After watching the live streaming
last week, someone left a note, and the folks who handle those
things sent it to me. I have no idea who left the note,
but he made an observation. He said, why isn't that place
packed to the gills? And the fact is, Either I am
a false prophet preaching a false God and a false savior whom nobody
should ever hear, or the day will soon come when everybody
who ever passed through Boyle County, Kentucky will forever
wish they had beat the doors down to get in here and hear
what you're about to hear. I have a message. If God will
enable me to declare it and give you grace to hear it, that will
do your souls good tonight. Turn with me to Isaiah 27. Isaiah
27. The Apostle Peter wrote, the
time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God. And
if it first began with us, If judgment begins here at God's
house, what shall the end of them be that obey not the gospel
of God? Then in the book of Hebrews,
we read, vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense, saith
the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge
his people. Now the inspired conclusion to
those words is this. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. Both Peter and the writer
of the book of Hebrews tell us that though God will surely judge
the world, he will first judge his own house. Judgment must
begin at the house of God. What an astounding statement.
It's misunderstood by many, confusing to most, ignored by others, but
that's my subject tonight. Judgment must begin at the house
of God. We who believe the Word of God
recognize that the Bible itself is the best commentary on the
Bible. The best interpreter of Scripture
is Scripture. We understand the things of God
as we compare Scripture with Scripture, seeking the mind of
Christ revealed to us in the Book of God. Here in Isaiah 27,
God the Holy Ghost gives us his own commentary on those words
he inspired Peter to write, judgment must begin at the house of God. My text will be verses seven
through 13. But let's begin in verse one.
Isaiah begins this chapter by telling us of our God punishing
Satan. and his instruments of cruelty,
that is of God punishing all the oppressors and persecutors
of his church through the ages, both those who are religious
and those who are political tyrants. In verse one, in that day, the
Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish
Leviathan, the piercing serpent. Even Leviathan, that crooked
serpent, and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. In verses two and three and four,
after telling us how God will punish all the oppressors of
his church, God's prophet assures us of God's relentless care for
his own people. his provision for and his protection
of his elect, his church, his Israel, even when the oppressors
oppress, even when the persecutors persecute, even in times of darkness,
God promises he will provide for and protect his own. In that
day, sing ye unto her a vineyard of red wine. I the Lord do keep
it. I will water it every moment,
lest any hurt it. I will keep it night and day.
Fury is not in me. who would set the briars and
thorns against me in battle, I would go through them, I would
burn them together. And then beginning in verse five,
the Lord God calls for us to lay hold on Christ, the strength
of Jehovah, he who is our strength, that we may obtain peace with
him and assures us that all who trust Christ do indeed obtain
peace with him. or let him take hold of my strength.
Take hold of him who is Jehovah's strength. God made our mediator
Christ Jesus. Take hold of him that he may
make peace with me and he shall make peace with me. He shall
cause them that come of Jacob to take root. Israel shall blossom
and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit. Now here's
our text. Hath he smitten him as he smote
those that smote him? Or is he slain according to the
slaughter of them that are slain by him? In measure, when he shooteth
forth, thou wilt debate with it. He stayeth his rough wind
in the day of the east wind. By this therefore shall the iniquity
of Jacob be purged. And this is all the fruit to
take away his sin. I'm sorry, this is all the, excuse
me, by this, the iniquity of Jacob will be purged, and this
is all the fruit to take away his sin. when he maketh all the
stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in sunder,
the groves and the images shall not stand up. That is, when God
destroys all idolatry before us and in us. Yet the defense
city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken. and left
like a wilderness. There shall the calf feed, and
there shall he lie down and consume the branches thereof. When the
boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off. The
women shall come and set them on fire, for it is a people of
no understanding. Therefore, he that made them
will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will
show them no favor. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of
the river under the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered
one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to
pass in that day that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they
shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria.
and the outcast of the land of Egypt, and shall worship the
Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. Now in this chapter, Isaiah is
showing us God's care for his vine, the church, in times of
great trial. The particular illustration uses
this care. and protection of God as demonstrated
to his elect remnant in Israel during the time of their Babylonian
captivity. God protected his own, and God
purged his own, and God caused his own to see him and to grow
in faith in him. So God will destroy his enemies,
those who persecute and oppress his church today, even as it
did the Babylonians. And in the end, the Lord will
cause his Israel, his church, his elect to blossom and bud
and fill the earth. But in order for this to happen,
judgment must begin at the house of God. Now in our text, Isaiah
shows us three things to which I call your attention. Here's
the first. In verses seven, eight, and nine,
the prophet describes the judgment of God's house. In what sense
does God judge his people? When the Spirit of God comes
in conviction, he convinces believing sinners that judgment is over.
So in what sense does God judge his people? How and why does
he judge his church? These are questions answered
for us in the next couple of verses. In verse seven, Isaiah
assures us that God does not judge his church as he judges
the world. often forgetting what God teaches
in His Word, forgetting what you've heard from this pulpit,
you may think to yourself, God's judging me for this or that sin. God's judging me for this or
that offense. In a sense that may be so, but
not as he judges the world. Hath he smitten him? Has God
smitten his Israel, his elect, his chosen, his church, as he
smote those that smote him? The question implies a denial,
most certainly not. God does not smite his church. He does not smite his elect. He does not judge his chosen
as he judges those who persecute his church. Read on. Is he Israel,
God's church, God's elect? Is he slain according to the
slaughter of them that are slain by him? Again, the answer is
no. When God comes out against the
reprobate, When God comes out against those whom he's determined
to destroy, when God comes out against the nations of the world
and against rebels against whom he inflicts his punishment, it
is that he may destroy them in the fury of his wrath and justice. Back up to chapter 26 and verse
21. Behold, the Lord cometh out of
his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth. Chapter 27, verse
1. In that day, the Lord with his
sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan. But when the Lord comes out against
his church, he takes out his rod of correction. A rod of correction
that he takes out in mercy, love, and grace to correct us, not
to punish us. What a difference. He corrects
his own. He never punishes his own. Be
sure you understand what God says. Fury is not in me. God is never angry with his people. Our God exhausted his justice. He exhausted his wrath. He exhausted
his anger upon his own darling son when his son at Calvary was
made sin for us. so that God has no reason ever
to be angry and punish you for sin. He punished our sins in
our substitute. That means he cannot and will
not punish them in us. Augustus' top lady stated it
beautifully. Payment God cannot twice demand,
first by bleeding surety's hand and then again at mine. The Lord
hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according
to our iniquities. He dealt with Judas after his
sins, and rewarded Judas according to his iniquities. He dealt with
Cain after his sin, and rewarded Cain according to his iniquities. He dealt with the sons of Korah,
Dathan, and Abiram after their sins and rewarded them according
to their iniquities. But he has never dealt with us
after our sins. He's never rewarded us according
to our iniquities. This is what redemption by the
blood of Christ means. All who are redeemed by Christ's
precious blood, Every sinner for whom Christ paid the ransom
price, every sinner for whom Christ died at Calvary is forgiven
of all sin. Twice the apostle Paul tells
us in Ephesians one and in Colossians one, in whom we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. That is to say redemption
equals forgiveness. If there's no forgiveness, there's
no redemption. If there's redemption, forgiveness
is certain. God, because Christ died for
us, will not impute sin to his people. I know we hardly half believe
that. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. If God imputed your sin to his
son and punished his son for your sin, God in justice and
in truth cannot and will not impute any sin to you for any
reason. A preacher, you can't say that
so frankly and so without any defense or without any explanation.
Well, let me try one more time. God will not impute sin to those
for whom Christ died, ever at any time. And because God will
not impute sin to you, there is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus, to them that walk not after the
flesh, but after the spirit. So that if you believe on the
Son of God, if you trust the Lord Jesus Christ, God will never
impute sin to you, and he will never punish you for sin. Not
only that, God will never deal with you
any the less graciously because of your sin. Past, present, or
future. If you're God's, if Christ redeemed
you, if you trust the Son of God, God will never deal with
you any of the less graciously because of your sin, past, present,
or future. Rather, he always deals with
you graciously, in tenderness, in loving kindness, and in mercy. Is that perfectly clear? In Christ,
we are freed from sin, totally freed from all penalty for sin
or all possibility of penalty. But that does not mean that God
will allow his people in this world to live in rebellion and
sin. God is a good father. Unlike
us, he never spoils his children. He never spoils his children. He will not indulge us in our
iniquities. He will not weaken sin. He will
deal with us about our sins. Blessed be His name. He does
so in mercy, but He does deal with us as a wise and loving
Father. Hold your hands here in Isaiah
27 and turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12, verse
five. ye have forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not
thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked
of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye
endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what
son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if you be without chastisement,
if God just lays the reins on your neck and lets you have your
way, gives you what you want, if you're without chastisement,
where of all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we've had fathers
of our flesh, which corrected us and we gave them reverence.
Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the father of spirits
and live? For they verily for a few days
chastened us after their own pleasure. Mom and dad get angry
and smack a child, that's not to correct the child, that's
for their own pleasure. But he, for our prophet, God never does
that. He chastens us that we might
be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward, it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby. God's holiness spoken of here
in Hebrews does not refer to his moral character as God. It doesn't refer to his attribute.
It doesn't even refer to that holiness God gives us in grace
when he makes us new creatures in Christ. The word simply means
separation or sanctification. As God is separate from all his
creatures, so by loving exercise of his rod, our Heavenly Father
separates our hearts from the world. separates our hearts from
all false confidence. Separates the wheat from the
chaff within us and the wheat from the chaff in his church.
He separates the precious from the vile. We have a marvelous
illustration of it in that man after God's own heart, David.
You know how David took Bathsheba. And when he couldn't cover his
sin, he had her husband murdered. And then he sent and called for
Bathsheba and took her for his wife. And we read in the last verse
of chapter 11 in 2 Samuel, the thing which David did displeased
the Lord. And the Lord sent his prophet
Nathan to David. What a man Nathan must have been.
He's going to a king who could have him beheaded just by turning
his thumbs down. And he's going to expose that
king's sin to himself. Thou art the man. And as soon
as David confessed his sin, Nathan's word to him was, the Lord has
put away your sin. Before it was ever committed,
the Lord has put away your sin. Before you ever confessed it,
the Lord has put away your sin, but you're not about to forget
it. Because you have not sanctified
God, because you have given God's enemies occasion to blaspheme
by your behavior, the sword will never depart from your house.
And it began with that child. in Bathsheba's womb. When it
was born, God killed it. And all Israel, and all Israel's
enemies, and all men and women throughout the world to this
day know that the thing David did displeased the Lord. When the Lord judges his people,
his judgments are always governed by love. and mitigated by mercy. The next word God sent to David,
when Bathsheba had another son, and they called his name Solomon,
he sent his prophet back and said, go tell him to name that
boy Jedidiah. Tell him, tell him nothing's
changed. He's beloved of the Lord. Tell him everything's all
right. The Lord has put away your sin.
God judges his people. He judges his church. but his
judgments are always mitigated by mercy. They're always governed
by love. Verse eight. In measure, when
it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it. He stayeth his
rough wind in the day of the east wind. Solomon assures us
in Proverbs six, that a man cannot take fire to his bosom without
burning his clothes. He cannot walk on coals without
burning his feet. Even so, when you and I willfully
walk contrary to the will of God. I hear folks say, a believer
won't do that. Well, I can't speak to other
folks for other folks, I'll speak for me. When you and I willfully walk
contrary to the will of God, as we often do. bringing reproach
upon the name of Christ, the gospel of his grace and faith
in him. We do injury to his cause and
we will bring pain and trouble to ourselves. Isaiah tells us
three things here about God's judgment in providence upon his
church. His judgments are always measured
judgments. He says in measure, in measure. The Lord deals out our afflictions
like a wise physician prescribes medicine to a patient. He knows
exactly what we need and exactly how much. And that's what he
gives us. Like a skillful surgeon, He knows
exactly where to cut and how deep. Just recently, as you know,
I've been going through both some radiation treatments and
a little surgery. And the surgeon got to probing
around some things. Could be real dangerous. Could
be very dangerous if he didn't know what he was doing. But he
wisely and skillfully dug around in my lawn and put some things
in there that were needed exactly where they were needed. And when
it got done, there was a little discomfort. Our great God wisely
gives us exactly what we need, just in the measure we need it
for our benefit. Like a wise surgeon, he knows
exactly where to cut and just how deep. And he will not put
you or me into more difficult circumstances than we can bear. will with judgment give grace
sufficient to bear the judgment. Here's the second thing he tells
us about those judgments. They're correcting judgments.
When it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it. In affliction,
God debates with us. He contends with us. Not all
affliction is the result of personal sin. Be sure you understand that. But often it is. And when it
is, the child who is afflicted for his sin knows it. He doesn't
need you to tell it. He doesn't need me to tell it.
You know it. I know it. When God's dealing
with us about a particular matter. Whenever I calls my daughter
to be corrected for something. Whenever I inflicted pain on
her for something she had done, I always made sure she understood
the reason. And our father is a great wise
God. When he afflicts his children,
he makes them to know the reason. Here's the third thing. They're
always mitigated. They're measured, they're corrected,
are correcting, and they are mitigated judgments. He stayeth
his rough wind in the day of the east wind. Oh, thank God,
his judgments are mitigated. God who holds the winds in his
fist, directs those winds according to his will. He sends the rough
wind to break off the dead twigs. but he stops the rough wind lest
it destroy the vine. In other words, God's judgments
of his house are always mixed with and directed by mercy. Look at verse nine. The Lord's
purpose in judging his house is to purge it of iniquity. By
this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged. Now hang
on for a minute, I'll explain that to you. And this is all
the fruit to take away his sins. When he maketh all the stones
of the altar as chalk stones, makes all his confidences, all
his refuges, all his false refuges, just crumbling chalk stones that
are beaten and sundered, the groves and images shall not stand
up. In the immediate context, obviously,
Isaiah is talking about the destruction of Babylon by the judgment of
God. And to rid the people of Israel
of all their captivity, of all the idolatry they'd learned in
captivity and the idolatry which brought them into captivity to
start with. But this prophecy was written
for our sakes. It's just as important for you
and me. God's object in judging us in providence is altogether
gracious. By this, therefore, shall the
iniquity of Jacob be purged. The word purge means atoned,
expiated, put away. Now you and I know from the teaching
of Scripture that the purging of sin is not done by our suffering
or by the sufferings of many people. The purging, atonement,
the expiation of sin is by the blood of Christ alone. So what
does the prophet mean here? God graciously afflicts us for
sin. especially for every remnant
of idolatry in us, so that we might turn from it in repentance,
in faith to Christ Jesus, by whom it is purged away. Listen to the scripture. If we walk in the light as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood
of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. What? The cleansing was done at Calvary. The cleansing was done before
the world was. But here it's used in the present tense. The
blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin. God, by his grace,
as we are compelled to confess our sin, recognizing our own
conscious awareness of our guilt, purges us, cleanses us of sin,
and declares us free. With regard to the individual
believer, God's purpose in chastisement is to retrieve us from our many
falls. Though our Heavenly Father afflicts
us, He makes our afflictions work for our eternal spiritual
good, and so overrules those things into which we fall, as
to make them a means in His correction for our benefit, even of our
falls. When foolishness is bound up
in the heart of His child, He wisely and graciously drives
out the foolishness with the rod of correction. William Cowper
wrote a hymn. I don't know that I've ever seen
it in a hymn book, but it's a very good hymn. Listen carefully.
"'Tis my happiness below, not to live without the cross, but
the Savior's power to know, sanctifying every loss. Trials must and will
befall, but with humble faith to see love inscribed upon them
all, this is happiness to me. God in Israel sows the seeds
of affliction, pain and toil. These spring up and choke the
weeds that would else or spread the soil. Trials make the promise
sweet. Trials give new life to prayer. Trials bring me to his feet,
lay me low and keep me there. Did I meet no trials here, no
chastisement by the way? Might I not with reason fear
I should prove a castaway? Bastards may escape the rod,
sunk in earthly vain delight, but the true born child of God
must not, would not if he might. You see, chastisement is the
rod by which God drives the sin which he hates from the child
that he loves. Be wise then and kiss the rod. Children of God, we cannot reject
God's counsel, God's word without bringing reproach to God's name,
and dishonoring his son, our suffering substitute, without
ourselves suffering the consequences of our actions. God will either
turn us from our sin or he'll take us from our sin. I think there's an application
here of John's words in 1 John 5, 16. There is a sin unto death. I would not, you should pray
for it. Moses perished in the wilderness because he did not
sanctify God's name before his people. Because he did not sanctify
God's name before his people, God took him in the wilderness.
I've seen God do that. I've seen him correct men, and
I've seen him correct, take men out of this world who would not
be corrected. Ralph Barnard put it this way.
There are only two reasons why God will kill a believer. Either
he's through with him or he gets in God's way. I think that's
pretty accurate. With regard to his church, God's
purpose in afflicting his church is that he might separate the
wheat from the tares, the precious from the vile. There must also
be heresies among you. that they which are approved
may manifest. By these things, by judgment
that begins at the house of God, God proves who are His. All right,
look at the next verse, 10 and 11. Here Isaiah describes the
destruction of Babylon. The defense city shall be desolate. The habitation forsaken, left
like a wilderness. There shall the calf feed, and
there shall it lie down and consume the branches thereof. When the
boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off. The
women come and set them on fire, for it is a people of no understanding.
Therefore, he that made them will not have mercy on them.
He that formed them will show them no favor. The defense city,
Obviously refers to ancient Babylon and God overthrew the city and
made it a habitation of wild beast But Babylon represents
all that opposes God throughout scripture Babylon represents
that which began back there in Genesis 11 at the Tower of Babel
with Nimrod Babylon represents all false religion Babylon the
great whore of Revelation is all false religion in this world.
It is a defense city and But it's a city that promises peace
where there is no peace. The religion of Babylon promises
peace to a decision, or to the exercise of your will, or to
your good works, or to a spasm of revival, or to some emotional
thing, or some experience. But there's no peace in Babylon.
The men and women of Babylon go about with this defense city
and they cry, peace, peace, when there is no peace. And when the
Lord God comes to destroy this defense city, the destruction
is utter and complete. So it will be in the last day.
We read of it in Revelation 18. And so it is when God's people
are made to experience it in their own knowledge of God's
grace. When God comes and breaks down the refuge of lies, he will
make you to understand that all those things in which you once
trusted, they're just like crumbling chalkstone idols, utterly worthless,
utterly meaningless, without any benefit to you. Elder Grace
just turned in a paper, I was very anxious to read it, to a
class at Center on Law and Grace. And I was delighted to see how
clearly she understood the distinction Paul made concerning law and
grace. How he, before God saved him,
trusted in his works. And then God turned everything
like chalk stone idols before him when he revealed Christ in
him. And thus the Lord God destroys
Babylon in our experience, even as he shall at last in that day
when he comes to judge all the wicked of the earth. When God
destroys this world in judgment, his judgment shall be the execution
of wrath and justice. The cause of judgment, the cause
of wrath is man's willful ignorance. It is a people of no understanding. What brother Rex read a little
bit ago in Luke's gospel, same thing stated in Matthew's gospel
chapter 11. We understand because God gives us understanding. We
see because God gives us eyes to see. We hear because God gives
us hearing ears. But those who understand not,
understand not because they will not hear. They believe not because
they will not believe. They will not see because they,
or they cannot see because they will not see. So that man's death,
his judgment is always presented to us in this book as a matter
of his own responsibility. Wicked men perish. because they
live in rebellion to God. In that day, the creator will
destroy the creatures without mercy and without favor. Oh, when God's judgment comes, when God's judgment comes, he
says he will not have mercy. You have a picture of the rich
man in Luke 16. He lifts up his eyes in hell,
tormented in the flames of hell, for the worm dies not and the
fire is not quenched. And he said, Father Abraham,
send Lazarus that he may just dip the tip of his finger in
some water. and put it on my tongue, I'm
tormented in this flame. And there's no drop of water
given because God's wrath shall be in unmitigated mercy against
his enemies. Then in verses 12 and 13. In the end, when God finishes
all his work and time shall be no more, Isaiah tells us of the
salvation of God's elect. It shall come to pass in that
day that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river
under the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one,
O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall
come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria and the
outcast of the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in
the holy mountain at Jerusalem. So God's shaking the earth like
a man would beat ripe fruit off of a tree. God shakes the earth
to gather his elect. He gathers them from the north
and the south and the east and the west. He gathers them one
by one. Sometimes as many as 3,000 in
one day, but always one by one, so that he calls each of his
elect and their own personal experience of grace, giving each
one life and faith in Christ, revealing Christ in you. And
then they shall come, those who were ready to perish. They're
the only ones who ever come to him, those who need him. They
hear the trumpet, the jubilee trumpet of the gospel sound.
and they'll come to Him. In the last day, they hear the
archangel, the trump of God on the resurrection day, and God
gathers our dust unto the Savior. And they shall come and worship
God in this holy mount. in his church here on this earth,
and at last, in the New Jerusalem, in the General Assembly of the
Church of the Firstborn, all the chosen, all the redeemed,
scattered among the nations of the earth, in spite of all our
failures, in spite of all our sins, in
spite of all our rebellions, in spite of all our willful rejection
of his counsel, in spite of us not sanctifying his name, even
as we pray our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy
name. In spite of it all, not only
in spite of it all, but using it all, he will bring us at last to our
desired haven and all the host of God's elect will worship Him
in His holy mountain. Oh God, give us grace then to
proclaim the gospel of His grace, the jubilee trumpet that sinners
may hear around the world and sinners be converted and come
to the Savior by His omnipotent power. Amen.