Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Isaiah 57, the chapter that
we read, and verse 15. Verse 15. For thus saith the
High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy,
I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of
a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble
and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Isaiah 57 and
verse 15. We mentioned when we spoke of
a summary of this chapter. This speaks of gospel days and
of those blessings to be expected in the days that we live in. In the verse prior to our text,
we have a taking up of the stumbling blocks out of the way of the
people of God. God speaks to his people through
the ministry and in gospel days. And they are to know that there
is no hindrance with the gospel, that there's no prior requirements,
as it were, that must be attended to. before we can hear the gospel. We have in the Old Testament
the many rituals and many things that had to be done before one
was fit or able to come in the presence of the Lord or to assemble
even for worship. But in the gospel days, men are
to know that when they feel their need, when they know their sinister,
when they realise the condition that they're in, that there are
to be no hindrances, nothing put in the way. And of course
this was foretold in the Old Testament, the provision of the
city of refuge. Those that had killed a man,
unawares, They had three cities, one side of Jordan, three cities
the other, and they could run unto those cities and flee from
the manslayer. And those had to be free of stumbling
blocks or anything to hinder them in the way. have it in the word concerning
prayer that we pray that the word of the Lord might have free
course and be glorified. Throughout history there's been
many that have been risen up under the name of religion and
they have obstructed the gospel, obstructed the word of God and
put those stumbling blocks in the way. One of the stumbling
blocks for many years was that the people did not have the Word
of God. They did not have it in their
own tongue and they were content to just hear what their priests
had to say. And solemnly we live in days
today when those that would follow the Word of God derided as saying,
well, you're those that follow the Bible. We just follow our
priest. We just follow our leaders. We
just, whether it is Church of England or Roman Catholic or
whatever it is, we just accept what is told us and we don't
go back to the Word of God, to the Bible. And that is putting
a stumbling block. Men might not think so, The Word
of God is a pure, holy, sacred Word straight from the Lord and
it is to be given to men to receive that Word and to hear that Word. And other men must not stand
in the way, as it were, taking parts out of it and changing
it about so that men stumble, not upon the Word, but upon man's
things. When our Lord was on earth, he
charged the Jews then that they taught for commandments the traditions
of men. They put traditions of men on
a level with or above the word of God. They made some well over
600 commandments of their own, religiously, washing of cups
and things like that. And yet they didn't show mercy
to the poor. They strained at a gnat, swallowed
a camel, took great care over some things, but completely neglected
others. And we must be very careful that
there be nothing put in the way of a feeling sinner, one in need,
one in need. And so when we have the word
before us, it begins with a for thus, as a following on from
the word cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up
the stumbling block out of the way of my people, implying that
there is a stumbling block, there was one there, but take it up
out of the way, let it not be. a stumbling block. You know,
many have had it in various ways. We think of when Philip said
to Nathanael, we have found him, of whom Moses and the prophets
did write, Jesus of Nazareth. Then Nathanael's reaction was,
can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Nazareth was a despised
place. And his question suggested that
there was a hindrance there, a block to his receiving the
word that Philip was speaking to him. And Philip was very wise. And in answer to his question,
can there come any good thing, he says, come and see. Come and see. I'm not going to
stand here and argue with you and to take away this objection,
but you just come and see. Not in a good way. Those that
may argue as to whether there is any good or blessing in the
word, in the house of God, in the worship, in gathering together. There is any. The hearing may be tonight. the answer to those objections,
come and see. Walk with us. Hear the word of
God. And you know, when Nathaniel
was coming, the Lord knew him and the Lord spoke to him. He said, Behold, an Israelite
indeed, in whom is no guile. And he said, Whence knowest thou
me? He said that before that Philip
called thee, when thou was under the fig tree, I saw thee. And
that was enough for Nathaniel. He realised a man that could
see him sitting under the fig tree, and we had one over in
Australia when we were children, you could sit underneath it and
someone could walk beside it, you'd never see underneath it.
The leaves were so big, draping right to the ground like a great
big canopy. And Nathaniel would have known
that only one who was God could have seen him from that distance
and under that tree. And it brought him to have all
those stumbling blocks, that hindrance taken out of the way. What is your stumbling block
this evening? What is mine? What are the objections
in our minds? What are the thoughts that go
through our head? What is it that stops us from
coming to the house of God or stops us from listening to the
word of God? They are the things that are
stumbling blocks and the word here has prefaced to our text
that these things be taken up out of the way of my people. And his people are described
in our text as being those that are contrite and humble. And there's a great contrast
in our text. It pictures the Lord so high
so great and yet he himself condescends to dwell in a very lowly place
even with his people and those that are humble and contrite
and not only dwell there but to work in their hearts reviving
them and blessing them. And so the word is a word of
comfort, a word a blessing for those that are described as contrite
and humble. What does contrite mean? It means feeling or expressing
remorse at the recognition that one has done wrong. Feeling or expressing remorse. Realizing that we have done wrong. That is one that is contrite. And what of humble humility? The definition is having or showing
a modest or low estimation of one's importance. The opposite
to pride. The Lord gave the parable of
the two men in the temple, a Pharisee and a publican. The Pharisee,
he prayed thus with himself, and he spake of all what he did,
his almsgiving, his goodness, and that he was not like other
men, even like this publican. He had a very high estimation
of himself and no petitions to God whatsoever. only able to
tell God what in his own eyes, how good he was. But the publican,
he stood afar off, beat upon his breast, would not so much
as look up to heaven and all he said was, God be merciful
to me a sinner. And the Lord said that that one,
he went down to his house justified or free from condemnation rather
than the other. And so the Lord gave a practical
illustration of what it was to be humble and also to be contrite,
feeling to need mercy and have nothing to say regarding one's
own works at all. So I want to look at the three
things that there are to consider in this verse with the help of
the Lord. The first thing is the one speaking. The one speaking, this is how
the text begins. For thus saith the High and Lofty
One, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy. He is the one that is speaking. Secondly, his dwelling places. We're told that he inhabiteth
eternity, but also that he dwells in the high and holy place, but
also with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit. There's two
dwelling places, very, very different to each other, we might say,
that are spoken of in our text. And then thirdly his reviving
work where he dwells in that contrite and humble one. It is to revive the spirit of
the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Firstly we have the one that
is speaking. God speaks to us through his
holy word. In the epistle to the Hebrews,
it opens with these words, God who at sundry times and in diverse
manners, now it's various times and different ways, spake in
time past unto the fathers by the prophets, our text. is by
the prophet Isaiah. Hath in these last days, that
is gospel days, the days from Christ's first coming to his
second coming, when the gospel is being preached, these are
the last days. They shall end with the end of
the world and the Lord's second coming. Spoken unto us by his
son, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he hath appointed heir of
all things, by whom also he made the worlds." Yes, creation is
not only spoken of in Genesis, but here again in Hebrews and
just about every book in the Holy Word of God. And we're told
that God has spoken to us by his Son, not only in the words
that he used, while upon earth, but in all of the word of God,
because the written and the incarnate word is the same. And he speaks through his son
in the ministry of the word. We are to preach the word of
God. And the apostle says that he
determined to know nothing among men save Jesus Christ and him
crucified. We have in the 12th chapter of
Hebrews, and verse 25, that, See that ye refuse not him that
speaketh. For if they escape not who refused
him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we
turn away from him that speaketh from heaven. whose voice then
shook the earth." And he's going back to in the wilderness at
Mount Horeb, when the law of God was given, when it thundered
with thundering and lightning and fire upon the mountain, and
the Ten Commandments were given, the holy law of God, and they
could not endure that sight. And we are told that, "...whose
voice then shook the earth, but now he hath promised, saying
yet once more, I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word yet once more signifieth
the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things
that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. And he goes on, Wherefore we
receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace,
whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear,
for our God is a consuming fire." This is He who is speaking in
our text. This is the Word of the Living
God. The Apostle, when he writes to
the Thessalonians, he said he received the Word not as the
word of man, but as it is in truth, the word of God. And our Lord said, he sent forth
his servants, he sent them forth as ambassadors, he sent them
forth and said, he that heareth you, heareth me, and he that
heareth me, heareth him that sent me. The Lord speaks through
the word and through his servants to the one speaking that we have
set before us is the God of heaven and earth who speaks through
his beloved Son. But we have the description here,
for thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity. We cannot grasp eternity. We are in time which has been
created And at the end of the world we shall hear those words
that there be time no more. We tend to describe eternity
in terms of time. That after there has been a million
years, then there is still eternity to go on. There is no beginning
and no ending. And we cannot comprehend that. We cannot comprehend that. even
in distance. We are used to this world. If
we go east, then eventually we will get back to where we started
from, though we didn't go west. And if we go west, then we'll
end up back where we started from, though we didn't go east.
Because we live on a globe, in one sense there is no beginning
or end. And yet in all our travels, we
are used to having a destination and starting and ending. But
if we were to go into space, where would we find the end?
We go on and on and on and cannot picture what it would be to have
an end to space. and into one galaxy and then
another galaxy we cannot, our poor minds cannot grasp it at
all. And our text endeavours to set
before us the greatness of God, high and lofty one, whose height
is greatness, where we cannot fathom When Solomon dedicated
the temple, the beautiful temple built at Jerusalem, then he said
that the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. How much less this
temple that I have built it, and will God in very deed dwell
upon the earth? Well, God did in our Lord Jesus
Christ. God manifest in the flesh, Emmanuel
God with us but we are reminded in the word that is here of the
greatness of God and we've sung of it in our first hymn and the
scriptures are full of this. Fallen man will pull God down
from his throne but is good for especially the people of God,
to never forget who their God is, his greatness, his eternity. He is the everlasting God, the
eternal God, the God who has power to make the sun, the moon,
the stars, and yet power to make the smallest things like the
virus, that has been running through the earth, that man with
his naked eye cannot see, and yet has such power and devastating
effect upon men. These things are so great and
they bear testimony to the greatness of God. And it is the one here
that is speaking, thus saith the high God, has spoken, he
has not remained silent, he has not left man ignorant of his
will, or of the creation, or what has been done and what will
be done upon the earth. These things are revealed to
us and shown to us and told us in the holy word of God. The Lord said that heaven and
earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. or thus saith the High and Lofty
One, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. Whose name is holy. When our
Lord came upon this earth, God incarnate, God made manifest
in the flesh, born of a virgin, that virgin Mary, she testified
in this way and she says that my soul doth magnify the Lord
and she speaks of his holiness and of his greatness and how
holy and great he is. When the Lord was brought into
the temple and when the blessing was upon him, then we have both
Simeon and Anna also speaking of that child, of what he was
and how great he was and how holy he was. Now, if Mary testified of that,
how much more should we also do so and remember that our God
is a holy God? How would we describe holiness? Really, we have many illustrations
through the Old Testament. We certainly have in the prophecies,
Ezekiel, the angels of heaven and the cherubims crying, holy,
holy, holy Lord God of hosts. We have His holiness that none
could approach unto Him except the priests and not without blood. The ark was never to be seen
except the priest once a year, the veil over it, Those things
that are so sacred, so pure, so opposite to sin and defilement
and uncleanness. The world really has no idea
of the holiness of God, the purity of God. He that says that the thought
of foolishness is sin. He that even would speak of the
most holy and most pure on earth as being but vile and unclean. He cannot look upon iniquity
or sin without utter abhorrence. We have the picture of the lambs
that were sacrificed in the Old Testament and that they had to
be pure without blemish. No mark, no scuff, no change
in colour, no cut. Everything had to be perfect
and pure. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
that holy, harmless, spotless Lamb of God. But God is holy
in such a way that man have no idea on it. We are so fallen
and all of this world in all of its lies and lusts and sins
and vileness and uncleanness in its language, in its thoughts,
its attentions, its godlessness, is totally unholy, a total contrast
to this holy God. In the epistles of Peter, the Lord speaks to us and uses
his own holiness as a reason why that we also are to be holy. In his first epistle, Peter says
in chapter 1, As obedient children, not fashioning
yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, But
as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner
of conversation, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am
holy. He is the holy spotless God, and
it is he that is speaking here. or thus saith the High and Lofty
One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. Jehovah, but that name that is
given, which is a name which is above every name, the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, that name is holy as well. Men seem to Just turn away from
that and not realise that just because of the condescension
of God and because the Lord Jesus Christ is the one mediator between
God and man, the man Christ Jesus, that for some reason then he
is not as holy as God the Father, but he is truly God and truly
holy. and pure and spotless and as
much to be reverenced and feared and esteemed as God the Father. We should never look upon the
Lord as any less holy and so we have here whose name is holy
and we are given that name in the Church of God as the name
of Jesus. Well, this is he who is speaking. The one who spoke in John 10,
my sheep, they hear my voice and they follow me. The one who
speaks in John 14 and says, if you've seen me, you've seen my
father also. I and my Father are one, it is
him. He that appeared to Moses in
the burning bush and said, put off the shoes from off thy feet,
the ground were on thou standest, his holy ground. And Moses feared
to look upon God. The bush it burned with fire,
but was not consumed. The Lord spake to him from the
bush, brought him to go to the children of Israel and by him
brought them out of Egypt and to their own land. This then is the one who is speaking
and maybe before we move from this point reflect on that and
upon what we read in Hebrews that when we gather together
in the house of God we are to listen to the Word of the Lord. Certainly, when the Word of God
is read, we are reading the pure, inerrant, infallible Word of
God, pure as given from Him. When the Word is preached, in
as far as the Word is preached, then we also are hearing the
Word of God. And God has ordained that way.
that he should save sinners and save men through the preaching
of the word. And though men, messengers, might
be used, yet it is the Lord that speaks through them. When Naaman came to be healed,
to Elisha, Elisha sent a servant to give him his words of direction. And Naaman at first was offended
that he should only send a servant, and so wouldn't do what was required,
to go and wash in Jordan seven times. But when he'd gone away
in a rage, then his own servants pacified his anger and prevailed
upon him to go and do as the servant had said. The man of
God had said through the servant's voice, and Naaman was healed
of his leprosy. We likewise should receive the
Word of God, truly as the Word of God. How many today, most
solemn, when the Word of God is preached, when the Word of
God is spoken in this land, that they will attack the messenger,
or make out that the Word that is spoken is not the God of heaven
and of earth, He that is the high and lofty one, inhabited
in eternity, whose name is holy. There is not a fearing that God
who speaks. It is like the king of Israel
that took a penknife and that cut the word of God because he
did not like to hear what it said. There's a lot of cutting
today. May the Lord deliver us from
doing that. Cutting out what we don't want
to hear. We all can be guilty of it. We
can. The one speaking. But secondly,
his dwelling places. There's not just one place that's
spoken of here. I dwell in the high and holy
place. Heaven itself. When the Lord
ascended up into heaven, we read that he ascended into heaven
itself to make intercession for us. He dwells now in these gospel
days in that high and holy place. God inhabit of eternity, our
Lord ascended But He promised that He would be with us unto
the end of the world by His Spirit and by His grace. Lo, I am with
you always, even unto the end of the world. And so we have
two dwelling places. That is what is sat before us
here, two dwelling places. One in the high and holy place
and the other here in this earth, but not just anywhere in this
earth, but also with him, with a person. With him also that
is of a contrite and humble spirit. We read the Lord delighteth in
the habitable part of his earth. I thought of that last evening. driving through Luton, heading
up to Clifton to preach. And Luton's a very busy place,
especially in the latter part of the afternoon. And personally, I much rather
prefer the country and the town where we are. But as I thought
that, I thought, yes, but the word says that he delights in
the habitable part of his earth. where lots of people are, where
men, where women are. And yes, even if it be in places
where predominantly there may be much ungodliness and wickedness,
yet we know God has his people in every nation, kindred and
tongue. And he delights in those places
where his people are, where men are. The Lord didn't come to
convert. trees and mountains and rivers
and streams. He came to save sinners, men,
women, children, those that he came to save. And here it divides
amongst them, amongst mankind, and it gives a character in which
we have already given that definition, those that are contrite, that
are expressing remorse, recognising that they've done wrong, realising
that they've sinned, like David when he was convinced of his
sin of adultery and murder. I have sinned, he said. And Nathan
immediately says, the Lord hath also put away thy sin, thou shalt
not die. Man by nature says, I have done
no sin. I've done nothing wrong. I'm
a good person. The Lord will accept me. But those that God has already
opened their eyes, taught them what they really are in his sight,
they are contrite. This is a blessing God has given
in the new birth. It is a blessing that he has
given when he's passed by his people and bid them live spiritually. that they see themselves as God
sees them, and it brings them to remorse, brings them with
great regret and sorrow at what they have done. And then it makes
them also to have a very low opinion of themselves. Instead
of setting themselves up above men, they realize They can't
see other men's hearts, but they know their own. They may see
other men's outward sins, but they feel very much their own
inward ones, and they know their outward ones as well. And it
takes down those thoughts of our own importance and greatness. You know, even the dear disciples,
you could see, there's those times they'd Divisions amongst themselves,
who should be the greatest? But when the Lord's work is in
the heart, then it humbles. And we can be sure of this, wherever
there is pride and a lifting up, whatever the badge, whatever
the name, whatever the profession, it doesn't bear the stamp of
contrite and humble. Try the spirits, whether they
are of God. Sometimes we might not be able
to discern whether something is right or wrong, whether one
person is right or another person is right. But if we try the spirit
and look upon what the spirit is, then very often we get our
answer of where the truth lies and where the right is. and it
is these contrite and humble ones. With him also that is of
a contrite and humble spirit. That's where the Lord dwells.
There couldn't really be a greater contrast, could there? And yet
really the Lord knows these contrasts even in his own voluntary humbling
himself and making himself of no reputation becoming obedient
even unto death, the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath
highly exalted him, given him a name which is above every name. The Lord Jesus Christ walked
that path from his greatness to humility and from his position
in heaven to that upon earth as a servant. born in a stable,
born to a poor family, and despised and rejected of men. But God's dear children, they
are also to have that same spirit. The Lord says that, take my yoke
upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart,
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. to these two dwelling
places. And we may ask ourselves, has
the Lord, by his grace and work, made us to have this character? And if we haven't this character,
is our prayer, Lord, make this to be my character. Let me not
deceive myself to think myself something when I'm nothing, to
not be ashamed of my sin, and those things that I've done.
If we value the presence of the Lord, and that he should not
just, as a transition, just come and go quickly, but dwell. Dwell in the hearts of his people. He dwells above, he dwells with
his people. It's a beautiful assurance to
those that feel contrite and humble. The Lord dwells with
you, you might not feel it, you might not realise it, but he
does. That is what is set before us
here. Not, I might dwell. He uses the
same description of dwelling in the high and holy place as
he does with that of a contrite. He doesn't say, I might dwell
in the high and holy place, I might dwell with him of a contrite
and humble spirit, but I dwell in, and that applies to both. So his dwelling places. Our third point then, his reviving
words. Not only does the Lord dwell
in the contrite and humble person that has a spirit that is humble
and contrite, but it is to revive the spirit of the humble and
to revive the heart of the humble ones. God's work in his people
is a reviving work. a work that gives life from the
dead. The Apostle Paul, he said that
he was alive without the law once, that is when he was a Pharisee
and he didn't realise that he was a sinner at all. He was alive
then, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And he asked the question, how
was that then? made good to me that then it
killed me. Really, the blessing of God's
life in his soul was first evidence by death. And we may say that
the first evidence of life in a soul is to bring one to see
their sin, fall under it, acknowledge the condemnation, And to bow
before God, putting in this place really like the publican, God,
be merciful to me, a sinner. And in that position, the Lord
comes and dwells in that soul and revives that soul. Not by
showing them some supposed goodness in themselves. Say, look, you're
not quite as bad as what you think. I didn't really mean as
bad. No, not that. but pointing to his own righteousness,
pointing to such verses like this, that his presence is with
his people. However low they may feel, however
much of a sinner they feel, his presence is there. And why? Because he has redeemed them,
he has shed his blood on Calvary, he has satisfied the justice
of God, He has taken away the wrath of God. He has done that
which brings God and sinners reconciled. Where is there reconciliation? When God says he is holy and
upright and man is sinful, the man says, I'm not so sinful and
you're not as high and mighty and holy anyway. What different
thoughts man has by nature to what God has. But when God works,
then man's thoughts are the same as God's thoughts and there's
no jar. And the reviving of the spirit
is when the Lord shows his dear people that justice is done at
Calvary and that the Lord can have mercy upon them for all
their sin and all their iniquity and all that they've done and
can forgive and pardon and blot out their transgressions. We
have in one John those beautiful words, if we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. That those things that we think,
however can we change? We sin by habit, we sin by practice,
we are defiled through and through. But the Lord, He can cleanse
the heart. He can change. He can calm the
mad Gadarene that couldn't be tamed in any other way. He can
give sight to the blind. He can give full strength to
the lame. He it is that blots out the sins
of His people and revives their soul, showing them that all is
settled The debt is paid, heaven is prepared for them. The Lord
is their God, he is their saviour, he is their redeemer. Do we know
what it is to have our spirits revived? We've looked for death
and the Lord has come and given life. We've expected the rod
and the Lord has come and blessed us in our souls. He has given
us and helped us in providence. He's visited us through the ministry. He's softened our hearts. He's
filled us with the love of God, shed abroad in the heart by the
Holy Ghost. You now therefore have sorrow,
but I see you again. Your heart shall rejoice. How
the dear disciples were revived when the Lord appeared to them.
And so it is with us and through
the ministry and through the Word. No soul is ever revived
and blessed that did not first fall down as a guilty, hell-deserving
sinner. And the hymn writer says, sinners
can say a none but they, how precious is the Saviour. Are you dealing with sin, groaning
under it, trying to revive yourself? You never do that. and be mercy
if we can't do it. The place is to acknowledge our
sin, confess it, and bow before the Lord and own it, and to be
humbled on account of it, and to be filled with remorse for
it. But here is the work that our
Lord says He does in that heart. He doesn't just come and dwell
in the heart and there be no effect. He revives them, revives the
spirit of the humble, revives the heart of the contrite ones,
gives life from the dead, strengthens them again. Now David, they found
the Egyptian in the field when Ziklag had been burned with fire
and he was half dead. They came and they gave him figs. They gave him food. They gave
him water. His spirit revived. And then he was able to speak
to them. Then he was able to point them to where the captives
were. But he needed reviving first. And now he needs reviving. Now
he needs strengthening again, lifting up. The Lord not only
convinces and casts down and brings us to be as sinners guilty,
under condemnation. But he brings to that beautiful
chapter eight in Romans, there is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. Well, may the Lord bless us with
hearing, hearing the ones speaking in this text, and being of the
character that he dwells with, and to be encouraged that his
work it is to revive us and to strengthen us and bless us. May
it be so personally, may it be as churches, as the people of
God, oh revive us. How the church, how the people
of God cry to the Lord for that. that they might be strengthened,
that they might have fresh life poured upon their souls. Well, may the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.