Good evening. We're going to
be in Isaiah 9, and we're going to be looking at verses 13 to
the end of the chapter, verse 21. Isaiah 9, 13 through 21.
Now, the grace of God sent God in grace he sent the waters
of Shiloah that flow softly, that gently flow, and he sent
that word to the people of Judah. And when the Lord sends a word
like that, the heart of man is laid bare before the kindness
and the goodness of God. And what we see is that man,
natural man, left to himself without the grace of God attending
that word, That man's heart is hard, and he rejects that word.
He refuses to hear it. He won't hear that word. It's
the grace of God that opens the heart of the sinner, that makes
them, enables them, causes them to hear what's being said and
to receive that word. But without grace, It may be
a word of kindness, it may be a word of goodness, but they
will refuse it. They won't hear it. It's as our
brother Stephen, when he was being stoned, just before they
put him to death, he cried out and he spoke the truth to the
Jews and he said in Acts 7.51, ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your
fathers did, so do ye. And that's what we're seeing
here in the present context that we're looking at. But go over
to Isaiah 8. I want us to look at this one more time, because
this is all happening in that context of time where Isaiah
has come to Judah, and now we're looking at this word being spoken
against Israel. But in Isaiah 8, verse 6, he
said, for as much as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloh
that go softly, Well, what are the waters of Shiloh that go
softly? Or rather, who is this speaking
of? Well, Isaiah 9.6 tells us that
it's of Christ. He's the one who alone is worthy
of the glorious titles and the glorious and fitting titles that
we see spoken of Christ in Isaiah 9.6 which says, For unto us a
child is born, unto us a son is given, the government shall
be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. And we've been looking at it
the last few weeks, we've been looking at the increase of his
government, the increase in the establishment of Christ's Kingdom. And what we're seeing is that
it's the zeal of the Lord of hosts that will do this work.
He's going to perform it. And we saw in verse 8 that it's
God who establishes this kingdom through that gospel word. Verse
8 saying, the Lord sent a word into Jacob and it hath lighted
upon Israel. But being true to his nature,
man hears that word and he refuses it. He rejects it. He doesn't
want to hear it. It has no place for him. It doesn't do anything
for him. And we see this very, the same
thing being fulfilled when Christ came. When he came in the flesh,
in John 1, verses 10 through 11, it says, he was in the world,
and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. And
he came unto his own, and his own received him not. So the
wickedness of man is made evident to us who have eyes, who have
been given faith in Christ, who have been given eyes to see,
because we see that this wickedness in man, this refusal of man and
this rejection of man of the salvation of God, it's true of
every one of us by nature. And we see that it's God alone
who has made the difference in his people. He's the one that
makes a difference between those that hear, and their hearts are
open to Christ, and they hear his voice, and those that their
heart is shut, and they will not hear Christ, they refuse
to hear his word. So the Lord shows us that our
righteousness, we have no righteousness of our own, that we have no works
to stand before God in confidence, believing that he'll receive
them, because he shows us that our works are filthy and they're
polluted, and he's not pleased with those works, so we're not
looking to them. Now turn over to John 9, John
9 verse 4. And I want us to see this a little bit more, looking
at these waters of Shiloh that go softly, that go gently. In
John 9, verse 4, Christ said, Now he's speaking to the man,
to his disciples, before that man whose eyes he's going to
heal, that blind man. And he says, verse 4, I must
work the works of him that sent me. While it is day, the night
cometh when no man can work. And so Christ highlights here
this fact that God, the Father, has sent him into the world to
save his people, and that Christ has come to manifest this salvation. that he is the righteousness
of his people, that we're not saved by righteous works that
we do. Now look at John 9, 5. As long
as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. And when
he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of
the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with
the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam,
which is by interpretation sent. So Christ sent this man to that
pool of Siloam, and he went his way therefore, and washed, and
came seen. Now that pool there, Siloam, that's the same word
that's in our text in Isaiah 8, verse 6. It's Shiloah, or
Siloam. And they both mean sent. Sent. And Christ was sent of God to
do this work of salvation, to deliver his people from their
sin and condemnation. So he makes this salvation in
him manifest, he makes it known to his people. And so we see
that in his healing and giving sight to that blind man, it pictures
what Christ does for the sinner. And opening their eyes to see
and understand, my works are filthy, But God has provided
my salvation, my deliverance, in His Son, Jesus Christ. And
He makes that sweet and precious to us because it's true. We understand,
I'm a sinner. I can't save myself. He shows
us that, but He shows us the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we
see that those who are confident in their own works, look at 10,
at the very end of verse 10, they asked Him, How were thine
eyes opened? And that man who was blind, but
now saw, answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay,
and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam,
and wash. And I went and washed, and I
received my sight." And they threw that man out. They threw
him out because he spoke well of Christ, because he looked
to Christ and trusted Him. Now, as a result of Israel's
hatred and their rejection of the word of God, we saw how God
used Assyria. He raised up Assyria to overflow
their banks like a river. They came out of their country
into the country of Israel to destroy Israel, to overthrow
Syria and their enemies. It says in Isaiah 8, verse 7,
Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters
of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, in
all his glory, and he shall come up over all his channels, and
go over all his banks. And we saw that last week when
we looked at verses 11 and 12. Isaiah 9, 11 and 12. Therefore the Lord shall set
up the adversaries of reason against him, and join his enemies
together, the Syrians before and the Philistines behind, and
they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his
anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still."
Assyria there in the Old Testament here, it's a type, it's a picture
of how the Lord raised up them as a hammer, as a tool to bring
judgment upon the people for rejecting the salvation of the
Lord, because it's not in man's heart. If grace isn't there,
he has no heart for the salvation of God, and the Lord brings judgment
upon them. And we saw that, well, As you see that picture there
of Assyria, you also can then see and understand when the Lord
came and ministered salvation to his people, and he wrought
salvation for true Israel, for his people. But we saw how the
people of natural Israel, how they rejected him. And he brought
upon them chastening, and they refused. They would not hear.
We looked at that between Matthew 24 and Revelation 6. They would
not hear. And eventually, what did the
Lord do? He brought Rome out, overflowing their banks, just
like Assyria, and they went and destroyed Jerusalem. They destroyed
the city, just in the same way that Assyria was used to destroy
Israel and Syria at that time. And so this brings us to our
text tonight, which begins in Isaiah 9 verse 13, which says,
And we see how when the Lord chastens his people, they are turned, they hear the
Lord, they're turned, and they're healed of the Lord. But those
that don't hear the Lord, those that have no grace attending
that Word, they refuse it, they will not hear it, and the Lord
brings judgment upon them. As you can read in Psalm 98,
verses 31 through 33, The wrath of God came upon them,
and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men
of Israel. For all this they sinned still,
and believed not for his wondrous works, therefore their days did
he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble. So tonight,
I want us to see how that God provided His Son for His people,
for the salvation of His people, to rejoice in the glory of Him. But many, naturally, Israel rejected. They would not hear. They refused
to hear. of God's salvation, so that what the people naturally
were rejoicing, what they were glorying in, the Lord destroyed. He brought judgment upon the
wicked of this world. And we'll see that's what he
does in our text. Our title is His Hand Against
Them. His Hand Against Them. So I want
to begin with seeing Christ the Counselor. And you'll see how
we're going through this very shortly. Now it says, because
the people are turned, or are not turned by the Lord's reproof,
because of their works and their unbelief, they're not turned,
we read in verse 14, Isaiah 9, 14. Therefore the Lord will cut
off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush in one day. The
ancient and honorable, he is the head, and the prophet that
teacheth lies, he is the tail. For the leaders of this people
cause them to err, and they that are led of them are destroyed. Now, the head pictures that leadership
and that administration of the people. That would be their civil
magistrates, that would be their governors and their princes and
their king. That would be the head and those
people that were given to rule them and to administer justice.
among the people, and the Prophet would be those which were teaching
lies." And they're described here as a tale. They're described
as a tale, and what this does, this head and the tail, it gives
us a visual picture of what the people were hearing and what
was bringing corruption upon them, like poison was going into
them and they were becoming corrupted and vile and they would not hear
the Lord. And what we find is that this
imagery in the whole, the head and the tail, it pictures that
system and that false gospel, the lie of Antichrist. It's the
whole system of Antichrist that's been in the world since before
Christ came, And since Christ came among the apostles and all
the way up to our day, you see the system of Antichrist. So turn over to Revelation 12.
I want you to see this. Revelation 12, and look at verses
3 and 4. Revelation 12. All right, Revelation
12. this is Antichrist, and there
appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon,
having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his head,
and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and it
cast them to the earth. And so we see there, that's Satan,
and it's picturing the whole system of Antichrist that's now
being established, or is here on the earth. And look at now
Revelation 9. Revelation 9, and we see here,
go to verse 3, we see here those ministers, those angels, those
ministers of light, appearing as angels of light, going out
and ministering this gospel. Their false gospel. their filthy
works. It says in verse 3, And there
came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth, and unto them
was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. Look
at verse 10, And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there
were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt men five
months. So this is what This is the whole
system of Antichrist, and the Lord says, I'm going to destroy
this whole system. I'm going to destroy that which
you're looking to, what you're trusting in, what you're hoping
in, your leadership, and the prophets that are telling you
lies, I'm going to destroy it all, because the true governor,
the true headship, the true counselor, is what Isaiah spoke of in Isaiah
9, verses 6 and 7, as we saw. He says in verse 6, the government
shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor. So we're to hear Christ and of
the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.
Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it
and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth
even forever the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."
So this world refuses to hear Christ. They won't bow down to
Christ. They say, we'll not have that
man to reign over us. They're not going to bow down
to Christ, but he's still the head. Whether you believe it
or not, the Lord Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning and establishing
his kingdom among his people even now. And so, In Christ,
the Lord's people, they rejoice because he is the governor. The
government rests on his shoulders. Our hope and our confidence all
rests on the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are thankful and we rejoice
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we hear the various lies. We see the wicked works that
are going on, but we're not poisoned. or not poison. Like it says in
Matthew 16 where it speaks of the church, and they shall pick
up snakes, poisonous snakes, and it will not hurt them. They
will not be hurt by the lies of Antichrist. So the Lord is
our Lord. He's our God and He's our Savior
and He delivers us from the poison and the works and the system,
the vile system of Antichrist. But you see how the people, they
fell for it and were listening to it and the Lord says, I'm
going to destroy it. It's all picturing that judgment that
this world is marching toward in that final day of the Lord. Now turn over to John chapter
10. John 10. John 10, and we'll pick up in
verse 1. This is in Christ, where we the brethren, we the Church
of God, have this promise in Him. Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Christ speaking, he that entereth not by the door into
the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same as a
thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the
door is the shepherd of the sheep. And this is Christ. And Christ
was sent of the Father to do this work. So Christ isn't lurking
around in darkness. He's not ashamed of what he's
been sent to do. He goes in because he is the
shepherd of his sheep, and he's come to rule and deliver and
reign over his people and to bring them into pleasant green
pastures. He's the head of the people.
And to him, verse 3, the porter openeth. Who's the porter? The
porter is the Holy Ghost. He's the one that opens the heart. He's the one that gives us life
so that when we hear Price knocking, we open the door. And it's the
Holy Spirit who opens that door because he gives us that life
and that sense that knowledge and understanding that this is
Christ. This is the salvation that God
has provided to deliver me. And Christ calleth his own sheep,
oh, I'm sorry, and the sheep hear his voice. And he calleth
his own sheep by name and leadeth them out. And when he putteth
forth his sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him,
for they know his voice. All right, so Christ, who is
the head of the people, he speaks, he teaches us. so that we hear
his voice, and his spirit bears witness to our spirit which is
now made alive by the seed of Christ, so that that which Christ
has created in us hears his voice. and believes, begins to bear
that fruit of righteousness which He's created in us and worked
in us so that we hear Him and we follow Him, we go out after
Him, and we're continually looking to Him. And that's why we're
not poisoned by the works of Antichrist. That's why we abide
in Christ, meaning we aren't turned away from Christ. We don't
fall away from Christ like many in this world whose hope is nothing
more than, even though they might speak of Christ, but those that
go away, it's because it was never in the heart. They never
heard Christ. It was just a natural religion
in their mind. It was just a natural understanding
of what's written here in a system of theology. But those that are
Christ, they can't sin. They can't fall away. They can't
go away into this world and they're not corrupted by the lies of
Antichrist because they're Christ's and he keeps them. So we abide
in him. We cannot sin. We cannot commit
that sin of apostasy and turn away from our brethren and stop
loving Christ and stop loving them. It just can't happen because
we're Christ's. He's worked that life in us. And it says, a stranger will
they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the
voice of strangers. See? We're not going to be poisoned
and killed by that stinging tale, that false prophet, and the lies
that they speak. Isn't that, aren't you thankful
that Christ saves you and delivers you from that? And he's, you've
heard his word. You've heard his voice. You know
that our salvation is Christ. and Christ alone. And you're
not turned from that. When a man speaks about your
works and what you need to be doing, you hear that and say,
that's not the voice of my Savior. That's not Christ. That's another
man's voice. That's some other prophet speaking
there, but I'm not hearing that. I'm not listening to that. So
we hear those gentle soft waters of Shiloh." That's the promise
that we hear. We hear it and we rejoice. We
don't refuse that. We're glad for those gentle soft
waters, that salvation that God has provided in His Son. And we're thankful because He's
shown us that we're sinners, He's shown us that we can't save
ourselves by our own works, and He's shown us that Christ is
all that God requires, all that holy God requires for us to stand
before Him. Christ makes us holy. Christ
is our godliness. Christ is our righteousness.
Christ is our perfection. And we're thankful. We rejoice
in that. As it says in Isaiah 40, verses
9 through 11, O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into
the high mountain. O Jerusalem, that bringest good
tidings, lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up, be not
afraid, say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God. Behold,
the Lord God will come with strong hand. His strong hand is the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the right hand of God that
brings salvation to himself, that brings salvation to his
people. His arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with
him and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those
that are with young. He's that gentle waters of Shiloh. All right now, this leads us
to our next point, the son and father. in Isaiah 9, verse 17. Isaiah 9, 17. Therefore the Lord
shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy
on their fatherless and widows. For everyone is an hypocrite
and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this,
his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out
still. So the Lord God sent his son
into the world. He sent his son here to do this
glorious work of salvation. We saw in 9.6, unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given. This is the son whom the Father
delights in. You know, we're shown of the
Lord that we're the desperate sinners, but that Christ, that
we can't save ourselves, but Christ was sent to deliver us.
He came to do that work because we have no works of righteousness
ourselves. We don't have it in us to change. We have no desire to change.
We have no desire to be any different. We want to do it our way, according
to our works, and to the Lord. makes a difference until the
Lord gives us his spirit and gives us that ear of faith to
hear that he is righteousness and we see the filth of our own
works. We see that God provided His
own Son to be the propitiation, that means of forgiveness for
His people. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him,
that those looking, when they shall look to the Son, should
not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved." And that's John 3, 16 and 17. And that's
beautiful. It shows us that Christ is the
only Savior. For all men, Jew and Gentile,
there is no other Savior. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so, he was sent here to do this work. You know, some wonder,
well how do you know? How do you know that He is salvation? What makes you... to trust Him,
because again, those who have no grace, they refuse this. They
won't hear this word that Christ is all, but we're speaking according
to the testimony that God has given to us. And there were men,
people expect us just to hear them and their opinions, as though
they're the word that we should be listening to. But every man
has his own opinion, and every woman has their own opinion. But God has written his word,
and he showed us that this is salvation. His Son, Jesus Christ. And so people will ask, well,
how do you know? What's your confidence? Well,
the men that we're reading here, the men that we're looking at,
they were there. They handled him. They saw the
Lord Jesus Christ. As John opens up his epistle,
1 John chapter 1, he says, For the life was manifested,
and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that
eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto
us. That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you. that ye also may have fellowship
with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his
Son, Jesus Christ." Alright, that was John. And Peter says
the same thing. He says in 2 Peter 1, verses
16-18, he says this as well. that we've not followed cunningly
devised fables. We haven't done this. We haven't
given up our livelihood, forsaken family life and all the people
we knew in our neighborhood and the relationships that we have.
We haven't forsaken them for cunningly devised fables. If
Christ didn't rise from the dead, we'd have gone back to fishing
for fish out on the lake. We would have just went back
to what we were doing before. But because we've seen Him, We
stay here. We testify to you. We're declaring
to you what we've seen because we can't help. We're constrained
by the power of the Spirit in us, whereby we now speak and
proclaim this very word of salvation to you. To this day, we continue
preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, we've not followed
cunningly devised fables when we've made known unto you the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. What are you talking about, Peter?
For he, Christ, received from God the Father honor and glory.
When there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory,
this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And listen, it wasn't that this
man Jesus heard it and said, did you hear that? No, I didn't
hear nothing. No, they say, and this voice which came from heaven,
we heard. We heard the voice from heaven
that said, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.
Hear ye him. Don't look to Moses, look to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust him. And that's when they
were in the Holy Mount, the Mount of Transfiguration. So, these
men, they heard him, they saw him, they witnessed his divine
power and his workings there, and so they testified to us what
God has shown them. But what do we find with man? There's no sign that you could
show him. There's no word that you could give them. There's
nothing you could say or do that's going to convince dead man that
Christ is the savior of sinners and that he is the righteousness
of sinners. So man continues to refuse that
to believe what God has confirmed for us in his son Jesus Christ.
And so what does the Lord say? I'll refuse. I won't delight
in your man. You won't delight in my son? I won't delight in
your son. You refuse to hear that child that I sent? Then
I won't be a father to your children who have no father. And I won't
comfort your widows. So those fatherless and the widows,
those that should have pity shown to him, because he'll forsake
them because Christ is the everlasting Father. And what do we know of
Israel's fatherless and widows? It says right there, everyone
is an hypocrite and an evildoer and every mouth speaketh folly.
So they're not looking to the salvation, the one, the son and
the child that the Father sent. So he despises their fatherless
and their widows as well. Now a true widow is one, as Paul
wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 5, 5 and 6, Now she that is a
widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications
and prayers night and day. But she that liveth in pleasure
is dead while she liveth. These widows that were in Israel,
they were dead indeed. They weren't crying out to the
Lord. They weren't praying to the Lord
and supplicating the Lord and asking the Lord to help them
and to keep them and to provide for them and to be their husband. They just went on doing what
they wanted to do in the world and looking to themselves. So
God promised they'll have no mercy for me. You won't hear
my son, I'm not going to hear your son's cry. You don't delight
my son, I'm not delighting in your son's. And so that's the
wicked. That's what the wicked have coming upon them. And that
brings us to our final point. Look at Isaiah 9.18. you see Christ is the true peace
918 for wickedness burneth as the fire it shall devour the
briars and thorns and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest
and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke now we've
seen in the scriptures how that briars and thorns and thistles
those are all works of the flesh and we know that the Lord isn't
pleased with the works of the flesh it's not He said, men don't
gather, the way we know a false teacher is he said, do men gather
grapes of thorns or figs of thistles. Because otherwise, when you're
looking at good works, just outwardly religious works, the Pharisees
will put a lot of us to shame, right? Because you're looking
at an outward work, you're thinking, well, that's a pretty good work.
How am I going to know the true from the false by looking at
their works? And he said, well, the way you know who's a false
teacher is they look to the flesh to produce those works. Do men
gather grapes of of thorns and do men gather figs of thistles
or briars? No. But a false teacher will.
They're going to turn to the flesh and try and bring forth
righteous fruit from you. And that's how you know it's
a false teacher. That's what Christ is saying.
So here we see these briars and these thorns and they picture
that curse of the flesh which can produce no good or pleasing
work. What the Lord is saying is that
wickedness consumes you. So all your product, all the
product of the flesh, your briars and your thorns and your thistles,
they're all consumed with wickedness. He says, wickedness burneth as
the fire, it shall devour the briars and thorns. And that's
the shame and the folly of fallen man. He actually thinks that
his works are good. He thinks that they are pleasing
to God, and that somehow they speak well for him, that they're
weighed against the evil works he does, and that if he does
enough good things, it's going to outweigh the bad things, and
that somehow God is going to say, all right, that's close
enough. Come on in. You can have eternal
life with me. So he looks to his works and
justifies himself by these things. He thinks he's right. And he'll
stand and proclaim his works. And he'll even stand against
God and say God is a liar in defense of his own works and
in defense of his own righteousness. And he'll sooner say that God
is a liar rather than admit that his works are polluted and that
he's wicked and that he's worthy and deserving of hell. But sinners,
as we're shown, sinners that are taught of God, that are shown
that they're sinners, and shown that they have no works of their
own, but shown the light and the life of the Lord Jesus Christ,
they see, they confess, Lord, I'm a sinner. Don't judge me
according to my works, Lord, because I'm condemned if you
look at my works. See me in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Cover me in His blood. Wash me in the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ and receive me in His righteousness. Receive me
as His righteousness because Christ makes us righteous. We
are the very righteousness of God as Christ is righteous. As God sees His Son Jesus Christ,
so He sees us. That's how perfect and holy Christ
has made us. He's done all that work so that
there's nothing to fear because Christ is called in 9.6 the mighty
God. He does that work. You know,
the disciples of Mark 10, 27, when they were talking about
the rich man, and Christ said, it's easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved. And
they thought, whoa, you mean someone with all those reserves,
all that ability to do so much good, you're telling me that
they can't work salvation for themselves? That they, with all
their resources, they can't earn favor with God, but with all
the things that they can do with all their wealth? And they thought,
who then can be saved? And Christ said, He looked upon
them, with men it is impossible, but not with God, for with God
all things are possible. And so, That's because Christ
is the mighty God. He is our righteousness, and
he went to the cross, and he bore our sin and our shame in
his own body. Not that he's a sinner. He has
no sin whatsoever, and he never sinned against the Father, but
he so put away our sin. He bore the wrath and the judgment
of God and put away that sin forever so that God is pleased
with us and God is just to forgive us because Christ has washed
that sin away with the shedding of His own blood. He paid that
price to purchase us and to set us free from that sin. And so we read of Christ's accomplishments
in Isaiah 63. Isaiah 63, verses 1 through the
beginning of 3. And the Prophet Isaiah asks,
he sees this man coming toward him and he says, 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?
And then this one answers and says, I that speak in righteousness,
mighty, right? He's the mighty God, he's mighty
to save. And then the prophet asks, wherefore
art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that
treadeth in the wine fat? And Christ responds, I have trodden
the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me.
Verse five. 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." So our Lord, in his might and in his power, he wrought
salvation for us. He tread the winepress of the
wrath of God, which was our due. But He tread that and He did
that work perfectly for us and obtained eternal salvation and
righteousness for you, brethren. For you who hope in Him and don't
hope in your own works. You who are resting in Him. Though
you see nothing good in yourself, nothing pleasing about you, you
know your own heart, you know the filth and the wandering of
your heart and your mind and that over and over again. There's
nothing there that recommends you to God, but he's given you
hope and faith and to see the light of Christ and that he is
life and liberty and has delivered his people eternally, forever,
once and for all by his righteousness. He did that work for you, brethren. Now, the wicked, of course, they
don't hear it, they don't believe it, they don't receive it. And
it says in Isaiah 63, look at the second half of verse 3, Isaiah
63, 3. 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. 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. Even now the Lord
brings strong delusion upon this people so that they bite and
they devour one another. There's no peace in the earth.
As much as they try to establish a system and a form of man's
peace and man's government and whatever it is that they're trying
to work out there and the silliness that we see going on even to
this day. It's all just, it's not going to bring peace among
the people. And it says in Isaiah 9 verses
19 through 21, through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is that
land darkened. And the people shall be as the
fuel of the fire. No man shall spare his brother.
And he shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry. And he shall
eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied. They
shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm. Manasseh, Ephraim,
and Ephraim, Manasseh, and they together shall be against Judah.
For all this, God's anger is not turned away, but his hand
is stretched out still." going to perish in the judgment
of God, but the people of God, His children, were turned from
those works, were delivered from those works of biting and devouring
one another and destroying one another, as Peter records the
works of the flesh saying, we're to lay aside all malice and guile
and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings, because that's
how the flesh deals with things. The flesh tries to exalt itself,
over others and if you're better than that one they envy you and
they want to see you destroyed and they covet that which you
have and the glory you have and that's how the flesh works but
when you're not watching everybody and you're not trying to compete
with everybody you don't have to do that. You're happy if someone
has a gift and they're exercising that gift and they're blessing
the church. You're thankful for that and
you're rejoicing that. You're not envious. You're thankful
for what God has given you and the heart he's given you to serve
in that capacity that he's given you to serve. however it is,
that little bit, and you're thankful for that. And the reason is because
Christ, as we saw in 9.6, He's the Prince of Peace. He's worked peace with God, our
Father, so that He is our very peace. and he's the peace between
his brethren so that we want to be peacemakers as sons of
God because God makes peace with his people through the Lord Jesus
Christ. So I pray that all of us would
gladly be turned and let go of our own works of righteousness
and look at those gentle, soft waters that the Father has provided
in his Son. and that we would be satisfied
with those refreshing waters and see how Christ has fulfilled
all those things for us. So God isn't stripping us of
those things because we're delighting in the very One whom God delights
in, His Son, Jesus Christ. So the world, they'll be judged
and they'll have all those things stripped away from them because
they don't delight in what the Father has done. But His people
know and they rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord, we thank You
for Your mercy, Your grace in sending Your Son, but in opening
our eyes to see the light and the life of Jesus Christ. that
you have made him our very righteousness, the hope that we have, Lord,
and delivered us from sin and darkness. And Lord, bring your
people out of that darkness. Bring your people out of false
religion and hoping and trusting in this system of Antichrist,
whether it be through government or through false teachings and
lies. and false churches and false
gospels and all that wickedness, Lord, cause us to look to the
Lord Jesus Christ and be filled with his spirit. Lord, help us
to love you and to love one another. We pray for our brethren that
are sick and ill and not doing well. We ask that you would heal
them. Lord, comfort those that are troubled in mind and in heart
and anxious about things, Lord. Give us peace. Let Christ reign
in us, Lord. You say that you will keep them
in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on Thee. Lord, set our
minds upon Thee. We pray this in and ask that
you continue to send forth your gospel into all the world. We
pray this, you know, even use this group and those people here
that your sheep scattered throughout the world will be fed and ministered
to. We pray this in Jesus' name, our Lord and Savior. Amen.