Isaiah chapter 42. We speak lots of times about
salvation. Indeed, the Word of God says,
the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. when Jonah had
been swallowed by a great fish. He said just before the fish
vomited him out on dry land, Jonah said, salvation is of the
Lord. What is this salvation? Do I have an interest in it? Am I a possessor of this salvation? And who is it that has brought
this salvation about? Where did it originate? Well, this salvation is a salvation
from sin, because we're all sinners. The Scripture says in Romans
chapter 3, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. It says in Romans 6 and 23, for
the wages of sin is death. The wages of sin is death. All have sinned and the wages
of sin is death. What kind of death? Well, physical
death. On top of that, we're born in
spiritual death. And unless God saves us by His
grace, we'll have to face eternal death. It's a salvation from sin. What does the word salvation
mean, preacher? Rescue? Deliverance? Deliverance from sin. That's
what I want. Don't you want that? I want salvation
from sin, from every effect of sin. From every effect of Adam's
transgression. We know from the Scriptures that
this man, Adam, who sinned back in Genesis chapter 3, he stood
as a representative man. And in Adam's failure before
God, We all became sinners. Wherefore is by one man sin entered
into the world, and death by sin. And so death came, or death
passed, upon all men, for that all have sinned, that is, all
sinned in Adam. We need to be saved from sin.
And the thing of it is, sin holds us in bondage. We're prisoners
to sin, to our sinful lusts, to our sinful affections, to
our sinful hearts, to our sinful imaginations. God said in Genesis
chapter 6 as he viewed the world, he said that every imagination
of man's heart is only evil continually. And we've got to be rescued from
that. And such is our sinfulness, you understand, and the spiritual
death that we are born with, the condition we're born in,
we have no ability to save ourselves from sin. And we have no ability
to save ourselves from Satan. We know from the Word of God,
Satan is a roaring lion. And He goes about seeking whom
He may devour. And we know that His will is
stronger than our will. In fact, we read in 2 Timothy
chapter 2 that He holds all men captive at His will. I've got
to be saved from Satan. Why, Satan would have me to be
doomed forever. Satan doesn't want me to hear
the gospel of God's grace. He doesn't want us to hear the
message of redeeming blood. He doesn't want us to hear the
message of imputed righteousness. He doesn't want us to hear the
message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Crucified to satisfy
God's law. He will do and He does do everything
He can to keep us away from the gospel. We've got to be saved
from Satan. We're no match for Him. We're
not up to that task. He's the enemy. He seeks the
destruction of our souls. We've got to be safe from sin.
We've got to be safe from Satan. We've got to be safe from the
curse of God's law. You see, having broken God's
law, and all of us have broken God's law, We've already established
all if sin. What is sin? Here's a biblical
definition of sin. It's the transgression of God's
law. And the law of God finding us
to be transgressors, why it holds us accountable. And I'll go back to that passage
in Romans chapter 6, the wages of sin is death. That's what
the law says. The law of God says the soul
that sinneth shall die. God said to Adam back in Genesis
the second chapter, in the day ye eat thereof you'll surely
die. And the law of God says you've
got to die. You're a sinner, you've got to
die. The law of God holds us captive. It has arrested us. The law of God has taken us in
and the law of God says, you've got to pay to the utmost that
I demand or you're not going to go free. The law of God holds
us ransom. We've got to be saved from the
curse of God's law. When you read in the newspaper
of somebody who's committed some awful criminal act, don't you
say, I'll tell you, he needs to be punished to the full extent
of the law. That's what I say. I read of
a murderer or a rapist. Somebody has committed armed
robbery. And, you know, of course they
get all dressed up when they go to court, you know, and here's
this young man, let's say, who commits the crime, and they put
a suit on him, and his mother's back behind him, and she's crying.
The lawyer says, this is a mother's son right here, show him mercy.
But wait, wait, he's a criminal. What should be done with lawbreakers? Well, they need to be And they'd
be punished according to the letter of the law. Well, what
about God's law? What about the fact that we've
broken God's law? Those who have broken God's law,
those who have transgressed against God's law, don't they deserve
to be punished? And when you say, yes, they deserve
to be punished, well, you're condemning yourself. And you
must condemn yourself. I do know this about salvation. When God is dealing with a man
or a woman in mercy and in grace regarding the salvation of their
souls, He will bring you to take sides against yourself to take
sides with God. You'll condemn yourself and you'll
say, finally, God is just if He damns me. I'm a sinner, I'm
a rebel, I'm a lawbreaker. The law of God has held me for
ransom and I deserve to be punished to the full extent of God's law. What's that? That's everlasting
damnation in hell. That's what we deserve. Is that
right? You know that's right. You know that's right. We talk
about sin. We categorize sin. Little sins
and big sins. Here's a white line. Here's a
dark line. We categorize all these things.
God just says we're sinners. We're sinners. Every sin is a
transgression against God's law. Every sin is an act of rebellion
against the Holy One of Israel. And every sin must be punished. We need to be saved. We need
salvation from sin. We need salvation from Satan.
We need salvation from God's law. But we can't save ourselves. There's nothing we can do to
bring about our own deliverance. And to add to that awful condition
that we're in, not only can we do nothing to remedy the situation,
we don't want to. We don't even have a desire to. You see, that's why salvation
has to be of the Lord. He has to bring about the deliverance. The Lord has to bring about the
rescue. The Lord has to work the The
restoration of the sinner. He has to bring the sinner unto
himself. But wait! God's holy. God's righteous in all of His
ways. Here we are, we're the, well,
we're the worms of the dust. We're vile creatures. The Lord
said, your sins and your iniquities have separated you from Me. There's
a vast distance between God and us and we can't bridge the distance. It's such an awful distance.
We can't span that distance. There's no work you can do. There's
nothing you can contribute to bring yourself into good standing
with God. Well then, must we all perish? Must we all go to hell? No. Let me tell you about the origin
of salvation. Go back before the foundation
of the world. So this is where the scripture
takes us. The origin of salvation, you
know where it's found? In the very heart of God. in
the everlasting council chambers of the Almighty, when nothing
and no one existed save God Himself and the Trinity of His persons.
And in that glorious meeting of the Godhead, Father, Son,
and Spirit, God made a covenant. God entered into a covenant with
Himself. What is a covenant? A legal binding
agreement. If you enter into a contract
with somebody, you probably go to a notary, get it notarized,
make it legal. It's a legal document. You've
entered into a contract. Well, God entered into a contract
with Himself. It's called the covenant of grace.
It's called the everlasting covenant. That's a contract. A legal binding
agreement between the three persons of the Trinity. God the Father,
Son and Spirit. The Father, He ordained salvation. He chose the Savior. It says
here in Isaiah chapter 42 and verse 1, God says, Behold my
servant whom I uphold, mine elect, mine elect. Christ be God's first
elect. He's the first one God chose.
He chose His own Son to be the Savior of sinners. Before there
was ever a sinner, there was already an appointed Savior.
Before we ever fell in Adam, we were rescued and delivered
and really saved forever in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Back
in old eternity. God chose the Savior. God chose
a people to be saved. Out of every nation, kindred,
tribe and tongue. God chose the means of this salvation
by the substitutionary sacrifice of His own Son. The death of the Son of God.
But wait, the Son of God can't die. He's God. He's the Great I Am. He is forever. He's the Eternal One. He can't
die. Therefore, he's got to agree
in that covenant to be made flesh and dwell among people. And he
agreed to do that. Well, who did he agree to come
into the world to save? All those that the Father gave
him in covenant grace, in electing mercy. And the Spirit of God,
the Spirit of God agreed that in time he would bring the gospel
message To these whom the Father chose, whom the Son would redeem.
And in that covenant of grace, God gave a commission to His
Son. And in Isaiah chapter 42, this commission
is set before us. God gave to His Son this awesome
responsibility. The responsibility for the salvation
of all of His people. God ordained for him to be the
Savior and God gave him a commission. God laid this responsibility
upon him. Those whom God would save, they
would fall in Adam's transgressions and be unable to save themselves. Who shall rescue them? Who shall
save them? Who shall redeem them from the
curse of the law? Who shall pay their sin debt?
Oh, the Son of God said, I will come. He not only volunteered
to come, but He was chosen of God to come. He was chosen of
God to be the Redeemer. And God sent Him. God called
Him. Here's His commission right here.
In Isaiah chapter 42 verse 6, here's God saying, I the Lord
have called thee in righteousness, I've called you. And I will hold
your hand, I'll support you. I'll be with you to strengthen
you in the days of your humiliation. I will be with you and I will
keep thee. I will preserve thee. I will
hold you up and I will give thee. I will give thee for a covenant
of the people. I will give you." Notice he says,
I have called thee and I'll give you. Who does he give his son
to? He gives His Son to these fallen
people. He gives His Son to these elect
people. He gives His Son as the seal
of the covenant. He gives His Son as the ratifier
of the covenant. He gives His Son as the surety
and the mediator of the covenant, whose blood sealed the covenant. His is the blood of the everlasting
covenant. And way back in old eternity,
before time ever began, God commissioned His Son. He said, I've called
you. And I'm sending you. When our
Lord Jesus came into the world in Hebrews chapter 10, he said,
Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. You have commissioned me, you
have sent me on a mission of mercy and grace, a mission that
involves the salvation of our elect. And our Lord Jesus was
the faithful Savior, the faithful Servant of Jehovah. Here in Isaiah
42 verse 1, He's called the Servant. He's Jehovah's faithful Servant. He rendered absolute obedience
to every law of God and every law of man. And then His ultimate
act of obedience was being obedient even unto death, even the death
of the cross. He is God's servant. What did
He come to do? He came to save His people. That's why He came. I know people
hold up Jesus Christ today and say, there's the perfect example. We need to follow His example.
Well, He is the perfect example. I have no quarrel about that.
Others say, you know, when you see Jesus dying on the cross,
He teaches us how to love one another. Well, His death was
an act of love, there's no question about that either. When you see Him submissive to
the will of God, people say, well, He is teaching us how we
need to submit to the will of God. Well, that's very true too.
But in His death, here's what the world misses. even the religious
world. This is what they miss. In the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ, right there is the redemption
and the salvation of His people. It's right there at the cross
that He washed our sins away and He brought in everlasting
righteousness freely and graciously imputed to His people. He did
that when He died. It wasn't just an act of love,
it was an act of saving love. when He died on the cross. Here
the Father commissions. He commissions Him. He says in
verse 6, I the Lord have called thee in righteousness. I called
you. And it was a call to which our
Lord was ready to give an answer and ready to render obedience.
God sent Him forth. He sent Him forth according to
Romans chapter 3 to be the propitiation for our sins. To be the satisfaction
of divine justice. You see, there was no other method
of salvation, no other method of redemption, no other way for
God to be just and justify the ungodly except through the bloody
death and sacrifice of the Son of God. You can't work for your
salvation. You don't merit your salvation.
You can't earn your salvation. You can't do better to get your
salvation. The only way sinners could ever
be saved was for Jesus Christ to save them and save them by
His own sacrifice. He had to do it Himself. The Father commissioned Him.
Go back over to Hebrews chapter 5 to that passage that Joe read
to us. Look at Hebrews chapter 5. In verse 1 it says, For every
high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things
pertaining to God. In things pertaining to God.
Is ordained for men. Now we know that our Lord Jesus,
He was commissioned. To be number one, the prophet. In the Old Testament, what did
the prophet do? He revealed the mind of God,
the will of God, the way of God, the Word of God. Our Lord Jesus
is the prophet. He was commissioned by God as
the prophet. That prophet who would teach
us of God's way of salvation, teach us who the Lord is. Teach
us of ourselves. He's the great prophet. The great
prophet. He was commissioned to be the
prophet. He's also commissioned to be
the high priest. In the Old Testament, what was
the job of a high priest? Well, he dealt with God on the
behalf of men. He offered God the sacrifice
for sins. That's what our Lord Jesus did.
Now we know that the sacrifices of the high priest in the Old
Testament could never put away sin. We read in Hebrews chapter
10, the blood of bulls and goats, they couldn't remove sin. And
the work of those high priests, it was a work done by feeble
men, men who were dying. Therefore, a high priest, he
would live and do his work and die, and another high priest
would take his place. He didn't have a continual high
priesthood. Not Aaron, not his sons, not
his grandsons. Those men had to be replaced. And they were sinful men. But
our Lord Jesus, He was commissioned not only to be the prophet, but
to be the high priest. He's the High Priest who was
chosen by God and commissioned to do the work of the Great Mediator. That involved offering the sacrifice
to God which would put away the sins of His people. And even
now He continually carries on His mediatorial work as our Advocate
in Heaven. And then he was commissioned
by God not only to be the prophet and the high priest, but he was
commissioned by God to be the king. To be the ruler. To be that one who would come
into our hearts and drive out the enemy and triumph. And establishes
his reign, he establishes his reign by his Spirit within the
heart of every one of his elect redeemed sinners. And He rules the world to fulfill
the Father's will and also to work all things together for
the good of His elect. He's commissioned by God. Prophet,
Priest, and King. And here He is in chapter 5 verse
1. Here's what the writer of the
Hebrews has in view. Especially now, the High Priest. He's taken from among men and
He's ordained for men. He's ordained for men. This tells
us the reason why and the purpose for which the high priest was
taken from among men. It was that He might transact
business on the behalf of others. When our Lord Jesus entered into
this world, and walked before God in exact obedience for 33,
33 and a half years. He then offered to God the sacrifice
for sin. He laid down his life is what
the scripture says. He said, I lay down my life.
I got the power to lay it down. I have the power to take it up
again. When he laid down his life as
the sacrifice for our sins, He did so because this is the only
sacrifice that would please God. It was the only sacrifice that
would satisfy God's justice. And He did it on the behalf of
others. He did it for our behalf. Listen,
He had no sins of His own. You take the Old Testament high
priest, you know as well as I do, on the Day of Atonement, before
he could offer a sacrifice for the sins of the people, he first
of all had to offer a sacrifice for his own sins. Because he's
a guilty man. But not so with our Lord Jesus.
He was the just dying for the unjust. Behold the sinless one. Behold the spotless one. He hangs
on the cross. He has no sins of His own for
which to die. He dies for the sins of His people. He dies for the sins of those
elect that God entrusted to Him in the covenant of grace. Those
for whom He was commissioned to come into this world. He dies
not for his own sins, but for our sins, which became his sins
by amputation. They were charged to him. And
he paid the full price that divine justice demanded for the release
of all the captives. And that, Ross, was the sacrifice
of himself. He was ordained for men. for
men. He transacted business for us. I can't deal with God, you can't
deal with God. God's a consuming fire. Oh, I
wish I could tell this bunch of religious people of our day,
even in this city in which we live, you don't know who God
is, you don't know what God's like. I hear preachers saying,
make your peace with God, do this with God, say this to God. You don't, God's not gonna listen
to you and God's not gonna speak to you except through the appointed
mediator. I saw Jesus Christ. If it were possible for you to
come to God as you are, you'd be consumed in His righteousness,
in His purity, in His holiness, which is beyond description.
We can't even begin to describe how holy God is because we don't
even know. We don't even know. Well, how
holy is God? He charges His angels with folly,
with foolishness. And the Bible says even the heavens
are pure in His sight. And what about us? We drink iniquity
like water. Now how are you going to come
to God? No, we need somebody to go to God for us. We need
somebody to transact business for God on our behalf. That's
what our Lord Jesus was commissioned to do in the covenant of grace. When He entered into this world,
He was fulfilling His covenant obligations. His covenant obligations. He was ordained for men. Watch
it. In things pertaining to God. In things pertaining to God.
Oh, listen. I have wonderful news for those
of you who have been made to see something of your sinfulness. There is one who has come into
this world, ordained for men, and he dealt with things pertaining
to God. And he took care of everything.
Isn't that wonderful? Somebody came and took care of
everything. And left nothing for you to do.
You don't add anything to his work. He took care of everything
pertaining to God. Before God, I have no debts. Before God, I have no liabilities. Before God, I have no impurities. Before God, I have no sins. Before God, I have no iniquities. Before God, I have no transgressions. Before God, I made the righteousness
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was commissioned to render
righteous obedience to the Father, and by that righteous obedience,
He has made me to be righteous. things pertaining to God, we're just fine. Because we had
a worthy substitute. And look at the second verse,
who can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are
out of the way? For that he himself also is compassed
with infirmity. You know, in the Old Testament,
the high priests of the Old Testament, they needed to have compassion
on the ignorant. They had to be men of pity. They
had to show some tenderness towards them who are out of the way.
Otherwise, they wouldn't be inclined to offer a sacrifice. But you
know, as you read through the Old Testament, sometimes you'll
find a high priest that he kind of got out of sorts with the
people. He wasn't so kind. He wasn't so pity. He didn't
show much pity. You know, when the Israelites,
the second time when they were thirsty for water, and the Lord
said to Moses and Aaron, speak to the rock. You remember what Moses said?
And Aaron was with him. And here's what Moses said along
with Aaron, must we fetch water for you rebels? That's not much
pity for those people. That's not much compassion. You're
a bunch of rebels. When 1 Samuel chapter 1, Hannah,
you remember Hannah prayed that the Lord would give her a son?
And the scripture says that one day she was praying and her lips
were moving, but she wasn't making a sound. And there's Eli, the
high priest. Do you think he's compassionate
toward her? You know what he said? Why are you drunk? Not much compassion there. Not
much pity there. He didn't show much tenderness
and love to her there. But our high priest, our high
priest, He has compassion on the ignorant. And that's us. You know who the ignorant are?
Literally, people who are in the dark. People who don't know. I'm so thankful He has compassion
on the ignorant. You know, here come the Pharisees
and the scribes and the Sadducees. They just prided themselves on
their knowledge. Their ability, their righteousness, and you
know what? The Savior had nothing for them. You know who He has compassion
on? The ignorant. My granddaddy bird used to say,
the ignorant. Ignorant. They're just ignorant.
And you know, that's the way we are. We just don't know. And we're out of the way. We're out of the way. All we
like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. The Lord has laid on him the
iniquity of us all. Thankfully, our Lord is a tender,
compassionate Savior. He has pity for us. He has pity
for us. Look at verse 3, it says, "...by
reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself,
to offer for sins. And no man taketh this honor
unto himself, but he that is called of God." That's where
I'm getting at. Go back here to Isaiah chapter
42. I, the Lord, have called thee.
Our Lord commissioned Jesus Christ, our Savior. He commissioned Him. He called Him. He called Him. In righteousness, this is about
righteousness. It's about righteousness. It's
about God who's righteous. And it's about His demand and
His requirement that we have righteousness. It's a message
about our inability to render righteousness or to make ourselves
righteous. And it's about the blessed Savior.
who came into this world. And by His substitutionary death,
He makes us to be the righteousness of God. We're made the righteousness
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. I've called thee in righteousness.
This is about righteousness. And the Lord says, I'll hold
your hand, I'll keep you, I'll give you for a covenant of the
people, for a light of the Gentiles. Look at verse 7. Open the blind
eyes. God has commissioned his son
to open blind eyes. Have your eyes, have the eyes
of your soul been opened? Have the eyes of your heart been
opened? Opened to see something of the
glory of God? Opened to see something of divine
requirements? Have your eyes, the eyes of your
soul, have they been opened? Have you been given sight to
see something of your own depravity? I know you haven't seen the full
extent of your depravity. Nobody could see that in standard,
I don't think. We've just commenced to get started
to begin to see our depravity. And what we do see, what little
bit we do see, is absolutely detestable to us. We're like
the Apostle Paul. I hate myself. I say, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Has He opened your blinded eyes
and has He shown you the glory of God in the face of Christ
Jesus? Have you got a glimpse of the
beauties of Christ, of the riches of His grace? Has God shown you,
have you seen who the Lord Jesus Christ really is. He's God and
He's man. Have you seen what He did and
why He had to do it? I tell you, He's commissioned
open blind eyes. Like Newton said in his great
song, Amazing Grace, I once was blind, but now I see. I see through a glass darkly.
I don't see everything perfectly, but I see enough, I think. God's given me eyes to see enough.
If you see anything at all, you're not blind anymore. I see Him. I see my need of Him,
don't you? I see my need of the Savior.
I see why He had to die. I see why he had to be the sacrifice
for sin, because I couldn't save myself. I see my blinded eyes
had been opened. He was commissioned to open blind
eyes and he was commissioned to bring out the prisoners from
the prison. I was in prison and he brought
me out. Like Simon Peter when he was in prison there in the
book of Acts. And man, the gates just started opening. And every
open gate, he'd just go through it. And my goodness, you know
what he found? He was free! He was absolutely
free. If the Son shall set you free,
you shall be free indeed. He was commissioned to bring
the prisoners out of the prison. Out of the prison. I was locked
up in the prison, and I couldn't get out, and I didn't want to
get out, but He put within me a desire to be free, to be liberated,
and He opened the prison door, and He gave me the will to go
out and enjoy the freedom that I have in Christ Jesus the Lord.
He sets the captive free. And he was commissioned to bring
them that sat in darkness out of the prison house. I was in the dark. I'm not in
the darkness now. I'm in the light. I'm in the
light. I walk in the light. If we walk
in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one
with another. We have fellowship with God.
You can't have fellowship with God unless you walk in the light.
In the light of the truth. And this is the reason God did
all this. Look at verse 8. I am the Lord,
that's my name, my glory. My glory will I not give to another,
neither my praise to graven images. God says, this is about my glory.
Not about your glory. The fact that your blinded eyes
have been opened. The fact that God has opened
the prison door and He's brought you into liberty. You're not
going to be congratulated for that. You didn't give yourself
sight. You didn't give yourself liberty.
Nobody's going to pat you on the back. Nobody's going to say,
well it's about time you made your decision for Jesus. Nobody's going to say, well you
made the difference in your salvation. Absolutely not. We're going to
give God the glory. That's what He's ordained. That
He have the glory in salvation. He said, I'm not going to give
my glory to another. Would you try to take it? Would
you dare try to take God Almighty's glory? The majesty that is due
to Him alone, would you steal God's glory? God's people wouldn't dare. Would
say, to God be the glory great things He has done. We'll say
like the Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 1 when he talked about
the work of the Father and the work of the Son and the work
of the Spirit in salvation. It's to the praise of the glory
of His grace. He gets the glory. How do we know this is all going
to come to pass? Look at verse 9. Behold the former
things are come to pass. What God said would happen, they've
happened. And new things God says do I
declare. Before they ever spring forth,
I'll tell you about them. And here our Lord, our God is
speaking to His people back in Isaiah, hundreds
of years before the Son of God would come. 700, 750 years before He would come into
this world. And God says, this is what I'm
going to do. I'm going to send my Son. And He's going to do
this work. How do you know this is going
to come to pass? Because everything else God said would come to pass,
it came to pass. And that would come to pass too.
And guess what? It has come to pass. The Savior
has come into this world. And He has saved His people from
their sin. Salvation? It's of the Lord. It's of the Lord from first to
last. Oh, what a salvation! Oh, what
a great Redeemer who is commissioned and called by God to be our Savior,
to rescue us from every effect of sin. Well, let's sing a closing
song. Number 52, majestic sweetness
that's enthroned upon the Savior's brow.