Isaiah chapter 8, Isaiah chapter
8. This morning we'll be looking
at verses 5 through 8, and Lord willing we'll See some
in chapter 9. I don't know if I'll make it
that far. But I want us to see these things. The title of the
message this morning is, A Gentle River and a Great Light. A Gentle River and a Great Light. The scripture says in verse 5,
The Lord spake also unto me again, saying, Forasmuch as this people
refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in
Rezan and Ramallah's son. Now at this time Judah was in
great trouble. Was in great trouble. The king
of Judah was Ahaz. And Ahaz was a wicked king that
departed from the Lord. This wicked king that ruled the
people of Israel caused them to err, the scripture says. And
they followed after King Ahaz in forsaking the God of Israel. And this is what is mentioned
here when the Lord says, For as much as a people refuseth
the water of Shiloh. Now this river of Shiloh was
a fountain pool that was at the foot of the mountain
of Zion. You picture the mount, the temple
mount, and at the base of this mount outflowed this water. It
was a gentle, peaceful stream. A peaceful stream. If you remember,
this means, this is a picture of the worship of God. This river
God here is mentioning is a picture of God's gentle, peaceful word
and worship. Now, the Lord promised the people
of Israel that so long as they worshipped Him, so long as they
kept His commandments and worshipped according to His law, which was
the worship of the temple, the temple worship, as long as they
followed this, Israel, or Judah, dwelt in peace. As long as they
followed that and did not forsake God, but when they did, and you
can see many examples of this, when they forsook God, He always
brought them trouble. Their enemies always came in
and hurt them. And so now God says, I will because
of their sin, look at this in verse 7, therefore behold the
Lord bringeth up Upon them the waters of a river not gentle
but strong and mighty what is that river the king of Assyria
and all his glory and he shall come up over all his channels
and go over all his banks and He shall pass through Judah.
He shall overflow and go over He shall reach even to the net
The stretching out of his wings shall feel the breath of the
land. Oh Emmanuel So God here says since you refuse
the gentle river of my worship What I'm going to do is bring
you a strong river of chastisement I'm going to allow the king of
Assyria to rise up over his borders and come into your land and he's
going to destroy Israel But he's going to come up to your neck. Now, if you'll look back, these
two, that they forsake him, forsake the river for, the gentle river,
notice, and rejoice in Rezan and Ramallah's son. Rezan was
the king of Syria. And this Ramallah's son was Pekah,
I believe is how you pronounce it. And God doesn't even think
so much of this man to use his name. He says, Ramallah's son.
He doesn't even use his name in this passage. He said, these
men were admired by Ahaz and Judah so that they began to follow
after their gods. These two men, Rezan and Ramallah's
son, were so exalted in the eyes of Ahaz and the people of Israel
that they began to mimic them. to follow them. Children of God, let us learn
by this example not to envy the rapid movement and excitement
of false religion. Surely it's our flesh to be dazzled
by the outward entertainment of religious experiences. Let
us rather rejoice in the quiet waters of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Let us be content with the pure
water of the river of life that flows from God's holy Word. Be content with the Word of God. Be content with the worship of
God which is peaceful and orderly. How many today do you suppose
despise the day of small things. How many despise the steady preaching
of the gospel of Jesus Christ and say within themselves like
Israel said? Remember when Israel was given
the manna from heaven, they said, my soul despise this light bread. How many say that today about
the preaching of the gospel? Those who refuse the soft waters
of Shiloah, they say, man, preacher, all you preach about is sin.
All you preach about is God's election, Christ's redemption,
the Spirit's regeneration. When are you going to preach
something exciting? That's what men say. They despise this gospel. This gospel that the apostle
says, I tell you things that you already know and that's safe
for you. That's safe. This message that
I preached to you this morning is not a message you've not heard.
It's a message that continually flows gently to you from the
Word of God. They despise it. They say, when
are you going to preach about us? We need to hear something
about us. No, you don't. You need to be
here about Him. You need to hear the gospel of
Jesus Christ. When are you going to start motivating
people? When are you going to start forming groups? We need
some groups here. We need to set aside some groups
for these people and for these people so we can get the masses
involved here. We've got to get the news out.
We've got to create some excitement. When are you going to start doing
that? Never. By the grace of God, never. To despise the preaching of the
gospel is to refuse peace and embrace trouble. Do you hear
me? To despise the sweet, flowing,
gentle stream of the gospel is to embrace trouble. The gospel
of God's free grace is one that sets men free from bondage. by the death and obedience of
Jesus Christ. Behold this morning and drink
from the sweet streams of the gospel of peace that flows from
the word of God. Now that the Lamb has been slain, justice is forever satisfied. This is the message that flows
from God. For all the elect, justice has
been satisfied by the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. I like this. Someone said this.
It's not original with me. I didn't want to claim it because
that would have been dishonest. It was good. It says this. It was God who demanded a Lamb.
It was God who provided a Lamb. And it was God who became the
Lamb that He provided. Is that not the greatest message
in the world? It is for someone who needs a
sacrifice for sin. For someone who's guilty before
God. And even now has God sent His Holy Spirit to quicken the
elect, the redeemed sinners to life and faith. How? By what
means? Through the preaching of the
gospel. This is the means God's chosen. Preaching. I want you to know that this
is absolutely true. Only those who are perishing
despise the gospel. Only those who are dying and
in their sins hate the preaching of the gospel. Go over to 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. This is absolutely true. I don't
care how a man jumps up and down and professes his faith in Christ,
but I'll tell you, if he doesn't love the gospel of Jesus Christ
and love to hear it, there's something wrong with that man's
faith. Paul says in verse 17, for Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ be made of none effect, For the preaching
of the cross, listen, is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it, preaching, is the power of God. Have you experienced this to
be true? Preaching is powerful. not because of the words of the
man or the wisdom of the man that preaches, but rather because
the Holy Spirit takes the Word and actually applies it to your
heart, makes it effectual to you, powerful to you. It is the
work of the Spirit of God through the preaching of the gospel that
men are saved and that saved men are able to nourish themselves
in it and rejoice in it, the preaching of the gospel. Listen,
we are living in an age where men refuse to obey the plain
Word of Scripture. Listen, the Scripture, not your
pastor, the Word of God says, forsake not the assembling of
yourselves together as the manner of some is. The plain Word of Scripture says,
avail yourself to the preaching of the gospel. These perishing souls say that
preaching is outdated. These perishing souls say that
preaching is not working. Look at your small group. It's
not working. I beg to differ. It's doing exactly what God determined
it to do. God doesn't fail, and the preaching
of the gospel doesn't fail. They say, we need to convert
sinners and get the masses in here. How? They do it by trickery. They get entertainment in the
church and say, hey, let's deceive these people so we can get them
in and ambush them with the gospel. No. No. This river is not one
that overpowers, but it is one that's gentle. This is not Christ's method,
this is not the apostles' method, and this will not be our method
by the grace of God. We will preach the plain Word
of God. Can you not see we live in such
a dark day as Judah was in our text? Judah was in a dark day,
and even so, are we ruled by wicked men? who passed their
children through the fire. Ahaz passed his children through
the fire. In other words, he burned his own children to death
in worship of their gods. Is that not what's happening
with the abortion of this age men who kill their own children?
Are they not worshiping their flesh and saying, I've got to
live my life and I don't want to be encumbered about by this
baby, so I'll just kill it. That's what they're doing. They're
sacrificing to their flesh. We live in the same age as they
did. We live in such an age where the church so-called has forsaken
the plain preaching of the gospel for flash and entertainment of
false freewill works religion. In other words, they're refusing
to drink of the gentle water and rather rejoicing in the gods
of reason and Ramallah's son. Let me ask you this, how many
do you know profess to believe the gospel of God's sovereign
grace and yet will not faithfully attend or support a place where
the gospel is preached? How many do you know? I know
of many. I know of many who are out there
without any home, any church home, without any fellowship. I know many. I'm sure they have a lot of good
reasons why they can't be faithful or support the ministry, but
none of them are good excuses. Remember what our Lord Jesus
said, if you will not forsake all, you cannot be my disciple. Those words cut to the quick,
do they not? If there is anything that keeps
you from the assembling of yourselves together, leave it. Leave it. If it is your job, leave it. If it is your family, leave them. Remember what the Lord said to
that young man, that young man he called. He said, you follow
me. And he said, hey, my dad is about
to die. And I need to go be with him. And Jesus said, let the dead
bury their dead. You follow me. Leave them. Is it your possessions that keep
you from worship, your land or your wealth? Leave it. Remember what he said to that
rich young ruler. Go sell all you have and give
it to the poor. Take up your cross and follow
me. What did that young man do? He
turned away sad. And I'll tell you, many in this
generation are going to turn away sad when they hear such things
because they have too much and they will not leave it for Christ's
sake. If it's your health that keeps
you someplace, I know many who say, well, I got my doctors and
I got my physicians and they know me. They know my health
and I can't leave them. What you should do is leave your
health in the hands of God. And not in the hands of men.
And whether God cure you or kill you, are we not counted as sheep
for the slaughter? Yes, we are. Well, preacher, you just don't
understand my situation. No, you don't understand your
situation. If you will not leave these things for Christ, it is
because your faith is vain. You have refused the soft waters
of the preaching of the gospel for the love of the world. But this I know about God's people. This I know, if you are a true
believer in Jesus Christ, God will chasten His children. He did to Judah. Judah refused
the soft waters. and forsook the worship of God
for idols. And you know what God did? God
says, I will raise up the king of Assyria and he will come in
even to your gates. Isn't that what happened? Isn't
that what happened during the reign of Hezekiah when he came
in and they were at the gates? He destroyed all of their fenced
cities, all of their excuses. That's what God does with chastisement.
He destroys all our excuses. And I'll tell you, it hurts.
It hurts. But God does this not to destroy
us, but rather that we would come back and drink the waters
of Shiloh. That we would come back to Him.
and obey His commands. Notice what this says here in
our text. Look back in your text. Look at verse 8. And He shall
pass through Judah. He shall overflow and go over. Listen, He shall reach even to
the neck. Isn't that something? I remember
when we were in Houston, we had a flood come in, and I saw the
waters. It was rising outside of our
house, and it would just come up a little bit more and a little
bit more, and the yard was covered a little bit more and a little
bit more, and the porch was covered and a little more, and it was
all in the house and a little more, and it was up to our waist. God says, I'm going to let this
river flow up to your neck. I'm going to let this flood come
in even to the neck. Isn't that gracious that he doesn't
let it overflow us? He said it's going to come to
a certain point and I'm going to stop it. Isn't that a peaceful
river? Isn't that a gentle stream? That
God is not going to chasten us to kill us, but rather that we
should come and drink of the gentle waters again. Hear his
word. Obey His Word, it will not overflow
Him. You who have refused, you who
are not faithful, even so come now and drink. Come now and drink. Drink of the peaceful water and
take comfort, you chastened children. No matter the darkness of our
age, no matter the wickedness of our rulers or our people,
no matter the false religion and how it seems to flourish
and prosper in this world, don't let that bother you. Even when
the saints of God fall into such grievous sins as this, they may
take and come and drink of this water of the gospel that says
this, nevertheless, In 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 19, it says,
nevertheless, nevertheless, no matter what things appear to
be, no matter how hard or how dark things are, listen, the
foundation of God standeth sure. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. The Lord knows them that are His. The foundation of God
that is laid from eternity for your salvation Standeth sure. I like when David was dying his
dying words. Although my house be not so with
God. Although I have failed. Although
I have miserably failed. Although my house be not so with
God yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered
in all things and what? Sure. Sure. The foundation of God's standing.
You might not stand sure, but He does. You and I fail, but
He doesn't. I like that when the psalmist
said, Why art thou downcast, O my soul? And he talks about
the rock of his salvation, and he says, I shall not greatly
be moved. In other words, he felt some
movement. He felt his own staggering. And then later on in the psalm,
he said, I shall not be moved. Why? Because the foundation of
our salvation doesn't move, even though we stagger. This is the
spring we should drink from. This is the peaceful waters that
flow from Mount Zion. The Father hath chosen us in
Christ before the foundation of the world. He has given us
to His Son, that He should be our surety, that He should be
responsible for our salvation. Is that not great, that we are
not responsible for our salvation? Christ is. Isn't that amazing? That He put all the responsibility
of our salvation on the Son of God and not on you. This is the hidden wisdom of
God that was from the beginning. This was God's eternal purpose,
known only to God. When Adam was here, when Adam
was created, you know he knew nothing of grace until after
he had sinned. Now God had already purposed
to show grace before Adam's sin, but Adam knew nothing of it.
All Adam knew was work. Don't eat, don't eat, don't eat. That was his life. That was what
he was sustained with. It was only after he fell that
he knew anything of grace. It was only in his darkest hour
that the light began to shine. The Lord came to Adam in his
rebellion and preached to him that gospel which was what? A
little light. How little was that light? The
seed of the woman shall crush the head of the serpent and he
shall bruise his heel. How little was that light? And
then you go on further in scripture and you read of the 400 years
that they were enslaved to Egypt. And not only was that, it was
not until their burden was the most grievous. When Moses started
coming in, remember, that's when their burden really became heavy.
When Moses came in and told them of freedom. It was then that
that was their darkest hour. And what was the light that they
were given? When I see the blood, I will pass over you. Little
more light. Little more light. What do we
have now? We have the fullness of the day
sun. We don't have just a little light.
We've got a great light. You who drink of this water,
it also is a great light. Look at this in verse 2 of chapter
9. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of
the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Thou hast
multiplied the nation and not increased the joy. Remember, believer in Christ,
as you drink of this water, consider that you walked in darkness.
Consider your former condition. that you were dead and without
hope. You were in the shadow of death and the bondage of sin.
Until when? Until God shined the light of
this blessed gospel into your heart and given you life. It was in your darkest hour that
the light came in. We were great sinners unworthy
of mercy and yet God in great mercy gave us the revelation
of Jesus Christ This was God's purpose, that His people, who
were blind by nature, should be given a great light. This pool, the Shiloh, it's the
same one in the New Testament that's called the Pool of Shiloh.
You remember, that's where the blind man was sent. The blind
man was sent to this water. And he did what? He saw a great
light. He came for a sea. And so is everyone who hears
the gospel of God's free grace in Christ. So is everyone who
the Spirit of God reaches down and touches. They see a great
light when they drink of this water. And notice this. Thou hast multiplied the nation
and not increased the joy. I didn't quite understand that.
Not at first. I had to research this. That
word not is better translated has. Has. Thou hast multiplied the nation,
and hast increased the joy. Some translate it like this.
Thou hast multiplied the nation, and hast thou not increased our
joy? Is that not true about us who
believe? Has the gospel not shined in
our heart and increased our joy? Did you find any joy in this
world? I haven't found any. You won't find any. Where's the
joy? The joy is in the gospel. It's in Christ. And if you have
Him, you have everything. Everything. The light of God's holiness shined
in our hearts. And how truly when we were convicted
of sin, was it a great joy when you were convicted of sin? No,
it was great sorrow, wasn't it? But in that darkest hour came
what? The light. And what did the light
reveal? For thou hast broken the yoke
of his burden, the staff of his shoulders, and the rod of his
oppressors, as in the day of Midian. Behold, the light shines
forth from the gospel. The only hope for such people
in the shadow of darkness and joy and peace is found in Jesus
Christ, who is the deliverer of the captives. He has set us
free. And notice how he set us free.
He set us free like they did in Midian. Remember Gideon? Gideon,
he had those 300 men that were chosen of the Lord, and they
had those clay pots with the light inside. And they were to
encamp their enemies, surround them, and do what? Break the
clay. What's that a picture of? The
broken body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when His body was
broken for us, what came out of it? Light! Light. And it was this light that shined
around the host of their enemies, the Midianites. And they shouted,
the sword of the Lord and Gideon. What is that but the preaching
of the gospel? Now, what did they do to be free? What did Gideon have to do? Nothing. You'll remember they didn't even
have to raise their swords to it. God killed their enemies
for them. That's how you and I are free,
is that God slew our sins in his own blessed son. And now
you're free. Free to do what? You are free
to drink this gospel. You are free to love this gospel.
You are free to rejoice in Jesus Christ because you're free from
sin. May God give us grace never to
neglect the sweet waters of Siloam for the razzle and dazzle of
this world. Leave it alone. Forsake it. And you'll find joy. You'll find
deliverance. And when Assyria went up to the
neck of Judah, you remember it was Hezekiah, what did he do?
He took those letters of that evil king and spread them out
before God. What should you do in your trouble?
You should bow down and worship. You should obey. And what happened
to their enemies? Gone. God destroyed them without
firing an arrow. They didn't have to fight. It
was gone. How many people kick and fight
for the things of this world, which only bring you pain, instead
of letting them go and trusting in God? May God encourage you. Be faithful. forsake the world
and embrace Christ. And I'll tell you what, you'll
have peace that you can't even understand. May God bless this
through your heart.