with the hymn that's found on
the back of your bulletin. Let's all stand together. We'll
sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. More precious is the name of
Christ than every name beside. Sing praises to the Son of God,
may He be glorified, may He be glorified. None else could save us from
our sin and everlasting shame. To cleanse us of our filthiness,
the Holy Savior came. The Holy Savior came. Great is the wondrous mystery
Our God in human play Came down to seek and save the lost His
sheep who went astray His sheep who went astray Christ died a
sacrificial death, the law he magnified. His blood a ransom
fully paid, and God is satisfied. And God is satisfied. Christ conquered death and ever
reigns. Sing of his great success. For evermore his name shall be
the Lord, our righteousness. The Lord, our righteousness. Please be seated. Good morning. Turn with me to
Isaiah chapter 10. And we'll start at verse 20. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped
of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that
smote them, but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel,
in truth. The remnant shall return, even
the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people
Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall
return. The consumption decreed shall
overflow with righteousness, for the Lord God of hosts shall
make a consumption, even determined in the midst of all the land.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O my people that
dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian. He shall smite
thee with the rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee,
after the manner of Egypt. For yet a very little while,
and the indignation shall cease, and my anger in their destruction.
And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him, according
to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb. And as his
rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner
of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day that his burden
shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from
off thy neck. And the yoke shall be destroyed
because of the anointing. And you skip down to verse 33. Behold, the Lord, the Lord of
hosts, shall lop the bow with terror, and the high ones of
stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.
And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and
Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one." Read the first two verses
of chapter 11. I think it closes it well. And
there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and
a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the spirit of the
Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and
of the fear of the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for calling us
here today. Be with our pastor now as he
comes to proclaim your word. Lord, keep us to the end. Amen. Let's stand together once again
and sing hymn number 169 from the Hardback Tymnal. 169, Holy
Spirit, Faithful God. Holy Spirit, faithful guide,
Ever near the Christian side, Gently lead us by the hand, Pilgrims
in a desert land. Skip down. Weary souls forbear
rejoice, while they hear that sweetest voice, whispering softly,
Wanderer, come, follow me, I'll guide thee home. Verse 2. Ever present, truest friend,
Ever near thine aid to lend, Leave us not to doubt and fear,
Groping on in darkness drear. When the storms are raging sore,
Hearts grow faint and hopes give o'er, Whisper softly, wander,
come, Follow me, I'll guide thee home. When our days of toil shall
cease, Waiting still for sweet release, Nothing left but heaven
and prayer, Knowing that our names are there. Wading deep the dismal flood,
pleading not but Jesus' blood, whisper softly, wander, come,
follow me, I'll guide thee home. Please be seated. Follow me, I'll guide thee home. If you'd like to open your Bibles
with me to Isaiah chapters 5 and the first part of chapter 6,
we're going to begin in Isaiah chapter 5. It's good to be home. Thank you for encouraging us
on our trip. The brethren in Wasilla, Alaska
send their greetings. It was good to meet them and
to have an opportunity to preach for them and to have a few days
to enjoy God's amazing creation up in that part of the world.
A whole lot different than Florida. We're glad to be home. We missed
you all and I'm so thankful. I've apologized much as I know
to apologize to Robert and Bert for calling them last Saturday
night. You just don't do that. Call somebody on Saturday night
and ask them to preach on Sunday morning. But I told the folks
Wednesday night, I said, when I got home last Sunday afternoon
at 2.30, we got out of one car and got in another car and headed
to Sarasota. And I looked around and Bert's sitting next to me
and Robert's behind me. And I thought, you know, in the
last 10 days, I've walked off of six airplanes safely, and
now I'm about to be killed in my own car by two of my brothers. They were very, very gracious
to me. I'm thankful for them, and thankful for you. You have your Bibles open to
Isaiah chapter 5. In the fifth chapter of Isaiah,
the prophet speaks prophetically, very clearly, six woes from God. These woes are God's warnings
of judgment. In other words, he's speaking
of those whose life consists of these things. If your life
consists of nothing but materialism, then woe unto you. If your life
consists of nothing more than pleasure-seeking, then woe unto
you. If your life consists of legalism,
woe unto you. If your life consists of you
blaspheming the things of God, woe unto you. If your life consists
of calling evil good and good evil, then woe unto you. Now,
I would remind you that God has written his word not so that the world can hear it.
They have no interest in it, and those who do have a religious
interest in it have no capacity to understand it. The word of
God is written to God's people. The natural man cannot receive
the things of the Spirit. They are spiritually discerned. And so, we're not interested
in reading these judgments of God and pointing our finger out
into the world and saying, woe unto you. As a matter of fact,
the believer will see that in their old man, all of these things
that God is warning us against continue to be part of their
life. And so the Lord's speaking to
you, he's speaking to me. He's reminding us of what it
is our life is to consist of. And so in chapter six, the prophet,
after seeing the Lord high and lifted up, declares the seventh
woe. Woe is me, for I am undone. I'm undone. Let us look at these seven woes
and ask the Lord to speak to our hearts about what it is our
life consists of. The seventh woe, Isaiah, is saying
that my life consist of the free and full and sovereign grace
of God in the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is my life. He is my life. Might the Lord be pleased to
cause us to make the same declaration. and to receive these other warnings
for what they are, the judgments of God against the things that
men make to be their life. The first one is found in verse
8. unto them that join house to
house, that lay field to field, till there be no place that they
may be placed alone in the midst of the earth. Woe unto them who
have made the things of this world their life." Now again, When an unexpected expense comes
to our household that we haven't budgeted for, there's some anxiety. There's some worldliness that
takes place in our hearts concerning ourselves with the material things
of this world. When all the bills are paid and
there's a little money left in the bank, We are able to sit
at ease and think all is well until the Lord stirs up problems
again. Is that your experience? That's
your experience. We're so bound to this materialistic
world. And the Lord is saying to you
and to me, woe unto them. Woe, and don't make your life
the things of this world. This world is not your life.
Your life is in Christ. Your life is... Well, in 1 Timothy
chapter 6, the Lord says, "...charge them that are rich in this world,
that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches."
In another place, the Lord calls them the deceitfulness of riches.
The world is uncertain and deceitful in that it promises to offer
what it cannot provide. It promises to offer happiness,
promises to offer life. We live in a world, we call it
the good life, don't we? That's what the Lord's speaking
against. Charge them rather to put their trust in the living
God. Consider the lilies of the field.
Consider the lilies of the field. Solomon in all of his glory was
not arrayed as one of these. Your father knows your needs.
He provides for his children. It's not the substance of this
world that makes our life. And that's the Lord's woeing.
And God's people will say, Amen. Amen. Lord, don't let me be content
or to be so disquieted over the circumstances of my material
life. What about the second one? Look
at verse eight. Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning,
that they may follow strong drink, and that continue until night,
until wine inflame them. Their life is made up of nothing
more than fleshly pleasures. My flesh is always looking to
be pleased. I understand what the scripture
means when it speaks of the belly of man, and my belly cries out
for food, and my flesh indulges itself in the pleasures of this
world, and yet he's speaking of those who that's their whole
life. That's their whole life. That's all they have to live
for, is the things that this world can offer them. How easy it is to become intoxicated
with worldly pleasures. Moving from one high to another,
never being content, never being satisfied, always looking for
a more pleasurable experience. God says, woe unto them. Like the prodigal, wasting his
substance on riotous living, indulging himself in the things
of this world. I've titled this message, Have
You Heard God's Woes? Have you heard God's woes? This
is what God says. The world says, grab for all
the gusto you can get. The world says, you only go around
once in life. Get what you can, can what you
get, and sit on the can. And just indulge yourself in
whatever the flesh desires. And God's saying, whoa, whoa,
this is not your life. Third one. Verse 18, woe unto them that draw iniquity. Now, you know from previous instructions
that the word iniquity in the scriptures is not talking about
the shameful acts of the flesh that men want to keep hid. But when God speaks of iniquity,
he's talking about those things that are unequal to his righteousness,
the things that men do in order to earn favor with God, going
about to establish their own righteousness, the things that
they're proud of, the things they want other men to know that
they did. Look what I did. Look how good
I am. That's what the Lord's speaking
of here. And so he says, Woe unto them that draw iniquity
with cords of vanity. How vain and empty this is. Man at his very best state. The best thing that you can do,
God says, is altogether vanity. Empty, nothing. Woe unto them
that draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were
with a cart rope that say, now here's the explanation of verse
18. He's not talking about those shameful sins that our conscience
convicts us of. He's talking about the worst
sin of all, self-righteousness. The worst sin of all is a, is
a works mentality. That's what he's talking about.
And the evidence of that is in verse 19 that say, let him make
speed, let God come and hasten his work that we may see it and
let the council of the Holy one of Israel draw nigh and come
that we may know it. These people, these are the religious
folks whose life is made up not of worldly possessions or pleasure
seeking, but their life is made up of their good works. And they're
calling upon God to come and to evaluate their works so that
they can say, but Lord, we cast out demons in your name. We did
many wonderful works in your name. And he will say to them,
depart from me, you, what? Workers of iniquity. The things that you thought were
gained to you are in fact your loss. For I never knew you. I never knew you. And yet this
describes so many people. And it describes the old man
in the believer as well. Reason we have to keep hearing
the gospel. is because we can get proud of our good works,
can't we? And we lose sight of the fact that all of our salvation
is by God's free grace and the finished work of Christ. And
we somehow get this idea that, you know, that we can improve
our position with God by what we do or by what we don't do. And if I hadn't have done that,
you know, I'd be, well, people say, well, preacher, you just
don't know what I've done. Well, you think about that statement.
You think about that statement. Does that mean that had you not
done that wicked thing, that somehow you'd be in a better
position with God? You see the self-righteousness
in that? We have a self-righteous spirit
in the old man. Woe unto them who draw iniquity
with cords of vanity and say to God, come and check out our
works. Oh Lord, I don't want my life to be made up of just
worldly things. This world is going to be consumed.
I don't want my life to be made up of just indulging myself in
the pleasures of the flesh. That leads to death. There is
pleasure in sin for a season, but in the end it leads to death.
Lord, I don't want my life to be made up of my works. Or when
you stand in judgment of my works, you're going to declare them
to be iniquitous. These are God's woes spoken to
God's people. We're not pointing our finger
at the world. We're saying, oh Lord, speak to me. Enable me
to hear your voice. Don't let me get caught up in
making these things my life. For truly my righteousness is
as filthy rags before God. The fourth woe is found in verse
20. And there's a progression here
as well. We start out as little children
and the only thing that we're concerned with is our possessions,
our toys and our material things. That's where we are, isn't it?
And then we get a little older and we find out what it's like
to indulge the flesh and we enjoy the things of this world. And
then we get sick and tired of being sick and tired and all
the consequences that come into our lives as a result of that
sort of lifestyle. And so we become religious. And
we think that our good works are somehow going to be the things
that will redeem us. Is that your experience? It's
been my experience. And so now we've gotten religious
and look at verse 20. Woe unto them that call evil
good and good evil, that put darkness for light and light
for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. There was a time in our religious experience that
we called election. the goodness of God, to be pleased
according to His own mercy and will, to choose a people before
the foundation of the world. We called it unfair. We called
it wrong. We actually called good evil. We called the successful atoning work of the
Lord Jesus Christ the particular redemptive work of Christ on
Calvary's cross. That which the Lord Jesus Christ
succeeded in doing only for God's elect. That's not fair. What'd we do? We called good
evil. And we called evil good. I got
a free will. I can make a decision when I
want. I can pray that prayer. I can do that. We're like the
children of Israel when Moses came down off the mountain and
brought the law of God, and they said, we'll do it. We'll do it. What'd Moses say to them? You
can't keep God's law. But we thought we could. We were
calling our evil good. Irresistible grace. No. I can resist God if I want. Woe unto them. Woe unto them
that call good evil and evil good. We are kept only by the power
of God. But there was a time when we
thought we had to keep ourselves. And we had to compete with our
other religious hypocrites to prove who was more holy than
the other. Oh, our life was consumed with
calling evil good and good evil. You know, there's still some
of that in the old man in there. And some of our young people
and some of our adults are thinking, well, I grew up under the gospel.
I didn't think that. Yeah, you did. Yeah, you did. You heard, but you didn't hear.
You came into this world with that idea, and it took the grace
of God and the power of God to break you of it. Number five, verse 21. Lord, let me hear that
woe. Don't let me call good evil and
evil good. He's not talking about, you know,
again, we're not pointing our fingers out in the world and
saying, well, they're calling this sin okay and that sin okay. You know, we could do that. I
mean, the religious do that. The self-righteous do that. Or
this is for me. Verse 21, woe unto them that
are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight. Their life consists of their
knowledge. Oh, they've been to seminary. They've been properly theologically
trained. They've got it all figured out.
They've got some doctrine now. They've got some understanding
of biblical history, and they're wise in their own eyes and prudent
in their own sight. Oh, how far men will go in their
religious self-righteousness. And God says, woe unto you. Here's what the Lord Jesus Christ
said in a prayer to the Father. He said, Father, I thank thee
that thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent
and revealed them unto babes, even so it seemed good in thy
sight." Don't trust your knowledge. Don't
trust your understanding. Don't trust your wisdom. Don't
make that your life. Be a babe before God. Plead with
him to show you the truth as it is in Christ. Knowledge puffs up. Love edifies. That's what those
Pharisees were, isn't it? When the Lord said, leave them
alone, the disciples came to the Lord and said, Lord, you've
offended the Pharisees. And the Lord just said, leave
them alone. Just leave them alone. They're blind leading the blind. They're all going to fall in
the ditch. And one of the Pharisees spoke up, are you saying that
we're blind? We've been to school. We've got some knowledge. We've
got some understanding. We've read books. Are you saying
that we're blind? And when the disciples came preaching,
what did they say? What did they say about Peter?
Hey, he's an unlearned and ignorant man. But they took knowledge
of him, what? That he had been with Jesus. The Lord said to those Pharisees,
if you were blind, then you could see. But the fact that you see
means that your sins remain. Oh Lord, show me what that means.
Show me what that means. You think he got it all figured
out? Think you want to stand before
God and impress him with what you know and what you've learned? If any man think that he knoweth
anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. Lord,
don't let my life, don't let my life be made up of my possessions. Don't let my life be made up
of my pleasure. Don't let my life be made up
of my works. Don't let my life be made up
of me changing the truth. And don't let my life be made
up of my knowledge. I love it when Paul said, he
said, you know God, or rather he knows you. Rejoice not that
the demons are subject unto you, but rather rejoice that your
names are written in heaven. Oh Lord, would you know me? That's
the most important thing. Truth is, some of us are going
to leave this world having lost our minds. That's just, I mean,
this many people, it's just statistically proven that some of us are going
to lose our minds before we leave this world. Does that mean that
we've lost our salvation? No. Lord, would you know me,
even if I forget who you are? Would you know me? Woe unto them. Verse 22. Here's the depths of religious
self-righteousness. Now we have a full-blown false
prophet. Justifying the wicked and taking
away. the righteousness from the righteous.
Look at verse 22, woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine
and men of strength to mingle strong drink. He's not talking
about alcohol. He's not talking about alcohol.
He's talking about those who take this book and they rest
it for their own destruction. And they twist the word of God
to make it mean what they want it to mean. They mix strong drink. And what do they accomplish in
doing that? They justify the wicked. They say to those who
have no understanding of the gospel, you're saved if you'll
do this. You'll pray this prayer. You'll
follow after me. You'll get to heaven. And in justifying the wicked
for reward, you see that? This is a full-blown false prophet. He's merchandising men's soul
for his own benefit, for his own profit. He does it for reward. Lots of money to be made in religion.
And that's exactly what he's talking about here. You see the
progression? This is the end. And in doing so, they take away the
righteousness of the righteous from him. Why is it important
for us to curse the fig tree? Because if that fig tree is allowed
to live, it takes away the hope of my salvation. If you don't
know what we're talking about, you can listen to the message
from Wednesday night. We dealt with the fig tree Wednesday
night. But fig tree is a picture of
man's works. And the Lord said to Nathanael,
I saw you when you were under the fig tree. And what Nathaniel
will say, oh Rabbi, thou art the son of God. That's where
the Lord finds every one of us. If he's redeemed you, you were
under the fig tree. Adam and Eve tried to cover their
nakedness with fig leaves, didn't they? And that's what we all
do. We all try to cover our nakedness
with our own works. And here the false prophet now
is promoting that as a gospel message. to other men. And men
love it. They love it. They eat it up. We passed a place just this morning,
a couple blocks down the road here, hundreds of cars in the
parking lot. And on their sign, Live Boldly. That was the title of the message,
Live Boldly. I can just imagine the content
of that message. You know, it's just all about
how to be successful in this world. No gospel message. The
people flock to that. They love to hear that. But if that message is true,
then it takes away from me my righteousness. You can't have
it both ways. If we tolerate that message as
a true message, a works message as a true message, then it robs
me of my righteousness and robs Christ of His glory. Lord, enable
me to hear these woes. If God says, woe, I want to woe. Don't you? Don't you? I don't want to be like the mule
who's got to be beaten and a bit put in his mouth. When God says,
woe, I want to stop. And that's what the Lord's doing
here. He's speaking to His children. And He's saying, woe, don't make
these things your life. This is what the world makes
their life out of. Number seven. Seven being the
number of perfection. The number of rest. It was the
seventh day that God rested. Why? Because he was finished
with his work. What a glorious hope we have
and now Isaiah is going to discover where life really is. When he says, in the year that
King Uzziah died, That's about 640 B.C. now. That's
7th century B.C. before the Lord Jesus Christ
died on Calvary's cross. I saw the Lord. High and lifted up. John tells us in John chapter
12 clearly that this one that Isaiah saw was the Lord Jesus
Christ. So this is him on his throne
before he condescends to come into this world to save sinners. And he was high and lifted up.
The seraphim flew over. So how do I know if I've seen
the Lord? Is the Lord Jesus Christ occupying the throne of glory? The throne of glory for you? In other words, does he reign
sovereign? over all the affairs of this
world, the armies of heaven, so that no man can stay his hand
or say unto him, what doest thou? Is the Lord Jesus Christ sovereign
to you? Is he omnipotent? Can he do what
he wants, when he wants, with whomever he wants, however he
wants? And he always does it right.
Is he, does he, is that, that's how Isaiah saw him. High and
lifted up. And the seraphim were hovering
over his throne, and what were they crying? Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth is filled with his
glory. Is he holy to you? The natural man, the scripture
says, you thought that I was altogether as thyself. Man fashions
in the imagination of his mind an idle God that looks like him. A God that he can control. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
is pleased to make himself known to you, you know you can't control
him. You know you're under his control. You know that he's nothing like
you in any way. He's holy. Holy, holy. No attribute of God is brought
to the third level of repetition but the attribute of His holiness. Holiness. God uses repetition
for the purpose of emphasis in the scripture just like we do.
We repeat ourselves. And here He repeats Himself three
times. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God of hosts. Oh, if you've seen him like that,
then you've got no choice. You've got no choice but to bow
before him and beg him for his mercy. That's all you can do.
Just plead his mercy. If you still think that you can
somehow manipulate him or control him or offer him something that
he's going to be pleased with, then you haven't seen him as
holy. But if he's holy, You're a sinful beggar. That's all you
are. Completely dependent upon his
mercy. His train filled the temple. Oh, he got all the attention. He got all the attention. And
the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried,
and the house was filled with smoke. Here's the altar. The sacrifice has been burned
and the smoke is a picture of the work of Christ ascending
into glory and making God satisfied. That's what that was all about.
When the sacrificial lamb was put on the altar and the smoke
went up. And I'm sure that that's how the Lord confirmed to Cain
and Abel that he had regard for Cain's sacrifice, but no regard
for Abel's. Why? Because the smoke of Abel's—just
the opposite. He had regard for Abel's sacrifice,
but no regard for Cain's. Why? Because Abel's sacrifice,
the smoke ascended into glory. And here's what It's a picture
of God receiving Christ. God receiving Christ. And if
you've seen him, you know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one that he's pleased with. Now six times the number of man
in chapter five, Isaiah says, woe unto you. Woe unto my old
man. Woe unto my sinful thoughts,
my sinful ways. Now he sees the Lord, what's
he say? Woe is me. Woe is me. You know what a healthy self-esteem
is? A healthy, I mean, I'm serious
now. The world says you need to think
better of yourself and all that kind of stuff. And they get you
to lie to yourself in order to create some kind of false image
of yourself. And honest people can't live
with that. But a healthy self-esteem is seeing yourself like you really
are. Like you really are, before God. And I want to see myself like
I really am. And I want you to see yourself
like you really are. And that involves two things.
It involves two things. Don't get so caught up in the
woe is me, I am vile, all that's in me is sinful. That's true.
That's the first. That's true. But that by itself
is not a healthy self-esteem. That by itself is false humility. That's all it is. You get caught
up in just the woe is me and all you're doing is just pretending
to be a sinner when you're really not. The second half to who you
are is who you are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Perfect before
God. without sin. What did that woman
at the well say in John chapter four? He told me everything that
I ever did. He told me that everything I
ever did outside of him was nothing but sin. He told me everything
that I ever did in him by virtue of my union with him is nothing
but perfect righteousness before God. And that's who I am. That's
who I am. Do you see yourself that way?
Don't let the world deceive you in thinking that you've got to
somehow fabricate an image of yourself that's not consistent
with the truth. That's the truth. That's the
truth. Woe is me. I'm undone. God sent an angel to take a coal
from off the altar and touched Isaiah's lips. Touched his lips. Thine iniquity is taken away
and thy sin is purged. Perfect before God. Perfect. That's what I need. That's what
I need. Have you heard God's woes? Have
you? I hope, I pray, the Lord will
speak these woes to your heart and to mine. Let's pray. Our
Heavenly Father, we're thankful for your word and we ask now
that your Holy Spirit would anoint it to our hearts and cause us,
Lord, to reflect on your woes we might find our life in Christ. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen. Number 11 on the sawback temple.
Let's stand. Skip the refrain, just sing the
verses, no refrain. My soul awake and see the light
This world with all its vain delight The things I see and
touch today These things of time must pass away The riches and
the cares of earth, Which seem to be of such great worth, The
things which others seek and serve, I cannot seek and must
not serve. What shall it profit me to gain? The world and all its wealth
retain. Immortal soul of mine, away! For Christ the world I must forsake. I've seen the Son of God revealed,
And by His grace I am compelled. His grace and glory charm my
heart, For Christ I bid this world depart. Savior, I would be thine alone,
If such a worthless worm you'll own. For grace so boundless,
love so free, I give myself a price to thee. Yeah. Thank you.