take your Bibles and turn back
with me to Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 31. Isaiah chapter 31. The scripture says, Woe to them
that go down to Egypt for hail. and stay, or depend, or trust
on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many, and in
horsemen, because they are very strong. But they look not unto
the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord." The title of
the message this morning is, An Unnatural Union of Works and
Grace. the unnatural union of works
and grace. Now at this time in the nation
of Israel, and we are talking about the ten northern tribes,
remember that Israel was separated into the ten northern tribes,
which are called Israel, and the two southern tribes, which
are called Judah. And at this time in the nation
of Israel's history, The king of Assyria has assaulted Israel. And Israel pays tribute. This king of Israel, his name
is Hoshea, he is paying tribute to the king of Assyria. But there came a time where there
was conspiracy in the heart of this man, Hoshea. king of Israel. And he refused, he rebelled to
pay the king of Assyria tribute. And so then, in his conspiracy,
he goes down to Egypt. He sends counselors down to Egypt
to beg the Egyptians for military assistance because they were
strong. They were a mighty nation and
he wanted them to help against this king of Assyria. And now
by the mouth of God's prophet, He sends this word to Hosea,
the king of Israel, and he says, Woe to them that go down to Egypt
for help. He sends this sure word of promise
of failure, of failure. He says, Woe unto them that go
down to Egypt. He says, They shall fail. They shall fail together at the
end of verse 3. They that are helpeth and they
that are helped shall fail together. But this is vaguely familiar. Because the king of Judah did
the exact same thing. The king of Judah's name was
Hezekiah. And Hezekiah did that which was
right in the sight of the Lord. He was God's man. He trusted
in God. And he also refused to pay tribute
to the king of Assyria. He also refused to pay. But the
difference was he did not go to Egypt for help. Hezekiah trusted
in the Lord. Therein is the difference. Therein
we have the difference between true believers in Christ, which
are represented by the man Hezekiah, king of Judah, and false professors
of faith, which are represented by this man Hoshea, king of Israel. Both of them, they have similarities. They were very similar in this
respect. They both rebelled against the
king of Assyria. They both refused to pay tribute
to Assyria. But the difference is one turned
to Egypt and the other turned to the Lord. This is the difference
between true and false believers. Is that not your desire to know
what you are? Which of these men represent
you? Which of these men picture you?
Are you as Hoshea or are you as Hezekiah? Are you a true believer
or are you a false believer? Now, false professors of faith
and true professors have this in common. They both refuse outwardly,
at least outwardly, to pay tribute to Satan, which is pictured by
the king of Assyria. They both outwardly refuse to
give in to fleshly desires. They both outwardly make a profession
of faith. They both outwardly are baptized. They both outwardly partake of
the Lord's Supper. They are seemingly the same outwardly. Outwardly they seem to be similar. They may both outwardly have
changed their manner of living. They may become faithful members
of some church somewhere. They may even believe, they may
even be Calvinist. They may both of them be Calvinist. But there's a fatal flaw in the
false professor of faith Because his confidence and trust is not
in the Lord, but in Egypt, which is a picture of the flesh. Notice he says that, now the
Egyptians are what? Men, and not God. They are flesh. They are flesh. And this word of God given is
a word of woe to all who will try to merit salvation by the
works of their own flesh, by the works of their own hands.
God pronounces a great woe. Woe. Woe to them that go down to Egypt
for help and depend on the horses and chariots of their own religious
deeds. Though they be many and will not look to the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel." Woe to you! Listen to me, any one
of you who are trusting in yourself, God says, Woe to you. God pronounces a curse on you
who would trust in your own flesh. Sinners, are you trusting in
any works or obedience of your own to save your soul in the
day of judgment? When God comes in judgment, and
He will come in judgment, He will take vengeance on all iniquity. When He comes, And you stand
before God, what will you stand in? Will you stand in your own
works or because your family was Christians? Or because of
something you did? Or because of some good you think
you have in you? Will you stand in that? If you
stand in that, it's because you're deceived. You're deceived. Or maybe you're like the Galatian
church. Some who trusted in Jesus and their works. Maybe you're in that category.
The Galatians trusted partly in Christ and then the rest in
their obedience to God's law. What did Paul say of such men?
Paul says in Galatians 5, verses 2 through 4, he says, Christ
shall profit you nothing. You that be circumcised. And
that's what they were dealing with. They were saying, you need
Jesus, but you need to be circumcised. You just need to add this one
thing of the law to Christ. And what did he say? Christ shall
profit you absolutely nothing. Nothing. How presumptuous is it of man
to suppose that Christ just made salvation possible? Do you suppose
Jesus just made it possible and someday you'll just accept it
whenever you feel like it? How presumptuous! Do you suppose that Christ died
and left the glory of His salvation to be finished by you? How presumptuous
of you! Salvation is not the work of
men, nor is it a mixture of God's work and man's work. Salvation
is completely and absolutely the work of God alone. And if
you are to be saved, God must do it. He must do it. And Him alone. Salvation is completely the work
of God. Salvation is not a display of
God's cooperation with man. That's the way it's preached
today, as though salvation is some display of cooperation. God is extending this to you,
and if you just do your part, then God will save you. No, that's
trusting in Egypt. That's trusting in the flesh.
Salvation is not a display of God's cooperation, but rather
a display of God's sovereign free grace. That's what salvation
is. If any one of us is saved, it
is by the free grace of God alone. And all, all who would mix works
and grace in the salvation of sinners are lost and under the
condemnation of God. Did you get that? I want to make
sure that's clear. If you mix anything with the
work of Christ, it's because you're lost. You're lost. You're under the
condemnation of God. Why? You are trusting in Egypt. You are trusting in something
that you have done. It is an unholy, unnatural alliance
to mix works and grace. Look at verse 2 in our text.
He says, Yet He also is wise, and will bring evil,
and will not call back his words." Who is this speaking of? This
is speaking of God, the Holy One of Israel. Yet the Holy One
of Israel is wise, wise. and will bring evil and will
not call back his words. The wisdom of God in the salvation
of sinners was decreed by God from eternity. This wisdom of
God is an eternal wisdom. Go over to Ephesians chapter
3. Ephesians chapter 3. And look at verse 9. The Apostle Paul here says he's
called to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make
all men to see what is the fellowship of the mystery. which from the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things
by Jesus Christ, to the intent that now unto the principalities
and powers in heavenly places might be made known by the church
the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which
he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul says that he was ordained
to preach the gospel for this purpose, to make it plain. You
know, I want to make this plain to you this morning. I want to
make this as simple as I possibly can. And every time I preach,
I pray that that's so. I don't like muddying up the
waters. I like to just make it as plain
and present it as possibly plain as I can. It's what Paul said. He said, I've come to preach
the gospel and make it known to all men. Now, I can't make
it known to your heart. I can't reveal this to your heart.
But all I can do is make this as plain as I can so you can
understand. Mentally understand this. And so that's what the
apostle says, I can't make your heart see it, but I want to make
the mystery of the salvation of God, which was hid in God,
purposed in God before the foundation of the world. and that it might be publicly
declared to all, but especially to the church." He said, I want
to make this especially known to the church. Now I can make
this known to your carnal minds, and if you're here and you're
lost, you can understand my words. I'm not speaking in high language.
But really, I want this to be known to the church. This is
going to only be known to the church, the elect. especially
the manifold wisdom of God. He said, to the intent that now
unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known
by the church. The manifold wisdom of God. I
want the church to know this. First of all, that this wisdom
of God is so vast and far beyond our comprehension, but God in
grace has purpose to display it, to make it known to His people. He's purposed to make His manifold
wisdom, His beautiful wisdom that purpose salvation from eternity. All the salvation of sinners
that is brought to pass in time was purposed in eternity. Salvations of the Lord. It was
purposed of God from eternity. Oh, the wisdom of God who purposed
to save some of Adam's race. You see, God knew. God knew that
no created being could ever attain to His righteousness. No created
being. The angels, even in their holy
perfections, have to cover their eyes and cover their feet because
they are not holy as God Himself. God knows that created beings
cannot attain to His righteousness. And yet He predestinated that
all the objects of His eternal love should have not just a righteousness,
but His righteousness. His righteousness. How could
man attain the righteousness of God and be accepted as sons? What is the wisdom of man concerning
this? The wisdom of man is that, yeah,
he can do it. That's the wisdom of man. Man
thinks he can do it. Man thinks by his own works he
can be good enough to be accepted of God. Man reasons that God
owes him something. He says, well, God made me, so
therefore God owes me. No. That's just stupid. That's just ignorant wisdom.
God owes you nothing. Nothing but hell. That's what
God owes you. If you want what God owes you,
He'll give it to you. He'll give you hell. Man, suppose
that God, well, if God made me, then I'll just do my best, and
if I do my best, then God will have to accept my best. No, He
does not have to accept your best. Your best is garbage. Your best is sin. That's our
best. and say, well, I'll do my best
and then Jesus will make up the rest. No, He won't. No, He won't. This is not the wisdom of God,
this is foolishness. This is the foolish logic of
man who trusts in his own self. The only hope for man is that
God should obtain righteousness for us. The only hope that we attain
righteousness is if God do it for us. The only hope for us to satisfy
the justice of God is that somebody else pay for it. Because we could
never pay for it. This is the wisdom of God in
Jesus Christ. All of the elect of God, loved
of God, purposed of God to salvation were given in wisdom to Jesus
Christ. Given to Christ. All blessing. in heavenly places are given
to us in Christ. And why were they given to us
in Christ? According as God had chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be
what? Holy and without blame before Him. In love having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto Himself. For what reason? For the praise
of the glory of His grace. Do you see that salvation is
of the Lord? Salvation is holy of God. And the Son of God, having
received the elect at His Father's hand, was purposed to come into
the world to be our righteousness and atonement for sin. This is
the wisdom of God. This is the wisdom of God, that
salvation come by His holy Son. Behold the manifold wisdom of
God, that the Savior should come not by the man's seed, but by
the woman's seed. Is that not wisdom? Man's seed
is corrupt. Adam's seed is corrupt. And so
then all who are in Adam die. You and I are of the seed of
our father Adam. But the Son, the Savior, was
not to come by man's seed. He was to come by the woman's
seed, so as not to contaminate Him. A body Thou hast prepared
Me. He prepared Him a body and put
it in the seed of the virgin's womb. And Christ should come
of the seed of the woman. And this tells us that Christ
should be made what? A man. The wisdom of God purposed
to save a people. He gave them to His Son. And
He purposed that His Son should become a what? A man. A man. Look at that in the next chapter
of our text. Verse 2, And a man shall be as a hiding place, a
man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, as a culvert from
the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as a shadow of
a great rock. in a weary land. Behold Jesus
Christ who is the King. He is the King of God's elect
people, the King of creation, who reigns in righteousness and
yet He condescended to be made flesh and dwell among
us. How do you like being a man? I tell you it is full of trouble.
It is full of suffering. And yet the King of Glory condescended
to be a man. And not only a man. You think
your troubles were bad. When the King of Glory condescended
to be a man, He condescended to be the lowest of men. The
lowest of men. The most despised man in the
world was Jesus Christ. Do you know that? He was not
the most celebrated. He was the most despised. He
was the lowest of men. And see this, the wisdom of God,
that it was by man's sin came, and it must be by man that salvation
comes. What man? You? No. Me? No. No. No. By that man, Jesus Christ. See, this is the wisdom of God.
For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Behold Jesus
the God-man who came to obtain righteousness. To merit righteousness. You want to talk about someone
who merited something? This is the only man who merited
God's favor. This is the only man who merited
God's righteousness. It is the Son of God, Jesus Christ,
the man. The man. Our sin was pictured in Adam's
nakedness. When he fell, what did he realize? He said that he was naked. He realized he was naked. And
when God's voice came, what did they do? They hid themselves
because they were naked before God. This shows us our sin. And yet Jesus came, and by His
righteous obedience and sacrifice of Himself, He covered our nakedness. Isn't that pictured in the first
sacrifice that was offered? What was the first sacrifice
that was offered in scripture? It was a sacrifice God offered. You see, they were naked and
they needed to be clothed. And God had to kill the first
sacrifice to cover their nakedness. Do you not see that this is a
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ that He was slain so that He
might cover our nakedness? With what? What is He going to
cover your naked soul with? His righteousness. That's what He covers us in.
It was by God's grace alone that He sent His Son to cover our
nakedness. In the tomb, when the Lord Jesus
Christ was risen from the dead and those apostles ran into the
tomb, what was left in there? The linen cloth. The linen cloth. That's the only thing that's
left. And guess what the apostle John sees the saints wearing? when he has the vision of heaven.
He says in Revelation 19 verse 8, and he says to her, this is
talking about the church, the elect, to her the bride was granted
that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For this is the righteousness
of the saints. It was by the faith of this man,
Jesus Christ, that the righteousness of God was obtained for us. And
it was by the death of this man, Jesus Christ, that all the sins
of God's elect were forever pardoned, forever done away with. When
His blood was shed on that cross 2,000 years ago, our sins were
forever put away. Forever put away. Forever forgiven. Forever pardoned. We were justified
by His blood. None of the wisdom of Egypt could
have ever devised such a plan. When you look at every religion
of man, what do they have in common? They're all trying to
do something. But the wisdom of God is for
you to do nothing. Is that not the greatest thing
in the world? To do nothing? Wait! There's got to be a catch! No! No catch! I suppose there is. The catch
is your sin. And your unwillingness to do
nothing. The catch is you want to trust
in your flesh and you will not trust in God. None of the wisdom of Egypt could
have done this. None of us could have devised
such a gracious plan. Salvation is by the manifold
eternal wisdom of God. And listen to this, He will not
call back His words. That is great. God's word is yes and amen. When God says something, he'll
do it. He'll do it. It was by God's grace alone that
He sent His Holy Spirit to quicken us to life and faith in Christ
alone. True believers confess this,
to know this to be true, that salvation is completely and absolutely
the work of God alone through Christ Jesus our Lord. We know
that. That's not questionable. We know
this because God said it and God will not repent. God will not change His mind.
I like that. God will not change His mind
about this. Salvation is mine. I'll do as I please. I'll save
whom I will. I've sent my Son, and He has
saved them. And I've sent my Spirit, and
He will call them. And not only will He call them,
He'll keep them. I will not repent. What about my inability? What about it? God says, I'll
do it. I've done it. Salvation is the
work of the wisdom and wisdom of God alone. He won't repent. But woe to everyone that puts
their trust in their flesh, or in their religious deeds, or
in their own will, because God will also not repent of the evil
He purposed to you. He purposed against you. Mercy
belongs to God and He gives it to whomsoever He will. To those whom He has chosen in
love from eternity, for those who Christ has died and risen
again, therefore, it is not of him that willeth nor him that
runneth, but God that showeth mercy. In 1 John chapter 1 and verse
12 he says, And as many as received Him, to them gave He the right,
the privilege, to be called the sons of God which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God. How were you born again? You
who believe are true believers in Christ. How were you born
again? You were born not because you were born into it. You were
born again not by your own will and not because of the will of
some other man. You were born again by the will
of God. You were born again by the will of God. But I tell you, God will bring
evil on all who trust in the arm of their flesh. God says,
cease ye. cease ye from man whose breath
is in his nostrils, and flee to the clefts of the rock. The flesh will fail you. Did you hear me? The flesh will
fail you. Your works shall not justify
you before God. Egypt shall fail, and all who
trust in Egypt shall fail. Therefore, God says, Turn ye,
look at your text in verse 6 of chapter 31 in Isaiah. God says,
Turn ye unto Him from whom the children of Israel
have deeply revolted. Turn you to Him. Who is that? Chapter 32 and verse 1, And a
man shall be as a hiding place. Who are you to flee to? You who
cannot trust in your works? Who do you flee to? You flee
to the man, Jesus Christ. The man who has a hiding place
from the wind and tempest of God's justice, God's wrath. Don't flee to the refuge of lies. Flee to Christ. You can flee to Him without moving
a muscle. How? By faith. Faith. Believe on Christ now and He
will be as a hiding place. Oh, that's good to somebody who
needs a hiding place. Someone who needs refuge from
the shelter of God's fury and wrath? He is a hiding place, a rock
in a weary land. rock in a weary land. Turn ye
to Him. Why? Because in Him there's protection. Look at verse 4 of 31. It says,
For thus saith the Lord, that the Lord has spoken to me, like
as a lion and a young lion roaring on his prey, when the multitude
of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid
of their voice, nor abase himself from the noise of them. So shall
the Lord of hosts come down and fight for Zion and for the hill
thereof." God says, I'll be as a lion for you. Is a lion afraid like a cat or
a dog tucks his tail between his legs when he's yelled at.
No. God says I'm like a lion who will not be afraid of the
words of men. Don't you be afraid of words
of men. Don't you be afraid of their hatred for his gospel.
God says I'll be as a hungry lion and I'll protect you. He also says, I'll be as a loving
bird. He says, as a bird flying, so
will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem. And defending, He
will deliver it. And passing over, He will preserve
it. Preserve it. I am so thankful
salvation is of God. I'm so thankful that it's not
by the works of my hands, or my goodness, in any way, it is
completely and absolutely the work of God. Therefore, you who
believe on Christ, God graciously reminds you here of who made the difference. Who made the difference between
you and those who trust in Egypt? What made the difference between
Hezekiah and Hosea? What made the difference between
you and those who trust in their flesh? God made the difference. God saved you because He would. And you won't find any reason
in you. Why do you look? I know you do. I know you do. Sometimes we like
Hezekiah, we get fearful and he did. Hezekiah got fearful
later on when Israel was destroyed. He got fearful and he scraped
the doors off of God's house and he paid the tribute. How many times do we get fearful
and pay the tribute to the flesh? But when you pay tribute to the
flesh, does it ever stop? Is that the end of it, when you
pay tribute to the flesh? When you give in to the flesh,
is that all the flesh wants? No. He wants more, and more,
and more, until you're destroyed. But what happens when all of
our strongholds are destroyed? True believers don't go to Egypt. We, like Hezekiah, turn to the
Lord. We turn to God and we trust Him. And when Hezekiah turned to the
Lord, what did he find? 185,000 dead Assyrians in one
night. You who believe, though you sin,
God says fear not. Trust in me. Don't lean to your
family. Don't lean to yourself. Don't
give occasion to your flesh. Trust in Christ and what will
you find? Dead sins. Dead sins. My sins are gone. because of the wisdom of God
and he will not turn back from his word. Praise God for his glorious grace. Now which are you? Are you trusting in flesh? Are you trusting in Christ? All the difference in the world,
isn't it? What happened to Oshia? He was destroyed. What happened
to Hezekiah? He was delivered. What happens
to false professors who trust in themselves? They'll be destroyed.
What happens to those who trust in Christ? They will be saved. Now go home and rest in it. I pray God blesses to you. This
stand will be this. Oh, I'm sorry. We'll have the.