Now, let's turn back in our Bibles
to Isaiah chapter 63. The title of this message is, Christ
Alone, Mighty to Judge and Save. Christ alone, He alone, is mighty
to judge and mighty to save. Now, I'm just going to deal with
the first few verses of this chapter, the first nine that
Brother Jim read, but you might notice in verse one, it comes
in the form of a question. There are two questions posed
in the first few verses. Verse one says, Who is this?
Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from
Boazrat? And then in verse 2, it says,
Wherefore, or why, art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments
like him that treadeth in the wine vat? Gospel commentators
are not divided over who this prophecy is about. And that shouldn't
surprise us, because anyone who looks at God's Word with the
eye of faith knows that this is truly a prophecy of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Messiah. the promised Messiah who comes
to judge, both to judge and to save. But now these commentators
are divided over another matter. They are divided over whether
or not the fulfillment of this prophecy in Isaiah 63 refers
to his first coming to save his people from their sins or his
second coming to judge the world. for its unbelief. But now, I
believe if you'll read that whole chapter, even the first nine
verses, there is judgment. There's pure, plain, unmixed
judgment here. These issues and symbols that
are brought here, look at verse 4, for example, the day of vengeance
is in my heart, he says. And then right after that, look
at the next line in verse 4. He says, the day of vengeance
is in my heart, and he says, the year of my redeemed has come. That's redemption. That speaks
of Christ as Redeemer. So you have vengeance and redemption. You have justice and mercy. So
I'm not just trying to take the easy way out when I tell you
that I believe that it's referring to both. both his first coming
and his second coming. I believe there is language in
this chapter that prophesies of Christ who comes as the Redeemer,
mighty to save, and Christ who will come as the Judge, who is
mighty to wreak vengeance upon all his enemies. We're going
to look at it from both viewpoints, and I want to show you what I
mean by that. Now, the first six verses are an identification
of the who here. That's an identification of the
Messiah. And then the next verses that
we'll look at tonight are an identification of his people. So let's look at this. Look at
verse 1. He says, Who is this? It's almost like a dialogue here.
The question is posed, and then the question is answered. 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 here is the answer, I that
speak in righteousness. That is judgment there. And he
says, mighty to save, mighty to save. Now, of course, as we've
already said, this is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is both Judge and Savior. And the issue here is that He
alone, not you, not me, not His Church, not the Twelve Apostles,
not any body of ecclesiastical authority, it is Christ alone
who saves His people from their sins, and it is Christ alone
who will judge this world for their sins. Now listen to the
symbols here. He mentions a place called Edom.
What is Edom? Well, Edom was an actual place,
but Edom became a type, a picture, a symbol of the earth. The word
means red, the red earth. And it's speaking specifically
of the fallen world. It's speaking typically of the
enemies of God. That's what Edom is. It represents
and typifies the hostility of the world against Christ and
His Church. And so you may ask, how in the
world can you say that Christ came from Edom? Well, Christ
Himself in His humanity came out of the earth. In His humanity, He was the seed
of woman, born of woman, identifying with His people, And even though
he himself had no sin, knew no sin, did no sin, contracted no
sin, he still identified with his people in every way, in sinless
flesh and blood. And he came out from among his
people in that sense. He himself was judged for his
people. And that is his redemptive work.
That's the salvation that he came to accomplish, and he's
mighty to save. And we always have to remember
that when we speak of Christ as being mighty to save, we're
speaking of him as God-man, as the mediator, the one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. But also, when
he returns, he'll come out of Edom again, for he will go into
Edom, into the earth, and he will judge this world. for his sins. And that's something
that we as believers can rejoice in, not in the judgment of the
world for their sins, but in the fact that He separated us
out in Himself as our substitute and our surety. And we can honestly
and assuredly and with comfort and in good conscience, as cleansed
by the Spirit of God and His truth in the new birth, we can
say that we have already been judged for all our sins. Now that's a concept that this
religious world does not know and does not want to accept.
You see, people take delight in thinking about others being
judged for their sins. And when they speak of themselves
being judged, it's always for their goodness. But let me tell
you something, we have no goodness in ourselves. And if our sins
are not already judged, now listen to me, here in this year of 2009,
January 2009, if your sins have not already been judged and paid
for on the cross of Calvary, you're in for trouble. Now, that's
so. Your sins will be judged in yourself,
and you will be found wanting. You'll be weighed in the balance
and found wanting. So here's this Savior, this judge
who comes out of Edom with dyed garments. Garments dyed red from
the work that he did. And he says from Basra. Now Basra
was the capital city of Edom. The word Basra means crushed
grapes. And then he goes on. He says
this is glorious apparel. Christ is presented as coming
triumphantly up out of this earth. up out of this fallen world,
up out of Edom, having accomplished the redemption of his people."
And he says it, traveling in the greatness of his strength,
for it is by his power and his power alone, he's the arm of
God's power. And it says, I that speak in
righteousness, everything that he did was true and right and
just. There was no loopholes in the
law here. There was no getting around it.
There was no interpretation. It was just pure justice poured
out upon him on the cross of Calvary for the sins of his sheep. And he drank damnation dry. And
that, therefore, we can say he's mighty to save. What does that
mean? That means he saved his people
from their sins. He didn't come and try to save
anybody. He saved his people from their sins. That's the gospel
of the cross. That's nothing but the blood.
No one but Him. That's our foundation and our
hope. His garments were dyed in Edom, dyed red in Basra. His apparel is glorious, for
He came forth from the... He died on the cross, was buried,
but He came forth from the grave in a glorified spiritual body.
His strength is great. He is able to deliver thee. He's
able to save them to the uttermost that come unto the Father by
Him. Paul said, I know whom I have believed. I know who this is.
That's what Isaiah is saying here. I know who this is. And
I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. His
strength is great. He speaks in righteousness. For
he speaks righteousness of justice against all sin. But you know,
that's good news to the people of God. Why? Because we have
one who stands in our place who is mighty to save. He's able. He's mighty to save. And then
here comes the second question, verse 2. Now, wherefore art thou
red in thine apparel? Now, when he said up here that
with dyed garments, garments dyed red from his work, from
the work that he was doing, or he did. So why are your garments
red? Why is your apparel red? And
thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine fat, like the person
who treads the grapes. and the feet and the clothes
and everything turns red. Why is that so? He asked. Well,
here's the answer. Look at verse 3. I have trodden
the winepress alone. He alone now. He trod the winepress. And of the people there was none
with me. I think about our Lord going to the cross when everybody
forsook Him, even His disciples forsook Him. They ran. They were
scared. They were human. They were men
like us. Weak vessels. And he stood before Pontius Pilate,
he stood before Herod, he stood before the people, and you know
what? He was alone. He didn't have anybody speaking
for him. He didn't have anybody defending him. All Pilate could
do is try to wash his hands of the whole mess, and that didn't
work. He stood alone. He said, I have trodden the winepress
alone. In referring to his redemptive
work, that's so true. Of the people, there was none
with me. He says, for I will tread them in mine anger." He
goes on, "...and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall
be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment."
As he was alone in redemption, he stands alone in judgment. For he alone is worthy to judge.
He alone is able to judge. Now, he stained his garments
in the winepress of the wrath of Almighty God when he died
on the cross in our place as our substitute. Well, He's coming
again to tread the winepress of wrath when He comes to judge
the world and bring the wrath of God with Him upon all who
refuse to bow to Him. He that believeth not shall be
damned. So, in a sense, we have both here in these two verses
both redemption, mercy for God's people by which His own garments
were stained by the precious blood that He shed on Calvary
under the judgment of God, under that vengeance that God took
out upon Him for us, but we also see his own garments as a judge
stained in the vengeance that he'll take upon people who stand
without a mediator, who stand without Christ. Here's the point. He alone does it. He alone. Look at verse 4. He says, For
the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed
is come. Turn to Galatians chapter 4 with
me. Now, when we speak, Again, of the day of God's vengeance,
we can speak of that as the day of when Christ died on the cross
as our substitute, as our sin offering. And it was a day of
vengeance that God appointed. This is what the book of Galatians
speaks of here in Galatians 4. Look at verse 4. He says, But
when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His
Son, made of a woman. Now, that's His sinless humanity,
His incarnation. And it says, made under the law.
That's His covenant responsibilities for His people. In other words,
all of salvation, all the requirements of God for our salvation were
placed upon Him. He was made under the law. Why?
To redeem them that were under the law. You hear me say quite
often that everything that God requires of me, I find fulfilled
completely in Christ. And this is what that's teaching.
Now, why did He do that? That we might receive the adoption
of sons. That we might be brought into
the Kingdom of God. But go back to Isaiah 63. We
can also speak of the day of vengeance, God's vengeance against
all His enemies in the end. He's coming to judge the people
in righteousness, the Scripture says. That's why now is the day
of salvation. That's why He commands all men
everywhere to repent, because He's appointed that day. when
he will judge the world in righteousness by Christ. Look at verse 5 of
Isaiah 63. He says, And I looked, and there
was none to help, and I wondered that there was none to uphold.
Therefore my own arm brought salvation unto me, and my fury
it upheld me. Now this is not speaking in the
sense of Christ being bewildered or anything like that. It is
simply another way to show how salvation and judgment is accomplished
by him alone, by himself. And he says in verse 6, 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.
Our salvation will be complete when Christ comes the second
time and at last destroys all his enemies and all our enemies.
Turn to Revelation 19. Many people say this is a parallel
to Isaiah 63, and it may well be. But always remember this,
when God reveals the sure and certain judgment of all the enemies
of Christ and His church for their sins, it's always in the
context of mercy that's already been given in Christ on the cross. It's always that way. He'll never
leave us in despair. He'll never leave us walking
away wondering, well, Am I going to go to heaven or am I going
to go to hell? There is assurance of salvation for God's people
in Christ. And it's all based upon his shed
blood and his righteousness imputed. Look at Revelation 19. Look at
verse 11. We studied this. He says in verse
11, I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse. And he that sat
upon him was called Faithful and True. Now, who is that? That's
Christ. He's the only one that that can
be said of. And in righteousness, He doth judge and make war. In
other words, when He judges and makes war, it's going to be in
a righteous way. Not being unfair to anybody. God's going to give everyone
what they deserve. You say, well, what do I deserve?
Well, if you have Christ, He's your just desserts. He's your
worthiness. And He says in verse 12, His
eyes were as a flame of fire. On his head were many crowns,
and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And
he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, those garments
stained. And his name is called the Word
of God, the Logos. In the beginning was the Word.
And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white
horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean." That is the
righteousness of Christ imputed, accounted to. And out of his
mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations,
and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the
winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he
hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of
kings and Lord of lords." That is his second coming. Well, I
believe Isaiah has that in mind, back here in Isaiah 63, even
before Christ came the first time. You see, the second coming
of Christ is not just exclusively a New Testament doctrine. It's
an Old Testament doctrine. But they never viewed the second
coming without being assured and comforted by his first coming,
his redeeming work. I'm afraid that many people today
are so focused on His second coming, they think, in their
ideas and their searches and in their books and their figurines
and their charts, that they've missed the One who has already
come and really don't think much about what Christ accomplished
on the cross of Calvary. But let me tell you something.
This is One who is mighty to save. Don't ever forget that. He's mighty to save. But he's
also mighty to judge. My friend, without Christ, there's
nothing but judgment and condemnation and damnation for sinners. Well,
as he identifies himself as one who is mighty to judge and to
save, look at verse 7 now of Isaiah 63. Here he identifies
the people, his people, the ones whom he saved mightily. The ones
whom He has already judged in Himself on the cross. Look at
verse 7. He says, I will mention. Now,
this is the prophet speaking now. And after this great revelation,
he says, I will mention the loving-kindnesses of the Lord. Now, you know when
you hear these words of judgment and vengeance, and you hear them
in light of His mercy and grace towards us, we who are so undeserving,
of anything good from God. It only makes sense to the spiritual
mind to focus on the loving-kindnesses of the Lord. His loving-kindnesses. What is that loving-kindness?
Well, it's simply what it says. It's not complicated. It's God's
love and God's kindness towards his people in Christ. That's
what it is. And don't you love to think about
that? You know, a lot of people think
about a lot of things. Turn over to Jeremiah 9. This is one of
my favorite passages in the book of Jeremiah. Look at Jeremiah
9. You know, you're going to spend a lot of time thinking
about what you value and what you glory in, what you boast
in. And look at verse 23 of Jeremiah
9. It says, Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom." There are people who have wisdom of things in
the world, things, how to get along in the world, whether you're
talking about economics, whether you're talking about mechanics
or whatever, and that's a good thing to have. But is that your
glory? There are people who know how
to tell people, they can tell people things about how to to
organize their time and their lives. They're marriage counselors
who have some good advice to married couples who are having
trouble. That's their wisdom. But is that
your glory? He says, let not the wise man
glory in his wisdom. Neither let the mighty man glory
in his might. There are people with power physically,
power in authority. I heard one preacher say if God
hadn't saved him, he'd have been nothing but a CEO of a major
corporation. And you know, really, that's
the way we ought to look at it. What a step down from a sinner
saved by grace to being a CEO of a major corporation. That'd
be a step down, wouldn't it? And so he says, let not the mighty
man glory in his might. There's nothing wrong with being
strong, but is that your glory? Let not the rich man glory in
his riches. You may have many riches, but is that your glory?
He says in verse 24, look at it, "...but let him that glorieth
glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me." Now somebody
says, well, we can't understand God. No, we cannot fully. Our little old puny, finite minds
cannot grasp the infinite panels of deity in any shape, form,
or fashion. But here's what we can understand,
what God wants us to understand. That's what we can understand.
Here's what we can know, what God wants you to know. He'll
let you in on exactly what He wants you to know and wants you
to understand. And here's what He's talking about. Listen to
it. He says, that I am the Lord, that's Jehovah, our salvation,
saved by grace, who justifies the ungodly in Christ, which
exercise what? Loving kindness. His love and
His kindness. Where am I going to find God's
love and kindness? Here we're reading in Isaiah. I know we
read about He's mighty to save. He redeems His people. Then He
talks about a day of vengeance against sin. And I'm a sinner.
Where am I going to find that loving kindness? Not but one
place. Who is this who comes out of
Edom and bothers Christ? That's it. And He says, but now
listen now. It doesn't stop with loving kindness.
There comes another word there in verse 24. Look at that. Judgment. There's got to be judgment. You
know why? Because God is just. God is holy. God must judge according
to truth. And there's either going to be
judgment of your sins at the cross or judgment of your sins
at the end. One is salvation at the cross.
The other is condemnation forever and ever and ever. And he says,
and righteousness. Remember, he said, I come forth,
I speak in righteousness and am mighty to save. And he says,
in the earth. This is going to happen in the
earth. This is not just some pie in the sky hope. This is
going to happen. And it did happen in the fullness of the time.
And that judgment that's going to declare before the whole universe. that all the enemies of Christ,
all who refuse to bow to Him, all who refuse to submit to His
righteousness, that judgment, there is a particular day that
it is coming in the earth. He called it the day of vengeance.
And then he says, For in these things I delight, saith the Lord.
Look back at Isaiah 63. Look at verse 7 again. I will
mention the loving-kindness of the Lord. Now when he says mention,
He doesn't mean just mentioning as a side note. That doesn't
mean, well, I'm going to go through my life and every now and then
I might make a mention of it. No. It means that it's on his
mind and heart all the day long. I mean, he's consumed with it.
Somebody said he's eat up with it. I want to be consumed with
the loving kindness of the Lord and the praises of the Lord.
Now, if you know the loving kindnesses of the Lord, then you'll praise
Him. You'll worship Him. And he says,
according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us, all that
God has given us, what has God given us? My soul, we could spend
days and days, well, I'll tell you what, we'll spend an eternity
talking about it and never get to the end of it. Number one,
and this is all, this is, well, you might say this is all the
numbers he gave us, his son. And if he spared not his own
son, how shall he not with him freely give us all things?" And
then he says, "...and the great goodness toward the house of
Israel." Now, that's spiritual Israel. That's what he's talking
about. "...his elect out of every tribe and nation, which he hath
bestowed on them." Why? Why did he do it? Well, look
at this last line here. according to His mercies and
according to the multitude of His loving kindnesses." It's
mercy. It's grace. As I say so often, I hope you
don't get tired of hearing me say this, we don't deserve it
and we cannot earn it. That's what it means. It's according
to His mercy. I'm going to tell you something,
as one old preacher said, anything this side of hell is mercy. Isn't
that right? It's mercy. And that's why He
made us mercy beggars. And then God's goodness is measured
to us by His immeasurable, electing, redeeming grace and mercy in
Christ. That's how it's measured. It's
not measured by how much you have or how much you lack or
how much you think you ought to have. It's measured by His
mercy in Christ. If you want to measure the depth
of it, the height of it, the width of it, look at Christ. And there's your measurement.
the son of his love. He said, this is my beloved son
in whom I am well pleased. And yet he sent him to a cross
to die for my sins and the sins of all his people. And then look
at this. Look at verse 8. Now, this is
an amazing thing. And I want you to turn to a verse
here that I've referred to just recently, but I want you to look
at it again. It's Hebrews chapter 2. And let me read, go to Hebrews
chapter 2 and have your finger there. And then let me read this
in Isaiah 63, 8. For he said, now this is Isaiah
63, 8, and then we'll jump over to Hebrews 2. Now listen to this. For he said, surely they are
my people. Surely They are my people, or
literally, surely, they, them, these, my people. Now, that's a full statement.
For first of all, there's an assurance of salvation there.
Surely, they're my people. How can he be so sure? I'll tell
you how. He's God in human flesh. Somebody said all he has to do
is say it and it's done. No, all he has to do is think and
it's done. Think of thought. Surely, And then he says, they,
now who are the they? Sinners saved by His grace. Some
of them whom the world is ashamed of. Some of them who ought to
even be ashamed of themselves. But he says, surely they. What
are they? He says, my people. My people. I own them. God chose them. He
justified them in Christ, Christ redeemed them, and the Holy Spirit
brought them into the kingdom by the power of His grace. And
there he is. And he says, children, that will
not lie. Now, what's he talking about
there? Well, hold on to that thought. Let me jump over to
Hebrews chapter 2 first. There's a passage here, verse
9, what the Apostle Paul, whom I believe the Holy Spirit used
to write Hebrews, is saying here, he's saying that we have such
a salvation that is so glorious that we ought to listen to what
Christ says. Somebody was talking about it
this morning, saying how our Lord said, well, why do you call
me Lord and do not the things that I tell you to do? So many
people like that. Lord, keep us from being like
that. I mean, if we're a follower of Christ, be a follower of Christ.
Don't just call yourself a Christian, you see. And he's saying here
we ought to just be so engulfed in the grace of God and in the
love of His truth, the love of Christ, the love of His people.
And we ought not just take it for granted. And one of the things
that he uses to motivate us to do that is the assurance of glory.
Now, we don't know much about glory. I know a lot of preachers
write books about it and all that. I met a fellow in Cincinnati
one time who wrote a book on heaven. I would never try to
write a book on heaven. I mean, listen to me, we just
don't know that much about it. There's not that much in the
Scriptures for a man to write a book on. It's something we'll
experience and I know it's more glorious than anything we could
ever describe or imagine. And so when we look around on
this earth and we go through our lives and we're We're having
our troubles and our despairs and our problems and our victories
and our defeats and all of that. We just don't see much out there
to give us any hope, any assurance, any peace, any comfort. But look
at verse 9. Here's what we do see. Listen
to this. He says, but we see Jesus. We see Jehovah, our Savior. That's
who we see. And you know what? He was made
a little lower than the angels, Paul said. But God has put all
things in subjection under his feet. Now, you may look out here
and you may see an out-and-out rebel. And you say, well, now,
how could he say that that man's put under subjection under Christ's
feet? Well, let me tell you something. He is. Now, he is. It may not look like it to you,
but he is. Christ is sovereign. He's on the throne. So he says
in verse 9, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death. In other words, he
was made human. He took into union with himself
a perfect humanity, made lower than the angels. The angels are
higher than humanity. The elect angels. But Christ
was made lower than the angels. Why? For the suffering of death.
He had to die. God must be just. Sin deserves
and demands death. So he did that. Now, we see him
not in a grave, not in a tomb. Folks over there looking for
his tomb, they think they found it, and they make a lot of money
off of it. But they haven't found his tomb. I don't care what they
say. And even if they do found it,
it's just a hole in the ground or a hole in the wall. It's nothing.
We don't see Him in atonement. Here's what we see. For the suffering
of death, crowned with glory and honor, He's on the throne.
You understand that? He's on the throne right now.
How do I know that? God's Word says He is. That He, by the grace
of God, should taste death for every man. Now, you know people
take that every man and they go to universal atonement. And
they say, well, see there, Christ died for everybody. That's not
what that's saying. That's every one. Man's not even
in the original. But every one. Every one of who?
Now, he begins to identify his people. Now, that's what Isaiah's
doing over here in Isaiah 63, beginning at verse 7. He's identifying
the people of God. He says, surely they're my people.
And then he says this. Now, he says in verse 10, For
it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory. That's who the everyman is. The
many sons he brings unto glory. That's who he tasted death for.
I'll tell you exactly who he tasted death for. Every son that
ends up in glory. The many sons. And then he says,
look on, he says, to make the captain of their salvation perfect
through sufferings. Now that doesn't mean that Christ
started out morally imperfect and then was made perfect by
what he did. That word perfect means complete. And what that
means is that the work of Christ on earth was completed by the
things he suffered. He went through the suffering,
soul suffering, and he completed the work. He said it's finished.
And that's how he was made the captain of our salvation. And
then it says in verse 11, look here, Hebrews 2, for both he
that sanctified, that is set apart, and they who are sanctified
are all one. Who is the everyman? all who
are set apart in Christ, for which cause, now listen to this,
he is not ashamed to call them brethren. I camp there quite
a bit, because I really don't understand how he can not be
ashamed of me, because I know myself. But you know what? You know how he can not be ashamed
of his brethren, sinners? He is glorified in their salvation.
You see, He is exalted in our salvation. And so He says in
verse 12, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in
the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. That
is who the many sons are. That is who the everyman is.
His brethren unto whom He declares His name. That is the preaching
of the gospel by the power of the Spirit. And they are the
church. And he can go on. Well, look
back at verse 8 now of Isaiah 63. He says, children that will
not lie. Well, now let me ask you this. What does that mean? Even as
a sinner saved by grace, have you ever told a lie? Well, if
that means that these children never lie, then that means you're
not one of the children. Is that right? That would disqualify
me, too, incidentally. So don't think I'm preaching
down to you tonight. What does he mean, children that
will not love? What he's talking about is this. He's talking about
children to whom he has declared the name and glory of God, who
know their sinfulness and their depravity. They make no pretense
about that. I'm a sinner. I deserve nothing. I've earned nothing. I have no
hope, no plea, no assurance, no salvation, no righteousness
but Christ. If I have anything that is godly,
it's mercy and grace. That's it. My pedigree doesn't
bring me anything. My works do not bring me anything. My determinations to do better
didn't bring me anything. My church service, church affiliation,
my baptism, it means nothing as far as attaining or maintaining
salvation. I have one plea. Christ died
for me. That's an honest heart. That's
a convicted heart. That's a sinner seeking mercy.
That's what he means. You see, those who come before
God seeking salvation or any part of it based on anything
but the blood and righteousness of Christ, That's a lie. That's
a lie. That's Satan's lie. But these
children don't lie. I'm a child of my Heavenly Father
by grace. And it says in verse 8, so He
was their Savior. This is evidence that He saved
them from their sins. Well, look at verse 9 and we'll
close. He says, in all their affliction, He was afflicted.
When Christ's sheep are afflicted, do you know He's afflicted too?
because they're one. This shows his compassion, his
love, and his care for his people. And it says, the angel of his
presence saved them. That's Christ himself. That's
the messenger of the presence of God. For in him dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And it says, in his love and
in his pity he redeemed them. Not only did he redeem us at
the cross by his precious blood, but he continually delivers us
out of problems and out of trouble. Do you know that? He's not stopped
redeeming us in that sense, in deliverance. And it says He bears
us. That means He carries us. He
carried them all the days of old. He's carrying you right
now. He's carrying me right now. We
sometimes think we're just on our own out there in the wilderness. But no, no, He's carrying us. He bears us up. We're His sheep. We were lost. He went out and
got us, brought us into the fold. He put us down in the green pastures
of His truth by His Spirit. And sometimes we'll act like
a dumb sheep, and He puts up with that and His pity, and He
delivers us out of that. And sometimes when we seek to
go off on our own astray, He bears us up, brings us back in.
He's carrying us all the way. And you know what He'll do? He'll
carry His sheep all the way to glory.