Open your Bibles, if you would, to Isaiah chapter 40. We'll read verses one and two. The scripture declares, comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

Isn't that magnificent? It's magnificent. The name of the message is a fourfold message of grace. I'd like to bring four points out from the message of God's grace. Our great God is the one true living God. And he sovereignly exercises his will and his purpose and his supremacy however he wants. He's a being infinitely higher above the highest creatures on this earth and the things not seen too. He's Lord over all. He created all things visible and invisible. and he controls them all. He is the most high Lord God of heaven and earth. And he became a man. The word of God became a man. The one who by him all things consist. By the word of his power, he became a man.

The second person of the Trinity. And you know what? Our great God is not subject to anyone. And He's not influenced by anyone. We see leaders in this world, they're influenced by their advisors and all this to do something. They may do something good and they may do something wrong. God has no advisors. He is not influenced by anyone. No one. He is absolutely independent of anyone or anything, and he needs no one.

God does as he pleases. This is the God of the Bible. See, the God of man's imagination can't do anything unless you let him. But the God of the Bible does as he pleases. Only as he pleases. Always as he pleases. And know what? No one can thwart his hand. No one can say, what are you doing? And no one can stop his mighty hand of providence. No one. No one. None can hinder him or his work.

In his own word, the scriptures declare in Isaiah 46.10 this, my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. Now think about that as our salvation. It was according to his pleasure to save us, his will to save us. That's magnificent.

And then Daniel 4.35 says this, sums it right up, says, he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and in the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand.

Man thinks, oh yeah, I don't believe in God, I'm gonna go and do this. No, you're gonna do exactly what God purposed you to do. No. My. You see countries wanting to destroy each other. Why doesn't it happen? Because it's not God's will. My. We can pillow our heads on the sovereignty of God, can't we? Oh yeah. My oh my. When we speak of divine sovereignty, when we speak of our God being sovereign, we are proclaiming that God is God. That he can do whatever he wants. That's the God of the Bible.

People, oh, they don't like that. Because they say, well, what about me? What about what I want? That's just selfishness, isn't it? That's all that is. Self-righteous selfishness, and we are born with it. That's why we have to be born again. That's why.

God is God, beloved. As well in name as he's on the throne. He's the God over all. He's Jehovah, the self-existent one. And he's on the throne right now. And you know what? He's never left that throne. My there's never been a time when God's not been in control Think of that he was on this earth our great king My but yet he's still divine isn't he he's the God man.

Oh my And you know what scripture says and in Ephesians 111 I love this it says that He works all things after the counsel of His own will. After the counsel of His own will. In other words, He does whatever He wants to do. Oh my! Because He's God. See, God wouldn't be God if He couldn't do whatever He wants, He wouldn't be God.

See, somehow, and it's how we're born. We're born wrong. We're born sinners. We're born sinners, and we don't think we're that bad. And then we get a little religious. And then someone says, well, God wants to save you, but he can't unless you come to him.

And we think, oh, OK, then I'll just say this prayer, and I'm good then, according to what they're saying. According to what a man says, this is good, but not according to what God says. It says this, after the counsel of his own will, he does whatever he pleases. So if you're saved, if you're saved, it's all because of the counsel of his own will.

Because he planned to save you, he purposed to save you, and he executed your salvation when he sent the Christ here, sent the Lord Jesus Christ to save us from our sins, and the Holy Spirit applied it to us. It's glorious. It's glorious. And it's all through, the salvation is all through, the one true living God who's our savior. In the Old Testament, he's called the Messiah. He's called the Messiah in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, he's called the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we see John 1.1 tells us, or John 1.14 tells us, the word of God, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. My.

John 1.1 says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Wow. God became a man? Became flesh? Yep.

And his name is the Lord Jesus Christ. And all those folks, all those folks in the Old Testament who the Lord saved were looking to the Messiah. We see Christ, who is the Messiah, dying for our sins on Calvary's cross. Oh, it's so glorious. And we're saved through his blood and righteousness. That's it. That's it. My. So we saw this portion I read there.

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord. Well, how can God's people, how can God's preachers comfort God's people? Well, only by the power of the Holy Spirit, right? And listen to this. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished.

We're not at war with God anymore. We've been reconciled to God, and that her iniquity is pardoned. We have all the forgiveness of sin through the precious blood of Christ. For she hath received in the Lord's hand double for her sins. Grace upon grace, beloved. Oh my. So in the response of the command to comfort God's people, this is what we preachers preach. Here's a fourfold message of grace. Perfect atonement. The Lord Jesus Christ accomplished a perfect atonement for the sins of his people. And you know what? It's finished. It's finished. There's nothing for you and I to do.

We just look to Christ and live. Just look to Christ and live. Isaiah said, look unto me, all ye. All ye nations of the world, right? Look unto me. Look unto the Lord. Look unto Christ. And we'll be saved. Oh my. He's the only Savior. That was speaking of the Messiah. That was speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. And think of this, the Lord Jesus Christ took our sins upon himself. They were imputed to him. They were transferred to him. And he paid for them, completely. He satisfied the just demands of God's holy law. And he put them away, beloved. Oh my. Redemption's accomplished.

How do we know? It's recompensed through the blood of Christ. Listen to this. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Our sins were imputed to Christ, and his perfect righteousness imputed to us. Glory be to God. It's wonderful. And then Hebrews 9 says this. But Christ, being come in a high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of the building, neither by blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us, is already done. Salvation's eternal, and he eternally redeemed us, beloved. God will ask nothing in exchange for our souls. It's all paid for. Oh, my. And then I preach this. Perfect righteousness.

See, man, we got a problem as men and women, right? Our righteousness is like filthy rags in the eyes of the Lord. We have every human being that's born on the top side of this earth and every human being that ever has been, ever will be, was born with dead nature, dead and trespasses sins. In anything we tried to do to gain merit and favor with God, was just garbage. Yeah, worthless. Worthless.

But I preach a perfect righteousness, an alien righteousness like the old timers used to say. You know why it's alien? Because it's not from us. It's the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man. So we're pardoned. were pardoned because Christ kept the law for us. He did for us what we could never do. Listen to this.

Cursed is he that continueth not in all things which were written in the book of the law to do them, Galatians 3.10. And then we read later that Christ redeemed us out from under the curse of the law. Oh my, praise be to God. Christ has finished salvation.

He bought in a perfect righteousness his righteousness He obeyed the law in our room in place he died with the wrath of God poured out upon him in our room in place You know he's bought in everlasting righteousness and perfect righteousness that we might be in the presence of God clothed in his righteousness.

Listen to this Romans chapter 3 verses 19 to 22. Now we know that what things soever the law sayeth it sayeth to them who are under the law. Well, that's everyone born into this world, isn't it? That every mouth may be stopped and that all the world may become guilty before God. People say I'm not a sinner. Yeah, you are. And you're just as guilty before God as anybody else. That's what the scripture says.

Therefore, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. See, the law can't save. All it does is condemn. You and I can't ever live a perfect life, because we're sinners. Everything we do is tainted with sin. So the scripture says this, and every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may come guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the laws and knowledge of sin, it reveals to us sin.

But it says this, but now the righteousness of God. Oh, praise God for the righteousness of God. That's what we're clothed in as believers. But now the righteousness of God, without the law, because Christ already fulfilled the law in our room and place, is manifest, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, because they spoke of Christ, right? Who did the law and the prophets speak of? They spoke of Christ.

Oh my. even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, look at that, unto all, and upon all them that believe, for there's no difference. We are now clothed in the perfect spotless righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, it's wonderful. My, the next point is perfect imputation. Christ has given us light, life, and understanding of the gospel. by the Holy Spirit of God. And now we see and receive the imputation of his righteousness to us by faith in him.

Christ's righteousness is not imputed to us on the basis of our faith. Nope. Nope. But upon the basis of Christ's faithfulness. On the basis of Christ's work as our representative. And this imputed righteousness is received by faith. And it's God who clothes us, beloved, in this perfect righteousness. Righteousness is imputed to us without works. And it's unconditional, irrevocable imputation. God will never take it away. Listen to this, Romans chapter four.

This is beautiful. Even as David also described it, the blessing of the man whom God imputed righteousness without works. Oh, this is my look into Christ. Oh, it's wonderful. So many people here in this world trying to get away, trying to do something. Oh, religion says, got to do this, got to do this.

Scripture says, even as David also described it, the blessedness of the man, the blessings of the man, unto whom God imputed righteousness without works. That's wonderful. That's wonderful. Saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

Hallelujah. Oh my. And the last point is that I preached to you perfect liberty. Perfect liberty. Since justice has been satisfied, since the law has been honored by the Lord Jesus Christ and fulfilled, And righteousness has been imputed to us. God's elect are completely freed from all possibility of condemnation. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, listen to this. Romans chapter 8, if you want to write it down, verses 1 to 4. This is wonderful. Listen to this. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the law and spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son, the Word of God. God incarnated in the flesh, in the likeness of sinful flesh. He's bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, and yet He's sinless. And for sin, He came to save His people from their sins. And what did He do by saving us? He condemned sin in the flesh.

Oh my. that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not of the flesh, but after the spirit. Hallelujah, what a savior. We have perfect liberty, beloved. We are freed from the law. Oh my. Oh, and now we desire to serve our king, don't we? Oh, we love him. And we love him. And you know what?

Where there's no debt, there's no liability. Where there's no sin, there's no curse. Where there's no guilt, there's no fear. Where there's no fear, there's perfect freedom, perfect liberty. My, let us live in this one liberty that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. resting to Him, resting in Him, looking to Him, who is the author and finisher of our faith. Praised be the Lord Jesus Christ, our wonderful, merciful Savior. Amen and amen.