May it please the Lord to bless
us together this evening as we consider his word. Let us turn
to the 59th chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah and we'll read the
last half of verse 19. Isaiah chapter 59, the last half
of verse 19. When the enemy shall come in
like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard
against him. Word of God has some very clear
pictures and we have here a picture of a flood and I'm sure we have
some idea what floods are like especially having seen, at least
in the press, on the news over recent years, tsunamis which
have been very powerful and have very quickly caused great devastation
and have been indeed very severe floods. And naturally speaking,
it's been impossible to resist those floods. The rising of the water and the
pressure they've developed Impossible for man to just stop and just
have to give way. Well, here the word of God tells
us that the devil, the enemy of our souls, is just like that. Without help from almighty God,
he comes upon us just like that. And therefore we should never
underestimate the strength or the ability or the skill of the
devil. We may perhaps foolishly think
that we're a match for him, that we can easily resist him, that
we can easily turn from him. But my friends, be assured of
this, the devil is very clever and he knows your weakness and
he knows my weakness. And he homes in on that very
powerfully sometimes in an endeavour to overthrow our faith, to cause
us to do, to think and say those things which are wrong and evil.
And therefore it is sometimes like this, it seems as though
a flood comes in and naturally we're not able to stop it. But
that's why we should come tonight and bless God that we have such
a word like this to encourage us that when that happens, the
Spirit of the Lord, none less than that, the Spirit of the
Lord. And my friends, nothing less
than that will do. But the Spirit of the Lord shall
lift up a standard against him. Yes, the devil will be resisted. He will be put to flight. He
cannot stand before Almighty God. And my friends, he cannot
stand when he's faced with a crucified saviour. So may we remember the
wonderful truth of God's word and be encouraged by it and come
to him in prayer and seek his face. We read together at the
beginning of this chapter encouraging words and yet words which tell
us solemnly sometimes our situation. Behold, we're told, the Lord's
hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither his ear
heavy, that it cannot hear." Well, if we stop there, we think,
well, that's amazing, and that's a wonderful word, and I go along
with that wholeheartedly. Well, I hope we do, but there
is a but next to it, which says, your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from
you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with
blood, your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken lies, your
tongue hath muttered perverseness." I wonder if we put our hand up
and say, well, I'm guilty. I have to confess that that is
true. It's not just written aimlessly,
it's written, so that the word of God may penetrate into our
hearts. So it's a bit like David when
Nathan the prophet came to him and expounded that parable of
the new lamb. And David didn't realise initially
what Nathan was getting at. But when David's anger rose against
that person who had taken that single lamb, from that person,
then what did Nathan say? He said, thou art the man. David
couldn't then claim that he was any great judge, that he was
a wonderful person. He knew it was true. Hence the
reason why he was able to write from his heart the 51st Psalm. And in that 51st Psalm, he tells
us, against thee the only have I sinned and done this evil in
thy sight?" What had occurred? The Lord had convicted him. Now, my friends, that's good,
when the Lord comes and convicts us, and it's between your soul
and God, my soul and God. It's not for everyone else to
observe, but when the Spirit of God comes upon us and convicts
us of our sin, then you see We shall be ready then to be brought
into that position that we may know what it is that the Spirit
of the Lord then shall lift up a standard against us. We shouldn't
be surprised if the enemy does come in like a flood. Because
we know that we deserve it. Or perhaps you don't know you
deserve it. Perhaps you think you're a pretty good person and
you live a pretty upright life. Well, let us remember that only
one sin is needed to condemn us to eternal hell. Just one sin. I'm sure none of
us tonight can say, well I've never sinned. Because we've sinned,
and we've sinned, and we've sinned. And I'm sure if the Spirit of
God is working in our heart, we will understand the solemn
statement here that Isaiah makes when he tells us that our prayers
aren't being answered because of our sinful condition, because
we haven't really confessed our sins. The Word of God tells us
if we confess our sins, his faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But it begins with that little
word, but it's a big word, if. Again, we can read such statements,
they sound very suitable, but we need the Spirit of God to
give us that true and right confession, so that we are really sorry for
our sins and we're not willing to carry on in a sinful way.
You see, your iniquities, my iniquities and yours, separate
between us and our God. We wonder sometimes why we're
not receiving blessings, why we're not receiving favours. Is it because there is some secret
sin which you are privy to, that you do, that is in your heart,
It's a secret. Other people may not know it.
It's a secret sin. And you don't want to give it
up. What that really means is, you don't really want to confess
your sin. You may give lip service. It's
a very sad thing, isn't it? You know, we pray, don't we?
That our sins may be forgiven. Perhaps nearly every prayer we
seek that our sins may be forgiven. But I sometimes wonder if it's
just a matter of form. Just a phrase. which just trips
off our lips, just a phrase that we think we should say. Well
of course it's right to say, and of course it's right, but
my friends, the reality is, does it come from our hearts? Is it
a true desire to confess our sins and to forsake our sins? That's the situation you see.
If we really want to confess them, we really want to forsake
them. We really want to turn away from them. Now, you and
I will need God's grace to do that. Don't think you're strong
and you can do it yourself. The devil is very powerful. My friends, you'll keep on. You'll
keep on bringing things before your eyes and your mind, as it
were. Things that you like to enjoy. And you'll find the constant
battle there is. Well, here we have this warning
then. from God. And it's good to have
a warning sometimes, isn't it, to us, because we may think,
well, I've prayed for this for many years and a long time and
I haven't got any answers. Well, we may need to examine
ourselves. Examine ourselves in the light of God's Word. Now,
I'll tell you this, God's Word is a light and that light is
very powerful and that light shines deep into our heart. Surely
this light here, which shines through these words, is very
powerful, isn't it? Let's read it again. Your iniquities
have separated between you and your God, and your sins have
hid his face from you, and he will not hear. For your hands
are defiled with blood, your fingers with iniquity, your lips
have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness, None
courted for justice, nor any pleaded for truth. They trust
in vanity and speak lies. They conceive mischief and bring
forth iniquity." Well, it's a great truth, isn't it? It's very difficult
to be honest totally. You may say, well, I don't tell
lies. I hear people say it sometimes. But I don't tell lies. Well,
I have to say they don't really know their heart. Because we
do tell lies, and we tell it in this way, as I've said sometimes
before, when we're just giving an account, a story of some incident
we've seen, instead of stating it very factually, we tend to
enlarge it a little bit, just to make it sound a bit more impressive.
So what does that mean? That means we're telling lies,
isn't it? It's a great blessing to be kept honest before God. That means not to do those things
which are to impress people. Our nature likes to impress people.
We like to be thought well of. What's the reason? The pride
of our heart. Very insidious. Very insidious. So here we have then the reasons
why our prayers are perhaps not answered. And it would be good,
therefore, if we do examine ourselves. It's always a good exercise to
examine ourselves under the searchlight that God gives us from his word. It's not our searchlight. If
you look into your heart yourself, you won't find very much bad.
But my friends, when God searches us, then we find what is really
bad. And then we're ashamed. And then
perhaps we say, Can ever God dwell here in such a heart as
mine? Now, when you and I come to that
condition, it's then you see that we realise the mercy and
the blessing of the Lord. And what's happened really is,
the Lord has allowed us to be here, the enemy coming in. into our heart like a flood and
rising up and we've seen sin after sin, which perhaps we never
realised was there. You may think, well, I believe
I'm a sinner. Yes, I hope that when the Lord
brings us to that condition of conversion, we realise that before
God we are a sinner. But as we go on in life, and
what I mean by that, in our spiritual life, the Lord then shows us
more and more of our true nature. And instead of just a few sins
that we may have seen initially, we now see more and more sins,
and they grow and they grow and they grow. And we see a great
amount of sin, which we never knew existed before. And it's
like a flood coming upon us. And we may fear that we'll be
consumed by the flood. Consumed by our sin. So great. We might feel there's no hope
for us. We're going to perish. We're
going to pass out of time without any real hope. Well, then be
encouraged by the Word of God. The Word of God which tells us
when that occurs, Not before. Not before. You see, the Lord
gives grace, the Lord gives blessing when it's needed. You won't possess
a big stock of grace that you can put out a drawful and pour
it into your heart. My friends, God gives grace when
it's needed. And we see here, it was needed.
When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the
Lord shall lift up a standard against him. Yes, and this can
also be translated as though it's going to fade away. This
great flood, now naturally a flood doesn't fade away, does it? It
gradually recedes, it takes a long time sometimes. But you see,
when the Spirit of the Lord appears, when it's the work of the Spirit
of God, then you see all things are possible. And The Lord can
make these things subside very quickly. When the enemy shall
come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard
against him. And what will produce this recession
and this flood? Well, as I hinted at the beginning,
the cross of Christ. You see there, when you and I,
my friends, are brought in humility to the cross of Christ, there
is not room then for sinful self. Because we are viewing by faith
the suffering Saviour. It was on Calvary's cross the
devil was defeated. That's why the devil hates the
cross at Calvary. It was there all those years
ago and the blessed Lord was able to offer those wonderful
words, it is finished. Yes, redemption had been completed. His blood was shed. Remission
of sins was complete. The devil was vanquished. So my friends, when we are faced with this great mountain of sin. And you see the devil will mount
it up sometimes because he wants us to despair. He wants his people
to despair if they will. But the devil usually oversteps
his mark. Yes, he presses on, as it were,
hoping to overwhelm us. But the fact is, that through
that pressure, and great pressure it is, we then, as it were, come
to our senses. We realise we have nowhere else
to go. Indeed we come and we say, Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And it's then, when the Lord
Jesus speaks into our heart, perhaps words like this, There
is therefore now no condemnation. to them who are in Christ Jesus. And you will remember that the
Apostle Paul spells out in some detail the situation which he
found himself in sometimes with the flood coming into his soul
and how difficult it was and how difficult it is still today
for the Church of God, the living Church of God. I'm sure the Church
of God is grateful that God left on record the personal experience
of the Apostle Paul, because he tells us in that seventh chapter,
for that which I do, I allow not, for what I would, that do
I not, but what I hate, that I do. Hold on a minute, is this
Paul speaking? This is the Apostle Paul speaking. He's telling us about his personal
battle, and he says then, He says, for we know that the law
is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. He knew the sinful
nature that he possessed. So he goes on to say, if then
I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that is
good, now then is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. That's where we get the expression,
in dwelling sin. And so it is. Our old nature,
you see, is indwelt with sin. And so he says, for I know that
in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is
present with me. That's his new nature. It's present
with him, to will, to do that which is good. For to will is
present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not."
Well, the gracious apostle knew the battle. My friends, if you
and I are true children of God, we all know the battle. The battle
within, between the flesh and the spirit. And it's just like
a flood, isn't it? Pouring into us. And we find
our sins that we never saw before. For the good that I would, I
do not. But the evil which I would not, that I do." Well, what confession
this is, isn't it? He says previously, he says,
but what I hate, that I do. Now he says, but the evil which
I would not, that I do. Well, so says the Apostle Paul. Now, if I do that I would not,
it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." He's
explaining then for us here the difference between our old nature
and our new nature. And he's therefore telling us
in these words, now if I do that I would not, that means his new
nature doesn't want to do it, the old nature does, it is no
more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me. The hymn writer
has it right, O thou hideous, monstrous sin! What a curse hast
thou brought in! All creation groans through thee."
And doesn't it? Do we groan? Do you groan? Do
I groan? I hope we do, because of sin. So Paul goes on, I find
in a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me.
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. You see,
here we have our new nature, that new nature, which delights
in the law of God, that righteous, perfect law of God, and our new
nature delights in that. But, he says, I see another law
in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Oh, you see, The flood comes upon us. Yes, into captivity. We seem, as it were, almost drowned
by the magnitude of sin which dwells within. And so the Apostle
says, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Now some people, they stop there. But if you are a born again child
of God, you won't stop there. You may have to come with the
Apostle Paul and say, yes, I cry out a wretched man that I am.
But Paul goes on, I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with a mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and death." And we could go on, because it's
very wonderful to understand what the Apostle Paul reasoned
when he wrote to the church at Rome. And what a blessing it
is to know that we have a record of these things to encourage
us in our life As we now journey on and we perhaps understand
something of what Isaiah was able to write when the enemy,
Satan himself, should come in like a flood yes, producing the
evidence of all those sins and tempting us to continue in that
way, then to know that the Spirit of the Lord, oh bless God, the
Holy Spirit of God, which then lifts up this banner towards
us and directs us to the Lord Jesus Christ, points us to the
Saviour, points us to the way of redemption, points us to that
direction where we know there is that place of forgiveness,
That place of healing, that place of blessing, oh, to come in and
to be brought to the cross of Christ. Now, I don't believe
that the true Church of God ever come or anybody come to the cross
of Christ unless they understand something of their sinful nature. Why should we want to have a
Saviour? What is a Saviour? Who is the
Lord Jesus Christ? What did he come for, into this
world, for this reason? To save his people from their
sins. That's why the Lord Jesus Christ
becomes precious to a born-again sinner. Because there's no hope
anywhere else. And then to be led directed to
view that great and glorious work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came into this world to save
sinners. Therefore we may be, perhaps
as it were, overcome by sin. Yes, there are those times when
sin floods in and we seem overcome, but then it is. We're not actually
overcome. We're not left destitute. Then
it is like this, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard
against him. When the enemy shall come in,
we should expect it, expect these situations, and yet expect the
time of deliverance. Because what does it indicate?
It indicates that the life of God is in our souls, because
we are having described to us, in the word of God, the life
of a Christian, the life of the Church of God. And it spells
out, as we trace out the word of God, the life of God in our
souls, so we understand why these words were written, because they
describe my condition, We read earlier in this chapter where
the Prophet said, we wait for the light, but behold obscurity,
for brightness, but we walk in darkness. Well I'm sure that's
true of all of us, those who are true born again Christians,
isn't it? We wait for the light and it
isn't bright as we expect, and it's all obscure. And then we
find ourselves walking in darkness, not in the beautiful light that
we expected. And then we grope for the wall, like the blind. We grope as if we had no eyes.
We stumble at noon days and at night. We are in desolate places
as dead men. And then we roar out like bears,
yes, as it were, in our heart. We cry out in agony. and mourns all it does. We look
for judgement but there is none for salvation, but it is far
from us. You see, the Lord, my friends,
waits to be gracious. You know, we're told, your time
is always, my time is not yet. The Lord has a perfect time. The Lord has a perfect way. And be sure of this, it won't
be your time or your way. But it will be His time and his
way. And then, when the blessing comes,
when the Lord does deliver, we will realise it wasn't me, it
was God. God did it, and therefore God
then receives all the honour and all the glory. For our transgressions
are multiplied before thee, our sins testify against us, our
transgressions are with us, And as for our iniquities, we know
them. Well, you know, it's good when
the Spirit of God shows us those things. You see, the person,
the unconverted person, he doesn't know about these things, really.
He might say, well, yes, I do sin. He doesn't know the real
influence and power of sin. He doesn't cry out, he doesn't
mourn in transgressing and lying against the Lord. Remember what
I said about David, when he confessed against thee, thee only have
I sinned. we find that we stand before God, as a guilty sinner,
before God that we've sinned. And departing away from our God,
speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from
the heart words of falsehood. And so we read on, and then we
come. And he saw that there was no
man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore
his arm brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness, it
sustained him. The great and blessed Saviour
came to this world to produce that wonderful robe of righteousness,
to cover our nakedness. He came to this world to share
his most precious blood. And just ponder for a moment,
you know, we use that term very often, that the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ is precious. Well, something which is precious
is valuable, isn't it? And something which is precious
is usually rare. And that's why it's precious. And that's why it's valuable.
Now, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is precious. And if you
and I realise our condition as a lost and ruined sinner, you
know, that blood will be very valuable. Why would it be valuable? because it pays the price which
was needed to free us from the condemnation of our sin. On the one side of a pair of
balances, as it were, on one side all we have is a pile of
sin. And how is that to be taken away? It's taken away by the precious
blood the valuable blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. My friends,
the higher the pile of sin, the greater value will the blood
be. The blood of Jesus Christ, His
Son, cleanses us from all sin. And we need all sin to be cleansed.
That's when the Spirit of the Lord lifts up the standard against
the devil. Yes, and It's the blood which cleanses. It's the
blood which washes our sins away. Every sin. There's no sin in
heaven. If you and I had any sin left,
we would not be able to enter into heaven. But tonight, think
of this great and blessed truth, that the Lord lifts up this standard
against the devil. Yes, shows to him, this banner
shows to him, his bleeding hands and side, and that head with
that crown of thorns, those pierced feet, the agony that the Saviour
passed through all to atone for us, so that we might be set free. You know, try and ponder that,
because we are born into this world, shapen in sin, We are
condemned. We're a bound hand and foot. We can't free ourselves. Sin
has bound us up. We need, we must be freed. We
must be freed. We must be separated. And it's only through the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So then, as you and I may be
As it were, overcome, the flood comes upon us. What are we to
do? Look up. Look to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Yes, I love those words in the
45th chapter of this same prophecy. Look unto me, and be ye saved,
or the ends of the earth, for I am God. and there is none else, none else that can save our souls. So,
bless God tonight if we understand something of the sinful nature
of our heart and it's set forth in this description which we
can appreciate, this term of flood, when The enemy, when the
devil, shall come in like a flood. And it tells us very clearly
here, therefore, that we should expect this. It shall come in
like a flood. Don't expect just a little bit
of sin. Don't expect just a little evidence
of sin. My friends, expect the Spirit
of God to show us more and more of our sin. So, as it were, it
floods in. The devil tries to mount it up
and makes it appear that there's no hope. And then it is, the
Spirit of God arises, yes. The Spirit of the Lord shall
lift up a stand against him. What a blessed truth it is, what
a wonderful testimony, what a wonderful experience it is when we are
right down as it were and overcome to be able to look up and see
in the Lord Jesus Christ all that is required for our salvation. All that is required to save
our souls. What was required? A sufficient sacrifice for sin. That's what was required. And
the Lord Jesus fulfilled that requirement. He gave himself. He gave himself. Just ponder
what he did. The Lord Jesus gave himself so
that you and I might be set free Yes, free from that condemnation. And we read also in the Gospel
of John, if the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall
be free indeed. Complete freedom. That means
free from sin, because the Son of God, Almighty God has done
it. He's finished the work that his
Father gave him to do. And how amazing it is to read
that when the Lord spoke those words, there was that freedom
given, there was that entry into the holy place through the shed
blood of the Saviour. Don't forget the picture we have
in the temple and the tabernacle of the high priest going into
the Holy of Holies, not without blood. And the Holy of Holies
represented heaven, And there he went into that place, not
without blood. The Saviour has entered into
glory. He has entered into heaven itself,
not without blood. He shed his precious blood. But you see, previously to that,
it was necessary that every year atonement had to be made to the
Lord Jesus Christ. He made that one atonement for
sin, that one sacrifice for sin, no more needed. It's done. It's finished. Salvation's work
is complete and you and I today can bless God for it and we can
rejoice in the great truth of salvation, the saving of the
soul. It's a glorious truth and it's
so needful. And it's so necessary that you
and I should understand the wonderful blessing of the Word of God.
When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the
Lord shall lift up a standard against him. And it goes on,
as we read together, and the Redeemer shall come to Zion. And unto him that turned from
transgressions in Jacob, saith the Lord. The Lord Jesus here
spoken of, you see, He's spoken of throughout the Word of God,
but here in this special way, and the Redeemer shall come to
Zion. Well, I wonder tonight if we
can look into our hearts and find that the Redeemer has come
to us. He's found us out. He's come
where we were. He's come to redeem our souls. My friends, you and I all need
this personal redemption. We each need to know that Christ
came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. To know that
that blessed work was done personally for you and personally for me,
so that we can then rejoice in the great work of salvation.
And when the Spirit of the Lord works in our hearts, we will
long for that blessing, long for that realisation that this
work was done for me, that I have an interest in that finished
work, and that one day by His grace and because of His amazing
love, I shall be in glory with Him forever and ever. Yes, and
leave behind all this sinful world and all this sinful flesh,
yes, to be with Christ which is far better. And to enjoy then
forever union with a lamb, from condemnation, free. Well, we
do have that by faith in this life, you see. Union with Christ,
no greater blessing. No greater blessing. Union with
Christ, you know. We can have everything in this
world without Christ and be lost. We can have nothing in this world
and have Christ and be eternally safe and eternally happy and
joy and enjoy fellowship and union with the saints in glory
forever and ever. Well, that's a great prospect,
is it not, for the Church of God. Well, may you and I be able
to understand and trace out our own spiritual life in the light
of the Word of God, not in any other light, the light of the
Word of God. The Word of God explains to us
our condition, our position, and where our hope lies. and
what the blessings of the Lord will bring to us. So we have
this statement. Let us thank God for it. When
the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord
shall lift up a standard against him. Yes, the Lord Jesus Christ
shall come. He will bless, he will save,
and when we come to die, he will receive us unto himself. Amen.