Sermon #60 Series: Isaiah

Title: Six Provisions Of Grace

Text: Isaiah 25:6-8

Subject: Isaiah’s Prophecy Of Christ’s Accomplishments

Date: Tuesday Evening - October 30, 1990

Tape #

Introduction:

Without question, our text is a prophecy of the salvation and grace accomplished for us and bestowed upon us by the Lord Jesus Christ. Here Isaiah, by the Spirit of inspiration, declares the grace of the gospel and the everlasting glory of God’s saints in heaven, which is the crown and consummation of grace.

Proposition: In preaching the gospel of Christ we proclaim to needy sinners the accomplishments and provisions of grace for the everlasting consolation of God’s elect (Isa. 40:1-2).

Keep your Bible open and follow along as I show you Six Provisions Of Grace proclaimed in this prophetic passage.

Divisions:

1. A Feast Prepared (v. 6).

2. A Veil Removed (v. 7).

3. An Enemy Abolished (v. 8).

4. A Consolation Administered (v. 8).

5. A Reproach Removed (v. 8).

6. An Assurance Given (v. 8).

I. In verse 6 Isaiah speaks of the coming of Christ and the accomplishment of redemption by him and tells us that in that time there shall be A FEAST PREPARED.

“In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.”

A. The gospel of Christ is compared to a great feast (Matt. 22:1-14).

The preaching of the gospel is the spreading of a rich, well supplied banquet table before hungry sinners.

1. It is a feast prepared by God himself.

2. The guests invited to this feast are “all people,” Jews and Gentiles. “As many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.”

3. The place where the feast is spread is “this mountain,” Mt. Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the church of the living God, the house of God.

4. The feast is provided with the richest, choice “fat things and wines well-refined.”

Note: Under the law the Jews were not allowed to eat fat. So this text must have its accomplishment in this gospel age.

a. The gospel is a feast of fat things and full of marrow.

That means there is such an abundance of grace in the gospel of Christ that whatever your soul needs you can find in him. And to feast upon the gospel is to feast upon nourishment that will satisfy the needs of your heart - (Ps. 36:7-9; 63:5-6).

· His Righteousness.

· His Redemption.

c. And the gospel feast is well supplied with wine, well-refined.

Wine is a cordial for those who need it, that they may drink and forget their misery (Pro. 31:6-7). And the gospel of Christ is for heavy hearted sinners, that we may drink and be of good cheer, knowing that their sins are forgiven.

Note: That person who is intoxicated with the wine of the grape is cursed in his drunkenness. But he who is intoxicated with the wine of forgiveness, he is blessed above all men!

Illus: David Dancing before the Ark.

d. The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic feast of fat things and of wines well-refined (I Cor. 5:7-8).

B. Our text seems to have reference also to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:1, 2, 8, 9).

In the last day, when Babylon, the beast and the false prophet have all been cast into hell, when all God’s elect have been saved, when God makes all things new, there will be a marriage feast held, in which Christ will show to wandering worlds the glory of his grace in his Bride, the Church.

C. Ultimately, this is a prophecy of the everlasting happiness of God’s saints in heaven.

There we shall drink of the river of the water of life freely and eat of the fruit of the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations (Rev. 21;6; 22:1, 2, 16, 17).

All things are ready! Come to the feast!

II. Secondly, Isaiah tells us of A VEIL REMOVED (v. 7).

“And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations.”

There is a covering of darkness and ignorance cast over the people and nations of the world. The hearts and minds of men and women have been blind-folded and hood-winked by their own unbelief and by the delusions of false religion (II Cor. 3:15; Eph. 4:18).

· Mahamet and the Koran.

· Paganism and Idolatry.

· The Pope and Romanism.

· Liberalism and the Social Gospel.

· Free-willism and Legalism.

“But this veil the Lord will destroy, by the light of his gospel shining in the world, and the power of his Spirit opening men’s eyes to receive it” - (Matthew Henry) - (See Isa. 60:1-3).

A. The means God uses to remove spiritual ignorance from men is the preaching of the gospel -

· Light depels darkness!

B. The place from whence the light of the gospel shines into the world is “this mountain,” the church of God.

C. As we proclaim the gospel to men God raises men and women to spiritual life who have long been dead in trespasses and sins - (Ezek. 37).

Note: God still adds to his church daily such as should be saved - And the means by which he does so is the gospel. Let us ever be found faithful in preaching it.

III. Thirdly, the prophet of God here tells us of AN ENEMY ABOLISHED (v. 8).

“He (the Lord Jesus Christ) will swallow up death in victory.” Death is the most dreaded and feared of all enemies. But Christ came to deliver his elect from the fear of death. He has delivered us from spiritual death and from eternal death. And in so doing he has delivered us from the fear of death (Heb. 2:14-15).

A. Christ Jesus swallowed up death in his death as our Substitute and triumphed over it in his resurrection.

B. Because Christ died for us, God’s elect are out of the reach of death.

· Believers never die (John 11:25-26).

C. By faith in Christ believers triumph over death, crying, “O death, where is thy sting?”

1. “The sting of death is sin” - But Christ has put away our sin!

2. “The strength of sin is the law” - But Christ has satisfied the law!

3. There is nothing in death for the believer to fear.

· Our sins are gone.

· We are righteous.

· God is satisfied.

· Death to the body is life begun for the soul.

IV. Fourthly, our text gives prophecy of A COMFORT ADMINISTERED (v. 8).

“And the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces.” God will not wipe away the tears of all men. But he will wipe away the tears of all believers in the last day - (Rev. 7:17; 21:4).

The picture is that of a tender parent. Like a mother, or father, might take a handkercheif and wipe away the tears of a child who has been crying, quieten and comfort him, so the Lord God will quieten and comfort his children in heaven, wiping away all tears from our eyes forever!

A. There are many things here that cause God’s saints to weep.

1. Our afflictions.

2. Our unbelief.

3. Our sins.

4. Our relations.

B. But weeping will be forever banished in heaven’s glory!

There will be no sorrow, no pain, no grief and no weeping in heaven forever - Heaven is not a place of loss, but of gain, infinite, immeasurable gain!

Note: No loss of reward or degrees of glory!

Note: The hope of that day when God shall wipe away all

tears from our eyes should keep us from excessive weeping now. We must not sorrow as those who have no hope.

V. Fifthly, in addition to all these great provisions of grace, Isaiah here tells us of A REPROACH REMOVED (v. 8).

“And the rebuke (reproach) of his people shall he take away from off all the earth.”

In this world reproach is constantly cast upon God’s saints.

· By the world.

· By satan.

· By our own consciences.

· Sometimes by our own brethren and friends.

But, blessed be God, in that great day when God makes all things new the reproach that has been cast upon God’s elect shall be publicly taken away forever.

A. The Lord God will show forth in us the exceeding riches of his grace - (Eph. 2:7).

B. The righteousness of the saints shall be revealed to all the world (Rev. 19:8).

· Imputed Righteousness.

· Imparted Righteousness.

C. No fault shall be found against us, or in us, when we have been raised in the likeness of Christ (Jer. 50:20; Eph. 5:25-27; Jude 24:25).

Let us patiently bear whatever sorrow and shame now that God in his providence allows men to cast upon us, for soon both shall be ended. And the glory of God shall be revealed in us.

VI. There is one last thing in our text, which is the crowning provision of grace. Here is AN ASSURANCE GIVEN (v. 8).

“For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it!” We are assured of these rich provisions of grace because God himself has spoken it. And he will do it - (Isa. 14:24, 26, 27).

Application: “O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.”