And let's turn in our Bibles
to Isaiah chapter 65. Isaiah 65. In the first seven verses we
saw that our Lord dealt with this subject of reprobation. And then He began speaking to
His people. And then He returns now in our text to the subject
of reprobation once again. Now, our Lord wouldn't return
to this subject if it wasn't needful and if it wasn't important. We're going to look here at what
the Lord has to say. This is an important message
for young and old. Young people grow up and they
get to the point where they can move out and get on their own,
move to different cities. And these are good things to
hear because we see the importance of meeting with God's people
under the sound of the gospel. It's of utmost importance. And
it's good for anybody to hear this. It's good for every believer
to be reminded of these things. Let's look and read verses 11
and 12 together. But ye are they that forsake
the Lord, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table
for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering under that
number. Therefore will I number you to the sword, and you shall
all bow down to the slaughter. Because when I called, you did
not answer. When I spake, you did not hear. But did evil before mine eyes,
and did choose that wherein I delighted not. Our subject is the cause
of reprobation. And again, I want us to see that
reprobation is caused by the sinner. It's caused by the sinner. We worship a holy and just God,
and He does nothing that's not just. And reprobation is God's
work of hardening sinners, hardening their hearts, due to the sinner's
willful rejection of the Lord God. In our text, he makes five
charges. Five charges. These are five
imputations. These are five reckonings. And
he declares this is why he's turning them over to reprobation. Almost everybody in Israel. Now,
reprobation. I want you to get this point.
Reprobation is just. It's just because men are guilty
sinners. who have rejected Christ for
their own works and their own will. It's a just reprobation
by God because it's the sinner's own fault. Now, first of all,
God's first charge, verse 11. He says, "...Ye are they that
forsake the Lord." "...Ye are they that forsake the Lord."
Now, God gave Israel advantage over every other nation in this
world. That one nation, He gave advantage
over every other Gentile nation in the world. He gave them the
law of commandments. Look over at Romans 3. Hold your
place here and go to Romans 3. He gave them the law of commandments
by which we see our sin. He declares us guilty in our
sin. Romans 3.19 says, Now we know what things soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before
God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in its sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin." That's what the Ten Commandments teach
you, the knowledge of your sin. Paul said, I had not known sin,
but by the law. For I had not known lust, except
the law said, Thou shalt not covet. But we never try to earn
a righteousness by the law. We never try to become sanctified
by the law. The law is to give us a knowledge
of our sin. He gave them the Ten Commandments
and he gave them the ceremonial law. Turn over to Hebrews 10.
By that law we see a shadow. And in that shadow, we see that
there's no approaching God except through faith in Christ our High
Priest, our Lamb, our Mercy Seeker. Hebrews 10.1 says, the law, having
a shadow, a shadow, being a type, being a picture of good things
to come, not the very image of the things, can never, with those
sacrifices which they offered year by year, continually, Make
the comers there unto perfect. It couldn't make those folks
perfect, those blood of bulls and goats. But look down to verse
7. Then said I, Christ speaking, Lo, I come. Now look at the parentheses
in the volume of the book. And all that Old Testament law
is spoken, it's written of me. It's written of me. I come to
do thy will, O God. He came to do the will of God
and He did it. And He did it. He did it for a chosen people. God's true people. And then God
sent them the prophets. Go over to Romans 3 with me now.
He sent them the prophets. And the prophets' message was a two-fold message. The prophets'
message is the same thing that we preach today. It was all flesh
is grass and thy God reigneth. All flesh is grass, and thy God
reigneth. Now Paul asks a question here
in Romans 3, 1. What advantage then hath the
Jew? Seeing God gave him all this,
what advantage does he have? What profit is there of circumcision? Much every way. Much every way. Chiefly because that unto them
were committed the oracles of God. Now brethren, the same is
true of everybody sitting here today. God has established a
church in our midst where the gospel is preached. And we'd
be wise to remain under the sound of that gospel. This is so very
important. It's just so very important. Never turn your back on the Lord.
Never forsake the Lord. Whatever you do. He has given
us great advantage. It would be worse for somebody
here to turn their back and leave the gospel than it would be for
somebody that never heard it. Because we have had it. We have
got great advantage. Alright? Second charge now in our text.
He says, You are they that forget my holy mountain. Isaiah 65,
11, you're they that forget my holy mountain. Alright, let's
go to Hebrews 12. Under the old covenant, God's
holy mountain was Mount Zion. It's where Jerusalem was. It's where God's temple stood.
It's where God commanded His high priest to come yearly and
atone, make atonement for Israel through the blood of a lamb at
the mercy seat. Well, that earthly mountain was
nothing but a type. It was a shadow. It was a shadow. That earthly mountain represented
God's true mountain. It represented God's true holy
mountain. Mount Zion, heavenly Mount Zion,
heavenly Jerusalem, where God dwells. It represents the true
universal church of God made up of all God's elect throughout
all time. Look here with me, Hebrews 12,
18. ye are not come unto the mount
that might be touched, and that burn with fire, nor unto blackness,
and darkness, and tempest." That's speaking of Mount Sinai on earth.
You could touch that mountain. And that mountain and all the
old covenant it was given there at that mountain, and all the
old covenant that was given had earthly priests, and earthly
lambs, and earthly sacrifices, and an earthly mountain, and
an earthly tabernacle, and everything was earthly. But, look at verse
22. But you're come unto Mount Zion. This mountain can't be touched.
Unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to
an innumerable company of angels. to the general assembly, the
general congregation, the universal church of the firstborn, which
are written in heaven. That's where our names are written.
That's where the membership is written. And to God, the judge
of all. And to the spirits of just men
made perfect. And to Jesus, the mediator of
the new covenant. See, this is a new covenant.
Everything's new about this covenant, and you've come to the blood
of sprinkling that speaks better things to that of Abel. This
is the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now watch this. See that
you refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escape not who refused
Him that spake on earth, our Lord in our text He's speaking
here and He's saying, I spoke to you on earth, I've spoken
to you through some earthly types and shadows, and they refused
Him. But they didn't prevail. They
didn't prevail. God eventually destroyed Jerusalem,
that earthly Jerusalem. And He says here now, 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. That's where this mountain is
in heaven. This is where he's speaking from
now. So hear God's word. He says, go back to Hebrews 10.
I want you to see something there. This is what God said. When the
gospel is preached, it's Christ speaking from heaven. He says,
refuse not him that speaketh. And when the gospel is being
preached by one of God's sent messengers, true messengers,
Christ is preaching. He's speaking. He said, where
two or three are gathered, there I am in the midst of them. That's
where He's gathered His people. He promised to be there in the
midst of them. It's Him that's speaking. So if we have opportunity
to come hear the gospel, and we don't come hear the gospel,
we're basically saying, I don't care about hearing Christ speak.
I don't care about hearing Him speak. Now I understand there's
times we cannot come because of physical infirmities or what
have you, but if we could come, and we don't, we're saying, I
don't care about hearing Christ speak. Men who forsake Christ always
forsake the assembly. They always do. And listen, if
you break God's law, if you break God's holy law, there's still
a remedy for that, the Lord Jesus Christ. If you forsake this gospel,
assembling together with God's saints under the sound of the
gospel. There's no more. You forsake Christ, there's nothing
else. Look here, Hebrews 10, verse 26. If we sin willfully,
this is just what he's talking about here, if we turn and walk
away from it after we've received the knowledge of the truth, if
we willfully forsake assembling to hear the gospel of Christ,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. but a certain fearful
looking for of judgment and fiery indignations which shall devour
the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses. How much sore punishment,
suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot
the Son of God? and hath counted the blood of
the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and
hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace. For we know God has
said that vengeance belongs to me. I will recompense, saith
the Lord." You see that word? I will recompense. I will repay
whatever wages a man has earned, turning his back on me, willfully
rejecting me. I will repay that man. That's
what we're seeing in our text. He said, I'm going to pay you
because you rejected me. You rejected me. It's a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And this is
what I say, you ever have to move first things first. Find you a place you can hear
the gospel preached in truth. I can tell you some places all
over this nation. and where you can go hear the
gospel preached. But that's first things first, because that's
the most important thing of all, is to be where you can hear the
gospel preached. Christ is not going to lose one of His sheep
now. Now, don't misunderstand the text there. We're not talking
about those that He's regenerated and given life and given faith.
He's not going to lose one of His sheep. But here's what He
said. John said, they went out from
us, but they were not of us. If somebody can leave the gospel
of Christ, they never were born of God's grace. For if they had
been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. That's
what God's people are going to do. But they went out that they
might be made manifest they were not all of us. Alright, here's
the third charge. Back in our text, verse 11. You
are they that prepare a table for that troop and that furnish
the drink offering under that number. Now this is the charge
of idolatry. The charge of idolatry. You're
furnishing drink offerings unto false gods and what have you.
Now, Israel forsook God. Israel forsook God. But Israel
didn't stop being religious. They didn't stop being religious.
They just forsook the true and living God. In fact, they were
very zealous in religion. Paul acknowledges that in Romans
10. And he said, but it's in ignorance.
He said, they've been ignorant of the righteousness of God.
have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God,
but they're going about to establish their own righteousness by their
works, by their offerings, by their deeds. Christ is the end
of the law. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. But they didn't stop being religious. Look at Isaiah 1. In fact, many
of them forsook God's holy mountain. Now, hang on to you. Hang on
to your britches. They forsook God's holy mountain
while they were in God's holy mountain. They went to His temple
and offered the sacrifices He said to offer. And yet they had
forsaken God and forsaken His holy mountain. Why? Because the
worship of God is a heart thing. And they drew near to Him with
the mouth, but their heart was far from God. They were worshipping
the form and the ceremony, but they weren't worshipping Christ.
Just because we're religious doesn't mean we're born of God
and worship Christ. Just because we come to where
God's gospel is preached doesn't mean we're born of God and worshiping
Christ. Look here in Isaiah 1, verse 10. Look at this, what
he calls them. He's speaking to Israel. Hear
the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom. Give ear unto the law
of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. He's saying, don't you hear the
law declare you guilty. You can't come to Me in that
law. To what purpose is a multitude of your sacrifices unto Me, saith
the Lord? See, they're offering them to
Him. I'm full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts,
and I delight not in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of
he goats. Didn't He tell them to offer
that? Yes, He did. Yes, He did. But He told them
to offer this, coming to Him through that Lamb, believing
and trusting on Christ to come, on Christ to come. And that's
how all God's true saints of old worshipped Him. Though they
were using a lamb, they were worshipping Him looking to Christ.
These folks were coming to God looking to that physical lamb,
that animal, and thinking that animal was going to save them.
Listen to this, when you come to appear before me, who hath
required this at your hand to tread my courts? He's speaking
to them like they're strangers, aren't they? Bring no more vain
oblations, incenses, abomination unto me, the new moons and sabbaths,
the calling of assemblies. I cannot away with it, its iniquity,
even the solemn meeting. He goes on down to say there,
when you pray to me, I'll hide my eyes from you, my ears from
you. I won't hear you, because your hands are full of blood.
They were doing this in God's temple. in God's temple. So,
a person, you see, idolatry is in the mind. Idolatry is in the
heart. That's why God's gotta give us
a new heart and purge our conscience from dead works to serve the
living God because true worship's in the heart. Listen to this,
the hour cometh, Christ said, and now is, when the true worshipers
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father
seeketh such to worship Him. It doesn't mean He's just going
out looking for people that will worship Him in that manner. It
means that's how He makes His people to worship Him, by His
grace. God is a spirit and they that
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Paul
told the Philippians, he said, we're the circumcision which
worship God in spirit, in spirit. and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. That's a true Jew. That's a true
Jew. He's not a Jew which is one outwardly.
He's a Jew which is one inwardly. That's a true Jew. Alright, here's
God's fourth charge. Verse 12. He says, skip over
there to the last part of verse 12. He says, when I called, you
did not answer. When I spake, you did not hear.
When I called, you did not answer. When I spake, you did not hear.
Now, every time the gospel is preached, as I said to you before,
it's Christ speaking. And every time the gospel is
preached, there is a general call going out. And what I mean
by that is there's an effectual call, which He calls you by grace
in the heart. And then there's a general call
that goes out where everybody hears hearing what I'm preaching.
Well, every time that general call goes out, it's still God
speaking. It's still Christ speaking. And
He says here, when I called, you didn't answer. He says, when
I spake, you didn't hear. Now think about that. How many
times have you heard God call? How many times have you heard
God speak? And how many times have you turned from it and gone
home not picked up His Word to read what you heard, or not answered
Him by taking home the bulletin and studying the bulletin to
see, look into God's Word and see these things, or read the
sermon notes, or whatever thing is made available, you know.
That's what He's talking about here. You see, you have to be
saved by God's sovereign grace. That's the only way we're going
to be saved. It's all of free grace. But this is what Christ
said too. He said this, This is this is
my language, but he says walk in the light God will give you
and he'll give you more light And here's how he said it He
that hath to him shall be given Him that hath to him shall be
given see they had all these privileges But they wouldn't
God gave them just I'm not saying he gave them spiritual light
in their heart But he gave him some light when he gave him his
oracles, but they wouldn't even walk in that light See what I'm
saying? And the Lord said to him that
hath, to him shall be given. The man that walks in the light
God's given him, God will give him more light. And he'll find
out it's all by God's grace that he ever even walked in the light
to begin with. But the Lord said also, he that
hath not, he that doesn't walk in the light God's given him,
from him shall be taken even that which he hath. See, that's
a serious thing. If we won't walk in the light
God's given us, God will take that light away. Take that light
away. Alright, here's the fifth charge. Verse 12. And again, I want you to look
over towards the end there. He said right there at the end,
you did evil before mine eyes, and you did choose that wherein
I delighted not. That word choose, that's your
will. That's your will. That's my will.
And that word did, that's our works. That's our works. He says, you did evil, And you
did choose that wherein I delighted not. Now, we're never going to
be saved by our will and by our works. Never. Never. We'll never be saved by our will
and our works. Our will's polluted, our nature's
corrupted, and it'll only choose corrupt things. It'll only choose
that wherein God delights not. And our works, therefore, will
all be polluted with blood. vile, stinking, sinful blood. But, we'll never be saved by
our will and our work. But, if God leaves us to ourselves,
we'll be damned by our will and our works. So your will, look
here, you did choose that wherein I delight and I. See that? That's
the will. You did that wherein I delight
and I. That's works. What do men choose
rather than God? What do men delight in rather
than God? Tradition. Man's thoughts. I know lots of people, lots of
people who go to a church building because that's where their grandmother
went. That's where mom and daddy went. No other reason. That's
the only reason. It's just how we've always done
it. It's where we've always gone.
Self-righteous works rather than the righteousness of Christ given
through faith. You can't earn a righteousness.
Christ is the only righteousness of His people. Men will choose
a form of religion rather than Christ who is the power of true
religion. Many in our day, Paul said that
the last day there is going to come a time when many will have
a form of godliness, but they deny Christ who is the power
of true godliness. Deny Christ. Deny that God chose
a people and gave them to Christ. They deny Christ came and redeemed
a particular people all by Himself. They deny that Christ is reigning
and ruling on His throne right now, working His sovereign will
in the midst of His people. They deny Christ that He's the
one preaching in His gospel as it goes forth. Deny that He's
the one that prays to the Father who sends the Spirit and gives
you life. They deny Christ. They'll hang on to that form,
hang on to that form of religion, go through a ceremony, like those
that were going to God's temple, but they've forsaken God long
ago. Men will hold on to a course of sin rather than do the good
works that God ordains His people to walk in. God's going to make
His people walk in the works He's ordained. He's going to
make His people believe and repent and persevere and love one another
and serve one another. These are things He ordained
from before the foundation of the world. He's going to bring
them to pass. But men choose sin rather than Christ. This
is a condemnation, the Lord said. Lights come into the world. Men
love darkness more than light. They won't come to the light
unless their deeds should be reproved. Our Lord said, He came
unto His own, John said, and His own received Him not. Why
not? They chose that which He didn't delight in. They chose
something else. Christ came. They said, No, we
don't want Him. We don't want Him. Listen to
this word. Christ said this. This is just
an amazing statement. Because I tell you the truth, you believe not on Me. And what's the opposite of that
statement? If I told you a lie, you'd believe it. But because
I tell you the truth, and the truth's offensive to the flesh,
you won't believe it. Isn't that something? That's
natural man, isn't it? It's natural man. And so John
said, therefore they could not believe the cause. Here's why. As Isaiah said, he
blinded their eyes, And He hardened their heart. And that's what
we see lastly here in our text. Verse 12. The beginning of verse
12. Therefore. Therefore. After everything He just showed
us, He said, now therefore. Therefore will I number you to
the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter, because
when I called, you did not answer, when I spake, you did not hear,
and so on. Throughout Scripture, God's condemnation
of the reprobate is always attached to a therefore. It's always attached
to a because. Because you did this, God says,
now I'm going to number you to the sword. Now let me reiterate,
salvation is all of grace. God has to enter in, give us
a new heart, give us a new nature, give us His Spirit, to give us
faith to believe Him, repentance to turn from those vain works,
and to trust Him. And He keeps us by His power.
Salvation is righteousness by Christ, regeneration by the Holy
Spirit, election by the fire, all of God. But if we left to
ourselves and we're turned over to a hard heart, it'll be our
fault. And God's just to do that because,
therefore, therefore, because you did this, therefore, God
said, I'm going to turn you over. Listen to this now. Solemn word
here. Listen to this now. I want everybody...
You're getting older and you're thinking about going off to college
or you're thinking about going off to a job somewhere or whatever. I want you to listen to this
now. He that being often reproved,
hardeneth his neck, stiffeneth his neck. I'm not going to hear
that. I'm not going to hear that. God says, He shall suddenly be
destroyed, and that without remedy. Now let me read it again. He
that being often reproved... That's what's happening when
the Gospel is being preached. Our flesh is being reproved.
He that being often reproved hardens his neck. I won't hear
that. God says, He shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without
remedy. That without remedy. In 2 Chronicles
36, our Lord tells us, I'm just going to end with this, but He
tells us there that Zedekiah and the chief priests and the
people there hardened their hearts. Listen to what He says. They
mocked the messengers of God. God sent them His preachers.
They mocked them. They despised His words. God
sent them His word. They despised it. And they misused
his prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his
people till there was no remedy. Till there was no remedy. That's
what we're reading about in our text right here. God said, because
you turned your back on me, I'm going to turn my back on you.
That's right. You numbered, you poured out
a drink offering to that number, number of those idols, I'm going
to number you. He said, I'm going to number
you to the sword. See, reprobation's just. It's just. God does everything
just. He's holy. He's holy. So what
I'm saying to you is don't ever, ever leave the gospel. Don't
ever leave where God's assembled His people, where you can hear
the gospel preached. Don't ever leave it. If you go
somewhere, go find, seek out a true gospel church where you
can hear the gospel preached. God saves us and continues to
save us through this gospel. We've got to hear Christ preach.
All right, brethren, let's stand together. Our Father, we thank You for
the Word. Lord, make this solemn warning come in our hearts. Make
it come with grace. Make it come with love. Make
us truly hear it and heed it, Lord. Thank You for this Word. Thank You for this reproof and
this instruction. set up this example before us
to show us the danger of turning from You. Lord, forgive us where
we have taken lightly the things of God. Forgive us, Lord, for
our sins. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.