Open your Bible with me tonight
to the Gospel of Isaiah, Chapter 25. Isaiah, Chapter 25. Last week I gave you the highlights
of this blessed, blessed chapter. I wanna come back to it tonight
and perhaps again Tuesday night. Isaiah, Chapter 25. In these verses of scripture,
we have a prophecy given by the spirit of inspiration as he moved
Isaiah to write the words with clarity, a prophecy concerning
the gospel of God's grace and the salvation accomplished by
the Lord Jesus Christ as our substitute for us. But as is
the case commonly with prophetic scripture, It is a mistake to
limit the prophecy to one specific thing. Someone says, is this
talking about Christ's first advent or his second advent?
The answer is yes. For the salvation of our souls
will be complete when the Lord Jesus in the last day presents
us faultless before the presence of his glory. Everlasting glory
will be but the conservation of grace experienced in this
world. Heavenly glory will just be the
finishing of our salvation, the completion of redemption when
God has made all things new in the new creation. Without question,
this prophecy reaches both to our Lord's first advent and to
his glorious second advent, but it's all about God's great provision
of grace. The title of my message tonight
is Six Provisions of Grace. We'll be looking at Isaiah chapter
25, verses 6, 7, and 8. In preaching the gospel of Christ,
we proclaim to needy sinners the accomplishments of Christ
our Redeemer and the provisions of God's grace by Him. We do
so for the everlasting consolation of God's elect. Turn over to
chapter 40 of Isaiah for just a moment, Isaiah 40. This is God's word to every prophet. every preacher, in every part
of the world, in every age of time. Comfort ye, comfort ye
my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. The word comfortably is speak
to the heart of Jerusalem. Speak to the heart of my people. Speak to the heart of God's elect.
And cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. That her iniquity
is pardoned. For she hath received the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. When our Lord Jesus told us,
it is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away,
the comforter will not come. But if I go away, I will send
another comforter. And then he tells us directly,
immediately, how God the Holy Spirit comforts chosen redeemed
sinners. He convinces us of sin. Our sin because of unbelief.
Of righteousness. Righteousness finished by the
obedience of Jesus Christ, our mediator, our substitute unto
death. And of judgment. Judgment finished
because the prince of this world is judged. And that is the sweet
consolation of the gospel. And with that consolation, everything
else is all right. With that consolation, everything
else is all right. We were talking in the office
back there about Brother Scott Richardson a little bit, pastor
at Katie Baptist Church for 53, 54 years, and Fairmont, where
Brother Marvin is pastor now, most of you knew him. Brother
Scott used to say, there's been no bad news since I got the good
news. What a tremendous statement.
We have the sweet consolation of the gospel and there can be
no bad news for sinners to whom God Almighty has proclaimed righteousness,
peace, and forgiveness by the blood of Christ. Now, keep your
Bibles open here at Isaiah 25, and I want to show you these
six provisions of grace. First, in verse six, Isaiah speaks
of the coming of our Savior, the Son of God, and the accomplishment
of redemption by him, and tells us that in the time that Christ
comes, there should be a feast prepared. In this mountain shall
the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things,
a feast of wine on leaves, of fat things full of marrow, of
wine on leaves well refined. Now put your mark here and turn
over to Matthew chapter 21. I'm sorry, Matthew chapter 22,
Matthew 22. Our Lord Jesus gives us a parable.
parable by which he describes exactly what Isaiah is talking
about, a parable by which he describes the kingdom of heaven,
the spiritual kingdom of God which is his church in this world.
Matthew 22, Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables
and said, the kingdom of heaven is likened to a certain king
which made a marriage for his son. And he sent forth his servants
to call them that were bidden to the wedding, and they would
not come. He sent prophet after prophet
after prophet, but they would not come. And again, he sent
forth other servants saying, tell them which are bidden, behold,
I prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and
all things are ready, come unto the marriage. But they made light
of it and went their ways. But more important things to
do, one to his father, another to his merchandise. And the remnant
took his servants and entreated them spitefully and slew them. Religious folks, religious folks
take the servants of God and slaughter them. But when the
king heard thereof, he was wroth. And he sent forth his armies
and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. Seems
to me that is a clear reference to God sending judgment by the
armies of Rome upon Jerusalem when the city was destroyed in
70 AD. Then saith he to his servants,
the wedding is ready. But they which were bitten were
not worthy. How are men worthy to come to
this marriage? What is the worthiness they didn't
have? They thought They had no need to come. They weren't hungry. They weren't thirsty. They weren't
interested in the bride or the bridegroom. They weren't interested
in God the Father. Weren't interested in God the
Son and God the Spirit or his people. They lived totally to
themselves and they thought themselves good. Go ye therefore, verse
nine, into the highways and as many as ye shall find bid to
the marriage. As many as you shall find bid
to the marriage. Preachers, theologians, religious
leaders, love to build fences and defend the things they've
got fenced in and they want to get everything just exactly right
and they're scared to death of appearing to their comrades as
if somehow they've compromised things. I was talking to preachers
just this week, they asked me about some questions concerning
what's called the free offer of the gospel and what's called
preaching the gospel and fighting folks and some folks speak about
duty of faith. I said to him, I said, I've been
asked by men for many, many years now, some asked me to write a
book, some kind of pamphlet defending the free offer of the gospel. and others asking me to write
a book or pamphlet denying the free offer of the gospel, denying
duty of faith. And I said, I refuse to engage
in the controversy. He said, why? I said, because
I recognize that the gospel of God's grace is a command. The gospel is brought to a man
by the operation of grace. It's not an offer at all. I understand
that. But it sure sounds like a sweet, sweet offer. It sounds
like a sweet invitation. And I don't want to be numbered
among those men who preach the gospel, putting up fences and
barriers as if they're scared to death some of the non-elect
might get saved. Go out and command men, as many
as you find. Come to the marriage. You're
welcome if you wanna come. Come to the marriage, it's spread
for you if you wanna come. If you don't, that's your problem
forever, but you're welcome to come. My business and your business
as God's servants is to be in everybody, come to the marriage.
Verse 10, so those servants went out into the highways and gathered
together all as many as they found, both bad and good, and
the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came
in to see the guest, He saw there a man which had not on a wedding
garment. You see, that's the reason we
didn't wanna invite everybody. We'll get folks in the church
who weren't saved. Well, it won't be the first time. It won't be
the first time. You cast out the gospel net and
you gather good fish and bad. You cast out the gospel net and
you bring in folks who are believers and folks who just delude themselves
into thinking they're believers. What are you doing without a
garment? What are you doing here undressed? And he saith unto
him, friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding
garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants,
bind him hand and foot. Take him away and cast him into
outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. For many are called, but few
are chosen. if you have learned by the grace
of God your need of Christ. And if there is in you a hunger
of your soul, a hunger of your heart for him, his righteousness,
his grace, his salvation, if you believe on the Son of God
and feast at the gospel table, it is because you've not only
been called by the voice of a preacher, but chosen by God from eternity. God has not appointed us to wrath,
but to obtain salvation by Christ. Therefore, we come to the marriage.
The preaching of the gospel is described here in Isaiah and
throughout the scriptures as the spreading of a feast, a rich,
well-supplied banqueting table, a feast spread before hungry
sinners. The feast is prepared by God
himself. The guests who are invited are
all people, all people. Come to the feast, come to the
feast. I try to encourage folks to come
to church and sometimes folks would be shocked if I came in
church. We're doing good, come on in, be fine, be fine, you're
welcome. Not only welcome, but wanted,
wanted. All people bidding to come, Jews and Gentiles, black
and white, rich and poor, male and female, all people bidding
to come. And as many as ye shall find,
bid to the marriage. What a command. As many as you
shall find, bid to the marriage. I wonder what would happen. Brother
Rex, we will take that just plain literally. Every time you bump
into somebody, why don't you come go to church with me Sunday?
Why don't you come go to church with me Sunday? Why, people think
he's crazy. Try it. Wonder what God might
do. As many as you find, bid them
to the marriage. The place where the feast is
spread is in this mountain. This mountain is Mount Zion.
Not the physical Mount Zion, but that which is represented
in it. heavenly Jerusalem, not the Jerusalem that's above, but
that Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem, the Church of God. This is the place where the feast
is spread, here in the house of God. It is my business and
my responsibility every time I come here to have a well-prepared
feast for your souls. A feast of such things as you
need. A feast of such things as your
soul hungers and thirsts for. It is the responsibility of every
gospel preacher to do so. You ladies who take care of your
households, We tend sort of to have lunch sort of casual. Shelby
will ask me what I want for lunch. I don't care. She keeps Beanie
Weenies in the cabinet. She doesn't often fix me Beanie
Weenies, but we have them. We have them because we both
like them. And it doesn't take much trouble to fix it. But when
she gets to cooking, I'll start smelling things. What are you
fixing? What on earth are you fixing?
Because she is going to great trouble preparing to spread a
table for me. That's what a wife does. I am
required of God and it is my privilege as God's servant to
prepare to feed you. And it is reprehensibly irresponsible
for any preacher to stand where I now stand not having prepared
the feast for your souls. Now this feast provided is a
feast of the richest choice, fat things, wines, well refined. We know again, this is talking
about the gospel. I think I mentioned this to you
last week because in the Old Testament, the Jews, God's people,
were required not to eat fat. This is a spiritual fatness,
fat things, wine upon leaves, well refined. It's a feast of
fat things full of marrow. That means there is such an abundance
of grace in the gospel of Christ that whatever you need, whatever
your soul needs, you will find in him. Whatever you need to
get you through today and through tomorrow and through the week
and through the next, whatever it is that you need as you make
your pilgrimage through this world, you will find the nourishment
for your soul in the gospel of Christ. Feasting upon the gospel
is a feast that satisfies your soul and satisfies your needs. We feast upon fat things, things
of marrow, I direct your attention relentlessly to specific things. God's glorious sovereignty, the
character of God. Oh, what a feast. What a feast. and Christ's glorious accomplishments
as our Redeemer, perfect righteousness, complete atonement, and God's
gracious, wise, and good providence. Feast your soul, my brother.
Feast your soul, my sister, upon fat things, upon things of marrow,
of substance, things that matter, this gospel feast. is well supplied
with wine, a cordial to ease your heart. Turn over to Proverbs
chapter 31, I want you to see this. Proverbs 31, verse six. I wish I could stand in every
fundamentalist, strictly conservative, the church in the world and just
read this proverb. Proverbs 31, six, give strong
drink unto him that is ready to perish and wine unto those
that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink and forget his
poverty and remember his misery no more. What a cordial, what
a cordial. The strong drink and the wine
relaxes and eases. Now the wise man is not encouraging
drunkenness, obviously. But he's telling us that this
is a cordial for a man. This causes a man to kind of
forget the things that weigh so heavily upon him. This causes
a man to, at least for a while, forget his misery and his poverty. But there is another wine. The
wine of God's free grace. The wine of redemption. Drink
of this wine and forget your woe. Drink of this wine and forget
your trouble. Drink of this wine and always
be of a merry heart like David leaping and dancing before the
ark. The supper, the Lord's supper
that we're about to receive here together as we do every Sunday
evening. is a symbolic feast of these fat things, of wine,
wines well refined. Paul tells us to keep the feast. Well, it's just a little piece
of bread. It's just a little cup of wine. Keep the feast?
What's he talking about? Taking the bread and the wine
together as one body in Christ, we feast together upon the sweet
remembrance of him who loved us and gave himself for us. And
certainly, this is a prophecy. Turn over to Revelation 19. Revelation
19. This is a prophecy intended by
the Spirit of God to direct our hearts and minds to the marriage
supper of the Lamb at the last day. In the last day, when Babylon,
the beast, and the false prophet have all been cast into hell.
When all God's elect have been saved, when God makes all things
new, there's going to be a marriage feast held forever. A marriage
feast in which Christ will show to wandering worlds the glory
of his grace in his bride, the church. What a picture, what a picture. I well remember the day nearly
50 years ago when I took this woman to be my wife. And I remember
when they opened the doors, I'm standing up here waiting for
her to come down the aisle and she had on her wedding dress
and long train and a veil. But as exciting as that was,
as grand as that was, there was a better part to the wedding.
In just a few minutes, I walked out the door with the prettiest
woman in the place hanging on my arm forever. Now, the Lord Jesus, in the last
day, will parade his bride in his beauty. which he has put
upon us before wandering worlds, and we will feast with him at
the marriage supper. Say, explain that, Brother Dodd.
Well, if I thought I could explain it, I wouldn't try, but I don't
even think I could explain it, let alone, I don't understand
it, let alone explain it. But let's read about it. Revelation
19. After these things, I heard a great voice of much people
in heaven saying, hallelujah. Salvation and glory and honor
and power unto the Lord our God, for true and righteous are his
judgments. For he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt
the earth with the fornication, and hath avenged the blood of
his servants at her hand. Verse eight, and to her his bride
was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness, really
the word is plural, the righteousnesses of saints. And he saith unto
me, write, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, these are
the true sayings of God. Ultimately, this prophecy will
find its fulfillment in the everlasting happiness of God's saints when
we bathe in the river of life forever,
and drink of the waters of the river of life forever, and feast
upon the leaves of the tree forever, that gives life the gospel of
God's grace, revealing Christ our Redeemer. These things which
rejoice our hearts now, these things upon which we feast now,
these things that refresh our souls now, shall be the everlasting
enjoyment of God's saints in heavenly glory. Isn't that amazing? The everlasting enjoyment. We
will never weary of feeding and never weary of drinking. We will never weary of the refreshment,
feasting continually upon our Redeemer. All right, back here
in Isaiah 25, verse seven. Here the prophet speaks of a
veil removed and he will destroy in this mountain the face of
the covering cast over all people and the veil that is spread over
all nations. Let me say just a little about
this now and I'll come back to it, Lord willing. Men by nature sit in darkness. The darkness. which covers man. Religious men of every kind.
Irreligious men of every kind. They grope about in darkness. And for you who are believers,
when you hear them say things about God and redemption and
grace and salvation and worship and serving God and walking with
God and faith and heaven and eternal life, You probably don't
do this outwardly. You probably don't laugh in their
faces or break out crying. But inwardly, that's exactly
what's going on. You think, where do men get such foolish notions?
There's a veil over their faces. And they can't see. And they
can't understand. And every opinion they have is
an opinion they form for themselves in company with other men without
the light of God's grace. But when Christ comes and shines
forth, he is a light to the Gentiles, a light to all the peoples of
the world. And the light shines just as
it did with Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road, a bright shining
light. And God speaks from heaven and
folks around know something's going on but don't have a clue
what it is. The only person aware of what's going on is the one
speaking and the one hearing, laying in the dust, who cries,
Lord, what will you have me to do? The Lord Jesus is the light of
the world. He is the light of the knowledge
of God. The glory of God shines brightly
in the face of Jesus Christ. And it's our business to hold
forth the light. The means God uses to remove
spiritual darkness from men is the preaching of the gospel.
You turn on the light and darkness flees. We preach the gospel,
just hold out the light. And as God blesses the word,
darkness flees. The place from which the gospel
shines into the world is this mountain, the church of God. I don't think I will be at all
contradicted when I make this statement. I've made it before. Almost everybody I know believes
God will tell you God saved him, either as he was sitting right
where you're sitting now, or as a result of sitting right
where you are. Sitting in the house of God,
with the people of God, hearing the scriptures read, and the
songs of praise to God ascending to heaven from the voices of
redeemed men, and hearing the gospel. Faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. As we proclaim the gospel, God
raises men and women to spiritual life who have long been dead
in trespasses and in sins. All right, back at Isaiah 25
again, look at verse eight. Here the prophet of God tells
us of an enemy abolished. He, the Lord Jesus Christ, will
swallow up death in victory. Death, the most dreaded and feared
of all enemies. Nobody much likes to talk about
it. Most people try to avoid thinking about it. But the Lord
Jesus came here to deliver his elect from death. And he, by
his death, Slaughtered death for us. John Owen wrote a book,
the title of which is much easier to grasp than the contents. The
contents, very, very good, but not easy reading. The book is
called The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. What a title. The Death of Death in the Death
of Christ. That's what Christ did for us
at Calvary. He slaughtered death. and our
Lord Jesus, we're told in Hebrews 2, became one of us, that he,
through death, might deliver us, who all our lifetime were
subject to bondage, from the fear of death. He comes to deliver
us from the fear of death, so that, believing men and women,
sinners saved by God's grace have no reason ever to fear death. He that liveth and believeth
on me shall never die, our Savior said. Shall never die. This body is going to the grave
as it should at God's appointed time. You're gonna put me in
the ground and weep over my loss. I reckon some folks will be clapping,
I guess, but most of you will weep anyway a little bit. But
that's just the death of the body. That death of the body
is the beginning of life in perfection. To be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord. We know that if this earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building
of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Brother Mark Medley was asking me about heaven and hell and
immediately after death because of the confusion and nonsense
of papists and other folks who talk about it. Well, honestly,
I'm not much concerned about understanding the details of
things I can't understand while I'm walking around in flesh.
But soon I'm gonna understand. Soon I'm gonna understand. He
has swallowed up death in victory! In victory! So that the believer
triumphs over death, crying, oh death, where is thy sting? You see, the sting of death is
sin, and I don't have any. Christ put it away. The strength
of sin is the law, but the law has nothing to say against me,
but only speaks for me, because Christ has satisfied the law.
There's nothing then in death, for any believer to fear. Look
next at verse eight and see this comfort ministered. And the Lord
God will wipe away all tears from off all faces. No, God will not wipe away the
tears of all men. Oh, in that last day, their tears
and screeches and howls Well, it'll just be good. But he will
wipe away all the tears of all his people in the last day. Let's look at two passages, Revelation
7. Revelation 7. Verse 17. The lamb which is in the midst
of the throne shall feed them. and shall lead them unto living
fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes. Chapter 21, verse four. God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow,
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former
things are passed away. Yesterday afternoon, I always
studied home on Saturdays, almost always. I took my, take my computer
and worked at the kitchen table. And Shelby and I had lunch and
she mentioned, she just mentioned Judy Estes. You know what I did? Just like that. I picked up my
phone. I was getting ready to call Bobby.
I'm just getting ready to call him. Have you lost your mind? Bobby's been dead a while now.
No. No, he's just been gone for a
while. He's been gone for a while. My thoughts immediately were
precisely what they were before God took our friend out of this
world. Precisely. I'll give Bobby a call. I haven't
talked to him in a while. And I caught myself immediately.
And I thought, that's good. That's wonderful. We ought always
to think of God's people, both walking on the earth and those
who now are seated with the 24 elders around the throne of God
as living saints, worshiping and walking with God. Our God, Sue, will wipe away
all tears from our eyes. ought to tell you that the teaching
of religious folks about degrees of reward in heaven, or loss
of reward, is utter nonsense. I recall years ago, years ago
when I was pastoring at Lookout, I was a young man, had a fellow
preaching for me who, I guess he believed the gospel of God's
grace, said he did, but he got far away from it most of the
time. And he was preaching and he smelled Cigarette smoke on
one of the ladies in church. He smoked all the time. And he
didn't like it. He didn't like it at all. And
he got in the pulpit and he said, I'm gonna tell you right now,
you're gonna weep every day in heaven. You might get there,
but you'll weep every day for your sinning against God. If
I'd have had good sense, I'd have kicked him in the butt and
shoved him off the platform. What stupidity. What stupidity. What kind of heaven is that?
What kind of heaven is that? A heaven with regrets? A heaven
with sorrows? A heaven with, I wish I had,
or I wish I hadn't? Oh no, oh no. In that blessed
day, in that blessed eternal day, you and I will increasingly
see things as God sees them. And you know what we'll regret?
Nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing. No tears, no sorrows, no regrets. Our God has done all things well. Here's another thing, look at
verse eight again. Here is your reproach removed. And the rebuke,
the reproach of his people, shall he take away from off all the
earth. The reproach. The Lord God will
display to wandering worlds the righteousness of his saints.
revealed to wandering worlds. We read about it a little bit
ago in Revelation 19.8, and I called your attention to it. To her
was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white, for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of saints. And the word is righteousnesses,
it's plural. You can check it for yourself
or take my word for it. Most people, if you read the
commentaries on that passage of Scripture, say that's talking
about the righteousness of Christ that he performed for us, and
it's talking about the righteous deeds of God's saints that they
perform. Not hardly. Well, why is it plural? Because believers have a two-fold
righteousness. We have the righteousness of
Christ imputed to us rightly in free justification because
of our Lord's obedience and our obedience to God in him. And
the believer, the child of God, the heaven-born soul, has righteousness
imparted to him. He has a new nature, a righteous
nature, a holy nature that cannot sin. You see, in order to get
to glory, Don Fortner's got to have these four things. He's
got to be punished for all his sin to the full satisfaction
of divine justice. And he's got to have a perfectly
righteous record of obedience before God. And he's got to have
a new nature, a holy, sinless, righteous nature. And he's got
to have something else. He's got to have a new body. That's called resurrection glory.
Christ gives all of those. He is my righteousness. I obeyed God in Him. He is my
satisfaction. I died satisfying the justice
of God in Him. He has given me a new nature. a new man created in righteousness
and true holiness. Imagine that, a new man, new
man. And soon, this body will either
decay and drop in the earth or the Lord Jesus will appear in
his glory and it will be translated in this mortal, shall immediately
put on immortality. This corruptible incorruption,
this physical spirituality made altogether in the likeness of
him in his resurrection. And the Lord God will display
his people in their righteousness. What was it you had to say about
Fortner? Here he is, his name, this is his name. I gave it to
him, that means it's his. His name is Jehovah Sikkimu,
the Lord our righteous. Oh, blessed, blessed hope. This is the joy of the saints. One more thing. We have an assurance
given, verse eight. for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it. The mouth of the Lord hath spoken
it. These, my brothers and my sisters,
are the sweet provisions of God's grace, as sure for you who believe as
the throne of God, as sure for you as God himself, the mouth
of the Lord has spoken it. And he will do it. for me and
for you and for all you who care to come and feast. Oh, come feast, come feast upon
Jesus Christ, the bread of life and live forever. Amen. All right.