Isaiah

[0:00] Seeking the Lord's help, I direct your attention this evening to the prophecy of Isaiah, reading from the 54th chapter and the 10th verse.

[0:12] Prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 54 and verse 10. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed. For my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.

[0:31] For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed. For my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.

[0:50] These words here of the Lord to his people speak solemnly of an end of all things, the end of time.

[1:09] They speak to us of eternity, the end of all things here below.

[1:23] They are solemn words, the words of prophecy. These time things will vanish away.

[1:38] Two ways, they will vanish away. Vanish away in the purposes of God, in the great morning of the resurrection, when this earth departs on fire.

[1:52] But, from another point of view, they will vanish away. In our dying earth. We shall leave this world behind us.

[2:09] Man lives to dream. He lives to think that these things will not happen.

[2:25] Yet he knows that death must come to every one of us. And that there must be an end.

[2:37] The solemn end that we live with in this 20th century is the crematorium. Where the body is burnt.

[2:52] And the ashes are scattered. And the view that lies behind that is that it's the end of everything. Body and soul.

[3:03] I'm sure that's the underlying philosophy in this dreadful age. But, we know it is not so.

[3:15] God's dear people, as taught by his spirit, are first brought into a sight of this end, that must come to each one of them.

[3:27] And, a solemn knowledge that, in that day, they will stand before the king of the whole earth. The judge of the whole earth.

[3:39] And when the Lord, so opens the eyes of his dear children, by his spirit, and leads them into this solemn truth, and brings them to know that, when they come to the judgment bar of God, they will face condemnation for a life of sin.

[4:03] When they know the majesty and holiness of God, they will have a sight of their sinfulness, their fallen condition.

[4:15] And they will know that to stand before God in that condition will be damnation, eternal darkness. And it's one of the things that are so lacking in the church of God today, in the preaching of his holy word, conviction.

[4:35] The Lord has solemn ways of bringing us to realise our aim. And to face it. And he brings us down to the very gates of death.

[4:51] He brings us down on his own purposes. He works in our lives, in sovereign grace. Not powers we would choose.

[5:03] Not weakness we would ever want to enter into. But he works to bring us to prayer. And to show us the truth that we read of in the 90th Psalm, All flesh is grass.

[5:20] All the goodliness thereof is the flower of grass. The grass withereth. And the flower thereof fades away. The word of our God shall stand forever.

[5:32] You know, I've been in the mountains in recent weeks in the Lake District. They are impressive. They will vanish away.

[5:48] The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed. Oh how it speaks to us of this solemn end and also of a mighty God.

[6:00] He that created this earth. The earth was without form and void. Darkness was upon the face of the deep. The Lord said that there be light and there was light.

[6:12] He who has formed this earth. And we see the wonders of it. I watched in the Lake District the streams running down the mountain sides constantly flowing.

[6:27] Rivers rushing down in the relationship to the rain greater the fall greater the rivers. We take all these things so for granted.

[6:40] Yet to see the mighty hand of God lifts those that rain from the sea separates the salt from it and lands it in pure water in the hills so that the land is irrigated.

[6:58] I've seen more in the last years of my life of the wonder working hand of God in creation. The beauty of his creation.

[7:12] The glories of that blessed were. But I believe it's top lady says one strange work exceeds them all.

[7:23] A work which is hidden from the eyes of the wise and prudent and revealed to buy. And it's simply put in this lovely text my kindness shall not depart from thee.

[7:40] I want to come to look at it. And I believe this is the experience of every heaven taught sinner. It's this. Why me? There's any realisation of his love, any realisation of his kindness, any hope in him.

[7:59] Any realisation of a hand put forth to save. I'll give you an example of it. Dear Jacob, as he came to Bethel, he led an ungodly life, deception, the supplanter, the deceiver, and the end of it all was, he was exiled, and to flee his home, leave everything behind, and he went out with nothing but condemnation.

[8:28] He knew he was the originator of all his distress, laid his head on that stone at Bethel. That's kindness.

[8:41] It's God to stoop down, to look at a wretched sinner who deserved not the least of his mercies, and Jacob could well have said, why me? Why me?

[8:53] And when we look at the end of the journey for him, he passed through sad scenes, but when he came to the end, and blessed Ephraim and Nasser, he looked back over the wire and the Lord's kindness, and he said this, the Lord that led me, the Lord that fed me, the Lord that redeemed me from all evil, bless the land.

[9:18] It was sweet to him. He desired the same God in all his kindness would be the same kind God to Ephraim and Nasser.

[9:33] that they might know a hand as he knew it at Bethel and know a precious promise. For the Lord spoke into his heart at Bethel, I'll be with thee.

[9:48] Beautiful word. I'll leave thee until I brought thee again to this place. When the Lord did bring him home from his exile and brought him to the promised land, Esau came to meet him, that beautiful scene at Peniel on his knees as he wrestled with his God, oh the kindness of his God that had followed his footsteps all that journey and now as he faced what appeared to be death and eternity, he wrestled in a way he'd never wrestled before.

[10:33] Lord ordains the footsteps of his dear people and so works in their lives that he brings them to places where their need is so great that they enter into the scripture prayer and supplication and supplication is a wrestling with God, it is, a blessed place to come to for there is there such sacred communion.

[11:10] The bride of Christ in the book of the revolution, in the book, in the song of Solomon, she desired the presence of the bridegroom, oh how she longed for it and she wrestled, she searched until she found him.

[11:31] And you know, as we look at this word, it speaks of everything we've owned in this world, we've possessed, we've had health, strength, wealth, whatever we have possessed, an end.

[11:49] There is an end, everything will depart. God, and yet, the sweetness of this truth, my kindness, shall not depart from thee.

[12:01] The everlasting arms of God, I feel like this, when Moses was laid in the ark of the bulrushes, the arms of his God were abated, they were underneath, when he came to die, those same arms were underneath, those arms followed him all the days of his life, his God ordained that he spend the first 40 years of his life in the court of Pharaoh, and yet, so beautifully we have it in the epistle of Paul to the Hebrews, choosing rather to suffer affliction for the people of God, than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, what a sight we have of the ordaining purpose of God, my kindness, as the Lord watched over him in the crocodile infested gnarly in his youth, so he watched over him in the court of

[13:04] Pharaoh, then watched over him in the back side of the desert, supplying all he needed, and then met him at the burning bush, what a sight we have, my kindness, and you know in that hour we read the Lord was angry with him, he was so well prepared for his life's work from the age of 80 to 120, God had ordained every footstep for him, yet he couldn't see it, he argued with his God, and the Lord was wroth with him, and yet kindness, he did not cast him away, he didn't cast him away, he brought him to obey him, and to go to Pharaoh, always been struck that Moses offered us, that he offered an excuse, that he was slow of speech, I've always thought that he could have said,

[14:04] I'm 80, he didn't, but all I see here, is the kindness of his God to him, even though he could not trust him, could not rest in him, oh the blessed nature of being brought to face in Christ, the human heart, the carnality of the human heart is full of fear and unbelief, as Moses walked, and yet there was a work of grace in his soul, and the Lord loved him, just as he did Jacob, Jacob came to a solemn place when the Lord was working, when he said all these things are against me, he read it entirely wrong, the kindness of

[15:06] God, he couldn't see, and when the wagons did come up from Egypt, we hear from Jacob's lips, that lovely word, it's in there, I'm silent, I can see it now, and Joseph was the same, he couldn't see it, yet the kindness of God was strangely manifested in the ordaining of his footsteps for 20 years, in the age of 17 to 37, and it was prison, exile, banishment, loneliness, and those 20 years, he came to say at the very end of his days, it wasn't you, it was the Lord, had a sight of him, a sacred sight of him, the kindness of his God, steps ordained, a watchful God over him, caring for him, there is going to be breakup, all that is in our lives solid, but there's one thing that will not break, the kindness of our

[16:18] God, the Lord gave to Jeremiah a promise, a blessed promise, yeah, he said, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, love, and therefore, in loving kindness, have I drawn thee, beautiful putting together of words and truths, everlasting love, that's kindness, unalterable, unchangeable, though we believe not, says the scripture, he abides faithful, he cannot deny himself, love, and the bitterest cups of God's dear children, the bitterest sorrows, are in the Lord's hands, his kindness, oh, how he would bring his dear people down, in powers that they would never choose to be still in his hands and bow under them, and have a solemn, sacred sight of what it is to have fellowship with him, who was despised and rejected of men.

[17:31] The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee.

[17:46] And here lies that blessed doctrine of God's everlasting loving kindness to his dear people.

[17:58] He told Jeremiah, before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee, and ordained thee a prophet. And that is true for every one of his dear children.

[18:12] They're known in eternity past. Christ knew for whom he died on Calvary's cross. He shall see, we have read this night, of the travel of his soul and shall be satisfied.

[18:30] His dear church have ever been in his heart and he came here with that one purpose to redeem them. Do you think that when he has accomplished that blessed and glorious work, he will not reveal it to each of his dear children in their hearts?

[18:55] Has he accomplished that work on the cross? The dying thief who had just prior to that thrown it in his teeth? Thou that saveest thou that save thyself was to be a subject of his kindness.

[19:11] When he asked for mercy, the Lord did not throw it back in his teeth, that he had just mocked his redeemer.

[19:24] Oh, how that mercy, everlasting loving kindness, higher than the heavens.

[19:34] we see it. We cannot measure the kindness of God as he said to the dying thief, today thou shall be with me in paradise.

[19:48] ever a man deserved the wrath and damnation of God that man did and yet that precious blood which flowed at Calvary's cross was for him.

[20:03] And in this simple word, he was entering eternity, he had come to his end, eternity stood before him. Just as with Samson, as he put his arms around the columns of the temple of Dagon, and it fell on him, and he died.

[20:23] So, we see him numbered amongst the Hebrew worthy kindness. And you know, there's something blessed about this. What Christ has said, says the hymn writer, must be fulfilled.

[20:38] On this firm rock believers build. The Lord speaks here to his church, in her forsaken condition, as she feels it to be, mourning and absent God.

[20:54] He speaks to her. Speaking of the solemn nature of eternity and the approach of death, and the finality of it, he speaks into her heart.

[21:11] He speaks so blessedly into her soul, the mountain shall depart and the hills be removed by it. There's something that stands out about that little word but.

[21:31] It speaks of one thing, it speaks of another. This but stands in the middle. One thing will happen and so will the other.

[21:47] And the Lord in this chapter in speaking to his church, he says this, in a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.

[22:05] This is as the waters of Noah unto me, as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn I would not be wrath with thee, nor rebuke thee.

[22:19] We see the substance of this kindness, that the Lord will not be wrath with his dear people nor rebuke them.

[22:35] And we see here why. Because he was wrath with one who stood to bear his wrath on behalf of his dear people.

[22:54] Oh the nature of that wrath. We read of it in the book of Revelation, the 19th chapter, I have trodden the wine press alone.

[23:13] The fierceness and wrath of Almighty God and Christ trodden alone. We read it here in this prophecy.

[23:28] Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel? I have trodden the wine press alone. And we see it here. Oh but.

[23:39] And in that but lies calvary. The very source and ground of that kindness. The holiness and majesty and glory and justice of God and all his glorious attributes wholly satisfied in the death of his dear son.

[24:00] And what a satisfaction that was. It was divinely wrought out. He shall see of the travel of his soul and be satisfied.

[24:14] The travel of his soul was bearing the wrath of his father on account of the sins of his whole church. It is not just that God in his loving kindness manifests it to his dear church.

[24:29] it is that he had to pass through Calvary's cross and die and rise again to manifest it.

[24:43] I've said this a lot lately that when he prayed at the last supper in the according to the 17th of John he said I will those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am.

[25:01] But for that to be fulfilled it was necessary that he should go to Calvary's cross that his dear church might be with him.

[25:18] God's majesty and holiness had to be satisfied. Without the shedding of blood is no remission. Sin had to be born in its guilt.

[25:29] wrath by a substitute. He was made sin for us says the scripture who knew no sin.

[25:45] And it speaks of this part my kindness. There is the source of that kindness.

[25:58] And we see it spoken of in the third of John. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

[26:13] There on Calvary's cross was the ultimate perfect manifestation of the kindness of God.

[26:24] He's sending his dear son to die for his dear church. And there was the kindness in the heart of Christ who set his face as a flint to go to Jerusalem and was willing to suffer for his dear church.

[26:43] when thou shalt make his soul says the prophet an offering for sin he shall see his seed.

[26:54] Beautiful word you know. Scripture is so sweetly simple. There the eternal son of God incarnate having taken into union with his glorious deity perfect body and a perfect soul.

[27:16] And he died as Banyan says in his holy war body for body and soul for soul to redeem his dear church. All the blessed nature then of the truth and they shall make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed.

[27:41] pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Judgment on the church of God is over for the wrath of God fell on his dear son and he shed his precious blood to cleanse them from all sin.

[28:02] And the psalmist David in the 51st psalm prayed Lord washed him with hyssop. He was speaking of the blood of Christ for it was the plant that was used to sprinkle the blood in the old economy.

[28:16] He was looking to that fountain opened on Calvary's cross. My kindness shall not depart from thee. And there is this other aspect and that's this.

[28:28] I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And that lovely final word of Christ it is finished.

[28:40] All this aspect that lies in our text in this shall. All the beauty of the truth that lies there.

[28:53] The certainty the finished work of Christ it is finished. It in that finished work his church was born up in his arms loved with an everlasting love to grace and glory he ordained and she will never be lost.

[29:20] I will for those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. And in praying that he went forward to fulfil it and fulfil it he did.

[29:30] then in his glorious resurrection and ascension to heaven we see the fulfilment of it. And now today even at this time he sits at his father's right hand making intercession for all who come to God by him.

[29:56] and he brings them by his spirit the holy spirit of truth sweetly into a knowledge of these blessed truths. He brings them into a knowledge of his precious blood to cleanse their conscience from all sin and to lead them into what the apostle Paul spoke of when he said there is now therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.

[30:23] In union says the hymn writer with the lamb from condemnation free the saints from everlasting were and shall forever be.

[30:36] In covenant from of all the sons of God they were. There is the foundation of the truth that lies here in this chapter.

[30:49] My kindness shall not depart from thee. neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed.

[31:05] Christ in his incarnation here below and in his work here below I have finished the work is the author of the peace of his dear people.

[31:27] There are two ways that that is so. One is here below where they have sweet foretaste of that peace as their God draws near to them and reveals Christ in their hearts and applies his precious blood to their souls.

[31:44] they have sweet moments under the preaching of the gospel when the word is made life and power to their souls. They have precious moments under the giving of the precious promises when they need them and they are spoken into their hearts with power and they are never taken from them.

[32:05] They have sweet moments sometimes in the singing of his praises when the truth is made sweet to their soul. but the Lord whatever way he works his presence felt and known in the hearts of his dear children is peace.

[32:29] And he said this when he came to die my peace. I love that word. The peace his dear children know is essentially the gift of God to them through Christ's finished work.

[32:47] It is the antithesis of condemnation. The peace that is spoken of is reconciliation. There was a covenant in eternity past between Father, Son and Holy Spirit and that covenant the whole purpose of it was to obtain peace.

[33:12] Reconciliation for his dear church. And the peace is essentially between the sinner and his God. And the great peacemaker is the eternal Son of God.

[33:26] He stands in the middle. The great advocate, intercessor, redeemer of his dear church. He brings them to peace with God.

[33:40] And he so works in their hearts and in their souls that he prepares them and leads them into a hunger and thirst and a desire for this sacred peace, this reconciliation.

[34:01] And it's on their knees, it's in the conviction of their souls in sin and the knowledge and sight of their own hearts.

[34:12] It is to come like Job came when the Lord so ordained his footsteps under the deep mysterious purposes which Satan never understood and yet the Lord was working them out for Job's good.

[34:34] And it was to bring him to this, behold I'm vile. Those two things go together beautifully in that book. I know that my Redeemer liveth and behold I'm vile.

[34:48] The vileness of his heart led him to desire his Redeemer. He knew the end, though worms destroy this body.

[35:01] He knew the truth of the maintenance shall depart and the hills be removed. But I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand in the latter day upon the earth and though after my flesh worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for myself and my eyes shall be opened.

[35:26] But how would he see him? Only through his Redeemer. His Redeemer's finished world, known and felt and experienced and revealed in his soul and applied to his heart with the power of the Holy Spirit, made ready to stand in the immediate presence of God, clothed in that spotless imputed righteousness, washed in the fainting of his precious blood and coming in the revelation of truth here, surely he has borne our griefs, that's the fruit of condemnation, and carried our sorrows, that is in repentance, godly sorrow, needneth not to be repented of, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken and smitten of God, ah he was, and then the prophet comes to this, but he was wounded for our transgressions, we did esteem him stricken, smitten of

[36:36] God and afflicted, yes, but why? Then the beauty of that truth, our transgression, oh to be brought into that blessed compass, to be able to utter that truth in that prophecy, he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised, for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace, that is, the chastisement which produced our peace, oh the blessed nature of that truth, there we see the solemn chastisement of Christ, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, as he endured, and gave up the ghost, and said regarding it, it is finished, it's done, his father was satisfied, and that tells us something of the awful nature of sin, the holiness of God, the majesty of God, that cannot look upon sin, and nothing that defiles will ever enter heaven, and we see here the vital, essential need of this peace in our souls here below, my peace

[38:06] I give unto you, my peace I leave with you, hymn writer speaks of it very blessedly, peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin, the blood of Jesus speak his, peace within, oh do you know it, what do you know of these truths, do you love them, is your heart drawn out to them, do you say with the hymn writer, a path I see, and I'll pursue the narrow way, till him I view, the covenant of my peace, that is the eternal covenant, in eternity past, in the solemn, sacred purposes, of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy God, the Lord determined that his dear son should go to

[39:11] Calvary's cross, he gave him, and the Lord, before he died, he said, I give you another comforter, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit takes of the things of Jesus, and reveals them in the hearts of sinners, and sinners know, their whole salvation rests upon the work of this eternal covenant, in the Trinity, in eternity past, here is the source of their salvation, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, and then this, saith the Lord, you know that has the hallmark of divine amen, it's signed, sealed, and settled, signed, in that shed blood of Christ, it's settled, once, in him, in him forever, thus, the eternal covenant stands, oh, when the

[40:34] Lord told Jeremiah, yea, I have loved thee, an everlasting love, and therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee, that dear man of God, had it sealed in his heart forever, it will never be removed, and I wonder tonight, as I look at you here, what has the Lord spoken to you, what precious promise has he given to you, you, what do you know, of the cleansing nature of his precious blood, what do you know of the sweetness of it, has he brought you to his footstool, under a solemn, divinely given realization of your sins, O wretched man, said the apostle, poor, long after he was called by grace, who shall deliver me from this body of death, I thank God, he knew it, through Jesus Christ my Lord, there his whole hope was, my hope is built on nothing less than

[41:37] Jesus' blood and righteousness, and that is a foundation, a rock, it's not the sinking sands of an empty profession of his name, it is something that will stand in that great day when the mountains depart and the hills be removed, when we come to our end, then, to have our feet standing upon that rock, he who lived and died and rose and ascended and ever lives to intercede at the right hand of his father, it is he who says and speaks so clearly come unto me, and he says again regarding his church entering heaven, go through, go through the gates, that covenant of peace will never be removed and never shall we value it more than in a dying hour, then, to know the peace of God, which passes all understanding, then, to have a peace which the Lord said, my peace,

[42:43] I give unto you, my peace I leave with you, that peace will gather you safely to the heavenly peace, to be with Christ, no conflict there, no sin, no sorrow, no death, in that last chapter of the book of the revelation, we see the glories of heaven spoken of so simply, there shall be no more curse, the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their forehead, and there shall be no night there, they need no candle nor light of the sun, the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever, and they will sing that lovely anthem given in the first chapter of the revelation, unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins, in his own blood, we must be brought into the blessed experience of these truths, to know here below,

[44:03] Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, have our eyes opened, our ears brought to the doorposts of his house, to be taught by his Spirit, and be brought to our knees, and to know him, whom to know is life eternal.

[44:25] Amen.