It's my honor to be with you
this evening and worship together. I've been so looking forward
to this evening since Brother Tom called and asked if I could
come. We've been friends, like Tom
said, a long time. So long, we both had dark hair,
even. Tom was very gracious. He's always
been very gracious. I'm just a way behind the years
kid. And he let me hang around and
very gracious. He's been such a help to me in
the ministry. And I pray the Lord will bless us this evening
and enable us to worship him as we look in Isaiah chapter
4. Isaiah chapter 4. I've entitled
the message, Christ's Provision for His Bride. Isaiah begins in verse 1 of Isaiah
chapter 4. And in that day, seven women
shall take hold of one man, saying, We'll eat our own bread, we'll
wear our own apparel. Only let us be called by thy
name to take away our reproach. Now Isaiah foresaw a time when
women of marrying age would seriously outnumber eligible bachelors.
A lot of women, I think, feel maybe that's the way it is today.
Wars were coming. Isaiah knew this was going to
happen. Wars were coming. Large numbers of young men would
be killed. And many times during foreign
occupations, which is what was going to happen to Israel, the
ruling king oftentimes would order all the boy babies to be
killed. So in the future they couldn't raise an army against
him. So a time was coming when women of marrying age would outnumber
eligible bachelors seven to one. Pickens are going to be slim.
So women will be willing to marry anybody. They don't care who.
These women, Isaiah writes about, are so desperate to be married
because they considered it a judgment from God if they be childless
and they wanted to have children. They're so desperate to be married
so that the reproach of being childless can be removed from
them. So seven women will all say to just one man, now you
marry us. And you don't have to fulfill
the law of a husband to us. You don't have to feed us. You
don't have to clothe us. You don't have to take care of
us. You don't have to love us. Just give us children. So this
reproach will be taken away from us. Now that's sad, isn't it? Isn't that a sad situation to
think of a woman being in that? I think of my daughters or my
sister, you know, women that I love to think, well, it would
be so sad if someone would be in that situation. But this is
a situation. They're willing to marry a man
even if the terms of that marriage are not reasonable. Even if he
doesn't take care of her or love her, they're willing to marry
him in order that their reproach may be taken away. Now if you
look over in Exodus chapter 21, this is the law of marriage that
God's given to men. In Exodus 21, verse 10. If he take him another wife,
her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not
diminish? And if he do not these three
unto her, then shall she go out free without money? Now the law
of marriage requires a husband. He's to provide food and clothing
and love for his wife, affection. He's required to do that. But
these women are so desperate to be married, they tell this
man, you don't have to do any of that. You don't have to fulfill
any of that law of marriage for us. Now this is a sad picture
that our text gives us. But this picture is a picture
of our spiritual condition. This condition of man fallen
in Adam. Our maiden name is no good. Adam ruined our name. The name
of Adam carries shame and reproach with it. And the natural man
knows we're under the shame and reproach of sin. So We try to
take that reproach away. We want that reproach of sin
to be taken away from us. So the natural man turns to the
law to try to take that reproach away. Our situation is so desperate
that we're willing to be married to the law even though the terms
of that marriage are horrible terms. They're unreasonable terms.
The law says I'll marry you and here's the terms. I will not
love you. I will not provide for you. I
will not take care of you. But I'll let you live here until
you make one mistake. Then you're put out. Displease
me one time. Don't have dinner on the table
on time one time. Overdo the roast one time. One
time and you'll be put to death. This is the terms of marriage
to the law. Flabbergast me that men continually desire to be
under the law because this is the terms. Keep the law perfectly
and you'll live. Disobey one time and you're put
to death for eternity. And that's the terms. But man
is so desperate to remove the reproach of sin that he accepts
the terms and the law slays him every time. Because the law cannot
be merciful. The law doesn't know anything
of mercy. The law cannot provide what you don't have. All the
law can do is say whether you're guilty or innocent. That's all
it can do. The law can't remove our reproach. The law can never make the comers
there unto perfect, ever. The law can't give you anything
to eat. There's no spiritual bread in
the law because you can't earn it by the deeds of the law. The
law gives us exactly what we earn. Exactly. No more, no less. The exact wages of what we've
earned. So under the law, we're going
to starve to death because we're sinners and the wages of sin
is death. There's no bread. You can't earn your bread, spiritual
bread in the law. The law can't clothe your nakedness.
Adam fell and he immediately realized the deeds of the law
could not cover his nakedness. Adam and Eve suddenly, they'd
been naked the whole time they'd been in the garden. Adam fell
and suddenly they were ashamed because they were naked. And
man's been ashamed and trying to cover our guilt and our sin
ever since. But by the deeds of the law,
we can't cover our sin and our shame. All the law can do is
point out our nakedness. All the law can do is point out
you're trying to cover your shame with filthy rags and it don't
get the job done. Just like those fig leaves. Adam
and Eve sewed those fig leaves together to try to cover their
nakedness. That's the deeds of the law. By the deeds of our
hands, our shame can never be covered. As a matter of fact,
it just adds to our shame. And like I said, because of Adam's
fall, our maiden name, Adam, is ruined. It's such a bad family
name. Everybody knows families and
you hear that name and you think, boy, that's bad news. I worked for a chain of convenience
stores one time in just a couple little counties. You know so
many people. And boy, there are certain names
you hear. You know what family they're from. No, we're not going
to hire them. Their name's ruined. That's Adam. He's ruined our
name. And that name bears such shame
and such reproach, we'll do anything to get rid of it. Just anything.
Just give us another name. We don't care. I don't care that
the terms are bad. Just give me your name so I can
get rid of my name. And we think that'll take our
reproach of sin away. And you know what that is? That's
a mixture of grace and works. We say, Lord, just give me your
name and I'll take it from here. That's what that's saying. You
don't have to feed me, you don't have to clothe me, just give
me your name and I'll take it from here. Now that's saying
Christ justifies me, but I can sanctify myself. That's saying
Christ, you know, he saves me, washes me, but I keep myself
clean from here. Just give me your name. I'll
keep that name good. Now I know I ruined my old name,
but this name, if you give me your name, I'll keep it good.
That's a marriage to the law. That's a mixture of grace and
works. It's works, you're just trying to call it under the heading
of grace, and it's a marriage that is doomed to fail every
time, because it's a marriage to the law. But now thank God,
this is our condition by nature. But thank God, he's not gonna
leave his people in that bad marriage. He's not gonna do it.
We bear an awful reproach of sin. It's great, it's a great
reproach and we can never remove it by ourselves. It's such a
burden, we can't budge it. And we bear a name that has a
very bad reputation. We bear Adam's sin and guilt
and death. And pickings are slim. I mean,
they're slim. It's not a 7 to 1 ratio. There's one hope. Just one. But God's provided one. There's
one husband who can take away our reproach and give us a worthy
name. And that husband is the Lord
Jesus Christ. And what I want us to see tonight
is Christ is the perfect husband and he makes perfect provision
for his bride. Christ is going to give his bride
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. He's not
just going to provide things that we need. He's not just going
to provide things that the law of marriage requires. Christ
himself is what we need. He himself is the fulfillment
of the law of marriage. So first, we need a new name,
don't we? Christ gives us a new name. Look
at verse 2. In that day shall the branch
of the Lord be beautiful and glorious. Now if you look over
in Zechariah chapter 3, the next to last book of the Old Testament,
this branch is the promised Messiah. It's Christ himself. In Zechariah
chapter 3, verse 8. Here now, O Joshua the high priest,
thou and thy fellows that sit before thee, for they are men
wondered at. For behold, I will bring forth
my servant, the branch. The branch is going to be God's
servant. Look over a couple more pages in Isaiah chapter 6. In verse 12. And speak unto him,
saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the
man whose name is the branch, and he shall grow up out of his
place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. Even he shall
build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory,
and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he shall be a priest
upon his throne, and the council of peace shall be between them.
This branch is a man coming. to redeem his people. If you
look back in Isaiah again, verse chapter 11, this man is the God-man, coming
to be the representative. He must be a man so he can be
married to us. He must be a man so he can be
our representative. In Isaiah 11, verse 1, And there
shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch
shall grow out of his roots." This branch, the son of God,
is going to grow out of the root of Jesse. He's the God's man. Come to be the husband of his
people. Come to be our representative and our substitute. And Christ
is the branch. Now look over in Jeremiah chapter
23. He became a man so He could be our husband. And He gives
His bride His name. Jeremiah 23 verse 5. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and
a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved,
and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name, whereby
he shall be called the Lord our righteousness, Jehovah Sidkenu."
That's his precious name. Now look over in chapter 33. Verse 15, In those days and at that time
will I cause the branch of righteousness to grow up unto David, and he
shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall
Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this
is the name wherewith she shall be called the Lord our righteousness,
Jehovah Tzidkenu. Now wait a minute. I thought
that was his name. It is. But this says this is
a name where she shall be called. It's her name. It is her name. Our Lord gives His people His
precious name. Our union is so that we're one
with Him. So we bear His name. Now you can imagine. This husband,
Jehovah Sidkenhu, comes to this worthless wretch, whose name
is Adam, and says, I'm gonna marry you. I'm gonna give you
my name. Your name is now Jehovah Sidkenhu. That bride is smitten with her
husband. She's smitten. And y'all, you've
seen these girls, these boyfriends, they just look up at them with
these doe eyes, That's the bride of Christ. One
of the things I've found in the last 20 years is this. It's very
easy to preach to believers. Just exalt the Savior. And they
just... they're in love with Him. To
them, He's beautiful. He's the fairest of 10,000. He's
glorious. His glory outshines the sun.
Just preach Christ. The believer will be very blessed. Now, one more scripture I want
you to look at in Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 16. The name
of Christ is given to His people. Jehovah said, Kenya, that's Her
name. But this transaction is not in
name only. Christ makes his bride beautiful. Now you know the story here in
Ezekiel 16 about this baby born polluted and ugly. But I want
you to look what happens to that baby when that baby is joined
to Christ. In verse 14 of Ezekiel 16, And thy renown went forth among
the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect through my comeliness,
which I had put on thee, saith the Lord God. Christ is our new
name, and Christ is our beauty. He is our righteousness. I wish
that all of us would get out of this habit of talking about
righteousness as a thing. It's not a thing. It's person. The Lord is our righteousness,
so He's our beauty. He gives us His name and gives
us His beauty. Well, secondly, we need food
to eat, don't we? Look back in our text, Isaiah
chapter 4. Christ is the food that we eat.
In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and
glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and
comely for them that are escaped of Israel. Now you know very
well Christ is the bread of life. And that bread is filling, satisfying,
life-giving bread. But Isaiah here talks about fruit. Christ is the fruit. And that
shows us not just how Christ the bread of life is filling
and satisfying and life-giving, but it shows us the sweetness
of Christ. His person is sweet to the taste. Grace is always sweet to the
guilty. His mercy is always sweet to
the miserable. David said, oh, taste and see
that the Lord's good. Taste how sweet righteousness
is. Taste how sweet the forgiveness
of sin is. Taste how sweet eternal life
is. Righteousness will be sweet to
you. if you know you're unrighteous, if you know you're undone. The
forgiveness of sins will be sweet to you if God showed you you're
a sinner. You're ruined in Adam. Eternal life will be sweet to
you if you know that you're dead in Adam. Christ is sweet. Oh, taste and see that the Lord
is good. Christ is the branch that God
caused to grow up, that root, the stem out of Jesse. Now he
bears all the fruit, but do you know his bride bears fruit too?
We bear fruit because we're engrafted into Him. It's His fruit, but
we bear it. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
goodness, gentleness, meekness, temperance. These are all the
fruit of the Spirit, which we bear because we're joined to
Christ. It's His fruit. But this is the
provision that Christ has for His bride. But you'll notice
this provision is not just for any woman, is it? It's for his
bride. It's those that are escaped of
Israel, it's for a specific people. And I'll illustrate that this
way. This heresy, I guess is the best way
to put it. It's a horrible doctrine. Christ just loves everybody,
you know. Some people he loves are going to go to hell anyway.
This declares a God who's a monster. And I'll illustrate that this
way. I can tell you truthfully, I have fulfilled the law of the
husband to my wife, Janet. I love her. I cherish her. It's my delight to give to her
and supply to her the things that she needs. It's my delight.
I mean, it's not been a difficult task. It's my delight. I'm not
bragging on myself. I've outmarried myself. This
is the least I can do. I love her. I show her affection.
We take walks down and around our little town. We hold hands
and things. I just show her affection. I love her. Well, how would that
love be cheapened if I tried to show that kind of love and
affection to every woman I met? Well, the best thing that you'd
say about me is his love's worthless. And none of you ladies would
say anything that good. You'd all call me a monster.
I mean, I'd be despised in your eyes if I did that. Well, that's
this God, little G, that people are trying to get people to worship.
I mean, it's insanity. That God's a monster. Christ's
love is for his bride. He loves her. The Father gave them to him.
He loves them. And he loves to provide for his
bride. He is the provision for his elect. That remnant that he chose and
he enabled to escape from the wrath to come, this is the bride
that he gives himself as the provision and the fulfillment
of the law of marriage too. Third, we need clothes to wear. All we have are filthy rags.
We need clothes to wear. We need a covering. Christ is
our robe of righteousness. Look at verse three. And it shall
come to pass that he that is left in Zion and he that remaineth
in Jerusalem shall be called holy, even everyone that's written
among the living in Jerusalem. Christ is our holiness. Isaiah says here, under inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, this is the inerrant word of God, they shall
be called holy. Called holy by whom? By God. Well now, Tom, God's not going
to call somebody holy if they're unholy. He's not going to call
them something that they're not. If God calls them holy, it's
because God's made them holy. They are holy. The law can never
make the comers there unto perfect. But Christ does. Look at Hebrews
chapter 10. Christ makes his people holy. We're holy and righteous in him.
Tom read that to open the service from 2 Corinthians 5.21. Hebrews
10 verse 1. For the law, having a shadow
of good things to come, and not the very image of the things,
can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year
continually make the comers thereunto perfect. That marriage to the
law is a marriage that's doomed to failure. But now look over
a few verses of verse 14. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified." Now that's a successful marriage.
And it's successful because of who the husband is. Christ has
perfected forever them that are sanctified. Christ's righteousness
is imputed to his people for their justification and they're
perfect. And Christ's righteousness is
imparted to His people for their sanctification. And the believer
is truly holy. It's not a like thing. It's not
like we're holy and we'll be holy someday. No. We have a nature
right now that is holy and cannot sin. Because God gave it to us
in the new birth. He's clothed us with His righteousness
inside and out. Now, we bear that awful reproach
of sin by nature. So how does Christ our husband
take away that reproach? God's holy. God just can't suddenly
decide he's going to ignore that reproach and that sin. So how
is our reproach taken away? Christ took our reproach away.
by becoming the substitute for his people. And he put that reproach
away by the sacrifice of himself. Look back in our text, verse
four. When the Lord shall have washed
away the filth of the daughters of Zion and shall have purged
the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of
judgment and by the spirit of burning. Christ our husband has
washed away our filth in his blood, the blood of his sacrifice.
Now we will never understand our sin and our condition because
of sin until we understand this. Sin's not something that we did
wrong. Sin is uncleanness. It's filth. It's unclean in God's eyes. But
thank God, the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. Original sin in Adam, sin of
our own commission, he cleanses us from the filth of all sin.
He will purge the blood of Jerusalem. That's what Isaiah said. Now
what does that mean? He'll purge the blood of Jerusalem. Well,
our sin and our reproach, how is that passed on to us? Through
the bloodlines of Adam. and the sacrifice of Christ purges
that original sin in Adam. Christ takes away the reproach
of that bloodline by making his people be born again. And we
receive a new bloodline in the new birth so that we're holy
and righteous and bear no guilt because of that new bloodline,
the bloodline of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ removed the reproach
both at the cross and in the hearts of His people. That's
how God can call His people holy because we're made holy through
the sacrifice of Christ and we're made holy in the new birth when
we're born again. And Christ takes away our sin
by suffering and dying and paying for that sin Himself. Christ
our husband has married His people. And when He betrothed Himself
to us, our debt became His. And He paid it. But what a cost. What a cost He paid. The sin
of God's elect, Isaiah says, was purged by the spirit of judgment. The father did not ignore the
sin of his people. The father judged his son in
strict, absolute judgment. Christ, our substitute, suffered
for every sin that was laid on him. And he suffered under the
hand of God's strict judgment. He didn't take a thing off because
that was his son. He fully punished sin in his
son. And secondly, Isaiah says, the
sin of God's elect was purged by the spirit of burning. Our
Lord Jesus Christ burned in the fire of God's holy wrath against
the sin that was laid on Him. And He stayed there until the
fire was put out. Now I don't know about you, but
I suspect you parents are a lot like me. There were times that
it came that I needed to punish my children. And I just sometimes
didn't lay it on as hard as maybe I should have because I'm soft
and I love them and whatever. Don't confuse the way we dealt
with our children with the way God dealt with His Son. Christ
didn't stay in that fire until God got tired of burning His
Son in His wrath. That fire went out when the sin
was gone. The fire went out because the
sacrifice consumed the fire. There's no sin left to purge.
Then and only then did the fire go out and our Lord gave up the
ghost. Now, people will wonder, well,
you just said my husband's gonna die. He died from my sins. Isn't
that going to mean I'm a widow, left without any support? Not if Christ is your husband,
you won't. He died, but He rose again and He ever lives. And because He lived, we live. Look here at the end of verse
3. They should be called holy, even
everyone that's written among the living in Jerusalem. We live because He lives. The believer has union with Christ,
so because He lives, we live. Now again, this is what Christ
has done for His bride. He didn't suffer and die for
the sins of every person to ever live. He didn't suffer and die
hoping that somebody might believe on Him. Christ died for his elect,
for his bride to pay her debt. And this is a specific people. Isaiah says their names are written. Our husband didn't just come
take some random wife. He took the wife that he chose.
And when she was born, he took the wife whose name was written
down. Written by whom? By God. Well, when were those names written?
before the foundation of the world. Look at Revelation 21. Where were they written? They
were written before time began by God Himself in the Lamb's
Book of Life. This is why they live, because
their name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Revelation
21, verse 27. And there shall no wise enter
into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination,
or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book
of life." That's the bride that God chose. Their names were written
before time began. And everyone whose name is in
that book has life because of the sacrifice of the Lamb. It's
the Lamb's book of life. And we have eternal life because
of who our husband is. The Lord Jesus Christ who died
and rose again for his people. And because he lives, we can
never die. Not as long as he lives. So,
we've got a new name. Christ our husband's given us
his precious name, Jehovah Sidkenu. We've got food to eat. Christ
is that food. He is the sweet tasting bread
of life. And we've got clothes to wear.
Christ is our righteousness and He is our life. But we need a
fourth thing. We've got to have a roof over
our head. Christ is our dwelling place. Look at verse 5 back in
our text, Isaiah chapter 4. And the Lord will create upon
every dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies
a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire
by night. For upon all the glory shall
be a defense. and there shall be a tabernacle
for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of
refuge, and for a covert from the storm and from the rain."
Our husband provides a good house for his bride. This is the place
where Christ dwells with his people. That cloud by day and
that fire by night, that refers to the cloudy pillar and the
fiery pillar that led the children of Israel through the wilderness.
That cloudy pillar led them by day. And that fiery pillar, it
gave them warmth and gave them light by night. And that pillar
was God's presence in the midst of His people. That pillar was
darkness to the Egyptians and gave light to His people. This
is God's presence in the midst of His people and this is what
Christ's bride has because we're joined to Him. We have His presence. I will never leave nor forsake
my people, never. He leads and He guides His people. He gives us light in the darkness
and warmth in the cold. You ever felt in darkness? Light's precious, isn't it? You
ever felt cold? Now I'm talking to believers
now. I wish this was not so, but it
is. Has your heart just felt cold
and you just, oh, you read and you can't get a blessing. You
pray and you feel like the heavens are brash. You hear the gospel
preached and it just won't penetrate. You just cry out, God be merciful. He's the warmth in the cold. He is. Roland Docter won't get
that done, but he will. Our husband will. And he provides
a secure house. Janet has always been insistent
our house be a house of peace. She's not going to let things,
you know, just run. It's going to be a house of peace.
She's not going to tolerate it. You'd be surprised how well that
works if you're stubborn enough. She just didn't allow it. This
is the house that God's people dwell in. It's a house of peace
because Christ is our peace. He gives his people a place of
safety. So you have peace. And it's a
comfortable house. It's a place of comfort and rest
in Him. Christ is the shade from the
fiery heat of the law. Christ protects His bride from
the fiery wrath of God against her sin. He protects us against
the fiery darts of Satan. He protects us and is with us
in that fiery trial which is sure to try us. It will not burn
you because I'll be with you, He said. Christ's bride has a
comfortable, safe dwelling place in Christ our husband. Now, what
a husband. That makes me want to run to
him. I hope it does you. That marriage is sure to be successful,
guaranteed to be, because of who the husband is, our Lord
Jesus Christ. Well, I hope that'll be a blessing
to you. I appreciate your time and attention.