Isaiah

[0:00] Seeking the Lord's help, I direct your attention this evening to the first clause of the twenty-fifth fourth verse of the forty-fifth of Isaiah. The forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah and the first clause of verse twenty-four, Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. The whole verse reads, Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall men come, that all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. These are the Lord's words regarding his people and we see in them his divine will and purposes regarding the gathering of the whole election of grace. And in them we see equally this his intention that they shall know him in his finished work in their hearts.

[1:27] That he will bring them into a knowledge of himself and all that he has wrought out for them in all that he is to them. He will so teach them and deal with them that they will be partakers of those benefits which it is his divine will and purpose that they shall enter into.

[2:01] And when the Lord speaks there is a certainty about his work. And we see in our text here this evening that there is no uncertainty in the finished work of Christ regarding his dear church.

[2:25] He intends. He intends. And it stands so beautifully, clearly in this opening word of our text, surely.

[2:39] There is no resisting his will. There is no And he has sent forth his Holy Spirit into the churches and we see the blessed work of the blessed work of the Trinity that lies in this word, surely.

[3:18] See, we see here that eternal covenant ordered in all things and sure. We see the sending forth by God the Father of his Son into the world to die for his dear church.

[3:34] We see their sins put away as he bore them vicariously on the cross at Calvary.

[3:47] And we see here the Holy Spirit going forth, the certainty of it. The Holy Spirit coming forth into the churches in all generations to work out that glorious work of Christ upon the cross at Calvary and to bring poor sinners out of nature's darkness into his marvelous light to feel their need of Christ and to know him to enter into what is spoken of here his righteousness and his strength.

[4:23] And I see a great beauty in this word, surely. Oh, dear friend, if this doctrine that lies here at the root of this world had never been in the churches, where was any hope for any poor sinner?

[4:42] Beautifully spoken of in the scripture, they shall come from the north and the south and the east and the west. You read that they came to him from every quarter.

[4:59] Some under the certainty of this word came as Lydia brought out quietly the same almighty grace, the same regenerating grace was necessary in her case as it was in Samson's.

[5:17] But we see great sinners, greatly loved, brought in some of the greatest rebels, strikingly brought down under the absolute certainty of this mighty work of God in salvation, that they shall come and every knee shall bow of his dear left remnant.

[5:37] Every knee will bow and bow willingly. Bow because of that mighty work of God that they are brought out of darkness into the glorious liberty of the children of God and they are brought to understand their own condition and their need of Christ and they are brought to his footstool of mercy there to plead for mercy, humbly plead.

[6:05] We see it in the case of the two thieves on the cross, how remarkably different was that work. One was left and one was gathered and oh the power, the glorious power that gathered one.

[6:28] Bishop Ryle says of those two thieves, one was left, none might presume, one was saved, that none might despair.

[6:44] Despair of hope in the dying hour to plead for mercy. Oh here we see then the sacred will of God and the nature of that prayer that followed the Last Supper.

[7:06] Those lovely verse chapters in the 13th and 14th, 15th, 16th of the Gospel of John, the Lord taught his disciples concluding as he did with that prayer at that Last Supper before he went into Gethsemane's Garden.

[7:23] The Lord Jesus in that prayer at that Last Supper ended with these words, Father I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am and oh how we see the nature of that will, I will that those whom thou hast given me, they never ever deserved anything, they were no different to anyone else, they were under the solemn curse and condemnation of God's holy law, they were born in sin as the whole world and shapened in iniquity and yet there was purpose of love and mercy towards them which lies in the centre of this word surely.

[8:21] And what lies here is their confession, surely shall one say. It tells us this, that they will be brought and must be brought into an experimental religion.

[8:45] That is a knowledge of the Lord Jesus himself. They must be brought into an experimental religion as the Lord taught his disciples, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.

[9:03] They must be brought to hear what we read of in the 8th of Romans whom he did predestinate, them he also called. Oh there is a glorious certainty that they will be able to speak of what John in his letter to his general epistle so beautifully speaks of.

[9:31] Surely shall one say, what will they say? that which was from the beginning which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of God, that which we have, that life was manifested, we have seen it, and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father.

[9:56] What is this? Was manifested unto us. Manifested unto us. Surely shall one say, there are going to be a people who can speak for what they have handled of the good word of life.

[10:19] The word was made flesh, said John, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

[10:29] O, surely shall one say, that they will be the subjects of revelation, powerful revelation in their hearts.

[10:44] They will be the subjects of those who have heard the voice of God, that still small voice which Elijah knew, beautifully spoken of in the day of Elijah, when he saw the majesty of God, the Lord passed by, and he saw the glorious power of God in the wind, and the earthquake, and the fire.

[11:18] But the Lord was not in the wind, and he was not in the earthquake, and he was not in the fire. and then the servant of God would be able to speak as he was, for what it was to hear the voice of his God in his own heart, in his deepest valley, speaking to him with almighty power, distinctly, and clearly, and he knew the still, small voice of his God.

[11:56] Oh, how he knew the savour, and the power, and the blessedness, and the sweetness of it, beautifully described as the still, small voice of God.

[12:10] And so it is, I believe, with his dear church, short as you'll once say, they will be, able to speak of those things that they have handled of the good word of life, that which has been revealed to them.

[12:33] And the Lord asked his servant Peter for his confession, whom say, men that I am. And he said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

[12:45] The Lord responded with those words. The flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you, but my Father, which is in heaven. And this lies at the root of this word, surely shall one say.

[13:01] Oh, it is that truth has been blessedly revealed in all its power and life in the heart. There has been a knowledge of its unction and savour and sweetness, its preciousness.

[13:17] Written indelibly there, never to be erased, spoken by the Spirit into the soul in that still small voice of God. Oh, how God's dear living family have a Bible that contains for them those scriptures which are theirs and theirs alone, which the Lord has used in life's journey to speak to them and to reveal himself in their hearts and give them a precious hope.

[13:47] And these are the spots and places where they have communed with their Lord and where he has spoken his precious word, sometimes of promise, sometimes of admonition, sometimes of comfort, but they have known in every visit to their soul the same unction and power and savour and sweetness and life such that these precious spots are never to be forgotten.

[14:11] not only the word spoken but the place and the time, the hour when the Lord has drawn near to their soul. And solemn is the religion that knows not and cannot speak.

[14:25] But here is a word of God regarding his dear church and his dear people in all generations that their lips are going to be opened.

[14:37] The tongue says God's holy word, the stammerer shall speak. It is a solemn hallmark of the day in which we live that there is a very considerable amount of religion talked about.

[14:53] But always we move among the churches there is much to which we feel no echo in our own soul at all. It has a hollow ring about it.

[15:08] an element of sentimentality about it. There is religious talk. Scripture is quoted. But oh what a difference there is when we look back over the years to some of the godly we have known in the way and the dear mothers in Israel who spoke of the things they had handled.

[15:33] The precious times under the ministry of his holy word. Sweet application of the word of truth in their hearts and the savour of it. There has been an echo and there is still with some when heart answereth to heart.

[15:54] And there is a beauty in that word in the opening chapter of John's general epistle. Truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ.

[16:08] There is a little sweet fellowship one with the other. And oh how when the lord brings his dear children into deep waters the tongue of the stammerer shall speak.

[16:23] There comes the right day and the right moment and the right time when the tongue of the stammerer does speak. And oh how solemn it is. To see efforts made to get the stammerer to speak before his time.

[16:39] Than to move and to try building up the churches with our own workmanship. It is only God's workmanship and it's this first the blade and then the ear and then the full corn shall appear.

[16:54] And it's when there is a work of the spirit that this hour and moment comes when all that has gone on as it were previously out of sight hidden is brought forth and the tongue of the stammerer speaks.

[17:16] And there is given grace to quietly speak of those things that are known that have been handled that have been revealed.

[17:27] Oh how good it is. and then that has an altogether different ring, an entirely different ring, too much religious talk. And there is something of a sweet savour about it.

[17:44] Surely shall one say, well there lies in this a moment, a time, ordered of God. and it's a blessed work which is his word.

[18:02] We sow, we water, but God gives the increase. He brings to this moment that is spoken of here and perhaps you can look back in your life to see the truth of this.

[18:19] that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.

[18:30] And this is one of the steps. Surely shall one say. There comes a day when the exercise is brought to rightness, to a fulfilment in God's time and there is an opening of the lips.

[18:49] And here is a leading into the paths of obedience. And there is a blessed confession that is spoken of here in this text.

[19:02] When the tongue of the dharmor shall speak, lips of the stammerer shall be opened. And when the Lord's work is brought to the surface and it's seen and manifested.

[19:16] And how precious are these seasons in Zion. Or when we consider the blessed nature of the ordinances in our churches and the order, the Lord's order, when the tongue is open to speak in the church meeting, the members of the church, as they sit and listen, feel so far removed from those who have come to make a judgment.

[19:59] They have come to share in the savour and sweetness of the Lord's work. They have come to rejoice at the opening of the lips.

[20:13] They have come to listen. Oh, how good it is. When there is an echoing of heart to heart, when there is love and union, when there is a blessed understanding of this truth, surely shall one say.

[20:34] And what does the child of God in those precious circumstances confess? I always think when I am led to speak like this, our dear old deacon at Trowbridge who was deacon from the age of 84 to 90, dear old George Dole, godly man, brought up in the little chapel at the Harve and attended all his life except when he was a soldier in the First World War, never came forward until the Lord brought him.

[21:08] six years before he died. And then in the church meeting as the Lord's servant, Mr. Kinderman conducted that church meeting, asked to speak of those years.

[21:23] He was 83 when he came, 84, and he lived to be nearly 90. He was six years deacon at the last, the end of his life.

[21:34] Dear man of God, I can hear that church meeting now. it didn't take ten minutes. The old man opened with the words, I can't say much, but this I can say.

[21:45] All the authority and the savour of it, the sweetness of it, surely should one say. This I can say. And then he said this, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

[22:00] God I always remember when he went out after a very few minutes, and one would have expected over a long lifetime when he told us how he'd been called by grace in the first world war carrying a dying man into a hospital.

[22:17] Under a solemn realisation it could have been him, and he knew then he would have gone to hell. But all the sweetness of the opening of his lips at that great age, it was such a lesson to me.

[22:31] And he said to me afterwards, he said, John, I haven't walked in a day's disobedience, I came when the Lord commanded me. I always remember him, I said to my wife, I don't believe you'll ever come, and a fortnight later he came to me at the end of a service at the back of the chapel and said I must come, and I was stunned.

[22:55] Stunned, I couldn't believe it. 83, and he came, I must come. And when he went out to that church meeting, Mr. Kinderman looked at the members of the church and he said, what more do we need?

[23:10] Oh, the sweet savour of the beauty of these words, surely shall one say. He had something to speak of, which the Lord had revealed in his dear heart, simple, precious, real, it echoed in the hearts of his dear children as they listened.

[23:33] What was it? It's this that lies here in the Lord, have I righteousness and strength. Beautiful words.

[23:45] It is to be shorn of every other hope, hope. To enter into the beauty of that word, my hope is built on nothingness than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

[24:04] I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. And all there lies here, in this have I.

[24:16] I tell you the substance of this is that it has been given. It has been received.

[24:28] I spoke of it when preaching this week. the words of the apostle in his letter to the church at Rome in the fifth chapter where he says, by whom, that is, the spirit, we have now received the atonement.

[24:52] All to receive. Surely shall one say, in the Lord have I. he has received it.

[25:03] He has received the atonement. In the power and blessedness of it, he has known that reconciliation with his God.

[25:21] The separation lay as a responsibility of Adam. it originated with man.

[25:38] But all the reconciliation originated with God. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

[25:50] It originated with God. God so that God so when the church speaks here as she does, surely shall one say, in the Lord have I.

[26:02] It is given to her. That blessed healing balm Gilead, that rich atoning blood is applied in her heart and that precious robe of righteousness put about her soul.

[26:22] It is all given and it's given for eternity, never to be taken away again. blessed mercy when we are brought to this place to be able to utter this glorious confession before God.

[26:48] Think of Thomas when he said to Christ my Lord and my God. He made a mighty claim and I would mark this as God accepted it.

[27:10] Peter did the same when he said Lord thou knowest that I love thee. He made a mighty claim. But oh hear the confession.

[27:23] The words of the confession are these in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. The Lord intends that his dear people shall come to this confession.

[27:37] And I was going to say this in his sovereign grace he prepares them for him. He gives them all that is necessary to make this glorious confession.

[27:50] glory. It is exactly the same as the anthem that the redeemed sing in glory. They make this confession unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood.

[28:07] They speak of what has been done for them and what they have known here below. They have known the love of Christ here below of you.

[28:23] And they have known the efficacy of the blood of Christ here below of you. They are ready and prepared by God to sing that anthem in glory.

[28:38] But long before they sing that anthem in glory the Lord brings forth from their hearts here in this world this glorious confession. And oh it is not just that they have righteousness and strength they understand the root of it in the Lord.

[29:05] Spoken of in the epistle in these words Christ in you the hope of glory. Oh they see that the righteousness and strength which they possess and which has been given to them is in the Lord.

[29:25] It is not theirs. but it is given them by gift and it is theirs in the precious possession of the gift the gift of righteousness spoken of in the scripture.

[29:47] And it is vital and essential if ever they have reached glory that they have the gift of righteousness and the strength of their God as they pass out of time into a never ending eternity and they know the mighty strength of their God in this that he has removed for them the curse and condemnation of his holy law and that they can stand in the strength of a holy sacred innocence in his pardoning redeeming love and blood before the father in heaven surely shall one say in the Lord the hymn writer says united to Jesus the vine I have life health and righteousness too this he will teach me in time without him

[30:54] I nothing can do when the church is brought into the sweet possession of that glorious righteousness she stands in his strength that is her strength that she is delivered as the scriptures say sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the law but under grace in possession of his strength and his righteousness and here is the church prepared and ready to enter into the valley of the shadow of death and to enter into the presence of her God then the prophet goes on to speak in that last verse of the chapter in the

[32:02] Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory made just in the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ as by faith in the sweet exercise of it she enters into that glorious truth he that hath the son hath life that is eternal life and he that hath not the son hath not life this lovely hymn sweetly blessed to me many years ago I believe by James Montgomery but I never forget the sweetness of the application of it faith in the only sacrifice that did for sin atoned to cast our eyes to fix our hopes on Christ on Christ alone surely shall one say in the

[33:09] Lord have I righteousness and strength it is God's divine purpose that his dear church shall be so favoured and blessed and taught of him that one day in his ordered time and way there will come forth from her lips that blessed confession in the Lord have I righteousness and strength the Lord's prayer in that 17th of John was so beautiful that they all may be one he said even as we are one I in them and thou in me that they may be one in us blessed union it's the substance of our text here in the Lord this is the confession of his dear people they speak with a beautiful liberty and freedom tongue of the stammer is brought to speak out of the depths of the knowledge of these sacred things revealed in the heart and they speak with a blessed confidence we spoke recently from that text the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever lovely word the work of righteousness shall be peace that is no more conflict between God and his dear church peace the curse removed

[35:12] God's anger gone his son the propitiation for our sins he the great wrath remover the sword having awoke against the shepherd not against the church there is peace the work of righteousness shall be peace oh how that word is fulfilled on earth peace that is reconciliation and the atonement and the effect the effect in the hearts of his dear church is quietness and assurance forever oh there is an inward knowledge of that peace in the hearts of his dear people they walk in the sweet quietness of it surely shall one say in the Lord have I righteousness and strength even to him shall men come and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed how the apostle was brought incensed against his

[36:31] God and raged against him and all have we known in our own life to be incensed against his dealings with us will be brought to be ashamed to bow before him in sorrow and mourning of heart and to be still in his dear hands and to enter into the beauty of that lovely word to Jeremiah blessed no longer ashamed blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is to be brought away from this world that lies in wickedness and called and called by grace divine surely shall one say in the Lord have I righteousness and strength amen you you