Okay, as I said earlier, it's
Isaiah 52 we're looking at first. When Angus approached me to preach,
I was in two minds whether or not that I would. It was mainly
because I had a lot going on and I really felt overwhelmed
by all the difficulties of life at the time. You see, so often
our lives sail along quite well, don't they? We look at our situation,
we evaluate our resources, we decide how to deal with a problem,
and then we deal with it as best we can. And most of these things
get sorted out without too much fuss, but sadly, they're sorted
out in our own strength. And we don't think much about
the Lord or His ways at all in them. Now that's just the natural
man walking in his own wisdom and strength. But what happens
when big things come along, things that bombard us with situations
far too big for us to handle? What happens when these problems
are so numerous that we just become overwhelmed with a multitude
of impossibilities all at the one time that crush us and that
leave us without a solution? In the world's eyes, even in
our own eyes, we seem to be in the weakest, most helpless and
hopeless condition. But for those the Lord loves,
we're actually in the most blessed condition, because these are
the times that our great God comes and He empties us of our
own self-confidence and very graciously turns our attention
back to Him. When Angus asked me to preach,
I'd already been considering all these things, particularly
the sovereignty of God in them. So I accepted, trusting that
if there was gonna be a message, just like every other week, it'd
have to come from the Lord. Now, a verse I'd been thinking
of was Romans 11.36, and we will get to that after the break.
The verse is simply, for of him, and through him and to him are
all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. And as I said, I do want
to speak about it after the break, but for now I just want to consider
Isaiah 52, and particularly I want to consider or encourage you
in how we process or how we consider the sovereignty of God in our
own lives, and within this world. God always sees his people, there's
no doubt about it. He sees all things all the time.
But what I mean, he does shepherd his people perfectly. He allows them to wander and
he allows them to fall just like all sheep do. But when these
things happen in the lives of the people the Lord loves, even
the worst of them are purposed in grace and love for our well-being. You see, he is faithful in all
things to his people. We just naturally drift away
from remembering that, don't we? We walk in the strength of
our flesh, And we become overwhelmed with the consequences of that. And in unbelief, we just forget
His faithfulness. Brothers and sisters, the Gospel,
by the power of the Holy Spirit, has been sent to remind us that
our eternal salvation rests completely in the character of our God.
So let's look at Isaiah 52, first verse. Awake, awake, put on my
strength, O Zion, put on my beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy
city, for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised
and the unclean. This is the call of the gospel
to the true church of God as our God begins to draw us to
himself. Awake. out of that Genesis 3
spiritual slumber, and put on thy strength and beautiful garments."
Now, did you notice there that he describes it as our strength
and our beautiful garments? I don't know about you, but there's
often a time I have no idea that I've got any strength and certainly
no beauty, and especially in my most depleted times. How,
if salvation is of grace, can we even put on this strength
and beauty? It's that call, that Gospel call,
to faith, isn't it? Strengthened by God the Holy
Spirit in faith, we embrace the work and worth of our Saviour
as all our strength before a God who by His very character must
be infinitely offended by our sin. Have a think about that.
We also see again by faith that the Lord Jesus Christ is all
our righteousness before an infinitely holy God and that he presents
us as eternally perfect in our Father's presence. Zion, Jerusalem,
the Holy City, they're all descriptions of the true church of God, aren't
they? The church of the inner man. And while Israel, as all nations
in this world, was a mixture of faith and unbelief, not so
in true Israel. This Israel is pure, because
the only entry into the presence of our God is this way. in the substitution of his son.
The only governing principle recognised in this church by
every single member of this church, through their own personal experience
of God in truth, is the rule and the reign of the Lord Jesus
Christ, especially in our eternal salvation. Verse two, shake thyself from
the dust. Arise and sit down, O Jerusalem. Loose thyself from the bands
of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. The cause to set aside the dust
of this world, the dust of carnal thinking and unbelief, the dust
that so easily clings to us. The cause to lift up your eyes
from the things of this world and set your minds on things
in heaven. again by faith. It's a call to sit down at peace
with God in faith that the Lord's work has set us free from the
oppression of Satan and our own sin. It's a call to loose the
bands of Satan and those fleshly religious ideas that men imagine
in their own heads. and to rely on the freedom and
liberty that we have before our God, promised and fulfilled in
His Son. Verses three and four. For thus
saith the Lord, ye have sold yourselves for naught, and ye
shall be redeemed without money. For thus says the Lord God, my
people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there, and the
Assyrian oppressed them without cause. Here Egypt represents
Satan, this fallen world of sin, and the bondage of sustaining
ourselves in it. The Assyrians, a great representation
of the oppression, which naturally comes as a direct result of our
sin. And while so many of the trials
and troubles of this life are the direct consequences of our
sin, there's a greater illustration here, isn't there? In Genesis
3, we rejected the grace of God. We sided with Satan, and by our
actions, we actually blasphemed God. And you know what? We've
done it every day of our life since. We rejected the grace
of God, choosing to rest our immortal souls on our newfound
knowledge of good and evil. The biggest trouble with that
is we died spiritually at the same time, and we lost all discernment
of the most important characteristic of our salvation. The character of God. See, we
have to appease Him. We don't even know Him. But what amazing news is in this
passage. While we actually have no profit
from our knowledge of good and evil, and our sin-filled attempts
to justify ourselves before God, Our great God has already forgiven
us all our sins, and He's reconciled us to Himself in His Son by free,
sovereign grace. Verse 5. Now therefore, what
have I here, saith the Lord, that my people is taken away
for naught? They that rule over them make them to howl, saith
the Lord. And my name continually, every
day, is blasphemed. Now do you notice the priority
here? The biggest issue is not so much the physical condition
of God's people, but the blasphemy of God's holy name. It's God's
glory that's at stake here. We are who we are in the flesh,
and no matter what work our God works in us, our flesh remains
incurable. However, real salvation doesn't
lie in our worth or work. As we've just read, it relies
on a miraculous saving activity of our God. Now you can take
this one to the bank. Salvation is not based in any
way on the nature of the creature. It's based on the very nature
of our God. He chose the people for himself.
He attached his name to them in faithfulness. He knew their
needs and what was necessary for their salvation. He provided
for their salvation in His precious Son, and in infinite judgement
He was and He will always be satisfied. Let's remember that while their
condition was obviously seen and cared for by the Lord, you
can look up there in verse 5, He notices their condition, He
notices their howling. His primary concern, especially
in regard to our eternal salvation, is wrapped up in the very character
of God. He must remain faithful or all
salvation is lost. Of course, more than that, he
must remain faithful. It's more certain than anything
else because it's actually who he is and he can't change. Verse six, therefore, now because
of this dilemma, this issue about God's holiness and his glory
and the glory of his name, it's amazing. He gets motivated and
I'm very thankful for it, but look at what he does. Therefore,
because these nations are blaspheming his name, His answer is, my people shall
know my name. Therefore they shall know in
that day that I am he that doth speak. Behold his eye. That's great relief for the saints
of God, isn't it? These therefores that God gives
us. Therefore I will reveal myself intimately and personally. That's
what he's saying. Therefore, I will reveal myself
in this way, so they will know that I am the God of all things,
and that they have found favour in my sight." How does our God
do this? Where do we hear his voice? How
does he speak so personally to us? Well, it's in the Gospel,
isn't it? It's in the good news of our
salvation. Which brings us to verse 7. Now,
verse 7, it's a lovely verse. It's a very, very simple summary
of the Gospel. Paul uses it with this same argument
in that section that we'll have a look at after the break in
Romans 10. Let's read. Verse seven, how
beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth
good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings
of good, that publisheth salvation, that say unto Zion, thy God reigneth. See, it is an amazingly simple
summary of the gospel. But it's also the basis of all
our salvation. Thy God reigns. Attended and applied by the power
of God the Holy Spirit, personally and convincingly revealing to
us that in spite of the power of our enemies, in spite of the
weakness of our flesh, in spite of the impossibility of reconciling
ourselves to our God, Our God still reigns, and salvation,
as it's always been, rests alone in who our God is. Verse 8, thy
watchman shall lift up the voice, with the voice together they
shall sing, for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall
bring Zion again. In this church, all the members
are united, all agree as one, all know this Gospel personally,
all know this salvation personally, because all know their Saviour
personally. Our Saviour, by the power of
the one true Gospel, His Gospel, has been gathering His lost sheep
into this church from the very beginning. This is the church
of the one true God that can and does save to the uttermost. Which is why in verse 9 and 10
we break forth into joy, singing together, he wakes places of
Jerusalem. For the Lord hath comforted his
people. He hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord hath made bare his holy
arm in the eyes of all nations, and all the ends of the earth
shall see the salvation of our God. All the members of this
church sing that same song that they sing in heaven in Revelation
5. It's a song telling of the story
of the great grace they found in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
a song telling of his victory over all enemies. It's a song
that sings of his victory over the greatest enemy of all, and
it's not Satan, it's our sin. This is the source of greatest
comfort. This is the true spiritual comfort
of the saints as our saviour reveals peace with our God in
his redemption. Sure, there's a day coming where
all will see the salvation of the Lord, but even now, as the
Lord retrieves his lost sheep and as he gathers local churches
together, the surrounding world does see and at times even feel
something of the power of God in the salvation of his people.
You don't have to witness to someone who doesn't believe,
and you'll see the enmity rise up And this church, as with the
churches that the Lord gathers, stands as a beacon, it really
does, for the gospel, but it stands as condemnation for those
that gather around it, especially those that decide that in some
way they can speak ill of this church or ill of the Lord and
his churches. Verse 11, depart ye, depart ye,
go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing. Go ye out of
the midst of her, be ye clean that bear the vessels of the
Lord. This is a call for all lost sheep as the Lord begins
to draw them to leave the false religions of the world, to leave
that do and live mentality we took out of the garden, to leave
that false confidence in a fallen knowledge of good and evil. It's
a call to leave the world of unbelief and to rest all our
salvation on the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
also the call, just like Acts 1, It's the call to go and witness
that same gospel you've received faithfully and boldly. And we can do that because in
verse 12 or four, you shall not go out with haste, nor go by
flight. We won't be driven out, we won't
be confused, we won't be panicked. For the Lord will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. Because the Lord is all our strength,
he will get all the glory in every aspect of salvation. We won't be deceived or manipulated. We don't need to defend ourselves.
We can't order circumstances, we can't prepare hearts, we don't
even know what hearts need. But as our God strengthens us
in our faith, we walk trusting in his precious promises. And
as we do, we grow in the grace and knowledge of this son. The saints of God are graciously
led and guided by our great shepherd. They're protected on all sides
from all hindrances, both physically and more importantly spiritually.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God in the Lord Jesus
Christ, because He is all our salvation. We don't have anything to fear
in this world. Brothers and sisters, this is
the basis of all our salvation, the work and the worth of the
Lord Jesus Christ at the cross, Christ and him crucified, and
we need to see him in that capacity. Here is where God's glory is
best seen, where all his attributes converge and shine brightest. This is where God himself, even
in his most vulnerable state, triumphed over every enemy and
secured and revealed the eternal redemption and everlasting righteousness
of every chosen child of God. So 13 to the end of the chapter
is a description of this great victory. Behold, my servant shall
deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled
and be very high. As many as were astonished at
thee, his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form
more than the sons of men. So shall he sprinkle many nations.
The kings shall shut their mouths at him, for that which had not
been told them shall they see. And that which they had not heard
shall they consider. We finish this chapter with our
Saviour in a similar place to us, appearing weak and beggarly. We see Him touched, really touched,
with the feelings of our infirmities. And if you read on in Isaiah
53, the Holy Spirit reveals both the intricacies and the sufficiency
of this great victory over Satan, sin, and any other threat to
the union of God and his people. There are so many physical types
and illustrations describing this salvation, but all of them,
all of them are speaking of a greater spiritual salvation seen at the
cross. So we also finish this chapter
with an amazing assurance, don't we? An assurance that even in
what the world would call his lowest state, our Lord Jesus
Christ secured the eternal salvation of every child of God. And while
this was a very real historic fact, more to the point, it was
a spiritual event that had eternal consequences. Our Saviour's work
not only saved all God's children, He declared the principle and
the foundation of God's eternal union with His people. And in
doing so, He revealed our God in His greatest glory. I just
want to finish by reading 2 Corinthians 4, 6 to give us something to
Think about it while we have a cuppa today. It reads, for
God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has
shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Amen.