Okay, now this evening we're
going to take a brief look at Isaiah 59. I've enjoyed these
studies in the book of Isaiah. We went completely through the
book of Isaiah. Ten years ago, ten, eleven years
ago, we did every chapter, every verse, and we've been going back
over some of these chapters And I've enjoyed going back and preaching
through these chapters again. I'm entitling the message from
this chapter, Isaiah 59, Our sin, we see that so clearly,
don't we? Our sin and God's salvation. Our sin and the Lord's remedy. Our ruin and our Redeemer who
puts away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Now, two very obvious
things when you read this chapter. Two very obvious things. Sin, guilt, and total inability. We cannot establish righteousness. We cannot put away our sin. We
cannot declare ourselves not guilty. Now we can say that,
but we can't declare that before God. Only God can say who can
lay anything to the charge of God's elect. So we see two very
obvious things. We see our sin, our guilt, our
inability. The second thing we see, and
so thankful that the Lord reveals this in his word, we see the
remedy and the solution for our problem. The solution for sin
is the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ
and Him crucified put away our sin. He's our Redeemer because
He gave Himself for us to obtain eternal redemption for us. And the Redeemer shall come to
Zion, verse 20. He shall come to Zion, and He
did. Zion is God's people, God's church. All we like sheep have
gone astray and the Lord came and saved us, came where we were
to save us. Again in this chapter, Isaiah
59, we see the gospel. The gospel according to the prophet
Isaiah. We see the Lord Jesus Christ
declared in his sovereign saving power. Remember to him, give
all the prophets witness. They all, not only Isaiah, but
Moses, David, Jeremiah, and all the prophets bear witness to
him, his person and his work. Now, look at verse one. The Lord said, you stop and take
a good look at this. Behold. Behold what manner of
love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
sons of God. Behold, he said, my hand, the
Lord's hand, it not shortened, it not shortened, that it cannot
save, neither his ear heavy, that he cannot hear, his ears
are not softened up. The Lord's hand is not weak or
impotent or short. The Lord's hand is almighty and
powerful. Remember what the Lord taught
that King Nebuchadnezzar, all the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing and he does according to his will in
the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of this earth
and none can stay his hand. None can stay his hand. Now,
someone stronger than me can stay my hand, but no one can
stay God's hand. He is the almighty God. His hand accomplishes all his
purpose. Now hold your place there. Remember
back here, turn back to Isaiah 50, Isaiah 50. And the question was asked, verse
2, wherefore when I came, Isaiah 50 verse 2, there was no man,
when I called there was none to answer, is my hand shortened
at all that it cannot redeem? No, he can redeem his people,
and he did. His hand is not shortened. Well,
have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up
the sea. I make the rivers a wilderness.
The fish stink it because there's no water, and they die of thirst. I close the heavens with blackness
and make Sackclaw the covering. The Lord is the almighty God. We've seen that repeatedly over
and over and over again. He's the absolute sovereign.
He rules and reigns over all things. There is no lack of ability,
purpose, or power in His mighty hands to save sinners. That's
exactly why He came. This is a faithful saying. You
remember from our Bible study in 1 Timothy 1? This is a faithful
saying. Worthy of all acceptation, the
Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners. What's the rest of it? I'm the chief one, of whom I'm
chief. Oh, wretched man that I am. Then
he told Zacchaeus, who was up the tree, he was up the tree
in trouble. And the Lord said, Zacchaeus,
make haste and come down, for the Son of Man has come to seek
and save the lost. And the Lord saved that notable
publican who was a sinner, Zacchaeus. His power, the power of the Lord,
is far-reaching. His power has no limit. He has
unlimited, absolute, sovereign power over all creation. Who
can speak a world into existence? Just look at the elements. Just this evening, the elements
of the storm, the lightning, the thunder, the power, the wind. That's not Mother Nature. That's God Almighty. That's His
absolute power. His power is awesome. His power
is far-reaching. Our God is a big God. He said,
I am God. In the book of Isaiah, many times
He said, I am the Lord. Beside me, there is no other.
He's nowhere to go. His power is far-reaching. His
hands are not shortened. They used to have that saying,
the long arm of the law, remember? The long arm of the law will
reach out and grab you. Well, how much more powerful
and long is the arm of the Lord when he reaches down to save
a dead sinner? He reaches down in the pit of
depravity and lifts us up and makes us new creatures in Christ. His power is far reaching. His
purpose cannot be defeated. He said, I purposed it, I'll
bring it to pass. I will do it, Isaiah 46. His grace, His grace is sovereign
grace. His grace is almighty grace,
fetching grace, calling grace, electing grace, but His grace
is effectual grace. His grace is really able to save
us. I am what I am. What? By the grace of God? His love
is everlasting to draw us to himself. He said, I've loved
you with an everlasting love. So we can rightly come to the
conclusion that the Lord's hand is not shortened. The Lord does
save and did save all his people from their sin. And he will not
lose one of those sheep for whom Christ died. His ear is not heavy. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved." The Lord hears the cry of His
people. The Lord hears the cry of His
children. His ear is open to their cry.
But here's our problem. Here's our problem, verse 2,
but. You see that, verse 2? But, here's our problem. Your iniquities have separated
you And your God and your sins have made Him to hide His face
from you, and He will not hear. Now, God is holy. God is holy. And apart from the Lord Jesus
Christ our Mediator, God's not going to hear us. God's not going
to have anything to do with us apart from Christ our Mediator,
Christ our Intercessor. Your iniquities have separated
you between you and your God. That's what happened when Adam
sinned in the garden, remember? Sin separated us. In Adam all
died. In Adam all sinned. God put Adam
out of the garden. Separated from God. When God
put Adam out, He put us out. We were all born without Christ,
without righteousness, without any hope of salvation in ourselves,
without God, without Christ, and without hope. Your iniquities
have separated between you and your God. Your sins have hid
His face from you. God is too holy to look upon
sin with favor. God only deals with us in the
Lord Jesus Christ. That the only way that God does
business with any sinner is in the mediator and through his
miniatural priestly work, his blood and his righteousness alone. The problem is not with God,
the problem is with our sin and our guilt before God or against
God. And we have no one to blame but
who? your iniquity. It's my sin against
God. We have no one to blame but ourselves. Remember what we read in Romans
3? We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. All
we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to our
own way and the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. We'll
never savingly call upon the Lord for mercy until we are made
to know in our heart and confess it before the Lord that we are
guilty. We're the guilty one. Now, it's
only when God convicts us of our sin that we'll ever call
upon the Lord for mercy. It's my fault. I'm the problem.
I have no one to blame but myself. It's not my surroundings. It's
not my home life. It's not even Adam's rebellion.
I'm the guilty one. You're the guilty one. We have
all sinned and come short of God's glory. And the thing about
sin is it's a horrible, it's against God. Now the only time
that we'll call for mercy, as the publican did, is when he
makes us to know that we're our sinner. The publican smote his
breast And then he called out for mercy, didn't he? We'll never
call out for mercy until God convicts us of our sin, of sin,
of righteousness, and of judgment. When did the publican call upon
the Lord? When he knew he was guilty. Lord,
be merciful to me, thee sinner. When did the thief on the cross
call out for mercy? When he knew he was getting exactly
what he deserved. Remember? He said that other
thief, and we indeed justly. This man done nothing wrong,
the Lord Jesus Christ, but we are dying because that's what
we deserve. We're getting exactly what we deserve. All of us deserve
the wages of sin, which is death. We don't deserve mercy. Mercy
cannot be deserved. It ceases to be mercy if you
can earn it. Isaiah, when he called upon the
Lord, When he said, Woe is me, for I am undone, I am a man of
unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the Lord, holy, holy, holy
Lord God Almighty. And then he said, Woe is me,
Lord have mercy upon me. Same way with Job, remember?
Job said, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, wherefore
now I see thee, wherefore I hate myself, I abhor myself. Has the Lord ever convinced you
in your heart that if He sent you to eternal condemnation,
that's exactly what you deserve? That's exactly what we deserve.
We don't deserve mercy. Now, I don't want judgment, but
that's what I deserve. That's what I've earned. Let
every mouth be stopped and all the world become guilty before
God. Everyone confess their guilt.
Not before men, but before God. We must do business with God
in Christ Jesus. Sue for mercy upon the merit
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he describes, he says,
your hands are defiled, verse 3, your fingers with iniquity,
your lips have spoken lies, your tongue have muttered perverseness,
none calls for justice, no man pleads for the truth. Left to
himself, we trust vanity, we speak lies, we conceive mischief,
we bring forth iniquity. What a horrible description,
but true. of what humanity is. I'm not
surprised anymore when I watch the news or pick up a newspaper
and read of the horrible things that sinners do. We would do
exactly the same thing or worse had not God restrained us by
His grace. Their webs, verse 6, shall not
become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their
works. Their works are works of iniquity.
You remember Isaiah 64 verse 4? All of our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags in God's sight. The works are works of iniquity.
The best we have at our best time. David put it this way,
man at his best age is altogether vanity, vanity, vanity. The works are just works of iniquity. They can't cover themselves with
their works. That's what Adam tried in the garden when he fell.
He tried to, what'd he do? He tried to get some fig leaves
to cover his nakedness. That didn't work, did it? Thank
God that before God put Adam out of the garden, he killed
an animal. He shed blood and clothed them and then drove them
out. That's a picture of substitution
and satisfaction that we have in Christ. Verse seven, their
feet run to evil. They make haste to shed innocent
blood. Their thoughts are thoughts. We think our thoughts are totally
wrong. We think too highly of ourselves
and too low of God. Their thoughts are thoughts of
iniquity. Thoughts of iniquity. Wasting and destruction are in
their path. What a gruesome, gruesome description. But how true. The Lord just peels
back the veneer and says, here's what you are. None righteous,
no not one. The way of peace, We don't know
anything about peace, not apart from his mercy. There's no justice
or no right in their goings. They have made crooked paths.
Whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace, shall not know
peace. Now from verse nine down through
verse 15, he's not only talking about our guilt before God, but
also inability. We have no ability
to please God, no ability to satisfy what God demands. We're unable to do that which
is right. Man has no ability. Now a lot
of people preach up man's ability. Man's ability to honor the law,
man's ability to work out a righteousness, man's ability to do this or to
do that. We have no ability to please
God. Think about this. Do you have
any ability to establish righteousness that would be satisfying unto
God? No. Do we have any ability to put
away our sin, our guilt before God? None. None. That's what we mean when
we talk about total depravity. No ability, not even any ability
to stop sinning against God. Say, well, I'm just not going
to sin anymore. You've already told a lie, haven't you? If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth's not in us. If we confess our
sin, he's faithful to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. They that are in the flesh, Romans
8, the carnal mind is enmity against God. They that are in
the flesh cannot please God. We have no ability to honor the
law of God. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. No ability to believe God. The
carnal mind is enmity against God. No ability to come to him
or obey him. No man can come to me except
the Father which sent me draw him. Man, we're in a mess. We're
guilty. We're sinful and have no way
in and of ourselves to do one thing about it. No ability to
obey him or come to him. He said no man can come to me
except the Father which sent me draw him. No ability to repent. We're dead in sin. Dead in trespasses
and in sin. It says there in the last part
of verse 9, we walk in darkness. We walk in darkness. We're born
in darkness. We live in darkness. God has
to call us out of darkness. But we stay right there. You
remember John 3, 19 where it says that light is coming to
this world and men love darkness rather than the light because
their deeds were evil? We walk and live in darkness.
We have no ability to give ourselves light or to reveal the gospel
unto ourselves. We're in absolute desperate places. It says in verse 10, we grope
for the wall like the blind. We're blind. We don't see God.
We grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble at noonday as in the
night. We are in desolate places as
dead men. dead in trespasses and in sin,
spiritually dead. You hath equally can thank God
who were dead in sin. There is none, verse 11, it says
salvation is far from us, that there is none for salvation,
but there is none for salvation, but it is far from us. That's
far from us. A total, absolute impossibility. Salvation for us, apart from
the grace of God. Sovereign grace of God. Verse
12, our transgressions are multiplied. Our sins testify against us.
Our transgressions are with us. As for our iniquities, well,
we know something of them. But we won't confess them unless
God gives us grace. In transgressing and lying against
the Lord, departing away from our God, speaking oppression,
revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. Judgment is turned away by justice
and for all. For truth, truth is fallen in
the street, inequity, Inequity cannot enter in truth. Yea, truth
faileth, and he departeth. Truth faileth, and he departeth. He that departeth from evil maketh
himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it was
evil. It was displeasing. It was evil
in his eyes. There was no justice, no judgment. Now what a dark, dark picture
the Lord paints of us. We've all turned away backward,
not forward. Our problem is displeasing to
God. Now, the Lord brings us all the
way down to the bottom. All the way down as far as He
can strip us and put us in the dust, and then He lifts us up. And he saw that there was no
man and wondered that there was no man, verse 16, therefore his
own arm brought salvation unto him and his righteousness sustained
him. Now had it not been for the Lord
coming in mercy and grace to redeem us, we'd have no hope,
no hope of salvation. We have the only God-given solution
for our sin, our guilt, and our inability, and that is the Lord
Jesus Christ and Him crucified, His blood and His righteousness,
His redeeming blood to put away our sin and His righteousness
to cover us. What is the solution for guilt?
What is the solution for guilt? Having no sin to be guilty of.
How can that be? Christ put away our sin by the
sacrifice of himself. Now you think about how guilty
we are, how sinful we are, and God said, in the Lord Jesus Christ,
because he put away your sin, There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Matter of fact,
he says this, God who spared not his own son, but delivered
him up for us all, how shall not he with him also freely give
us all things? Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It's God who justified us. It
is Christ who died to put away our sin. The only solution for
our guilt is to have no sin to be guilty of. No wonder David
said in Psalm 32, Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will
not impute sin. Blessed is that man to whom God
would impute righteousness without works. What is the solution for
our guilt? Christ and Him crucified. What
is the solution for our inability? Having the Lord Jesus Christ
accomplish salvation for us and then making us able to believe
and receive Him who is all of our salvation. We only believe
according to the working of His mighty power, His mighty hand. He has to give us faith. He gives
us salvation. He raises us up from the dead.
Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, he's born of God. We don't believe to be born.
We believe because we have been begotten of God. What is the solution for our
total lack of inability? Having the Lord Jesus Christ
accomplish salvation for us. You remember what we read here,
don't turn, let me just read it to you, see if I can find
that scripture we read earlier, Romans 3. Therefore by the deeds
of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for
by the law is the knowledge of sin, but now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and
the prophet, even the righteousness of God which is by the faith
of Who? Jesus Christ. You see, it's by
the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ that we have salvation,
that we have righteousness alone in Him. The Lord of glory understands
our problem, and then He sends the solution. Before Adam ever
sinned, the Lord Jesus Christ stood as a remedy. You think
about that. The fall and sin of Adam was known and decreed
of God from all eternity, no wonder He had the remedy already
standing as a surety before Adam ever sinned. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. You
see, it wasn't, here's plan A, Adam don't sin. Well, Adam sinned. Okay, got to go to plan B now. No is always plan A. Always in
God's decree, in God's purpose. For Adam to sin, and for Christ
to come, and to put away the sin of God's people. The Lord
knows that no man can stand before Him When he saw there was no
man, and wondered that there was no intercessor, therefore
his own arm brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness
established that, sustained us. No sinner can intercede for another. not in the high court of God's
law and justice, only the God-man mediator, the one that's appointed
under God, of God. Therefore, his hand, his arm
accomplish salvation for us. He's performed all things for
us. He has all ability to put away
sin, to establish righteousness. We have none. That's the good
news of the gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
intercessor. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
advocate. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
mediator. Remember one God, one mediator
between God and men? That is the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ brought in for us everlasting righteousness,
established it for us. The Lord is well pleased for
his righteousness. He will magnify the law. He will
make it honorable. Verse 17, look at verse 17. He put on righteousness as a
breastplate, describing our Redeemer that will come to Zion and save
us. The Redeemer shall come to Zion and turn us from transgression,
saith the Lord. For He put on righteousness as
a breastplate. He had no sin, knew no sin, and
did no sin. And a helmet of salvation upon
His head. He is the Savior. And He put
on the garment of vengeance. He took vengeance against our
sin. clothing and was clad with zeal
as with a cloak. You remember that Messianic psalm
in Psalm 69 where it says the zeal of the Lord's house has
eaten him up? He's zealous to put away our
sin. He's zealous to accomplish our
salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ has on
the breastplate of righteousness to honor God's law for us. The
helmet of salvation is on His head. He's determined to accomplish
it. The garments of vengeance against
our sin, He came. He tread the winepress of the
wrath of God alone. He's clad with zeal. The Lord's glory. He's zealous
of the Lord's glory, isn't He? Zealous of the Lord's glory.
He's our mighty conquering King who accomplished salvation for
us. Now, let's read on verse 18 and
19. According to their deeds, according
He will repay. Very to His adversaries, recompense
to his enemies, he's going to deal with the enemies of the
gospel. He will repay and recompense,
so shall they fear the name of the Lord. Worship the Lord from
the west to the east. When the enemy shall come in
like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall Lift up the standard
of the gospel. He fights for us. He intercedes
for us. Our enemies are His enemies.
The Lord will repay His enemies with vengeance. He said, Vengeance
belongs unto Me, saith the Lord. When the enemies do flood in,
the Lord will lift up the banner of the gospel. to defend us. He's a good shepherd
who laid down his life for us. He's a good shepherd. The Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not want, I shall not fear. Now I close,
and look at verse 20 and verse 21. A blessed covenant promise. The Redeemer shall come to Zion. He shall come. In the fullness
of time, God sent forth His Son. In the fullness of the time,
God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.
The Redeemer shall come to His people, His church. I build my
church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
And unto them that turn from transgression, saith the Lord.
Now, I like the way The Apostle Paul, by the influence of the
Holy Spirit, gives a better rendering of that in Romans 11, 26. And
so, all Israel shall be saved, as is written, there shall come
out of Zion thee deliver, and shall turn away ungodliness from
Jacob. He turns us to God from our idols
to serve the living and true God. He turns us unto himself. And then he does it because of
that everlasting covenant. Verse 21, Isaiah 59, as for me,
this is my covenant with them. Remember, God said, I will be
their God and they shall be my people. I will not depart from
them and they shall not depart from me. Who says so? As for me, this is my covenant
with them, saith the Lord." That's his covenant. The God of peace
that brought again from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep
to the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in
every way before God. My spirit that is upon thee and
my words which I put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth.
God puts his word in us, in our heart, in our mind, the word
of God. For I the mouth of the seed,
seed." I believe that's a reference to that seed in Christ. That seed in Isaac, Christ. The seed of the woman. The Lord
Jesus Christ gives us the word of life. And it will not depart
from us, and it will not depart from Him. Say it to the Lord. from henceforth and forever,
forever, forevermore. The Redeemer shall come and turn
us unto the Lord. He turned us away from ourselves
unto Him. This is the Lord's covenant that's
ordered in all things and is sure. The Lord said, I'll never
leave you. I'll never forsake you. Now,
one last note. It says in verse two, your iniquities
have separated you between you and your God. Now, I told you
in the message that the Lord has put away our sin. Turn over
here to Psalm 103. The Lord has put away our sin,
right? By the sacrifice of himself.
And when he put away our sin by the sacrifice of himself,
now he separated our sin from us. Psalm 103, verse 8. The Lord
is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, plenteous in mercy.
He will not chide. Psalm 103, verse 9. Neither will
He keep His anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after
our sin, nor rewarded us according to our iniquity. For as the heaven
is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that
fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath
He removed our transgression from us. Now, did you get what
I'm saying there? Our sin has separated us from
God because the Lord Jesus Christ came and put away our sin and
separated our sin from us. Now, as far as the East is from
the West, so what's the opposite of separation? Reconciliation. Now we have reconciliation in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He reconciled us unto God. Now, don't turn to this, but
let me see if I can quote it. I thought of this verse after
I had thought on this last point here, where it says over there
in Romans 8, where it talks about who shall separate us from the
love of God? And he comes up with a very exhaustive
list, and he said, nothing can separate us from the love of
God, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. One time our sin separated
us from God, now nothing can separate us from Him in Christ
Jesus, because He separated us from our sin. You get that? Okay.