Follow along with me now in Isaiah
chapter 50. This chapter, no question about
it, is a declaration, a proclamation of God's abundant mercies in
Christ Jesus. That's what this is about, it's
about Christ and God's mercies in Christ. And this chapter is
also a vindication of God's judgment against people who will not bow
to Christ. It's a proclamation, it's a declaration
of his abundant, he's plenteous in mercy, he delights to show
mercy, gracious to those who believe in Christ Jesus. But
he's going to vindicate his judgment and his wrath. against those
who reject your son, who do not believe Christ. He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall never see life. But the wrath of God abideth
on him. Let me tell you four things here.
Men and women are fully responsible for their fallen condition. and
their condemnation. That's right. He was in the world,
and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. They turned thumbs down on him.
They said, Crucify him. He said, I came in my Father's
name, and you would not receive me. Let another come in his own
name, seeking his own glory, and him you will receive. That's
us, that's men by nature. So we're fully responsible for
our condemnation of our fallen state, fully responsible. And
secondly, notice, don't let me offend you, but the Jewish nation
and the Jewish leaders are the cause of their calamities. The
Jewish nation and the Jewish leaders are the cause of their
judicial blindness right They cried, Crucify him and let
his blood be on us and our children. That's what they said. He came
to his own. He was prophesied, they read
about him every Sabbath day in their synagogues from the writings
of their prophets, that Christ would come, that the Messiah
would come. And he came to his own, and they received him not.
He said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that stonest the prophets,
and them that God sends to you. They stone which of the prophets
have not your fathers killed. That's what Christ said to the
Jewish nation. Name one prophet that the Jews didn't kill. Jerusalem, thou that stonest
the prophets, and them that are sent to thee. How awkward I've
gathered you, as a hen doth gather her brood. You would not. And I'm telling you, sin lies
at our door. And the Jewish nation can say
all they want to about their persecutions and calamities and
their blindness, they've brought it on themselves. And they won't
have him now. They'll worship anything except
Jesus Christ, and he's the only object of worship. That's just
so. And the Lord God of heaven is
justified in his wrath, he's justified in his judgment against
this world and against its inhabitants and against its religious leaders.
He's justified. Turn to Romans 1. Let me read
you something here. Romans 1. God is justified in
his wrath and in his condemnation of this world. and its inhabitants. Start with verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who
hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them, in them and to them, in them by
conscience and to them by creation. God has shown it to the invisible
things of him from the creation of the world, a clear thing,
being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal
power and Godhood. So they were without excuse,
because when they knew God, they glorified him not as God. They
weren't thankful, they became vain in their imaginations, and
their foolish heart was darkened. For forcing themselves to be
wise, they became fools. They changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into an image. They made images to worship,
like the corruptible man. They made statues and images
and gods out of stone and ivory and metal. And they made birds
and four-footed beasts and creeping things. So God gave them up.
Is he just? Is he righteous? Of course he
is. He gave them up. He gave them
up to uncleanness. their own hearts, to dishonor
their own bodies between themselves. They are doing it now, dishonoring
their bodies, mutilating their bodies, torturing their bodies,
walking around naked, showing their nakedness, dishonoring
their bodies. They changed the truth of God
into a lie. They worshiped and served the
creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. For this
cause, God gave them up to vile affections. Even the women did
change the natural use into that which is against nature, lesbianism.
And likewise the men, leaving the natural use for the woman,
burned in their lust one toward another, men with men, marrying,
working that which is unseemly, shameful is the word,
shameful, unnatural, that's the word, unseemly is unnatural.
and receiving in themselves the recompense of their error, which
was me. So even as they did not like
to attain God in their knowledge, we had God, as God revealed. So God gave them over to a reprobate
mind, to do those things which are not convenient. Whose fault
is it? Tell me whose fault it is. Let's don't get mad at God. Let's
don't criticize and condemn the Creator. We have every evidence
and every proof and every revelation and every testimony and every
promise of God, who he is and his mercy and grace. But men
will not have it. And the sin lies at their door
and the condemnation at their door, and their calamities and
their blindness and their fault is with them, not with God. He's
just and he's righteous to damn, to condemn. He doesn't want this
to go on forever. God Almighty doesn't intend for
his kingdom to be polluted with this type of behavior. He's not
going to have it. He's going to burn this world
to a crisp. He's going to destroy heaven
and earth and every trace Every trace of rebellion, every trace
of every thought or imagination against his holiness and every
enemy would be totally, completely wiped out, annihilated, to be
heard from or seen no more. And he's just. Glory be to God. I want his wealth, his holiness,
his beauty, his majesty. I want to live in his presence,
don't you? Not in the presence of this filthy world any more. I'll be glad when everything
is holy, won't you? Fourth thing, there is a glorious,
magnificent salvation. It's purposed, it's proposed,
it's planned, it's provided, it's accomplished already by
God Almighty. For sinners like you and me,
for sinners like these folks, if they'll believe on it, there's
no center under heaven God can't save, if you believe on it. There's
no center on earth, no center that's ever been committed, that
the blood of Christ won't make as white and pure as that dribbling
snow. That's right. That's right. Believe. Come to Christ. He says, I'll give you rest.
If you're thirsty, come to me, I'll give you living water. If
you're hungry, come to me, I'll give you bread. If you're dead,
come to me, I'll give you life. If you're in darkness, come to
me." That's what he says in verse 10, Isaiah 50. That's my text. I'm going to
start with it and finish with it. Verse 10. Who is among you
that fears God? Anybody? Yes. There are a few
full of them here. Fear God. The Lord God of Heaven,
blessed be his name, just and holy and righteous. that obey
the voice of his servant and the voice of Jesus Christ, is
there one here? Yes, there are plenty. That walk
in darkness by nature, by birth. Yes, we did, walked in darkness. We had no light. Well, let him
trust in the name of the Lord. Come on. Let him stay on his
guard. I'll give him mercy. God delights
to show mercy. He's plenteous in redemption.
Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O God. If thou shouldst
mark the nick with which he would stand, but there is forgiveness
with thee, that thou mightest be feared. You can't have an
impotent God. You can't do it. You can't worship
a God who is not Almighty. That kind of God can't save you,
can't help you, me, or anybody else. He's a sovereign Lord,
almighty Lord, majestic Lord, does what he will, when he will,
with whom he will. Isn't that all right, to do with
his own what he will? But he delights to show mercy.
But now, verse 11, Behold, all ye that tender the own fire will
walk in the fire of our wisdom, of our intellectualism, of our
church denomination, of our good works. We'll just build our own
fire, thank you, but go ahead. But all you've got is sparks.
You keep poking those old coals, you keep poking them, and all
you get is sparks. You don't get any light, just
sparks. You have an awful lot of sparks,
you know, that get all over you. They don't give you any light
or any illumination, just burn. Sparks. Go on, walk in the light
of your fire. Walk in the sparks that you kindle. That's all right. Then shall
you have of my hand, you'll deal with me. He's the God with whom
we have to do it. That's what Paul said in Hebrews.
He's the God with whom we have to do it. I don't have anything
to do with Jesus. Oh, yes, you will. Either in faith or in unbelief,
either in submission or condemnation. But you're going to lie down
in sorrow. What gave birth to these two
verses? Let's look at chapter 50, verse 1. Thus saith the Lord
God, Where is the bill of your mother's divorce, whom I put
away? When a man divorces his wife, he must give her a paper
declaring that he is leaving her, forsaking her. That's what
he says in Mark 10, verse 4 through 6. For the hardness of your heart,
Moses gave you that permission. But God says, I didn't divorce
you, you left me. He said, where is the proof that
I left your mother? Where is the proof that I deserted
you? You have no proof of that. It's not I that decided you,
it's you that decided me. I didn't leave you, you left
me. Isn't that what he's saying? He left me. He says here, of
which of my creditors is it to whom I've sold you? Back in those
days when a man was so heavily in debt that he couldn't pay
his debts, he'd sell his children. He'd sell his children to somebody
to work on their farms or on their lands or in their houses
as slaves to satisfy his debt. And God says, listen, do I have
some creditors? Is it somebody I owe something?
Am I indebted? God has no creditors. God has
no debt. Behold, listen, for your iniquities
you sold yourselves. Here's the truth. You're responsible.
You sold yourselves. And for your transgressions is
your mother put away, and for your sins have you become slaves."
Turn to Isaiah 59. The Prophet Isaiah sums it up
here. He says, Behold, Isaiah 59.1, the Lord's hand is not
shortened that it cannot save. Neither his ear, head, or ear
cannot hear, but your iniquities have separated you and your God.
He didn't do it, you did it. It was your sins. Your sins have
hid his face from you, that he will not hear. Your hands are
defiled with blood, your fingers with iniquities, your lips have
spoken lies, your tongues muttered. That's the problem. God said, Give me proof that
I left you. Give me proof I chose you. There is none. You left
me. Verse 2, when I came to earth,
there was no man. They called him a carpenter.
No man believed me. Isaiah summed it up in chapter
53. Isaiah 53, verse 2, "'For he
shall grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of a dry
ground. He hath no farm, no comeliness.
When we see him, there is no beauty we should desire in him.
He is despised and rejected of men, a man of solace, acquainted
with grief.' We get our faces from him. He was despised and
esteemed and not. When I came, there wasn't anyone
who believed. They said, Can any good thing
come out of Nasser? He's a wine-bibber and a publican.
Crucify him! When I let this man reign over
us, when I called on that last great day of the Feast, our Lord
Jesus Christ called and said, If any man fears, let him come
to me, I'll give him water out of his belly shall flow rivers
of water. Living water! Let him come! Did
anybody come? Nobody answered. Well, does this mean that he's
failed? Does this mean the Messiah's purpose and covenant and kingdom
is failed? Paul answered that. Turn to Romans
3. Romans 3. Paul answered that. Romans 3, verses 3 and 4. He
answered it with two words, God forbid. God forbid. God forbid. What if some didn't
believe? Shall their unbelief make the
faithfulness of God without effect? God forbid. I came and no one believed. I called and no one
answered. Let God be true and every man
a liar. Did his purpose fail? Well, let God answer for himself.
I appreciate and am thankful for the way the Father speaks,
and he speaks of himself and speaks of his Son in the same
way, as if you can't tell when he starts talking about one and
talks about the other. You notice that as we read through this.
It's the Son speaking and the Father speaking, and yet it's
the same voice speaking. Listen. Verse 2. When I came,
there was no man. When I called, nobody answered.
Is my hearing shortened at all and can't redeem? You think my
hand is short that it can't save? Have I no power to deliver the
captive? Are my hands tired that I can't
do what I wish? Is anything too hard for God? Listen. Behold, at my rebuke
I dried up the sea. When the children of Israel left
Egypt and came to that awesome sea, I dried it up. They walked across on dry land.
I did that. God did that. And he said, I
make the rivers a wilderness. And he said, the fish stink.
No water to drink. What was that? Let's read about
Exodus 7. Listen to this. Is my arm short that I can't
see? My ear heavy that I can't hear? How am I here so tired that I
can't set the captive free? He said, I dried up the sea and
I made the rivers of wilderness, Exodus 7, verse 20. And Moses
and Abram did so as the Lord commanded. He lifted up his rod
and smoked the waters that were in the river now, in the sight
of Pharaoh, in the sight of his servants. And all the waters
that were in the river turned to blood, and the fish that was
in the water The river died, the river stank, and the Egyptians
couldn't drink. There was no water to drink.
There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. I did that,
God said. I did that. And I clothed the
heavens with blackness. This is an interesting scripture,
Exodus 10. I clothed the heavens with blackness.
You talk about blackness. I want you to listen to this.
in Exodus 10, verse 21. And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch
out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over
the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses
stretched forth his hand toward heaven, and there was a thick
darkness in the land of Egypt three days. And they saw not
one another, Neither rose any man from his place. He couldn't,
he couldn't sing, he couldn't walk for three days. But all the children of Israel
had light in their dwellings, the slaves had light in their
dwellings. But everywhere else, it was so black, the man didn't
dare move. He sat there. God said, I did
that. And I made sackcloth for covering
for the sun. We won't read that, but there
it is. So listen, is my hand short that I can't redeem, save? Have I no power to set the dead
free, the captive free, the blind to see? Do you suppose that God
can't touch a dead sinner and make him live right now in this
congregation by the power of his word, by the power of his
throne, he can't make him live. You suppose that there's a sinner
here that God can't touch his ears and make him hear? I'm almost deaf. About 75 percent
of my hearing is gone. But I know this. God is able
to touch my ears and I'd hear 20-20. I know that. I know that. If it be his will. Lord, if you
will, you can make me whole. If you will, you can save my
soul. If you will, you can take away my uncleanness. If you will,
you can make the blind to see and the deaf to hear and the
lame to walk and the dead sinner to live. I believe that. That's
what he's saying. Where is this God that wants
to encamp? That's no God. That's no God. That's no good
news. It's no good news to tell a man,
if you get out of the grave, God will give you life. If you'll come to Jesus, he'll
come to you. That's backwards. If he comes to me, I'll come
to him. If he says live, I'll live. If you see, he'll give
you life. If he gives me life, I will see. If you'll hear his voice, but
I can't hear, I'm dead. But if you'll give me hearing, I'll
hear his voice. Turn it around. That's what he's doing here.
You think that I can't save, I can't redeem? You think I can't
deliver? I dried up the sea. I made the
rivers a wilderness. I turned the sun off. You turn the light off in your
rivers, he turned the sun off. And you want to preach it, and
he can't say it? No. And now here he is speaking,
and he is speaking as Christ, the Father and the Son of One.
That's the Almighty Father talking. Here is the Son, verse 4. Our
Messiah speaks. The Lord God hath given me the
tongue of the Lamb. He hath given me the message.
God who spake to our fathers with the prophets hath spoken
by his Son. The Lord God hath given me, he hath anointed me
to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath anointed me to heal the
brokenhearted. He hath anointed me to set the
captive free. He hath anointed me to declare
the acceptable year of the Lord. The Lord God hath given me the
tongue of the Lamb, that I should know how to speak a word in season
to him that is weary." That's Christ. to reveal the Father. He came
to speak the good news. He came to speak a word in season
to him that's weary. He wakeneth morning by morning.
He wakeneth my ear to hear as the learned. I do what the Father
sends me to do. I say what the Father has given
me to say. I work what the Father has given
me to work. See, I'm his servant. Listen to verse 5. I'm his servant.
The Lord hath digged my ear. Do you remember the bondservant? He was a slave for seven years,
and then he could go free. But he didn't want to go free.
He loved his master. He loved his master's house. He loved
his family. He said, I want to stay on. I'll
be a bond slave, a bond servant. So bore my heir. And they'd take
him to the priest, and the priest would bore his heir. And from
that moment, he wasn't a slave by law. He was a slave by love. He wasn't a slave because he
had to be. He was a slave because he wanted to be. He loved his Master, and
that's what Christ is. He said, I'm a servant of the
Lord God. He's bored my ear. He's opened
my ear and bored my ear. And I wasn't rebellious, and
I didn't turn away. I said, Thy will be done, not mine. He's
our representative. He's come down here as a man. And this shows his suffering.
Verse 6, I gave my back to the smiters. They scourged him. Thirty-nine lashes, save one. Forty, save one. Thirty-nine
lashes. I gave him a cheek to then to pull out the hair. Those
soldiers smote him and said, Your king, your prophet, who
smote you? They plucked out his beard. And
I hid not my face from shame and spitting. They spit in his
face. Gave him a back to the scourgers. I gave my cheeks to the mockers,
and I gave my face to the spitters. But here he is as our substitute
needing help. He is a man who is going to help
me. The Lord God will help me. Father,
glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you. Help me. Because
he will help me, I won't be confounded. I shall not fail. All that he
has given me to do, I'll finish. Therefore I will set my face
like a flint. I've got to read that to you
from Luke 9. Let me just turn to it and you listen to it. Luke
9, when our Lord is going to Jerusalem to be crucified, Luke
9, verse 51, it says, And it came to pass, when the time was
come, that he should be received up, he set his face like a flint,
like steel. to go to Jerusalem. Lord God
will help me, and I won't fail, because I set my face like a
flint, and I know I shall not be put to shame, I'll not be
disappointed. The pleasure of the Lord will
prosper in his hand. Because he is near that justifies
me. Now, listen, Christ is here. He's my servant, he bore my ear,
As I substitute, I gave my back to the scourges, I gave my face
to the mockers and to the spitters, and the Lord God will help me,
and I won't fail. All that I do, I do because he gave it to me
to do for people. And he's near that will justify
me, he'll justify me from all these sins that I bear. He bore
our sin. Isaiah 59 says, Your sins have
separated you and your God. That's what happened to Christ
on the cross. Our sins separated him and his God. He said, My
God, why have you forsaken me? Why have you turned away? Because
of your sins. Well, God justified him. God justified him, and when he
justified him, he justified us. Do I have any proof that God
justified him? Yes, he raised him from the dead.
He gave proof to the whole world, Acts 17, verse 31, that he raised
him from the dead. Not only that, but he brought
him to heaven. Not only that, but he sat him
in his right hand. Not only that, but he said, You
just sit there and I'll make all your enemies your footstool.
And when God justified him, He justified you who believe. And
when God raised him, he raised you already, in promise, in picture. When Abraham looked at that boy
on the altar, he knew that he was dead, he was going to have
to kill him. But he also knew that he was
already raised. He knew he was raised. And I
know we were already raised and already seated. So he says, Who's
going to contend with me? Tell me. Who's going to contend
with me? He said, Let them stand together,
let them stand face to face with me. Who's going to contend with
me? Who's going to be my adversary? Let them come near to me, Christ
said. Christ stands here as our representative, as our conquering
king, as our servant who died in our place. He says, Who's
going to contend with me? He justified me, now who is going
to charge me? Will the law litigate a point
with him? Will justice demand any more
than what he paid? Will Satan dispute this matter
further? Will the world of wickedness
again lay hands on him? Will the Jews line up with their
laws and traditions to challenge him? Who shall owe anything to the
charge of God's elect. Christ is God's elect, and we're
chosen in him. Verse 9, He repeats it again,
The Lord God will help me. The Lord God will help me. And
who is he that can condemn me? You can say that in Christ, but
you can't say that if you're not in Christ. A person can wrap
his his profession of faith and his Church membership around
him and the little good works he's done and the money he's
given and all those things, and say, Who can condemn me? A whole
lot of folks are lined up waiting on you, boy. A whole lot of them. But you and him, in him who lived
and him who perfectly kept the law, in him who took all judgment
and justice, could meet out. who took the wrath of God himself,
and the force of evil and Satan and hell itself, and lived, he
can stand in his perfect holiness and say, Who can condemn me?
Let them come up. Let them stand face to face.
Who? They shall listen. They are waxed
old as a garment, as a moth-eaten garment, like a worn-out old
moth-eaten garment, never to be used again. They are ruined
without recovery, eat them up. Now, in closing, who is among you that feareth the Lord? Who is among you that obeyeth
the voice of Jesus Christ? This is the testimony God had
given concerning his Son. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. Who is among you that walketh
in darkness? Say, Lord, God be merciful to
me, a sinner. I was born in darkness and live
my life in darkness and unbelief and the darkness of sin and false
religion. I'm getting what I deserve. has no life. Without thee I can
do nothing. I'll tell you what, you just
let him trust in the name of the Lord. And the name of the
Lord is Jesus Christ. That's him. Jehovah, God my Savior. He's Jehovah-Java, because he
will provide. He's Jehovah-Shalom, because
he is my peace. He's Jehovah-Sid-Kenned, he's
a perfect righteousness. He's Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord
that healeth. He's Jehovah Rea, my shepherd.
Trust him. Is there any here among you that
really fears God, that really hears the voice of Christ, your
Savior? Let him trust him. Let him just
stay on his guard. Just stay right there. I shall
not be moved. 74 years old, looking eternity in
the face, not a thing to claim of my own. But I shall not be moved, because
he is my intercessor, my advocate, my mediator, my Lord, my Savior,
my hope, my God, my all in all. He that hath this hope in him
hath a good hope. Don't keep kindling that fire,
don't keep poking those old dead coals. I remember back when I
was nine years old, I just felt something, the Spirit went over
me and I just felt so good, and the preacher pushed and I went
down, and I just sang like a bird. Don't keep poking that old coal. But I've been in the church all
my life, and I've sung in the choir, and I've given a papal
attire all my life, from the time I was a papal boy. And I've
never been bad, I've never done what these folks have done. Don't
keep poking that old coal. He just did nothing but making
sparks and ashes and smoke and bitching everybody's nose. And
God says, it's a smoke to my nose. Because if you keep doing that,
you're going to walk in that light of your fire and the light
of your sparks till you go to hell. Isn't that awful? I'm going
to deal with you, my hand's going to deal with you. He said, you're
going to have a man. You're going to lie down in sorrow. Why? Well, if you can answer
that question, you can close a lot of Church doors. Why? I can't answer it, except that
they don't see what you see. Aren't you glad you see? Aren't
you glad there was a time when he gave you in your heart the
fear of the Lord? hear the Lord, a year to hear
his word and hear his voice, an understanding of your darkness
and your sin and that no-hope condition, and like the publican
in the temple, God be merciful to me, the sinner. Let him trust
in the name, the name now, that's so important, trust in the name. It doesn't say just trust God,
trust in the name. There is none other name unto
heaven given among men but Christ Jesus. Who is he? Who is he? Just stay right there,
stay right there until he comes.