I want to pick up tonight, right
where I left off this morning, Isaiah 63, verse 7. And I want to talk to you this
evening, if God will enable me, about the lovingkindnesses of
the Lord and the multitude of His lovingkindnesses. God's prophet
Isaiah seems in this passage to be completely ravished and
overwhelmed with the marvelous work of God's grace. that had
been revealed to him, when he realized what the Lord God had
promised to do for his chosen, as he beheld the Lord Jesus coming
in his glorious apparel, in the greatness of his strength, with
his garment stained in his blood, seeing the accomplishment of
redemption by him and the triumphs that would be his as our Redeemer,
when he realized what the Lord had done for his people. what
he had promised to do and what he anticipated he would do for
him. Isaiah seems to have said, let
me take a breath. Let me just pause to speak a
word to you about his loving kindnesses. Look at verse 7. I will mention the loving kindnesses
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. Anticipating the future, he has
just declared, Behold, thy salvation cometh. anticipating what Christ
would accomplish when he came at last in the year of his redeemed
and accomplished the day of the vengeance of our God. Isaiah
remembers the past and remembers the goodness and mercy, the loving
kindnesses of God bestowed upon his people according to his tender
mercies. And that caused him to encourage
himself in the Lord, to believe God, with regard to all things
future. Well might we follow his example.
Remember his goodness and his grace. Remember all that you
have experienced of his goodness and his grace. All his loving
kindnesses and his tender mercies. And learn to trust him for tomorrow. Let me show you several things
and then I'll get to a few things I want to call your attention
to. The first thing God, by his prophet, directs our attention
to here is the fact that everything God does to us and for us, everything
he bestows upon us, everything, everything. We use those words
or words like that very lightly without thought and consideration. Remember how the patriarch said,
everything is against me. We speak of everything when we
don't really mean everything. I mean everything. Everything
God has done to us. Everything He has done for us. Everything He bestows upon us. That which we perceive to be
evil as well as that which we perceive to be good is according
to His loving kindnesses toward us. Isaiah says, I will mention
the loving kindness of the Lord and the praises of the Lord.
Now watch this. According to all that the Lord
hath bestowed upon us. His loving kindness for which
we praise Him according to all that He has bestowed on us. Everything God does is for his
people the revelation of his love to our hearts. Everything
he does is the manifestation of his everlasting love toward
his elect. Every blessing bestowed upon
chosen sinners is a matter of God's free, sovereign mercy and
grace. Nothing we earn, nothing we deserve,
nothing we merit, everything is the blessing of his mercy.
Isaiah tells us that this fact, that all things are of God and
that all are revealed as matters of His love and grace to us,
this fact ought to inspire our hearts to give Him praise and
give Him praise alone. I will mention the lovingkindness
of the Lord and the praises of the Lord. How I keep praying
for a heart of relentless praise to our God, unceasing praise
to Him. How I mourn my fits of unbelief,
ill temper, murmuring against His providence, and long and
pray for grace to give praise to Him. There should never be
in my mind or in my heart a thought of complaint. I didn't say there
isn't. There should never be a thought
of complaint. There should never be a kind
of complaining. And if we were given to praise,
our complaints would wane away. Praise Him for His being, for
His grace, for His providence, for His provision. Rejoice in
the Lord always. Again I say rejoice. Third, back
here in this ninth verse again, God's prophet reminds us of the
uniformity of God's works. He says, according to all the
Lord hath bestowed upon us. He says his loving kindness is
revealed according to all that he's bestowed on us. All things.
All things. In everything give thanks. In everything give thanks. For
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. I have
a very dear friend who I chatted with last week. Got a great Christmas
present over the holidays. Grandson announced he was queer.
wanted family's approval, and my heart breaks for them. Not
for him, for them. For them. How can you give thanks
for this? I can't think of a more tragic,
heartbreaking, horrible thing to have to deal with. Can't imagine
anything worse. Not the burying of a son or a
wife. I can't imagine anything more
difficult to bear. Can't imagine anything more horrible.
And yet this man, as I spoke to him, obviously, evidently
bows to God's sovereign will. This, too, is my Father's hand. He may be bringing this thing
by the hand of Satan and by the hand of those who oppose me.
This, too, is my Father's doing. In everything give thanks. How
can you do that? Whatever it is, this is the will
of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Concerning you. And if this is
God's will concerning me, no matter how it feels for the present,
it is good for me. In everything, give thanks. Because
everything flows to us from His loving kindness. We mustn't,
we dare not, we shouldn't pick and choose our subjects for praise.
God is to be praised when he takes away just as when he gives. God is to be praised and worshipped. I don't mean that we should walk
around and act like silly religious numbskulls who seem to live floating
in the air and no matter what happens, we'll bless the Lord,
we'll praise the Lord, we'll bless God and smile like nothing
hurts. I don't mean to suggest that.
We feel pain and we hurt just as other people. But in the midst
of pain and hurt, let us with Job bow our heads before the
altar of our God and worship, worship Him. giving praise to
his name. We must never bless the Lord
for one thing and murmur against him for another. We must never
praise him for one thing and then swear before him because
of another. And then fourth, our text displays
the grandeur of God's goodness to us. Isaiah speaks of the great
goodness toward the house of Israel. He speaks of everything
God does as being great. You remember how Moses sang to
Israel as he was leaving this world? He said, Ascribe ye greatness
to our God. All children of God, ascribe
greatness to him. Everything he does is great. He is the great God. the great
God and our Savior. He gives us and saves us with
a great salvation. And all His goodness is toward
us are matters of great goodness. He is full of great mercy for
great sinners in Jesus Christ, the great Savior. And fifth,
God's goodness toward us is altogether undeserved. How is it that he's
done all this, this great goodness? According to his mercies. Oh, I thank God for mercy, for
mercy. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities, but rather
he delighteth in mercy. Now, then we see that God's lovingkindness
is are described here as a great multitude. Isaiah speaks of the
multitude of his lovingkindnesses. The multitude of his lovingkindnesses. More than can be numbered beyond
the calculation of man, like the stars in the heavens or the
sands by the seashore. They're beyond human measure.
They come to us in all shapes and all times and from all directions. And therefore, the man of God
says, I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord. I can't very well preach to you
about them, so I will just mention them. I will mention them to
the Lord, mention them often. I will mention them to you, His
people, inspiring your hearts to praise and devotion to Him. And I'll mention them to you
who yet live in rebellion to God, praying that God, the Holy
Spirit, may, by His great lovingkindnesses, draw you to Himself. The loving-kindnesses
of the Lord are His acts of goodness, mercy, and grace toward His people.
They are the things by which we are saved, by which we are
kept in grace, by which God makes an everlasting and glorious name
for Himself. Now, let's just hold our Bibles
open here in Isaiah 63, and let me point these things out, just
the things that Isaiah mentions. The very first thing mentioned
in this chapter is the crowning act of God's lovingkindness,
the redemption of our souls by Christ. Who is this that cometh
up from Edom, with thine garments from Basra, this that is glorious
in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness,
mighty to save. who has pardoned the winepress
of the wrath of God alone, who has stained all his raiment.
He is glorious in his apparel. He says, I have redeemed you. Shelby and I were chatting this
afternoon. I've been sitting for a little
while thinking about this passage. And he says, I will stain my
raiment. Isaiah saw him with his raiment
already stained. And when he saw him, he said,
who is this that comes? glorious in His apparel. The glory of His apparel is the
staining of His raiment. Oh, the wonder of redemption. Here is His glory. He, His own self, bear our sin
in His own body on the tree. He was made a curse for us that
we might be made free from the curse. And now we have received
all blessing by His redeeming blood. What could be a more suitable
way to head the list of God's loving kindness to sinners than
the sin-atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ? Marvelous,
wondrous as that is. I can't help but to notice as
I go through the Scriptures How simply it is declared. Unadorned
in any way. Not in any way set forth so as
to dazzle us with expressions, but just a simple declaration.
In due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Herein is love. Not that we loved God. We didn't. But that he loved us. and sent
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. The enormous load
of human guilt was on my Savior's leg. With woes as with a garment
he for sinners was arrayed, and in the horrid pains of death
he wept and prayed for me, loved and embraced my guilty soul when
nailed to the tree. Oh, love, amazing love, beyond
the reach of human tongue, love, which shall be the subject of
my everlasting song. Now look at verse 8. Here's the
next manifestation of God's great mercy and the act of God's great
lovingkindness. In verse 8, we are told, Surely
they are my Surely they are my people. And with those words, the Lord
God distinguishes us to himself from all other people and distinguishes
himself to us as being isolated from all other people as his
own elect. I read in the office a little
bit ago the 92nd Psalm. speaks of the reprobate, and
he says, as they grow up and flourish, it is that they might
be slaughtered. But you who are God's, He causes
you to flourish with fatness forever in His grace. What a distinction! In everything
in this universe, God makes this distinction. That's my people. That's my people. That's my people. Who are these elect? They are
called in verse 4, my redeemed. Those who are chosen of God are
those who have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ
and delivered by His grace, by the power of His Spirit in regenerating
works. These are the people called my
people. The Lord God has bound himself
to us from everlasting by covenant grace, saying, I will be their
God, and they shall be my people. Sons we are through God's election,
who in Jesus Christ believe, by eternal destination, sovereign
grace we now receive. Lord, thy grace does both grace
and glory give. How ravishing is the thought,
how ravishing, of God's eternal love for his elect. Before ever
the world was made, before there was anything or any being other
than God himself, he loved us. He loved us. Imagine that. God loved me from eternity. set his heart on me from eternity,
determined to make himself mine from eternity, indeed made himself
mine from eternity, determined to save me from eternity, indeed
saved me from eternity in his sovereign purpose of election
and grace. People sometimes tell me, well,
I know me and who? Love the Lord, but they sure
hate election. No, no, you got it backwards. Everybody loves election. Some
folks just hate the God of election. Everybody loves election. Everybody
does. Everybody does. You don't believe me? Well, I
don't believe in election preaching. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. You
go to the store, you decide what you want to buy, you make an
election. Do it every day. Every day. And if I came along
and said, you can't do that, you have to take this, you'd
get plumbed mad. You'd say, no! No! This is my
choice! You see, men don't hate election. They just hate God doing it.
They just hate the fact that God holds them in His hand. And God has mercy on whom He
will have mercy. And I'll tell you when you'll
quit hating it. If ever you find out, you're in the number of
the Lord's family. I have no problem with election
whatsoever. None whatsoever. How come? Because my father did it. My
father did it. That's perfectly all right. My
father did it. God's election. Oh, what a blessing
this is. It is the source of all other
blessings. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places, according as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world. Every blessing
enjoyed by any sinner and all sinners who enjoy blessings in
time and eternity flows to us through the blood of our crucified
substitute from the fountain of God's electing love. And if ever you receive anything
in the experience of time, including the breath of life you draw from
infancy, Apart from God's electing love, it's not a blessing, but
a curse. That which is a blessing to us
because of God's election, that which is a blessing to us which
all things are because of God's election, is to the reprobate
a positive curse. That which is constantly working
for our soul's good because of God's election, constantly works
for the damnation of the reprobate because of their unbelief. Now,
having seen that, here is a third wondrous token of God's loving
kindness. Let me first say it again. It
is the gracious confidence that God puts in his people. Surely they are my people. that
will not lie. Now I'm not talking about the
confidence he puts in us toward him. God comes in grace, gives
us faith in him, gives us confidence in him. But here, the Lord God,
our Savior, says surely they're my people, my redeemed. These
are children that will not Imagine that, Larry Brown, God
Almighty puts confidence in you. No, no, that can't be so. Is that what he said? Surely
they are my people, children that will not lie. Oh, that's
loving kindness. That's loving kindness. My wife,
trust me, puts confidence in me without suspicion. Her love for me is demonstrated
in her confidence in me in all things. She's not suspicious
toward me. She's not suspicious of what
I'm doing or where I am. She's not suspicious because
she loves me. What does the book say about
love? thinketh no evil. It's called confident love. With men, it's a thing that we
arrive at in measure by degrees because our jealousy is always
jealousy built upon our own inadequacies and our own lack of loving commitment
to another. As we grow in love for one another,
the jealousies diminish and confidence increases. Men trust his wife
implicitly if he loves her. A woman trusts her husband implicitly
if she loves him, if she loves him. And yet, she has reason,
if only she knew, to hold me in suspicion all the time. And God Almighty would have reason
to hold me in suspicion all the time. Except for one thing. Except for one thing. When He
made me His son, He put His son in me. And He said, these are
my children. My people. Children that will
not lie. You see, grace makes folks honest.
Grace makes them dependable. Grace makes them trustworthy.
Grace makes them people in whom you can put confidence. And how
the Lord God shows His loving kindness to us. He has put us
in trust with the gospel. We have this treasure, this treasure
in earthen vessels, broken pieces of clay pots. Yet God's put in
us the treasure of the gospel. Imagine that. Here we are, insignificant
band of nobodies, small group, incapable of doing anything,
incapable of doing anything of any significance for the cause
of Christ. But look what God's trusted us
with. Of all people in this world,
why on earth He set His kingdom on this hill, and trust us with
the gospel for the praise of His glory. I often write to pastors,
my intention, I'm going to let my secrets out now, my intention
in using these phrases, or such phrases as these, is to encourage
them to recognize the magnitude of the work to which God has
trusted them, or the work God has trusted to them, No matter
whether they pastor a small band of believers meeting out under
an oak tree somewhere in a field, or whether they pastor a huge
congregation in a huge city, it doesn't matter. I refer to
the saints of God under their care. I'm praying for you and
for the saints God has trusted to you, unto me. who am less than the least of
all saints is this grace given, that I should preach to you the
unsearchable riches of Christ. I dare not take that trust lightly.
Now, children of God, to every one of you who believe, the Lord
has made thee a chosen vessel to bear his name. That's what
he said to Paul, wasn't it? When he saved him by his grace?
The God of our fathers has chosen thee. Chosen thee to be a witness
unto Him. God has chosen you as His witnesses
in this world, in this generation. He has chosen you to bear His
name before everybody you come in contact with. Sons and daughters,
grandsons and granddaughters, neighbors, friends and foes. To bear His name. Now, does that
mean you go around and buttonhole everybody, try to make them face
to face? No. Does that mean you try to cram
the doctrines we believe down everybody's throat and say, you've
got to believe this or else? No. No. It means that you bear
His name before men all the time. All the time. Honoring Him. Seeking His will and His glory. Now, look at verse 9. I've got
to hurry, I'll never get this done. Here's another gift of
God's great loving kindness. His great sympathy with His people. In all their afflictions, He
was afflicted. Who could ever imagine such a
thing? In all their afflictions. Not some, all of them. When I
speak of sympathy on God's part, I'm not talking about the kind
of sympathy men have with men. I'm talking about the kind of
sympathy the heart has with the body. The kind of sympathy the
body has with the heart. There are things that affect
me, either for pain or for joy. Things that affect me, either
increasing my delight or increasing my heartache, that other human
beings may never be aware of. Not God my Savior. In all their
afflictions, He was afflicted. Our God says, concerning our
Savior, that He was in all points tempted like as we are. There hath no temptation taken
you, but such as is common to men, especially the God-man. No temptation. No trial. He is
touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He knows our weaknesses. We have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in
all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Now here's
the conclusion to that. Let us therefore, Let us therefore
come boldly, come with confidence to the throne of grace that we
may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And
then God's loving kindness is displayed in his intimate and
gracious presence with us. Verse 9, the angel of his presence
saved them. The Lord Jesus is the angel of
his presence. He is the pillar of cloud and
pillar of fire that led Israel through the land of their enemies.
He is the rock that followed them through the wilderness.
He is the Shekinah that blazed up between the cherubim above
the mercy seat. In all the types and shadows
of the old dispensation, the Lord Jesus is set before us as
the angel of his presence. Now, think on this and rejoice.
The Lord Jesus, the Son of God, our Redeemer, our Savior, abides
with us always. He's at hand. He's at hand. He's at hand. He is God at hand
all the time, present with us. He said, Lo, I'm with you always. I will never, no never, no never,
no never, I'll come and make myself known to you. I'll make
myself known to you in such a way as the world can never understand. Do you not see Him? How often
have you looked up in distress and seen Him look down in pity?
How often have you walked a lonely, rough road and leaned hard upon
His mighty arm? How often in time of great sorrow
have you snuggled up to his breast, and him carry you by his gracious
strength, making known his presence to you particularly with us."
And then he shows his loving kindness by his gracious intervention. The angel of His presence saved
them. In His love and in His pity,
He redeemed them. As Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians
1, 10, He has saved me. He is saving me and He shall
save me. Oh, the marvelous interventions
of God. Aren't you thankful He puts Himself
in your way? Stops up your path? I was running as fast as I could
to hell. He stepped in and said, that's
far enough. And I'd have run right on to hell if he hadn't. How often, how often, how often
in his great providence God has just stepped in the way to keep
us from evil or to keep us from harm. Once in a while, Lindsay,
he lets us see it. Most of the time it's just secret. who is rich in mercy for his
great love wherewith he loved us. And then he speaks of God's
special providence. He bared them and carried them
all the days of old. And if he has borne me and carried
me throughout the days of my rebellion, carry me to the appointed
place of mercy, surely He will carry me still. Children of God,
we are in the grip of His grace. And He carries us all the day
long, and He will carry us through the dark night, and you will
find His grace sufficient for you. Then in verse 10 of this
chapter, speaks of something else. But they rebelled. I read that, I guess like everybody
else does, and my immediate response is, what a shocking thing. Really? Well, look what all God did for
them, they rebelled. Look what all God revealed to them, they
rebelled. Those ungrateful people. That's
how us good, self-righteous folks think, isn't it? I read it today,
and as I read it, I thought, just as I would have expected. Just as I ought to have expected. Just like me. Just like you. I'm getting a little past being
weary of hearing preachers, particularly, speaking haughty, self-righteous
arrogance about God's people and the things will do and won't
do. God's people are just dust, and
that's a compliment. Just dust. Anybody here ever
bought any dust? Anybody ever weighed any dust?
Anybody ever considered any value in dust? Anybody ever found any
usefulness for dust? Anybody? That's just what Danny
Iams and Don Fortner are, dust. Oh, but God saved us by His grace,
we're still dust. But we've been redeemed, redeemed
dust. But we have the Spirit of God
dwelling in us, dwelling in dust. And this I continually deal with
in me. In the light of all that I've
seen and read and rejoiced in, and experienced and praised God
for down through verses one through nine. A heart that rebels against God. They rebelled and vexed His Holy
Spirit. Therefore, He was turned to be
their enemy and fought against them. Oh, now there you see a
fellow be saved and then lost all? No. That ain't what it's
talking about. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. He
appeared to be their enemy and dealt with them as though He
was their enemy. As it puts it in Isaiah 54, in
a little wrath have I forsaken thee. In a small moment have
I forsaken thee. How come? Because He determined
not to forsake them and not to let them forsake Him. He won't
let you go. And I'll tell you the only reason
you don't go, Sam Walterman, you've been sitting right there,
worshiping God for these many years. And I'll tell you how
come you'll be back tomorrow, because He won't let you go.
I'll tell you how come Peter, who said, I'm going back fishing,
didn't go back to his fishing, because He won't let you go.
He turns and deals with us. as though He's angry in the most
loving, gracious thing imaginable. He makes our backs bare and He
takes the rod and lays pain in our souls, chastening us. If I were God, I would whip my
children. For that reason, I'm thankful you're not God. He loves us. And because He loves
us, He chastens us. Bastards may escape the rod,
the hymn writer said, but the true-born child of God would
not, must not, if He could. Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pities us. And then, in verses 11 and
12 and 13, Then he remembered the days of
old. Oh, I better quit. He remembered. Wait a minute.
Wait a minute. Wait! Yes, I've tasted them,
but that's enough. That's enough. That's enough.
These are my people. I put my spirit in them. His
compassions are new every morning. Great is thy Great is thy faithfulness. When I was 19 years old, I recall taking an
assignment in the theology class and wrote a paper about God's
faithfulness. And boy, it was good. I mean it was good. I dotted every I and crossed
every T. I researched the theology books
and searched the scriptures and I wrote a paper on God's faithfulness
that John Owen couldn't find fault with. It was good and just
about as useless as dust because I didn't know a thing on earth
about God's faithfulness. I'm 57 years old now. 57 years
old. And for 40 years, in the experience
of His grace, God Almighty has proved Himself faithful to this
unfaithful man. I will mention the loving-kindness
of the Lord, the multitude of His loving-kindnesses forever. Amen.