How blessed, how delightful,
how joyful to hear and join in songs of praise to our Redeemer. To hear Christ proclaim from
His Word, what a privilege. A long time ago, several hundred
years ago, the lady who used to go every time she had a chance
to, to hear Philip Doddridge preach, someone who knew her
asked, Why do you go hear that man preach? You can't understand
a word of the language he uses. She said, No, I don't understand
his language, but he mentions the name of Christ so often it
does me good to sit and hear him preach. Oh, son of God. ever make yourself the theme
of our thought and of our preaching, of our song, and of our praise. Turn with me, if you will, to
the Gospel of Isaiah chapter 27. You'll find my text in verses
one through six of Isaiah 27. I want to talk to you tonight
about Israel, particularly about God's promises to Israel. Isaiah
27 verse 1, 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 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. Or let him take hold of my strength,
that he may make peace with me. 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. This is God's promise
to Israel. Israel shall blossom and bud
and fill the face of the world with fruit. But of whom does
the prophet speak? Is this a prophecy about that
physical nation of Israel, that tiny nation of Jews, which has
been the focal point of worldwide attention for the past 70 years? this message, I couldn't help
but to think of our two most recent Southern Baptist presidents,
both of them exceedingly liberal in their politics and in their
theology, but both of them were mentally fixed. with a teaching
that's common throughout the South and has been since prior
to the Second World War, that all things regarding prophecy
are focused on the nation of Israel. The foreign policy, both
of Mr. Carter and of Mr. Clinton, as
well as other presidents, with regard to Israel in the Middle
East has been greatly formed by the thinking with regard to
Israel and its centrality in the prophecies of the Old Testament
scripture, giving clear evidence of the tremendous influence of
the heretical dispensational theology that has been taught
since the 30s in this country. Is this talking about that physical
nation? Certainly not. Now hear and understand
what I'm saying. Hear and understand this. There
are no promises given by God to the Jews or to anyone else
based upon their race, their nationality, their family, their
position, their genealogy, or anything physical. The promises
of God are in Christ Jesus and given to sinners in Christ alone. The promises of God in him are
yea and in him amen to the glory of God. The promises of God in
Christ Jesus are all promises of pure, free, unconditional
grace, promises made to faith. That is, promises of God made
to men and women who believe on the Son of God. In Christ
Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but faith which worketh by love. Physical advantages, family relationships,
bloodlines, kin have nothing whatever to do with the grace
of God. One of the horrible, horrible,
horrible teachings of family covenant theology, which is been
promoted since the days of the Protestant Reformation. It's
nothing but a heritage of papacy that's retained by men having
the idea that somehow you raise your children to be Christians.
If you're Christian and you baptize your children, they'll be Christians
too. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing further
from the truth. And there's no promise given
to God or given by God to men based upon any earthly connection. Understand this truth. God no
longer deals with the Jews as a chosen covenant nation. He
did for 2,000 years in all of Old Testament history. He dealt
with the Jews as the seed of Abraham, as a covenant people,
a covenant nation, but he did so only in a typical way, only
because they typified and represented the church of the living God.
Our Lord Jesus said just before he left this world, O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them
which are sent unto thee. How often would I have gathered
thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under
her wings, and ye would not. Behold, your house is left unto
you desolate. If you read the ninth, 10th,
and 11th chapters of the book of Romans, Paul's instruction
in those three chapters is all about how God sent blindness
to Israel as a nation, not to all. There's some elect among
the Jews today who must and shall be saved. But as a whole, God
sent blindness to that nation that he might send the gospel
into all the world for the saving of his elect out of all nations,
kindred, tribe, and tongue. Yes, without question, God rules
the nation of Israel as he rules every other nation in Providence.
And any Jew who believes on the Lord Jesus is saved, just as
any Gentile who believes on the Lord Jesus is saved. But God
has forever forsaken Judaism. God has forever forsaken Israel
as a nation. People talk about the regathering
of the Jews and all the things that happened in Israel and the
rebuilding of the temple and all that stuff. If they should
build the temple exactly according to the specifications of Solomon's
original temple and it were finished tomorrow, that doesn't change
a thing. God has forever abandoned Israel
as a nation. How then do we interpret the
prophecies like those before us here in Isaiah 27? If Isaiah
is not talking about national Israel, of whom is he speaking? To whom are these sure and steadfast
promises made? They're made to the church of
God, spiritual Israel, God's true Israel, the Israel of God. The Israel of God, God's church,
his elect, the temple and house of the living God are God's true
covenant people, the family of God, and the family of God always
under God's care, always under His watchful eye. Now let me
make five statements before I get to our text, and I won't be for
just a few minutes, but I want you to hear this. We who believe
on the Lord Jesus, all true believers are God's Israel. Turn to Philippians
chapter 3, very familiar text of Scripture. Philippians chapter
3. We who believe are the circumcision. Paul said in Romans 2, he is
not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew which is one
inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit,
and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of
God. Look at Philippians 3 verse 3.
We are the circumcision. Now Paul is writing to Philippian
believers, Gentiles. And he says, we are the circumcision. Most likely, none of those Gentiles
in the church at Philippi had been physically circumcised.
Very, very unlikely. But he says, we are the circumcision. Obviously, he's talking about
something that is not natural or carnal or in the flesh. He's
talking about something spiritual. He's talking about an operation
of God. an operation of God in your heart, an operation of God
in your soul. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. We are God's true covenant people. God's Israel. Those to whom all
the promises of God in Christ Jesus are made, who worship God
in the Spirit, who rejoice, who trust in Christ Jesus the Lord,
and have no confidence in the flesh. no confidence in our fleshly
history, no confidence in our fleshly experience, no confidence
in our fleshly knowledge, no confidence in our fleshly position.
Our confidence is in Jesus Christ alone. Here's the second thing,
and I've been stressing this for the last few weeks here,
going through the book of Leviticus. We who are redeemed, saved sinners,
those who are washed in the blood, chosen by God's grace, called
by God's spirit. We are God's nation, God's holy
nation. Ye are a chosen generation, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people that you should
show forth the praises of him that called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light. And then he says this, Peter
is writing in 1 Peter 2, which in time past were not a people,
but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy,
but have now obtained mercy. Those words are taken directly
from Hosea 2, when God gives a picture of his love for his
people in Hosea's love for Gomer. He said, I will make you my people,
which were not my people. I will make them my people who
were not my people. I will give mercy to them who
had not obtained mercy. In other words, I'm going to
call a people and be merciful to a people outside of Abraham's
physical scene, the Gentiles scattered through the earth.
Third, being God's circumcision, God's holy nation. We are God's
covenant people. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews
10 verse 15 Here the Spirit of God is writing
to us about the covenant of grace It's called a covenant of peace
a new covenant an everlasting covenant It's described in great
detail in Jeremiah chapter 31 in Ezekiel chapter 36 But here
he speaks of that covenant and says it's our covenant Whereof,
verse 15, Hebrews 10, the Holy Ghost also is witness to us. For after that he had said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts, and in their minds will I write them. What's that talking
about? It's talking about the new birth.
I'll give them a new nature, a new will, a new mind, a new
heart. I will make them partakers of
the divine nature. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Two more statements. We're told
in Romans the 11th chapter, God's Church, His elect, are His Israel
that shall be saved when the fullness of the Gentiles be come
in. Romans chapter 11, Paul tells
us that all Israel shall be saved when the fullness of the Gentiles
be come in. That is all the host of God's
covenant people. all the host of God's elect,
all those to whom the promises of grace were given in Christ
in eternity shall be saved when the very last of God's elect
scattered in the four corners of the earth among the Gentile
nations has been brought to faith in Christ. Wouldn't it be marvelous to be
preaching the gospel when God calls out the last of His elect. We are seeking the Lord's sheep. We're seeking God's elect. We're
seeking the salvation of God's church. That's why we preach
the gospel in all the world, waiting for God, by His grace,
to gather His elect. And when the last one has been
called, all Israel shall be saved. One more statement. Salvation
and grace are promised not to Abraham's physical seed, but
to his spiritual seed, the seed of covenant promise. Look in
Romans chapter nine. I want you to see this. Romans
nine, verse six. Salvation, grace, eternal life. These are things promised to
Abraham's seed, his spiritual seed. Romans 9 verse 6. Not as though the word of God
hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel,
which are of Israel. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are their children. But in Isaac shall thy seed be
called. Well, what does that mean? This
is what it means. which are the children of the
flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of promise
are counted for the seed. All right. That said, let's go
back to Isaiah 27. And I want us to look at this
prophecy in verses 1 through 6, where God gives four promises
to Israel. Four promises. Let's look at
them briefly, but carefully. First, let every believer carefully
endure assaults and trials by his many enemies with this assurance. The Lord God, our God, will punish
and destroy all the enemies of his people. God will punish and
destroy all the enemies of his people. 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. God's saints, believers,
are not vengeful people. They're not vengeful people.
They don't seek vengeance on their enemies. They don't take
vengeance in their hands. I say they don't, but we shouldn't
ever. When we do, we're wrong. You
see, we serve a just and vengeful God who takes care of his own. My daughter has a husband now
to take care of her, but I'm still her father. And while she
was under my roof or when she is in my company, she doesn't
have to be concerned about taking care of herself. That's my privilege
and my responsibility and she knows it. My wife doesn't have
to be concerned about defending and protecting herself. Nobody's
gonna hurt her till they get through me. It's not gonna happen.
It's just not going to happen. That's an insignificant comparison. Nobody is going to harm God's
church until they harm God. Nobody is going to injure God's
church until they injure God. Nobody will do hurt to God's
people until they do hurt to God. We serve a just and vengeful
God. The fact is, as you read the
scriptures, you cannot help noticing that when God punishes the wicked,
he will be as much avenging his own elect as he is avenging his
own justice. Four times in the book of Revelation.
Four times. He says, this is God avenging
his people. Four times, as God punishes the
wicked, wicked kings and merchants in the earth, wicked men in Babylon,
as God punishes them, He's avenging His saints and the blood of His
saints, shed by many, seeing it as a righteous thing with
God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. The
Spirit of God says to His church in this world, Your patience
and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure
is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that you may
be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer,
seeing it as a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation
to them that trouble you. Isaiah compares proud, oppressing,
persecuting tyrants to Leviathan, a horrible monster. Leviathan
is a name given to a huge, mythical, dragon-like monster of the sea.
Job tells of him in this way. None is so fierce that they dare
stir him up. His heart is as firm as a stone,
yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone. When he raiseth
up himself, the mighty are afraid. That's a pretty good description
of the enemies of God's church, both present and past. In every
age one arises, Some that are more powerful than others, and
they, therefore, are more fearful than others. Sometimes God's
church faces us in Acharim, sometimes in Nebuchadnezzar, sometimes
in Antiochus, sometimes a Pharaoh, sometimes a Pope, sometimes a
politician, sometimes a tyrant, sometimes a tyrant. But our great
and good God, has always destroyed those who sought to destroy his
church. He has always caused his church,
not only to survive the assaults of men, but to prosper by them. Turn back to Psalm 74. Hold your
hands here in Isaiah. Turn back to Psalm 74. I can only speak for myself. I won't attempt to speak for
others. And I know little, very little about opposition and assaults
and attacks. Don't pretend to be a martyr. I'm not looking for pity. But this has been my experience.
This has been my experience. Since God saved me by his grace,
particularly in preaching the gospel. I have never been assaulted
verbally or otherwise by anyone, openly or secretly and deceitfully,
but what ultimately I prospered by the assault. And this has
been the case with God's church throughout history. Psalm 74
verse 13. Thou didst divide the sea by
thy strength. Thou breakest the heads of the
dragons in waters. Thou breakest the heads of Leviathan
in pieces. He's talking now about God delivering
Israel out of Egypt. And he refers to Pharaoh, his
armies, the Egyptians as Leviathan. He said, you broke them in pieces.
Now look at the next line. And gavest him, Leviathan, this
huge great sea monster. Thou gavest him to be meat to
the people inhabiting the wilderness. Oh, God, how gracious, how wise,
how good. He causes those who would have
destroyed his people right there at the Red Sea to provide for
his people everything they needed for their journey in the worship
and service of God for 40 years. He took Leviathan and made of
that great monster meat for Israel. All persecuting monsters in history
are but the servants of Satan, the old serpent, the great dragon
with seven heads and 10 horns. You see a dragon with seven heads
and 10 horns, and if you see it on television or a movie theater
screen, you would be wise to run. That represents power. But this dragon, with seven heads
and ten horns, who seeks to devour God's church, as is described
in Revelation 12, this dragon God makes to be meat for his
people. He's talking about political
persecutors, religious persecutors. Those who persecute the people
of God are compared to Leviathan because of their strength. They're
compared to the dragon because of their rage and fury. They're
compared to the serpent because of their craft, subtlety, and
poisonous venom. Wicked men, especially spiritually
wicked men, wicked designs and devices are always subtle. They're always crafty. They're
always poisonous. The enemies of God's church through
history have been great, and they have been many. But in time,
God has destroyed them all. And we shall have numerous mighty
enemies in the future. But God will destroy them with
ease at his appointed day. Certainly, this prophecy in verse
1 also is a prophecy of the redemptive, saving victories obtained by
our Lord Jesus Christ over the powers of darkness as our substitute. By his death upon the cursed
tree, our Savior said, now is the prince of this world cast
out. He comes, the angel of the covenant,
with a mighty chain in his hand, and he binds the serpent and
cast him into the pits. He, by his death upon the cursed
tree, crushed the serpent's head. When he comes in the saving operations
of his power by his spirit through the preaching of the gospel,
our Lord Jesus comes into the strong man's house. And he binds
the strong man, and cast him out, and sets up his throne in
his place. And in the last day, the Son
of God will cast the fiend of hell into the lake of fire, and
there shall not be so much as a trace of the slime of the serpent
on God's creation. Imagine this. When our God makes
all things new, there will be nothing Nothing. Nothing in history. Nothing in history to sadden
our hearts in the recall of it. Nothing. But only reasons to
rejoice. And we shall look upon all those
things that now cause us consternation and Disturb our peace and cause
us to fret and worry. And Lord, that's what you were
doing. Thank you. Thank you. He does all things well. This is the first blessed comforting
assurance given in our text. The day is coming when our God
and Savior will with his sore and great and strong sword avenge
his own elect. Look at verses two and three. Here Isaiah assures us that God
will protect and preserve his church. In that day, sing 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. When God's judgments fall and
we observe them fall, there's no reason to fear. I don't really know how to express
myself in this regard, I am a concerned husband, and father, and man,
and citizen, and grandfather. And I observe the judgments of
God upon this generation and upon our society. Judgments obvious
to me, if not to others. Obvious to you, if not to those
who do not know our God. And we quake. We fear for our
children. We fear for what they're going
to face in the generations to come. Children of God, hear me. When God's judgments fall, there's
no reason for the believer to be afraid. While God is judging
our enemies and punishing them, he is protecting and preserving
his church. He's saving his elect. God always
works for his own and protects his own. The church is God's
vineyard. It is his special piece of property.
He's Lord over all, creator over all, ruler over all, but the
vineyard, that's his fenced in special piece of property. A
vineyard of red wine, his church is bought with the precious blood
of the Lord Jesus. And God commits the care of his
church to faithful pastors. The care is his care. It's by
his hand. But this danger is cared for
by faithful pastors. It's under God's care, under
God's husbandman, and they watch out for it. And being kept by
God, none can hurt it. He keeps his church by night
and by day. The psalmist said, he shall cover
thee with his feathers. And under his wing shalt thou
trust, his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt
not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that
flyeth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor
for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. In the night of affliction
and persecution, And in the day of peace and prosperity, God
keeps us. He keeps us amid the temptations
of the day, and he keeps us in the trials of the nights. And he keeps us by the ministry
of his word, by instruction in his word. Turn back to Deuteronomy
32, Deuteronomy 32. Moses is about to leave the children
of Israel, their faithful prophet. And he gives them this word concerning
all the work of his hands. Give ear, O ye heavens, and I
will speak. And hear, O earth, the words
of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the
rain. My speech shall distill as the
dew. as the small rain upon the tender
herb, and as the showers upon the grass, because I will publish
the name of the Lord. Ascribe ye greatness to our God. He is the rock. His work is perfect. All his ways are judgment, a
God of truth and without iniquity. Just and right is he. It is my privilege and my responsibility
to give myself to the business of feeding you with gospel doctrine. And the gospel doctrine falls
as dew from heaven. And so slight it falls on the
ground that you hardly notice it. but it brings forth fruit
unto God in the stability and strength of His own. God graciously
waters His vineyard with His Word, and causes His vineyard
to be fruitful. And with His providence, He squeezes
the grapes, and the grapes give forth their juices. We observe
God's people, how different they are. For the wicked, for the
unbelieving, trials, adversities, affliction, trouble, commonly
brings out the worst in man, for believers. the greater the
trial, the harder the difficulty, the more grievous the burden
they carry. Those things bring out the best
in believers. Bring out the graces of the Spirit
planted within them. Look at verses 4 and 5. Here's
the third promise. Jehovah speaks to us by His prophet,
and assures us that the Lord God is never angry with his elect. Now watch this. Fury is not in
me. And for some reason, our translators
did not put a period there. The sentence reads awkwardly
to me, and I've been struggling with this now for weeks. Why? Why? Fury is not in me. Who would set briars and thorns
against me in battle? If I understand correctly, and
I'm certain that I do, this is what God's saying. Hear me, my
children. Fury is not in me toward you. What a foolish thing for you
to fight against me. If fury was in me, why you would
be burned up like briars in front of me. The fury is not in me.
Verse five, I'm sorry, verse four. I would go through them,
I would burn them together, or let them take hold of my strength.
You who set yourselves against me, that he may make peace with
me, that my strength may make peace with me, and he shall make
peace with me. When God says fury is not in
me, the statement must be understood in its context. He's talking
to his elect. Certainly there is fury in God
against the wicked. But for his elect, there's no
fury. God spent his fury on his son. God spent his fury on his son. He exhausted his justice on his
son. He wore out the sword on his
son. He wore out the whip on his son. And there's no anger, no fury,
no wrath in God toward you. Sometimes he appears to be angry. If he didn't, his work would
be in vain. I don't know any way to illustrate
things except from personal experience. With our daughter, raising her,
it was, it seemed like from about the time she started walking
until she was about 10, 12 years old, I had to use a paddle a
lot. And I did. And I always made
it hurt. No point in it not hurting. I
always made it hurt. And I'm certain there were times
she must have thought that I was very angry with her. I tried
to make certain she knew better, but it's hard to persuade your
daughter when she's bawling and rubbing her behind that you're
not angry with her. But never once Did I take a paddle
to her when I was angry with her? Not once, not once. I took the paddle to her because
of my love for her, because of my concern for her, for her future
well-being. Our God never chastens his own
to satisfy himself, to satisfy his anger. He appears to be angry
only because he hides his face. that he may drive us from the
sin which he hates, and preserve the child that he loves, that
we may be made partakers of his righteousness. When God afflicts
his people, this is his word of counsel to us. When trouble
comes, let him take hold of my strength. Take hold of Christ. That he, the Lord Jesus, Jehovah's
strength, our strength, our daisman, our mediator, our intercessor,
our advocate, that he may make peace with me. And he, Christ,
shall make peace with me. This is also a summary of the
gospel with which God continually waters his church, his vineyard. There is a quarrel between God
and man. The Son of God, our Savior, has settled the quarrel
for all who believe on Him. For every sinner in the world
who has believed on Him, who now believes on Him, who shall
believe on Him, Christ has settled the quarrel. In fact, He sends
us to preach the gospel with these words. Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people. Tell my people their warfare
is over. Tell them their iniquity is purged. Tell them they've received of
the Lord's hand double for all their sins. The Son of God has
settled the quarrel for his people, and now God urges sinners to
lay hold on Christ, his strength, and thereby be reconciled to
God. We call on sinners everywhere. To quit fighting God. Quit fighting God. Give up, he's
gonna win. Either in grace or in justice,
but he's going to win and you will bow to him. And God promises
peace to every sinner who lays hold on his son. All right, here's
the fourth promise. I'll be done. Verse six. Isaiah here assures us that God
will cause His church to flourish forever. He will cause them that
come of Jacob to take root. Israel shall blossom and bud
and fill the face of the world with fruit. Our God adds to His church daily,
such as should be said. He's doing so as much today as
He did on the day of Pentecost as we read of it in Acts chapter
2. He adds to the church daily, such as should be saved. and
he is continually growing his church in this world. He's continually
doing it. It doesn't look like it to me.
I didn't say he did it in such a way as to impress men, but
he continually grows his church and causes it to fill the earth. I can remember Shortly after
God saved me, I'd try to go to meetings. I made it my business
to go to Bible conferences every time I got a chance. And it wasn't
too hard to do. There were only one or two a
year. Just one or two a year, and I'd go to them. As a young
preacher, I'd go to them, make sure any I had a chance to, I'd
go to them. You could drive clean across
the country, and you'd have to go way out of your way to try
to find a place to worship God where the gospel was preached.
Today, there's hardly a week when there's not a conference
somewhere in this country where folks are preaching the gospel
of God's free grace. Hardly a week. I can drive a matter of a few
miles and visit with brethren in any part of this country. I can go from place to place,
here to there, find a place to worship God, places to preach
the gospel where the gospel is preached. If I understand correctly,
the picture given us in Revelation chapter 11, and the witnesses
of our God are slain in the streets, and the whole world throws a
party, and then they're raised up, and God performs wonders. The clothes of the gospel age
shall be identified by these two things. The greatest religious
apostasy the world has ever seen. Arminian free will works religion
is that damning apostasy. Hear me well, I say this and
I know people don't pay any attention, I hope you do. I get letters
all the time asking me what should I do about this Arminian situation,
about this Arminian church, about this Arminian preacher. Arminian
freewill works religion is the greatest apostasy the world has
ever known. It is damning to the souls of
men. But in the midst of the greatest
apostasy the world has ever known, we are currently experiencing
the greatest revival the world has ever known. There are more
people, more places here and around the world where the gospel
of God's grace is clearly distinctly preached than any time I can
find anywhere in history. Oh, what's God doing? Dark as
things seem. Dark as they seem. Horrible as
the day appears to be. God is causing Israel to blossom
and bud. He's filling the face of the
world with the fruit of his vineyard, causing his vine to take root,
preparing a way for it, causing it to spread through the earth. God does all things exactly as
they ought to be done for the benefit of his people. for the
furtherance of his gospel, for the building of his kingdom,
for the saving of his elect, for the glory of his name. Oh
God, make us faithful to your cause in this generation, serving
the interest of your kingdom and grant that we may be used
in your hands to make your vine to blossom and to bud and bring
forth fruit. Amen.