Let's go back to that scripture in Isaiah 59 that we looked at this morning. Isaiah 59, 14 through 21. Justice is turned back and righteousness stands far away. For truth has stumbled in the public squares and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The Lord saw it and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no one to intercede. Then his own arm brought him salvation and his righteousness upheld him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate. and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, so will he repay. Wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies. To the coastlands, he will render repayment. So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the West. and His glory from the rising of the sun. For He will come like a rushing stream which the wind of the Lord drives. And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, declares the Lord. And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord. My spirit that is upon you and my words that I have put in your mouth shall not depart out of your mouth or out of the mouth of your offspring or out of the mouth of your children's offspring, says the Lord from this time forth and forever more. Our passage tells us God's plan to reverse the moral degradation of the world. Though through his prophet, God showed how bad man's depravity was, that it had infected public life at every level. And it was so bad that truth had stumbled in the public squares and uprightness could not enter. The moral decline was so great that the remnant of the godly were hunted like prey. But God, in his great mercy, did not turn a blind eye to their misery. In fact, he was displeased. He was appalled. He acted in zeal like a warrior, and he assaulted the sin that had caused so much havoc. Man's wickedness was a God-sized problem. And so God overcame man's moral atrophy by sending a warrior to turn people from their sins. God was a conqueror. This morning we saw how God took notice of man's moral collapse, how He went to war against it, and this evening as we're asking ourselves whether God can reverse the atrophy of sin in your heart or in mine, and whether God can reverse society-wide moral decay, let's see how the Lord won. How the Lord won was by redemption, intercession, and Spirit. He won by redemption, intercession, and Spirit. Let's start in verse 19. So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. For He will come like a rushing stream which the wind of the Lord drives. This verse introduces a new result from God dealing out His recompense. New things happen. There could be no doubt that he will succeed and here is his success. They shall fear the name of the Lord." And isn't that a contrast to the arrogant attitudes of the public officials that forced out justice and righteousness and accepted lies? It's a picture instead of real conversion. 4, that's right in the middle of verse 19, tells the reason why this conversion happens He will come like a rushing stream which the wind of the Lord drives." And I think a better translation there is, which the Spirit of the Lord drives. The rushing stream is a dammed up river that gives way, that's the image, and then moved along by the Spirit of the Lord. Now what he's telling us here is giving us a picture of the return of this Holy Spirit to the lost kingdom. And when I say lost kingdom, I'm saying the world, a good kingdom as God created it and pronounced his blessing of goodness upon it, but a kingdom now marred with sin. And the land of Israel was supposed to be a picture of that good kingdom restored. It was a type to foreshadow the reality of the world released from sin's curse. And now Isaiah sees that Judah is buckling under sin. And so that typological kingdom of heaven was fading away, but not without promise. not without hope, because the Spirit will return, God says. Like the waters that flowed out of Eden, God promises a new result from the Spirit, the giving of new life to Israel and even out to the coastlands. We know that Israel is not gone. It has taken on new life. It is the Church of God in the world, a spiritual kingdom, where men through sin had corrupted the upright, straight ways of life where they brought in misery and destruction and darkness and death, back into that scene comes the Spirit of God like a pent-up flood to set things back in order. I think we're supposed to see the Spirit's movements as God's will in action. That's why you see wicked people converted to Christ. That's why you and I were converted to Christ because the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon us to transform us. This is all part of the return of the Holy Spirit consequent to the successful campaign of God's armor-clad, battle-fighting champion. We know this because verse 20 says, And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, declares the LORD. The Redeemer is God's answer to the problem He saw, that there was no intercessor. Redemption is the purchase with a price, a ransom price to set a captive free. A Redeemer acts for His kinsmen, He acts on behalf of His chosen people. Isn't God gracious that He would treat sinners as next of kin? Isn't it grace that treated a sinner like you or like me as next of kin? And isn't it grace that sent a Redeemer for us? I don't need to tell you as if you don't know, but just to remind you that the Lord's anointed paid the price for our release with the price of His own blood. That was the ransom. With His infinitely precious life, He redeemed us to God, and He set us free from captivity to our sins. And with that price removed the penalty of the law. He reconciled us then as children to the household of God. Redemption works in individuals through repentance, which is why Isaiah says he comes to those in Jacob who turn from transgression. That's repentance, turning from transgression while looking to the Redeemer in faith. And as Isaiah declared this to that persecuted remnant in Judah, that the Redeemer was coming, that was to stir them up in faith and also to give them hope in the mercy of God. And it told them the grounds why they should not crumble under the pressures of society to live unrighteously. And the reason why, because the Redeemer's success was so certain. In fact, Paul, quotes this verse in Romans 11.26 to convince the Jews that they should turn from transgression unto Jesus Christ, He names Him as the Redeemer. You can't get a more powerful sense of God's compassion as a God who is in earnest to forgive than the promises in this chapter. And these promises are why everyone should turn from transgression. The Lord Jesus has died and has risen again. The Lord has bared his arm in the sight of all the nations and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. It's because the Redeemer bore our sins that spiritual power enables believers to depart from iniquity. It's because He stood in our place numbered with the transgressors. And with all our iniquity on Him, that believing on Him, we turn from transgression. Remember, He's in earnest to forgive. He wrapped Himself in zeal like a cloak to purchase our pardon. Listen, others may think His coming is of little concern. But notice God treats it as a matter of paramount concern. Christ's coming was God's coming. It was war for Him on our behalf. It was life or death, or maybe we should say it was life and death, and then victorious life again. And if no others are turning from transgression, you turn. You turn from transgression. Be gathered to Zion because the Redeemer has paid your ransom. We're talking about the victory that God won. And we can't help noticing that God speaks sometimes of a single individual and sometimes of the whole community. And it's interesting that when He speaks of salvation for many, He speaks to that individual. They fade into the background and only that one stands out where he speaks to him. Then he said, a redeemer shall come to Zion that gives people a clue to look for. The coming of that one must usher in the reversal of man's atrophy, which means there has to be a covenant relationship with God in which divine power to overcome evil is present. And if that was complicated, I just mean, Power to overcome evil comes out of a relationship with God, a covenant relationship. We know we need that for ourselves. I need it and you need it. But we also desire it for our nation and the world. So what else has God's campaign brought about? Verse 21, As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord. My Spirit that is upon you, and My words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children's offspring, says the Lord, from this time forth and for evermore." And each of those you's or yours there are the singular address to the one person. This is the one hope of any sinner to avoid moral decline himself. The only hope is the power of God reversing that decay through the anointed intercessor. When God speaks of covenant, He means a relationship. Every human on the planet is in one kind of covenant relationship with God or another. Everyone is either under a covenant of works, as Adam was at first, or under a covenant of grace by faith in that new covenant head Christ. It's the covenant of grace he's talking about here. He says, this is my covenant with them, those who turn from transgression. But as soon as he mentions those people, he speaks to the one. And we know that this one is anointed with the Holy Spirit of God, because if you look back at verse 21, He says, �My Spirit that is upon you, and My words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth.� This anointing with the Spirit formed the basis of Jesus� sermon in the synagogue in Nazareth in Luke 4. where he found the place a little later on in Isaiah that said, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. And we remember that it was just before that, that God gave a visible and audible testimony to this. When Jesus was baptized, the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven saying, you are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased. I think we should just see how exalted the son of God is. At some seasons of life, we're very attracted to the truth and grace of God, peace and love, joy, the other fruits of the spirit. Those are the subjects of our meditations, but at other seasons when things are all upside down in the world and nobody even seems to notice or care because they are so busy doing evil, then Christians meditate on God's recompense and His justice and the repaying of wrath to His adversaries they exalt in the champion of God. But of course all of those traits aren't separate things in God, whether love, joy, peace or patience, those are not inconsistent but consistent with and they perfectly accord with justice and wrath." And Isaiah's poetic language is so deep and so high and it's so searching. It's a powerful word. It says, God who is all these things has placed His Spirit on the one person. who is select, chosen, anointed mediator. He has the Spirit of God upon him. Upon him God has set his seal. All these things mean God is committed to the success of your Savior. He also has God's words in his mouth. Everyone was astonished at the teaching of Jesus. Not as the scribes, but as one who had authority His words were so compelling that the soldiers they sent to arrest him withdrew from him. It must have been quite a revelation to Peter when he made his great confession, you are the Christ, anointed one of God. And where else could the disciples go because this one only had the words of eternal life, John 6. Neither spirit nor word shall ever depart from the Lord Jesus." Another way of saying this is that He has all LIFE in Himself because the SPIRIT gives LIFE. And we should also say that He has all TRUTH in Himself because His Word is TRUTH. He's the reality of the world. If he really is this champion sent by God, then he must be speaking the truth when he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me. Isn't it profound that this promise to the anointed includes his children? Life and truth Spirit and word shall not depart out of your mouth or out of the mouth of your offspring or out of the mouth of your children's offspring, says the Lord. For a short time, no, from this time forth and forevermore. Who are the offspring of the servant of the Lord? Remember he was cut off without physical progeny. Why? It's the children of Abraham. Through faith, he shall see his offspring, Isaiah 53.10. You and I, all believers, are his offspring. Through him, then, is formed this relationship with God that changes the morals. And this relationship is called the covenant of grace. Through Him, sinners come back to God. Through Him, believers are secure. Through Him, they have life. Through Him, they have the Holy Spirit to indwell them as a seal of God, sealing their heavenly inheritance. Through Him, they have the Word inside. See, it shall not depart from their mouths generation after generation after generation. Now that is a mark of grace in a person's life. I don't mean the bare quoting of Scripture. You know, even Satan can quote Scripture, but the believing internalization of it, where it comes out a person's mouth, that's a mark of God's grace in that life. That's one of the ways you could tell the difference between the children of the world and the children of God. The latter know His Word. They live on that Word of God and not on bread alone. Isn't that what the Apostle John commended in 1 John when he said, I write to you, young men, because you are strong and the Word of God abides in you? Isn't that what Paul had in mind saying, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly? I said again, the Word of God is in the mouth of Christ and all His people through all generations. We believe and so we also speak, 2 Corinthians 4. I said all of these good blessings of salvation are through God's anointed. And we are now speaking of His work as intercessor, a function of His high priestly office. Isaiah said, the problem is that righteous and justice are nowhere to be found and God was appalled, verse 16, that there was no intercessor. So He came to intercede. He came to be the one who passes between man and God, the one who interposes himself between man and the evil consequences of sin. I suppose, you young boys, it might be like if you and your brother go for a walk down Mean Dog Alley. And if you're walking down Mean Dog Alley, and what if those mean dogs gets loose and rushes at your brother to bite him, but you jump in front to protect your brother and the dog bites you instead. You interposed yourself between your brother and the harm. The Lord Jesus has interposed Himself between us and harm. How has He done that? One way is that Christ asks for the things that will fix this sin-damaged world. One verse I quoted this morning, Psalm 2, ask of me and I will give you the nations for an inheritance. The intercessor asks for what will save and what will bring blessing to his elect. He's the only one who deserves to ask for these things and so he interposes to obtain the kind of world we need, a world under his kindly government. He's also the advocate for his elect. If any man sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. He sues for you based on the justification you have by faith in Him, coming between you and your sins. Likewise, he prays for his people. He is pleading with God, not about how well we have done, but on his own merits, his own accomplishments in battle to save us. And let that encourage us in prayer. Pray to God fervently, remembering that Jesus, the mediator, is interceding for you. The scriptures say that in heaven's courts, He appears on behalf of His people. Hebrews 9.24, Christ has entered into heaven itself to appear in the presence of God for us. And that means that God considers your case, and He considers your future good. He considers the sins you have committed, and whenever He does, He sees the face of Christ. That is why no one should ever despair that they are too sinful to save. When a believer's case is called to indict for crimes against God, guess who stands up in the sinner's name? God the Son, because His own arm brought you and me salvation. The reason His intercession has value to help others is because He can exhibit His atoning sacrifice. Look, if the accuser Satan brings forward exhibits A to Z to prove your guilt, the Lord Jesus brings His own blood to show. Hebrews 9, our high priest of the good things that have come entered the holy places by means of His own blood. Just like God told Moses, how efficacious that blood was, God said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Well, that heavenly temple has been purified, not with animal sacrifices, but better sacrifices, his own once for all sacrifice of himself to the end of the age, sorry, at the end of the age. And because he laid down his life for us, he can save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him. What do you suppose the day-to-day benefits of having an intercessor are? Well, certainly he brings elect sinners into a state of grace, but he also deals with the sins of his people daily. His pardon is full and free because he's still fighting on our behalf. He is still protecting us from the accusations of children. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? Paul gives the answer in Romans 8, Jesus Christ is the one who died. Yea, more than that, who was raised, who indeed is interceding for us. Moreover, He delivers us from the temptations that Satan would throw at us. We must pray not to enter into temptation, but what really counts is His prayer. I have prayed for you, He said to Peter. that your faith fail not, which tells us His intercession is what keeps us in the faith and is the guarantee of our perseverance. He sanctifies us too. That's why God says here in Isaiah that He will put spirit and word in the mouth of Christ's offspring forever. The Holy Spirit sanctifies. It's sanctification of the Spirit. for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood, 1 Peter 1. And now because He is standing up in our place, we are forever at peace with God, which means we have access to that throne of grace always. Through Him, we Gentiles also have access in one Spirit to the Father, Ephesians 2.18. Be encouraged to pray. Do not hold back. Pray without ceasing. The intercessor makes your prayers acceptable to God. And what about worship? It was us Gentiles of the coastlands that God spoke about in chapter 56 in the passage about the foreigners and the eunuchs when he said, these I will bring to my holy mountain. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." And so he accepts our worship. And you could sum it up by saying, his interceding brings us into salvation and he preserves us in it for his glory, for our good, and this is everlasting. in verse 21 at the end, from this time forth and forevermore. Let me conclude with these few words. The Spirit and the Word are gifts to Messiah to change wicked hearts. They are at work in man to reverse the sin in him. This and only this is the remedy for total depravity. This great good can transform one person or many persons, a family or a society. They can drive back the evil that comes out in broad daylight. If we want to see society transformed, if we are praying for a Christian nation, what we're praying for is for the Word of Christ and the Holy Spirit through Christ. Saints of the Lord, God has already said that not everyone will be saved. It's those who repent and turn from their transgressions, those who are believers in this Redeemer, they are the ones who will be saved. They are the elect of God. But He has said that anyone can be saved. He has not designated any one nation for salvation, but neither has He said there's no hope to have a Christian nation either. We can be sure that his kingdom will thrive and grow and produce the fruit he wants it to in whatever way. But when we see moral atrophy, even in public, when it gets so bad that it turns to persecution, look to your own self first. Evil has to be dealt with in you and me. We know what God has done for us. He sent his warrior champion to turn us away from evil. and to turn us back to following the Lord. And we know how to pray about the others, that his kingdom would come in the hearts of all men, and that in his zeal he would apply that salvation to many and to all. And if some will not repent, and if some will persist in persecuting the church, we can rest. being assured that God will repay them for their deeds, wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies. Let's pray. Lord, you are good and gracious and you are holy. And a passage like this speaks of your holiness and the perfect way in which you made salvation through Christ, a warrior, in a way that never meant compromise of Your holiness, Your righteousness, Your justice, nor any of Your other attributes. You perfectly displayed Your grace through Him. Father, we implore You that everyone here hearing these words would turn to Jesus Christ to be saved, would understand the evil of their own heart first, and then concluding how desperate the state of the unbeliever is that we would pray asking you to save them. Bring people into our lives, we ask that we would be able to intercede for and to pray for regularly. And that as a result of these prayers, as instruments that you are using to bring about your holy ends, we pray to see the salvation of many from our own families out into the community, yes, even into the world. Lord, our society, our nation, is in moral decline, we have no other hope than the reformation and complete regeneration, your own word and your spirit coming to convict and to change. So we pray you, would you change hearts, deal not with us according to our deservedness, but according to mercy. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.