Isaiah 25, notice verse 6, in
this mountain, in this place the Lord has established, in
this mountain, and that refers back to Isaiah 2, we'll read
that in a moment, in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts, He's
the Lord of His people, He's the Lord of hosts, shall the
Lord of hosts make unto all people, That is, all of his covenant
people, all of his covenant children, a feast. A feast of fat things. A feast of good things. Good
things. Fat things. Full things. A feast
of wines on the leaves. A fat thing full of marrow, of
wine on the leaves. Now I looked that up, wine on
the leaves, well refined, and it has something to do with the
process of making wine. The leaves settle down to the
bottom, the leaves or the grape. different things of the grape,
but it settles to the bottom, and that wine is fermented in
the process, and it makes the wine that much more rich when
you leave the pulp from the grapes down on the bottom and let the
wine come to the top. It's wine that's well refined. It's the best wine. So, I'm entitling
the message from what is said there in verse 6 The Feast of
the Lord. More specifically, the Gospel
Feast of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has prepared for us
a glorious, glorious table full of good things. So full of good
things. The Gospel Feast of the Lord.
I want to sit at His table, don't you? I want to sit at His table
that He's prepared and provided for us. He said, come freely. This is a free meal. Don't bring
anything. The Lord would be insulted if
you tried to bring something. He said, come and dine. Come
and dine. Sit at my table. It's free. And eat all you want. Now the book of Isaiah, many
of the old timers called it the gospel according to Isaiah. We
have the glorious message of the good news of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's salvation that was promised.
Salvation that was purposed from all eternity, promised in all
the Old Testament Scripture. Our blessed Lord and Savior,
in due time, He came to accomplish what God purposed, didn't He?
He came to purpose. He came to accomplish that which
God purposed. You remember reading in Galatians
chapter 4, back when we studied there, in the fullness of the
time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the
law to redeem them that were under the law. I was in Kingsport,
Tennessee years ago when we started going up there back in 2006,
2007, and there was an old preacher that attended those meetings.
He was way up in his 90s when I met him, and he attended pretty
often. And I quoted that verse from
Galatians 4, verse 4, and I quoted it in the fullness of time. God
sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law. And I stood
at the back door, and when he came out, he said, you misquoted
that scripture. I said, I did? He said, yeah,
you did. You left out a very important
word in the fullness of the time. God sent forth His Son. A definite
article, the time. So every time I quote that verse,
I think of that story. And the old man taught this preacher
something. In the fullness of the time,
God sent forth His Son to accomplish all God's purpose in saving His
people from their sin. You know, all the prophets give
witness to the Lord Jesus Christ, don't they? Isaiah for sure,
but Jeremiah and Ezekiel and all the prophets. To Him give
all the prophets witness. In the preaching of the Gospel
of Christ, we proclaim good news to the needy. Good news to the
needy. Remember, don't turn. Let me
read this to you. Remember from last week. We had from Isaiah
52, 7, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him
that bringeth good tidings, that publish peace, that bringeth
good tidings of good, that publish salvation, that saith unto Zion,
thy God reigneth. That's good news, isn't it? Good
news indeed it is. The preaching of the gospel,
we proclaim good news to those who are in need of mercy. The
Lord delights to show mercy. To those who need redemption,
the Lord Jesus Christ came to redeem us and save us from our
sin. Good news to sinners. We declare
His person, who He is, God Almighty, God our Savior. We declare who
He is and we declare what He has done. What did He do? The Lord Jesus Christ came to
seek and to save His people from their sin. So we declare His
person, who He is, His work, what He's done. Our message is
not one of what the sinner must do for the Lord Jesus Christ. Our message is what Christ has
done for us. Now that's so important and so
vital. You see, salvation is not conditioned
upon the sinner, is it? Now that's what this whole religious
world is preaching. Salvation depends upon you. Salvation
is always dependent upon Christ. He accomplished it. It's not
conditioned on me. That would be a sad, sad, sad
state of things because I can't meet those perfect conditions
that God required that the Lord Jesus Christ did. Our message
is what Christ has done for us. Our message is not Do, D-O, it's
D-O-N-E, done. That's the difference. Remember from Revelation 1, He
loved us and washed us from our sin in His own blood. Now who
loved who? He loved us. Who washed who?
He loved us and washed us from our sin in His own blood. You
see, He loved us from all eternity. He chose us. When did He choose
us? before we had done any good or
evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might
stand. You remember Romans 9? He redeemed us. He called us. We were dead in sin. He called
us. And He saved us by His grace,
according to His own purpose and grace, given us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. Now, that's good news.
You mean preachers, salvation doesn't depend upon the sinner?
That's exactly what I'm saying. Salvation, purpose accomplished
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in these verses, we see a
declaration of the blessings of the gospel that's freely given,
freely given unto undeserving sinners. The Lord plainly says,
I didn't come to call the righteous sinners. to repentance. This is a faithful saying, and
this is worthy of all acceptation. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. Christ died for the ungodly.
And Paul said, I'm the chief offender. Certainly, that is
the testimony of every believer. Guilty, right? Grace for the
guilty. Now, a feast is prepared by the
Lord of hosts. See verse 6, in this mountain,
And again, this refers to the place of salvation, the rock
of ages, the Lord Jesus Christ, the sure foundation that he has
laid. In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts, the Lord of
a people, make unto all people, talking about his people, a feast. A feast. I mean, a feast, not
just a bologna sandwich. Not just a hot dog, I mean this
is a feast. This is a feast provided by the
Lord. You see, He gives the best. He
brings the best robe, the best meal. He is the bread of life. A feast of fat things, full things. A feast of wine, wine, the best
wine. A fat thing full of marrow. Marrow is that center part of
the bone that carries all the nutrition to the body. The gospel
feeds us. Wine on the leaves, it's well
refined. So a feast prepared by the Lord,
freely given. freely given. The gospel of Christ
is compared to a great gospel feast. A banquet of mercy served
up by the Lord of hosts. A banquet prepared by God and
served up by His love and mercy, His grace and peace to us. You remember, turn over here
to Isaiah. You remember Isaiah 55? Turn
there. Hold your place there. Bookmark
that. Isaiah 25 and look at Isaiah
55. Verse 1, Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.
He that hath no money, come ye buy and eat, yea, come buy wine,
milk without money, without money, without price. See this meal's
free. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfyeth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in its
fatness. Come by without money, without
price. Well, that's strange economics,
isn't it? The gospel's free. Incline your ear coming to me
here, and your soul shall live. I'll make an everlasting covenant
with you, even the sure, sure, sure mercies of David. The Lord has prepared a feast
for us. You see, we're poor, needy beggars. And the Lord commands us to come
and dine, sit at His table. And He gives us the best food.
He gives Himself for us. In the preaching of the gospel
is the spreading of the rich, well-supplied banquet table before
needy, weary, hungry sinners to feast upon. That's what we
do when we preach the Gospel. We spread the banquet feast of
His mercy and His love, His grace, His redemption, and we say, come
and dine. Feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the bread of life. He said, come unto Me. He said,
you'll never hunger, you'll never thirst. This feast is prepared
by the Lord Himself. This is God's Gospel concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's prepared this feast. You
know, when did he start planning this meal? When did he start the preparations for this banquet,
gospel feast from all eternity for the Lamb? We're going to
read in Revelation chapter 13, the Lamb slain before the foundation
or from the foundation of the world. The place where this gospel
feast is spread is in this mountain. This mountain is a gospel church,
Mount Zion, where His glory dwells. Now here's a reference that's
given. Turn back to Isaiah 2. Isaiah 2, verse 1. Isaiah 2,
verse 1. the Lord, the word that Isaiah,
the son of Amos, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall
come to pass in the last day that the mountain of the Lord's
house shall be established in the top of the mountains and
shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow under
it." He had the people of every nation, kindred, tongue, people.
Isaiah 2 verse 3, And many people shall go and say, Come ye, let
us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of our God,
the God of Jacob, and he will teach us. He will teach us of
His ways, and we will walk in His path. But right of Zion shall
go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. So this mountain here is the
place that God has prepared. You remember He told Peter, upon
this rock I'll build my church, and the gates of hell shall not
prevail. Right over here in Isaiah, turn just one page. You remember
Isaiah 28, verse 16? Remember? Therefore, thus saith
the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation of stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. In this mountain, in this place,
The place that God has prepared for us, He gives us the feast
of His mercy, the feast of His grace for us. The feast is provided
here for all people, all His elect out of every kindred, tribe,
nation, tongue, and people, old, young, black, white, Jew, Gentile,
male, female. He said, come all you who are
labor heavy laden, I'll give you rest. The feast is provided
with the choicest things fat, things full of marrow, wine well
refined, that is the best food, the best wine. And he's not talking
here about natural things, he's talking here about spiritual
things. The spiritual things that we
feed upon, for we feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ himself, don't
we? That means in Christ, there is
an abundance of grace, love and mercy to sinners in the gospel,
that whatever your soul needs to stand before God, justified
forever, is freely, eternally, and abundantly supplied in the
Lord Jesus Christ. God who spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also,
what's that word, freely give us most things. I misquoted that,
didn't I? He does freely give us all things. All things. My God shall supply
all your need according to His riches in glory through the Lord
Jesus Christ. We have great need. Oh, we have
great need. He meets every need we have.
Freely, abundantly, fully, and eternally. Fat thing full of
moral. Full of His goodness, full of
His righteousness. You remember John chapter 1,
we quote that verse all the time. Of His fullness have we all received
grace for grace. As a reason for grace is grace
of His fullness. We receive grace from Him. In Him dwells all the fullness
of Godhead bodily, and we're complete in Him. Wine that's
well refined. Now, whenever we read about wine
in the Scripture, it's symbolic of what? His redeeming blood. His redeeming blood. It says here, wine is well refined. We are redeemed with His precious
blood. He bought us with His own blood,
in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of His grace. Now, look at verse
7. Isaiah 25 verse 7, and he will
destroy. He will swallow up. He will swallow
up in this mountain, in his church, for his people, the face of covering,
cast over all the people. Cast over, covered over, and
the veil that is spread over all nations. Now, by nature,
we're what? In the dark. We're covered up
with guilt and sin and darkness. Isaiah tells us of a covering
and a veil that will be destroyed and swallowed up or devoured. There is a covering of darkness
and ignorance that is spread over all mankind due to our sin,
due to our total depravity. By nature, we're ignorant of
God. Ignorant of a true and living God. We're ignorant of our own
sinful nature. We are guilty before God. And we're ignorant of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're ignorant as to how God
can be just and justify the ungodly. We're ignorant as to the fact
how sin is put away. Most people think that sin is
put away by what they do or do not do. You remember Paul charged those
Jewish people, he said, you're ignorant of God, and you're ignorant
of God's righteous, holy character, and you're ignorant of the righteousness
provided in the Lord Jesus Christ. When Paul writes to the Ephesians,
he reminds them of this. Having understanding darkened
what we are by nature, Gentiles without God, without hope, and
without Christ, being alienated from the life of God through
the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their
heart. Now by nature, we're just dumb.
Spiritually speaking, a man may be a genius. He may be an Einstein. But naturally speaking, the carnal
mind does not understand the things of God. They're foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them. They must be spiritually
discerned or spiritually revealed. The only way for this darkness
to be removed from our heart is by the power of God the Holy
Spirit, revealing Christ the light unto our soul. Remember
Paul, when he prayed for the church at Colossae, He said,
well, we thank God who translated us out of the kingdom of darkness
into the kingdom of God's dear son. And Peter put it this way,
that we should show forth the praises of him who called us
out of darkness into his marvelous light. He will swallow up death
in victory. The place where the light of
the gospel shined through is in this mountain in His gospel
church. He commands us to preach the
gospel, Christ to His life and light and salvation, preach the
word of truth, and God the Holy Spirit makes that message real
to your heart as He reveals Christ unto you as everything in salvation. He will destroy, He will swallow
up in this mountain this covering of darkness over the people,
that veil that spread over us. God must command the light to
shine out of darkness, to shine in our hearts, to give us the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God that shines in the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we preach the gospel
over and over and over again. Now, look at verse 8. He will swallow up death in victory. A lot of people think the Lord
Jesus Christ, when He died, was defeated. His death is not a
defeat. His death is victory. Isaiah proclaimed to us about
the dreaded enemy being destroyed or swallowed up. Sin and death
swallowed up by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what brings death? Sin. When sin is finished, it
brings forth death. The Lord Jesus Christ swallowed
up our sin. He took our sin to Himself in
His own body on the tree. died under the judgment of our
sin, guilty, charged with our sin, and died under the wrath
of God, putting away all our sins, satisfying God's law and
justice, and he's won the victory for us. How do we know he won? He walked out of that grave on
the third day. How do we know he won? Death
couldn't hold him. He said, I'm he that liveth and
was dead. Behold, I'm alive forevermore. I have the keys of hell and death.
See, He's won the victory for us. We're more than conquerors
through Him that loved us. The cause of death is sin, but
sin being put away by His glorious sacrifice, death is abolished
for all the elect of God. God said their sin and their
iniquity will I remember no more. Believers now have nothing to
fear about death, for Christ has delivered us from spiritual
death and eternal death. He swallowed up death in victory. That's what we read over here
in 1 Corinthians 15. Death is swallowed
up in victory. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. The
strength of sin is the law. He put away sin and satisfied
God's law and justice. Now, thanks be to God, who's
given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ swallowed
up death when he died for us because he put away our sin. Let's turn and look at this scripture
here over in 2nd Timothy. You know where 1st Timothy is
because we've been studying that. But if you can find 2nd Timothy
chapter 1, look at verse 9, verse 9 and 10. 2nd Timothy chapter
1, verse 9 and verse 10. Verse nine is one of my all-time
favorite verses. God who saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which is given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of
our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death. He abolished death and has brought
life and immortality to light through the gospel. That's how
we have the victory over sin, death, hell, and the grave. Years
ago, there was an old preacher. This is 1600s. His name was John
Owen. And he wrote a book I read years
and years ago. And the title of the book was
The Death of Death. The death of death in the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this one statement I remember
he made in that book, sin committed suicide when it landed on Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ crucified,
in Christ crucified we have the death of death, the end of sin,
the establishment of righteousness and salvation forever. Oh, what
a banquet we have. You remember from Romans 5, 19,
where sin abounded, grace has much more abound, that as sin
has reigned unto death, even so grace reigns by righteousness
unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages of
sin is death. No doubt about that. The gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Jesus
Christ, our Lord, swallowed up death and his death as our substitute,
putting away our sin. Secondly, the Lord Jesus Christ
swallowed up death in his glorious resurrection for us, delivered
from our offenses, raised again because he justified us. Now,
if he'd have come out of that grave on the third day, We are yet in our sins and he's
an imposter and his soul's in hell. That's too strong? If he didn't come out of that
grave the third day, then he's no savior of mine. He didn't
satisfy God's law and justice and we're in big trouble. But
he did come out of that grave, delivered for our offenses and
raised again for our justification. Our Lord said, I am the resurrection
and the life. The Lord said, because I live,
you shall also live. Because I do. This sinful body
must die. Willing away, isn't it? I'm talking to a preacher. A
preacher friend of mine is a couple years older than me. And we were
talking about this frailty of this flesh. How weak, how weak is this flesh.
It's not getting better. It's going to the grave. This
sinful body must die, must go back to the dust. But the death
of our body is the release of our blood-bought soul to be with
the Lord forever. This body is going down, but
our soul is going up. Our Lord told that dying thief,
today you're going to be with me in paradise. Now they took
that dying thief's body down and buried it somewhere or threw
it over the hillside somewhere. They called that place where
they crucified them the place of a skull because most of those
bodies that were crucified, they were just cast down the hillside.
But the Lord told that dying thief that you will be with me
in glory. Now his body's out there in the
dust, the dirt. But He went to glory with the
Lord Jesus Christ. That will encourage us. Blessed
are they who die in the Lord. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints. To live is Christ, to die is
gain. Oh, I wish we could get a hold of
that. I mean, we live, and that's Christ, that's salvation. But
to depart this life and to be with the Lord, oh, to be absent
from the bodies, to be present with the Lord, is to be present
with the Lord. And then it says, look again
there at verse 8. He will swallow up death in victory,
and the Lord God will wipe away all tears from off their faces,
and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all
the earth. Now, who guarantees this? Who guarantees that the Lord
is going to give us a victory that the Lord is going to wipe
away all tears, all sorrow, and the rebuke He shall take away. He takes away our sin by the
sacrifice of Himself. Now, what's the guarantee of
all that? Well, that's what the preacher
said. The preacher guarantees all that. Well, that's not what
it says there. For the Lord has spoken it. Now,
we can speak what He speaks, and you can take that and believe
it, if we speak what He speaks, but if we speak contrary to what
the Lord speaks, don't take that. You see, the guarantee of our
salvation is the Lord has said. The Lord has spoken. You remember
Isaiah 46? I quote it quite often, or try
to. He said, I've spoken it, I'll
bring it to pass, I've purposed it, I will do it. The Lord had
taken away our sin. The Lord has spoken it. This
is given 700 years before the incarnation of the Lord Jesus
Christ in Bethlehem. And He speaks as it's done. Wounded for our transgression,
bruised for our iniquity, chastised in our peace as opponents, and
with His stripes we are healed. 700 years before the Lord even
came, the Lord said, I'm going to heal my people. How do we
know that? The Lord has said. The Lord has
said. That's comforting, isn't it?
The Lord has spoken it. Here's the last thing in verse
9. And it shall be said in that day. Now that statement, in that
day, is all through the book of Isaiah. Look at Isaiah 26
verse 1, And in that day shall this song be sung, We have a
strong city, salvation of God, a point for walls and bulwarks.
In that day it shall be said, Lo, this is our God. Boy, this
is our God. He is God who is God. He said,
I am God, beside me there is no other. This is our God. We
have waited for Him. Simeon in the temple was waiting
for the consolation of the Lord, waiting to see the Christ of
God, the Anointed. And when he saw the babe, he
said, Lord, I'm ready to die. I've seen Thy salvation. We've
waited for Him. He will save us. Call His name Jesus. He shall
save His people from their sin. He will save us. This is the
Lord. This is our God. We've waited
for Him. He will save us. This is the Lord. We've waited
for Him. We will be glad and rejoice in
His salvation. You see that? You ever notice
that the bottom line in all this is salvation of the Lord? I mean, the Word of God goes
over that and over that and over that again. God has determined
The grand design of redemption is His glory. God has determined
that He must have all the glory. A faith that does not glorify
God is not the faith of God's elect, is it? A repentance that
does not glorify Christ alone is not the repentance that God
has given. A gospel that does not glorify Christ alone is not
the saving gospel of God, that's the power of God unto salvation. A church that does not glorify
Christ alone in the salvation of the sinner is not a true church. It may be a religious organization,
but it's not a true church. You see, with glory in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I send you home with this quote
from Jeremiah, 9. You remember, thus saith the
Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the
mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that
he understandeth and knoweth me. that I am the Lord, which
exercised lovingkindness, and judgment, and righteousness in
the earth. For in these things I delight,
saith the Lord." Jeremiah 9, 23. And Paul, when he quotes
that in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30, But of Him are you in Christ,
whom God has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, that, according as it is written, right back
to Jeremiah 9, He that glorieth let him glory only in the Lord. That's the bottom line. God gets
all the honor and glory in saving His people from their sin.