to the book of Isaiah, chapter
63. Isaiah 63. We will read the first nine verses
of Isaiah 63. Who is this that cometh from
Edom, with dyed garments from Basra, This it 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 thine garments, like him that
treadeth 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, my own arm brought
salvation unto me, and my fury it upheld me. And I will tread
down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury,
and I will bring down their strength to the earth, I will mention
the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord,
according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the
great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed
on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude
of his lovingkindnesses. For he said, Surely they are
my people, children that will not lie, so He was their Savior. In all their affliction, He was
afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them. In His love
and in His pity, He redeemed them, and He bared them and carried
them all the days of old. Now the first few verses of this
text describes the work of our Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of
His chosen ones. How He purchased their redemption
completely by Himself. He said, I have trodden the winepress
alone. There was none to help Him. Then in verse 6 we read, And
I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them
drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to
the earth. But in this blessed verse 7,
we begin to read of hope. It says, I will mention the loving-kindnesses
of the Lord. That's what I've entitled this
message, the loving-kindnesses of the Lord. Where do we even
begin when we start to consider the goodness of God toward undeserving
sinners? Those who at one time despised
the very mention of the name of God. Those who were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. Those whose very mind was enmity
toward God Almighty. Those who were the children of
wrath, even as others. Those who, like dumb sheep, had
wandered away and were on a sure path to destruction. Those who
cried in their hearts, we will not have this man rule over us. Those who not only dwelt in sin,
but relished every single minute of it. Who took delight in cursing
and bitterness. Those of us who seemed to be
in competition with one another to see who could be the most
vile. Those who gloried in their depravity
and wore it like a badge of honor. and those who took pleasure not
only in defiling themselves, but leading others down the path
of destruction. Those who not only took pleasure
in debauchery, but enjoyed the hearing and telling of the vile
deeds of others. But also those who stood proud
in their own supposed righteousness, looking down on others who did
not in their mind measure up to their standard of goodness
and godliness. But before we look at how good
our God had been to us, before grace come to us and brought
salvation, I want to look at where we were when our Lord found
us. Turn with me to the book of Romans. Romans chapter 3. before we can really rejoice
in the loving-kindnesses of our God, I think we need to be reminded
of where we were when He found us. Starting in verse 10, Romans
3, As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. This speaks of the group that
I just mentioned who believed that in and of themselves they
had a righteousness which they could possess, and present to
God and be accepted by Him. But Isaiah 57, 12 tells us, I
will declare thy righteousness and thy works, for they shall
not profit thee. There's no merit, no value whatsoever
in our supposed righteousness. There's no profit in our so-called
good works. Verse 11 of Romans 3, there is
none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. The scriptures ask the question,
who hath known the mind of God or who hath been his counselor?
Now the puny mind of a mortal man can never understand anything
about the mind of the infinite God in this universe unless It
is given to him of God to understand those things. Now he makes that
clear, Bill just read, that his thoughts are not our thoughts,
and his ways are not our ways. There is none that seeketh after
God. Now men will seek after their
idea of God, of a God that they can bend to their will and manipulate. But because the true God is completely
incomprehensible to the carnal mind, there is none that seek
after Him. But after the Spirit comes and
gives us saving faith, 1 Corinthians 2.16 tells us how things change. It says, But the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth
all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath
known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him?" And then
Paul writes, but we have the mind of Christ. After we're given
faith in Christ, we begin to understand the things of God,
spiritual things. We're given a heart that seeks
after God. David wrote in Psalm 42, as the
heart panteth, after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after
thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God. Verse 12 of Romans 3, they are
all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable,
for there is none that doeth good, no not one. Proverbs tells us that there
is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are
the ways of death. Man's idea of salvation has just
the exact opposite effect of what he thinks it has. It does
not lead to life, it leads to eternal death. They are together
become unprofitable. The entire human race is counted
as nothing when it comes to supplying any righteousness that God will
accept. because there is none that doeth good, we're told.
No, not one. Verse 13 of Romans 3 says, Their
throat is an open sepulcher. This refers to what our Lord
taught His disciples about the things that come forth from a
man are the things that defile a man. Now, you can imagine an
open sepulcher would allow the stench of those rotting bodies
to escape and turn the stomach of anyone who passed by which
is a good description of the things that come out of the heart
of natural man. Our Lord taught us that all the
evil which comes out of a man proceedeth from the heart. Then this verse 13 tells us,
with their tongues they have used deceit. Now James described
this well when he wrote, and the tongue is a fire, a world
of iniquity, so that is the tongue among all our members, that it
defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of
nature, and it is set on fire of hell. And he also wrote, but
the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil, full of
deadly poison, which this verse 13 tells us that the poison of
asps is under our lips. Verse 14, whose mouth is full
of cursing and bitterness. are mouths that should be used
to praise God for His faithfulness. David wrote, for His faithfulness
to all generations. But sadly, before we come to
know the Lord, we do not praise His name, but rather curse it. When I look back at the times before our Lord gave me saving
faith, I blush at the things that came
out of my mouth, those things that originated from an unregenerate,
wicked heart. And sadly, because that old man
and that old heart still dwells in this flesh, I too many times
speak words that I ought not. James tells us that no man can
tame this vile tongue. And in verse 15 it says, their
feet are swift to shed blood, the history of mankind, is clearly
a history of violence and bloodshed. There's been war after war fought
over land and riches and trivial things that mean nothing in the
light of eternity. But natural man does not look
at things in the light of eternity, only in the here and now. And
further, history shows that much of the blood that had been shed
was the blood of martyrs and saints, killed because they did
not believe what those in power believed. They were willing to
die rather than give up that pearl of great price that we're
told is worth sacrificing all that we have. Verse 16, destruction
and misery are in their ways. What a perfect description of
my life. Before our gracious God stepped
into my path, and stop me on my mad dash to
hell. It says destruction is in their
way. This word destruction means to
end something by causing so much damage that it cannot be repaired
or it no longer exists. I was well on my way to making
that happen. I ran willingly toward destruction,
living a life that would have, in the end, completely annihilated
my existence, both body and soul. Misery was a state in which I
lived for years, a state of unhappiness and wretchedness, trying to fill
the void in my soul with every imaginable vice, partying with
friends who were just as miserable as I, but none of us were willing
to admit it. hearing of people that I knew
dying of drug overdoses, but confident that I was too smart
to let that happen. But in the back of my mind, knowing
that it could, my conscience was so seared that
I had no thought whatsoever to the God that I was offending,
living with my fish shoved in God's face and caring nothing
for the consequences. And verse 17 tells us, in the
way of peace have they not known, peace is described as a state
of tranquility or quiet, freedom from disquieting thoughts or
emotion, which was just the opposite of how I felt, living in a state
of constant turmoil. unable to find any solace in
any of those vices in which I so willingly engaged myself. No peace of conscience, no peace
of soul. And verse 18 says, there is no
fear of God before their eyes. Even though I had been raised
in a Baptist church and knew the things that I was doing were
wrong, my conscience at that time was so steered I couldn't
have cared less. There was no fear of punishment
or retribution. One thought and one heartbeat
away from an eternity of eternal damnation. And I went on my merry
way, not caring. My eyes were too fixed on pursuing
evil to give any thought to the God of this universe. So we have
seen our condition before our God did a work of grace in our
hearts before He bestowed His loving kindnesses upon us. The
Scriptures have much to say about the kindness of our God toward
vile sinners. In Titus chapter 3 we read this,
For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived,
serving divers' lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful,
and hating one another. But after the kindness and love
of our God and our Savior toward men appeared, not by works of
righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy,
he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of
the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through our
Lord Jesus Christ. This seventh verse of Isaiah, speaks of the mercies of God
and the multitude of His loving kindness. Now, our God is not
a miser. He doesn't divvy out things a
little at a time. The Scriptures speak numerous
times of His abundance of goodness, His exceeding greatness. And
He's able to do this because He's rich, exceeding rich, ridiculously
rich in mercy. in grace, in wisdom, in glory,
in forbearance, in goodness, in long-suffering. And He bestows
those riches on whom He will, and withholds them from some.
He told Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and
I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. And Paul
tells us in Romans 9, Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will
have mercy, And whom He will, He hardeneth. Now He hardens
the hearts of men, as He did to Pharaoh, so that it is impossible
for them to hear and believe the gospel. And it's His sovereign
right to do so. The God of this universe does
that which is right. And the religious world hates
that truth, the truth that God bestows mercy on some and withholds
it from others. but they can despise it all they
want. It is nevertheless true. Men like to think that they're
masters of their own fate, that they're going to get right with
God, or they're going to get their spiritual life in order
when they decide to. But the truth is, there's nothing
that you can do to get your spiritual life in order. The choice is
not yours, but God's. Now, you can reform your life,
in such a way that men and women will marvel at the change that
has taken place. And that's commendable. But don't
ever fool yourself into believing that a change of behavior has
any merit, any standing before a holy God. When the Spirit gives
life in the soul of a sinner, is there a meaningful change
that takes place? Because you're given a new heart,
a heart that loves righteousness and hates sin. Then in verse
8 of our text here in Isaiah 63, we read, For He said, Surely
they are My people, children that will not lie, We are His people because He
chose us in eternity past to be His people. Not because of
any choice on our part. Surely they are my people. Not
surely they will be my people if they make the right decisions.
But surely they are my people. His people from eternity past.
But we also read children that will not lie. But the Scriptures
tell us that we come forth from the womb speaking lies. So how do we reconcile this?
Paul describes it in Colossians 6.11. He says, after listing
those things, or those folks that would not inherit the kingdom
of God, he says in verse 11, And such were some of you, but
you are washed, You're sanctified, but you're justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus, by the Spirit of our God. This is how we can
be described as children that will not lie. It's talking about
that new man, that new heart that is given to us, that cannot
sin and cannot lie. But sadly, That new man still
shares his space with that old man who is nothing but sin and
can do nothing but lie, constantly warring against the new man.
Then the last word of this verse 8 states, so He was their Savior. When the Spirit brings that new
heart, that heart is more than happy to claim Christ as the
one and only Savior of sinners. We have no other hope. We need
no other hope. He is all-sufficient, we're told,
providing everything that we need to stand justified before
a thrice-holy God, perfect in righteousness. So He was their
Savior, it says. Before time began, He was, always
has been, our Savior. Not they will be, or I will be
their Savior, if they make the right choices. But He was and
always will be their Savior. Now, lastly, we read in verse
9 of our text here in Isaiah 63. Verse 9 says, In all their affliction
He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them. In
His love and in His pity, He redeemed them, and He bared them
and carried them all the days of old. Psalm 106. Turn there with me over to Psalm
106. I want to read a few verses. It speaks of the goodness of
our God toward the nation of Israel, but it can certainly be applied
to how the Lord deals with His redeemed. Psalm 106, starting in verse 42. Their enemies
also opposed them, and they were brought into subjection under
their hand. Before we were given faith in
Christ, we were in subjection to sin and to Satan. Under the bondage of misery,
all our lives subject to the fear of death as described in
Hebrews 2.15. Then in verse 43 we read, Many
times did He deliver them, but they provoked Him with their
counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity. Now we will
never know in this life the untold multitude of times that God's
pervenient grace kept us from death, from eternal ruin. We did not see the hand of God
in our lives, but as they say, hindsight is 20-20. And looking
back over my life before I was brought to a knowledge of Christ,
I tremble. At the times that I know of,
much less the times that I don't know of, that my life was spared.
But God delivered me from them all. But through all those times
and my unbelief, every hour, I live still provoking God. And this verse tells us that
as a result of that, of our sin, we were brought low in our iniquity,
brought to a place of utter despair over our lost condition when
we began to be awakened to the fact that we had offended a holy
God. But thank God the next verse
here tells us, nevertheless, He regarded their affliction
when He heard their cry. Our God is so good. When God
begins to bring one of His chosen ones to the place of repentance,
He gives them a heart to cry out for mercy. Whereas that publican
who smote his breast, knowing he had nothing to recommend himself
to God, and said, God be merciful to me, the sinner. And in verse
45 of this psalm, it says, and he remembered for them his covenant. and repented according to the
multitude of His mercies." This new covenant made with the spiritual
house of Israel, God's elect people, spoken of in Hebrews. Now, going back to our text in
Isaiah 63, verse 9 says, "...in all their
affliction He," speaking of our Savior, "...was afflicted." This
is described so well in that familiar text of Isaiah 53. Surely He had borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. Our afflictions became His afflictions
as He bore the punishment that was due our sins. He carried
our sorrows so that we would never know the unimaginable sorrows
borne by the damned in hell. And in the same way that our
afflictions became His afflictions, His righteousness now becomes
our righteousness. Blessed, blessed substitution. And then in verse 9 we read,
And the angel of His presence saved them, Now from the moment
that one of God's elect are conceived in the womb, they're overseen
by guardian angels, preserved until the time of love, until
the time that the Spirit of Christ brings them a new heart to believe
on Him who's altogether lovely. David said in Psalm 9.3, when
my enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy
presence. And in Psalm 91 we read, "...there
shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy
dwelling, for he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep
thee in all thy ways." Preserved from those things that would
have destroyed us before our Lord granted us salvation. And
this very text was quoted by Satan himself in Luke 4.10 when
he brought the Lord to Jerusalem set him on a pinnacle of the
temple, and tempted him to cast himself down. And we're told
in Psalm 103 that the angels of God excel in strength and
do God's commandments. Now, God doesn't send someone
to watch over His elect who are not able to carry out that task.
He sends angels who are exceedingly strong and more than able to
keep us from harm, both before and after we come to faith in
Christ. But as strong as angels are, both the angels of God and
those fallen angels, they are not strong enough to ever override
the purpose and the will of God when it comes to the saved sinner
ever falling from grace. Paul told us this in Romans when
he said, For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things
to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. So powerful is the saving grace
and blood of Christ that it is impossible for any sinner that
has been saved to ever be lost again. There is no force in this
universe that can make that happen. Then further in verse 9, it goes
on to say, "...in His love and in His pity He redeemed them."
This word, pity, means sympathy and sorrow arised by the misfortune
and suffering of another. because our God loves His people
with an everlasting love. He redeemed us with the blood
of His precious Son. Psalm 103.13 says, Like as a
father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear Him. But we need to remember, we need to always remember that
because God the Father chose to take pity on His elect people,
There was no pity, no mercy to be had for His Son when our sins
were found upon Him. God's justice is not overridden
by His love and mercy. Sin must be paid for. And that
payment for our sins was made by our Savior. Psalm 69, 20 tells
us much the same, speaking of Christ our Lord, He says, "'Reproach
hath broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness.' And I looked
for some to take pity, but there were none, and for comforters,
but I found none. Our blessed Lord died alone,
forsaken even of the Father, with whom he had dwelt in perfect
union for untold billions of millennia. Ezekiel 5.11 describes
the attitude toward God that God has toward those that sin
against Him. And it's a good description of
how God dealt with His Son when He was made sin for us. It says,
Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, surely because thou
hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and
with all thine abominations. Therefore will I also dismiss
thee, neither shall mine eyes spare, neither will I have pity." There was no mercy to be shown
the Savior when He was made sin for us. God took no pity on His
Son. as he hung on that Roman tree,
because by imputation, he deserved every bit of the wrath that God
poured out upon him, poured out without measure. The Scriptures
tell us that God is angry with the wicked every day, and I'm
sure that God has never been more angry than He was in those
three hours that He poured out His wrath on His blessed Son,
There has never been such a concentrated amount of sin punished at one
time as there was when Christ took upon Himself the iniquity
of us all. Ezekiel 7-9 gives us a similar
description of how God the Father viewed His Son when He hung between
heaven and earth, paying that awful price. It says, "...and
mine eyes shall not spare, neither will I have pity." I will recompense thee according
to thy ways, and non-abominations that are in the midst of thee.
And ye shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth thee." Our
Lord Jesus Christ knew who it was pouring out his wrath upon
him, which is why he cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? And verse 9 goes on to tell us
more of what God did for us, when it says, He not only took
pity, but He bare them, speaking of His people. I've already quoted
verse 10 and 11 of Psalm 91, but let me read verse 12. It
says, Speaking of the angels of God, they shall bare thee
up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
The protective hand of our God is carried out using His angels,
watching over us every minute of our lives. And then verse
9 says, and He carried them all the days of old. Like that good
shepherd that we read of who picks up that lost sheep and
carries it on His shoulders, so our Savior carried us by His
good providence all the days of our sojourn here. Both before
and after we came to faith in Christ, but this verse means
even more than that. When it says that our God carried
us all the days of old, it is speaking of Christ carrying us
in His heart. We've been in Christ from eternity
past, from, as this verse says, from the days of old. Unimaginable
hundreds of trillions of years ago, back to time immeasurable. We have been in Christ, carried
in His heart. There's never been a time that
we were put in Christ. We have always been in Christ. We love to talk of God's pervenient
grace in our lives, and it's certainly worth rejoicing over.
But we need to understand that God's pervenient grace in our
lives began with Adam. God had to preserve everyone
in our family tree. Think about this. From Adam till now, God had to
preserve everyone that we call our ancestors in order for us
to be born. Now if one person out of that
family tree had been removed, none of us would be sitting here
today. hundreds of trillions of circumstances that had to
occur or be kept from occurring so that we would be in this place
today, worshiping our Lord, and be made an object of God's free
and sovereign grace. God has directed all things for
our good and His glory from the days of old. So let me conclude
with the word of those sitting here, or we'll sometimes hear
this in the future. You've heard of the loving kindness
of the God that we worship, of His goodness, of His mercy, of
His grace toward His chosen. But the Scriptures also speak
of another side of this God, that He is angry with the wicked
every day, that He will by no means clear the guilty. You need to understand that this
God whom we worship is a God that you've offended by your
life and your sins since you were born. And outside of Christ,
there's nothing but judgment and wrath. But there is hope
for you, lost man or woman. Every one of us sitting here
today that know the Lord and become vessels of His mercy were
once as you are, without faith, and without the ability to believe,
but God in His grace did something for us that we could never do
for ourselves. He gave us faith to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. None of us are better than you.
None of us are smarter than you. None of us made better choices
than you. And once you're given that faith
to believe, you will find yourself believing on Christ. But there's nothing that you
can do to recommend yourself to God. But there are some things
that you can do to put yourself in a position
where maybe, just maybe, this God of all grace will show you
mercy. First, you can put yourself unto the hearing of the Gospel
of Christ crucified. The Scriptures tell us that faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. that preached
word of God, the hearing of how Christ died for sinners. Number
two, you can read the scriptures and seek the Lord in those holy,
inspired pages. And number three, you can plead
with God to show you mercy. You can be as that publican who
cried out, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Now, none of
these things will guarantee your salvation. But it is certain
that you will not come to know Christ without doing them. God's
Word tells us, seek and you shall find. May God grant you the grace
to seek Him with all your heart while He may be found. Bill,
come lead us in a song.