I want to read again in Isaiah
63, the verses that we looked at
in part last week. Beginning in verse 1, "'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, I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine
apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat,
I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there
was none with me, 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 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." We have been looking at this Great person that causes the
prophet Isaiah to ask this question, who is this? And I do believe
that he is the one, the same one that we read about there
in Revelation chapter 19. He is that mighty man of valor. He is the same one that Joshua
saw that day on the field of battle. And if you remember,
he was so astounded and impressed with this mighty man of valor. He asked, are you on our side
or the side of our enemies? And that glorious person responded
simply, I am the captain of the Lord's hosts." And he is without
a doubt that same one that Jacob called shallow that would come
out of Judah. And of the things he said about
him, he described him as having his garments covered with what
appeared to be that which comes from the winepress. But if you remember in those
verses there in Revelation chapter 19, the winepress is identified
there as the winepress of almighty wrath and fury. And this is none other than a
prophecy and a revelation concerning God's Messiah. This is the Christ. And rather than doing as some
do, avoiding and even saying that Christ is not to be found
in the Old Testament, We have to look in Luke chapter 24 and
other places and hear him say that all the prophets wrote concerning
him. This is a message. This is a
prophecy. This is a book. among all the books of the Bible
which are about the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you remember,
Isaiah has described Him as a victorious conqueror, and as surely having
gotten the victory. He is one who has accomplished
the victory, and he has done it single-handedly. He said, there was none to help
me. And that's what we find all throughout
this Bible, is that the victory that Christ accomplished is the
salvation of His people. And it is always, if you notice,
associated with blood. It is associated with his death. Because the Lord tells us early
on in the Bible, told those early patriarchs of the Bible, that
they were to not eat or drink blood for a reason. He said,
for the life is in the blood. And so what we find in blood
is simply life poured out, a life brought to an end. And this salvation
is accomplished by Christ through the blood of His cross. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. He saved us, the Scriptures say. But when Isaiah asked this question,
who is this? Who is this amazing, glorious,
and obviously victorious person? This person responds in a special
way by saying this in verse 1, I that speak in righteousness, I that speak in righteousness,
You see, the Scriptures tell us there in Hebrews 1 that God
hath in these last days spoken unto us in or by His Son. And He speaks in His Son, and
through His Son, He speaks a message of righteousness in the Lord
Jesus Christ. We hear a lot in our day about
God's love. We hear a lot about His mercy
and His grace. But isn't it amazing that he
says as he identifies himself, I that speak in righteousness. In other words, in all that Christ
has done in the salvation of His people, He has declared God
to be righteous. And that word righteous and righteousness
has to do with justice. When you go back to when Moses
is giving instruction to those judges that were to be ruling
in part over Israel, He told them to make sure that they weighed
everything accordingly, that they took no gift that would
confound their just judgment, but they were to deal justly
in all the matters that they decided among the people. They were not to treat a rich
man differently than a poor man. They were not to fix the scales
for one's favor at the expense of the other. He said, you weigh
everything and measure everything out accurately and truthfully,
for I am the righteous God. I am the righteous God." And
so the Savior is identified here by Himself as this One who speaks
in righteousness. In other words, in all He does,
He will be just. And not only that, but all He
promises, everything that he pledges and promises his people
in himself, that is exactly what he does. In other words, in Jesus
Christ, God is true to himself, and he is true and faithful to
his covenant people, And He is true and faithful to His Word."
You see, the gospel, the gospel that men talk about so much,
which is the gospel of God, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the gospel of His grace, the gospel of peace, all these wonderful
titles and names that he ascribes to his gospel. This gospel is
God speaking in righteousness. Turn over to Romans chapter 1,
and listen to what the Apostle Paul, who is certainly not only
the apostle of God and a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, but
used especially and particularly in his day and for our day. Listen to what Paul says is to
be spoken to all whether they be Jew or Gentile. Romans chapter 1 and verse 16. He says, for I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. I'm not ashamed of it. I'm not
ashamed to preach it. I'm not ashamed to lift it up
before you. He says, "...for it is the power
of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew
first, and also to the Greek." It is that dynamis, that almost
dynamo, if you would call it that, the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believes, whether they be Jew or Greek. But notice
the next line. For therein, in this gospel,
in the gospel of Christ, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the
just shall live by faith. That is, therein the gospel. is the righteousness of God,
which he gives as a gift, and which is received through the
faith that he gives. Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed." What does that mean? It means in the true gospel,
It is revealed how God, being who He is, not only infinitely
holy, and also just, how He could show mercy and grace to such
wretched sinners as we are. And the truth of the matter is,
If it cannot be shown in the gospel how He can be such, we
have no gospel. Because we need not kid ourselves
one bit. God is not going to change. He is not going to violate His
own character. He is not going to go against
His own words. He's not going to do anything
contrary to what He has already decreed and purposed just to
save us. So we ought to ask ourselves,
can we see in the gospel, in the message, in the Word, In
the things that we believe concerning God and His salvation of us,
can we see, can we hear the righteousness of God? Turn over also in Romans
chapter 3 and listen to what Paul says there concerning this
very matter. Here is this Christ of God first
identifying Himself as the One who speaks in righteousness. And if I were just going to bring
that down as simply as I possibly could, it is He who speaks and
tells us and shows us the only way that God could save such
as we are. Now listen to Paul in Romans
chapter 3. In Romans chapter 3, beginning
in verse 20, he says this, "...therefore by the deeds of the law there
shall no flesh be justified in his sight." No flesh. on any principle of our having
done anything in order to gain or increase the favor of God
in His sight, no flesh shall be justified by their doing."
As a matter of fact, he says, he says, for by the law is the
knowledge of sin. All the law can do is condemn
us. All the law could ever do was
find our fault. All the law given to Israel,
all it ever did was to show in that earthly people the necessity
of being saved by grace. He says, but now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested. Being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even in that law that was given, Though by that
law none were ever justified by God, but in that law, with
all its priests and sacrifice, there was shown the way a sinner
can be justified, by the sacrifice of blood." Even the righteousness of God
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe, for there is no difference whether they be Jew or Gentile
or male or female, no matter what it is. For all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. being justified freely by
His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood."
Now, I want you to notice the next part. to declare His righteousness,
to declare that God is right in saving those that He saves
because He has set forth or given Christ as the propitiation for
their sin, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at
this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." In other words, it
didn't matter whether it was Abraham in the Old Testament
or Paul in the New Testament. Whenever it is, whoever it is,
these who are brought to believe on Christ and to trust God in
Him for their salvation, God declares that He is absolutely
right to do it. because he has dealt with their
sins in his Son." He is right to forgive all in Christ of their
sins because he pays the debt of their sins. Alright? Look
over in Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. And it's amazing to me that the
apostle in this book of Romans, which is full from start to finish,
this absolutely essential doctrinal book, wherein he talks about
the righteousness of God, and how a sinner is made righteous,
that so many in our day, they have a big puzzle in their face
when you mention it. But now listen to Paul again. In verse 19, "'For as by one
man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous.'" Now he sets forth a principle
here. And the one by whom the many
were made sinners is Adam. but the one by whom the many
in him were made righteous is the Lord Jesus Christ. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound." People like to hear about grace, but they
don't want to hear so much about sin. But he says that grace abounded
in the matter of sin as it pertained to God's people. How in the world
could that ever have happened? Well, he says, that as sin hath
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign." Grace reign over. Grace conquer. How? Through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. In other words, I asked myself, which would I
rather have? Would I rather have somebody
just come along to me in my misery if I had a terminal disease or
if I had a debt that it was impossible for me to pay? Would I rather
have somebody real warm coming up to me and putting their arm
around me and patting me on the back and just saying, you're
going to be alright. you're going to be alright. Or
maybe have somebody just come along and say, well, just don't
worry about that death. Just put it out of your mind.
God loves you. Don't worry about that death.
Or would we rather have a hope that is built on the truth? And that's what righteousness
is all about. In all that the Lord said, and
especially in all the Lord Jesus Christ did, He spoke in righteousness. He did according to God's righteousness. As a matter of fact, in the psalmist,
the Messiah is speaking by the words of the psalmist himself
in Psalm 40 when he says, I have preached righteousness in the
great congregation, lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord,
Thou knowest. He said, I spoke righteousness. And those who truly preach the
gospel, they will preach that gospel wherein the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus is revealed and set forth. And if they fail
to do that, they can say what they want to. But it's not the
gospel. It's not good news to sinners
such as we are. Last week or the other week I
was preaching in the meetings in Kentucky and I dealt with
Noah every day. Brought five messages on Noah.
But of all that people remember about Noah, about him building
the ark, about this and about that and the other, so very few
know that in all those years, I think 120 years, while he was
in the building of the ark, he preached to his generation in the Spirit of God. specifically
describes Noah as a preacher of righteousness. A preacher
of righteousness. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
is that Savior who alone honors the Godhead in the salvation
of His people. So that God is right to forgive
them of all their sins, He is right to release them and pardon
them and set them free based on what Christ has done. And so sure is that that the
other side of that coin is this, He would not be right if He didn't. In other words, God as God is
right to charge the sins of His people to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is right to save them since
Christ has died in their room instead. But He wouldn't be right if one
of those for whom Christ died If one of those for whom he laid
down his life, if one of those that he redeemed by his blood,
if they perished and went to hell, he wouldn't be right. And not only that, but when the
devil comes to God's believing people, And He tries to show
us, as He so often does, all the many reasons how there can
be no way that we can be saved. How there's no way, since God
is holy and since we are sinners, there's no way that we could
ever have any peace or hope or assurance of salvation. When
all the enemies of God come against our soul, trying to convince
us of that very thing, there's just one place to hide. And that's
the righteousness of God in Christ. If Christ paid my debt of sin,
if He hung on that cross in my place, if He suffered that which
was due to me, then God is right. As a matter of fact, if you notice
this one who speaks in righteousness, it says that he is glorious in
his apparel. And the amazing thing is that
what we have described here is Christ who is both Jehovah's
servant and Jehovah's victorious King. Now whose responsibility
was it to tread in the wine press? In other words, they would get
in the wine press where the grapes were with their feet, and they
would stomp and mash and squish the grapes until they were mashed
down and all the juice was out, all the wine fat came flowing
out. Who did that? The servants did
that. That was the work of a servant.
And here is one who is described here in his glory as being a
servant, having tread the winepress of God's wrath alone, and yet,
at the same time, he's the victorious king. The blood on his garments show
that he has conquered every foe of his people. And He can announce
to them. He can proclaim to them. He can
send messengers on the earth to proclaim to them that their
salvation has been fully and completely accomplished. He has gotten them the victory. And so Christ spoke in His words
and in His works that God is righteous, that He cannot and
will not accept anything or anyone less than perfect righteousness,
that there are none of us in ourselves righteous, and that
God alone in Him gives this righteousness. You know, the Bible speaks of
a lot of gifts. of Christ Himself, thanks being
to God for His unspeakable gift. He speaks of the gift of faith,
that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. He speaks of
repentance, that is God, if God for adventure will give them
repentance. But you can read Romans chapter
5. and hear Him talk about the gift of righteousness. That righteousness that He imputes
to His people, that's His Word. He charges the account of Christ,
if you will, with all the sins of His people. But He charges
the account of those people with the very righteousness of Christ. They were made the righteousness
of God in Him. But it says here that He not
only speaks in righteousness, but it says that He also ushered
in the year of the redeemed. Look down at verse 4. Now, lest anybody should imagine
that sin will not be judged in those outside of Christ, that
the Lord Jesus Christ is not only the Savior's people, but
He's also the righteous judge. He says, "...for the day of vengeance
is in my heart." That's coming. That's a sure day coming. Just
as sure as the judge was raised up from the dead. But if you
look here, it says also, "...and the year of my redeemed is come."
The year of my redeemed is come. And when you look back over in
Isaiah 61, That year, that time is also
made mention of in Isaiah 61. It says that, "...the Spirit
of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek. He sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God." Now,
did you notice the difference in the order there? When will this Scripture, In
those first three verses of Isaiah 61, when will it be fulfilled? Who is it really talking about? Well, it's talking about none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you read Luke chapter
4, he read that same text when he stood in the synagogue of
Nazareth and he said, Is this scripture fulfilled in
your ears, your eyes? What does that mean? It means
when Christ came into this world, that period of time that is identified
by all these expressions, He ushered it in, the year of my
redeemed. In other words, between this
ushering in of the year of Christ redeemed and the coming of that
day of vengeance is what we might call the age of grace and mercy,
or the gospel age. When he stood in that synagogue,
He is declaring the acceptable time, the acceptable year of
the Lord. And that is a special time that
you and I live in right now, and will be until He comes again. Now, I know what we do. We spend most of our times griping
and complaining about the day in which we live. And it is a
wretched time in so many ways. And the Lord has already told
us, it's almost as if we hadn't heard a thing He said, He's already
told us, to see she from man whose breath is in his nostrils. If you're looking for help, salvation,
whatever, and you're trusting in a sinful creature just like
yourself, you have no hope. But in this time when the Lord
has already told us that men will wax worse and worse, that
in the last days there will be false prophets and all these
various things that are all going on right now at this very minute,
but nevertheless, this is the year of His redeemed. And everyone,
everyone, that Christ hung on that cross for, which was every
one that the Father loved and chose in Him and put in that
covenant before the world began. Every one of the redeemed will
be called mightily and effectually and brought to Christ in faith
before that time ends. That's exactly what he's talking
about when he says in 2 Peter 3 that he is not willing that
any of that people perish, but is longsuffering until every
one of them, every single one of them, is gloriously and eternally
saved. When Boaz went down to the city
gate, when he went on that mission, and you can read the book of
Ruth and you can sense the determination. You can hear Naomi say, he'll
not stop until he's done this thing. And you can count on it. This
victorious Savior will not rest. He will not diminish in power. He will not fail in any way to
save every one of His people. And it's going on right now.
There is a sense in which they were saved the moment God purposed
to save them. Who can stop Him? There's a sense
in which they were saved when Christ hung in their place on
the cross. But salvation is also spoken
of their being saved. They will every one. You say,
how do you know that? Well, in those descriptions,
did you see a handful of failing creatures falling behind Him? And though David in that cave
of Adullam had a few men with him, those few men are given
simply as descriptions of those that Christ saved. But when you
see this glorious, victorious Savior, there's a multitude behind
Him. And they're all clothed in fine
linen. And there's not one on the roster
who's missing. because their Savior has gotten
them the victory. Christ ushered in this glorious
day, and there could not be a better day. So I wish I lived in the
day when Christ comes. He tells us, say not that the
former day is better than this, Not only as a day individually
is concerned, but as an age. This is the day that the Lord
hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in
it." It's the year of His redeeming. And then look at what Isaiah
says about Him further. He says, He's mighty to save.
Isaiah records His words. Who is this? I that speak in
righteousness, Mighty to save. That is, He is always active,
always mighty, always glorious, traveling in the greatness of
His strength, mighty to save. Never tires, is always with His
people, always able to save, never wearies, never tries to
save. He's the same yesterday and today
and forever. If He's the Savior, then salvation
is His purpose. Salvation is His business. Salvation is His strength. And He's mighty to save. James said there's one Lawgiver
who is able to save and to destroy. He's mighty to save these, His
redeemed ones. He's able to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by Him. He is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the
power that worketh in us. Unto Him be glory in the church
by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end." Paul could have looked at his
situation, sitting down there in a prison, for preaching the
gospel. Sitting down in a prison with
no visible outward reason to have hope. Probably not given
enough food to even have enough strength if he wasn't in bonds
to walk out of the place. Why are you there, Paul? Why
do you suffer these things? because of the gospel. For the which cause I also suffer
these things, nevertheless I am not ashamed." And that word often
means disappointed. For I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed
unto Him against that day. Jude says, "...now unto Him that
is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless
before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only
wise God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and forever. Amen." Paul said he saved the
chief of sinners. He saves all kinds of sinners. He saves from all manner of sin. He saves His people from their
sins. This same prophet said of Him,
He shall not fail nor be discouraged till He have set judgment in
the earth and the isles shall wait for His all. So what do these things mean
to us? Well, I'll tell you what. I can tell you what it means
to me as a preacher of the gospel. It means that even though I'm
not mighty to save, couldn't even save myself, He's mighty
to save. It means that even though my
words are pitiful, His words are powerful. It means that the
success of Christ does not depend on me, but on Himself. And not only that, to those of
us who have lost loved ones and friends, co-workers, people everywhere
whose heart it seems like are steeled against the truth. People
who we feel like that maybe God just give them over. Not if they're
His children, He hasn't. It doesn't matter who they are.
It doesn't matter how hardened they are, how self-righteous
they are, how blinded in religious ignorance they are. He's mighty
to save. You say, we don't have any interest
in it. He alone can give them interest.
You say, they're so rebellious. He'll make His people willing
in the day of His power. And I'll tell you what it means
to a real sinner. I mean a real sinner whose heart
is burdened, who feels his guilt, who's found himself helpless
and weak and hopeless. He's mighty to save. Mighty to
save. You see, our problem is not in
that we're too hard to say, too bad to say. The problem is we're
too self-righteous to say. But He can save the self-righteous. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. What was Paul? All of
the above. Self-righteous. Taught against
God. Steeped in error. Bound in the
confines of a false religion. Zealous against Christ and His
people. And there he is riding down that
road to Damascus. As an old preacher once said,
God unhorsed Him. And if you're His child, He'll
unhorse you. He's going to have it. You're
His redeemed. Why fight against the arm that
would do you good? It's said of David that in a
conflict, It says, He got Himself a name. He got Himself a name
as being a mighty, victorious leader and captain. He made a
name for Himself. That's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ did in His life and death. He got a name for
Himself. He made a name for Himself. God
hath given Him a name. because of His obedience unto
death. He's got Himself a name that
is above every name. Can we see Him? Do we know who He is? Can we
rest in what He's done? He's mighty to save. Father, we thank You for Your
glorious Son, this One who speaks in righteousness,
mighty to save, who ushered in the year of Your redeemed, who
redeemed them by His blood unto Yourself. Lord, we pray that
this One who has saved us That He would, in our experience,
save us. That we might be saved. And give
us faith. Give us these eyes of faith by
which we behold Him as who He is. And as the one victorious in
the salvation of sinners. We praise Him this morning. We
thank You for Him. We ask all things in His name. Amen.