We turn in God's word to Isaiah chapter 50. Isaiah 50. Thus saith the Lord, where is the bill of your mother's divorcement whom I have put away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away. Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness, Their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning. He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help me. Therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face like a flint, And I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifieth me. Who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is mine adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help me. Who is he that shall condemn me? Lo, they all shall wax old as a garment. The moth shall eat them up. Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God. Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow. This is the Word of God, inspired and infallible. May He bless it to our hearts this morning. Our text is verses 7 through 9. For the Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifieth me. Who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is mine adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help me. Who is he that shall condemn me? Lo, they all shall wax old as a garment. The moth shall eat them up. Beloved congregation and our Lord Jesus Christ, After a week of self-examination, and as we come to the table of our Lord this morning, we hear and have heard the testimony of Jehovah God that our sin is our fault. That was the testimony of God's Word to us, as it is summarized in the form for the Lord's Supper. that every one of us in preparation is to consider by ourselves our sins and the curse due to us for them. And that is the testimony of the word of God here at the beginning of Isaiah 50. When God begins the chapter asking his people, where is the bill of your mother's divorcement whom I have put away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? God's point in asking those questions is to show His people, your sin is your fault. And the judgment upon your sins and the chastisements upon your sins are your fault. That's not my fault. I'm not the one who made you wicked. I'm not the one who caused you to walk in sin, though Jehovah God is sovereign even over our falls into sin. He's not the author of those sins so that it's not his fault. The testimony of the Word of God to us is our sin is our fault. But now the enemies of the church, your enemies and my enemies, pick up that message and twist it in order to make accusations against us that because our sin is our fault, there's no way for us to be received of God in His mercy. That we stand before God as those who are unjustified, unrighteous, with no hope of being justified. No hope of being righteous. The enemies come against us, twisting that truth that our sins are our fault in order to take away all hope from us, in order to make us ashamed. And by that, our enemies, through those false accusations and through those twistings of the truth that our sins are our fault, by that, our enemies dishonor God Because the Word of God is not only this, your sins are your fault, but the Word of God is also this, there is salvation from those sins in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is redemption from those sins and the washing away of those sins in the finished work of our Savior, as the Lord's Supper testifies to us this morning. and as the Gospel of Jesus Christ testifies to us this morning. Over against the accusations of the enemies there stands a testimony of Jehovah God. You are righteous before me. You are right with me. You have access into my presence. You may live with me. You may sit with me at my table and partake of a meal with me. You are righteous in Jesus Christ. And all of that work of making us righteous or imputing righteousness to us is justification. And the confession of the prophet in our confession this morning is, as we come to the Lord's table, He is near that justifieth me. So that our faith is built. Our assurance is strengthened. as we come to the table of the Lord and eat and drink and partake of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we make that confession this morning as well under the theme, He is near, that justifieth me. In the first place, we consider The enemies that we have, or my contenders, in the second place we consider my Lord God who justifies me, and in the third place we consider my confidence of this righteousness. He is near that justifieth me, my contenders, my Lord God, and my confidence. In this section of Isaiah 50, Isaiah is dealing with enemies. And Isaiah is dealing with enemies not only as a prophet of God, but he's dealing with enemies as a child of God, so that this applies to the entire congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, to our church this morning. It's evident that Isaiah is contending with enemies because he speaks of the contenders in verse 8. Who will contend with me? He speaks of an adversary. Who is my adversary? In verse 9 he speaks of one who condemns him. Who is he that shall condemn me? The prophet Isaiah has adversaries, enemies, and these enemies are out to destroy him. That's evident from the immediately preceding context when Isaiah says in verse six, I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. We have here a picture of a child of God who is being ill-used by his enemies. The enemies seek to shame him and even to destroy him in their hatred of him. But the enemies that Isaiah has in verses 7-9 come with a very specific attack against him. And it is an attack that the enemy uses against us yet today. There are all kinds of different attacks that the enemy uses. Sometimes the enemy's attack is to try to hurt us physically. Think of what the Lord allowed Satan to do to Job. all of the physical pain that Satan brought into Job's life, however Satan is able to do that. So that Job sat on the pile of ashes, scraping himself with a broken piece of pottery to try to find some relief from all of his sores. Sometimes Satan attacks by hurting us physically. Sometimes Satan attacks by trying to makes the circumstances of our lives very difficult. Now God is sovereign over that and God has his own purpose in difficult circumstances, but sometimes God allows Satan to be the instrument. God uses Satan as the instrument of those difficult circumstances. Think again of Job and how Satan was allowed by God to take away all of Job's property and even Job's own beloved family, his own children. Sometimes Satan attacks us through temptation. He wants us to fall into sin and make us walk in some wicked, evil way. Many, many different attacks that the enemies use. But the specific attack here in Isaiah 50 verses 7 through 9 is none of those. The specific attack here is the attack of accusation. The enemies were making accusations against Isaiah. And the enemies accuse us of being unrighteous and hopeless and unable to be delivered by Jehovah God. Now it's evident from this passage that the enemy was using that specific attack of accusation from the words that Isaiah uses to describe the enemies. In verse 8, when he says, who will contend with me, that word contend refers to an accusation made in a court of law. The word contend here is what we call a forensic word. That means it's a word that has to do with law. It's a word that has to do with courts. It's a word that has to do with official charges laid against somebody. Who is he that will contend with me? Well, Isaiah had enemies who were charging him and accusing him. And then in verse 8 as well, the word adversary. Who is mine adversary? That word adversary means lord or master or owner. And it refers to someone who has the authority, especially now the authority to bring a charge. This is no mere annoyance for Isaiah, but someone who has some standing, some authority to bring a charge. And then in verse 9, when he says, who is he that shall condemn me? He uses another forensic word, a word that refers to a court of law and a specific accusation. And it's the judgment or verdict that is rendered against someone who is guilty. If the criminal before the judge has committed the crime and the evidence points to him as the perpetrator of the crime, then the judge condemns him. He renders a verdict that is not favorable to the criminal. And Isaiah's contenders and enemies were accusing him and condemning him. and rendering unfavorable verdicts regarding him. The very specific focused attack of the enemies here was condemnation and accusation. And the purpose of the enemies was to take away Isaiah's assurance of his salvation, or to say it a little differently, their purpose was to make Isaiah ashamed. to make him hopeless in his shame. Not this, just that he blushed because he was found out in some sin, but that he was hopeless and terrified and horrified because there was no deliverance for him. And Isaiah indicates that that was the purpose of the enemies when he says in verse 7, I shall not be confounded. And then again at the end of verse 7, I know that I shall not be ashamed. That first word, confounded, means to be dishonored because of sin. It means that before our sin is known, there may be some honor that we have. Men may look at us a certain way, but after that sin is exposed, then we're dishonored. Then men look at us a different way. That's the idea of confounded, and then ashamed is that well-known idea of being exposed in the filth of our iniquity, so that other eyes behold the filth of that iniquity. The eyes of Jehovah God certainly, and sometimes the eyes of our fellow men were exposed in that iniquity and ashamed because of it. It's deeper than embarrassment. The idea of this shame is a deadly hopelessness. The enemies of Isaiah and the enemies of God's people were aiming at this shame in Isaiah by their accusations. They were testifying to Isaiah, we know who you are. We know that you're a mere man. You may be a prophet of the Lord, but we know your sins. We know your weaknesses. You're no better than us. And because of your sins and your iniquities, not only do we not have to listen to you, but we're going to charge you with sin. We're going to make you ashamed. We're going to rob you of your assurance of salvation. And that's the way the enemy works yet today on us. He accuses us. There's other ways he attacks us too. But one way he fights us is by accusing us. The devil does that. The devil is known as the accuser of the brethren. That's one of his descriptions. We might even call it one of his names in Revelation 12. In Revelation 12, we read John's vision of the great wonder in heaven, the woman who's clothed with the sun and is about to give birth to a man-child. And that woman represents the Old Testament church, who was laboring to bring forth the Lord Jesus Christ. Before that woman is a great red dragon. waiting to snap up that man-child in his jaws as soon as he's born. And that great red dragon represents Satan, the adversary, the constant adversary of the church, because he's the adversary of God. And then in verse 10, after Jesus ascends into heaven, he's born, he's not snapped up by the dragon, he ascends into heaven. After he ascends into heaven, he casts out Satan from heaven. And we read in verse 10 of Revelation 12, the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. The accuser of our brethren who accused them before God day and night. That's his attack. That's one of the ways he tries to rob the people of God from heaven, but rob them also of their assurance. The devil doesn't have access to heaven anymore. He's cast out of heaven so that now when we go to heaven, we won't see Satan there. But he's known here as the accuser of the brethren. We read something of the devil's accusing of us in our Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 16, question and answer 44, explaining the phrase, he descended into hell, from the Apostles' Creed, Why is it, there added, he descended into hell, that in my greatest temptations I may be assured and wholly comfort myself in this, that my Lord Jesus Christ, by his inexpressible anguish, pains, terrors, and hellish agonies, in which he was plunged during all his sufferings, but especially on the cross, hath delivered me from the anguish and torments of hell. When the catechism there refers to my greatest temptations, it's not talking about my temptation to murder by speaking evil of my brother with my tongue. When it speaks of my greatest temptations, it's not talking about my temptation to worship improperly against the seventh commandment on the Lord's Day. Those are temptations too. But my greatest temptation according to Lord's Day 16 is that I begin to think That I must suffer the anguish and torments of hell. That I'm not delivered from those anguishes and torments. That's the accusation of the devil. I know you. I know what kind of sinner you are. You don't deserve the mercy and salvation of God. The wicked world makes this same accusation against the church. The wicked world heaps to itself sin. It revels in that sin. And brazenly, boldly walks in that sin. Rejoices even in that sin. We can see that in our own land in these days. In the decisions and the comments that are being made regarding abortion. How the world revels in its right, as they call it, to kill unborn human beings and even propose the murder of born human beings. The world revels in its sexual immorality and filth and pushes the homosexual agenda and transgender agenda, whatever other filth, the world has gotten up to in these days. The world heaps to itself sin, and if the church speaks out and says, that's wrong, that's sin, then the accusation of the world is, but you're the sinners, because you're intolerant, because you will not let us do as we see fit to do. You try to impose some old religious standard on us that we don't want. We throw off that yoke. We hate that yoke. The wicked world turns around and accuses us of being the sinners, accuses us of being intolerant. That's a false charge, but it's the charge of the enemy. It's this accusation that the enemy makes against us. They contend with us. and soon will begin condemning us in their own courtrooms for our opposition to all of their wickedness. The false church is an enemy here, a contender as well, who also makes accusations against God's people. The false church accuses the people of God and the true church of being unloving. The false church accuses the true church of tearing the body of Christ. Of rending it and causing divisions. Because we insist that we must hold the standard of the truth. And that if there is not the standard of the truth, then there must be condemnation by the true church of that lie, of that false doctrine. And the false church turns around against the true church and makes the false accusation against her. You are the guilty ones. You have rent the body of Christ. That's what they were doing to Isaiah in Isaiah 50. Why is it that the smiters came to him? Why is it that they plucked off his beard and spit on him in verse 6? Because of what happened in verses 4 and 5, he heard the word of the Lord and had the tongue of the learned to speak the word of the Lord, to speak the gospel to him who was weary. Isaiah was preaching the truth and hearing the truth. And when he heard that truth and opened his mouth to speak that truth, that's when the enemy turned against him. The Israelites themselves, The false church accuses the true church of rending the body of Christ. That's the way it went in the time of the Reformation as well. The accusation hurled against Luther constantly was, you have departed from the Institute, the only Institute of the Church. You are tearing the body of Christ. The false church accuses the true church False doctrine becomes an enemy that accuses the child of God. When the false doctrine of works righteousness is taught, that man by his obedience becomes righteous with God, then that really becomes a constant accusation against a man. Because a man deep down knows that he can never do enough on his own to become righteous with God. He can never earn it. He can never merit it. That false doctrine becomes a constant accusation against the child of God. And then there is that accusation that we find even in our own hearts. As Lord's Day 23 teaches, my conscience accuses me that I have transgressed all of the commandments of God and have kept none of them. and that I am still inclined to all evil. There's a constant accusation against us. over against that accusation of hopelessness, that it's impossible for us to be right with God because of who we are, over against that accusation of unrighteousness, there is another declaration. The declaration of Jehovah God Himself. The declaration that we are righteous with Him. And that's what Isaiah means when he says, He is near that justifieth me. Now Isaiah is saying that as an explanation of the help that Jehovah is going to give him. That's what Isaiah is hanging on to here. He's clinging to that help. Verse 7, the Lord God will help me. Verse 9, behold the Lord God will help me. The Lord will help him. And how will he help him? He helps him by being near who justifies him. He is near that justifieth me. This justification that Isaiah speaks of is the declaration of God Himself that we are righteous in Christ. It's God's testimony over against the accusation of all of the enemies that our sins are washed away and that we are righteous as we stand before God. Now last week we saw the doctrine of justification more carefully and at more length from Lord's Day 23. So we don't go into all of that again this morning, but emphasize here that this justification is God's testimony, His declaration that we are righteous. God makes that declaration in the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all who believe You are righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. Your sins are covered in His blood. His perfect righteousness has been counted to you. There's a declaration in the Gospel that we are righteous. A declaration of Jehovah God Himself. A declaration that we are righteous is made in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper this morning. Behold the broken body of the Lord. Behold His shed blood. And you eat that broken body, and you drink that shed blood by faith, and by that have a testimony in your own heart. I'm right with God, because my Savior has died for me." And when Isaiah speaks of being justified here, he doesn't mean only that this thing happens, but I don't know about it. But the prophet means here that in his own consciousness, he is justified. In his own consciousness, he knows that he is right with God. That's the effect of the Gospel that we hear this morning. God declares to you and to me, believers, you are right with God. And that testimony takes hold of my heart. That testimony by the operation of the Holy Spirit creates faith in my heart so that I believe this Word of God and believe the Lord Jesus Christ and hold to Him. By the sacrament, God strengthens our faith. It's added to the Gospel. It's a visible representation of the invisible reality that the Gospel declares, you are right with God, so that as I eat and drink, I know myself to be right with God. I see that my Savior's body was broken for me, and His blood was shed for me. By the sacrament, Jehovah God comes near. He who justifies us comes near, and declares in our ear, and in our consciousness, in our soul, You are right. And all of those accusations of the enemy then, that they make against you, that they use to try to rob you of your salvation and your assurance of your salvation, I counteract by my declaration, you are right. And so Isaiah says, the Lord God will help me. He will help me. That help began already in eternity. That help for the helpless. We who didn't even exist. Who couldn't do anything good or bad. Who couldn't do anything to earn the salvation of God. God already in eternity helped the helpless by choosing us to be His own. In His own goodness and love and mercy. In the fullness of time, Jehovah helped us by sending the Lord Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord, to die on the cross for our sins, and by His lifelong suffering, pay our debt. And by His lifelong obedience, earn for us righteousness and life with God. Jehovah God helps us by giving us the Holy Spirit who works faith in our hearts, that we may know this Jesus Christ and be united to Him through faith and cling to Him and receive from Him through faith all the blessings of salvation. The Lord God will help me, says Isaiah and says the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord God helps us then by coming very near us in His testimony, very near us so that the moment the devil accuses us, you're a sinner too, and the testimony of Jehovah God more powerful than any word of the devil is, but you are right in Jesus Christ. He comes very near us in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper so that we partake of Jesus Christ by faith, spiritually, but we partake of Him So that when the accusation comes, the false accusation from the world or from the false church that we are unloving and intolerant and that we destroy the unity of the church, the testimony is, but you're right in Jesus Christ over against those false charges. The Lord is near who justifies me. And that gives the church of Jesus Christ great confidence. That gives us assurance. The assurance of faith itself. And that confidence of the child of God is evident in what Isaiah says here. He confesses, the Lord God will help me. He confesses He is near that justifieth me. He's confident of the Lord's love for him. And nearness to him. Because the Lord has spoken it. in his ear. Isaiah heard it as we hear it this morning. And that confidence of the prophet means then that he's bold to face the accusers. He doesn't run away from the accusers. He doesn't flee from the accusation. He faces it. He says in verse 7, I have set my face like a flint My face is hard against the accusation of the devil. In verse 8 he says, Who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Come make your charge. Come do your worst. Who is mine adversary? Let him come near to me. Bring it on. Isaiah says, Bring on the accusation. I'm not afraid of the accusation. Though in myself I'm a sinner, Though I have that old man of sin with me yet, though by nature I deserve hell, I deserve condemnation, I'm still not afraid of the accuser. I'm not afraid of him because I'm in Christ. He is near that justifieth me. And that's the confidence that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ has. over against all of the accusations of sin. We're not afraid of the accusation. We're not afraid that our faith will be destroyed by the accusation because we're in Christ. This is the Old Testament confession that the New Testament church makes in Romans 8 at the end of the chapter What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is confident of our righteousness in our Savior, and have that confidence built as we come to the table in faith. And then the confidence of the prophet, finally, is his confidence that because of this righteousness, that is, because God justifies him on the basis of Christ and gives him this confidence through faith, that the prophet will not be condemned, and that the prophet will not perish. Somebody's going to perish. That's evident from the end of the text of Isaiah 50 verse 9. Lo, they, that is all these accusers, they all shall wax old as a garment. The moth shall eat them up. The accusers come, try to convince us of our unrighteousness, But in the end, the accusers are the ones who are eaten up. The devil, and the world, and the false church, and our old man of sin. The enemies are the ones who are consumed. But that implies then that we are not consumed. That we stand, that we endure by the grace of God. That having this righteousness through our Lord Jesus Christ, we also have all things that He has earned for us, including heaven itself and eternal life itself. We shall not wax old as a garment, though this body dies and moulders in the dust, but we shall live forever in heaven with Jehovah God. And so as we hear all of the accusations of the enemies, their testimonies against us to try to rob us of our hope, we come to the table of the Lord and confess together, he is near that justifieth me. Amen. Our Father which art in heaven, we thank thee for thy word to us this morning for the gospel of Jesus Christ. We pray that thou will apply that word to our hearts. Strengthen us also by this holy supper as we partake of the gospel made visible. in the sacrament. Grant us grace to eat and drink our Lord Jesus Christ as we have heard him in thy word. For Jesus' sake, amen.