Let's go one more time to the
gospel of Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah chapter 42 verses 5 through
9 will be our text. As God the Holy Ghost will enable
me, I want to preach to you tonight on Christ's covenant commission. The covenant commission of our
Lord Jesus Christ. In the opening verses of this
42nd chapter, the Lord God calls for us to behold his elect servant,
whom from eternity he appointed to the work of redeeming and
saving his people, the one in whom his soul delights. Of course,
he's talking about our Lord Jesus Christ and our Savior himself
declares in Matthew chapter 12 that this passage is talking
about him. In these first four verses of Isaiah 42, The Lord
God tells us four things about our dear Savior, his servant. These things, remember, were
written by God's prophet more than 750 years before the Lord
Jesus came into this world. More than 750 years before the
incarnation. The Lord God speaks and promises
that these things shall come to pass. First, he says that
his son, our Savior, his servant, will bring righteousness to the
Gentiles. It never was God's intention
or purpose to restrict his kingdom to the Jewish people, the physical
nation of Israel, the physical seed of Abraham. That notion
of dispensational premillennial theology is a farce. It has always
been a farce. It still is a farce. It has always
been God's intention, God's purpose, to have a people made up of every
nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue scattered through all the earth.
And these, God's elect, are the Israel of God, described in verse
1, to whom the Lord Jesus brings righteousness. Then in verse
2, we're told that our Savior will be a meek, voluntary servant
to the will of God. He'll not cry. He'll not lift
up. He'll not cause his voice to
be heard in the street. The Lord God says, when he comes,
my servant, my elect whom I uphold, he will freely, voluntarily bow
to me all the time. in all things. And then in verse
three, he promises that he will be a tender servant, a tender,
compassionate savior. He will not break the bruised
reed. He will not quench the smoking
flax. He will bring forth judgment
to truth. He will save the needy and he
will declare to them his righteousness in doing it. And then fourthly,
in verse four, This one who comes to save, this one who is God's
servant, this one the Lord God trust to execute his will and
save his people and establish his glory in all the earth is
a mighty, omnipotent, effectual savior. He shall not fail. Those are the things the Lord
God tells us about his servant and that which he would come.
He is an appointed Savior, a qualified Savior, a willing Savior, an
able, effectual Savior. That revelation enough ought
to cause our hearts to be flooded with joy, thanksgiving, praise,
and adoration continually. But then in our text, verses
five through nine, we're allowed to eavesdrop, if you will, upon
the council chambers of the Eternal God. We're allowed to overhear
the Almighty Jehovah, the Eternal Father, addressing his co-equal,
Eternal Son, concerning the matter of covenant redemption. The subject
being discussed is the work of Christ, our covenant surety. What an ineffable mystery. What
a stupendous privilege we have here. You and I are here admitted
into the council chambers of the Most High. Read the text
with me. Isaiah 42 verse 5. Thus saith
the Lord God. He that created the heavens and
stretched them out. He that spread forth the earth
and that which cometh out of it. He that giveth breath unto
the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein. I, the Lord, have called thee
in righteousness, and will uphold thine hand, or will hold thine
hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the
people, for a light of the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring
out the prisoners from the prison, and them that set in darkness
out of the prison house. I am the Lord. That is my name. And my glory will I not give
to another, neither my praise to graven images. Behold, the
former things are come to pass and new things do I declare before
they spring forth. I tell you often. Surely, if
Moses Standing before the burning bush was commanded to pull off
his shoes with reverence because he stood on holy ground You and
I are here to listen with great reverence to the Commission God
gave to his son his Servant our Redeemer the surety of the covenant
before the world began When we start to talk about covenant
grace, I recognize that some people close their minds and
they seem to think that we're intruding into hidden speculative
points of theology about which we have no interest or they have
no interest. I hope you don't think like that.
What can be more interesting or edifying to our souls than
the consideration of the covenant offices, the covenant engagements,
the covenant responsibilities of the Son of God on our behalf. I wonder, could a blind man have
no interest in one who could give him sight? Or would it be
possible for a man who was given sight, that once was blind, to
have no interest in the one who had given him sight? Can it be
possible for a prisoner to have no interest in one who is able
to pardon and set him free? Or is it possible for a prisoner
who has been pardoned and set free to have no interest in the
one who gave him the pardon and set him free? All our hope of
life, all our hope of grace arise from the covenant of redemption
and grace we just read about. and the fulfillment of that covenant
by our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's then acquaint ourselves
with it as much as possible. Acquaint ourselves with what
God says concerning it in this portion of scripture. Here we
will consider the contracting parties of the covenant and the
solemn engagements that we're here entered into and the results
of that covenant. There's an everlasting covenant,
an everlasting covenant of grace ordered in all things ensure
by which the triune God purposed, secured, accomplished, and accomplishes
the salvation of all his elect. Now the scriptures speak in the
plainest terms possible. Salvation is by covenant grace. By covenant grace. The blood
of Christ is described as the blood of the everlasting covenant
in Hebrews 13. We're told in Ephesians 1 that
all God's blessings, all God's blessings are covenant blessings. That which we enjoy from God,
we enjoy because of God's covenant mercy given us in Christ before
the world began. We're told in 2 Timothy 1.9 that
God's salvation is a covenant salvation. And all God's elect,
in all that we experience in time, was agreed upon and worked
out between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost
before time began. Now, in our text here in Isaiah
42, the Lord God himself answers every reasonable question we
might ask concerning the covenant. In this short text, the Lord
God himself, by his prophet Isaiah, answers every reasonable question
men might ask about the covenant. As I've said to you many times,
I get questions all the time. People asking questions, asking
questions, asking questions about all kinds of stuff. I'll tell
you what I've never had happen. I've never had anyone who bothered
to put himself or herself under the regular ministry of a faithful
gospel preacher. I've never had them just constantly
ask questions, question after question, after question, after
question. Why is that? Because of the faithful preaching
of the word, your questions are answered. And here, the questions
you might ask concerning covenant grace are clearly answered. Let's
look at them one at a time. First, who made the covenant?
Who are the contracting parties in a covenant? If you have a
covenant, you've got to have at least two parties, got to
have at least two people involved. We find the answer to those questions
in verse five. Thus saith God, the Almighty,
that's the word, the Almighty, the Lord, Jehovah, God the Father
and God the Son. He that created the heavens and
stretched them out. He that spread forth the earth
and that which cometh out of it. He that giveth breath unto
the people upon it and spirits. I'm convinced the word there
ought to be capitalized spirit for speaking of God the spirit
to them that walk therein. Here the Lord God makes himself
known by several royal titles which distinguish him from the
gods of man's making. Thus saith God the Lord. He distinguishes himself not
here as the Lord God, though often that's the way it's expressed. But here he says, I am God the
Lord. He who is Jehovah our Savior,
Lord over all, He is God indeed. He's the fountain of all being
and the fountain of all power. He created the heavens and stretched
them out. He created the heavens and stretched
them out. I know we live in this age of
blasphemy and idolatry and infidelity and atheism, when men and women
do everything they can to try to push God out of their lives
and out of the influence of anybody else's lives. And your children
are taught from kindergarten, they're taught in the little
books you buy them at the dime store before school, start to
read till the earth is so old and evolution is just sort of
implied everywhere. Let me tell you something. I
don't care how brilliant a man may be academically, mentally. I don't care what degree he may
have. If you believe in evolution,
you're a fool. You're a fool. You deliberately
blind yourself to the obvious. I mean, you deliberately blind
yourself to the obvious. Walk in front of the mirror and
just wave your hand. Explain that to me by evolution. Explain
that to me. That's ridiculous. That's ridiculous. Folks talk about evolution. I
remember early in my life hearing them start to talk about evolutionary
theory way back even in the day when I was a teenager, before
I was a teenager. And they talked about various
things that prove it. You know, if you find fish that
stay long enough in a dark, dark cave underwater, they don't have
any eyes. That's evolution. I would call
that degeneration. I wrote to a friend of mine who
was trained in these areas and a real sharp lady, real sharp
lady. And she had at the time some
questions concerning the matter of God's creation. And I said
to her, would you please do me a favor? I didn't challenge you
at all. I said, I need some help. I'd
like for you to Search all the books you have available to you,
all the references you can think of, for any example in what's
considered evolutionary science, any example of a change in a
species that was an improvement. And I didn't hear from her for
months. I mean for months. She wrote me back and said, they're
not in. Not all. It looks like it looks like it's
going to be an evolutionary process. There ought to be at least one
example of an improvement with a change. Evolution is a joke,
a sad, pathetic, blasphemous joke. The Lord God says I created
the heavens. I stretched them out. Not only
that. He sustains them. He spread forth
the earth. He is that one who created the
earth and all that comes out of it. He rules the earth everywhere
in all things. He gives life, gives the breath
of life to all people on the earth. But specifically, specifically
now, the Lord God's not talking about all men. It is true. There's
no question about this. Everybody Everybody throughout
the ages of time has lived exactly the appointed days God allotted
them before the world was and appointed for them. Nobody ever
died prematurely and nobody ever lived a half a breath longer
than God ordained from eternity. But in this passage, the Lord
God's talking about his elect. He gives spirit to all who walk
upon the earth and to all his elect walking upon the earth
is what he's speaking of those who walk therein in this covenant
of grace he who is God indeed is the God of the covenant the
Lord God our God who is God the Lord the covenant-making God
the covenant-keeping God this great triune God. And the covenant
was made between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The triune God making a covenant
with God, our Savior, who steps forward as our surety and representative. Second, for whom was the covenant
made? Who are the benefactors? Who
are the beneficiaries of the covenant? Look at verses five
and six. The words of God, the father
to his son in this covenant of grace are given. And in these
verses, we see a description of those people for whom the
covenant was made. The people for whom the blessings
and benefits of the covenant were designed. The people God
saves by his grace. Verse five, thus sayeth God,
the Lord. He that created the heavens and
stretched them out. He that spread forth the earth
and that which cometh out of it. He giveth breath unto the
people upon it and spirit to them that walk therein. I the Lord have called thee in
righteousness and will hold thine hand and will keep thee and give
thee for a covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles. I repeat, it seems obvious to
me when God speaks the people here. He's speaking of the people
of his love, his choice, the people he's determined to save,
his elect, his remnant that Alan mentioned in his prayer, the
people redeemed by the blood of the everlasting covenant,
purchased by Christ's precious blood. These are God's elect. These are the people for whom
God created the heavens and the earth. These are the people for
whom God stretched out the earth. These are the people to whom
in time appointed of love. God gives his spirit. These are
the people for whom God rules the world and everything in it. You turn, if you will, to John
chapter six, John chapter six. Hold your hands here in Isaiah.
Turn to John six. I want us to look at just two
passages of scripture. Oh, would do God I could convey
this to you and to me. Would do God he would convey
this to you and to me. All things work together for
good. To them that love God. To them
who are the called according to his purpose. See so much pain and sorrow and
suffering. And then we try to figure it
out. We try to figure it out. Isn't
it amazing how we try to figure things out? Try to figure things
out. Isn't it amazing how hard it
is for us just to believe God? Just believe God. I can't explain to you I can't
explain to you most of the things that I preach
to you. I can't begin to explain them.
They're indescribably beyond the reach of human reason. But I do believe God. God teach me to rest in your
wise and good providence knowing that whatever comes to pass in
this world, be it brilliantly light or complete
darkness to me, be it something marvelously blessed and delightful
or something horribly evil and painful, teach me to know that
no evil shall happen to the just. You do all things for your people. The people you're determined
to save. Look at John chapter 6, verse
37. Our God has a people in this
world, a covenant people given to his son as a covenant surety
whom he will save by his grace. Our savior is speaking, John
6, 37. All that the father giveth me present tense. I go everywhere I can to preach
the gospel. I preach every time I get a chance. If I can muster
way to do it and muster strength to do it, don't ask me to preach.
I'll do it. I'll do it. Why? Because God
is giving a people to his son. And he gives them to his son
by the ministry of the word by the power of his spirit All that
the father giveth me shall come to me if god calls your coming
And him that cometh to me. I will in no wise cast out if
you come to christ you can't be lost For I came down from
heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent
me This is God's will this is the father's will which has sent
me that of all which he hath given me. I Should lose nothing
But should raise it up again at the last day now look if you
will at first Peter, I'm sorry second Peter chapter 3 2nd Peter
chapter 3 Look one more time at this text
of scripture that folks like to spit at you every time you
mention God's election, God's sovereignty, God's predestination,
God's purpose. Second, Peter three, verse nine.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness. But as long suffering, you see
what it says, Bill, to us would. God's long suffering with everybody.
He is not. He is not. You read the scriptures
and read what the scriptures say and answer questions according
to the scriptures, not according to your notions. The Lord God,
in what appears to be, appears to men and appears to carnal
reason to be what folks call common grace. You know, grace
everybody. The blessing, all how God's blessed
to you. Read the scriptures. He shut
him up like a calf being fattened for the slaughter. So he gives
them everything that can keep them away from any knowledge
of God. Sets the world in their heart
so they can't find him. That's not blessing. That's not
blessing. No, no, no, no, no. But God is
long-suffering to us. To his elect, to his redeemed,
to his covenant people. long-suffering to us would not
willing that any should perish but that every single one of
his elect come to repentance and that's exactly what the next
line says that not willing that any should perish but that all
should come to repentance God preserves this world and
this world is going to stay exactly as long as God has purposed for
the saving of his elect. And when God has called out his
elect, he will call forth fire from heaven and dissolve this
ball and make all things new. Just as the angel of the Lord
said to Lot, I can't do anything until I bring you out. So our Savior said to that. I
angel the vials of his wrath touch not the earth Until I've
sealed the hundred and forty four thousand in their foreheads
God Will not come to judgment Until he has saved all his people
Christ Jesus our blessed covenant surety was commissioned of God
the triune Jehovah to save his people the people of And all
the people he came to save are the people he finds blind, sitting
in darkness, fallen, depraved, and lost. The people he was commissioned
to save, when he comes to find them, find themselves prisoners,
condemned, bound under the just sentence of death, captives to
Satan. condemned felons under the curse
of the law. And I'm going to tell you something
that not many folks in this world know. You will never know God's saving
grace until you know what it is to be blind. You will never know the liberty
of God's grace till you know what it is to be a prisoner.
You will never know God's mercy till you know what it is to be
a sinner under the wrath of God. Show me a sinner and I'll show
you a chosen sinner. Show me a condemned man, I'll
show you a redeemed man. Show me a lost man, I'll show
you a found man. To understand these things are
right, Joseph Hart wrote, This grand distinction must be known.
Though all are sinners in God's sight, there are but few so in
their own. To such as these, our Lord was
sent. They're only sinners who repent. After all, what comfort can a
savior bring to those who never felt their woe? A sinner is a
sacred thing. The Holy Ghost hath made him
so. new life from him we must receive before foreseeing we
rightly grieve. Oh, may God make you taste the
bitterness of iniquity. The shackles of bondage. The darkness of blindness. and grant you light and liberty
and pardon through Christ the Lord. Number three. What was
our Lord Jesus Christ commissioned to do in the covenant of grace? What was our surety sent to accomplish? Though our Lord Jesus is God
in all things equal with the father as a man, he came into
this world as Jehovah's servant. as our divine surety, voluntarily
assuming all responsibility for our souls as our representative,
as the surety and mediator of the covenant. Now, I can't stress
this sufficiently. Hold your hands here again in
Isaiah and turn to John 10. John chapter 10. I can't stress this sufficiently. All responsibility, all responsibility for God's
elect is in the hands of the surety. God looks to him for
everything. He doesn't expect anything from
you. He has looked to him from everlasting
and only to him who is our surety. Look at John chapter 10 verse
15. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father. And
I lay down my life for the sheep. For the sheep, not for the goats,
for the sheep. And other sheep I'm going to
have soon. Anybody got a Bible that reads
like that? That's not what it says, is it? Other sheep I have. Which are not of this folk. Somebody
says, is that talking about this group of people, that group of
people? Whoever it's talking about, they weren't around then. They're not of this folk. Them
also. Look at this next line. I'd suggest
you underscore with bold underlining these three words. I must break. How can it be said that he must
do anything? He's the shepherd. He's the sheriff. He's the representative. He's
the servant. And the servant who volunteered
to do the father's will must do what he said he would do or
fail as the servant and lose the reward promised him in the
covenant. Them also I must bring and they
shall hear my voice. And there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. Now watch this. Therefore doth
my father love me. He's not talking now about his
eternal deity. He's not talking about his eternal
sonship, his eternal Godhead. He's talking about himself as
the shepherd, the surety, the servant, the mediator, the God
man. Therefore doth my father love
me. I've earned it because I laid
down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from
me. But I lay it down to myself.
I had the power to lay it down and have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my father. As our surety and
mediator in the covenant of grace, the son of God received a call
and commission from his father. This is the first covenant. This is the first covenant. Now,
the first covenant revealed is the covenant God made with Adam.
And God repeated numerous times in the Old Testament Scriptures
at Sinai with Abraham, with David, covenant that was conditional.
But that covenant that was conditional was a covenant of works. conditional
upon the obedience of man to the covenant. And Adam transgressed
the covenant, and Adam's sons have been transgressing the covenant
ever since. That's the first covenant revealed.
But this is the first covenant, this new everlasting covenant,
was made between God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. God the
God-man mediator Christ our surety before the world was in Anticipation
of our sin and fall in our father Adam this covenant was made for
us But it was made with Christ our head and representative our
surety agreed and became responsible to bring in everlasting righteousness
to satisfy divine justice, to make an end of sin, and to save
his people, to bring all his sheep into the fold, to bring
all his children to the Father, to bring all his chosen to heavenly
glory, to save all his elect. And the Father struck hands with
the Son, and the work was done. You mean, Pastor, it was guaranteed? Yeah, that's what I mean. And
it was done. Well, that can't both be so.
Read the book of God again. In Romans chapter eight. God
says, Merle Hart, you were justified. You were justified and sanctified
and glorified and called. And Ephesians chapter one, he
says, you were accepted in the beloved for the war began. All
that's past tense. All this past tense, having been
accomplished in the purpose of God, in the surety, the certainty
of its accomplishment in time cannot possibly stand in doubt
with our experience of God's grace. When God the Father said,
I will give thee for a covenant of the people. This is what he
was saying. My son, you alone can do this
work. You alone can meet the conditions
of the covenant. And the only way fallen men can
receive the blessing and benefit of the covenant is in you, by
the infinite, indisputable merit of your blood and righteousness. Christ being our surety, he became
responsible for and effectually accomplished the redemption and
salvation of his people. The bringing of light and liberty
to his people is Christ's work and his responsibility. I never employ religious tricks
to get people to do something. I never employ psychological
manipulation to get people to do something. I just don't do
it. I went through evangelism training All that stuff they
teach in school, you know, you give an invitation and you have
every head bowed and every eye closed and slip up your head
and you come down here and say this. You get, you get other
folks back in the congregation to move out first. So that'll
entice other people to come. Trickery never saved anybody.
Trickery never saved anybody. And idolatry certainly never
saved anybody. And if you think you can find
salvation down here at a mourner's bench or at an altar, you're
just an idol. Idolatry. That's all there is
to it. How does God save His people? Christ saves them. God
saves them. Through the preaching of the
Word. We preach the Gospel and commit the Word preached to the
hands of the Savior. I preach the Gospel to you. and
plead with God for you and commit you to the hands of the Savior. And what I do for you is exactly
what I do for my own family. People, they try to get you to do something,
get folks saved. You bring them here, I'll preach
the gospel to them. I'll preach the gospel to them. You bring them here, I'll preach
the gospel to them. And that's how God saves his
people, by his word, by his spirit, by the revelation of himself.
I never go to Scotland that I don't think, or go to Great Britain,
that I don't think of the covenanters in Scotland. And I often think
about a young lady whose name I don't know. She was just a
teenage girl during the days of persecution, the Queen Mary. The covenanters persecuted bitterly,
maliciously, horribly. And she's on her way one Sunday
to worship with God's people. And she saw the Queen's soldiers
coming, and she was fearful. She knew what they were doing.
They were looking for folks. And she prayed, Lord, help me
to honor you. Give me strength. And as they
accosted her as to what she was doing out on Sunday morning,
she said, sirs, My elder brother has died and I'm going now to
a meeting of the family for the reading of his will. Ah, God read out his will to
you today. Make you to know the blessedness
of the covenant made for you with his son before the world
began. Our mighty Christ, the mediator
of the covenant, our great surety, brings liberty to the captives
by the power of his spirit through the preaching of his word. If
you want to see a marvelous example of that, read the 12th chapter
of Acts when you go home and see how Peter was brought out
of the prison by the angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord
came, smote him, and woke him up and led him out. And the gates
opened right before them of their own accord. They walked up. You go down to the post office
down here and the doors just, all you got to do is get close
and they just open up of their own accord. The gates opened
for Peter of their own accord because the angel of the Lord
let him out. And when he came to the people
of God who had been praying that God would save him, they'd been
praying that God would keep him from being put to death. Oh,
they'd all been praying. They'd all been praying. And
he came to the door of the church house, and who was it? Rhoda. She said, Peter's outside.
They said, girl, you've lost your mind. She said, no, Peter's
outside. And they came to look, and they
were astonished. They were astonished. Oh, that's
what God does for His people. He sets them free. And they stand
as a wonder to the peoples of the world. Salvation is His work. not ours. His covenant engagements
are sure. Now, God's purpose. Why does God save sinners this
way? By a covenant totally independent
of us. Why would God do things that
way? Why would he do it that way? Why would he choose to save Mark and Regina Henson choose
to save you two and choose to save you By a work Completely
outside of you I'm gonna save you without you doing anything
or saying anything Without you earning anything Without you
contributing anything. Why would he do that? Why would
God save sinners in such a way? That just doesn't stand for reason!
It does if you know God. Look at this, verse 6. I'm sorry,
verse 8. I am the Lord, that's my name,
and my glory will I not give to another. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God has made into us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. Christ is everything. If you've
got any wisdom, Christ is it. He's all your wisdom. If you've
got any righteousness, Christ is it. He's all your righteousness.
Got any sanctification? Christ is it. He's all your sanctification. Got any redemption? Christ is
it. He's all your redemption. And if Christ is your wisdom,
you have perfect wisdom. If Christ is your righteousness,
you have perfect righteousness. If Christ is your sanctification,
you have perfect sanctification. If Christ is your redemption,
you have perfect redemption. Now, if you contribute anything
to any of those, there's a whole lot lacking but God saves us this way by
a covenant completely independent of us
that according as it is written he that gloryeth let him glory
in the Lord he's determined that no flesh glory in his presence. Now look at the last thing in
verse 9. What assurance do we have that God will perform everything
promised in the covenant? Behold the former things are
come to pass. God promised Abraham that his
family his children were going to go down to Egypt for 400 years. He planned, Don Menari, purposed
everything those Jews experienced in Egypt for 400 years. All the oppression, all the cruelty,
He ordained it all. He ordained it all. He purposed
all of it. Pharaoh didn't do anything God
didn't ordain. And then, on the 400th year,
I'll bring them out! Well, what chance is there they're
coming out of Egypt? Watch God. They came out. If God could deliver Israel across
the Red Sea, out of Egyptian bondage, Conquered the mightiest
army the world had ever known with nothing but a man's rod
and the waters of the Red Sea You reckon something's too hard
for him God promised Abraham. He said I'm gonna give you all
this land all of it He said he said to Moses. He said you look
as far as you can Move it off. I'm gonna give you the whole
shooting match everything all the land of Canaan. Did he do
it? Read Joshua chapters 21 and 23
and find out. This day the Lord God fulfilled
every word. Every word. What has God said
that he hasn't performed? What has God purposed that he
hasn't performed? What has God ever promised that
he hasn't performed? Oh yeah, his covenant sure. Not only that, he says, when
I perform these things, new things do I declare to you. Before they spring forth, I'll
tell you of them. I declare to you a new creation,
a new name, a new record, new things, a new heavens, New things,
new things. He declares them in the gospel.
And he does that before they spring forth in our experience
of his grace. You see, God causes them to spring
forth in the experience of his grace by the preaching of the
gospel, by the power of his spirit that he gives to you. who are heirs of the covenant.
God make it yours for Christ's sake. Amen.