Isaiah 59. Isaiah 59. Look at verse one. Behold, behold. Now, whenever you see the word
behold, that means stop, look, and listen. Behold, behold. God's about to say something.
He's about to say something. Now be still. Be still and know
I'm the Lord. Behold the Lord's hand. Now my hands are, bow hands,
my hands are weak, impotent hands. His hand isn't. His hand is almighty. The Lord's hand is not weakened,
shortened, that it cannot save. His hand does save. His ear is
not heavy. He cannot hear. He's a living
God and He does hear the cry of His people. Now I'm entitling
the message from Isaiah 59, Our Sin, Our Sin and Guilt, God's
Solution, God's Remedy. Now two obvious things when we
read this chapter. Our problem is spelled out in
this chapter and all through the Word of God. Our problem
is spelled out in that we see guilt on account of what? Sin. Not only do we see guilt
and sin, but we also see in verse 9 down through verse 15 total
inability. We use the term total depravity.
That means man does not have the least bit of ability. He is totally depraved. The second
thing we see is this. God's solution. God's only remedy
and solution for our problem is Christ's sinlessness, His
guiltlessness, His ability, His power, His ability to establish
righteousness for us, His ability to put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. Now, if you know anything of
sin, you'll be thankful for the solution. Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ, in Him crucified. Now let's take a look here at
verse 1 for a moment. Behold the Lord's hand. You remember
the scripture from Daniel chapter four, when it talks about all
the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and the
Lord does according to his will in the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or
say unto him, Lord God Almighty, what are you doing? Now we've
seen a similar statement to this, I believe it's in Isaiah 50,
turn over there. And the question is asked here
in Isaiah 50 verse two. Wherefore, when I came, was there
no man? When I called, was there none
to answer? Is my hand shortened at all that
it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver?
Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea. I make the rivers a
wilderness. The fish stinketh because there's
no water. I clothe the heavens with blackness and make sackcloth
their covering. Is His hand shortened that He
cannot redeem? Does He not have all power in
heaven and earth to redeem? Well, certainly that is a message
of God's book. There is no lack of ability,
purpose, or power in the mighty hand of the Lord Jesus Christ
to save sinners. Because we're so far off, because
we're so dead in sin, His hand must be far-reaching. He reached real far when He reached
down for me and lifted me from the pit of sin and put me in
Christ Jesus. His power, therefore, is not
diminished, is it? His hand, is it diminished? His
purpose cannot be defeated. His grace is irresistible and
effectual to save. His love is everlasting to draw
us unto himself. But here's our problem. Verse
2. Verse 2 down through verse 8. Here's our problem spelled
out in graphic detail. Now I'm not going to go back
over and read these things again. That's why I took time in the
beginning. He said the problem here is your iniquities have
separated you from God. Your God. Your sins have caused
Him to hide His face from you that He will not hear. The problem
is not with God. The problem is right here. Sin. Sin. Sin and guilt before
God. Sin that's against God. We have
no one to blame for our sin, our guilt, and inability But
right here, self, self. When we read this scripture,
we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. All of us.
Freddie, that's all of us, isn't it? We've all sinned and come
short. We'll never savingly call upon the Lord for mercy until
we are made to know in our heart and confess in our heart before
God that we are guilty as charged. guilty as charged. You know,
you really never realize guilt until you own the fact that it
is all your fault. Guilt. Guilt. Guilt. I have no one to blame but myself. It's not, you know, I was the
victim of circumstances. It's not, well, you know, I was
brought up in a bad environment. You know what, I had a bad home
life. The problem is you, me, sin. It's not my surroundings,
it's not my environment, it's not my, I can't blame my dad
for my sin. I can't even blame Adam for my
sin. Right here. I've never read in
scripture, you correct me if I'm wrong, I've never read in
scripture anyone praying, Lord, forgive me for Adam's sin. Have
you? No, sir. David said, against thee and
thee only have I sinned. Guilt, guilt before God. The reason I'm guilty is because
of my sin. Now, let me ask you this. When
did the publican call upon the Lord? When did the publican call
upon the Lord for mercy? When he knew and realized guilt
before God. I'm guilty. And then he cried
out for mercy. When did the thief on the cross,
turn to Luke 23, you need to see this. When did the thief
on the cross call out for mercy? Luke 23. When did he call out
for mercy? When they started driving nails
in his hands? The crucified thief. You know,
there were two of them. And the Lord of Glory in the
middle. At one time, both the thieves started railing on the
Lord, and then one started begging for mercy. But you know when
he did? When he did, Luke 23, let's read
it, verse 39. And one of the malefactors which
were hanged railed on him, saying, Thou be the Christ, save thyself
on us. But the other answering rebuked
him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing that thou art in
the same condemnation? And we indeed justly. He's saying, right here, I'm
the reason. For we received the due reward
of our deed, but this man hath done nothing amiss. When this
repentant thief realized his guilt and owned it before God,
that's when he called out for mercy. And he said unto Jesus,
Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And the Lord
said, today you'll be with me in paradise. God never turned
away a mercy beggar. Guilt, guilt, guilt. That's when
a thief, called upon the Lord for mercy. That's the only time
when you were seriously do business with God in Christ Jesus, begging
God for mercy as is when you own your guilt before God. When did David call upon the
Lord? When he realized he was guilty before God. When did Isaiah
call upon the Lord? Remember Isaiah chapter six?
He said, woe is me, I'm a man of unclean lips, mine eyes have
seen the Lord. Guilt. Guilt. Guilt. Has the Lord ever convinced
you in your heart that if he sent you to hell, And I mean
by that eternal condemnation, an eternal condemnation, if the
Lord has ever taught you that if he sent you to hell right
now, that's exactly what you deserve and much more. You say,
well that other fella deserves that, I don't. Then you've never
seen your guilt. You've never owned your sin.
The scripture says this in Romans 3, let every mouth be stopped
and all the world confess their guilt before God, not before
men. You know, very rarely does anybody
ever get arrested and arraigned before a judge and plead, I'm
guilty, it's all my fault, send me to prison. On the advice of my attorney,
I plead not guilty. I tell you what, in the courts
of men, that might do for a while, but in the court of God's justice,
it won't fly. We're guilty. You ever see yourself
that way? Deserving wrath, judgment, condemnation. That's what's being said there
in those verses. Your hands are defiled with blood, verse three.
None calls for justice. We trust vanity. The garments
that we spin will not cover us. Our feet run to evil. The way of peace, we don't know.
Guilt, subject to judgment. Now, verse nine down to verse
15. We're talking about the other
problem we have. Not only are we guilty, but we also have no ability to
do anything about our sin. We have no ability to make ourselves
not guilty. Say, well, I'm just gonna stop
sinning. You cannot not sin. You cannot,
do you get a hold of that? You cannot not sin. It's impossible. You have no ability to stop sinning. None. Again, we're talking about our
problem. Not only are we guilty, we have no ability to do anything
about it. We cannot remove God's wrath
or gain God's favor. Not in ourselves. We are unable to do that which
is right. This is what we mean when we talk about total depravity.
Total depravity. No ability to stop sinning against
God. If we say we have no sin, this
is 1 John 1, if we say we have no sin, what's the next word? We deceive ourselves and the
truth's not in us. We have no ability to put away
our sin. Well, I'm just going to reform
and turn over a new leaf and I'm just going to quit sinning.
I'm not going to sin anymore. Do it. Do it. Do it. It will lead you to despair. Been there, done that. We have
no ability to stop sinning. Secondly, we have no ability
to honor the law, do we? Let every mouth be stopped. Guilty
before God is what the law says. We have no ability to believe
God. The carnal mind receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. We have no ability to come to
Him or to obey Him. Total depravity. What does it
say there? We are in desolate places as
dead man. Didn't the Lord Jesus Christ,
I know he said this, I'm not going to phrase this in a question.
He did say, no man, no man, no man can come unto me. Can. What does that mean? No man has the ability. No man
can come unto me except the Father which sent me. Draw him. No ability
to come to him. No ability to honor the law.
No ability to stop sinning. No ability to produce righteousness. No ability to repent. None. Preacher. That leads me to total
despair. Good. you might look to Christ
for salvation then. Matter of fact, that's exactly
what the Lord does when he saves us. He brings us down, down,
down, down, down in the dust. And then he's enabled us, he
enables us to cry out for mercy. You see it says in verse nine
in our text, we walk in darkness, not light. We love darkness,
not light. We walk in desolate places as
dead men. Verse 10. In verse 11 it says
that salvation is far from us. No ability to produce it. In
verse 13 and verse 12, it talks about our transgressions, our
sins, and our iniquities. This is all the flesh can produce.
All the flesh can produce. transgressions, sins, and iniquities. Verse 13 says, lying against
God, departing away from God, speaking oppression, revolt,
uttering words from the heart that are untrue, falsehoods. We don't even have any ability
to tell the truth. Wait a minute, preacher. Not
absolute truth. The only time this preacher speaks
absolute truth is when I read what God says. His word is absolute
truth. Let God be true and every one
of us liars. Our problem, verse 15, is displeasing
to the Lord. Have you got the first two points?
Guilt. Guilt. Inability. Total depravity. Total wickedness. Now, for the remedy. For the
solution. For the solution. Verse 16. And he saw that there was no
man. No man can come to me. and wondered. Not that the Lord wonders about
anything, but put it in language that we can comprehend. There
was no one among men to help us. There was no intercessor. No
one to intercede for us. Among men, one sinner cannot
intercede for another. Not for God. I must have someone
Who is the intercessor that God sent? Now who would that be? You know the answer, don't you?
The Lord Jesus. Now look at verse 16 carefully.
Therefore, therefore, therefore, his arm brought salvation. His arm accomplished salvation. Now what is this talking about?
His ability. His hand is not shortened that
it cannot save. His hand, now what about His
arm? Power. Power. Power. You see, He has complete ability
to save, doesn't He? We have the only God-given solution
for our guilt and inability. The Lord Jesus Christ, His blood
and His righteousness. His blood and His righteousness.
His blood puts away our sin. His obedience is our righteousness
before God. What's the solution for guilt?
What's the solution for guilt? Having no sin to be guilty of.
Get a hold of this now. What is the solution for our
guilt? Having no sin to be guilty of. How can that be? Let's see if we can find out.
Turn to Romans chapter 8. You see, the gospel is not what the sinner must do to accomplish
salvation. Our message is one that Christ
accomplished salvation for us. Therefore, my own arm has brought
salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ put away
sin. Look at Romans 8, 32. He that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ
that died. Yea, he rather that is risen again, who is even at
the right hand of God. Here's the intercessor we need.
who also makes intercession for us. There is therefore now no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Hebrews 9.26,
the Lord Jesus Christ appeared once in the end of the age to
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. What is the solution
for guilt? Atonement in Christ Jesus. What is the solution for inability?
having the Lord Jesus Christ to accomplish all things in salvation
for us. And then to enable us by His
power, by His grace, to believe and receive the gospel. I can't
do that apart from His power. For we read this scripture. In
Ephesians chapter 1, we believe only according to the working
of His mighty power. That's how we believe. He raises
the dead man from being spiritually dead, gives us eternal life,
and this, by this life being granted and given unto us, we
cannot but help believe the gospel. You remember what it says in
1 John 5, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born
of God. The reason we believe, He's raised
us from the dead. We don't believe to be born,
we believe because we have been quickened. We believe according
to the working of His mighty power. You see, His hand is not
shortened that He cannot save. His ear is not heavy that he
cannot hear the cry of his people. The Lord of glory understands
our problem. Before Adam ever sinned, the
Lord Jesus Christ stood as a surety, the savior, the sacrifice for
sin. The Lord knows that no man, verse
16, could stand before Him. No mere man could intercede for
another man. One sinner cannot intercede for
another, not in the court of God's justice. Therefore His
hand, His arm, accomplished salvation for us. Now, I want you to see
this yourself. Turn to Psalm 57. He performs
all things in salvation for us. Psalm 57. Now, this is good news to the
guilty, those who know their inability and know their need.
Psalm 57, verse two. Do you have this underscored? I will cry unto God most high,
unto God that performeth most things for me. all things. He performs all things for me. Remember what Abraham said of
God? All that He has promised He is
able to perform, performs all things. You see, His hand, His
arm accomplished salvation for us. We see His total ability,
don't we? His total righteousness and holiness.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the able intercessor. He's able to
save us. He's able to save us to the uttermost,
all that come to God by Him, seeing that He ever lives to
intercede for us. He's able to keep us from falling
and present us, fall us before the presence of God's exceeding
glory. He is the able intercessor. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
able advocate. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
able mediator. One God, one mediator between
God and sinners. That is the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ is an able high priest who has somewhat
to offer, not the blood of bulls and goats, but his own blood.
The Lord Jesus Christ brought in an everlasting righteousness
for us. He is able. He is able. We see his total ability and
our total inability. Look at verse 17. Isaiah 59, 17. He put on righteousness. The last part of verse 16 says,
His righteousness, it sustained Him. He had no sin, knew no sin,
and did no sin. His righteousness sustained Him. He put on righteousness as a
breastplate and a helmet for salvation upon his head, he put
on garments of vengeance for clothing and clad, he's clad
with zeal. Now here's our great champion,
here's our great warrior, here is the captain of our salvation
who appears on the scene to accomplish salvation for us. Remember in
our study from Revelation 6, he went forth Conquering and
to conquer? Has he ever lost a battle? No,
he accomplished salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ is prepared
to go to war against our enemies and to accomplish salvation and
to bring in everlasting righteousness. For he has on as a breastplate,
a breastplate, armor of righteousness to honor God's law for us. He
has a helmet of salvation on his head. He is determined to
accomplish salvation for us. Remember that his disciples,
his apostles told him, said, Lord, don't, we don't need you
to die at Jerusalem for us. Don't go there. Remember what
he said. I must, I must. He's determined to accomplish
our salvation. We studied that in Isaiah 50.
Remember his face is set like a flint, very hard rock and stone. No one could change him from
going to the cross. He's determined to accomplish
our salvation because he has the helmet of salvation on his
head. He has the garments, he put on
the garments of vengeance. He takes vengeance against our
sin by putting away our sin by the sacrifice of himself. And
he's clad with zeal. Zeal. It says in Psalm 69, the
zeal of the Lord's house has eaten him up. He's eaten up with
zeal to accomplish God's purpose in saving us. He went forth conquering
and to conquer and believers in him are more than conquerors
through him that loved us. We say with the Apostle, thanks
be to God who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ. I'm going to preach up his ability and our inability. I'm going to preach up our guilt
and preach up his atonement to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. This is our message. My friend,
this is the core of the gospel. Did you ever notice I preach
the same message every week? I'm not looking around for the
message. I found the message. It's Christ. That's what this
book is all about. No matter what chapter you turn to, it's
all about Christ. about the Lord Jesus Christ.
One of the old elders at 13th Street told us one time, he said,
if you took a drill and drilled a hole right through your Bible,
now don't do this, but he's just saying, if you did this, drill
a hole right through the center of your Bible, out the other
side, this is Charlie Payne, and put a red ribbon through
it and open it up, every page you turn through, you see that
red ribbon. Every page in God's book is about
Christ and Him crucified. Mark it down. I'm not looking
for the message. I found the message. Christ,
the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in verse 18 and 19 of
our text, the Lord will defeat all His enemies. Remember He
said, I'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. I want to close by looking at
verse 20 and 21. The Redeemer shall come. The
Redeemer shall come. He shall come to Zion, His church,
the gospel of Zion, and to them that are turned by His coming. I'm going to read it that way
because that's the way it says in Romans 11, 26. and to them that are turned from
their sin, God said they do so because I have a covenant with
them. A blessed covenant promise. of the God's covenant people.
"...the Redeemer shall come and turn us unto Himself. His hand
is not weak or shortened, it's far-reaching. There was no one
out of the reach of the Lord's mercy calling, saving mercy.
His sheep will hear His voice and they will follow Him." This,
he says, is my covenant. Get a hold of that word covenant.
This is my covenant. It's used over 200 times in scripture. Matter of fact, I think it's
used more than the word prayer. Covenant, God is a covenant God. This is my covenant with them,
as David said, ordered in all things and assured this is all
my hope and all my salvation. Say it to the Lord. My spirit. that is upon thee, and my word
which I put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth.
When God does a work of grace in your heart, your mouth will
be full of, he did it, he called me, he saved me, he justified
me with his blood. Nor out of the mouth of thy seed,
cede his elect, saith the Lord from henceforth for evermore.
This is the Lord's covenant. Believers will not depart from
the gospel, nor will the Lord depart from them. Now, I want
you to turn to, this is my covenant. Turn to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10. This is my covenant, saith the
Lord. God gonna turn a people and cause us to look to Christ. In Hebrews 10, He taketh away,
verse 9, the first, that he may establish the second. Now that
first is that covenant of law, which is revealed first, that
he may establish the second, which is the eternal covenant
of grace. By the which will, Hebrews 10.10, we are sanctified. Whose will? By His will we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. Every priest standed daily, Old
Testament priests, offering oftentimes the same sacrifices year after
year, morning after morning, evening after evening. The blood
of bulls and goats can never take away sin. But this man,
this man whose hand is not shortened, This man who was able to save
to the uttermost, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins
forever, sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. Why
did he sit down? If you go back and study that Old Testament
tabernacle, there was not one piece of furniture in there for
the priest to sit down. His work was never done. The
Lord Jesus Christ, when he had by himself purged our sin, he
sat down. Work was done. Salvation accomplished. From henceforth expecting, expecting,
verse 13, till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one
offering hath he perfected forever them that are sanctified. Who
does the sanctification? Who sets us apart? God does. Who made you to differ from another?
It's the Lord who's made us to differ. Wherefore the Holy Ghost
also is a witness to us, for after that he said before, this
is that covenant, here's that covenant, that I will make with
them after those days, saith the Lord, I'll put my laws into
their heart, not on a table of stone. Thou shalt not, thou shalt
not, thou shalt not, thou shalt, thou shalt, thou shalt, Not on
tables of stone, but he will write the principles of the gospel
in your heart. Cause you to love Christ, think
on Christ, believe Him, trust Him, come to Him. I put my laws
in your heart and in their mind will I write them, and their
sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Now where
remission of these is, there's no more offering for sin, is
there? Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus Christ, a
new and living way. You see, believers will not depart
from the gospel. Peter said, Lord, you have the
word of eternal life. We believe and we're sure you're
it. We're guilty, we're unable, but
you're it. You have the word of eternal
life. Now one more thought. This is a good thought. It is
to me. Look at verse 2. Isaiah 59 verse
2. Your iniquity separated between
you and your God. Sin is the reason of separation. Separation. Now, our sin being put away by
the Lord Jesus Christ, turn to this scripture. Psalm 103. Now, you need to turn and see
this, Psalm 103, turn over there. Our sin separate us from God. But the Lord Jesus Christ having
put away our sin and our sin being separated from us, now what do we have? What's the
opposite of separation? Reconciliation. to which God
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them, but hath committed unto us a word
of reconciliation. Psalm 103, Luke verse 10, He
hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according
to our iniquities, oh I thank God, as 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." You see what the blessing
we have in Christ in the gospel? Sin brought separation, Christ
brings in everlasting reconciliation. You know what? I have no guilt. I have no guilt. I have nothing to be guilty of
because my sin was put away. No condemnation, no guilt. You know what that brings this
old sinner? Peace. Peace.