For our Bible study today, I
would like you to turn your Bible, please, to Isaiah chapter 61. Isaiah chapter 61. Let's read
the first three verses of Isaiah 61. The Spirit of the Lord God
is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good
tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted. to proclaim liberty to the captives
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our
God, to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn
in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that he may be glorified." Now, there's no doubt when we
read this chapter in Isaiah 61, as well as all of Isaiah, but
particularly here, there's no doubt in our mind when we read
this scripture that this is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. Our
Lord Himself, when He was manifested in the flesh and dwelt among
men in Nazareth, He requested that the book of Isaiah be given
to Him And he read this very prophecy from Isaiah 61, and
he closed the book before those in the synagogue that day and
said, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. Now this scripture, as well as
all the prophets, all the prophets give witness to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And they tell us who he is, why
he came, and what he accomplished. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, as
the mediator and surety of God's covenant people, came with a
weighty responsibility, and a great burden was laid upon Him to accomplish
salvation for His people. How was He fit and qualified
for such a tremendous and glorious work? Well, this verse tells
us, Isaiah 61, verse 1, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, God
is eternal, almighty, and powerful. But as a God-man mediator, as
God manifests in the flesh, God the Holy Spirit was upon Him
without any measure. God Almighty ordained Him, anointed
Him as a God-man mediator to be our prophet, priest, and king.
God Almighty dwelt in Him gloriously, fully. eternally, to be our mediator,
to be the surety of the covenant of God's grace. God ordained
and anointed and sent him to be our sin offering. John the
Baptist identified him as, behold, the Lamb of God, the offering
of God. He's the savior of his people.
Call his name Jesus. He shall save his people from
their sin. And He is the Lord our righteousness. How is He fit and qualified for
such a glorious work to be our Mediator, our Advocate, our Prophet,
Priest, and King? God anointed and ordained and
sent Him for a glorious work to accomplish, given of God. Now, He tells us in these verses
what the Lord Jesus was appointed to do. He prayed in John 17,
I've glorified thee on the earth, I've finished the work you gave
me to do. Now it tells us here in this
verse, and the verses following, that the Lord Jesus Christ was
sent to preach the gospel. The Lord was ordained and sent
of God to be a preacher of the gospel. It says in the text here,
because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings, no
matter where he was. or what he was doing, he was
always about his father's business, declaring the message of salvation,
preaching the gospel, his own gospel, to the salvation of his
people and to the glory of God. He lived the prince of preachers.
He died and became the message of all preaching. He arose as
the victory of all preaching. He lives as the message and power
of all preaching. The Apostle to the Romans wrote,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, it's the power of
God unto salvation. And he is coming again as the
end of all preaching. There won't be a necessity for
preaching when he comes again and takes his church home to
glory. The Lord has anointed him to
preach the good tidings. Notice the gospel here is called
good tidings. That means good news and it's
sent Good news to the meek, good tidings to the meek. The Lord
was sent to preach the gospel to sinners. The gospel is good
news to the needy. The gospel is good news to the
guilty. The gospel is good news to the
thirsty. Our Lord said in Isaiah 55, Ho,
everyone that's thirsty, come to me. Our Lord plainly said
He didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. You see what He's saying there?
The Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek, unto
the sinners. You see, those who are self-righteous
in themselves have no need of a preacher, have no need of salvation
in Christ. They have all the answers and
they are their own Savior. So he was sent to preach the
gospel. He was sent to us to tell us
the truth of how God can be a just God and Savior, how God can be
just and the justifier of his people in Christ. So he was sent
to be the preacher, to declare the truth of God. Secondly, he
was sent to be the healer. Read it in the text. God has
sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. He was sent to be our healer. And my friend, guilty sinners
need healing. He was sent to bind up the brokenhearted. This is what the preaching of
the gospel of God grace accomplishes. How did the Lord Jesus become
our healer? Simply by this. You remember
what he said in Isaiah 53? Turn over to Isaiah 53, just
a minute, and read. When it talks about, surely he
hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. He was wounded
for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquities,
the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes
we are healed. He became our healer in that
He became our substitute. He died under the weight and
judgment of our sin under the wrath of God. And because He
bare the sin of God's people in His body, He takes away all
of our sin, all of our diseases, and makes us new creatures in
Christ Jesus. He's our healer. He's our preacher
to tell us the truth. He's our healer to take away
our sin, to take away our diseases, and give us his righteousness. Thirdly, we see in the text he
was sent to be the deliverer, the deliverer, to proclaim liberty
to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are
bound. He's the prophet of God to preach
to us the truth. He's the priest of God to heal
us by his blood atonement. And he's the king sent of God
to deliver his people. Now notice what he says, liberty
to the captives, opening of the prison to them that are bound.
By nature, every sinner is held captive to the law of God, to
the judgment of God. We're in the prison house of
sin. And we have no way to set ourselves
free. We have no way to be set at liberty. This is exactly why the Lord
Jesus Christ came. To deliver us. Liberty to the
captives. He took our sin, our punishment,
and set us free. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us, and because He took our
judgment, He sets us free. Not only that, we have liberty
in Christ. He's opened the prison house.
He set us free. Stand fast in the liberty where
with Christ has set us free. He is demanded and decreed and
sent deliverance unto his people. He's our preacher. He's our healer. He's our deliverer. You see all
the blessings we have given to us in Christ? You shall know
the truth and the truth shall set you free. translated out of the kingdom
of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord, the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all that mourn. Now here's the fourth blessing
we have in Christ. He's not only our preacher, our
healer, our deliverer, but my friend, He's our comforter. To
comfort all that mourn. Christ not only provides the
comfort through His blood atonement and through His glorious righteousness
that He gives to His people, but He proclaims comfort to His
people as the preacher, but He also applies this comfort. Christ Himself is our comfort. Our Lord, when He went away,
told His disciples, when God the Holy Spirit comes, I'll send
a comforter, and when He comes, He'll comfort you. What does
God the Holy Spirit use as our comfort? What does He use to
comfort? It's Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Holy Spirit
takes the things of Christ and shows them to us and reveals
unto us that Christ is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. It says in our text that He's
the Comforter. He gives us beauty for ashes.
Christ takes our death and gives us His beauty. He takes our sin
and gives us His righteousness. He takes our death and gives
us life. He takes justice, satisfies justice,
and gives us mercy. Beauty for ashes. Not only that,
the oil of joy for mourning. Grace in our hearts, received
by believing, fasting, and resting in the Lord Jesus Christ. The
garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. You see the comfort
we have in Christ. Instead of being burdened with
guilt and heaviness and anguish of soul over sin not atoned for,
sin not covered, we have the garment of praise. We've been
given the garment of His righteousness. Now, if you have your Bible there,
look at Isaiah 61 verse 10. Here's the garment of praise
that we have. He's the Lord, our righteousness. I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord, for my soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed
me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments,
and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels." He is our comforter. He's our comforter. To point
unto them that mourn in Zion. Do you need comfort? Look to
Christ to give them beauty for ashes. You need righteousness
before God? Look to Christ. He's the Lord,
our righteousness. You need joy instead of heaviness? We have the garment of praise
instead of the spirit of heaviness in Christ. He is our wisdom,
our righteousness, our sanctification and redemption. Lastly, He's
the preacher, the healer, the deliverer, the comforter, and
he's the planter, that he might be called, or that they might
be called, trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that
he may be glorified." Every believer is the planting of the Lord.
The church is God's vineyard, God's orchard, God's garden. Jeremiah 31 said, their soul
shall be a watered garden, walled by grace, planted by divine instruction,
visited by love, weeded by heavenly discipline, and guarded by divine
power, that he might be glorified in all things. And that's what
the gospel does. It gives God in Christ and through
Christ all the glory. Well, I pray that you would take
this scripture in Isaiah 61 verses 1 through 3 and read them again.
I pray the Lord will bless it to your heart. If you would like
to order a copy of today's sermon on a CD, I have it for you free
of charge. You can write to me at Zebulon
Baptist Church, 6088 Zebulon Highway, Pikeville, Kentucky,
41501. Or you can call area code 606-631-9053. Join us next week
for another message from God's Word.