It is exceedingly difficult for
you and me at this distance to have any idea what things once
were in this world. God created the heavens and the
earth. And then he created man in the
perfection of manhood with no sin. And God walked with man
in the cool of the day. And then Adam rebelled against God and plunged
the race into sin. And from the fall of Adam, things
degenerated and degenerated and degenerated and degenerated until
at last, A generation lived in the days of Noah that had grown
so vile, so base, so wicked, that the thoughts of the heart
of men all over the earth God saw was only evil and that continually. And he repented the Lord that
he had made man upon the earth. And so the Lord God in great
wrath, in great fury, in great judgment, to demonstrate to that
generation and to all generations to follow, how utterly abhorrent
sin is to him. God destroyed the whole human
race. With one great universal flood,
God wiped the earth clean. Except for one man, Noah, who
found grace in the eyes of the Lord, by whom the Lord God was
pleased to save his family in an ark that Noah was ordered
of God to build. That ark, of course, picturing
Christ, our Redeemer, the ark of safety for your soul. God
helped you to come into the ark, or he'll sweep you away in his
judgment. After the flood, the earth was
again heavily populated. And there was a pair of twin
cities, rich, heavily populated, influential, perhaps the most
wealthy, perhaps the most influential. perhaps the most populous cities
in the world at the time. Not only was that the case, but
the wickedness of those cities was great. From the record we have in scripture,
even greater than the wickedness of the days of Noah. The cities
had become vile. practicing the vile, disgusting
habit of homosexuality. Homosexuality had become the
lifestyle, the predominant preferred lifestyle in the world. In those
twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, homosexuals were no longer queer
people, they were the normal people. They weren't the odd folks, they
were the normal folks. Sexual perverts were in the majority. Now I'm going to say some things
this morning that must be said. And I'll say them because I don't
know anybody else who's saying them. Sodomy is not natural behavior
for anyone. Sodomy is perverse. Demented
behavior. God says it's contrary to nature. It doesn't matter what your educators
or politicians or social teachers teach you, sodomy is contrary
to nature. You, me, or anybody else. Religious sodomites, like that
mayor from Indiana, are not Christians who choose an alternative lifestyle. They are reprobate rebels, idolaters,
who wear the clothes of religious profession only to cover malicious
intent. And I promise you, their intent
is always malicious. Sodomites in any generation are
the curse of God in judgment upon that generation. God's judgment
upon the generation that has despised his word, rejected his
counsel, corrupted his gospel, and blasphemed his holy name
repeatedly and insistently. Sodomites, male and female, are
always, always mean-spirited, cruel, and oppressive in demanding
the acceptance of their chosen path of godless self-destruction. They're always mean-spirited,
cruel, and oppressive, demanding that you approve of their ungodliness. It appears that there was only
one man in the whole of those twin cities who neither practiced
nor condoned the wicked practice of homosexuality. A man named
Lot, just Lot, righteous Lot. Righteous Lot vexed his soul
from day to day with the deeds of those godless people. And
Lot's God was vexed too. One morning, As the Sodomites
got up to go about their day, God rained fire and brimstone
from heaven and turned those twin cities
into a pile of ashes. And everybody died by the hand
of God in one day because of God's anger, God's justice, and
God's truth. Everybody except for Lot and
two of his daughters who were delivered from judgment by the
angels of God sent specifically to deliver them from God's judgment. That generation so long ago was
destroyed. The cities so long ago were destroyed. If God sent a flood to cover
the earth in the days of Noah and poured fire and brimstone
from heaven in the days of Lot, I have a question to ask. Why
has he not yet sent judgment to destroy this generation in
which we live? In Noah's day, men and women
were no different than they are now. And the moral debauchery
of Sodom was nothing compared to the perversion of our society. At least in Sodom's, in the days
of Sodom, homosexual perversity appears to have been limited,
if not entirely, greatly, to just Sodom and Gomorrah. Today,
the perversion runs through the whole of society in every nation
on the earth. Everywhere. Everywhere. It is
a worldwide epidemic of godless rebellion. Why then is the world
still standing? Has God changed? Has God altered
his law? Has the Holy One become tolerant
of man's sin? Will God no longer punish the
wicked? Let none be so foolish as to
imagine that to be the case. God never changes. His law stands
firm. He must and he will punish sin,
all sin and all sinners. Why then does God tolerate this
world and the wickedness of men and women who openly defile his
holiness and blaspheme his holy name? We read the answer earlier
in 2 Peter chapter three. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. It is the long-suffering of God
toward his elect, the long-suffering determination of God to save
every one of his elect, The long-suffering of God that prevents God from
destroying the world right now. The long-suffering of God for
his elect that prevents God from destroying the world right now. Now hear me, you who live with
your fist in God's face, you who despise God's name and despise
his people, hear me. The only reason you're alive
now is because of God's elect among whom you live. You who are gods are the salt
of the earth. The world is preserved only because
this is the place where God does his work of grace in and for
and with his elect. I've come here today to talk
to you about the long suffering of God. Oh, what a subject, the
long suffering of God. You'll find my text in Isaiah
chapter 30 and verse 18. Some of you here this morning
are yet without Christ. I want you to hear what God says
in his book. The only thing that keeps you
out of hell is God's long suffering. If I had nothing else to say,
That ought to be enough to compel you to fall on your face at the
throne of grace and beg God for mercy. The only thing that keeps
you out of hell is God's long suffering. God give you grace
then to trust his son, seek his mercy in his son, mercy that
only he can give. Have you found my text? Isaiah
30 verse 18. And therefore will the Lord wait
that he may be gracious unto you. And therefore will he be
exalted that he may have mercy upon you. For the Lord is a God
of judgment. Blessed are all they that wait
for him. I want this morning for you to
just keep your Bibles open right here. And let's look at these
four statements given by God Almighty, by the prophet Isaiah,
by inspiration of God the Holy Ghost. Number one, therefore
will the Lord wait that he may be gracious. Here is the Holy
Lord God waiting to be gracious. What an astounding statement.
Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto
you. What can that mean? Now I have to say at the outset
that this text does not mean what preachers and will-worship
religious idolaters try to make it mean. It does not mean that
God's omnipotent grace and God's saving power waits upon sinners
to make the first move toward God. You make the first step,
God'll do the rest. If you can make the first step
toward God, you don't need God and his help is useless. The
text does not mean that God Almighty waits upon the free will of man
before he can or will perform his operations of grace. That
is sheer nonsense. This 30th chapter of Isaiah's
prophecy, this prophecy of judgment, destruction and desolation against
the people of Judah. But here, there was an elect
remnant in Judah, an elect remnant to whom God would be gracious. And because there was an elect
remnant in Judah, therefore the Lord waited until the set time
when he would arise and be gracious to them. So it is today. Though the world is condemned, yet there is a remnant according
to the election of grace. A remnant according to the election
of grace scattered by God's hand. All the things God uses to scatter
his people. To the four corners of the earth,
he scatters them. Through the fall of Adam, the
race was scattered. Through the sins of Noah's sons,
the race was scattered. After the flood, they were scattered.
Through the wars and desolations and famines of time, they're
scattered, scattered. A man picks up moves here, moves
there, they're scattered. God scatters his elect in the
four corners of the earth, generation after generation. And he scatters
them that he may gather them. and gathered them in such manifest
grace that it's obvious that he's the one who does the gathering.
There is a remnant to whom God will be gracious. A remnant for
whom God waits to be gracious. I told you you can keep your
Bibles open here at Isaiah 30. Listen to Jeremiah. Therefore
fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord. Need not be dismayed,
O Israel, for lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed
from the land of their captivity. And Jacob shall return, and shall
be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. For
I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee, though I make a
full end of all nations, whither I have scattered thee. I'm with
you to save you though I destroy everybody else. Yet will I not
make a full end of thee, but I will correct thee in measure
and will not leave thee altogether unpunished. Behold, I will bring
them from the north country and gather them from the coast of
the earth. And with them the blind and the lame, the woman
with child, and her that travaileth with child together, a great
company shall return thither. They shall come with weeping,
and with supplications will I lead them. I will cause them to walk
by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble. For I am a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my firstborn. Hear the word of the Lord, O
ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say,
He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a
shepherd doth his flock. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob,
and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than
he. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion
and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord. Then shall
the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together,
for I will turn their mourning into joy and will comfort them
and make them rejoice from their sorrow. And I will satiate the
soul with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,
saith the Lord." Zechariah puts it this way. God speaks and says,
I will hiss for them. I will hiss for them and gather
them. for I have redeemed them, and
they shall increase as they have increased. God says, I will just
say, psst, psst, come on, psst, come on, I'll hiss for them.
And his hiss is the effectual call of his grace. God has a
people in this world whom he has loved with an everlasting
love, who was redeemed with the blood of his own darling son.
people of whom he says, I will be their God and they shall be
my people. And the Lord God's going to get
them. He waits to be gracious to them. He waits until the proper,
exact, best, and appointed time to be gracious to them. The word
waits. implies something more than just
me sitting in the truck waiting on my wife to get done shopping.
It implies panting, longing, anxiousness. The Lord waits with
panting heart, longing heart, anxious heart to be gracious
to his people. He longs and pants, as it were,
to reveal his grace to the objects of his love because he delights
in mercy. The picture, I can't help but
to think is the picture that we have in Luke 15. You remember
the story of the Particle Son? The son took his goods, demanded
his father, give me my goods that are coming to me, as if
a father's inheritance is the possession of his son. He said,
all right, take it. And he left in rebellion, haughtiness
and pride, pockets full, anxious to throw himself wild, and he
did, until at last he had nothing. And he went and joined himself
to a stranger in a strange land. Dr. Gill says he joined himself
to a farisite preacher and said, boy, it's all right, you can
work your way back into good standing. It's called a hog trough. And he would fain have filled
his belly with a husk the swine did eat. And no man gave him
anything to eat. And when he came to himself.
when he came to himself. That's when God's gracious when
he came to himself. My pockets are empty. My life
is vanishing. My soul is empty. I'm lost. I'm dead. I'm helpless. I'm gonna
die! But there's bread enough in my
father's house in despair. I'll return to my father. And
I'll say to him, Father, make me as one of your hired servants.
And I've said against you, make me one of your hired servants.
And he arose and went toward his father. And the book tells
us something that seems strange about God. It's the only time
in the book of God you see a picture or any indication of God getting
in a hurry. The only time the God of glory
is ever portrayed as in a hurry is running to meet a sinner,
coming to him for mercy. His father saw him. He saw him when he was a great
way off. He saw all that he had been, all that he had done. He saw the mess he was in, the
shape he was in. He saw his ruin, his filth, his
rebellion, his ungodliness. He saw it! And he saw what he
was determined to do for him. He saw what he would make of
him. And he had compassion on him. He had compassion. Panic. feeling of love with his son. And he ran. He ran and fell on
his neck and kissed him and kissed him and kissed him and kissed
him and kissed him and just kept on kissing him. Much love freely
bestowed, sin freely forgiven, tenderness, mercy, and grace
expressed in every kiss. The Lord God waits for the set
time, which is the fit time and the proper time, the very best
time to be gracious. But don't ever imagine that he
waits until the time of love the time to reveal his grace.
He was gracious long before ever he showed himself gracious. He
was gracious to us long before the time he appointed to make
us know his grace before the world was. He chose us in free
sovereign election. He preserved us in the race of
humanity through the fall of our father Adam, and through
all the various generations coming after Adam, preserved us in the
days of our rebellion. He preserved us because he redeemed
us in the sacrifice of his own darling son. He made a covenant
with him for us, a covenant of grace and peace before the world
was and in time redeemed us. And when the fullness of time
was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman, made under
the law to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of son. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons
of God. Imagine that. Imagine that. That we should be called the
sons of God. Oh, what grace, what mercy. Our
Lord Jesus, by his grace, preserved us. provided for us, protected us,
sent his angels to be ministering spirits to minister to those
who should be the heirs of salvation. And then at his own appointed
time of love, in our regeneration and calling, in our conversion
by the power and grace of his spirit, the Lord God brought
his grace to us and brought us to his grace. He brought His grace to us and
brought us to Himself in grace. He brought His grace to us and
brought us to His Son in grace and revealed His Son in us, made
known in us the wonder of His grace. And now we stand in His
grace as a people wonder that, a people wonder that. wondered
at by ourselves and wondered at by others, and a people who
shall be wondered at forever. At his appointed time, the grace
of God that brings salvation, that grace that appears to all
men, has appeared to us in efficacy, in power, teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously
and godly in this present world. He openly exhibits his grace
to us, revealing Christ to us, giving us faith in his son, speaking
peace and pardon from heaven to our souls, declaring us in
our hearts to be the sons of God. He makes his grace known. This is the long-suffering of
God, which is our salvation. God withholds his wrath from
the world for the sake of his elect. But why does the Lord
wait to be gracious? Look at that word therefore.
Therefore, the Lord waits to be gracious
to you. What's that therefore? He waits
to be gracious. because he will not be gracious
to you in the experience of his grace until he's destroyed all
creature confidence. In verses two, three, and 16,
these people of Judah went down to Egypt for help. They trusted
the strength of Pharaoh. And God told them, the strength
of Pharaoh, I'll turn to your shame. your trust in the shadow
of Egypt, I'll make confusion to you. And until God destroys
all creature strength in you, all hope in yourself, all hope
in what you can do, he will never show you his grace. God will
not be gracious until the rebel is exposed. and
the rebellion is broken and his chosen one is made to see and
know his need of grace. The fact is you will not come
to Christ and you will not trust the Lord Jesus until you come
to yourself and are at your wit's end. Why? Why does God do things
this way? Read the story given in the last
part of Luke chapter 7 and it won't be a mystery to you any
longer. That woman who came into Simon's house and brought an
alabaster box worth a year's wages and broke the box and anointed
the Savior for his burial. washed his feet with her tears,
and wiped them with the hairs of her head, kissed his feet. And Simon and Judas and the other
apostles and disciples, what a waste! This could have been
given to the poor. And the Lord said, I'll put a
parable to you, Simon. A man owes $50 and another owes
$50,000. and both are frankly and fully
forgiven, who will love most? And Simon said, I suppose he
who was forgiven most. And the Lord Jesus said, thou
hast rightly said. And God's people, each one is
made to know himself the chief of sinners. and being forgiven
frankly, freely, and fully by the blood of Christ, calls to
love him as people forgiven. Verse 19, he will be very gracious
unto thee at the voice of thy cry, when he shall hear it, he
will answer thee. God waits to be gracious. to
make you taste the bitterness of sin. God waits to be gracious
to make you know the certainty of judgment. God waits to be
gracious to take you as it were to hell itself. God waits to
be gracious to make you know you ought to be in hell. God
waits to be gracious to make grace sweeter to your taste. to you who are yet without Christ.
The Lord waits to be gracious, and yet while he waits to be
gracious, he's working that he may be gracious. He holds back
the sword of his justice. He continues to grant you the
privileges of the gospel ministry. He's not taking away your teachers,
your preachers, those men sent of God to proclaim the word of
his grace to you. He speaks and calls you to return
to him and rest. Listen to what he says. Thine
ears shall hear a word behind thee saying, this is the way,
walk ye in it. When you turn to the right hand
and when you turn to the left, he passes by your way. Again, and again, and again. But you turn, and you would not! You would not. If God leaves
you to yourself, you're going to hell. But he waits to be gracious. And when you must have him, you
call him. And when he calls you, when you
call for his grace, it's obvious that he has called you. And when
deliverance comes, the deliverer is cherished and exalted. Once, when I was 15 years old,
I had purchased a car, wasn't old enough to get a driver's
license, but I purchased a car. The ugliest car ever been made
in the world, I believe. 1956 three-tone gray Dodge. And
me and four or five of my buddies decided to skip school. and we
took off down the road toward Moxville, North Carolina. Went
down to the drag strip and broke into that place and ran my Dodge
up down that drag strip. And then we started out somewhere
else, had no idea where we were going and had a bunch of firecrackers
and cherry bombs and throwing them out the window. And when
we did, one of them flew right across my face and I was driving.
And I went down the hill off the road, through a cornfield. I mean just right through the
cornfield. Hadn't been picked yet. I knew
as I got off the road, I was in trouble. And all my buddies
scattered. I beat everyone up, they ran
off into the hills. Left me sitting there with the
car. And here came the sheriff. And he talked to me a little
bit and asked me, I said, I'm by myself, everybody with me,
go. He said, well, we'll get the bloodhound, said it loud
enough they all heard him. As he got all of us, and he took
us to jail down in Boxville, North Carolina. And he wanted
names and addresses and telephone numbers of our parents. And the
fellas all gave them names and address, telephone numbers, and
he came to me, and I said, I don't think I'll do that. He said,
what? I said, whatever you got for
me here is gonna be better than what I get if I give you that
name and telephone number. And finally, he persuaded me
to give him somebody's name and telephone number. I gave him
my aunt's. She always spoiled me. She always
found an excuse for what I did. And when she got there a few
hours later, I was tickled to death to get out of that place. And when God statched me as a
brand from the burning, I'd been in hell long enough and I've
been tickled to death to be delivered. The deliverer is exalted in the
deliverance. Now look at the second line in
the text. Therefore will he be exalted
that he may have mercy upon you. Our God is exalted upon the throne
of grace, that he might have mercy upon chosen sinners for
the glory of his own great name. But I'm confident this prophecy
declares more. This is a prophecy concerning
the exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of his
people. The word exalted means lifted
up. Christ, having redeemed us with his blood, having brought
in everlasting righteousness, having satisfied divine justice,
was buried and rose again the third day, and at last, exalted,
king, seated on his throne for this purpose, to give repentance
and remission of sins to Israel. He's been exalted to give repentance. He's exalted. being lifted up
upon the cursed tree to draw all men unto him. He's exalted
like Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. We preach
the gospel and lift up Christ and everyone who'd bitten of
the fiery serpent who looks to him. Look unto me and be you saved
all the ends of the earth for I'm God and there is none else.
Look at the third line. For the Lord is a God of judgment. That means two things. The Lord
our God, the triune Jehovah, is a just God. God Almighty always
deals with everyone in strict righteousness, justice, and truth. If God sends you to hell, nobody
will pity you. You'll go to hell because it's
your fault and you deserve to go to hell. Because you stuck
your fingers in your ears and said, God, get out of my way.
I won't hear you. And God will not forgive sin
except by righteousness, justice, and truth. Only when satisfaction
has been made, only when justice has been satisfied, only when
the price has been paid by Jesus Christ, God's darling son, can
God be just and the justifier of the ungodly. And that's what
he is, through Christ, who is a just and righteous propitiation
for our sins. By mercy and by truth, iniquity
is purged. Not only does that statement, God is a God
of judgment, speak of his justice, it speaks of discretion. Discretion. The Lord God, our Savior, with
great wisdom, knowledge, and skill, in all wisdom and prudence,
Paul puts it in Ephesians 1, saves his people at exactly the
right time for his glory according to his purpose and grace. And
he works everything. He works everything. He works
everything exactly right. Exactly right to bring the object
of his love to the well of his mercy. where he will have mercy
on Cyprus and her. With great wisdom and skill,
he arranged the affairs of the universe and governs the thoughts
of men to make his own willing in the day of his power. One
more thing and I'll be done. Blessed are they that wait for
Him. I've been talking to you about
awaiting God. Here our text describes God's
people as awaiting people. Blessed are they that wait for
Him. The Lord is good unto them that
wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. To wait for Him
is to trust Him. To wait for him is to bow to
him. To wait for him is to seek him. I've told you many times,
one night, this has been now 43 years ago, I was preaching
in Hillcrest Baptist Church in Winston-Salem where Brother Moose
Parks, and I were members, our wise members there, and Moose's
dad was the pastor. And after preaching one night,
Moose and Sandy drove off a little ways, and a little while we were
still standing around talking, and they drove back in the driveway.
And Moose said, my brother Don Sandy wants to talk to you. He'd
been in church all her life. Baptized this little girl. And
she said, God showed her she's lost and she wants to know the
Lord. She wants to be saved. So we went back and sat down
and chatted a little bit. Moose's dad, Brother Parks, Moose,
myself, Sandy. I listened to Sandy and I didn't,
I couldn't do anything for her. I couldn't do anything. I'd preached
the gospel to her, I couldn't do anything for her. And I said
to her, Sandy, Get to yourself and wait on God
and seek the Lord. Some years later, Moose told
me, I expect you to tell her to do something. No, wait. Wait. Trust Him. Bow to Him. Seek Him for yourself. And as
soon as he hears the voice of your cry, he'll be gracious to
you. As soon as he hears, I have sinned
against the Lord, he'll hear the voice of your cry and you'll
hear him speak, your sins are forgiven you. And he's the only
one who can. Now you who are my brothers and
sisters in Christ, In time of trouble, heartache, sorrow, what do you
do? Wait. Wait. He'll be gracious to you. He waits to be gracious. Wait
then. Wait before him, trust him. Bow to him. Seek him. And as soon as he hears
the voice of your cry, he'll be gracious to you. Deliverance
comes to those who wait. They that wait on the Lord shall
renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. I don't know where I first got
this, but I read it one day this week. I'll finish with this.
When many troubles vex you, when trials overwhelm you, when enemies
assail you, when the ways dark before you, when Satan would
destroy you, then wait. The Lord is with you. His grace
will never fail you. He waits with grace to bless
you. Sit still, be quiet and listen. Wait on the Lord, his
children. No shame shall come upon you. He will keep and defend you. So wait on the Lord. Therefore will the Lord wait
that he may be gracious unto you. That's the longsuffering
of our God. And the longsuffering of our
God is salvation. So blessed are they that wait
on him. Amen.