His Perfect Love

Guest (Male): Where do you turn for hope, and where's your trust? Think that over with us today on His Perfect Love as we make a return visit to Isaiah. Today we'll hear of a people group that turned to the world and see where that would get them. The world cannot deliver like the Lord can.

We'll also visit a passage that is quoted over 40 times in the Bible, even by Jesus himself. Turn with us to Isaiah chapter 52 as we turn things over to Pastor Matt VanderVen.

Matt VanderVen: Please look at chapter 52 of Isaiah where we begin in verse one. He says, "Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion," that's Jerusalem. "Put on your beautiful garments," in other words, put your best dress, your best clothes on. "O Jerusalem, the holy city, for the uncircumcised and the unclean," who do you think he's talking about there? He's talking about the Gentiles, right?

Get ready, you're going to be going home. He's basically saying, get ready, you're going to be going home there. "Shall no longer come to you. Shake yourself from the dust and arise, sit down, O Jerusalem. Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion." Can you imagine again verse two, they're reading this, they're not even in captivity yet.

There's 140 years before, at least 100 years before Nebuchadnezzar is even on the scene. And the prophet Isaiah is getting this. What do you mean? And the people, as Isaiah would have been faithful to read these things, "What do you mean, O captive daughter? We're not captive. What do you mean we're captive?" He's been warning them, hadn't he?

Turn from your wickedness, turn from your sin, especially the kings and the leaders in Judah. He was warning the leaders. Turn from your wicked ways. You're causing this nation to follow you and you're leading people into sin. Turn from your wicked ways, he's appealing. He's been saying that through the prophet Isaiah.

And now he's to the point of where he tells them, your captivity, and he says this is what's going to happen, but he's also telling them, I'm not going to leave you there. And I have to imagine that much at the time of later on Ezekiel, when they're in that captivity, and they're sitting in Babylon and it's been 50 years to go back over the words of Isaiah going, "Lord, you promised, you're not going to keep us here. You're going to free us, you're going to release us. We're going to have opportunity."

Can you imagine holding on into being in captivity and slavery that way? Taking these words were everything because you know your God is a promise keeper. And so good he is. For thus says the Lord, "You have sold yourselves for nothing and you shall be redeemed without money." Just think about that. He says you have given yourself over to sin and sold yourselves for nothing.

He says, "But I'm going to redeem you and I'm not even going to have to go and buy off Assyria, I'm not going to have to buy off Babylon, I'm not going to have to buy off the surrounding nations." He says, "I'm going to do it." And I just can't help thinking all of the suffering throughout human history and so much of it because humanity was unwilling just to turn to God and repent for their sin and say, "Lord, help, Lord, strengthen, Lord, encourage."

That's all he wants us to do. He really is a good father. He wants us to turn to him and even as such a good father he's telling them, "Look, you don't value yourselves. You sold yourself for nothing. You so devalued yourself as a human." He says, "But I put such a high price on you. You're my creation, you're my love. I want companionship with you."

He says, "I'm going to even show you, I'm going to call the ball so to speak, I'm going to redeem you and it's not going to cost a single dollar. I'm going to do it by the spoken word, by the spirit of the Lord." And it's amazing because isn't that exactly what happens when he moves upon the heart of Cyrus? Cyrus actually pays the children of Israel to go back and rebuild the temple.

It's remarkable. Can you imagine somebody predicting that? Nobody could have ever seen something like that happening. Look at verse four, "For thus says the Lord God, 'My people went down at first into Egypt to dwell there,'" remember Egypt's always a picture of the world, "'Then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.'"

Remember they were trying to partner with the Pharaoh in Egypt instead of coming to God and humbling themselves? They were trying to basically join their army and having Egypt's army come and help them against Assyria. So God's reminding them of where they're turning for their hope and their trust: the world.

"Now therefore, what have I here," says the Lord, "that my people are taken away for nothing?" Because that's exactly what happens when we go to the world. It does not deliver. It cannot deliver. And he says you end up being taken. "Those who rule over them make them wail," says the Lord. God says my people have sold themselves into slavery for so much.

He says I had a desire to bless you and prosper you. He says, "And my name is blasphemed continually every day. Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore they shall know in the day that I am he who speaks. Behold, it is I." What he's saying is, look, when you come back into the land, the remnant, you're going to realize that only God could have delivered you.

Nobody else could have delivered you. The world couldn't help you, Pharaoh in Egypt was defeated, he couldn't help you. Nebuchadnezzar wasn't going to release you. It took a Persian king that came in out of nowhere, the Medes and Persians, to basically come and in one night the entire Babylonian environment, their entire kingdom was brought to nothing.

And they were the world conquerors in one night. And God said it would be. He says you're going to know that no other human being could do that because it was impossible. So when it happens, I want you to remember it's Jehovah. It's God. It's Jehovah Jireh, right? Your provider, your redeemer. I want you to remember who it is, who you call upon.

Don't go back to the idols. Don't go back to the things of the world. "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace and who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'" So the Lord speaks to the children in captivity with such good news. He says, who proclaims salvation.

Verse eight, "Your watchmen shall lift up their voices. With their voices they shall sing together, for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord brings back Zion," when the Lord brings back Jerusalem. "Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.

The Lord has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all nations and the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." He says he makes bare. The idea here is much like I'm wearing a shirt, he takes up his sleeves. He says, "Look, nothing to see here." You ever seen an illusionist? One of the things they'll do when they're doing an illusion trick, because they don't want you to think there's sleight of hand or something like that.

What will they do? They'll take and they'll show you, "Look, I lay bare. There's nothing." You're going to know who's the one that redeemed you. How many times does God say is my hand slack? Remember he's used that in the New Testament. "Is my hand slack concerning you?" Absolutely not. He says no, it's going to be brought to bare and you're going to know and the entire earth shall see.

It's going to be a witness to everyone everywhere the salvation of our God. That Jesus Christ our God saves. Look at verse 11, "Depart, depart! Go out from there, touch no unclean thing!" This is very important. He's going to close this chapter with an exhortation and he's going to warn them very clearly, don't take anything from Babylon with you.

You're going to go back to Jerusalem, I'm bringing you back into the Holy Land, I'm bringing you into the land I had prepared for you, but I'm not looking for you to bring the world back to Jerusalem. I'm looking for you to separate from the world because you're a holy people, a set apart people. I'm not looking for you to bring back any of the treasures, any of the symbols, the things you use there.

He says, "No, no, you don't need those things." He says, "I'm going to give you everything you need and I'm going to bring you to Jerusalem and you have everything you need. Depart, depart! Go out from there, touch no unclean thing! Go out from the midst of her, be clean, you who bear the vessels of the Lord." You're the vessel of God. Be clean, Israel. Go out that way.

"For you shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight, for the Lord will go before you and the God of Israel will be your rear guard." He says it's not going to be like it was in the Exodus where you were running for your life as you were escaping slavery as Pharaoh and the Egyptians were chasing you and you remember the whole Red Sea and the parting of that.

He says it's not going to be like that again. Many times God doesn't do the same thing the same way twice. He has a new way or a different thing he'll do, but he's going to accomplish the same goal. He says no, it's not going to be with haste, you're not going to have to run by flight. He says the Lord's going to go before you and the God of Israel, he's going to be your rear guard.

What's so significant about your rear guard? Because when you are going to get attacked or when you think about it, who would typically be in the rear? When you would go in the times of ancient and you had a tribe or you had a group of people like Israel and they were traveling, the men would be up front. They would even send scouts up ahead of them.

Who do you think they put in the rear? Because at least then you'd have to go through all the men in front, the warriors and the army, those that could protect. And you had the most vulnerable, the young children, the ladies that were to be protected. And so also sometimes you would set a guard in the rears.

As a matter of fact, one of the places in the Old Testament that God so directly comes against one of the pagan nations was because they purposed that when they were crossing through and coming through the land, he says, "Let us have passage through." And they said, "No, you're going to have to go around." And then they went to the back, and forgive me, the nation's escaping me.

I can't remember if it's Edom right now, I can't remember exactly who it was, but they came around the rear and they attacked the flanks and attacked all of the children, the most vulnerable. And God says, "I will never forget that you did that and you will be punished for that because you attacked my most vulnerable, you attacked my children. You attacked my little ones, you attacked the widows, the women."

He says, "They're near and dear to my heart. They're near and dear to my heart." And so here he's saying that he himself, he is going to be the rear guard. He's not going to trust that to anyone else. He himself is going to be in that position to protect and guard that nobody will be able to ambush them or hurt them or harm them.

And that's so beautiful. Now, in this next section that we're going to go and actually really part of 52 as we're going to make our way into 53 here, it's striking. Out of your New Testament that we have, this passage, this area is quoted over 40 times. One of the most quoted sections of our Old Testament in the entire New Testament.

Well over 40 different times, 40 different places we're going to see this in part of chapter 52 and 53. Jesus himself, we see, will speak of some of these. Paul will talk about some of these things and he will go back and he will quote Isaiah in this next section here. And again, 740 years before Jesus was even on the earth.

And we're going to get such incredible detail about his coming and his death, burial, and resurrection. So just imagine 740 years before he was even in creation, had come into our timeline on this earth and been born to a virgin in a very humble way that was approachable by everyone. So look at verse 13 with me. It's just striking, amazing.

"Behold, my servant shall deal prudently." He shall be that idea is wise, wisdom. "He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Just as many were astonished at you, so his visage was marred," he's describing a scourging that would take place, "more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men." Now he gets even more specific here.

"So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at him, for what had not been told them they shall see and what they had not heard they shall consider." Now that word sprinkle, you might look at that. It's how many of you are familiar with the Septuagint, the entire Bible translated into the Greek?

This word sprinkle is the same interesting word we see in the Greek in Hebrews. Would you hold your finger here please and turn Hebrews chapter nine, verse 11 with me here this evening? Hebrews chapter nine, verse 11. It's remarkable in verse 13 the same Greek word and it's listed and identified in regards to Christ, in regards to the bulls, in regards to salvation and the offering of the sacrifice pointing to Christ's perfect sacrifice compared to the blood of bulls and goats that was not a perfect sacrifice under the law.

Striking that the very same word, same use, sprinkling. Just as we read in Isaiah, "So he shall sprinkle the many nations." Look at this with me. I'll just begin in verse 11 of chapter nine. "But Christ came as a high priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.

Not with the blood of goats or blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood he entered the most holy place once and for all." Please circle that or underline that in your Bible. Once and for all. There is no propitiation through transubstantiation or consubstantiation where Jesus Christ is being put back on the cross as taught by so many denominations.

Roman Catholicism, every time they retake of the sacrament, the Eucharist, it's written in the catechism, it's written literally in the language that says that he is re-once again becoming that propitiation on the cross. Is there any coincidence how many of you have seen a crucifix?

You know the difference in a term from a cross to a crucifix? It still has the body of Jesus Christ on the cross. Friends, Jesus isn't on the cross. And he's not in the tomb either. He ascended into heaven and he's reigning with his father and he's interceding for all of us here. This is significant.

Why do you think that that image of the crucifix and Jesus still on it? It's because it fits that doctrine, that false doctrine and that idea that the propitiation that every time during a communion when you take the body or the blood that that actually becomes the real living body and blood of Jesus Christ.

And what are they essentially saying? What is the Roman Catholic church teaching of that? That you are re-sacrificing Jesus as a propitiation over and over again and again and again. And yet my Bible, your Bible, and I'm showing this not because I'm trying to discredit anyone, that's simply what the Bible says compared to what a man's doctrine says.

And we just need to know the difference here. This is not to hurt anybody's feelings. But the Bible's very clear on this and Jesus is very clear on this. He went into the most holy place once and for all. Jesus is not on the cross. He accomplished everything. It is finished and he wants to make sure all of his children know that.

"Having attained the eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer," now look at this, here it is, underline it or circle it in your Bible, "sprinkling." There it is. Do you see that? The sprinkling of Christ compared to the sprinkling of bulls and goats. One appeases God, one never could appease God.

So he goes on to say, "Sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot," he was without sin, "to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" In other words, you are free from sin as Romans six tells us.

And for this reason he is the mediator. Not a man, not a pastor, not a priest. There's no box you need to walk into to confess your sin. You come directly to Jesus Christ. He is your mediator. He is the one that stands and when you're brought as the great accuser, the enemy, Satan himself, who goes to and fro still in heaven and says, "Have you seen Matt? What a bum this guy, what he's been doing, the things he thinks, the whole story."

And Jesus Christ stands up and says, "He's covered by the blood of the lamb. He's mine. He's blood-bought." And the God, the Heavenly Father, he says, "I find no sin. He is the righteousness of God." That's exactly what happens in the very courtroom of God because Jesus Christ's blood sprinkled, washed us, cleansed us of all unrighteousness.

Every one of us stands before God that's born again without sin. And it's only Jesus Christ and blood. And it's important that's why he's our mediator. We go to Jesus. We don't have to come and confess our sin to any. Now, certainly sometimes we do that, we go to a brother or sister, "Hey, I'm struggling with this. Can you help me with this?"

We have a grace and restoration ministry here for men and women. We have pastors that come and sit and pray with you and elders that do this and brothers and sisters. Of course we want to invest in each other and help each other through our sin. Of course we want to do those things. But none of us ever claim to be the mediator.

There is only one mediator, and that is Christ Jesus. And why? Because it's his covenant that was paid for and shed in his blood. Every time we have communion, don't we read those passages? He says my blood was shed for the remission of sin, for the covenant, the new covenant. It's solely based on his blood.

And he says here that the mediator of the new covenant by the means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, transgressions, remember means premeditated sin, that those who are called to receive the promise of what? The eternal inheritance. He didn't say a limited inheritance.

He didn't say for a little while. He didn't say till you blow it the next time. He said a what? Eternal inheritance. So if you've been washed by the blood of the lamb, are we going to blow it? Sure, we're going to blow it. Is that our goal? Absolutely not. We don't want to do that. Want nothing to do with that.

But when we do, we have a mediator, Christ Jesus, who continuously is cleansing us and washing us because it was done and paid once and for all. Isn't that the greatest news you could ever hear tonight?

Guest (Male): Good news indeed. And on that uplifting note, we'll draw today's His Perfect Love to a close. Pastor Matt VanderVen has been in Isaiah 52 today. You can hear the study from Pastor Matt VanderVen again when you visit hisperfectlove.org. Catch up on what you may have missed in Isaiah at hisperfectlove.org.

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