And our text will be found in
verse 13. The title of the message this evening
is, The Call of God to Men. The Call of God to Men. In verse
13 of Isaiah chapter 33, it says, Ye that are afar off, what I
have done, and you that are near, acknowledge my might. Here, the Lord God here in this
text says to men, both men that are afar off and men that are
near. God says here. Hear my words. And this speaks to us of the
necessity of hearing. The necessity of hearing God's
Word. It is altogether important that
men should hear the Word of God. In Romans chapter 10, the Apostle
says of salvation, he says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. What a message! But how shall they call on Him
in whom they have not heard? You see the necessity of hearing?
How shall they believe on Him in whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they
preach except they be sent? Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing. and hearing by what? The Word
of God. So what is it important to hear?
It's not just important to hear anything. It's important, it's
necessity to hear what God says. Every time I stand to preach
to you, I want to declare to you what God says, because my
opinion really doesn't matter. My opinion on this subject doesn't
matter. And you know what? Your opinion
doesn't matter. We're an opinionated nation,
aren't we? Somebody gets upset and they want to throw it up
on... I mean, some guy killed a lion and, man, they're killing
this guy. They ran him out of his business and everything else.
Why opinion? Opinion. They're all opinionated
about this. But in this matter of salvation,
our opinion doesn't matter. God's Word is the final authority. final authority. And God says,
hear what I have to say. Hear what I have to say. Over in Jeremiah chapter 23 and verse 28, God says, The prophet
that hath a dream, let him tell a dream. And he that hath my
word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat,
saith the Lord? He said, let those liars preach
their lies. But you let my men preach my
word faithfully. For what is the wheat to the
chaff? There's the chaff. Their dreams and their opinions
are chaff. And God's Word is the wheat.
God's Word satisfies. God's Word saves. And what is the necessity God
has instituted? What is the means by which God
gives His Word? By His men. The apostle said, I am not called
to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Why? Because the preaching
of the gospel is the means of salvation. It's how sinners are
saved, through the means of preaching and hearing the gospel preached. And so this hearing is not an
opinion. God's not saying, would you pretty
please hear me? He is commanding all men to hear
Him. You were created by God and God
demands you hear Him. God demands it. He will be heard. And now God, by the mouth of
His prophet, in this passage of Scripture, He says, hear. This is His word. And in His
Word, you go through this book of Isaiah, and as you read this
book, and I encourage you to do so, as you read this book,
you will find a pattern in here. You will find woe and grace. You will find a pattern of wrath
and mercy. You will see God's Word, talk
of both justice and grace, righteousness and peace. Now then, as we look at this,
we can see this first mentioned in the first verse of chapter
33. Look at that. What's the first word mentioned
here? Woe, a word of judgment. A word of judgment. Woe to thee
that spoilest, and thou was not spoiled. A word of woe and judgment here
is given to the Assyrians, to those who came blaspheming and
sieging upon the nation of Israel, the nation of God. And even so,
God has promised His wrath upon all who have sinned against Him. This is the word of God, judgment. Not a popular word, is it? That's
not a popular word, judgment. Nobody wants to hear about that.
But I'll tell you, God says you should hear about that. Judgment, God says, cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things written in the
book of the law to do them. Cursed! God says you're cursed! You who continue not. Who has
continued in the book of the law to do all the things that
God has said to do? Who has obeyed God fully and
completely in mind, in action, in word, in motive? None of us. Cursed. God pronounces by the
Apostle Paul in Hebrews that every transgression and disobedience
receives a just recompense of reward. What is the reward of sin? Death. It's a very serious subject,
isn't it? Death. Death is a very final
subject. It is appointed unto men once
to die. And after this, what? The judgment.
The judgment. The wages of sin is death. So woe unto those that spoilest."
What does this word here, spoilest, mean? It means to rob. That's
another way to translate this word. Woe unto you that robbed
who were not robbed. These Assyrians came in and Judah
had done nothing to them. They had done nothing to that
nation. They've not robbed that nation, but that nation came
in and robbed them. That nation came in and stole
from them. And so God here says, woe unto
you that have robbed. How in have we robbed God? How
in have men robbed God? How in that you and I have robbed
God? We've robbed God of His glory. We by nature have robbed
God of His glory. All men by nature have spoiled
and robbed God when they were not robbed of Him. God did not, nor does He rob
from man anything. But rather, all that men have
is a gift of God. You know God has never taken
anything that belongs to you? He's never taken one thing that
belongs to you. Why? Because it all belongs to
Him. It doesn't belong to you. Your life does not belong to
you. It belongs to God who gave it. So whatever God gives or whatever
God takes, God's not robbing you. God's not robbing us. Matter of fact, when God made
man, He didn't rob man, but rather He put man in the best situation. It confuses me when we always
think that if we can just change our environment, we'll change.
That's not so, is it? Adam had the best environment.
Adam had a holy nature. And yet Adam robbed God of His
glory. God gave Adam everything. And it was Adam that robbed God.
It was man that robbed God, that stole from God what belonged
to him. Adam, thou may eatest of all
of the trees of the garden. Is that not gracious? But one. That tree belongs to me. And
in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. You see, when Adam ate, he robbed
God of what belongs to him. And I tell you, ever since then,
men have been trying to rob God of His glory. How? By trying
to merit His own salvation. If you are meriting your own
salvation, you are robbing God of what belongs to Him. Salvation
belongs to God. Salvation belongs to God. God
declares, I will not share my glory with another and woe unto
you who to suppose to merit God's acceptance by your righteousness. Cursed are you to think that
you may find refuge for your souls in the shelter of lies
of freewill works religion. Hear God's Word. Hear God's Word. Woe to the treacherous persons. He says that next. And dealeth
treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee.
Those who preach such lies as universal atonement, decisional
regeneration, baptismal regeneration, woe unto them because they deal
treacherously with men. They deal treacherously with
men. All who preach the papist doctrine
are treacherous men. They deceive men's souls. All who believe such lies and
those who preach such lies, God here says to them, Hear My word,
you that are afar off. Anyone who preaches a message
of salvation by the works of man, by the will of man, is afar
off from God. They don't know Christ. They
don't know Christ. I know this will offend many
people. This is offensive. Many people will not hear it. They won't have any part of it.
And as soon as they hear that salvation is of the Lord, what
do they do? They run back to these treacherous men for some
kind of assurance. They'll run back to them time
and time again. They'll run back and look to
some profession that they made. They'll look at some time in
their life and they remember, oh, I remember when I was under
the conviction of sin and I did this and I did that and I joined
the church at that time and I was baptized then so I'm okay. If that's what you're trusting
in, you're not okay. That's not okay. They'll run
to their family and their friends They run to their preachers,
and if anybody points you for assurance of your salvation,
anybody points you to you or something you've done, you need
to run from them. You need to run from them. That's a shelter of lies. But any religion that points
you to you or something that you have done is a refuge of
lies and will not stand when God lifts Himself up in judgment. Look at verse 10, he says, now
will I rise, God speaking, sayeth the Lord, now will I be exalted,
now will I lift up myself. You shall conceive chaff, you
shall bring forth stubble, your breath as fire shall devour you,
and the people shall be as a burning of lime, as thorns cut up. shall they be burned in the fire. You see what works are. Works
are nothing but chaff. They're nothing. Man's religion
of works is nothing before the judgment of God. They'll be burned
up as thorns in a fire. You that are far off from God, Have you realized that you are
a great sinner? Have you seen that you are a
great sinner with no self-righteousness? Have you seen that there is no
goodness in you to merit God's favor? If this is you, God says, hear
My word. What does he say to those that
are far off? Listen. Hear ye that are far
off. Hear what? What I have done. This is the gospel. What I have done. God says hear what I have done.
The message of judgment. The message of judgment in scripture
is always followed by a message of grace. The message of judgment
is woe unto you who have robbed God. Woe unto you who are treacherous.
Woe unto you who trust in your own works. Here, you that are
far off, what I have done. This is the gospel, what God
has done. Look at verse 2. Look at verse
2 of chapter 33. After that message of woe, what
did the prophet and the people say? Oh Lord, be gracious unto
us. Is that not what God's people
say when they hear a message of judgment? Now the world says, man I wish
so and so was here to hear that. I wish my cousin was here. Boy,
I tell you what, that's sorry. That person's just lousy. He
needs to hear a message of judgment like that. No! God's people say,
Woe is me! Woe is me, for I am undone. Be gracious unto me. I am the
sinner. I am the sinner. And so God says to those who
ask for grace, those who plead for grace, those who feel... Do you not feel far off at times
from God? You who believe, do you not feel
far off? I do. And God says this, hear my word,
listen to what I have done. Sinner, if you are ever to be
saved, listen to the message of God's gospel. God must do
it. God must save. And I have come to tell you,
hear God's message, that God who must do it has done it. God who must do it has done it. Salvation is the absolute and
complete work of God alone. First of all, God says, Behold,
hear what I have done. God has purposed salvation from
eternity. That's what God has done. God
has purposed salvation. Salvation of sinners does not
begin with you. Salvation does not begin with
you or me. It begins with God. It begins
with God. It begins with God in His sovereign,
immutable, unchangeable decree of election. What a beautiful
word. That is a beautiful word to my
heart, election. It's not something I shy away
from. It's something I gladly embrace. If any man despises
this word election, especially as it's called the election of
God in Scripture, it is called the election of grace in Scripture,
that God in free grace chose some men to salvation by Jesus
Christ. And if you hate that word, isn't
it because you're trusting in something you've done? If men
hate that word, it's because they're trusting in something
they have done, rather than trusting in God. trusting in God to do
it. God makes it very clear that
before the world began, He purposed, decreed to save some of Adam's
race, not because of any good or evil. God didn't choose us because
we were good. And I tell you, God didn't choose
us because we were the worst. We were evil. God chose us out
of His own free and sovereign grace. In Ephesians 1, it says
that we have all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus, according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world. that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to Himself for what reason? According to the praise of the
glory of His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in Christ
the Beloved. In Romans chapter 9, God makes
it very clear in this passage, For the children not yet being
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It is said to her, The elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Is it unfair that God would do
such a thing? God forbid that He's unrighteous.
We say it to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.
And I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then, what is the result of this? So then, the result of
election is that it's not of him that willeth, nor him that
runneth. But what God hath done, God that
showeth mercy. You not see the gospel? The gospel
begins with God. It begins with God's sovereign
election. Behold what God has done, you
that are far off. You have no hope or merit in
yourself, no way of coming to God by works or obedience of
the law. In our text, he says down here
in verse 8 in chapter 33 of Isaiah, he said the highways lie waste. What is that saying to us? That
means the way to God by works is gone. There is no way to God
by works. There is no way to God by works.
That highway was destroyed. When Adam sinned, there was no
other way. We all fail in Adam. There's no way by works or self-determination. This renders all men by nature
hopeless. But hear what God has done. God
has chosen a people not based on merit or status, not based
on birth or blood, nor of the will of man, but according to
the will of God, He purposed to save some. Had there been
no election, there would be no salvation. That's how important election
is. Had there been no election, there would be no salvation. We would have been as the angels
who lost their first estate. Second of all, hear what God
has done to accomplish this salvation. Not only did God purpose salvation,
but God also accomplishes salvation. How? Through Jesus Christ, His
Son. This is the gospel message. Hear
you that are afar off. Hear the message of God. I have
done it. How? By Jesus Christ. God gave
all of His elect to His Son's charge. in eternity, which had
no beginning. Blows your mind, doesn't it?
There was no beginning to this. We just say, in the beginning,
because that's all we can think of. That's the closest we can
come to it. God, in the channels, in the
annals of time, He chose a people and then He gave them to His
Son. And Christ willingly accepted
them, accepted the responsibility of their salvation. They were chosen in Christ, the
scripture says. In other words, we were put in
union with Him, so that if He succeeded, we succeeded. That's what God said. God said
we were in Him, in union with Him, from eternity. So then, when God purposed our
salvation, our holiness, our sonship, it would rest not in
the hands of the elect, but it would rest in the hands of the
Son of God. The salvation of their souls,
the fate of the entire elect would rest only in the hands
of one man, Jesus Christ. seeing that we were all born
sinners. If you look in your text, you
see this in verse 14. He said the sinners in Zion are
afraid. The sinners of Zion, the chosen
people, those who are near to God, we were born just like everyone
else. We were not any different. We
were born dead in trespasses and sins, seeing that we were
born sinners, guilty of sin, worthy of death. The Scripture
says in chapter 33, verse 14 of our text, it says, Who among
us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell
with everlasting burnings? In other words, which one of
us would be able to endure the wrath of God? Which one of us? If we were to stand under the
judgment of God in our own filthy works, they are nothing but dung
and filthy rags, and none of us could endure the flame of
God. Why? The flame of God's justice is
eternal. It's everlasting. We read of the rich man before
in Luke. The rich man lifted up his eyes
in hell being in torments. Do you realize 2,000 years has
passed and not one, one flame of God's justice has diminished
on him? He'll spend eternity there with
no hope of escape. The flame of God's
justice will endure. Can we endure such a thing? Could
we outlast the flame of God's justice against our sins? No! No. Therefore, behold what God
has done. He has given the eternal fate
of His elect into the hands of His precious Son to be the guarantee
for our salvation. Guarantee. Assurity. Behold now this one who God has
anointed to be his servant. Over in Isaiah 42 in verse 1
he says, Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom
my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring judgment He shall
bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry nor lift up
his voice nor to be heard in the streets. A bruised reed shall
he not break. Smoking flack shall he not quench.
He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail
nor be discouraged. This is Christ. This is God's servant who was
to come. He who was equal with God must
have been made a man must have been made a man to
be the servant of God. This was the only means by which
sinners could obtain righteousness. How could you and I obtain righteousness
that God decreed for us? God said of the elect, He said
they shall be holy. How shall you and I who are born
sinners obtain holiness? How is that? By the holiness
of another. This is God's purpose. Listen
to what God has done. God's obtained righteousness
by the work of another. Not by your work. That's good news. Because I've
got nothing. I've got nothing but sin. And
God says, here you that are far off, listen to what I've done.
I've sent my Son to obtain righteousness for my people. I've sent my Son. The Apostle tells us, the Apostle says that he became
obedient unto God, even unto death, the death of
the cross. The death of the cross was a
cruel punishment. The Romans perfected it. They
perfected this crucifixion to make it the most cruel that they
possibly could. But I tell you, the death of
the cross was not great on the Lord Jesus Christ because of
his physical sufferings. Cheryl and I were talking about
this earlier. She said that, you know, it's amazing how he
physically suffered, that he was beyond recognition. He was
beat so bad that you could not recognize, if you knew Him, you
could not recognize His face. His body was so scarred. I don't
doubt that there wasn't one piece of His flesh that was not ripped
and torn to shreds. I'm sure of it. But this was
not His great suffering. The greatest suffering that Christ
endured was the unrestrained wrath of God that was due to
you and me. That we deserved. God made Him
to be sin for us who knew no sin. That we should be made the
righteousness of God in Him. Now I'll tell you, who is able
to endure the flame of God's wrath and extinguish it? Only
this man. He endured the wrath of God on
that cross for three hours and done. No more wrath. The flame is extinguished. God
was satisfied. He shall see of the travail of
His soul and be satisfied. God is satisfied with His offering. over in Hebrews chapter 9. I
love this chapter. It's wonderful. In Hebrews chapter
9, it tells us at the end, he said, For Christ, in verse 24,
is not entered into the holy place made with hands, which
are a figure of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as a high priest entered into the holy place every
year with the blood of others For then must he suffered since
the foundation of the world, but now once In the end of the world hath
he appeared to put away sin how by the sacrifice of himself Once,
once for all, O sinner, receive it. Once for all, O brother,
believe it. Cling to the cross and the burden
will fall. Christ hath redeemed us once for all. Forever. Forever. Jesus Christ, when He endured
the sufferings of God, He endured at once the Son of God. Therefore, God hath raised Him
from the dead and set Him on the throne. Isn't it something when men say,
will you make Jesus Christ your Lord? God never asked you to do that.
God's already done that. You see the message here that
I'm telling you, the gospel? It's something that's already
done. It's not something you do, it's something that God has
done. In Acts, He tells us that He hath
made Him both Lord and Christ. God made Him. And what is Christ
doing? Well, He's reigning. That's what
He's doing. Thine eyes shall see the king
in his beauty. The king is only a king if he
reigns. Isn't that right? Some people
are waiting for Christ to reign. I'm not waiting for Christ to
reign. Christ is reigning right now. He is ruling over all things. He is king. And as king he rules over all
things. And what is he doing as king?
He is saving his people from their sins. That's what he's
doing. He's saving his people. And this
is the third thing. What God has done and what God
is doing here, the work of God in the experience of salvation.
Jesus said in John chapter 6, all that the Father had given
me shall come to me." Does that
sound iffy? Does that sound as though he
was confused? Some people think, I guess, Jesus
was confused about this. Well, Jesus, you mean that they'll
come to you if they will come to you, if they want to. No,
they will come to me. I'm king and they'll come. I'm
king and they'll come. He said, They shall come unto
me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. This
is the will of the Father which hath sent me, that of all which
he hath given me I should lose, what? Nothing. Well, Jesus, you may be confused
here, because you're supposed to die for everybody. And, you
know, we've got to make that... No. No. It's not what He said. He said, I'll lose none for whom
I died for. I'll lose none of them. All you who are far off, hear
what God has done. All who believe, all who come
to Christ shall be saved. And how do men come to Christ?
By the power of the Holy Spirit. You know, I can preach the most
eloquent message ever heard, which is not going to happen.
But if I did, if I preached the most eloquent, theologically
sound message that ever was heard, that would not save one soul
if the Holy Spirit does not apply it. You can beg and you can plead
for men to hear the word of God. And I tell you, you should ask
men to hear the word of God. You should plead with men. But
I'll tell you this, only God the Holy Spirit gives life. And
when life comes, faith comes. Someone was mentioning to me
about something that someone had heard the gospel with them
and they were so overjoyed about this. And she said, well, I need
to do this, and I need to make sure I'm here at this particular
time so that, you know, she might be an influence to... You know
what? If God opens a person's heart,
you don't have to worry about them coming to hear the gospel. They will hear it, and they'll
need to hear it, and they'll want to hear it, and they'll
come and hear it. When God the Holy Spirit works
on a man, He will come. Otherwise, He'll never come. The Scriptures are clear. No
man can come unto Me except the Father which hath sent Me draw
him. O sinner, you that are far off, believe on Christ. I compel
you to believe on Christ, knowing that only the Spirit of God can
give you that faith. I compel you to come to Christ
and receive salvation as a starving man would receive bread. Do you
suppose for one minute a starving man would receive bread and give
thanks to his hand because he received it? That's foolishness. We receive salvation as a starving
man receives bread and we give thanks to the one who gave it. hear the Word of God. Now then
lastly, what is the Word of God to those who are near? Hear ye that are far off what
I have done, and you that are near acknowledge my might. Well, the Word to those who are
near, you who believe, is the same to those who are far off. What's the difference? You acknowledge
it. you believe it. Hear what I've
done. I've heard and I believe. I acknowledge salvation is of
the Lord. How do we live? Believer, how
is it now that we who were far off are now made nigh? How is
it that we live? We live by faith. That means that you need to ignore
what these two things in your head see, and you need to believe
God. Faith is not sight. Faith is trusting God in the
troubles. Faith is trusting God in the
trials. Faith is trusting that God has
done it. He that hath begun a good work
in you shall perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. You
believe that? You do if you believe God's done
it. If God's done it, will He not
do it? You bet He will. May God give us grace to hear
it. a stand will be dismissed in prayer.