I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles now and turn with me to the book of Isaiah 55. Isaiah
55. I want to, for just a very few
minutes, look at one verse of scripture, Isaiah 55 verse three.
And With this verse of scripture
here, I want to set forth this question. And I've worded it like this.
Salvation is the works of man or grace
of God. Now, I know what you'll naturally
say. Anybody that had any sense to
admit it, they'll say, well, it's by the grace of God. But
I want to show you in the scriptures how the scriptures are set forth
to where It's always declaring the grace of God. It's always declaring. And this,
this is the greatest of Satan's attacks upon mankind. And it's, it's for men to take
and read the word of God and conclude because of Satan's deception
that somehow there's something that man has got to do in order
to be saved. Now I want you to listen. Isaiah
55. Listen to what the Spirit of
God moved on the prophet Isaiah to say. Incline your ear and come unto me and your soul shall live. I will
make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies
of David. Now, let me tell you what the
wiles, the deceptions of Satan is going to do. He's going to
take a passage like that right there. And he's going to twist
it in the minds of the unconverted. And he's going to tell them,
now there's something that was just stated right there that
you have to do first. Just read it. Incline your ear,
come unto me here, and your soul shall live. Whenever Satan turned over to
Genesis 3. Let me tell you where this twisting
of scriptures started. Genesis 3, verse 1. Genesis 3, 1. Now the serpent
was more subtle than any beast of the field which God, the Lord
God, had made. Now how did he prove his Subtlety. How did he prove that? And he
said unto the woman, yea, hath God said you shall not eat of
every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent,
we may eat of the fruit of the tree of the garden, but of the
fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God
has said you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it
lest you die. The serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the
day you eat thereof, then your eyes will be opened, and you
shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Did God say that? Satan asked her. Did God say that? Is that what
He said? Satan would tempt the Lord in
the wilderness. What did he use? What did he
try to use? Tempt the Lord. Scripture. Scripture. Of all the tactics of Satan,
this is surely the most dangerous. And I'll tell you why. Because
it involves God's Word. God's truth in the proclamation
of the gospel and Satan's deceptive ways is to take it and twist
it. Let me tell you the danger of
not hearing the message of salvation that's all of grace. I'm going
to deal with Isaiah 55.3 in just a second. Let me tell you the
danger. Let me tell you. Somebody says,
well, you know, I think that what it is, it's just, we all
believe the same thing, but it's just the way you, you interpret
it. If you interpret these scriptures
in a way that they're distorted or twisted, let me tell you what
that does. Turn to second Peter three, second
Peter three. 2 Peter 3, 15 and 16. 2 Peter 3, 15, 16. An account that the long-suffering
of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul,
also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written
unto you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of
these things in which which are some things hard to be understood,
which they that are unlearned and unstable rest, or twist,
or distort, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their
own destruction. Do you know what the responsibility
of a God-called preacher is? To tell people what God has said
concerning salvation being all of the Lord. Salvation is of
the Lord. It's of grace. For you to leave
this world believing that there's something that you have to do
in order to be saved. You leave this world believing
that there's something that you have to do in order to be saved,
you're going to perish. I just read that. Now, I want
us to look back in Isaiah 55, and I picked out that scripture,
I read it, my heart was drawn to it, and as I read it, when
I first read it, when I read it, I said to myself, I do know
why someone could read that passage of scripture right there and
believe that there's something that I must do in order to be
saved. I get it, I can see that. Humanly,
I can read that scripture, and I understand that, and I know
that salvation is all of grace. Now, I want us to look at that
passage of scripture, verse three, that's it, and see how the Spirit
of God has written these things to declare the sovereign grace
of God, totally of the Lord. Incline your ear. Now here's what I want to ask
you. What ear can a spiritually dead sinner incline or lean forward? That's what he's talking about.
Bends your ear. Incline your ear. Now if man
or since man is born spiritually dead, if he's dead, I wonder
how many times I've said this. If someone has left this world
What can they do? Nothing. So when the Lord says, incline
your ear, Proverbs 20, verse 12, as I just quoted, the hearing
ear, the seeing eye is of the Lord. Incline your ear. Man is born spiritually deaf. He's deaf. Jeremiah, turn to
Jeremiah 6.10. Jeremiah 610. I'm dealing with this for a few
minutes because I'm telling you that man by nature is going to
tell you that there's something that you can't do. And I'm telling
you, if you leave this world, you're gonna die. Jeremiah 610. To whom shall I speak and give
warning? that they may hear. Behold, their
ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken. Behold, the word
of the Lord is unto them a reproach. They have no delight in it. This is the way we're born. Born spiritually deaf. But the Lord says in Isaiah 55.3,
Incline your ear. There is no ear that will bend
toward the Lord unless the Lord does something for you first.
He's going to have to give you a hearing ear. So with the command
of the Lord, incline your ear. Remember this scripture. Faithful
is he who calleth you, also do it. It is God that worketh
in you, both to will and do of his good pleasure. This is not
an appeal to man's ability. When he says, incline your ear,
we know that man cannot hear according to the scriptures,
but rather this is his voice unto the sheep to hear his voice. Now, when I say, when I read
this scripture right here, incline your ear, let me tell you what
every regenerate will do. Sir, listen to me. Listen to me. Listen to what
I have to say. A heart that needs fellowship
with Him. A heart that needs rest in Him.
A heart that knows that there is no true rest and peace without
the Lord granting rest and peace. Man is spiritually unable. No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me draw him. and I will raise him
up the last day. A sinner who is still in the
bondage of sin, the darkness of unbelief, he will not, he
cannot come to Christ. He cannot bend an ear. This is
what, this last message that we just looked at. Two men heard
the same thing. One of them was smitten in his
heart by the grace of God. God gave him a new heart. The
other one was a rebel, doing exactly what he wanted to do.
God showed mercy to one, gave him an ear. And when that man
heard the word of the Lord, when he heard of forgiveness, and
he heard of ignorance, and he heard of compassion, he heard. In his ear. He said back in Isaiah 55.3,
he climbed to your ear, and listen, and come unto me. Incline your ear and come to me. Do you know who's going to come
to the Lord? John 6.37 said, All that the
Father giveth me shall come. When that word goes forth, That's
not a request. It's a command. Incline your
ear. Come to me. When the shepherd
calls, the sheep follow. That's what he said. I know my sheep. They hear my voice. And they
follow. They follow. That's not an invitation. That's a command. Incline your
ear and come unto me. Here. Here. And your soul shall live. Your soul shall continue to live.
Your soul shall always live. That inclining and coming and
hearing was not the foundation upon which the Lord was going
to make a covenant with His people. That's the evidence. of God's
grace. You hear, your soul shall live. Hearing is not a condition, but
it's a characteristic. God gives an ear, they hear.
The word of the Lord sets forth a promise. It's made to God's
people by the grace of God. You incline your ear, you come
unto me, hear, and your soul shall live. It'll continue in
life. when the Lord sovereignly gives
life. That sinner in whom life has been imparted, he reacts. When a baby's born, you know
what it's going to do? It's going to breathe. It's going
to cry. It's going to move. Life is evidenced
by the reaction. See, the Word of the Lord calls
in power gives an ear and he calls in that ear, hears, he
summons that soul, is made willing in the day of God's power to
come. And that sinner to whom eternal
life has been imparted, not gonna perish. You will live.
You will live. You're gonna live because God
has done a work of grace in you. The Apostle Paul, in closing,
was converted, regenerated on the
road to Damascus. I want you to turn to Philippians
2. Philippians chapter 2. And I'm going to wrap this up.
Philippians 2, verse 12 and 13. Philippians 2, 12, wherefore
my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence
only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling. You know how merciful was the
grace of God, the mercy of the spirit of God to put the next
verse in. because for it is God which worketh
in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Now, I started to say a moment
ago, the apostle Paul was by no means encouraging believers
to look to themselves for salvation. When he said, work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling, what was he saying? Well, All that were truly converted
were saved by the grace of God, but they were living in a world,
as we are right now, that hates them. They're living in a world in
which they constantly behold that in their flesh there dwelleth
no good thing. They're still plagued with pride
that's still in that old man, lust of the flesh. And the devil's
always ready to Deceive them. To those, the apostle exhorted,
work out your own salvation. What did he mean when he said
work out your own salvation? Be employed, be employed to do
that which the Lord has provided for us in the striving against
these things. Satan would ever deceive us to
try to give us some hope, something in which to look to ourselves,
which produces, again, nothing but pride. And we'll struggle. We're going to struggle. But
what do we do as we're struggling against these things and working
out our own salvation? Be employed, I want to write
this down and I'll close with this. Be employed in doing that
which the Lord has provided for us. Actively engaged in the Lord's
provision. Be busy in the hearing of the
word of God. Be busy in the hearing, in the
working out our own. Be engaged in the hearing of
the word of God. Faithfully search the scriptures
daily. to see if these things that you're
hearing are so and be praying without ceasing. Why? Because it's God that's
working in you both to will and do of His good pleasure. Satan's
tactics is to deceive us, twist the scriptures. Hear the word
of the Lord and remember salvation is a It's all of grace. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast. I pray God give us some understanding
on that for Christ's sake. Amen.