Let's pray together. Lord, as we turn to you, we thank you and praise you that you are a loving God who welcomes us into your presence. And as we come, we pray that we may come readily, willingly, and sincerely. We thank you that you provided the means whereby we can come. Through the Lord Jesus Christ, your beloved Son and our Saviour, who is forever the same. We thank you, Lord, that there is no change with you. You do not change like shifting shadows. We thank you that you are the same, yesterday, today, and forever. And thank you for this opportunity this evening of coming before you on this summer evening and focusing upon you, Lord God, and your word. and we pray that you would help us to do so. We confess to you we have wandering thoughts. We confess to you that we're so easily distracted. And we're doing something that is so unusual today, listening to a man speak from your word, the Bible, for half an hour or so, making demands upon us to listen, and to concentrate and to hear and to weigh up what we listen and to pray that as we listen, your Holy Spirit may do a searching, reviving work within our hearts. So we're asking, Lord, for you to come and help us this evening. We're doing something that the world can't understand. would be bemused by, would jocularly dismiss, and would mock and ridicule. But for those who love you, those who know you, saving me through Jesus, this is a most precious time, a most valuable time, because it's time when we worship you, our God, when we meet with you, when we engage with you in the word of God, the Bible, when we fellowship with one another, and we sense eternity beckoning, we sense your gospel taking hold of us and dealing with us in mercy. So we do pray for your help this evening, and we look to you for that. In Jesus' name, amen. We read from God's word this evening from the book of Isaiah, the prophecy of Isaiah. And it's chapter 61 and the whole of the chapter. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. And they shall rebuild the old ruins. They shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations. Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the foreigner shall be your ploughmen and your vinedressers, but you shall be named the priests of the Lord. They shall call you the servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory you shall boast. Instead of your shame, you shall have double honor. Instead of confusion, they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double. Everlasting joy shall be theirs. For I the Lord love justice. I hate robbery for burnt offering. I will direct their work in truth. and will make with them an everlasting covenant. Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles and their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the posterity whom the Lord has blessed. I will rejoice greatly in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God. For he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. and thank God for the reading of his word. And it will help me and help you if you have the Bible open at this passage. It will be very much to your aid if you followed me in the text this evening as I seek to expound this passage. It's a demanding passage in many ways, but a thrilling one. and a critical one in our understanding of the message of the Bible. And the message of the Bible, quite simply, is the gospel. And I make no apology to return to this theme again this evening. And the gospel is God's message of good news. to sinful men and women, boys and girls and young people. It is God's gospel. It's not our message, it's his. And he has revealed it to us in the scriptures, in the Bible. And let me put this to rest. The gospel's only mentioned in the New Testament. No, it's not. It's mentioned throughout the Bible, throughout the Bible. This is God's gospel. Romans 1 verse 1 says, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God. So it's his gospel. It centers, of course, in the Lord Jesus Christ, God's dear son. This is what we are told here again in Romans. Romans 1 verse 9. For God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son. So it's his gospel. And each church is a church only in so far that it remains focused and centred upon this message of God's good news. Once that message is forsaken, that church ceases to be a church. Now, I'm sad to say that the church in Scotland has suffered major setbacks. Church of Scotland has agreed in its assembly to same-sex marriage and it's by doing so sadly I have to say it is unchurched itself and this is really concerning. So each true church must be faithful to this message. Imagine the confusion that this message could be tampered with and altered, it would confuse everyone and be a terrible disservice to the world in which we live. And this was a danger that faced the church at Galatia. People there were turning aside from this gospel. Galatians 3.1, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? What are you doing? Tampering with this message of the good news of Jesus. So this must not be tampered with, it must not be confused. because lives are at stake. And all who receive this message of the good news of Jesus become members of God's church. What a wonderful privilege this is. So it's to the 61st chapter of Isaiah that we turn to this evening. And here is the subject. The transforming power of the gospel. the transforming power of the Gospel. It seems to me, the more I think about it and reflect on this, this particular chapter is a commentary on Romans 1 and verse 16. For I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. for the Jew first and also for the Greek. And as we shall see as we trace this passage through together of the transforming power of the gospel. It's an amazing passage, critical in our Lord's understanding and as he begins his ministry and quotes from this at length in Luke chapter four as we shall see. But I want to ask this question to you, have you received this message? And has it transformed you? Because this is what the purpose of the message of the Gospel is, to transform, to change. And the message of the Gospel says this, and the Bible says this, that all who respond to the Gospel are changed. So what of us who have claimed to respond to that gospel? Have we been changed? Have I been changed? What a great advert this is when the Lord, by his grace, changes us. Here is a politically incorrect passage to quote from, from the Bible. that should I read this in some parts of this country, I could well be accused of hate speech, as has happened. 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 9 and following. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed. You were sanctified. but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. There it is in the Bible. And we don't tippex that out. So let's trace through this wonderful passage from Isaiah 61. Here is the theme of the whole chapter, the transforming power of the gospel. have this under some headings, some four headings. Just to warn you in ahead of time, the first is at length inordinate as compared to the other three headings. So just to let you know in advance, never let it be said that I con the congregation and I tell them where we're heading. So the first heading is this. The means of transforming power, Messiah Jesus. The means of transforming power, Messiah Jesus. Who is speaking here in chapter 61 verse 1? It's Jesus speaking. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me. because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, an opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God. There's no doubt that these words refer to our Lord Jesus Christ. the servant of the Lord. How can we be so confident of that? Well, these words are quoted at length in Luke 4, when our Lord begins his ministry and he takes up This passage from Isaiah quotes the passage, and then he says this, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. That's what he said, and I believe that. Interestingly, if you compared this passage in Luke 4 closely to this passage in Isaiah 61, you'll see that there's a phrase missing. the phrase missing is in the let's have a look where that is the phrase we have found that is missing here is in verse 2 the second part of verse 2 and the day of vengeance of our God that paid that's expression is not found in Luke 4. Why is this? Well he came the first time to save sinners. He comes as saviour in the first instance. He does not come as judge. The second time he comes as judge and this phrase and the day of vengeance of our God refers I believe to our Lord's second coming. But it's omitted from Luke 4, the reason of course that he came to be the saviour of sinners. And John 3 and verse 17 mentions this specifically. And here is what we read. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but the world through him might be saved. The commissioning is by the father who has equipped his son, Messiah Jesus, to fulfil his task. And what are we told about this in verse 1? He has anointed me. It's the father who has anointed the son for this ministry. Here is the Lord speaking, and the commissioning is by the Father who has equipped the Son to fulfil this ministry of ransoming sinners. Well, how can we apply this to ourselves this evening? Well, let me tell you this then. Christian, when you were saved, when the Gospel came to you with power, The One who changed you, the One who had dealings with you, is none other than the Lord's Anointed, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It was He who dealt with you. And unsaved friend, if you are to be saved, it's He who must deal with you now. If you are to be changed, It's Jesus that must do the changing by the Gospel. What does he do to accomplish this then? That's a good question to ask, isn't it? And this passage tells us. This passage tells us of the means of transforming power. What Jesus himself does in the Gospel. Now, there's a seven-fold aspect of the Lord's Transforming work. Are you ready? This is powerful, my friends. This is amazing. So please bear with me. And if you have your Bibles open, this will really help you to trace through this with me this evening. A seven-fold transforming work of Jesus. Firstly, to preach good tidings to preach. This is good tidings, not bad, it's good. It is the herald who is heralding forth the good news. He doesn't debate. This is not, as it were, a debate on a chat show, on radio, this is the heralding forth of the good news of Jesus. And it does tell us, does it not, that the gospel is to be preached. It is to be heralded. And this is what Jesus does. We read this, don't we, in Luke 4. This is what he does. Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing, he says. he's doing this, he's preaching good tidings. And the other aspect of our Lord's transforming work is this, to heal the brokenhearted. Oh this is what I need to hear. He has sent me, this is the Father, has sent me the Son of to heal the broken hearted. How many people today are broken hearted? So many. Our culture is encouraging broken heartedness. Isn't it? It is, really. Now I heard this week in 1961 first of the permissive legislation that was passed in this country was the relaxing of the divorce laws, marriage laws, divorce laws, bringing in easy divorce. Consequently this has devastated this nation and there are children and adults of broken marriages and there's been so much unhappiness. Isn't this not true? Well, it is true. Now, hardly any family has been untouched by this, ours included, so I'm not here to be negative. I'm just stating facts. The permissive legislation of the last 50 to 60 years has inculcated brokenheartedness. Divorce, one thing. Yes, abortion in 1967, 50 years ago. What anguish has that led? Sadness. And Jesus has come to heal the broken hearted. When Jesus comes, the tempter's power is broken. Has he come to you? Has he come to you to heal your heart? How many broken hearts today. Sin is a breaker and Jesus is the maker. Behold, I'll make all things new. How tender and gracious he is. What a master physician he is. He's come to preach good tidings, to heal the broken hearted. Thirdly, to proclaim liberty. the Sun sets you free you shall be free indeed I love that word indeed don't you I love it it's a indeed kind of freedom this we're talking about my friends there's been a terribly sad case this week did you see it on the news there's been a traveling family in Lincolnshire this it's terrible they've held a employees as their slaves some for 24 or 5 years and they've been living in hovels whilst their erstwhile employers are living in luxury and they've been all sentenced rightly to prison for for slavery and I can imagine what joy those poor people had who'd been exploited to know that they're free to know that they're free What joy when the slaves in America were free. Oh what joy it is when Jesus frees you from sin. Frees your heart and makes you new. And then fourthly, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. The year of jubilee. when Jesus brings favour to us. So this is the gospel age, thank God for that. And you and I must take advantage of the gospel and yield to the sovereign claims of Jesus. Have you done this? If not, you must, my friends. To preach good tidings, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And fifthly, to comfort all who mourn. Oh, there's so many mourning today. Sadness that sin brings. This is both literal and spiritual. Come unto me, all your labour and heavy laden, and I will give you rest, he says. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. Oh, how I need that word, don't you? You can't do without that word, can you? No, you can't. how we need this, and how Jesus freely, readily offers it to us. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoking flax he will not quench, till he sends forth justice to victory, and in his name the Gentiles will trust. How painful to have an unsympathetic friend when you are in deep despair. And that can be never said of Jesus, never said of him. And sixthly, to console, to console. This speaks of real and substantial help. He pours in the balm of Gilead. to bring consolation. And then we see this and apply this to our hearts to know the comfort he gives. A friend of mine is a retired London City missionary. And he's married to a friend of mine who was a contemporary with me in our home church at Moreton. And I know them very well. Sadly, she's become very poorly with an onrush of severe dementia. But here is the consolation for them in the gospel of God's grace. Here is the transforming work of Christ and he brings also beauty. He brings a spiritual allurement to us, To the depressed, despondent, he gives beauty instead of ashes. He gives joy instead of mourning. The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Are you depressed this evening? Downcast? Well, who can we refer you to? None other but Jesus. the consoler, the comforter. Here is the means of transforming power. And secondly, that's the large section. Secondly, the object of transforming power, the object of transforming power. It says here in verse four, and they shall rebuild the old ruins. They shall raise up the former desolations and they shall repair the ruined cities. Now, it begs the question, who are the they? Who are the they? Well, I believe it's those to whom the transforming power of the gospel has come. Those who've taken advantage of the gospel offer. It's they who have been transformed. And who is the they? It's the true church. This is the object of transforming power, the true church of Jesus. And they shall serve the Lord. They shall rebuild the old ruins. They shall raise up the former desolations. They shall repair the ruined cities. We interpret this in a spiritual sense. And they will serve the Lord. And this is a very pertinent point to ask this question. Christian, if you're a Christian and the Lord has saved you, are you serving him? Are you serving him? Have you given yourself to him and are you serving him? and transform believers. The same power will be seen in any who trust in Jesus regarding their background, regarding their status, regarding their culture. We say, oh, that's only for Jews. No, it's not. It's for everyone who embraces the gospel. It's for everyone who embraces the gospel. Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks. Well, I'll make the point of understanding what that means. Well, I think that's Gentile believers. Gentiles coming in to a church that in the New Testament certainly was full of Jewish believers. Now the middle wall of partition has been broken down. The transforming power of God is seen to all his people, Jew and Gentile alike. And those who we read in verse 8 are in the everlasting covenant. So are you serving the Lord? This is interesting, isn't it? To ask oneself this question, what am I doing for him? What am I doing for my saviour and my God? Verse six, but you shall be named the priests of the Lord. Yes, yes, that means the priesthood of all believers. It means that you and I can go to God directly through the Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus, at any time, any place, anywhere. And men shall call you the servants of our God. Fascinating phrase that follows in verse six. Did you see that? You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles and in their glory you shall boast. Well, how can we interpret this, actually? Well, I understand it in this way. The church will thrive on goods brought to her by Gentile converts. And how about an illustration of the teaching and the writings of the Puritans in the 16th and 17th and 18th century? How grateful we should be for a body of truth that that godly group of men brought to the Church through books and study and written ministry. And how thankful we should be, in the running centuries of time, for the establishing of this ministry to feed and stabilise the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. and said of your shame, you shall have double honor. Instead of confusion, they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double everlasting joy is their lot. The one who knows Jesus, the one who knows the Lord, you know, the common experience is this, joy in the Holy Spirit. Joy in the Holy Spirit of God. here then, the object of transforming power, the true church. And thirdly, the author, the author of transforming power, the true and the living God. Verses eight and nine. For I, the Lord, love justice. I hate robbery. for burnt offerings, I will direct their work in truth and make with them an everlasting covenant. Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the posterity whom the Lord has blessed. So the gospel, my friends, is no afterthought. It is in the eternal sovereign electing purposes of God, the everlasting covenant. He has set forth his holiness in the law of God and he seeks men and women and boys and girls to yield to him, to come to him, to forsake themselves. This is what Jesus has done. Amazing and wonderful. The awesome plan of redemption. What are we here for? Have you ever asked that question? Why are we here for? What am I here for? I can only know that when I know that I'm in the central purposes of the love of God as I respond to the gospel of his grace. I can only know that. and all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the posterity of the Lord, whom the Lord has blessed. Can others look at your life and be amazed at the stability and the blessing that has come to you through the gospel of his grace? We're living in unstable times, aren't we? We really are. How many people You know and I know are unstable and unhappy and broken hearted. So many, so many. And what's the only hope for them? Well, the only hope for them is the only hope for us, for me, for you. And it's the gospel of Jesus. the author of transforming power, the true and the living God. And fourthly, and lastly, the result of transforming power. It's the praising Christian. The praising Christian. This wonderful verse here, verse 10 to 11, I will rejoice greatly in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. This is what the Christian will say, I must come to worship, how can I keep away? How can I keep away Sunday by Sunday? When? I must praise God because he's clothed me. with the garments of salvation. And this, this does indicate a determination to do this. I shall do this. I shall focus on this. I shall not allow myself to be distracted. My soul shall be joyful in my God. So I find this challenging because I ask myself, am I thus determined? Am I thus focused? I must be, because this is an adequate response, surely, to the fact of God's giving me new life in Jesus. Too often gloom and despondency fills the mind with doubts and fears and apprehensions. Are you prone to negative thinking? Well, I'm afraid we all can be subject to that if we're not careful. My grandmother, and she was a lovely, lovely lady, but she read at length and quite extensively the book by Norman Vincent Peale. called The Power of Positive Thinking. Have you ever come across that book? Well, it's not so much in favor as it once was. Norman Vincent Peale, ostensibly supposed to be a Christian pastor, but got sidetracked sadly through his own philosophy of positive thinking. And I remember reading somewhat of a witty American politician saying this, Apostle Peel, I find appalling. Apostle Paul, I find appealing. We are obliged to focus our minds on the gospel. And to be positive in the gospel. To see what God has done as an accomplished fact. He has clothed you. When I was about seven years old, I had a very bad attack of scarlet fever and I had to go to an isolation hospital in Mitcham for quite a few weeks. By God's grace I got better due to come home but my parents had to burn all my clothes. So they bought me a batch of new clothes and when I got home I tried on my new outfit. I remember this quite well. But it was a comforting experience because I realised I really truly belonged to my family. And they loved me. Christian friend, God has clothed you. and he really does love you. And you're joined to Jesus and you're in his family. What a privilege that is. How can we not worship the Lord? How can we not praise him, I say? As Thomas Watson says, let us prove our godliness by gratefulness. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. for he makes all things new. As verse 11 concludes, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations. May we give him the glory and yield to him. Let us pray. Thank you for your word, Lord, and bless it to us, please, in Jesus' name. Amen. And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. Amen.