for the glorious good news of what they've
heard of what our Savior has accomplished. And they sing it
to the tune of efficacious grace. The grace of our God made effectual
in our hearts. Now, because our Lord accomplished
this salvation, he says in verse one, sing, O barren, thou that
didst not bear. Break forth into singing, and
cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child. For more
are the children of the desolate than the children of the married
wife, saith the Lord. And so our Lord and Savior, His
death accomplished salvation for all His people. All His people, Jew and Gentile
of all time. Our Savior's blood accomplished
their salvation. This is the fruit of Christ's
death. We are saved by His death. We
are We are forgiven. We are justified by His death
and His blood. And so this song is sung by the
church upon His resurrection, upon His being raised up and
justifying us by His work, by what He accomplished for us.
And He pours out His Holy Spirit now, after which His seed is
being greatly multiplied through. So our Lord pours out His Spirit
and he takes of the precious things of Christ, and he gives
new birth, makes us born again by the seed of Christ, whereby
we hear the voice of our Savior, whereby we behold and see him
and rejoice in what he's declaring to our hearts. He says in John
12, 24, verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat
fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die,
it bringeth forth much fruit. And if you've ever done any kind
of gardening, you get that picture. You have seeds in an envelope
at the beginning of the season, and if it sits in that envelope,
That's it. It's going to remain. Nothing's
going to come of that little seed. But when you drop it in
the ground and it goes in the ground there and it dies, then
when it springs up it bears much fruit because then a whole bunch
of little fruits of that seed come forth and bears more seed
and it keeps propagating year after year. And that's what the
death of our Savior accomplished for His people. All His people
are saved in Him. Now, at our Lord's death, we're
told in Acts 115 that at that time, the number of the names
of the people, those that they could count that believed on
the Lord Jesus Christ, was 120. 120 when Christ walked the earth
and was crucified and buried. 120 people believed on him with
all the miracles, having heard all his messages preached. No finer preacher, no greater
man, no one greater than he. And there was 120 disciples. But once he poured out the Holy
Spirit upon his church at Pentecost, according to his promise, Peter
stood up and he preached the gospel, and we're told that same
day there was added to the church 3,000 souls. 3,000 souls, just like that. Our Lord accomplished it. And
so every soul saved by the blood of Christ, it's a testimony to
his efficacious salvation, how he affected, how he wrought salvation
for his people. There's no denying it. It's all
to the glory and praise of his name. He says there in John chapter
10, at the end of verse 15, he says, I lay down my life for
the sheep. He describes them as sheep. And that word is familiar to
us, right? Because we know that our Lord
speaks of sheep and goats, of believers and unbelievers. And
he's the one that makes the distinction between them. And so he says,
I'm laying down my life for people. They're my sheep. That's who
I'm laying down my life for. And other sheep, he says, I have,
which are not of this fold. They're not of the Jews. I have
sheep among the Gentiles. Them also I must bring, and they
shall hear my voice. And there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. You see, Jew and Gentile are
all going to hear the voice of the Son of God speaking to them,
just as Lazarus heard. Come forth. So it is that our
Lord speaks into the heart of each sheep for whom he laid down
his life and calls them forth. Come, come, my child. And he
brings them to himself and gives them faith and causes them to
look to him. And so, this is why we declare
Christ the successful Savior. He did not fail. He accomplished
that work which He came to do. He laid down His life for them,
and because He said, I lay down my life, it's that I might take
it again. And in taking it again, so He
obtained our life. He obtained our redemption and
our forgiveness in what He did. So our Lord, He went to the cross,
and we understand from the scriptures that our Lord, when He came,
He took on this flesh. He came in our likeness, that
He should be just like us, except without sin, and He was born
under the law, and He came and fulfilled all the law perfectly.
And we can't do that. And the law requires perfect
obedience. You know that? Nowhere does the
law ever speak about faith. The law requires obedience. You either do it, or you don't.
And Christ did it. He fulfilled it perfectly. And
we might pretend and think like we're keeping the law the way
it's supposed to be kept, and we're just making a mockery of
it. And God's not going to be mocked.
And so anyone coming to God in that, their strength in the law,
they're going to meet an angry God of wrath in that day. But
all who come in the Son shall find acceptance with the Father
and peace and a welcoming in because we come in the righteousness
of Christ. In Christ, we've fulfilled the
law perfectly. And so he came, we say, as our
surety. It's described as our surety,
meaning that He came to pay the debt that you and I could never
pay. We can never pay down the debt
of our sins. And so Christ is the surety of
His people, and when He died, He died as His people's substitute. He took their place, dying their
death, because He bore their sins under the wrath of God,
and He put it away. He put it away. And so our Lord,
He made an atonement, a covering for the sins of His people with
His own blood. And His blood was not shed in
vain. His blood was not shed in vain, but He accomplished
the salvation of all God's chosen people. Looking there around
our text, go to Isaiah 53 and look at verse 5. And I go to this verse because
it highlights for us that particular people with the pronoun our and
we. It says, but he was wounded for
our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are Healed we are healed and
and that word healed is past tense meaning it's done It's
accomplished. We are healed. It's already in
the works according to the will of God so that it is Worked out
in the hearts of his people it is finished was our Lord's cry
from the cross and So we aren't the fruitful ones in this text.
It speaks of one who's barren, but they sing They sing even
though they themselves are barren. We didn't strive and travail
in birth to bring forth fruits unto God. Christ did. Christ labored. He's the one
who strove. He's the one who brings forth
spiritual life and spiritual fruits in his people through
his travailing, through his work in order to obtain our eternal
redemption. We're told in Hebrews 9.12 that
it's by His own blood. He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. He obtained
it. It's in His possession. All His
people are in Him and in His possession. And so, we ourselves
are the desolate, who by the grace of God in Christ, now we
bring forth fruit unto God. That is by the seed of Christ
in us, by the Holy Spirit working that seed in us, putting it into
good ground prepared by the Father in order to spring forth by His
Word, by His power, and bring forth fruit unto our Lord to
His praise and glory. And all His children, they have
the grace of God manifest in them. It's going to be revealed.
Because Christ accomplished our salvation, our salvation shall
be made manifest in his people through faith. They're going
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn over to Ephesians
chapter two. Let's see that. Go to Ephesians
chapter two. And let's go to verse eight. He says there in verse 8, for
by grace are ye saved through faith. And that, that faith is
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works. We didn't do anything to bring
forth this faith which looks to Christ. Lest any man should
boast, for we are his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk
in them." And so we see that our walking and our works are
ordained of God, because the works were finished from the
foundation of the earth. Christ is the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the earth, Revelation 13 8. So salvation
cannot be by our works. Rather, as the scriptures testify,
it's for the children of promise. It's for the children of promise.
Those who, like Abraham, believe God. Turn over to Galatians 4
now. Galatians 4. I'm going to Galatians
4 because this is where Paul quotes this verse. He quotes
Isaiah 54, verse 1. And it's good, therefore, to
see, well, what's the context that Paul is speaking of? Why
is Paul quoting this verse in Galatians 4? And what he's showing
us is that all of God's children, Jew and Gentile, are all saved
under the new covenant, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
not under those that are that are covered with the blood of
Christ, those that are redeemed by His blood, we're not under
the works of the law. We're not trying to come to God
under the works of the law in any way, in any sense, not for
our justification or sanctification, because it's all of grace. We're
children of promise. You know, we don't try to justify
ourselves by the works of the law. We don't try to sanctify
ourselves by the works of the law, meaning we're not doing
anything to obtain any acceptance with our God. We're trusting
wholly upon the Lord Jesus Christ for our acceptance with God,
because those who will come to the Father under the law are
under a curse. They're under a curse. That's
in Galatians 3.10. But let's look at Galatians 4. I'm going to begin in verse 22,
but I'll kind of I might just summarize some of
it, but this is where Abraham, you know, he had two sons and
one was with Hagar and one was with Sarah, the free woman, and
Hagar is the bondmaid. But Paul writes that he who's
of the bondwoman, verse 23, was born after the flesh. But he
of the free woman, of Sarah, was by promise." So hold that
thought, by promise or by the flesh. Which things Paul says
are an allegory For these are two covenants, the one from the
Mount Sinai which gendereth to bondage, that's Hagar, for this
Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answereth to Jerusalem which
now is and is in bondage with her children. Why is she in bondage? Because she's looking to the
law which genders to bondage. The law is what was given at
Mount Sinai. And the physical Jerusalem in
that day was still looking to a righteousness by the works
of the law. They were under the curse. But
Jerusalem, which is above, that spiritual city, the church of
Jesus Christ, which is the mother of us all, Paul says now, verse
27, it's written, Rejoice thou barren that bearest not. Break
forth and cry thou that travailest not. For the desolate hath many
more children than she which hath a husband. Now we, brethren,
as Isaac was, are the children of promise." And that's for Jew
and Gentile. Paul would say to the Thessalonians,
he said, all men have not faith. Everyone doesn't have faith.
It's a gift of God. But that faith, you can be sure
it's going to be revealed in the children of promise. Because it's all of his work.
So the promise is revealed where? Those children of promise. Who's
that promise to? It's to the desolate. It's to
the desolate. It's to whom? It's to those who
have no light, no life in themselves, no strength, no ability, no comeliness,
nothing worthy in them of God's favor or mercy or grace. It's
to the desolate, the one who has no fruit, has no righteousness,
has nothing to boast of, nothing in their hand to come to God
with. That's who this word is for. That's who the promise is
for, the desolate, the desolate. Because we're taught, the Lord's
showing us that Christ is all. He's everything. He's all our
salvation. And so if we're still looking
to and counting something wrought by our flesh as precious and
pleasing to God, then Christ is an all to us. We're still
looking at this thing. We might say we're looking at
Christ, but we're trusting this work, and the Lord's gonna cause
his people to let that stuff go, to behold that Christ is
all, that he's all my salvation and acceptance. And that brings
us now to our next point, in which we see the enlarging of
the church of God, and we'll go a little more quickly with
these verses here. Verse two, enlarge, so this is
Isaiah 54, verse two. Enlarge the place of thy tent,
and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations.
Spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. So we talked earlier that the
early church, when our Lord walked the earth, that body, those believers,
those disciples were a small number of believers, only 120. until the Lord blessed it, and
then a great many began to come in after Pentecost, after Christ's
resurrection, after the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. And that
should always give us encouragement, that even in the face of hardships
and difficulties, and when it seems most dark, right? Those women, they went to the
tomb while it was yet dark. and how blessed they were in
going to that tomb to see that rock rolled away, that stone
rolled away, and to learn that their Lord and Savior had been
raised from the dead, that He had risen from the dead, and
then what joy filled their hearts. And the Lord, He brings His people
to have to rest on Him, to trust His Word, to believe Him. So even when there's opposition,
and there's contrary winds, even when there's persecution, He
says, preach the Word. You go in faith doing those things
which He's given His church to do. You preach the Gospel. You
feed the sheep, you gather together, you worship your God, you worship
your Lord and praise Him and trust Him because out of that
dark hour, out of that difficult time when it seems so small,
the Lord is pleased to then pour out His Spirit and bless His
people. and encourage the hearts of his
people full of grace and rejoicing and thanksgiving for what he's
done. And he'll fill the church. He'll
gather in his people from among them that are scattered out and
about and he'll bring them in to himself. And it's because
he's pouring out his spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. He's effecting this in our church. Our Lord, after he did that right
at Pentecost, he did it a second time, right? Because then there
was a time where the apostles began to preach the word, and
they went to whom? They were going to the Jews,
right? They kept going to the synagogues and to the Jews and
preaching to them. But look over in Acts 13. In Acts 13, if you pick up there
in verse 45, down to verse 49, we're told that Paul and Barnabas,
they're speaking to the Jews, and they came back the next week,
but there was a lot of people that heard they were gonna be
having this meeting. And the Jews looked around, and
they saw the multitude of the Gentiles that were gathered there.
And the Jews didn't even know if they believed the things being
said, the things being shown to them out of the Old Testament.
But when they looked and saw the multitude of the Gentiles
who were excited and interested in it, they became envious. and jealous. And then they began
to contradict the things that Paul was saying. They said, no,
no, no, no, that's not what that's saying. And they began to blaspheme
the things that were being said. And so then Paul and Barnabas
in verse 46, they waxed bold. And they said, hey, guys, it
was necessary for us to come to you first. Because we were
supposed to go to the Jews first. And we did that. We brought the
word of God to you first. But seeing ye put it from you
and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life. We didn't
say you're not worthy. You said you're not worthy of
eternal life. That's what he pointed out. Because of that,
we're turning to the Gentiles. We're going to the Gentiles.
For so hath the Lord commanded us, verse 47, saying, I have
set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest
be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles
heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord.
And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. And
the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. And
so again, our Lord, when opposition arose and persecution arose,
and things seemed to get shut down, then the Lord blessed it,
and it went out to the Gentiles. And then from there, it began
to spread like wildfire among the Gentile nations. They were
receptive to the word. The encouragement to us is persecution
can't even stop the progress of the gospel. It can't even
shut the gospel down. It can't happen. It'll spread
out. It'll go out because the Lord
will bless His people. So don't fear the hatred of men. Don't fear when things look more
and more difficult because it's often in those times when the
Lord is determined to bless His people. to pour out his spirit,
to refine that gospel word so that he helps me and enables
me and he helps the hearer, he helps his preachers and he helps
the hearers to hear that word and to rejoice in it, to be fed
and nourished and blessed by what our Lord promises and to
be watching. and praying, and looking for
the Lord to do this. So we see the grace of our God
in that sense. Now, concerning the growth, he
says in Isaiah 54, verse 3, he says, thou shalt break forth
on the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit
the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. So again, here it's a display
of God's grace. You know, the Gentiles, when
you think about it, it's such an encouragement because the
Gentiles sat in utter darkness. They had no light whatsoever. They were just desolate. They
were desolate. A lot of times we grew up in
religion, so we think that we're bringing something to the table
that's helping us. And really, if it's darkness,
how great is that darkness? It's just darkness. It's not
helping us. It's not giving us a leg up in
any sense. In fact, a lot, because of religion,
that all has to be undone and unpackaged and taken away, stripped
away, because we find, as we see Christ, we find, wow, I'm
really, I'm trusting in flesh and my own righteousness. I'm
trusting things that are dumb and cannot save. And so the Lord
strips those things away. But the Gentiles, they sat in
utter darkness And meaning that they had no spiritual light,
no spiritual light. And the simplest way I heard
it put was the Gentiles didn't have a Bible. They didn't have
a Bible. They had no scriptures, no Bible,
no Old Testament, no New Testament. They had nothing. They had nothing
good in the works that was a help to them or that prepared them
for the Lord. But the Jews, on the other hand,
they had the Old Testament. They had the Old Testament scriptures,
they had the law, and they had the prophets, and the oracles,
and people that taught them the truth. And those that were in
Israel that were children of promise, just like there's Gentiles
that are children of promise, the children of promise are those
who are given faith to believe just like Abraham believed God. And it was counted to him for
righteousness because the Lord wrought that in him. So we believe. But in the Old Testament dispensation,
under the Old Covenant, they weren't saved by the law. They
were saved the same way we're saved, looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ. They saw in the law, in their
practice of the law, they were looking at the types and the
shadows and the pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they saw
their own weakness, their own sin, their own shortcomings,
and it shut them up to the promise of Christ. They didn't trust
that they were righteous in the law. They trusted they were righteous
in Christ. And Moses understood that. Moses wrote of me, the Lord said. He understood it. He was looking
for Christ. And so he understood and saw those things in the law,
just like Abraham did. He believed God. And so the Gentiles,
they were a desolate people. And all men are desolate in Adam. None have any righteousness.
But the Jews, they had some believers, as we said, they understood. There were some believers, but
the Gentiles had nothing. absolutely nothing until the
Lord sent that gospel by the Apostles. Now here's the encouragement
in this to sinners. You that hear the message, it's
a comfort to sinners because this word is for sinners. It comes to those who have nothing
to bring to the Lord, who have nothing to gain acceptance with
God. And so that's a comfort to those
who are sinners. That's a comfort to those who
see, I can't get it right. I've been professing Christ for
years. I've been going to church and
to this church and that church and trying to do this thing and
that thing, and I just can't get it right. And that's because
we're still looking to ourselves, but when the Lord brings you
to see your sinner, and then you hear, Christ has done it
all. It's all finished. And everything
He requires of you, He's provided it. Even down to your faith and
looking to Him, He's provided it all. You know, the Pharisees
actually said it really, really well. I like how they worded
it. It's in Luke 15, 2. It says, the Pharisees and the
scribes, they murmured. They were looking at Christ and
they began to murmur and complain, saying, this man receiveth sinners
and eateth with them. Isn't that a, aren't you thankful? They put it so simply, you can't
say it any easier than that, but our Lord receives sinners
and eats with them. He breaks bread with them. He
gives them of his own flesh. He makes us to feed upon him
and to drink his blood and be nourished and fed and strengthened
and satisfied with the Lord Jesus Christ, just like the father
is satisfied with his son. And so our Lord then says to
us, in verse four, Isaiah 54, four, he encourages the sinner. He says, fear not, for thou shalt
not be ashamed, neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not
be put to shame. For thou shalt forget the shame
of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood
any more. You know, we, as I was saying
before, when we were in religion, we couldn't bring forth anything.
We were just barren. We couldn't bring forth any good
works with which God was pleased with. We were always beat down
and always fearful and always afraid and always doubting because
we were looking to what we were trying to produce. And that's
never, you're never going to be satisfied. And if you are
satisfied, That's not good. That's where the Pharisees were.
They were satisfied. But the Lord brings his people
to see, I'm afraid because I keep trying, but it ain't working
because we're not trusting in Christ. And so he makes his people
to know we're barren. or barren, but he says, you won't
be ashamed, not in Christ. You won't be confounded or confused,
not in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he takes us from trusting
our works of the flesh and puts all our hope and confidence on
the Lord Jesus Christ. When we were in religion, we
were just like Cain, who worked hard, labored hard in the garden
and brought forth his fruits and made it look real pretty,
I'm sure, on the altar. But God passed it right on by
and didn't receive it. And he went to Abel's, and he
accepted Abel's sacrifice of the lamb. Because Abel sacrificed
the lamb looking to Christ, the lamb of God. And that's how we
come. It's just like Cain in the flesh.
We come in our own works, and God will not receive it. But when Christ is brought to
us, when Christ comes and gives us life by himself, gives us,
makes us born again by His Spirit, and we're born of His seed, and
we're born, we have spiritual life in the Lord Jesus Christ,
then by our husband, the Lord Jesus Christ, we begin to bear
fruit. fruits of righteousness which
is pleasing to our God because it's fruit of our husband the
Lord Jesus Christ whom the Father loves and is well pleased him.
Romans 7 verse 4 and 5 says wherefore my brethren ye also are become
dead to the law by the body of Christ that ye should be married
to another even to him who is raised from the dead, that we
should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the
flesh, the motions of sins which were by the law did work in our
members to bring forth fruit unto death." And so Christ has
delivered us from that heavy yoke of the bondage of the law
and the bondage of dead letter religion. He's taken that off,
he's removed that, and he comforts his people. with himself and
he robes his people with that beautiful robe of righteousness,
his robe of righteousness. I forget, was it Jude who writes,
when you're helping a sinner, we despise the garment spotted
with the flesh. We want no part to do with the
works of our flesh. We despise those things. Just
like Paul, we cast them aside as dung because they didn't do
anything for us. Christ provided everything. So
now brethren, we are led by a spirit and we walk by faith. Our Lord
said in Luke 12, 32, fear not little flock for it is your father's
good pleasure to give you the kingdom. And so we're walking
in him, trusting him, believing his word, resting in his promises,
patiently waiting for the hope of glory that shall be revealed
in us at his appearing. Paul says in Romans 8, 25 and
26, but if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience
wait for it. We wait for it, we trust him.
Likewise, the spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know
not what we should pray for as we are, but the spirit itself
helpeth itself, maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered. We can't even pray right. We
can't do anything right, but our God provides it all in grace. It's all in the son, and he's
covered everything. And so we'll never be ashamed.
We just trust, keep trusting the righteousness of Christ.
Isaiah 45, 54-5, and we'll close with this. For thy maker is thine
husband. All right, we're members of his
body, of his flesh, and of his bones. and were made by Him both
physically and spiritually. And it says, the Lord of hosts
is His name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. And that's
what Peter called Christ in Acts, the Holy One of Israel. He's
our righteousness. The God of the whole earth shall
He be called. And so, brethren, we were barren. We brought forth nothing, but
now we're a fruitful people in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's His
seed. It's all His fruit. It's all
to His glory and praise. We're just looking to Him and
trusting Him by His grace and power. And so, rejoice in Him
and be thankful and don't be troubled. Let it just turn you. Confess
your sins and seek the Lord for mercy and grace. He's a faithful
advocate and And He gives the heart to His people that desire
Him and love Him and walk in Him by faith. So I pray the Lord
bless that word to your hearts. Amen. Let's close in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank You,
Father, for Your grace. We thank You, Lord, for the abundance
of Your goodness. and kindness in your Son, Jesus
Christ. Lord, we find it hard to believe
that you should be so gracious, so giving, so full. And Lord, you provided everything
in your Son, Jesus Christ. Help us, Lord, to believe and
to continue believing, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. And
Lord, comfort your people. Lord, help all your people to
hear this word and to rejoice in what Christ has done for them,
and that your church would be strengthened, established in
Christ, and that we would all preach the gospel faithfully,
boldly, that your word would go forth and be a great help
to your people, that it would deliver your people from death
and darkness, to behold the light of our Savior Jesus Christ. It's
in his name we pray and give thanks. Amen. Let's all stand and sing 488,
my Redeemer, 488. sing of my redeemer and his wondrous
love to me on the cruel cross he suffered from the curse to
set me free sing oh sing of my Redeemer. With His blood He purchased
me. On the cross He sealed my pardon,
paid the debt, and made me free. I will tell the wondrous story,
how my lost estate to save. In his boundless love and mercy,
he the ransom freely gave. Sing, oh sing! of my Redeemer,
with His blood He purchased me. On the cross He sealed my pardon,
paid the debt, and made me free. I will praise my dear Redeemer,
His triumphant power I'll tell, how the victory He giveth over
sin and death and hell. Sing, oh sing, of my Redeemer,
with His blood He purchased me. On the cross He sealed my pardon,
paid the debt, and made me free. I will sing of my Redeemer and
His heavenly love to me. He from death to life hath brought
me, Son of God, with Him to be. Sing, oh sing of my Redeemer
With His blood He purchased me On the cross He sealed my pardon
Paid the debt and made me free Thank you.