Isaiah 62 is our text. Isaiah 62. Let me read the latter
part of verse 11 and all of verse 12. Isaiah 62, 11. Behold, thy salvation cometh. Behold, his reward is with him,
and his work before him. And they shall call them the
holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. And thou shalt be called,
sought out, a city not forsaken." Now I'm told by every commentator
and every expository writing on the Holy Scriptures that this
passage does not refer to the appearance of the Lord Jesus
Christ as our Savior to put away our sins. And I agree with them. They all say that this Scripture,
Isaiah 62 and 63, refers to the time when the Lord Jesus Christ
shall come back to the earth a second time. which is called
the day of vengeance, when he shall come to overthrow his enemies,
when he shall come, as he says, in fury and in wrath and in judgment. But had he not come the first
time to redeem us by his blood, he could not come the second
time to redeem us by his power. Had he not come the first time
in passion, he could not come the second time in perfection.
Had he not come the first time as the lamb to redeem, he could
not come the second time as the judge to execute that which he
purchased. So I mean to use this passage
tonight, placing it in the light of its first fulfillment, the
passion of our Lord. the sufferings of our Savior.
I believe that if you take a good, hard look at this scripture with
other scriptures, you're going to see that it does, that it
does picture salvation in its clearest terms, a good, hard
look at salvation. Now the first thing I see in
this about salvation is this. Salvation is from without. The scripture says, Behold, thy
salvation cometh. Within you and me there is nothing
that can save. Within you and me there is nothing
that can redeem. Paul said, In my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. I am carnal, I am sold unto sin. Out of death only death can come. Out of evil, only evil can come. Out of bondage, only bondage
can come. And out of darkness, only darkness
can come. I think sometimes that even believers
fail to recognize this. Turn to Isaiah 55. And this is
something with which we struggle, and something that needs to be
answered for us again and again and again, because we learn so
slowly. I think some of us who do not
look within for salvation, after we're saved, begin to look within
for acceptance. Paul accused the Galatians of
that. He said, have you begun in the
spirit and now you're perfected in the flesh? Have you begun
building upon Christ, and now the building itself is of your
own making? I think sometimes even we who
have looked to Christ alone for our wisdom and salvation, after
we're saved, begin to look within ourselves for our wisdom and
our direction. And that's dangerous. Look at
Isaiah 55, verse 7. Listen to this. Let the wicked
forsake his way. And that's not only talking about
my way of salvation, that's talking about my way of walking, and
my way of wisdom, and my way of solving difficulties. Let
him forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. How many times do we say this
every day? Well, I'll tell you what I think.
I'll tell you what I think. And read on. And let him return
unto the Lord. Keep on returning. Keep on looking. And God will have mercy upon
him. And to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon. For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, and my ways are not your ways. For as the heavens
are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." And that goes for
right now, as well as the beginning of faith. I wonder how many times you and
I do this regarding matters of difficulty, matters of trial,
and this thing begins with faith. When we're out in the darkness,
we want Christ to reveal to us the light. When we're in the
dunghill of corruption and evil, we want Christ to lift us and
wash us and put our feet in paths of holiness. When we're outside
the kingdom of God, we want Him to come and search for the lost
sheep and find it and put it on His shoulders, bring it home.
But after we've been brought home, after we've been lifted,
after we've been cleansed, after we've been made holy, how many
times do we sit down and bow our heads and our hands and say,
Lord, I'm a fool, teach me. Lord, my thoughts are not your
thoughts. And my ways are not your ways.
And there's a way that seemeth right to the natural man, seems
like wisdom, seems like good judgment. But Lord, am I trusting
my judgment of yours? Am I trusting my wisdom of yours?
What would you have me do? Give me a word. Give me thy Holy
Spirit to direct me and to guide me." When our Lord Jesus Christ
left the earth and left his disciples, he sat them down. After three
and a half years of concentrated study and example and pattern,
he still said this to them, I have many things to say to you. You
are not able to bear them. You are not mature enough. You're not strong enough. You're
not believing enough. How be it? When He, the Holy
Spirit, is come, He'll direct you, He'll guide you into all
truth. Brethren, our salvation is from without. Turn with me
to Romans chapter 9. Our wisdom is from without. Our
righteousness is from without. Our acceptance is from without.
There's nothing from within. Look within, and all you'll see
is foolishness, evil, darkness, and sin. And that's all I see
right now. I not only saw that at the beginning
of this journey, that's all I see right now. And left to myself,
there's not a more foolish person in this world. But with Christ as my wisdom,
I can do all things. If I can find His will, if I
can find His leadership, I will have infallible judgment. If
I can find His wisdom, I will have infallible directions. His
wisdom, His will, His judgment. Are you seeking it? Do we seek our own or His will? Do we seek our own way or His
way? Now, that's got to be determined
first, and it comes from without. It doesn't come from within.
When Paul was talking about, In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing, he meant right now. In the flesh no man can please
God, he meant right now. O wretched man that I am, he
meant right now. Who wants to be led by a wretched
man? In Romans 9, verse 16, listen
to it. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, it is not of him that runneth, it is of God that showeth
mercy. Behold, thy salvation cometh. Thy salvation cometh. Turn back
to Isaiah 62. This salvation we're talking
about, and I'm talking about this salvation from sin, and
this salvation from trial, and this salvation from error, unto
Him who is able to keep you from falling. Left to myself, I'll
fall. Unto Him who is able to... He
that hath begun a good work in you shall perfect it. We are
His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. It is God that worketh
in you both to will and to do His good pleasure. It's from
without. Thy salvation. Look at it. Behold,
thy salvation cometh. David said, listen to David,
O Lord, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. It's not my
salvation, it's God's salvation. What I possess is not my salvation,
it's God's salvation. What I have is not my deliverance,
it's God's deliverance. The scripture says the wages
of sin is death. That's my work. But the gift
of God is eternal life. That's God's work. You see what
I'm saying? Thy salvation coming. It comes
from God. It comes from God himself to
the center. But what a blessing to know that
when there's no power in me and there's no strength in me, there
is power sufficient and there is grace sufficient in him. And what a blessing to know that
when there's no power in life in me, that God delights in that
day to show grace and mercy and makes the dead to live, that
he might get all the glory. I'm not building anything for
God. If there's anything being built, it's God who's building
it for His glory. Now, He may use us with a sword,
and He may use us with a trowel. He may use us in the basement
to dig. He may use us out in the public
to put the steeple up. But the building is built by
God. It's all from without. Turn to
1 Samuel 2. I want you to look at this scripture,
and it's one which I have marked very strongly in my Bible. I
have it marked very plainly. In 1 Samuel 2, verse 6, and over
and over again I tell myself this is so. I believe it. The
Lord killeth. The Lord maketh alive. The Lord
bringeth down to the grave. The Lord bringeth up. The Lord
maketh poor. The Lord maketh rich. The Lord
bringeth low. The Lord lifteth up. The Lord
raiseth up the poor out of the dust. The Lord lifteth up the
beggar from the dumb hill, to set them among princes, and to
make them inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of
the earth are the Lord's, and He hath set the world upon it."
What am I preaching? Salvation is of the Lord. Alpha to Omega, beginning to
the end. And I'm not fixed up with an
experience back in the past. I'm not fixed up with a decision
and a profession back in the past. I am His workmanship day
by day. My salvation continually cometh
and cometh and cometh and cometh. All right, the second thing I
note here about this salvation, taking a good hard look at it.
Behold, say to the people, Thy salvation cometh. Thy salvation
cometh. And behold, His reward is with
Him, and His work before Him. This salvation not only is from
without, but secondly, it is only through a person. His work
and His reward. The great salvation which we
have to proclaim to sinners is a salvation in the person and
through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold Him. Behold
His reward and behold His work. Behold Him, the covenant surety. Behold Him in ages past as the
federal head. He is given by the Father of
people, and He assumes by His grace full responsibility for
the ultimate deliverance of those people given to Him. Behold Him
in human flesh. The songwriter put it this way,
born among cattle in poverty sore. living in meekness by Galilee's
shore, identified with the lowest, with the vilest, and with the
weakest, tested and tried in all points, despised of men,
rejected of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. There
is not a sinner on this earth that cannot be personally identified
with Jesus Christ, because no human being has ever been lower
than Christ Jesus in his human nature, which he assumed in order
to be identified with the lowest. He was tried in every point. Behold Him on the cross, bearing
our sins in His body. Behold Him on the cross, under
the wrath of God, bearing our iniquities. Behold Him on the
cross, taking the guilt and the shame of every believer. pressing
his soul down to hell, crying, My God, why hast thou forsaken
me? Behold his person, behold his
reward, behold his work, behold him risen and seated at the right
hand of the Father. The victory won, the enemy defeated,
the great high priest secured and a perfect acceptance for
every believer. He broke the power of council
sin. He set the prisoner free. His
blood can make the foulest clean. His blood availed for me." Salvation
from without and salvation in a person and through his work. Now the third thing, quickly.
He says, Behold thy salvation coming. Behold, his reward is
with him and his work before him. And they shall call them
the holy people. Now my friends, this salvation
that is from without, and this salvation, redemption, that is
in a person and through his work, is a salvation that leads to
holiness and righteousness. I'm not talking about a mock
holiness. I'm not talking about a false,
professed righteousness. I'm talking about a genuine holiness,
and I'm talking about a genuine righteousness. If we are to be
saved We are to be sanctified. This is not only the goal of
salvation, it is the essence of salvation. Jesus Christ, our
Lord, not only saves His people from the penalty of sin, and
many would like to rejoice in that, and that only. He saved
me from hell. He saved me from sin's penalty. He saves me from sin's consequence. I rejoice, I'm not going to hell
to pay for my sin. For me there is no judgment,
there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. But he also saves us from
the practice of sin, a work that has as its goal to
make us like Christ, will reveal increasingly, year by year, a
foretaste of that final product. You see a young boy sitting at
a desk. He's got a desk here in his room.
And his dad has bought him a model airplane, or just bought him
a box from the store. It's a model airplane, but the
dad bought it and brought it to him and put it on the desk,
and the boy begins to work on it. The mother hadn't seen what
the father brought him, The mother back in the kitchen working,
she, the boy works for an hour or two, and then she slips in
the room. And she says, oh, you're making a model airplane. How
does she know? Well, what he was making looked
like an airplane. You see what I'm saying? If a
project has as its final goal holiness, as God works and builds
that project, it's going to take on the appearance of what the
final product will be. Now that's so. That's so. A man tells me that God's going
to make him like Christ, and he's been saved 20, 25 years,
and he doesn't begin to act like Christ? He doesn't begin to want
like Christ. He doesn't begin to love like
Christ. He doesn't begin to forgive like
Christ. I say to him, God's not making
anything out of you. You are not his workmanship. You're not his workmanship. Now
that boy's sitting in there, and he begins putting those things
together, and somebody comes in and says, Oh, you're making,
what are you making? Well, he's just making a mess,
he's not making anything. But if the final goal of that
project's going to be an airplane, it begins to look like one. And
the longer he works on it, the more it looks like an airplane. And my friends, I'm saying to
you, and I say it as positively as I can say it, God is my witness,
I believe it. If you're not beginning to look
like Christ, after all these years of God's, as you say, working
in your heart and in your life, if you're not growing in humility,
and you're not growing in love, and you're not growing in grace,
and you're not growing in mercy, You're not growing in patience,
and you're not beginning to look like the final prophet. That
airplane that boy's working on is going to have some wings after
a while. It's going to have a stabilizer. It's going to have a fuselage.
It's going to have a propeller. And the longer he works on it,
the more it looks like it. And the Word of God tells us
plainly, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. If any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. none of his. And they shall call them. It
doesn't say the Lord shall call them. It says folks that know
him shall call them a holy people. It's not what I say about myself.
I'm a holy people. That doesn't amount to a hill
of beans. It's what others say about it. And they shall call
them a holy people. Are we his workmanship? John
said, He that loveth not his brother knoweth not God. The
Lord Jesus said, By this shall all men know you are my disciples,
if you love one another. If we're not beginning to look
like the finished product, at least bearing some resemblance,
at least giving some indication of what the great potter is making
of the clay, He doesn't just take the clay and gob it up here
in a lump, and then suddenly, thirty years later, it takes
on a form. He puts it on the wheel, and
he begins to turn it. It doesn't look like much at
first, but after he's had it a while in his hand, it begins
to look more like what it's going to be. And he keeps on turning
it, and after a while, it looks a whole lot like it's going to
be. And then when he gets through with it, it looks like it's going
to be what he set out to make it. And I'm saying that we need
to examine ourselves. We need to search our hearts.
We need to look and see, what is God doing? Is God doing anything?
Is God doing anything? This is a salvation unto holiness. Now the fourth thing. It is a
salvation by redemption, and they shall call them the holy
people, and they shall call them the redeemed of the Lord. I read something by Spurgeon
here and jotted it down. I want to pass it on to you.
In the Holy Scriptures, there is no salvation for men except
by redemption. By redemption. We have enslaved
ourselves. We have sold our souls. We are in absolute debt to the
law and cannot pay. We are prisoners of God's justice. Therefore, we must be ransomed. Somebody's got to pay the ransom. Behold, our Redeemer paid the
ransom. Our Redeemer poured out His life. Our Redeemer shed His blood that
we may be free. Redemption by substitution. That's the ransom price. Redemption
by the shedding of His blood, that's the ransom price. Redemption
by the sacrifice of Himself, that's the ransom price. This
is the redemption price that will satisfy God's justice, that
will speak peace to my conscience. And it comes to me from Christ,
absolutely free, but it costs Him Himself. He said, fear not. I have redeemed
thee." The prophet said, I've found the ransom. And again he
said, I know my Redeemer liveth. In the fifth place, it is a salvation
by redemption. And in the fifth place, it is
a salvation that is complete, and thou shalt be called. Turn to Romans chapter in the
8th chapter of Romans, and thou shalt be called. My friends,
you didn't begin the work, God did, and you're not going to
complete the work. God is. You shall be called,
and when you're called, you'll call on Him. You shall be sought,
and when you're sought, you'll seek Him. You shall be loved,
and when you're loved, you'll love Him. Herein is love. Not that we love God. He loved
us. We love Him because He first
loved us. You shall be found, and when
you are, you'll find Him. Romans chapter 8, verse 29. For whom He did foreknow, foreordain,
He also did predestinate. to be conformed to the image
of his son. That's what the potter's making
of the clay. He's making everybody whom he
saves just like his son, that his son might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he called, and whom he called, them he justified, and whom he
justified, them he also glorified. I called on him because he called
me. Yes, I sought him. Seek ye the
Lord while he may be found. And I sought him. You shall find
me when you search for me with all your heart. And I searched
for him, but I searched for him because he searched for me. And
I love him. Peter said, Lord, you know all
things. You know I love you. But I love him because he first
loved me. And I found him. I don't think
it's violating the gospel at all to say that I found the Lord. I know some men criticize that
heavily. They criticize when we say, seek
the Lord. But Scripture commands us to
seek the Lord. The Bible doesn't say a man can't
seek the Lord. It says he won't seek the Lord.
He commands us to seek him. And I sought him. And I know
I sought Him because He sought me. Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the foes of God, and He to rescue me from danger,
interposed His precious blood. He sought me, and I sought Him. And He found me, and I can say,
I found the Lord. I found the Lord. He shall not
fail. Turn to John chapter 10. In the
10th chapter of John, verse 14, Christ Jesus said, I am a good
shepherd, I know my sheep, and none of mine. As the Father knoweth
me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the
sheep, and other sheep I have, which are not of this foal, and
them also I must bring, and they shall be called. Hold that place there and look
at the text again. In Isaiah 62, he says, Thy salvation
cometh, his reward is written. Thou shalt call them the holy
people, the redeemed of the Lord, and thou shalt be called. And he says here in John chapter
10, verse 16, Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my
voice. And they shall be one fold, and
one shepherd. I love the shalls and the wills
of God's Word. He shall not fail. Dear dying
lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power till all
the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more. Now the last point, a hard look
at salvation. This salvation is not from within,
it's from without. It's a gift of God. This deliverance
is the gift of God. This work is the work of God.
We are God's building. We are God's holy temple. And every stone that's laid in
that temple is laid there by the Lord. The Lord added to the
church daily, such as should be saved. It's a salvation from
without. And it's a salvation in a person,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and because of His work. And it's a salvation
unto holiness. And I want to be understood as
clearly as I can make myself understood. I'm not talking about
this phony, professed, outward show of righteousness and holiness
that's an abomination not only to men, but to God Almighty.
I'm talking about an inward holiness. I'm talking about an inward attitude
of righteousness. I'm talking about the Spirit
of the Lord. The Spirit of the Lord. And talking about that holiness
that is within, that holiness that grows through the knowledge
of the Word of God, that holiness and righteousness that is based
upon a relationship with a person. And that person can be seen in
us. And that person can be seen working
through us. And that person can be seen and
heard speaking through us. And that person's glory is our
goal and our motive. That person's glory. Not our
own praise. Not our own credit. Not our own
glory. His glory. It's an unselfish
holiness. Unselfish holiness. And that
salvation shall not fail. They shall be called. They shall
be sought out. Sought out. The Lord has a sheep.
Who they are, I don't have the faintest idea. I know the marks
of his sheep. He said there are two marks of
the sheep. They'll hear my voice and they'll follow me. And they'll
keep on hearing my voice and they'll keep on following me.
There may be those who profess to hear Him and start to follow
Him, and they may last twenty, twenty-five years, and then they
leave. And John said they left because
they never were of us. Christ said, My sheep have two
brands on them. They have the brand on the ear
and the brand on the foot. They hear Me and they follow
Me. And another shepherd, they will
not follow, they'll follow Me. And they'll keep on following
Me, and keep on following Me. and keep on following me, because
they don't have any way to go back. They've burned their bridges.
They've sold out. They've bankrupted themselves
to purchase that one pearl, and that one pearl is their treasure.
They'll follow me, and I'll give them eternal life. They'll hear
my voice, and they'll keep on hearing it, and they'll follow
me. And this is an eternal salvation. The sixth place, it's a salvation
that's eternal. It's a city not forsaken. Not forsaken. My friend, you'll never be forsaken
by the God of grace, and you'll never be forsaken by the grace
of God. I remember that. And there's
not a trial, there's not a burden. There's not a dark valley, there's
not a difficulty, there's not a misunderstanding through which
you cannot go and which you cannot endure when you remember those
two things. You'll never be forsaken by the God of grace. Lo, I'm
with you always, even to the end of the earth. That soul that
on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert
to expose. That soul, though all hell should
endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake. God'll never leave me alone.
The heavens sometimes may appear to be brass, but He'll never
leave me alone. I'll go with you, He said. Cast
your cares on me, I care for you. Lo, I'm with you always,
always, even to the end of the earth. I'll never be forsaken
by the God of grace. David said, My mother and my
father may forsake me, but God will never forsake me. No way. The Lord Jesus Christ cried on
Calvary, My God, why hast thou forsaken me, that I might never
cry that? Never. Never. And you remember
this. You'll not only never be forsaken
by the God of grace, but you'll never be forsaken by the grace
of God. I don't know what Paul's thorn
in the flesh was. I know it gave him a lot of discomfort. I know it gave him a lot of trouble.
But God reassured Paul and said to him, My grace is sufficient. My grace is sufficient. My grace is sufficient. A city
not forsaken, never forsaken. Never. Our Father in heaven, we thank
you for your presence. We thank you for your word. We
thank thee for this clear revelation of that glorious redemption that
we have in Christ Jesus. All the way through thy word
we see this clear path. We see this definite direction. salvation of the Lord in Christ
to make us holy, a salvation that will be completed
and never forsaken until we all come in the perfect image of
the firstborn, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we want to be able
to say in our hearts, I shall be satisfied when I awake with
thy likeness. In his name we pray and for his
sake. Amen.