Alright brethren, let's turn
to Isaiah chapter 44. Isaiah 44. Our subject is God's chastening,
comforting gospel. God's chastening, comforting
gospel. Now, it's the gospel of God's
grace in Christ Jesus that God It's the one message God uses
to both chasten His people and comfort His people. The gospel
of God's grace. Now, remember the context that
we're in here. It began back in Isaiah 43. God's
elect in Israel and in Judah had sinned against the Lord.
We've been hearing the messages as we go through Isaiah 43, and
we saw in Isaiah 44. Now we come to the next passage
here. It's all the same message. Isaiah
is preaching one sermon, as it were. And the father here, this is
the message he sent Isaiah to preach. It's the message by which
he renews his erring child, It's the message by which He chastens
us and comforts us. It's the same message by which
He called us in the beginning and regenerated us. The same
message. And so the Lord begins here,
He's going to show us the absurdity of idolatry. Now why is He saying
this to His people He had called out amongst the children of Israel
and Judah that are his true elect, his true redeemed, his regenerated
saints. Why is he saying this to them?
When you go back to Isaiah 43, Isaiah 43, 24, you remember when
the ten and a half tribes split off from Judah and from the half
tribe of Benjamin, they made them an idol in another place
and told the children of Israel they didn't have to go to Jerusalem
anymore. Jerusalem was a place God said come to. You gotta come
through God's high priest, through God's lamb, to God's mercy seat. That's a picture coming only
through Christ. But they had turned from that
and gone to another place and made them a golden idol. and were bound down to Eden,
and they weren't coming to Jerusalem. Look at Isaiah 43, 24. The Lord
said, Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither
hast Thou filled me with the fat of Thy sacrifices, but Thou
hast made me to serve for Thy sins. Thou hast wearied me with
Thine iniquities. Is the Lord just going to cast
off His elect that do something like this? Now most people will
tell you, if you've been sanctified by the Lord, you wouldn't turn
to idolatry. We're going to see about that.
We're going to see about that. What's God going to do when you
sin? If you're a child of God, chosen by God, redeemed by Christ,
born of the Spirit of God, what's God going to do when you sin? God will not take no from his
people. He's going to save us. That's what grace does. Grace
is free, it's not based on anything in you, it's sovereign, God choosing
whom He will, and it's unchangeable, because it's not based on anything
of you and me. Esau and Jacob were in their
mother's womb, same father, same mother, having done neither good
nor evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of him that willeth, but of God that shows mercy.
If you find out what a sinner you are, how holy God is, God's
not this one who, if you just do the best you can, God will
receive you. Nope. You gotta be as holy as
God. You gotta be as righteous as
God. And there ain't a person in this world that is. And here's
the offense. If we try to come in our works
to God, here's the offense. The whole reason God sent His
Son is because we could not keep the law and put away our sin. His Son has to get all the glory. He is the Holy One. He is the
Righteous One. He is the salvation of His people.
And Christ must get all the glory. Christ said, I'm the way, I'm
the truth, and I'm the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. So what's God gonna do when you
and me start looking at our idols? One of his saints start looking
at our idols and the things of this world and get taken up with
them. God just gonna throw you out? What's he gonna do? Well, first thing he does here
is he sends Isaiah declaring the absurdity of idolatry. Now look here, verse 9, Isaiah
44, 9. They that make a graven image
are all of them vanity. He's talking about people. Talking
about people, got it. And their delectable, their desirable
things shall not profit. They are their own witnesses.
They see not nor know that they may be ashamed. They're not ashamed
because they don't see and they don't know, God said. Who hath
formed a god or molten a graven image that's profitable for nothing? Now listen, the Lord's declaring
the absurdity of having a graven image. But even if a man doesn't
have a engraven image and he trusts that he's keeping that
law, that he's not having a graven image, and he doesn't have any
idols, and so he thinks God will accept him because he's done
that? That man's an idolater just like the man that has a
graven image. They both have a God formed in
their mind that will accept something less than perfection. Because
in our heart, by nature, We have idolatry, me and you both, all
of us do. That's what the Lord was teaching
in his Sermon on the Mount when he said, you've heard it said,
don't kill. Don't kill, that's the letter
of the law. Christ said, let me give you the spirit of the
law. If you have anger in your heart, you've committed murder. unjust anger in your heart, committed
murder. See, the law is broad and wide
and reaches to the thoughts and intents of the heart. Christ
is the only one that walked this earth who every thought and every
motive in his heart was absolutely perfect. Absolutely perfect. So what I'm trying to say to
you is if you've got graven images, you've broken that law and broken
the whole law of God. But even if you don't have graven
images and you're trying to come to God by not having them and
saying, well, I don't have graven images. Still an idolater. Don't have them. Don't have them.
But don't look to you. Don't look to you not having
them. Verse 11, behold. All whose fellows should be ashamed,
God said, and the workmen, thereof men, let them all be gathered
together, let them stand up, yet they shall fear and they
shall be ashamed together. In final judgment, whenever one
stands before the Lord Jesus Christ, the judge of all, all
judges being committed to him, everybody that worshiped any
but Christ are going to be found to worship idols, the work of
their hands, and they're going to be ashamed. Now look, read
on. The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and
he fashioneth it with hammers, and he worketh it with the strength
of his arms. Yea, he's hungry, and his strength faileth, he
drinketh no water, and is faint. The carpenter stretcheth out
his rule, he marketh it out with a line, he fitteth it with planes,
and he marketh it out with a compass, and maketh it after the figure
of a man, according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain
in the house. He heweth him down cedars, and
he taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengthened for
himself among the trees of the forest. He planted an ash, and
the rain doth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man to
burn. Now here's the absurdity. He'll
take part of it and he'll burn it. He'll take thereof and warm
himself. Yea, he kindleth it and then
he bakes bread on part of it. He warms himself with part of
this tree. He bakes bread with part of it. Yea, then he makes
him a god with the rest of the tree and worships it. He makes
it a graven image and falls down thereto. He burns part thereof
in the fire, which part thereof he eateth flesh. You see that? He burns part in the fire with
part he eats flesh, roasts roast, and set aside. Yea, he warms
himself. He says, aha, I'm warm, I've
seen the fire. And the residue thereof he maketh
a God, even his graven image. He falls down to it, worships
it, prays unto it, says, deliver me, for thou art my God. He's
sincere in this now. they've not known nor understood,
for He has shut their eyes." Uh-oh. God's really sovereign,
isn't He? He shut their eyes that they
cannot see. and their hearts that they cannot
understand. And none considereth in his heart,
neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I've burned
part of it in the fire. They also are baked bread upon
the coals thereof. I've roasted flesh and eaten
it. And shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? I'm going
to make an abominable idol out of the rest of it. Shall I fall
down to the stalk of a tree? He feedeth on ashes. A deceived
heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul,
nor say, Is there not a law in my right hand? Now brethren,
we're to have no graven images, no gold crosses, no statues,
no pictures of Saint so-and-so, nothing, nothing. No image of
God, none. But a man can abhor all graven
images and say, I'll never have a graven images and have none.
But if he trusts he's righteous because he doesn't have graven
images, he's worshiping the work of his hands the same as a man
who literally carved out an idol. And a man, listen now, a man
may know that we're not made righteous by the law. And he
may say, I'm not going to be circumcised and brought under
the law, in the bondage of the law. He may know the five points
of Calvinism. He's joined the church. He's
in a church that preaches the gospel, but he's trusting in
the fact that he won't let himself be brought under bondage as a
law. He's trusting in the fact that he knows some things. He's
trusting that he's in the right church. He's an idolater just
like the rest of them. The Lord said through Paul, in
Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything. That's the
man that's under the law. He's either trying to come to
God by his works of the law, by what he hasn't done. That
doesn't profit, nor uncircumcision, nor the man that refuses to be
brought under the law and knows better. That doesn't save you. It's faith which worketh by love.
And how are you given that? He said again in Galatians 6,
he said, it's neither circumcision that avails, nor uncircumcision,
but being made a new creation by Christ Jesus. That's what
matters. Now, what's the message by which
we're made a new creation? Well, it's the same message by
which He keeps renewing us once He's made us a new creation in
the inward man. And that's what I want you to
see here. I'm trying to show you what the Lord did to recover
His true people among the nation of Israel who had turned away
from Him and was being drawn away back to idols. Did the Lord
just cut them off? Did He come preaching law to
them? No! He showed them the absurdity
of these people who were worshipping idols. And then look what he
said to him. This is how the Lord is going
to chasten his true child. This is how he is going to bring
us to remembrance. He says in verse 21, ìRemember
these, O Jacob and Israel, for thou art my servant.î He is saying,
ìRemember these idolaters.î Now why? Why would God say, ìRemember
these idolaters?î Number one is this, ìRemember you were an
idolater.î You were no different than them. You were right there
with them. Whether you were religious or
not, we all come into this world worshipping ourselves. That's
all. We're our own God by nature,
we think. And we're worshipping our own
selves. And this is something else to remember. Notice how
he says, oh Jacob, you see, The born-again believer, he's Jacob
in his sinful flesh. He's Israel in Christ and with
Christ in him, in the new man. But God says, remember these,
oh Jacob. He's saying, not only remember
you were an idolater, but remember, you still have a sin nature.
And it's got a lot of idolatry in it. In our sin nature, we're still
Jacob. Supplanter, trickster. conniving. But in Christ our Israel, He's
Israel. He's the one who is, as a prince,
He has power with God and with men and has prevailed. That's
His name. He gave His name to Jacob and
changed it to Israel. When He came there and wrestled
Him and pinned Him down, that's what He did for you in regeneration.
He came and wrestled you. Jacob wasn't wrestling against
Him. How did he prevail? Christ touched his thigh and
put it out of joint, so all Jacob could do was beg for mercy. But in Christ, our Israel, with
Christ abiding in us, we're Israel. But in our flesh, we're Jacob.
So first of all, remember, you were the idolater and you still
got an idolater in your sin nature. This is how God's correcting.
This is how He'll correct us. This is how He saved us in the
first hour. This is how He's going to correct us now. Two,
remember whose you now are. He said, for thou art my servant.
You're my servant. He's saying bow down and worship
the true God. Bow down at Christ's feet and
cast it all into his hand and trust him and don't worship these
idols. Don't worship the work of your
hand. But here's the most important thing. When you remember your former
idolatry, Remember it, but don't be puffed up that you're not
that now. Don't be puffed up that you made yourself to differ.
Uh-uh. God says, remember verse 21,
I have formed thee. Thou art my servant. I formed
you. Look back at Isaiah 43.1. We're
not just talking about this nation that was created in 1950, around
1950 over here, this political nation. He's talking about his
elect, true, spiritual Israel right here. Because this is so
of his true Israel. Look, Isaiah 43, verse 1, Now
thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, he that formed
thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have
called thee by thy name, thou art mine. Verse 7, Even everyone
that's called by my name, I created him for my glory, I formed him,
yea, I've made him. You see that the gospel of God's
grace is the one means God uses to call out His people and save
us, and it's the one means He uses to correct us. Nothing breaks
our heart. Nothing humbles us down to Christ's
feet to trust Christ. Like the Spirit of God bringing
us to remember, we didn't choose God. God chose His people by
His grace. We didn't separate ourselves
and sanctify ourselves. God said, I formed you. I separated
you. I sanctified you. We didn't form
ourselves. God created His people. That's
what a new creation is. Nothing of Adam contributed.
Christ said, The flesh profits nothing. Nothing of our flesh
contributed to this. Christ said the words, I speak
their spirit and their life. Christ came and in power and
in spirit through the preaching of the Word, He created a new
man in us. You must be born from above.
You must be born of the Spirit of God. He told Jeremiah, Jeremiah
1.5, He said, Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. Not only that, before you came
out of the womb, I sanctified you. I set you apart to be mine. And I ordained you. That's what
God did for all these people. He knew us before He formed us
in our mother's womb. He sanctified us, separated us
when He chose us in Christ from eternity. And He ordained us. Read Romans 8. Whom He did foreknow,
them He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of Christ. He ordained us to be saved by
the Lord Jesus. And whoever He predestinated,
them He called. And who He called, them He justified.
And whom He justified, them He glorified. He did it all. God corrects us by magnifying
His grace in our hearts. This doesn't anger God's people.
Oh, it angered us when we were lost and didn't know Him. Because
you know why? It took all the work out of our
hands and put it in God's hands. And it gave Him all the glory
and praise. And natural man hates that. Natural man, that's foolishness
to a natural man. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2,
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
Neither can He know them, their foolishness to Him. But to you that are called, this
gospel is the power of God because you've experienced Christ's power
in your heart and it's Him continuing to magnify His grace to us in
our hearts that renews us in heart and corrects us and turns
us back to Him. Verse 21, He says, second part,
Thou art my servant, O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of
me. You be thinking, if you're a child of God, if you're sanctified,
if you were chosen of God from eternity, redeemed by Christ,
saved, called by the Spirit of God, if Christ is all your wisdom,
your righteousness, your sanctification, your redemption, you're not looking
to you, your idol, you're looking to Christ only and trusting Him
alone for salvation. Don't hear that as speaking to
a nation. Hear that as speaking to you
personally. Thou art my servant, O Israel,
thou shalt not be forgotten of me." Now, in the verse before,
he's reminding us we're still a sinner in ourselves and he
called us Jacob. But this time when he's declaring
he won't forget us, God only calls us Israel. O Israel, thou
shalt not be forgotten of me. You see, before God and before
His law, For everybody that Christ died for, for every single person
Christ died for, for everybody Christ redeemed, for everybody
He made atonement for, God does not remember the old Jacob of
our old man anymore. Because all he is is sin. Now
in your flesh you still have an old Jacob, but I'm talking
about before the law, before the justice of God, your old
man is dead before God. He doesn't remember Jacob, but
he remembers his people as Israel in Christ Jesus. How can he do that? How can he
not remember me as Jacob and yet he will not forget me as
Israel? Verse 22, I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgression
and as a cloud thy sin. Don't forget who this is now,
who he's talking to. These are folks he came to and
revealed himself to and gave them faith to believe the Lord
Jesus Christ, and then they turned from him and sinned and didn't
bring him any thanks offerings and didn't even act like they
knew him. See, God doesn't cut his people off. God comes and
keeps drawing us back to himself and saving us. And if you know
anything about yourself, you say, oh, I'm thankful for that. Christ is Israel. He's perfectly
righteous. He's perfectly holy. He's the
prince that had power with God and with men and has prevailed.
But on that cross, Christ Jesus, the spotless, holy Lamb of God,
took all the sins of all His people because he's declaring
God's just. And God would even pour out justice
on him until he made him bear the sin of his people. And once
he bore the sin of his people, now there's a reason for God
to pour justice on him. And God pours out His wrath on
him and pours out the curse on him. In other words, for all
of God's elect, Christ became... He became us. He became Jacob. And the Lord Jesus, by Christ's
blood, He blotted out as a thick cloud all our transgression and
as a cloud all our sins. Let me ask you a question. Can a man die more than one time? Well, if you died in Christ,
and somebody died in Christ, that's what Scripture says. If
you died in Christ under the justice of God, You can't die
under the justice of God again. Why? Because God's holy and that
wouldn't be just. See, Christ didn't come and just
indiscriminately lay down His life for everybody. When the
scripture speaks of the world and all, it's talking about,
number one, all who Christ represented. And when it talks about the world,
it's talking about, usually God was speaking to Jews who were
self-righteous and thought they were saved because they were
Jews. And the Lord said, no, I've got to elect people among
Jews and among Gentiles. They're scattered throughout
the four corners of the world. Now everybody here, I take it
as a Gentile by nature, we ought to be grateful for that because
if it wasn't for so, we wouldn't have hope. But the reason we
don't declare that Christ died for everybody in the world is
because the scriptures don't. Not everybody without exception.
Why? The whole purpose was satisfying
justice and Christ bore the sin of a people because God won't
clear the guilty. So for God to show mercy to His
people, Christ had to bear justice. He had to satisfy. So God is
just to show you mercy. And He did that. And He put away
the sin of His people. And because He did that, God
doesn't remember the old Jacob and His people anymore. Look
at Romans chapter 6 and look at verse 6. Look at Romans 6, verse 6. Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that it shall be, it was, at the crown of His cross, before
the law, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is
dead is free. That word is justified. He's
justified from sin. Everybody that died in Christ
is justified. They were justified when Christ
said, it is finished. That's what He was declaring.
You don't justify yourself when you believe. You believe because
Christ justified you and He sent the Spirit to you and gave you
faith to believe He justified you. And then God imputes His
righteousness to you. And in our risen Redeemer, look
there, verse 11, Romans 6, 11, because He rose Reckon ye also yourselves to
be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body that you bathe in the lust thereof. You see,
it's God renewing us in our inward man with this message. that He
quickens you only to put off that old man and its idolatry
and put on the new man. It's only by this gospel of His
grace. God corrects us by the Spirit
of God renewing us in the new man. He corrects us and He quickens
us with the good news of God's unchangeable love and grace.
He says, O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. We're
talking about folks who had sinned against Him. And then he speaks
in power to your heart, Isaiah 44 verse 22. Here's how you made to come to
him in the first hour. This is how you renewed and made
to come to him when you've sinned as a believer. God speaks and
says, return unto me, verse 22, return unto me for I have redeemed
you. That's it right there. It's the
power of the Lord. See, if he's going to get all
the glory, if you go back and read Isaiah 43, he said, I created
you for my glory. I'm not going to share my glory
with anybody. If he's going to get all the glory, he's going
to have to get the glory for making you come to it. And believe him. For by grace
are you saved through faith. And that's not of yourself, it's
a gift of God. Lest any man should boast glory
in himself. Now, let's apply this to ourselves.
We have an old nature. We're prone to idolatry, brethren.
We start worshiping our cars, our children, our houses, our
riches, our bank account. If you took some folks' bank
account away from them, they'd think, oh, the world, the sky
is falling. My bank account ain't my salvation.
God's my salvation. But we're so prone to idolatry.
All sin is idolatry. All sin is ideology. Do you sin? Anybody here still sin? If we
say we don't, we just sin. We just lied. We all do. And all sin is ideology. Be it religious sin, trusting
ourselves, trusting some work we did, or be it immoral sin. It's all idolatry. And that's
what you see here. These folks who God had called
and redeemed, they turned to idolatry. They didn't bring Him
a sweet cane. They didn't bring Him the sacrifices. But in this
passage, God's speaking to His people that He redeemed, that
they're made to be born again, and He says to them, you're just
as guilty of idolatry as these people are. And He says, this
is how He recovers us from all our sins and iniquities and all
our idols. He comes to us and He renews
us in a new man and He says, remember these idolaters. Oh
Jacob, remember them. That's what you still are in
your flesh. But you're Israel because I chose you and I called
you and I redeemed you. You're my servant. He renews
you inwardly to know I formed you. He renews you inwardly and
reminds you, you'll never be forgotten of Me. Why? Because I justified you. I blotted out as a thick cloud
your transgression and as a cloud your sin. And you hear this gospel
loud and clear in your heart by the Spirit of God. And He
says now, return to Me. I've redeemed you. I'm telling
you that's the only thing, brethren, that'll bring a man to repentance
the first time he's ever brought to repentance, and that's the
only time that'll make me and you repent the rest of our days,
is when God reveals that message in your heart again and calls
you. You've heard me say it time and
time again, the greatest discipline there is for God's people is
the discipline of forgiveness. There are some people that won't
preach that passage of the woman caught in adultery that they
brought to the Lord. There are some people that won't preach
that passage. In years past, the Puritans and
back in the Reformed days, they wouldn't preach it because they
said, but the Lord didn't discipline that woman. Oh yeah, He did.
He forgave her. He forgave her. Nothing will
make you want to serve the Lord like finding out God has forgiven
you all your sin and He won't condemn you. And when you have
sin and He comes and makes you know all over again, I've forgiven
you, I've redeemed you, you're mine, I've formed you, I did
everything in grace to you. Nothing like that, nothing but
that makes you want to serve the Lord and turn from your old
sinful flesh. Here's the effect of it. Here's
the second thing I want you to see. Now look here. Here's the
effect of it. When He renews you and He chastens
you and by this preserving work through this gospel, He brings
you to truly worship God in the heart, in spirit. And that's
true worship. You can come in here and sit
down and sing and listen and go through the motions and never
worship God. True worship is when God works
His work in your heart, and you draw near to Him in the heart
with a broken and contrite heart. And here's the cry of true worship.
Verse 23. Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord
hath done it. Shout, ye lower parts of the
earth. Break forth into singing, ye mountains of forests and every
tree therein, for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob and glorified
Himself in Israel. That's the new song. Scripture
talks about us singing the new song. It's just work of God's
grace and His power. He puts this new song in our
new heart. Sing unto the Lord a new song.
Sing His praise. Sing all praise to Him. Let them
give glory to the Lord and declare His praise. That's the new song. The Lord hath done it. The Lord
hath redeemed Jacob and glorified Himself in Israel. The Lord alone
was on that cross and He said, it's finished. He alone redeemed
His people. When He had by Himself purged
our sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. You and me didn't purge our sins.
Christ did it. He did it by Himself. You know,
in that old tabernacle, in the holiest of holies, only the high
priest could go in there. And he had bells on and the whole
time he's in there, those bells are ringing because he never
finished the work. There was no chair in that holy
place because he couldn't sit down because the work was never
finished. But when the Lord Jesus Christ cried, it is finished,
Hebrews 1.3 says, when he had by himself purged our sin, he
sat down at the right hand of God. The work's finished. He
did it. He accomplished it. He, our triune
God in Christ, redeemed His people. He alone glorified Himself in
Christ our Israel. And He alone glorified Himself
in the hearts of each elect Israel. And He alone glorified Himself
in His whole work of salvation. He gives us salvations of the
Lord. What does that mean? It means it's all of the Lord.
John saw the elders bow down in heaven. And they sang this
new song. Here's what they sang in Revelation
5-9. They sang a new song. They sang
it to the Lamb. They sang it to Christ Jesus.
And they said, Thou art worthy to take the book and open the
seals for Thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by Thy
blood. out of the whole world. Does
that mean everybody? No, he said out of every kindred,
and tongue, and people, and nation. He got some from among every
tongue, and kindred, and people, and nation. And he said, you
redeemed us out, and you made us unto our God, kings, and priests,
and we'll reign on the earth. That's the new song. The Lord
did it. And you know, when you've fallen away, And if the Lord left you alone,
you just run right away from the Lord and never return. And
the Lord sends the Word to you, draws you into a place to hear
the Gospel, or sends somebody with the Word, and the Lord blesses
it to your heart, and He does this work in you, makes you see
you are no different from them. And He does this work, but I
saved you, I redeemed you, I put away your old man of Jacob. I
won't forget you, Israel. That blesses your heart so much
that you really and truly sing to the Lord and just praise Him
and say, thank you Lord that you have done it. Now lastly, I want to learn from
what our Lord did for His people here through the preaching of
this gospel. Our sin afflicts us. And I'm going to tell you
something, you can't deliver yourself from your sin. You just
can't do it. You couldn't give yourself life
to begin with. What did you have to do with
your first conception? What did you have to do with
forming yourself in your mother's womb? Nothing. You don't have
anything with a new man being born in you by the Spirit of
God either. That's by the incorruptible seed, by the Lord, by the preaching
of the gospel. That's what Christ told Nicodemus,
you must be born from above. The flesh is not going to help
you. That tells you right there we're at the mercy of God. This
thing is of God. Only He can come and give you
an understanding. And when He does, when He comes
and gives you this understanding, He delivers you from the power
of your sin nature. We're made willing in the day
of His power. And the same is true as a sanctified believer.
Paul, he said in Romans 7, as a sanctified, holy, regenerated,
justified believer, he said, O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? He said there's
only one. I thank God through Jesus Christ
my Lord. That's who keeps delivering us.
And he only does this work, and I learned this, he only does
this renewing work in our heart through the gospel of his free
and sovereign grace that gives Christ all the glory. Don't go,
when your brother or sister falls, don't go to them and whip them
with the law. All that will do is make you look like a self-righteous
papa's horses behind. You go to them in humility with
the gospel and remind them what Christ has done for them, knowing
you're no different than they are. You're a sinner just like
they are. If God marked your iniquities,
you couldn't stand. That's so of me and you, brother. We've got no reason to act self-righteous
toward one another. We're sinners, saved by grace. But remind one another. Isaiah
is what preaching is, but it's the Lord's Word. He's just telling
them what the Lord gave him to say. Listen. Sing, O heavens, be joyful,
O earth. Break forth in your singing,
O mountains. For the Lord has comforted his people, and he'll
have mercy upon his afflicted. When you're afflicted, he'll
have mercy on you. And He'll comfort you. Look over
at Isaiah 40. Where do you get this preacher
that the Lord tells me to comfort my fallen brother? Here's where
I get it. What I'm trying to do for you this morning is comfort
you by telling you this very thing that God charges me to
preach right here. And this is what He's saying
to all His people. Isaiah 40 verse 1, Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to
Jerusalem, cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned. For she hath received with the
Lord's hand double for all her sin. He says on down the page
there, here's the message to cry, tell her all flesh is grass
and all her goodliness He's like the flower that fades in the
field because the Spirit of the Lord blows on it. But also tell
her, behold your God. And then he tells us that that
God is Christ our shepherd. He says, verse 11, he shall feed
his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those
that are with young. That's the message. In the first
hour, I don't have an evangelical message where I'm trying to quote
get people saved and then another message for a believer. I got
one message. Christ is all. Behold your God
and all we are and our very best goodliness is like the grass.
Today it flourishes, tomorrow it's wilted and gone. And that's
what we are in ourselves. We got to be made a new creation
by Christ. So if a brother falls, if a sister
falls, do what I said did here by God's grace. Go to them and
keep reminding them that it was God's grace that called us out
of idolatry. And it's God's grace that's calling
us now that we still have idolatry in our nature. Declare to them,
it's Christ who redeemed us so that God remembers our old Jacob
no more before the law and he just remembers us as perfect,
holy, righteous, Israel before the law. And won't forget us. and remind them that God has
blotted out our sins and cast them away as far as the east
is from the west. And while you do that, pray to
the Lord to bless it because you can't make the word effectual
in your brethren. I'm sitting here preaching to
you. I can't make you believe this. How are they going to believe
it? Look here, verse 24, Thus saith
the Lord, thy Redeemer, he that formed thee from the womb, I
am the Lord that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens
alone, that spread abroad the earth by itself, that frustrateth
the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad, that turneth
wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolishness.
Now watch, that comforteth, or that confirmeth the word of his
servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers. I can't perform
this counsel in your heart. He's the one that does it. So
you pray to him. While you remind each other of
this gospel, then you pray to the Lord to confirm it in the
heart, and you wait on him to do it. Well, what if they don't
believe it the first time? Just keep reminding them of the
gospel and praying to the Lord and waiting on the Lord. That
trial might be for you as much as them. To teach you to speak
the truth of the gospel, pray to the Lord and trust Him and
wait on Him. You see, when God sends a trial and a brother's
fallen, it's not just for that brother that's fallen, it's for
you that hasn't fallen. And He's teaching us all the
same lesson. He said there, verse 26, he's the one that says to
Jerusalem, thou shalt be inhabited. To the cities of Judah, you shall
be built. I'll raise up the decayed places thereof. I'll say to the
deep, be dried. I'll dry up the rivers. I'll
say of Cyrus, he's my shepherd. We're going to see that Cyrus
is a picture of Christ. He'll perform all my pleasures,
saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built to the temple, thy foundation
shall be laid. You get what I'm saying. Is that
clear, Caleb? I'm trying to say, He doesn't
throw us away, He just sends the gospel to us again. That's
how He quickens us. Reminds us what we are. Keeps
us looking in. So do that for one another. Preach
the gospel that blesses your heart to your brother that's
fallen. And ask God to bless it. And wait on Him. Alright. Brother Greg.