All right, let's turn to Isaiah
chapter 63 and verse 9. Isaiah 63 and verse 9. If you can remember four words,
you'll get my outline for the message. Afflicted, saved, redeemed,
and carried. Let's look at this verse 9 of
Isaiah 63. In all their affliction, He was
afflicted. And the angel of His presence
saved them. And in His love and in His pity,
He redeemed them and bared them and carried them all the days
of old. Oh, what a blessed description
of our Savior, our Redeemer, our Sympathizer, He who carries
our souls. Let me again remind you of some
of the prominent things in this sweet, glorious, precious, instructive
portion of Scripture. The previous chapter, chapter
62, closes with God's promise to his prophet Isaiah of Christ
coming as the salvation of his people. Look at verse 11. Behold,
the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye
to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh. Behold,
his reward is with him, and his work before him. And then in
the next verse, We're told what his reward is. His reward is
that which he brings with him, making his people altogether
different than they are by nature, doing something for us in his
saving grace. He tells us that his people,
Zion, his church, as the result of his salvation accomplished,
shall be called the holy people, not called the holy people by
people who observe them. We are so inundated with natural
self-righteousness that is promoted by religion, Romanism and Puritanism
and other isms of every kind, that we have the foolish notion
that men can see holiness. Men don't have a clue what it
is, much less see it. What men see is a demonstration
of self-righteousness, piety, that causes us to stand out and
be distinct from others. Men can't see holiness, but God
does. And this is what He says of His
people. They shall be called the holy people. Holy. Holy because they are made holy
through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ the Lord by the
grace of our God. They shall be called the redeemed
of the Lord. You see, the redeemed of the
Lord distinguishes God's people from all other people. I can't
say this often enough. I can't say it forcefully enough.
But I hope you can rejoice in it every time you're reminded
of it. God's saving grace is distinguishing
grace. The Lord Jesus did not shed his
blood for nothing. He did not die for useless purposes. He did not die hoping something
would happen as a result of it. But rather, he has redeemed his
people from their sins. And all who were redeemed by
his blood are redeemed. They are the redeemed of the
Lord. The redeemed of the Lord. Those
who speak of Jesus Christ dying, and I don't care how they qualify,
those who speak of Jesus Christ shedding His blood to save folks
who go to hell blaspheme God. They blaspheme His name. God's
people are redeemed because Christ redeemed them. And then I like
this. Sought out. Sought out. Some years ago I preached a message
to you from this last verse of Isaiah 62, and I suggested it
would be a good name for all of our great churches. Let's
call it Sought Out Church. That's who God's people are.
God the Son, by His Spirit, by His grace, by His providence,
seeks out His own. They were sought out in eternal
purpose of grace, sought out in God's electing love, sought
out by the precious blood of Christ, sought out by His Spirit,
sought out by His grace, and they are brought home to Him. They are the ones He came to
save. They are the ones He seeks. They
are the ones He saved. And I like this, a city not forsaken. You who are God's Israel, God's
Zion, God's Church, are a people who have never been, can never
be forsaken of God. Not forsaken. Sometimes we cry
like David, why hast thou forsaken me? Sometimes we cry like our
Redeemer, why hast thou forsaken me? Because sometimes he appears
to forsake his own. But Zion is a city not forsaken. Now, in the next verses, Isaiah
63, 1 through 5, our Lord Jesus is described as one glorious
in his apparel. Glorious in his apparel is our
great substitute, our redeemer, our sin-atoning sacrifice, our
sin-atoning high priest who is himself the sacrifice for sin.
He's coming up now having accomplished redemption with his garment stained
with blood, stained because he was made sin for us. But he comes
forth in the fullness of vigor and strength as the captain of
our salvation, having accomplished redemption and mighty to save. He trod the winepress of the
fierceness of God's wrath alone. He stained his raiment, satisfied
the vengeance of God against us, and brought in what he called
the year of my redeeming, brought in this blessed gospel day in
which we live and this day of life which shall never end. And
in verse 7, all this great grace, this great salvation is traced
to its source and fountain. Isaiah says, I will mention the
lovingkindnesses of the Lord. The source of all, the source
of all is the lovingkindness of the Lord. Hold your hands
here in Isaiah 63 before we get to our text and turn to 1 John
chapter 4. 1 John chapter 4. Men and women are taught and
we are all prone to look for assurance and peace. within ourselves
and in our love for God. Now hear me, hear me. Believers are a people who love
God. They love Christ. But if you
think that your love for Christ is a basis for your assurance
before God, I promise you one or two things. Either you have
no assurance or you know nothing of the love of God. One of the
two. Because your love for Him, do
you really want that to be a basis of confidence before God? If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. Language of Scripture. God's
people do love Him. But the basis of our hope before
God is no more our love for Him than our works for Him. The assurance
that we have is the knowledge and revelation of His love for
us in Jesus Christ. Look here in 1 John 4, verse
17. Herein is our love made perfect. What on earth is he talking about?
If we love the brethren, our love is made perfect, come on.
Come on now. Which one of you loves his brother
perfectly? Well, that can't be it. What's
he talking about? He's talking about God's love
for us being made perfect in us. And I know that's the case
because of the next line. that we may have boldness in
the day of judgment. What? Can a sinner like I am be confident
that before God, he shall have boldness in the day of judgment?
If he's loved of God, he can. If the love of God is made known
to you and in you, you can, because as he is. So are we in this world. Now Lindsay, there's the perfection
of God's love. The perfection of God's salvation. Now look at verse 18. There is
no fear in love. No fear in love. But perfect
love. That can't possibly be talking
about your love for God. It ain't close to perfect. Perfect
love! That can't be talking about your
love for your brother. It ain't close to perfect. Bill
Raleigh, that's talking about your Savior's love for you. Now
watch what it does. Perfect love. When it is revealed
in the heart by the blessed experience of grace Casteth out all fear. Casteth out fear. All of it. Because fear hath torment. He that feareth not is not made
perfect in love. We love Him. Here's the reason. Because He first loved us. So when we talk about love and
sing about love, let's be like Isaiah, I will mention the lovingkindnesses
of the Lord. Ours isn't worth talking about.
Now I'll go back here in Isaiah 63. This portion of the gospel
according to Isaiah refers to the achievements of our Lord
Jesus Christ, our Savior upon the cursed tree. The mighty conquest
of the captain of our salvation over sin and death and hell.
and all the consequent works of the Holy Spirit, the operations
of His grace in us by His Spirit in this gospel age that He calls
the year of my redeeming. Here in Isaiah 63, we see our
mighty Savior who has made an end of all our sins, who has
brought in everlasting righteousness, and now before the face of His
Father, speaks in righteousness for us. And by His Spirit, He
reveals to us the precious fact that He has obtained eternal
redemption for us by the sacrifice of Himself. On the ground of
His own perfect obedience, on the ground of what He has done
for us, He speaks to the Father for us. And on that same basis,
on the ground of what He has done for us, He speaks to us
for the Father in grace. Always. He speaks to the Father
for us on the ground of accomplished redemption. And He speaks to
us by His Spirit for the Father on the ground of accomplished
redemption. To both, this is what He says.
As He intercedes for us in heaven, He spreads His wounded hands,
and He pleads as our righteousness, the propitiation for our sins,
and He says, It's finished. And He speaks to you by the gospel
of His grace, by His Spirit, and He spreads His wounded hands,
and He says, It's finished. That's what Christ, our righteousness
and our advocate, speaks. He saved us, the prophet says. Saved us. That's spoken of in
these three distinct ways plainly in the scriptures. The Lord Jesus
Christ saved us in and by His sovereign purpose of grace from
eternity. I keep insisting on that. I keep
telling it for two reasons. is that I delight in it. I'm
tickled to death it's so. I find great consolation in it.
And the other is I keep reading and hearing folks who are barking
about it. This is the language of Scripture. He hath saved us
and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. Oh, you can't say that
without explanation. I believe I can. Well, folks
will be confused. Well, don't be confused. That
doesn't bother me. Folks are confused anyhow. God's people
will be comforted and blessed. This salvation we enjoy in the
experience of grace in time was done, absolutely done in the
purpose of God from eternity. And our Lord Jesus saved us by
the sacrifice of himself upon the cursed tree at Calvary. When
He cried, it is finished. The work was finished. When He died, we died. When He
died, we were justified. When He died, we were sanctified.
When He ascended to glory, we ascended in Him. When He sat
down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, we sat down
in Him. You see, what He did, He did
as our substitute. Altogether, not for Himself,
but for us, the people whom He represented. And then he has
saved us experimentally by the saving power of his grace. And
all three aspects of salvation are absolutely vital. There could
be no salvation in time were there no salvation in eternity.
And there can be no salvation in eternity if there's no salvation
in time. We were saved by the mighty operations
of His grace when God the Holy Spirit comes to the dead sinner
and gives us life and faith in Jesus Christ. He sends His Spirit,
the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. at the appointed time
of love and calls out his elect. Now, I want us to look at this
text here in Isaiah chapter 63 verse 9. And I want to show you
what our prophet tells us by the spirit of inspiration about
our great Savior and His great salvation. One of the old writers
described it this way. He said, God's salvation is a
salvation God cannot mend, and hell cannot bar. It is a salvation that God cannot
mend, and hell cannot bar. That's His great salvation. Isaiah chapter 63, verse 9. First, we see and declare that
God's people are afflicted. In all their affliction, He was
afflicted. Now, let me pass by the lesser
things. Our Lord said in this world you
shall have tribulation. No question about that. While
we live in this world, every believing child of God suffers
affliction. No question about that. We suffer
affliction of all the kinds that other men and women suffer. There's
no question about that. Being saved, being sanctified,
being born of God does not shield us from any adversity that other
people suffer because of sin in this world. We suffer sickness
and sorrow and bereavement, adversity, trial, loss, all those things. All those things. All God's people
do. Added to that, we suffer other
afflictions brought upon us by the hand of our Heavenly Father
because He loves us. But here is something astounding. In all their afflictions, He
was afflicted. In all the afflictions of these
people who are called the redeemed of the Lord, who are called the
holy people, who are called sought out, in all their afflictions,
He was afflicted. What does that mean? All their
afflictions. to understand what the prophet
is telling us in this passage. Remember now, he's talking about
Christ coming to save his people. He's giving us a direct, specific
prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ coming to accomplish the redemption
of our souls. In all their afflictions, not
in some. If we would understand this,
we must know something about this great sympathizer, this
great savior, this great redeemer who carries our souls. He who is God. He who is God came down here
in human flesh. God and man, truly God and truly
man. He took into union with Himself
our nature that with us He might be afflicted. Afflicted. You see, real sympathy, real
sympathy cannot come from anyone who hasn't been where you are.
You just can't do it. I can feel for you. I can pity
you. I can have compassion on you
in your difficulties, but I can't sympathize with you. I can't
enter into that which you feel unless I have felt it. And God
Almighty, Merle, in his absolute person as God, could never be
afflicted with our afflictions. But in order to be afflicted
in order to be a great high priest, touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, one who is our brother, able to succor them that are
tempted, able to sympathize with us in our temptations and in
our afflictions. The Son of God took on Himself,
our nature, and became one of us. so that he could walk in
your shoes and know every affliction you know. You get some idea of
the direction of his coming to be afflicted as our substitute
and how real his afflictions were as our substitute. When
you read in Matthew chapter 4 of him being led of the Spirit into
the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. But Mark puts it
another way. Mark says he was driven of the
Spirit. Did his holy soul shrink from
the temptation? Was he really? Really? Tempted in all points like as
we are, that's what the book says. Tempted in all points like
as we are, yet this Holy One is without sin. How our hearts
ought to leap with love for Him. Yes, He really was. Tempted in all points like as
we are. Look at Him in Gethsemane. Paul
describes what happened in Gethsemane in Hebrews 5 verse 9 like this.
He cried to God because he feared. I can't begin to understand that.
I can't imagine that. I would never dream of that were
it not written right there in the book. But I turn to Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, and I hear His words when He knelt before
the Father, and I see Him sweating blood. I fully believe as He
knelt there in anticipation of what He was about to endure,
He feared as no man in human flesh ever
feared. He's about to be made sin. He's about to be afflicted in
all points like as we are. Now, what's he talking about? Do you
know what it is to be made sin by God. A sinner is a sacred thing, the
hymn writer said. The Holy Ghost hath made him
so. So a preacher, everybody's sinners.
Go ask them. Just go ask them. Some of you
here don't have a clue what it is to be a sinner. Because God's
never made you a sinner before Him. You've never been convicted
by His Spirit of your sin. So that you are bankrupt, empty,
poor in spirit, naked, vile, cursed by God's holy law, condemned,
utterly sent for hell. But God's people know what that
is. Every sinner's experience of
grace had been made sin before God by God's own law, by God's
own Spirit, by God's own Word. The Son of God was made sin for
us. Do you know what it is to be
justly cursed by a holy God? He was justly cursed as our substitute. You know what it is to be forsaken
of God? To have the bars of heaven drawn
against your soul. Shut out! He was forsaken In all their afflictions, He
was afflicted. And now we are bidden to come
to Him in faith, recognizing that He is touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. He knows exactly what it is. He knows exactly what it is that
crushes your heart. Now I've mentioned the greater
and spent a little time with that because the lesser is obvious. He who was made sin for us and
was afflicted with us and for us as our substitute when he
was made sin for us, bearing the wrath and justice of God
to the full satisfaction of justice, surely is touched with the lesser
things." Touched with what touches you? A sympathizing high priest
in heaven who makes intercession for us. Look at the next line. And the angel of his presence
saved them. What a great word. That salvation that I'm talking
about is salvation that is brought to us from the presence of the
triune God by the angel of the everlasting covenant. He's the
messenger of the covenant, the messenger of the covenant of
grace into whose hands God has put all things and in whose hands
the pleasure of the Lord always prospers. He is the angel of
God's presence, that one in whom we have sweet unviolated, unchanging,
unchangeable, perfect acceptance with the Father, the angel of
God's presence, He in whom the Lord God delights, in whom we
live, move and have our being. And He is the glorious mediator,
this angel of the Lord, the angel of His presence. He's the mediator
between God and men. Mediator between God and redeemed
men. Now, I remind you, Paul does
not say there is one mediator between God and man, the man
Christ Jesus. He says there is one mediator
between God and men. One mediator between God and
chosen men. One mediator between God and
His beloved men. One mediator between God and
His people, the man Christ Jesus. It is He by whom All covenant
communications are made. He speaks to the Father for us.
He speaks to us for the Father. He is the only one by whom God
will come down to us and in whom God will make himself known to
us and the only one by whom we can go up to God and make ourselves
known to God. He is the sent one of the Father. The angel, the mighty angel of
God, the angel of His presence saved us. When danger is near,
when temptations abound, when sins distress, this angel of
God's presence is mighty to save and always at hand to bless.
As God, He stands in the presence of the Father eternally. As the
God-man, he came forth from the presence of the Father to reveal
the Father. And as the faithful servant and
surety of the covenant, he brings poor, vile sinners into the presence
of the Father. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And yet he bids sinners come
to him that he may bring them to the Father. Look at the third
life, redeemed. In His love and in His pity,
He redeemed them. Oh, what a word, redeemed. His love and His pity never slumber,
but are always active. You remember how Elijah mocked
the prophets of Baal and mocked their God? He said, while they
were screaming and cutting themselves. He said, why don't you try to
scream a little louder? Maybe your God's asleep. Will you hear
me? He never slumbers. And His love
and His pity are never inactive. Never. Never. In His love and
in His pity, He redeemed them. Now, I can't say much about the
love of God, I can't say much about the love of Christ. What
little I know about it is glorious. But I don't know much about it
yet. This much I know. This much I know. Our Savior
said, as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. As the Father hath loved me,
so have I loved you. He said concerning his Father
or to his Father, Thou lovest me from the foundation of the
world. He said concerning his father's
love for him, therefore doth my father love me because I laid
down my life for the sheep. That is, therefore doth my father
love me because I am his perfectly obedient servant, fully accomplishing
all his will all the time. Now will you hear me? Our Savior
says, as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you from
eternity as a people who are his servants, who have perfectly
accomplished his will all the time. He loves us as He is loved of
the Father, from the same time, from eternity, for the same reason,
because He is worthy of that love. I don't know whether I can say
this or not, But I want to say it. I've got to say it. I've
got to say it. God helped me to say it. In Him, my brother. In Him, my
sister. No qualification. You too are
worthy of God's love. He said, as the Father hath loved
me, so have I loved you. He said, therefore doth my Father
love me, because I prove myself worthy of his love. That means
the love of God and the love of Christ for our souls is without
beginning, without cause. and without change. He loves us from everlasting,
perfectly, completely, fully, infinitely. And in His love,
because of His great love for us, He redeemed us. Redeemed us at what price? The price of His own precious
blood. He willingly, because of His
love for us, poured out His life's blood. Do you remember how Jacob served for Rachel? Isaac served for Rachel. I'll
get it right in a minute. Jacob served for Rachel. Do you
remember how it was? After seven years, he said, this is just
like today. I said, well, nothing. I'd gladly do it again. Well,
you're going to have to. That'd be all right. How come? Because of the love he had for
her. And the Son of God willingly
laid down his life for us because of the love he has for us. As Boaz redeemed Ruth How did he redeem
her? He did everything her soul required. What is it you need? I need a
little court, here it is. What is it you need? I need you
to buy back everything my sorry father-in-law lost, okay? What
is it you need? I need you to deal with that
other kid, okay? What is it you need? Whatever
you need, I'll not rest till it's fulfilled. As Hosea redeemed
Gomer, that worthless harlot wife that nobody wanted, that
worthless harlot wife now worn and tattered and broken and useless, unfit even to sell herself again
as a prostitute, Hosea goes to the marketplace. And he bought
her to himself, went home with a barley and a half, home with
a barley, and redeemed her and carried her home. And he said,
I'm going to make you, I'm going to make you mine. Not only am I going to make you
mine, he says, honey, when I get done with you, when I get done
with you, I'm going to make you faithful
to me and righteous to me. I'm going to love you into loving
me. That's how He redeemed us. By
the purpose of His love, by the promise of His grace, by the
purchase of His blood, And by the power of His goodness, in
His love and in His pity, He redeemed us. Now, look at the
last line. And He bared them and carried
them all the days of old. Oh, I'm sure thankful for that. He who saved me and redeemed
me is He who carries me. And He who carries me is mighty
to save. If I should be left at the threshold of heavenly glory,
He's carried me all the way up to the very threshold of glory,
puts my right foot over the threshold, puts my hands on the door jamb
and says, now enter in. I'd fall into hell. But he carries
me. Like a shepherd, he seeks his
sheep. And when he finds his sheep,
he fetches his sheep to himself. by the arm of His omnipotent
grace, and He lays His sheep on the broad shoulders of infinite
mercy, and carries His sheep all the way home. He won't let
go. He won't let go. He just won't
let go. He just won't let go. Did you hear me? He just won't
let go! How do you know all God's people
will at last be with Him in glory and none can ever perish? Because
He won't let go. That's all. He carries us. Carries us. Carries us like a
nursing mother carries a needy, helpless, weak, sickly, helpless
infant in her bosom. He carries us. Never, never were
it possible to be carried by a more tender,
sympathizing arm. You take a little baby, if you're
old enough, you women, to get to be great grandmas. Great grandma
hugs that baby up more tenderly than mama can. Just, oh, tender. But those arms are, you better
not depend on her to take care of you. She might not be able
to get up because she's so weak. Oh, but the tenderness in the
arms. Now listen, and never could our souls be carried in stronger
arms than in the arms of Him who is mighty to save. That means, come what may, from
earth or hell, from without or from within, He says, I will
never leave thee nor forsake thee. Amen. In your handbook number 488.