Isaiah 1 tonight Isaiah 119 Just two verses this evening
on the subject if you Be willing If you be willing From verse 19, if you be willing
and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you
refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with a sword. For the
mouth of the Lord hath spoken. The last words in verse 20 there,
the mouth of the Lord hath spoken. That explains why you don't see
the kind of language that we've seen in this chapter anywhere
else. In verses one through 18 of this chapter, you're not gonna
find that kind of language anywhere else in this world, unless it's
somebody that knows what God said writing about what he said
in this chapter. That's the only place you're
gonna see it. This world doesn't write books about, or even include
chapters in books about how people are dumber than animals. You
ever read that anywhere in a secular book? You're not gonna see it
anywhere. And this explains it. It's God
speaking and not you, not me, not some man. You're not gonna
see anything in any book that this world wrote about how that
man is just one giant walking, nasty running sore from the head
of his foot Top of his head to the bottom of his foot, he's
just nasty. Have you ever read that anywhere
else? I'm pretty sure only God has
ever said that. And those who know what he said,
writing about what he said. We just don't see ourselves that
way. We don't see ourselves as dumber than an ox. And the world's
not ever gonna see that without grace. We don't see ourselves
as disgusting and vile. We don't see each other that
way. We don't see ourselves that way. Until God turns the light
on. And we still don't much see it.
We have an understanding of it because God said it. And we believe
God by his grace. That's how we know about it. Men don't... You think about
all the books that have been written on the experiences of
men. On... Motivational subjects people
write about and all the how-to books that have ever been written
Don't you think it would be helpful and instructive in books like
that to know what you are? But you're not gonna hear it
you're not gonna hear it from anybody but God And here's why it would be good
to know what you are to know about yourself if you know the
truth about yourself and then you're ready to learn how to
be successful. You're gonna find out what success
is then. And how to do everything. All the how-to books, you know.
How to do everything. What do you mean by that, Chris?
How are you gonna learn how to fix a car by learning what a
wretched sinner you are? Well, let me tell you how. You're
gonna learn to do it God's way. You're gonna learn how to fix
a car or a refrigerator or whatever, God's way. And here's the thing,
what is success in God's book? When have you done something
right in God's book? How does God teach us to do all
that we do? You might learn how to do it
in such a way that whatever you're fixing works from a book. But if you don't do it for the
glory of God, you might as well not have done it. And you're only going to learn
that right here. And somehow we need to come to
the place where we see that. Let's just leave all of our cars
broken until we find out how to glorify God in everything
that we do. Does that make sense? Let's just
quit doing anything until we can do it for His glory. Now there are some things we
need to understand about when God speaks, about God speaking. First of all, you need it. You
got to have it. Man shall not live by bread alone. I don't care how good a bread
you eat. Bread is just food, meat, whatever it is. You can't live just by surviving
on food in this world. You got to live by every word
that proceeds from the mouth of God, or you're dead. You're
dead. You got to have it. It's the spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. The words of Christ, the
gospel is life. And when we see, when we read
those words, the mouth of the Lord has spoken it, we need to
understand. Thank God, because without that, I'm a dead man.
I'm dead. Also now, let's think about this
when we think about God speaking. God doesn't always speak the
way people think he will. He uses very humble and very
feeble means to speak. And not always preachers. He'll
use mama and daddy. He'll use a friend. And he does
use his preachers. But his voice may not sound the
way you think the voice of God should sound. Don't miss it. You see, if it's according to
this book, if God's given somebody some light concerning what he
said in this book, don't miss it. Because you despise the source
of it. The ultimate source is God. And
that's what we need to understand. Whoever is speaking, whoever
is speaking, just remember, if he's speaking of the sovereign,
victorious, almighty, gracious, and merciful Christ, and his
precious blood, his cross work, his sin atoning, saving work
for sinners, he's speaking for God. He's speaking for God, doesn't
matter who it is. And I'll tell you a third thing
that we always need to remember about God speaking. And we know
this is right, but we don't think of this all the time. I don't. Whenever God speaks, it always
accomplishes exactly what he wanted it to, always. I know that this is a very familiar
passage of scripture now, but we need to understand what's
being said here, Isaiah 55.10. For as the rain cometh down,
and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth
the earth. Rain comes down and it goes back
up, but before it goes back up, it waters the earth. And maketh
it bring forth in bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and
bread to the eater. There again, it's a necessity,
isn't it? Without rain, we're goners physically. Without his
word, we're goners spiritually. accomplishes what He sent it
to accomplish every time. It's going to bring forth and
bud. It's going to give seed to the sower. That's the one
that distributes the Word. Do you remember the parable?
The one that sows the seed. The seed is the Word of God. We have something to sow because
God spoke from Heaven. And it's going to give bread
to the eater. The one that hears is going to be fulfilled. Blessed
are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, they gonna
be filled, because God has purposed it. And he sent the means to
accomplish it. It shall not return unto me void
and empty, it'll never fail, but it shall accomplish that
which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing where to
I sent it. You don't have to look in Romans
9 and Ephesians 1 and places like that to see the sovereign
victorious distinguishing almighty God. That right there tells you
that whatever God has purposed for his word to accomplish tonight,
it'll be done. You're not gonna resist it. You're
not gonna thwart it. You're not gonna sneak out. If
God has purposed to bless you tonight by his word, you fixin'
to be blessed. And it ain't got very little to do with me or
you. God has purposed it and he'll do it. If he's purposed
to harden you in your rejection of his son, then that's what'll
happen. Our text speaks of the mouth
of God speaking. And here we see that when he
does, exactly what he purposed before to happen, happens. Doesn't that bless your heart?
That says a lot about him. And it says something about what
our church services ought to be and what our preaching is.
This is not some crap shoot. This is the purpose of God being
worked out, and it's certain and sure, and we rejoice in that. I'm glad it is not up to you.
I'm glad it's not up to me. I couldn't be happier about that. Now, Paul put it this way in
2 Corinthians 2, chapter 2, he said to some, And that's true
tonight, it's true everywhere the gospel is preached. He said,
to some we're going to be the saver of life unto life, and
to some we're the saver of death unto death. But it's always a
triumph. It's always a victory. God always
causes us to triumph. It's always successful in accomplishing
what God sent it to accomplish, whether it be life or death.
And it goes back up to him. Like he said, the rain returns
but not void. It returns, but not until it's
watered, not until it's given seed and bread, but it returns
to Him. We're a saver of Christ unto
God. It returns to Him and He, God
says it's a triumph, it's a victory whenever Christ is preached.
It's not just all about us, is it? It's for His glory. One of the reasons that knowing
that is so important is because if we get to thinking that everything
is, here's religion's favorite phrase, up to us. If everything
is up to, we start thinking that way. That our methods will be
dubious. Like religion, our goal will
be to get people to do things. You know, it's up to us to get
people to do things. To make decisions and to, you
know, do something for God. And God said, just deliver my
word. Just bring the rain. Bring the
rain. And God will give the increase
as it pleases Him. You see how it's going to affect
everything that we do in this house. He didn't say go and get
people saved. He said go and preach. Just bring
the rain. The water will do what God sent
it to do. Every time. Paul said, God didn't
send me to baptize. He sent me to preach the gospel.
And if somebody wants to be baptized, I'll baptize them. But what I
came to do is preach Christ and him crucified. That's the business
God has set us upon. So God spoke in this chapter
and he called us what we are. We're religious, but we're vile
and wretched. And he doesn't say in this chapter,
stop being wretched. He says, come to me. The remedy
is not you turning over a new leaf. The remedy is Christ. Come to Christ for forgiveness. Come to him for cleansing. Though
your sins be as scarlet, Christ can make them white. Come unto
me and I'll give you life. Come unto me and I'll give you
rest. Come unto me and you'll never thirst again. That's the
answer to the problem. Not you need to do better. There's
just one cure for our sickness. Earthly doctors say, you know,
do this or do that. Take this pill, do this activity.
Our great physician says, just come here. Just come here. And that's the end of it. I am the medicine. I am the cure. I am the life that you need.
And when the text speaks of being
willing and obedient here in our text here tonight, is it
talking about the law? No, that's the problem. You've
already blown that. It's too late for that. If you
could start keeping the law perfectly from now on, you'd still go to
hell for all your sin that you've already committed. It's not talking
about the law. What's he talking about being
willing and obedient? It's what he just got through saying, come
to me. Are you willing to come to Christ? That's the question.
That's what the rich young ruler was unwilling to do. Our Lord
said, follow me. Even after he naively and foolishly
said, I've already kept all the law, what do I need to do now?
The Lord said, follow me. Get rid of your idols and follow
me. And that young man could not, he would not do so. And the disciples asked the Lord
after that, who can? And the Lord said, it's impossible
with men. You're not going to. In the case
of that rich young ruler, You know what the Lord did? He left
the matter up to Him. He did what religion loves to
hear. He left it up to Him. That's what happens when it's
up to you. You're gonna go away. You're gonna leave the Son of
God. You're gonna walk away from life itself and choose death. Up to you is not the answer,
that's the problem. You don't want the Lord to leave
it up to you. Our Lord said in John 6.44, John
6.44, no man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me
draw him to me. Just like drawing a sword from
its scabbard, taking you from one place and bringing you to
another. Taking you from yourself and bringing you to Christ. Taking
you from your sin and bringing you to the Savior. If God Almighty
the Father doesn't do that, you will not come to Christ. You
will not obey what the command of the gospel that God gave in
our context. Come now. You're not coming unless
God brings you. God not leaving it up to you
is salvation. That's what salvation is, God
not leaving it up to you. He said it in a little different
way and a little further down in John chapter six, in case
we misunderstood the word draw, God drawing us, he said it this
way in John 6, 65, therefore said I unto you that no man can
come unto me except it were given unto him of my father. He's got
to give you the ability to come or you can't do it. You're going
to follow that rich young ruler right into oblivion with the
Savior in your rear view mirror. Why does he say come then if
we can't come? Because you've got to come. You've
got to come. You're not going to come under
your own will or under your own power. And yet, we must come,
though the Bible clearly teaches that we cannot. I lied right there. The Bible
does not teach that we cannot come. It teaches you, you cannot
come except the Father draw you. Or gives you the ability to come. That's a big difference. This is why one man comes to
Christ and another just keeps mocking him. Just keeps rejecting
him. Just keeps being completely uninterested
in him or his gospel. This is why the rich young ruler
went away sorrowful and the Lord said how hardly shall a rich
man enter the kingdom and then the Lord goes right from there
to a rich man called Zacchaeus. and said, Zacchaeus, you come
down from that tree. I got to come live at your house
today. There's the difference right
there. And the Lord didn't even have to tell Zacchaeus, go sell
all you have and give it to the poor. He volunteered to do it.
I'm gonna restore fourfold to everybody I've ever cheated as
a tax collector. I'm sure that was a pretty good
list. And then I'm gonna give the rest to the poor. The Lord
never even had to ask. The difference between the rich
young ruler and Zacchaeus is clear as a bell if you just read
God's word. God says, come, and we know that
we cannot obey that, that we will not. With men it's impossible
unless God draws us, unless God gives us the ability, the will,
the desire, and the power to obey his gospel command. How
does he do that? How does God give us that ability?
By the power of his word. The mouth of the Lord has spoken
it. And when he speaks it, it accomplishes what he speaks it
in order to accomplish. In some cases, it's the salvation
of that soul. If God mixes it with faith in
them that hear it, it'll result in saving power. It will be the
result of saving power, which is salvation. The mouth of the
Lord has spoken it. His word accomplishes exactly
what he sent it to accomplish. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the
land. If God has mercy on you, if when his word goes forth into
your ears, he brings you by the power of his irresistible grace,
He brings you to the feet of His Son, loving His Son, seeing
your need for His Son, believing His Son, bowing to His Son. Lay in hold of His Son as all
your hope and all your salvation, all your righteousness, all of
your sin payment, everything that you need. That's what God
does now when his word goes forth, when he's pleased. He'll bring
you to Christ. And notice that, I've said this
before, and I hope I can remember this. He said, no man can come
to me except the Father draw him. We tend to focus on the
Father drawing him part, and that's a pretty good thing to
focus on, because you ain't coming without him. But the goal is
coming to me. If the Father does draw you,
where's he gonna draw you? To a set of doctrines? To a denomination? No, he's gonna bring you to his
son, that's where. That's salvation, Christ is all.
If you are willing, Psalm 110.3, David said this, thy people,
Lord, shall be willing. When? In the day of thy power. You think about that. When God
exerts his power, When God speaks in power, when the mouth of the
Lord hath spoken it, and with the hearing of it comes the light
that shone on Saul, comes the quickening of the spirit that
Paul talked about in Ephesians chapter two. With that word,
if he says unto you, live, you're gonna be willing. That's
what David said. God speaks in power The day that
he does that you're going to be willing you're going to be
willing to come to him And nothing can stop you That's exactly what
our Lord said in John 637 you think about the parallel here
David said that people Shall be willing in the day of that
power and the Lord Jesus Christ said in John 637 all that the
Father giveth me Who is that that people? come to me, shall be willing
in the day of thy power." You see how those two verses go together?
All that the Father giveth me, thy people, they're going to
be willing. They shall come to me. And that's what this whole chapter,
would you say that's a key verse in the chapter when the Lord
Jesus Christ says, come now, you wretched, vile, despicable beasts, come right
now and let's talk about your sin and how I'm gonna wash it
away. I'd say that's a pivotal word.
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. All that
the Father giveth me are gonna obey that. And he said, when
they do, they're gonna find my arms open wide We see so many
examples of that in the scripture. But if God leaves it up to you, which is not really leaving anything
up to you, you know, if the Lord Jesus Christ had come to Lazarus'
grave, for example, and just left some flowers there and just
walked away, He's not really leaving it up to Lazarus whether
Lazarus wants to come out of the grave or not. He's just leaving
a dead man lie. That's what he's doing. That's
what he's doing in salvation. He's not leaving anything up
to you. Those words should never be spoken in a gospel sermon
except with disdain. Nothing's ever up to you. And you better bless God that
it's not. If God leaves it up to us, he's
not leaving anything up to us. If he leaves you in your natural
state of spiritual death, religious, repulsive death, you see the
language of Isaiah 1, just filthy. I can't even describe what he's
talking about there in any detail without making us sick in our
stomachs tonight. And Lazarus is a good example
of that. They said, Lord, he's been dead
for four days. You don't want, we don't want,
Let's leave the stone where it is. No, you got to come out But
if he leaves us four days dead and then ten days dead and forever
dead we're just going to stay dead They're kind of death described
in the first 17 verses of our chapter If he leaves us to ourself
that we're just going to do what we've always done, which is the
next verse in our text refuse and rebel If you refuse and rebel
there are consequences for that It says you'll be devoured with
the sword. What's that? The same word that
saves. The sword comes out of his mouth. The sword is the word, the same
word that saves those that hear. The same word that comes in power
and grace into those who are quickened by the spirit and come
to Christ. The same word. Look at Revelation
19. And remember what our Lord said,
now this is the negative side of it. Remember what he said,
the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are
life. How important is the word of God tonight? Life and death. comes from the mouth of the Savior.
The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Our text says, spoken what? Life and death. The saver of
life unto life, and the saver of death unto death. Paul says
that happens when we speak, because it's not just us speaking, it's
God speaking. Revelation 19, 11, and I saw
heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him
was called faithful and true, And in righteousness he doth
judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire,
and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that
no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God." I
think I know who that is, don't you? I'm pretty sure I know who
that is. And the armies which were in
heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen,
white and clean, and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword. The
Lord said, if you refuse and rebel, you're gonna be devoured
with the sword. All he has to do is speak. And we're either blessed or cursed.
We live or die. Out of his mouth goeth a sharp
sword, that with it he should smite the nations. And he shall
rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress
of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on
his vesture and on his thigh a name written, Who is this that
speaks? And sinners live, and sinners
die. He's the King of kings." We're
going to bow to him one of these days now. Oh, may God give us grace to
take our place at His feet. He is the King of Kings and the
Lord of Lords. Thank God for His Word now. But
it's nothing to be taken lightly when the Word of God is spoken.
You see that here, right? It's life and it's death. And you've seen the verses we've
looked at tonight. It's life and it's death every
time. Every time, every time he speaks, every time, it's life
and it's death. I pray, I pray that when God
speaks to you, he says unto you, live. All he's
got to do is say live. And life in every sense of the
word is ours. The mouth of the Lord hath spoken
it. Let's pray tonight.