This is the big tree. So I want
us to, Ben's going to come and read Isaiah 53, because Isaiah
53 is quoted there in John 12, verse 38. And that's a great
question, isn't it? The Lord asks, who has believed
our report? Who has believed our preaching
of the gospel, is effectively what's being said. Who has believed
the record that we've given of the fame of the Lord Jesus Christ? And the answer is given immediately. We don't have to look very far
for the answer to that question. It's to whom has the arm, the
mighty power of our God, been revealed? There is no knowing
God Almighty without revelation from Heaven. There is no knowing
Him in all of His glory. There is no believing his word
unless there is a revelation from heaven. So let's just look
at these things. The Lord Jesus departed. This
is now Tuesday afternoon of the last week of his earthly ministry
before his crucifixion. And I want us, as we read these
verses again before Ben comes and reads, I want us to see the
order of God's judgment upon people and the glory of the revelation
of the gospel that comes as a result of this. God's order, isn't it? But though, but though he had
done so many miracles before them. The miracles are amazing miracles,
aren't they? They're the miracles that God
Almighty alone can perform. He creates. We play around with
His creation and God creates out of nothing. And His first
creation is light, isn't it? Let there be light. Light be
and light was, the first words of God to us. And what miracles
of healing the blind! There was one miracle that was
reserved for the Messiah and Him alone. Elijah and Elisha
raised the dead and produced multiplication of food to feed
Masses of people and remarkable things were done. Lepers were
healed like Naaman. You think of all the miracles
and extraordinary things that went on with Moses and the children
of Israel in Egypt and beyond Egypt. But there was just one.
There was one messianic miracle. that no one else ever performed,
and that was the healing of the blind. And if you go to Isaiah,
you'll see that I think five times in the book of Isaiah,
it speaks of that. And obviously, it's a glorious
picture of salvation, isn't it? There is a man born in darkness,
and the Lord Jesus Christ comes and opens their eyes, and they
see light for the first time. And who did they see immediately?
That's what happens in salvation. We see him in his glory. And
he did these miracles. It says they would not believe. They believed not. Look at that with me closely.
Their believing not is an active, ongoing activity. They have to
continually say again and again and again, I have seen a miracle. I've seen a remarkable miracle,
and this man is Beelzebub, or as the chief priest said in the
previous chapter in John 11.47, he has done so many miracles
amongst us, let's kill him. Let's kill him. That's the response
of religious men to the Lord Jesus Christ. He'd done so many
miracles, they would not believe And their unbelief is an expression of the fact
that God's word abideth true and what God promises and what
we're reading in this word abideth true. You see it says, though
he'd done some miracles, they believe not that the saying of
Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled. Their unbelief doesn't stop the
promises and the purpose of God being fulfilled. Lord, who has
believed our report and to whom have the arm been revealed? Their unbelief fulfills divine
prophecy. and their unbelief fulfills the
divine purpose of God. I'll just read it for you in
Romans chapter 3, but this is God's declaration about that
Jewish nation. What advantage, Romans 3.1, what
advantage then has the Jew? Or what profit is there in circumcision? Much every way, chiefly because
unto them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some
did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the
faith of God, the faithfulness of God, without effect? Does
it affect God's purposes in salvation? God forbid! Yea, let God be true,
but every man a liar, as it is written, that thou mightest be
justified in thy sayings. and thou mightest overcome when
thou art judged. We need to be mindful of whose
presence we're in. Okay, who has believed our report? Therefore, do you see the sequence
of judgment that God brings upon these people? Therefore they
could not believe because Isaiah said again, And God is now acting
in just retribution and judgment. All he has to do for you to be
lost is to leave you to your will. All he has to do to all
of Adam's children is leave them alone. He hath blinded their
eyes, and hardened their hearts, that they should not see with
their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, and be converted,
and I should heal them. These things said Isaiah when
he saw his glory and spake of him. When you see God in glory,
you'll see the Lord Jesus Christ enthroned. You'll see redemption
accomplished. You'll see free forgiveness of
sins by an acceptable sacrifice. You'll see sovereign mercy and
grace saving sinners. You'll see justice executed. You'll see God in righteous judgment. And you, children of God, will
be thankful for sovereign mercy and sovereign love. One of the
passages of the scriptures that Ben's going to come and read
now is a passage in Isaiah chapter 53, and it's quoted there. When
you come across an Old Testament verse quoted in the New, even
a part of it, it's very, very good and wise and proper to go
and read the whole context of it. So who has believed our report? This is one of the descriptions
of the Lord Jesus Christ from the Gospel of Isaiah. Modern
Jews won't let their adherents read it if they can possibly
avoid it. Ben, come and be so close. Thank you. Isaiah 53. Morning, everyone. Verse one. Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him
as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He hath no
form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no
beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected
of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep,
have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was
afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shears is dumb, so he openeth
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked, and with the rich his death, because he had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he
bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. They could not believe. They lacked the ability to believe. They were powerless to believe. That's what that word means.
It was not possible for them to believe. This is God Almighty talking
to people in religion. This is God Almighty talking
to people who had come and travelled over land and sea to come to
Jerusalem to the great feast of the Passover in which the
lamb that Ben just read about was to be pictured in all those
lambs that were slaughtered and then to be pictured in the most
extraordinary way outside of Jerusalem when he bore the sins
of all of his people. Don't you love the fact of the
glory of the prophecy of God? Don't you love the Word of God?
I just love it. It is such a glorious passage
of Scripture, isn't it, Isaiah 53? And I love the fact that
it's all put in the past tense. For God, everything is in past
tense. The Lamb was slain from the foundation
of the world. And we're here, like Isaiah,
to declare a glorious and sovereign and successful Saviour. And the
Bible nor the Jews knew anything of an unsuccessful Saviour. They
had no notion of a Messiah who could possibly fail at all. And
yet so many people will find the words that we have read here
in John Chapter 38 down to verse 40 offensive to their notions
of things. And one of the, as I said earlier
this passage is quoted six times in the New Testament and one
of the It's repeated three times in the story of the parable of
the soils. As I said earlier, there is a
burden of the word of the Lord because John 12.48 says that
these words that are being proclaimed of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ will be there as your judge. for those who live and
die in unbelief and they will be there as the greatest comfort
for those who meet the living word. But in Matthew chapter
13 he speaks of these words of Isaiah in reference to the understanding
of the parable. And the Lord is asked by his
disciples, why do you speak to them in parables? And the answer
is not the answer that you think. Why would he speak in these really
simple stories about farmers and fishermen and people losing
coins and shepherds losing sheep and other things? You would think
he was telling simple stories that they were very familiar
with so they'd understand. Listen to what the Lord goes
on to say. He said unto them, verse 11, Because it is given
unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but
to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall
be given, and he shall have more abundance, and whosoever hath
not, from him shall be taken, even that He hath. Therefore I speak to them in
parables because they, and here he is quoting Isaiah chapter
6, they seeing not. They seeing see not, and hearing
hear not, neither do they understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy
of Isaiah, which saith, by hearing you shall hear and shall not
understand, and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive. And then he gives a reason. Every
time God declares this judgment on hardened, calloused sinners,
He does it in justice, isn't it? For, or because this people
is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their
eyes have they closed, lest at any time they should see with
their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with
their heart, and should be converted, and I shall heal them. Blessed
are your eyes. There are some blessed eyes in
this world. Blessed are your eyes for they
see, and blessed are your ears for they hear. But then he goes
down to say, for those who are concerned about this word, this
word that seems to speak so contrarily to what we hear all the time
in man-made religion, It says in verse 20, but he that receiveth
the seed enters into stony places, the same is he that heareth the
word, and anon with joy receiveth. The number of people I have spent
talking to over the last 20 or 30 years who have heard the word
and they've just rejoiced. But it endures just for a while,
for when tribulation and persecution arises because of the Word. And if tribulation and persecution
is going to arise because of the Word, it's going to arise
because of the words that we're reading here in Isaiah chapter
6 and John chapter 12, aren't they? Persecution arises because
of the word, and by and by he is offended. And they go away
and say, I will not worship and serve a god like that. No one
would crucify the god of modern religion these days. The god of modern religion loves
everyone and offends no one. He was crucified. He was crucified. He who came, came with the Spirit
of the Lord upon him because he anointed me to preach the
gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted.
He sent me to preach deliverance to the captives and the recovering
of sight to the bride and set at liberty them at Bruised. He's
come to declare the year of jubilee when everything that you have
lost by your fall in Adam, everything you've lost by your own sin in
this world is restored under the law of God to you. And that's the proclamation of
the glorious gospel. And that man who came and all
he ever did was good. That man, that man who healed
the lepers, had mercy on the prostitutes and the harlots and
everyone that was out of the way. Not a single person ever
came to the Lord Jesus Christ seeking mercy who was ever turned
away. Norm spoke about it a few weeks
ago, about that lady. She said, if I can just touch
the hem of his garment, I'll be whole. The leper came to him,
an outcast, a legal outcast, a sinner, covered in leprosy,
full of leprosy, and he said, Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. You can make me clean. Every
single mercy beggar is saved. Salvation is of the Lord. But though he had done so many
miracles before them, yet they believed not on him. There is
just no excuse. These were public miracles. When
people do not believe, they choose not to believe. It's not that
they want to believe, but the evidence keeps people from believing. Unbelief always has a sinful
motive. Unbelief always exposes an evil
heart. That's what Hebrews 4 says, isn't
it? Why did their carcasses fall in the wilderness, having been
the witnesses of so, so many miracles? Take heed, brethren, says Hebrews
4.11, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief
in departing from the living God. The other question that I'm often
caused to ponder is that here we are now 2,000 years ago. That's
all 2,000 years ago. Does the 2,000 years of human history diminish our
responsibility before God, or does it increase it? For those of you who know the
Lord and know your scriptures, you will have seen that we understand
human history through the lens of scriptures. And we understand
more and more clearly what is false and what is true because
of what the Lord has done. And what he's doing now is what
he's done always. Our responsibility is not diminished
because of time. Please don't think it is. The
evidence is laid out before us and God only has to speak once
and it's true and God only has to act once and it's true. And once his history is established,
it's history that's established for all mankind and for all time.
This man does many miracles, said those Jewish religious leaders,
therefore he should die. Why? So that we don't lose. What's the heart of unbelief?
It's in verse 43 of our text of scripture, isn't it? For they
loved the praise of men more than the praise of Christ. What's
darkness? What's the darkness he's talking
about? They loved the praise of men. They loved themselves
more than they loved the souls of other people. They love not the Lord Jesus
Christ. Unbelief. Unbelief is wicked
obstinance. It's wicked obstinance. No one
can ever say, I wanted to believe, but I couldn't. God's servants
like Isaiah must speak of the electing saviour, Isaiah 42 verse
1. That's his name, election. That's his father's name for
him. And we must speak of the Lord
Jesus Christ as we have read in Isaiah 53, the Lord Jesus
Christ dying successfully as a substitute for his sheep. But
no one can say, I wanted to believe but God didn't elect me. I wanted
to believe but Christ didn't die for me. That's nonsense.
That is just an expression of a wicked heart of unbelief. People
do not believe because they do not want to believe. I love what my friend Todd wrote
in his bulletin just a little while ago. Christ died for the
elect, those given him before the foundation of the world,
and they will all most assuredly be saved, and only they will
be saved. It is equally true that whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved, and he that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. These two statements
are not contradictory, brothers and sisters. They are both essential. So let's go again and follow
our Lord's arguing here, just briefly. Therefore, verse 39,
therefore, therefore. When you have a therefore in
the scriptures, you always ask what the therefore, therefore.
He had done so many miracles, he'd come as a light, he'd come
to speak of his death, him being lifted up. Therefore they could
not believe. They could not believe because
they would not believe. The reason men cannot believe
is because men will not believe. There is just a cycle of wickedness
going on. An inability is not an excuse
for guilt before God. Inability is not an excuse. No
man can come to me. That's man's guilt, not an excuse
for it. Inability is an aggravation of
guilt and a revelation of an evil heart. Inability never negates
responsibility. We call on people the Lord Jesus Christ. He's worthier
being believed. Is there anything about his character,
anything about what is said about him that should cause us to doubt? See, to not believe is a willful
act. It's an active willful rejection
of the clear evidence. And this verse that Isaiah quotes
is the verse that's used right at the very end of the book of
Acts after all of those 30 years of the testimony of all of the
apostles. And it says after Paul had spent
that whole day preaching to those Jews that had come to him and
says in verse 24 of Acts 28, Some believe the things which
were spoken. And believing there is in the
passive tense. If you believe it's the gift
of God. And some believe not. Believing not is active all the
time. The unbelievers are far more
active in their unbelief than the believers are in their believing. It's a willful act. There is
and there will be on that great day no excuse. There will be
on that great day not a single mouth opened to God to say why. People will see what they are.
Inability is not an excuse. Imagine someone comes along and
says, I just cannot help but murder people. It's just my nature. It's my nature to murder people
and I just can't help myself. What do you do to such a person
as that? Do you say, well, you're now excused. You're just doing
what you can and you can't help yourself. Well, do we find a
prison as quickly as possible to shield ourselves from that
person? Unbelief. Unbelief is a willful activity. How precious is saving faith? This reveals how dark man's natural
state is. It's been said so often, if you
are wrong on the fall of man, you are wrong on it all. If you're wrong on the fall,
you are wrong on it all. And if you don't understand,
if God hasn't given you eyes to see what you did in Adam in
the The gospel will never be light. The gospel will never
be good news to you. This is a revelation, isn't it,
to us of how dark man's natural state, and how much we should
be thankful for gospel light, and how much we should be thankful
for life that comes with that light, and how thankful we should
be just to simply believe what God says and bow to it. God is not giving you his word
so that you can increase in your intellectual understanding of
things. He's given you his word so that you will bow to his son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. You can kiss the son. He says
kiss the son. What an amazing, what an amazing
declaration from our God. Our faith is the work of God
in us and our faith is the work of God revealing the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ for us. That's what we read in Isaiah
53. It's what he has done for us as it is promised in the scriptures. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. Therefore, they could not believe. And Isaiah takes us to a passage
of scripture that I want to look at after the break briefly in
Isaiah chapter six. But therefore they could not
believe, just read it with me in verse 39. They could not believe
because that Isaiah said again, he hath blinded their eyes and
hardened their hearts that they should not see with their eyes
nor understand with their heart and be converted and I should
heal them. There is a biblical word that
speaks of this activity of God giving people over, judicially
giving people over, and it's called reprobation. The word is used four times in
the scripture. They're called in Jeremiah 6
these Jewish people who rejected all the testimony of Jeremiah
and rejected the call of Jeremiah to stand in the ways and ask
for the good way and ask for the way that has an eternal beginning
and an eternal end and you'll find rest for your souls and
immediately they say in Jeremiah 6.16, I'm not going to do that.
And God puts watchmen there and they say we're not going to listen
to the watchmen. They're called reprobate silver. In Romans 1,
if you just turn with me to Romans chapter 1, God uses a phrase
here which should send us scurrying to our Saviour and pleading for
mercy. And pleading for his mercy upon
those that we love. In Jeremiah 28 it says, And even
as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave
them over to a reprobate mind. For you to have a reprobate mind
all you have to do is be left by God. He gave them over. Three times in Romans 1, he says,
he gave them over. He gave them over to a reprobate
mind, to do those things which are not convenient. And listen
to what happens. Being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy,
murder. debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers,
backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of
evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant
breakers, without natural affections, implacable, unmerciful, who knowing
the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are
worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in
them that do them. What a remarkable description
of this fallen world that we live in. Three times in Romans
8 he gave them over. He gave them over. They changed
the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature
more than the creator. Who is blessed forever, verse
26, for this cause God gave them up unto vile affections. People are reprobate, according
to 2 Timothy 3, verse 8. Men of corrupt mind, they are
reprobate concerning the faith. Titus 1 speaks of them. They
profess to know God. We're not talking about the people
in the wilderness out there. We're talking about people in
churches. They profess to know God, but in works deny him, being
abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. Turn with me to Proverbs 1. We love to think of Proverbs
being the book of wisdom, but the Proverbs is the book that
declares God's just and righteous judgment on people who refuse,
who refuse the evidence that's clearly before
them. Men are not ignorant and men
are not innocent. Listen to what he says in verse
20 in Proverbs. He says, Wisdom is the Lord Jesus
Christ. She utters her voice in the streets.
They had three and a half years of the Lord Jesus Christ uttering
his voice in the streets of Israel. And he says in verse 23, Turn
you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit
on you. I will make known my words unto
you. Isn't that a glorious promise?
And no wonder the prophets say, turn me and I'll be turned. I
can't do it myself. You turn me and I'll be turned.
And then verse 24, listen to what he says. This is God, the
Lord Jesus Christ speaking. Because I have called and you
have refused, I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded,
but you have set at naught all my counsel and would have none
of my reproof. I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as desolation,
when your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress
and anguish cometh upon you, then shall you call upon me and
I will not answer. They shall seek me early. But
they shall not find me, because for they hated knowledge and
did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the
fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices. Our God is not to be played with. Our God's word comes with seriousness. Our God put his son to death
on Calvary's tree to deal with the sins of all of his people. He was put to death by these
very people. God's judgement is just and right. Listen to what 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 9 says. Notice there are becauses in
all of these statements. This is not just God arbitrarily
doing this. He does it in just and righteous. The God of this earth will do
right always. With all deceivableness and of
unrighteousness in them that perish. Because they received
not the love of the truth. They might have had a knowledge
of what the truth was, but they had no love for the truth. What's
he say in John 12, 41, 42? They loved the praise of men
more than the praise of God. For this cause, God shall send
them strong delusion that they should believe the lie. The lie. The lie is the lie of free will
works religion. That's what the lie is. Always
that's the lie. And you can read about it in
Isaiah chapter 14 and you can read it again in Genesis chapter
3. That's exactly what Satan said
to Adam and Eve. You will, you will, you will.
That they all might be damned who have believed not the truth
but had pleasure in unrighteousness. So let's go back to the order
of God here. They would not believe verse
37, verse 38. Their unbelief of these men was
the fulfilment of God's word of promise. Their unbelief doesn't
surprise nor confound God, but it's a fulfilment of his promise.
The Lord will pray in John chapter 17. In a little while we'll come
to Lord willing and Judas is fully responsible for his wickedness. He did exactly what Judas wanted
to do and he left to light and he went out and it was dark and
he perfectly fulfilled the purposes and the scripture of God Almighty
and he's 100% responsible and God is 100% glorious. Unbelief doesn't surprise nor
confound our God but fulfills his purpose. God enacts their
desires. They're God's just retribution
and judgment. It's God's eternal purpose fulfilled. This is according to God's eternal
purpose. And this, verse 41, will only
be believed and bowed to when Christ of his full salvation by grace. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our God is a God of purpose and
a God of justice. Behold now is the acceptable
time. This is a while, one of the little
whiles where the light shines. Listen to what the Lord says.
Believe in the light. Believe in the light. While you have the light, Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we pray that we would bow to your
word and that your word that humbles us would cause us to
call out in mercy. and come again and again to our
Saviour and plead with Him, please don't give us over to ourselves
Heavenly Father, please don't give us over to our wills and
please our God cause us to be people who declare the light
of the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
in the preaching of that gospel there might be the salvation
of all here, and the many, many, many that we love so dearly,
our Father. Bless your word. Cause us. To be those who find it sweet,
Heavenly Father, because they've come from you and they're signed
in the blood of your dear precious Son.