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[0:00] Isaiah chapter 59. We'll read the chapter in its entirety. Isaiah 59 verse 1.! Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor is ear too dull to hear.

[0:17] ! But your iniquities have separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

[0:27] For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things.

[0:39] No one calls for justice. No one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies. They conceive trouble and give birth to evil.

[0:51] They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider's web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken, an adder is hatched.

[1:02] Their cobwebs are useless for clothing. They cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands.

[1:14] Their feet rush into sin. They are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil thoughts. Ruin and destruction mark their ways.

[1:27] The way of peace they do not know. There is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads. No one who walks in them will know peace. So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us.

[1:46] We look for light, but all is darkness. For brightness, but we walk in deep shadows. Like the blind, we grope along the wall, feeling our way like men without eyes.

[1:58] At midday, we stumble as if it were twilight. Among the strong, we are like the dead. We all growl like bears. We moan mournfully like doves.

[2:10] We look for justice, but find none for deliverance, but it is far away. For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us.

[2:23] Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities. Rebellion and treachery against the Lord, turning our backs on our God, fomenting oppression and revolt, uttering lies our hearts have conceived.

[2:39] So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance. Truth has stumbled in the streets. Honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found.

[2:50] And whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice.

[3:02] He saw that there was no one. He was appalled that there was no one to intervene. So his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.

[3:15] He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head, he put on the garments of vengeance, and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.

[3:26] According to what they have done, so will he repay. Wrath to his enemies, and retribution to his foes. He will repay the islands their due. From the west, men will fear the name of the Lord.

[3:39] And from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the Lord drives along. The Redeemer will come to Zion.

[3:52] To those in Jacob who repent of their sins, declares the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord.

[4:02] My spirit who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time and forever, says the Lord.

[4:16] Nothing is more natural to our fallen human natures than to deny responsibility for our actions. Remember, as Adam and Eve, the first sinners, showed when God came confronting them for their sins.

[4:34] Adam, what have you done? Well, it's the woman that you put here with me. It's not my fault. Oh, Eve, what have you done? Well, it was the devil. He tricked me, and I took some of the forbidden fruit.

[4:49] Transferring blame. Not my fault. Even so, God has to put up with that line from His own people. His own Old Testament people, Israel.

[5:00] And their problem is that they are in a miserable mess. Injustice is rampant. You can't get a true rendering in court anymore.

[5:12] Justice is gone. Social order is crumbling. The land is being devastated, crumbling from within. And they're doing their part.

[5:24] They're fasting and praying like crazy. But God isn't doing anything. He's not even paying attention to their fasting.

[5:35] He's not answering their prayers. He's not fixing their problems as a nation. It's all His fault. And last time we were in chapter 58 of Isaiah, remember God says, Oh, I have seen your fasting all right.

[5:54] I've seen that your fast days are marked with quarreling and fistfights and all kinds of injustices and oppression. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice be heard on high.

[6:06] But if you would repent and change your ways, then, 58, 9, then you will call and the Lord will answer.

[6:18] You will cry for help and He will say, Here am I. Johnny on the spot. I'm ready to help you. So that was chapter 58. Here in chapter 59, Isaiah is continuing to answer their complaint.

[6:32] Their complaint that it's not our fault. It's your fault, God. And Isaiah says, You need to get something straight right up front.

[6:43] It is your fault. It's not God's fault. It is your fault. Why is Isaiah, and Isaiah's God, who's inspiring him to write this, why is he so tenacious about this point?

[6:58] Whose fault is it? He's like a bulldog that gets a hold of your cuff and the teeth have penetrated the cuff and there's no way to let go. That's the way Isaiah is coming at these people who are saying, It's not our fault.

[7:14] It's God's. Why so tenacious? Because until we own our fault, we will never repent of it, enjoy God's cure in Jesus Christ.

[7:24] And so it's his loving purpose that doesn't stop pointing the finger at us saying, It is your fault. And so let's remember that as we make our way through Isaiah 59.

[7:37] It is a God with loving intent coming to confront us with our sin and fault and guilt that we might repent and taste the cure in Jesus Christ.

[7:49] Two points in the chapter. It divides rather easily into man's problem and God's response. So we start with man's problem clarified.

[8:01] Let's make sure we understand the problem correctly. The first 15 verses. Don't think your unanswered prayer and your continuing misery is due to some inability in God.

[8:13] That he's hard of hearing or he's too weak to help and save you. Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save nor his ear too dull to hear.

[8:26] He's got all the power you need and his hearing is just fine. Thank you. That's where we start. God has no problem. The problem is with you.

[8:37] Verse 2. But your iniquities, not God, but your iniquities have separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear you.

[8:50] You see? It's your fault, not God's. First lesson we want to come away with is that sin separates people from God. That's why Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden temple where they enjoyed fellowship with God.

[9:06] A picture of here, fellowship with God. But when sin came, there was a fracture in that and distance put between them.

[9:17] That's why people could not come into the most holy place in the temple or else they would be struck dead. Why? Because that's where God manifested his presence. And it was ever saying, I am holy.

[9:30] You are not. You better stay away because holiness and sin cannot have fellowship. Light and darkness cannot mingle. It's why the people could not even come near to the mountain when God came on Mount Sinai to give his law or they would be struck dead.

[9:49] Sin is so offensive to our holy God that his holy wrath recoils against us. And sin puts a rift, a division then.

[9:59] It separates. It puts distance between man and God. I wonder, my friend, have you come face to face with your biggest problem. It's just this right here.

[10:11] That your sins have separated you from your God. That he is too holy and you are too sinful for him to live with you. That's it.

[10:26] The Bible is all about how God overcomes this huge problem. But until you see the huge problem, you won't appreciate his solution. separation. But you'll find in the rest of the Bible that yes, he is able to enter into that separation.

[10:43] He does it by his own son, the Lord Jesus, who comes and becomes a man and perfectly obeys God's law and then he goes to the place of judgment. And he stands, as it were, hangs between a holy God and sinful creatures.

[10:58] And he himself experiences the separation, the alienation that sin deserves from God in place of sinners. That whoever repents and trusts in him might have that separation ended and might be brought back into fellowship with God.

[11:19] Well, God is offended at any brand of Christianity that takes sin lightly, that presumes upon his grace because it belittles the work of his son on the cross.

[11:32] So he hides his face from them. He refuses to hear their prayers. You can't live with God as long as you cling to that which separates you from God, namely your sins.

[11:44] And so you must have your sins taken care of. You must get them paid for by Jesus' death. You must get them mortified by the Holy Spirit's power.

[11:58] Sin separates people from God. sin. And it's not just sin in general. In some vague general sense, he descends to particulars.

[12:09] He starts to tell the people their specific sins. Do you know nobody sins in general? Nobody. We all sin in specifics.

[12:22] Every sin is a specific infraction upon some commandment that God has given us. So because we sin specifically, we are to repent specifically of sins.

[12:35] We don't repent just generally. But wherever we veer off of the path of God's road of holiness, we must go back there and get back on to the highway.

[12:48] We must turn from our way back to God's way. And so the second lesson for us is that since we sin in specific ways, we must repent of specific sins.

[12:59] And so the specific sins of Israel are mentioned. And you'll notice in them that very prominent among them are the ways that men are hurting one another by what they do and say.

[13:13] And you'll also notice how the parts of the body are being used. It's almost like an anatomy class as you read through here. Verse 3, for your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt.

[13:25] guilt. Now these are the very hands lifted up to God in prayer. Oh God, save us from our misery. Help us. We're in a mess. We're fasting.

[13:36] We're praying. We're seeking you. And those hands that are lifted up have blood on them. Not just because they're killing each other, but all violence and oppression is thereby represented.

[13:47] Their fingers are guilty. And then your lips have spoken lies. And your tongue mutters wicked things.

[13:59] The very same lips that bless God and pray to Him are the lips that curse men and that lie to men and deceive and defraud and cheat and take advantage of others.

[14:13] Do you know a man's mouth is the readout of his heart? Jesus says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. What comes out of here is what's in here.

[14:25] And that's why Isaiah is pointing to what comes out of their lips. Deceit. If deceit is coming out of their mouths it's because they have a deceitful heart.

[14:38] If wickedness is coming out of their mouths it's because their hearts are wicked. So their hands, their fingers, their lips, their tongues. Verse 7 talks about their feet.

[14:50] Rush into sin. They're swift to shed innocent blood. That means they're so given over to sin that they don't crawl into it reluctantly. They're eager to sin.

[15:02] They rush into it like a child rushing out of school to get home after school that he might play. There's no backwardness about this business of sinning.

[15:15] They very eagerly rush into sin with their feet and their thoughts are evil thoughts. Ruin and destruction mark their ways.

[15:26] Their minds you see now are being used to plot evil. Make plans of how am I going to get more for me? Even if it means stepping on others who get in my way.

[15:41] their thoughts are evil and ruin and destruction are left behind when they put their thoughts into action. So do you see how the very members of the body are being pointed out here?

[15:54] You know, sin is a very tangible thing. These members of the body were created by God and for God. They're meant to be instruments to work righteousness.

[16:08] They're meant to be used to do our neighbors good. And the crime was that they took those very members of their body and they made them instruments to sin and to harm one another.

[16:24] Verse 3 mentioned their lips that spoke lies. And the next verse, verse 4, gives us some examples of how they sin with their lips and harm others. And they were doing it in the law courts.

[16:38] Indeed, the ninth commandment you shall not give false testimony against your neighbor has that flavor of court, doesn't it? Of giving testimony that's not true.

[16:49] And that's what they were doing. Verse 4 says, no one calls for justice. It's not justice that they're seeking in court. They're seeking their own gain.

[17:00] No one pleads his case with integrity. No one presents his case to the judge with honesty. These are the facts. This is what happened.

[17:12] They rely on empty arguments and speak lies. They lie under oath. They fabricate their case. They give false testimony against their neighbor.

[17:25] It's using the legal system for their own evil purposes, for their own selfish gain, even at the expense, and especially at the expense of others' harm.

[17:40] How many of our lawsuits today fall right into that category? No one is seeking justice. They're seeking gain, and they're using the courts to get it, even though they are abusing others in so doing.

[18:02] Do you know, not everything that is legal today is right. People are using the law courts to get what's legal, but it's evil in the sight of God.

[18:16] So a man goes into divorce court to divorce his wife or a younger woman, and it's perfectly legal. But Jesus calls it the wickedness of adultery.

[18:29] slavery. Or a man borrows money and spends it foolishly until he's broke, and then he goes into a bankruptcy court, and he walks away from all the people that he owed money to, and it's perfectly legal.

[18:48] And God calls it stealing, taking from others what is not yours. Using the courts for selfish gain, even at the harm to others.

[19:03] And it happens all the time in so many ways. In verse 8, he talks about the way of peace. They do not know there's no justice in their paths.

[19:13] They have turned them into crooked roads. Not one who walks in them will know peace. So, there's no justice in the paths that they're walking on.

[19:25] In fact, they take straight paths and they twist them into crooked paths. They call evil good and good evil to get what they're wanting from others.

[19:35] Now, you say, what does all this have to do with us? Well, the apostle Paul in Romans chapter 3 says this is not just a description of Israelites in 600 BC.

[19:51] In Romans chapter 3, Paul is giving a description of all humanity. And he reaches way back into Isaiah 59 and he brings out verse 7 and 8 and he puts it into this description of men.

[20:05] All mankind. Paul is making a case that there is none righteous, not even one. Not among the Gentiles, not among the Jews, there is none righteous, no, not one.

[20:18] No one understands, no one seeks God, no one does good, not even one. All have turned away, all have together become worthless. And then these verses in Isaiah are quoted as proof.

[20:33] So what we're looking at in Isaiah 59 is the horrible truth about all men without God. All men without Jesus Christ, without exception.

[20:47] We are no better. Martin Lloyd Jones says if you fight against this description of yourself, it's only proof that you're not a Christian yet. If you say, oh, I don't like to hear that.

[21:02] I'm better than that. It simply proves you still not had your eyes open to see who you are in the light of God's holiness.

[21:14] Paul's conclusion is that there is no fear of God before their eyes, and that's why they walk in their ways of injustice. That's why they treat each other so poorly. Mankind beats up on each other.

[21:26] Why? Because there's no fear of God before their eyes. So that's the second thing. We sin specifically. We have those sins pointed out specifically that we might repent specifically.

[21:39] The third lesson is that sin ruins society and makes life miserable. Sin ruins society and makes life miserable. It carries its own punishment in its back pocket.

[21:52] So when you take sin, you take something of its own pain along with it. So a nation of self-centered sinners willing to step on each other in order to advance themselves will soon lead to a nation not worth living in.

[22:11] I don't know how many of you I've talked with about your jobs. jobs. And your jobs sound like they would be good jobs to have.

[22:23] But the thing that makes them less than desirable shall we say is the people cheating, stealing, stepping on each other, slandering, accusing.

[22:38] And where a nation is given over to this, justice crumbles, the whole society unravels, work is not what it should be, indeed no aspect of life.

[22:58] What marriage can survive? Two self-centered people banging against each other. what church can survive? You see where men are given over to just seeking themselves, breaking God's commandments against one another, it leads to misery.

[23:22] Moral values are obliterated and injustice rules the day. You know, I've found that sinners don't mind stepping on others on their way to the top, but they don't like others stepping on them, on the way to the top.

[23:36] And that's what was happening in Israel. Everyone's seeking their own way, trampling on God's law, stepping on each other, mistreating each other. Well, pretty soon it comes back to you.

[23:47] Pretty soon the chickens come home and now I'm the one, I'm living, I'm helping to create this society of injustice and we don't like it. The wicked don't mind lying, but they don't like being lied about.

[24:03] And so verses 9 through 15 now are going to describe the situation where the breakdown in society and the breakdown of justice has progressed so far that it's made life miserable in Israel.

[24:15] Nobody likes living in this nation anymore. Even those that pass through are making fun of it and pointing their finger and saying, where is your God? So verse 9, here's life in Israel.

[24:29] So justice is far from us and righteousness does not reach us. The so is important. Therefore, because everybody's out doing their own thing, what's the result?

[24:41] Well, the result is a society where justice is gone. Righteousness can't be found there. They didn't seek justice and now it's nowhere to be found.

[24:54] They cheated others and now they're cheated. And there's no one to give them justice. Oh, but they want justice. They look for it. They hope for it.

[25:04] They growl for it like bears. They mourn for it like a mourning dove. You know the mourning dove. It's not M-O-R-N.

[25:16] It's not a mourning dove that you see in the morning. It's M-O-U-R-N. A mourning dove because it's coo. Sounds like a mournful Strain! And that's the picture.

[25:26] People are mourning. They don't like being mistreated. And yet that's life. That's life where God's laws have been chucked. And all they're hoping for justice and all their desire for a better life is all in vain.

[25:42] Their hopes are dashed. God's given them over to their sins and now they're getting a taste of their own medicine. Verse 11 says, We look for justice.

[25:53] We look for justice, but we find none. We look for deliverance, but it's far away. It's separated from us because the God of salvation is separated far from us.

[26:06] And it's all quite hopeless. We look for light. Here we are in our dark distress, and we look for light, but it's all darkness and gloom. We're like the blind, and we grope along the wall, feeling our way like men without eyes.

[26:24] And so we're stumbling at midday, though the sun is bright. We're stumbling because we're as helpless and hopeless as a man without eyes to find relief from our misery, to find the answer, the way out of this mess we're in.

[26:43] And among the strong, we're like the dead. We're as good as dead, like dead men without eyes. Now that's a picture of hopelessness and helplessness. And what's the cause of all this mess they're in?

[26:54] All their offenses testifying against them that they have forsaken God, rebellion and treason against the Lord. They had professed loyalty to the Lord, and then they became traitors and left him.

[27:08] Turning our backs on God, not wanting his company anymore, fomenting oppression and revolt, uttering lies our hearts had conceived. That's the cause for their ongoing miseries.

[27:19] righteousness. This is why verse 14 says, so justice is driven back and righteousness stands at a distance. It's pushed out by our sins.

[27:31] And when God is at a distance due to sin that separates us from him, then his salvation, his justice, his righteousness is also at a distance.

[27:42] You can't get a just judgment in court anymore. Truth has stumbled in the streets. That means in the public places. There's no truth in the public square, in the marketplace, in the business world, in the education centers.

[28:03] Honesty cannot enter. It is not welcomed. Courts, truth gone, nowhere to be found, verse 15 says. What a society to live in.

[28:15] No justice, no righteousness, no truth. in the public places, in the courts, in business. No objective standard of what's right and what's wrong.

[28:28] No moral absolutes, lies, rule of the day, deception, false weights and measures, false claims, false doctrines. And can we not see something of this in our own nation?

[28:42] truth is not allowed in the public sector. We don't want to see it anymore on our buildings. We don't want to see it in our courtrooms.

[28:54] We don't want to hear of it in our classrooms. Abandoning God's truth will soon be left without a moral compass. And then we're left to a society that's not worth living in.

[29:08] And so prevalent is evil that verse 15 says whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. So you be one of those that takes a stand and says I'm not going to go along with this evil crowd.

[29:21] They'll feed on you. That's how bad it is. Whoever does not go along with their evil deeds will become hunted and persecuted. So there's a complete moral collapse of society and it's the result of their departure from God by sin.

[29:36] The separation that it is caused between them and God. God is good. His laws are good. Walking with Him is the way of blessing. When we sin and go our way we turn our back not only on God but on the blessings that He would have for us.

[29:53] And we embrace what? The anarchy. The wild dog eat dog world. We embrace that. And we start to feel the misery and start to moan and complain and groan under the weight of it.

[30:11] And it's all their fault. And they're now reaping the ugly consequences. A nation void of truth and justice. Helpless to fix it themselves.

[30:24] Now, that's the human problem clarified. And if you will see and look you'll find much of our own situation there.

[30:35] Now, let's look topside. What's God's reaction to what's going on down here? Do you know that's a question that not very many people are asking? We don't like what's going on.

[30:48] We complain about this injustice and unfair treatment we're getting. But few are asking, what's God thinking about what's happening in His world? But that's where Isaiah takes us next.

[31:00] And so we have God's response foretold. What He thinks about it. Well, verse 15b, the last part, says, The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice.

[31:15] He saw that there was no one. He was appalled that there was no one to intervene. So the first thing we learn is that God is displeased and appalled.

[31:27] He looked. You know, nothing escapes God's look. Think what those holy eyes must see every day as they look upon every infraction of His law, every injustice, every bit of oppression.

[31:45] He looked. And what He sees angers Him. Mankind treating each other with injustice. You know, it was that that caused God to send a flood back in the beginning.

[31:58] Men were violent and mistreated and oppressed each other. And God said, I'm going to wash the earth free of their presence. And He sent the flood because He was displeased at the way they were mistreating one another, the oppression, the corruption.

[32:18] You know, when Jesus was on the earth, there were times He got angry. But it wasn't angry at what men were doing to Him. that He bore with the calmest responses.

[32:31] But when He saw men abusing other men, their bodies, their souls, He reacted in white-hot anger. What's God's reaction to what's going on in the world today where there's no truth and justice?

[32:49] He looks and He's displeased. He's very displeased. And we never have a right view of our sins until we look topside and see how displeasing it is to God.

[33:01] We're forever thinking it's not as bad as this and that. But we need to look and say, what does He think of it? And He's displeased. But He's not only displeased with their sin and injustice, He's also appalled that there's none to intervene.

[33:21] There's nobody to stand in the gap and to fix the situation, to stand up for truth and righteousness and turn the nation and save the situation and save the day.

[33:32] There's no one. There's no one to intervene. The situation is gone. It's helpless. There are dead men who don't have eyes. There's no hope here.

[33:42] And He's appalled that there's no one to intervene. That's what's happening in heaven. And so, number two, He worked salvation by Himself.

[33:55] We see that in verse 16. So His own arm works salvation for Him. There's nobody else to step in the gap and to save. So His own arm works salvation for Him.

[34:08] And His own righteousness sustained Him. His own sense of what's right kept urging Him on in this task of salvation. It was all Him. It was all His action. Because salvation is a solo job.

[34:22] It's God's work alone with absolutely no help from man. He's the only Savior. The problem was so desperate. There was no help from below.

[34:33] you were separated from God. There was such a wall between you and God. There was no way to close the gap. If you're saved, you have God alone to thank for it.

[34:45] He acted. He saw the situation. He saw me plunged in deep distress. He flew to my relief. For me, He bore the shameful cross and carried all my grief.

[34:56] This is what we have here. Nobody to save. Nobody to intervene. I will intervene. I will intervene. The third thing we see is His work of salvation includes His work of judging His enemies.

[35:13] He saves His people and He judges His enemies. Salvation and judgment go hand in hand right through the Bible. So at the flood, the same waters that drowned the whole earth also lifted the ark up in which eight souls were saved.

[35:32] Judgment, salvation in the one act of the flood. It was the same thing at the Red Sea. The Red Sea. What happened at the Red Sea?

[35:43] Well, the Israelites were saved and the Egyptians were judged, destroyed everyone. So what happened at the cross? all those who are Christ are saved at the cross but Jesus is judged at the cross.

[36:01] Judgment and salvation. So what's going to happen at the end of the age when Jesus returns to this earth? There will be salvation of His people. He's coming to save those who are waiting for Him and He's coming to punish with unspeakable judgments all who have not obeyed His gospel.

[36:22] See the two brought together here in Isaiah 59. God Himself is going to act. He's coming and He's coming both to save His people and to destroy His and their enemies.

[36:35] That's why He's pictured as dressing Himself for battle. He's the divine warrior. Long before Ephesians 6 was written about the Christian in the armor of God, we had Isaiah 59, God dressing in the armor of God, in the armor for battle.

[36:51] And so He's got His righteousness, His own righteousness as a breastplate and the helmet of salvation and garments of vengeance and wrapped up in zeal.

[37:02] You see, He's putting on His own attributes, His own character as armor as He comes in salvation and judgment. Verse 18, according to what they have done, so He will repay wrath to His enemies and retribution to His foes He will repay the islands their dues.

[37:21] The islands, wherever He finds His enemies, whether within Israel or outside of Israel or whether to the farthest flung places of the earth in some island of the sea, you can run from Him, but you cannot hide from Him.

[37:35] And He will repay each one according to their sins. He's determined to hunt them down and to get even for what they've done.

[37:49] There is a God in heaven. He is judge. He has said, vengeance is mine, I will repay. So don't you get revenge. Leave the judging to me. But those who repent and seek the Lord will be saved.

[38:06] That's the beauty of it. In the midst of judgment, we see salvation. Remember what Psalm 103 says, He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

[38:20] Well, He's coming to repay His enemies according to their sins and iniquities, but He does not treat us according to our iniquities. Vengeance, mercy, severity, grace, wrath, love, all in the one act of this great God.

[38:46] The fourth lesson, this salvation and judgment is the work of the Redeemer. You see it in verse 20, the Redeemer will come to Zion. To those in Jacob who repent of their sins declares the Lord.

[38:59] The Lord said, I'm going to act with my own right powerful hand. And now we learn it's the Redeemer. This is Messiah. This is Jesus that Isaiah is pointing to.

[39:10] Jesus is coming as this great warrior to save and stand in the gap. He's the only one who can pay a ransom price. That's what a Redeemer is.

[39:21] He pays the price that could set His people free from sin and hell. Jesus is that Redeemer. He's the one who's coming to Zion.

[39:35] What is the state of Zion? Well, we've just been reading about it. They're wicked. They're evil. They've got their backs turned to God and He's coming to Zion.

[39:48] But not for all of them. He's not going to save all of them. He's coming to Zion to those who repent of their sins. For them He's coming in salvation.

[39:59] Not all Israel, but only those who repent of their rebellion and turn back to God's way to walk in it. So Jesus is this one who is the Lord Himself and who works salvation by His own right arm.

[40:15] When there was none to intervene, He stepped in between God and man. He was judged. He took the punishment our sins deserve that we might be saved and brought back to God.

[40:29] He suffered alienation that we might know His fellowship forever. And so on the cross, this is what He says to guilty sinners, it's all your fault, but I'm going to take the blame for you that you might be forgiven.

[40:46] Oh, let us never think, Jesus took my, let's not jump over the fact, it's all your fault. I'm only here because of your sin. It's all your fault, but I'm here taking your fault, your guilt, your sin, the blame, that you might go free.

[41:04] He's the Redeemer. He takes the payback of God's wrath. Yes, God gets even, but He pours out His wrath on His Son for all who will repent of their sins.

[41:19] And this is the same Redeemer, the Redeemer is the same one who will put on vengeance and zeal to repay impenitent sinners for continuing in their way. They said we will not repent and He's coming in judgment.

[41:31] For them, He's coming to repay them. And that is our Lord Jesus as well because the Father has committed all judgment to the Son and He's coming back to judge the living and the dead.

[41:43] Thank God the Redeemer has come to Zion and His coming has brought salvation not only to repentant Jews but also to repentant Gentiles like us as well. Very quickly, fifthly, His work will create worldwide worshipers who fear God.

[41:58] verse 19 from the west men will fear the name of the Lord and from the rising of the sun that's the east they will revere His glory. Now this is the result of the Lord's work of salvation.

[42:12] Men will come to fear the Lord. They will come to hold Him in the highest esteem, the highest regard. They will hold Him in awe and worship Him.

[42:23] that's the very thing that was missing. That's why men were trampling on each other Paul says because there was no fear of God before their eyes. But the Redeemer will fix that.

[42:36] His work of salvation will cause the fear of God to fall on people from west to east. The whole earth will have people who fear and worship God.

[42:51] And on account of Him men will stand in awe of God and worship Him with reverence and godly fear. I ask you, does not Jesus coming, His life, His teaching, His death, His resurrection, His ascension to heaven, does that not make God awesome to you?

[43:08] Yes. It makes us worshippers of Him. And that is in fulfillment of this promise that the Redeemer would bring the fear of God worldwide reverence to Him.

[43:21] That's why even today all around the world from east to west, people are worshipping with awe, amazement, reverence, fear before the God of heaven.

[43:35] And lastly, His work will secure covenant promises for His repentant people. We don't have time to try to prove this, but I think it seems best to take verse 21 as God the Father speaking to God the Son, the Redeemer that He's just spoken of and we'll see more of that later.

[43:53] But He says, As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord. My Spirit, the Father talking to the Son, my Spirit who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth.

[44:05] Now, throughout Isaiah we've seen that. The Spirit of the Lord rests upon the Messiah. And His ministry is largely one of words, the words of God. The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue to know the word that sustains the weary.

[44:21] He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, and so on. So, the Father says, My Spirit who is on you, Redeemer, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever.

[44:39] The Redeemer has won these blessings for all of His children. It's a two-fold covenant blessing. His Spirit and His Word forever, never to depart from their mouths.

[44:52] The Redeemer is said to have the Spirit of the Lord resting on Him and to have God's Word in His mouth, but it won't end with Jesus. That same Word will be passed on to all of His seed forever and ever.

[45:10] Can I say that that's why when we meet today, we have the Bible. in answer to this promise that His Word would never depart.

[45:23] Heaven and earth will pass away, but my Word will never pass away. It's a privilege that Christ, the Redeemer, won for His people to have His Word and to have His Spirit who inspired the Word to open our eyes that we might understand it, to put it in our inward parts, not just in one ear and out the other, but to put it in our hearts, to write it on our hearts and in our minds.

[45:49] We're saved by this Word. We're sanctified by this Word. We're rebuked by it. We're corrected by it. We're trained in righteousness by it. We're equipped by it for every good work. It's a Word that is at work in those who believe.

[46:03] Why do we have it? Because of God's faithfulness to His Son. I am going to take the Word and Spirit that is the Spirit on you and the Word in your mouth, and I'm going to keep it forever with your people.

[46:18] You know, there was a time when the powers that be didn't want the Word of God in the language of the people. It seemed to be a threat to the promise. And God raised up a John Wycliffe to translate the Bible into English.

[46:37] The poor, simple people, uneducated people, people, some who could barely read, might be able to have the Word of God not depart from their mouths.

[46:51] Wycliffe said, I will make the Scriptures so known that the plowboy will know as much as the scholar.

[47:03] Yes, God promised that we would have the Word. Oh, is it not a blessing when truth is fallen in the streets? Truth is gone in the public places.

[47:14] If it ever should get that bad as it was in Israel, no truth, no justice, there will always be the Word from Heaven in the mouth of the people of Christ.

[47:27] And the Spirit of God that rested on Christ upon the people that the Word might profit us and do us good. Oh, let's delight in a Redeemer that's come to save us and to bless us.

[47:45] Have you come to see it's your fault, my friend? Your sin, the mess you're in, the consequences of sin? Don't cast the blame. Take it on yourself.

[47:55] And then take that sin to Jesus and say, Oh, Jesus, forgive me. Father, look on Him and pardon me. Punish Him and receive me.

[48:07] Look at Calvary and trust your soul into the hands of that Jesus and He will save you and He'll put His Spirit in you and His Word in your mouth and transform your life forever.

[48:21] Let's pray. thank you, Father, for the bad news and thank you for the good news. Thank you for not sparing us of one and not withholding the other.

[48:36] Thank you that when you saw us without any help or hope, lost in sin, separated from you, that you didn't turn your head and walk away, that you were appalled that there was none to help, so you yourself came in the person of Jesus Christ and saved all your people, all who will repent and believe on Him.

[49:01] Oh, stir our hearts to gratitude at all that is ours in Christ, make sin to be exceedingly sinful in our eyes, that we will flee from it and flee to you and walk in your ways and know the blessedness of being the people of God with the spirit and the word forever.

[49:18]  Thank you, Lord Jesus. We pray in your name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.