Now this evening we've got Isaiah,
Isaiah 35. Someone had rightly called the
gospel according to Isaiah, and it is. It is. It's the gospel
according to Isaiah, because Isaiah writes about the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he does it He does it in such
a way, so plain and so open, and there's no doubt about who
he's talking about. Now, I'm entitling the message
from verse 8, God's highway of salvation. And a way shall be
there. A way shall be there. The way
will be there because it's an established way. It's a certain
and sure way. And a way, and it shall be called
the way of holiness." God's highway of salvation. Now we can be certain
and sure that the Lord Jesus Christ alone is God's way of
salvation. He's the only way of salvation. Remember when Peter at Pentecost
and Peter and John stood before that council and were questioned
about the healing of that man who was lame, who went leaping
and praising God, and they were called before that council and
asked by whose name and whose authority had you done this thing? And he said, in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And then he said, neither is
there salvation in any other, for there's no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. There's just
that way of salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ alone is
that way. He is eternal life. He is salvation. He is our righteousness. He is
our redemption. When the Lord was asked that,
day. Lord, how can we know the way?
And the Lord said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man
come to the father, but by Christ. No man has eternal life, but
by the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I'm the door. By me,
if any man enter in, he shall be saved. Now we read The book
of Acts, we study chapter 10, verse 43, to him give all the
prophets witness. Isaiah, Jeremiah, all the other
prophets, Ezekiel, and what they call the major prophets, the
minor prophets, they all give witness to the person and work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Ephesians chapter 2, where
The Apostle Paul talks about the household of God that's built
upon one foundation that God has laid. And that one foundation
is what the prophets and the apostles all wrote about Jesus
Christ being the only cornerstone, the only foundation. Turn back
just a couple pages. You know this Scripture very
well. Isaiah 28. Isaiah 28, verse 16. It's familiar, isn't it? Therefore,
thus saith the Lord, Isaiah 28, 16, Behold, I will lay in Zion
for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone. It's a sure foundation. It's
a sure way. He that believeth shall not make
haste. Will never be forced out, never
be confounded, never be ashamed. when that verse is quoted in
Romans and then in 1 Peter. All the Word of God, the Bible,
is given of God, given by inspiration of God, God breathed and these
men, all the prophets in the Old Testament and all the apostles
in the New, they all wrote as God gave them the word of truth. Peter puts it this way in his
epistle, 2 Peter, for the prophecy came not at old time by the will
of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy
Spirit. Now that's quite amazing. What
you hold in your hand, the written Word of God, which is quick and
powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, is given by the heart
of God, the mind of God, the purpose of God, given to men,
and they wrote the Word of God down. And we have it in our hand.
We have it in our lap. We can access it every day, read
it every hour, have it to find references to this or answers
to this question or that, all in a word of God. The primary
purpose of God the Holy Spirit in giving the word is to regenerate
sinners and bring them to life through the word of truth, revealing
God's way of salvation to us. And the bottom line of everything
God does is what? His glory. Everything God does,
He does for His glory in giving the written word, in giving the
living word to the Lord Jesus Christ, the atonement of the
Lord Jesus Christ, His righteousness that He worked out for us, honoring
the law of God, all of that's to one end. to the grand design
of God's glory and redemption of sinners in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Our Lord said of the Holy Spirit,
when He has come, He'll take the things of mine and reveal
them unto you. The Holy Spirit doesn't talk
about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit talks about the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's His chief purpose. The
chief design is to honor and magnify the Lord Jesus Christ. So I want to begin at verse 3,
Isaiah 35 verse 3. And the Lord's message to his
people is strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble
knees. These verses 3, 4, 5, 6, and
7, they tell us about the blessings of the gospel will be upon the
Lord's covenant people when he is pleased to visit them in saving
mercy, regenerating grace, and in sovereign love. Sovereign
mercy and sovereign love. Strengthen ye the weak hands. Confirm the feeble The gospel
of Christ makes the weak strong. It takes the feeble and gives
them faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our strength. He's our refuge. He's our hope.
He's our righteousness before God. Think about that. We are
weak, sinful creatures. You remember Isaiah 40? Don't
turn, let me read it to you. The boy said, Cry, and he said,
What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the
goodness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withers,
Isaiah 40 verse 7, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of
the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The
grass withers, the flower fadeth, but the word of the Lord shall
stand forever. Strengthen ye the weak hand.
We are weak, sinful creatures. Christ alone is our strength. Christ alone establishes us upon
that one foundation that He has laid in Zion, which is the Lord
Jesus Christ. We are weak and feeble, but in
Christ we have all things. In Him are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. He has made to us, that verse
we quote all the time, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and He's our redemption. Say to them that are of a fearful
heart, verse 4, Isaiah 35, be strong. Now, He's not talking
about physical strength. He's talking about the strength
of faith. And the strength of faith is not in faith itself.
The strength of faith is in the object of faith, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Say to them that are of a fearful
heart, be strong. And then fear not. Fear not. Why shouldn't we fear? This question
is answered, I think, for us. Turn to Isaiah 43. Fear not. Fear not. Behold, your God will
come. Fear not. Behold, God will come
and save us. Isaiah 43, look at verse 1. But
now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, he that
formed thee, O Israel, fear not. For I have redeemed thee, I have
called thee by thy name, you're mine. We belong to the Lord. He bought us with His own blood. He paid the ransom price for
our salvation. Back to verse 4, Isaiah 35. Be
strong, fear not, behold, why? Behold, your God will come. Now
who is the Lord Jesus Christ? God was manifest in the flesh. God will come. And he'll come
with vengeance. Vengeance upon his enemies. Vengeance
upon our sin. Putting our sin away by the sacrifice
of himself. Behold your God will come. Even
God with a recompense. A reward. He comes with a reward. He will come and... Why did he
come? Why did the Lord Jesus Christ
come? He came to save His people from their sin. He will come
and save you, not try to, not attempt to. He doesn't make an
attempt, but He made an atonement for our sin. He will come and
save you. The messenger from heaven said
to Joseph, when he was engaged to Mary and she was found with
child and he was very fearful, And the angel said, don't fear
to take Mary to be your wife, for that which is born of conceiving
her is of the Holy Ghost. Call his name this. Call his
name Savior, Jesus. He shall save his people from
their sin. Now, is there any doubt in our
mind that what God purposed from all eternity as a lamb slain
from the foundation of the world, that when the Lord Jesus Christ
came as God manifested in the flesh that he would not save
his people from their sin? There's no question about it,
is there? If you believe the word of God, the Son of Man came
to seek and to save that which is lost, this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation, the Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. Well, I can fit in that description,
can't you? I am the Chief One, Paul said.
He came to save sinners, sinners like you and sinners like me. He will come and save you. And
we know that salvation is all His doing, salvation of the Lord. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ
was doing upon the cross of Calvary. He justified us with His own
blood. It was an attempt to put away
sin, He appeared once in the end of the age to put away sin
by the sacrifice of Himself. All those for whom Christ came
to save, and He came to save His covenant people, He came
to save His elect, all those for whom He came to save when
He died at Calvary 3 and said, it's finished, it's done, they're
saved, they're justified forever in Christ, His dying and His
doing. 5, 6, and 7, we see the fruit of His
atonement. The fruit of His atonement. Because
He will come and save you. Then, when He saves us, what
does He do? The eyes of the blind shall be
opened. Except a man is born again, he
cannot see the Kingdom of God. Our Lord said in John 3. And
this is what happens when He comes to save us. He opens our
eyes. We see who we are. Sinners. guilty before God, and we see
who He is, our all-sufficient Savior. Then the eyes of the
blind shall be opened. By nature, we're blind. We don't
see God. We don't even see the truth of
our own sinfulness. But when He opens the eye, we
say, now we see. Now we understand. We know the
Son of God has come and given us understanding that we might
know who is the only true and living God. And then Eyes are
opened and ears are unstopped. Remember our Lord said in that
parable of Matthew 13, blessed are your eyes for they see, blessed
are your ears for they hear. He gives us eyes of faith to
see his beauty and his glory and he gives us ears to hear. The deaf ears will be unstopped.
He opens our ears because He opens our heart, our understanding.
And we hear Him who is the true and living God. How do we hear
God? Through His Word. He speaks to
His people through His Word. You remember in the Revelation
how many times we read that statement? He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit of God sayeth to the seven churches. People
who have their eyes opened and their ears unstopped, they see
and they hear the Gospel of God's sovereign saving grace in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore, he said, and this
is talking about the fruit of his atonement, he will come and
save you, Then eyes will be opened, then ears unstopped. Verse six,
then shall the lame man leap as a deer. Seem like a deer when
you're driving along the road, a mountain road somewhere, and
you see those deer and they go hopping across the road. It seem
like they just have some kind of springs in their leg. They
just leap. I mean, it's effortless. Like
that man that was healed there in the temple when Peter and
John, in Acts chapter 3, he was begging for silver and gold. And Peter said, silver and gold
have I none, but such as I have in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, rise up and walk. And immediately he went leaping
and jumping and praising God. That's what happens when God
saves a sinner. He gives us life, no longer lame
and crippled, but we leap with joy in our heart. And then the
tongue, the eyes open, ears unstopped, we leap with joy like a young
deer. and then the tongue of the dumb
shall sing." He unlooses our tongue. No more do we talk about
all the good things we have done or how good we are or, you know,
I'm really not that bad. We don't talk that way anymore.
That's the way a dumb tongue talks. Look what I've done for
God. We don't talk that way anymore
when he opens the eyes and opens the ears and gives us a heart
to rejoice. He gives us a tongue to sing
unto him who loved us. It's unto him who loved us and
washed us from our sin in his own blood. To him be all the
honor and glory, both now and forever. And in the wilderness,
we sang for joy, worthy is the land that was slain. And in the
wilderness of sin, the wilderness of destitution, Desperate, desperation's
the word I'm looking for. In the wilderness shall waters
break out and streams in the desert. Reminds me of this scripture. Turn back one page. You remember
Isaiah 32, verse one, verse two, rather. Isaiah 32, verse two. A man shall be a hiding place
from the wind, a covert from the tempest, rivers of water
in a dry place. A shadow of a great rock in a
weary land. He is the water of life. He told
that woman at the well, you drink of this water that I'll give
you, you'll be a well of water springing up into everlasting
life. Remember what she said? Lord,
give me that water. I want that water. You drink
of that natural water, you're thirsty again. Water shall break forth. Our Lord said, ho, everyone that's
thirsty. Remember Isaiah 55, ho, everyone that's thirsty,
come ye to the waters. Come and buy, come and buy wine,
milk without money, without price. That's strange economics, isn't
it? Ho, everyone that's thirsty, come ye to the waters. He that
has no money, come, buy, eat, yay. Come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. I like those economics. That's
free. You shall know the truth, the
truth will set you free, justified freely by his grace. And the
thirsty land springs out water, back to verse 7, departs ground,
departs ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs
of water, habitation of dragons, where each lay shall be grass
with reeds and rushes. Our Lord is a good shepherd.
A good shepherd leads us into the green pastures of his word,
and we have plenty in him, don't we? He said, I am, the Lord is
my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green
pastures. He leads me beside still water. He restores my soul. He leads
me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. The parts ground shall be a pool. The thirsty land, now springs
of living water. Grass, reeds and rushes, plenty,
plenty we have in Christ. Now, verse eight. And a highway, and a highway shall be there. Now, I like this term high, way. Salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ
is not a low way. It's a high way. It's a highway. It's a freeway. It's a freeway. There's but one way of salvation. It's God's way. It's high. It's a highway. That means that
salvation is of the Lord. That means that he's the Alpha,
the Omega of all of our salvation. It means that he purposed it
by himself, accomplished it by himself. No man has a part of
it. This highway is built. Now there's
a highway back here. This four lane back here, they
cut through the mountains. From over here at the house where
we live on Wynn's Branch right up here, I can stand on my driveway
and I can see that highway. I can see that bridge that goes
over Wynn's Branch. It's high, it's high too. That
bridge is probably 300 feet high. It's a high way. But you know
what? I didn't have one thing to do
with that highway. Somebody planned it. Somebody
bought all the material. The engineers designed it. They
came out and the construction workers, they worked and worked
and worked and built that bridge and built that highway and laid
that concrete. I didn't do one single thing. But I enjoy riding on that highway. Don't you? Oh, that's such a
highway. Get on that four lane and just
go right through those mountains. We should go over Bent Branch
years ago, up Bent Mountain. By the time we got to the other
side, my wife would just be about to turn purple. She's just about
ready to throw up. But now we go that way, and it's
a highway. I mean, just, we just, you see,
the way of salvation is a highway. He purposed it, he planned it,
he built it, he executed it, and all we do is enjoy it. See what he's saying there? A
highway shall be there. He planned it, he purposed it,
and it's a way, it's a way that God purposed. The Bible knows
nothing about different ways of salvation or different ways
of being saved. There are many ways of man have come up with that lead to
destruction, but only one way of salvation that lead to eternal
glory in Christ Jesus. In Proverbs, not once but twice,
we read, there is a way that seems right unto man, but the
end of that way is death. The end of God's way is eternal
life in Christ Jesus. And a highway shall be there,
and a way And it shall be called the way of holiness. The way of holiness. The Lord
Jesus Christ is that way of salvation. There's just one gospel. There's
just one way of salvation. There's just one Savior, not
Muhammad, not Buddha, not Confucius, not anybody else, but the Lord
Jesus Christ. There's one Redeemer. who actually
redeemed His people from their sin. There's one Savior who is
the one who saves His people. There's one Redeemer. There's
one righteousness that justifies us. It's the righteousness God
has provided in Christ. We study through the book of
Romans, how many times did we read, the righteousness of God. It's of Him. freely impute that
into us. There's just one mediator between
God and man, the man, Christ Jesus, the God-man. There's just
one advocate. There's just one advocate for
us. There's just one intercessor. There's just one sacrifice for
sin. You see, there's just one way.
There's just one Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is it. There
is no other. Don't look for another. The Lord
Jesus Christ alone is everything in salvation. He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. Now it's called here, notice
this, it's called here the way of holiness. The way of holiness. Now, it has to be the way of
holiness because God is holy, right? He can't have a salvation
that's unholy. Now, salvation is for the ungodly,
but salvation is a way of holiness. The unclean cannot walk on this
highway. The unclean, the leprous sinner
shall not pass upon it, shall not defile this way of salvation. You see, it's a way of holiness.
Can a thrice holy God have anything but the way of salvation that
honors his holy character? No. Well, I have a big problem,
and you do too, because I'm an ungodly, unholy sinner. God is most holy. Now, how can
this unholy, ungodly sinner be put on this highway of holiness? The only way is for God to make
us righteous and holy in Himself. How then can God be just and
justify the ungodly and not violate His holy character? That's the
mystery of the Gospel. How God can be a just God, Isaiah
45, remember we studied, a just God and Savior. How He can be
just and the justifier of them which believe, only in Christ
crucified. How can the unclean be made clean? Not by anything we do. A lot
of people think when they talk about, there are even some churches
called holiness churches. And they take that title and
they think by their morality, by the way they wear their hair,
their makeup, their dress, their pants, their shirt, their shoes,
their collar. They think by the way they act
and dress and go and where they go and where they don't go that
that is holiness before the Lord. No, that's sin. That's all that
is. The holiness that God demands
is absolute holiness. And it can't be by anything we
do. Anything connected with us is
nothing but sin. When we talk about holiness,
and it must be perfect to be accepted of God, when we talk
about holiness, the only way we can stand holy before God
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, He makes us holy in
Him. You remember that scripture in
Hebrews 12, it's where it says, without holiness, no man shall
see the Lord. And people read that and they
think, those who are still blind and don't have ears, they think,
well, I better straighten up. You know, I gotta be holy. You
can't be holy. There's no way this flesh can
ever be sanctified. Impossible! It's not the flesh
that's sanctified, it's the new man in Christ Jesus that's sanctified. That new nature that he gives.
in regeneration. Only God can make a sinner clean
through the Lord's sacrifice. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
tongue, cleanses us from all our sin. Did he get it done? Let's see. Let's see if we can
find something out about that. Turn over here to Isaiah 44. I think this tells us about it.
How our sin is put away. Isaiah 44 verse 21. Remember these, O Jacob and Israel,
for thou art my servant. I have formed thee. Thou art
my servant, O Israel. Thou shalt not be forgotten of
me. Isaiah 44, verse 22. You got it? I have blighted out
as a thick cloud thy transgression, and as a cloud thy sin, and return
unto me. I have redeemed thee, redeemed,
redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Sing, O heavens,
for the Lord hath done it. shout to you lower parts of the
earth, break forth into singing, you mountains, oh forth, and
every tree therein for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob and glorified
himself in Israel." That's how we're made holy in Christ Jesus.
We're made holy in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it shall be for those,
verse 8 back in Isaiah 44, It shall be for those the wayfaring man, though fool,
shall not err therein. It's a select way. It's for those
people chosen by God's sovereign mercy. It says there in the marginal
reference on the word, but it shall be for those the wayfaring
man, though fool, shall not err therein. for he shall be with
them." Talking about a select way for select people. Who are
these people? By nature, they're wayfaring
sinners, strangers to the grace of God and the way of salvation
in him. By nature, sinners in our fallen condition. Fools,
he says there, the fool shall not err therein. The fool has
said in his heart, there is no God. Who are these people? By
his mighty, almighty grace and his sovereign mercy he's called
them out of death unto life and the wayfaring man the lost sheep
the lord finds them by his grace and they shall never perish notice
what else he says here no lion shall be there it's a safe way
Ravenous beast shall go up thereon, no ravenous beast, nor ravenous
beast shall go up thereon. It's a safe way. It's a freeway. It's a highway. It shall not
be found there. But the redeemed, they'll walk
there. They'll walk on this highway.
The wild beast won't be found there. No lion will be there. It's a safe way. It shall not
be found but the redeemed, the redeemed of the Lord. How are
we redeemed? Not with corruptible things such
as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The redeemed shall walk there. Verse 10 says, and the ransomed,
the ransomed of the Lord. That word redeemed there is delivered. We are delivered because the
Lord Jesus Christ is called our deliverer who delivered us with
his Blood. He bought us with his own blood.
God bought the church with his own blood. And we're ransomed. He paid the price. Now often
we read about stories where someone is kidnapped and the kidnapper
will demand a ransom, right? Well, if the ransom is paid,
the captive goes free. And that's exactly what the Lord
has done for us. We were held captive to law and
sin and guilt, and the Lord Jesus Christ paid the ransom price,
His life, His blood, to put away our sin. Now the law of God says,
loose Him, let Him go. Now the law of God demands His
release, because the ransom price has been paid. You remember in
the book of Job? I think it's Job 33, maybe? deliver
them from going down to the pit, because I have found a ransom
price." What is that ransom price? His blood. The blood of God bought us with
His own. The Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, behold the Lamb of God that taketh away our sin. It shall be for the redeemed,
It's a highway of holiness. He's made us holy in Christ Jesus. And though by nature we are fools,
Christ is made unto us wisdom. And the ransom of the Lord shall
return and shall come to Zion. I believe this is talking about
our future Zion in glory with the Lord. They shall return. They shall
come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their head. They shall
obtain joy and gladness. Sorrow and sighing shall flee
away. You remember, don't turn, let
me read this to you if I can find it. I didn't write this
down, but I believe it's over here somewhere in the revelation. When John talks about the new
city Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, the tabernacle
of God is with them. He shall dwell with them and
they shall be his people. God himself shall be with them
and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There shall
be no more death, no sorrow, no crying, no more pain. The former things are passed
away. They shall come to Zion with
songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. They shall obtain
joy and gladness, sorrow and sighing. No more. No more death. No more funerals. No more hospitals. No more sickness. No more pain. He that sat upon the throne said,
behold, I make all things new. And he said, write, for these
words are true and faithful. They're true and faithful. The
highway, it's his way. Thank God he put us in the way.