Turning again to God's Word in
the 57th chapter in the prophecy of Isaiah. I want this morning
to draw your attention to words that we find in verses 13, 14
and 15. Isaiah chapter 57 verses 13, 14 and 15. When thou cryest, let thy companies
deliver thee, but the wind shall carry them all away. Vanity shall
take them, but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess
the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain, and shall say,
Cast up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling
block out of the way of my people. For thus saith the High and lofty
one that inhabiteth eternity whose name is Holon. I dwell
in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive
the heart of the contrite ones. In particular to say something
with regards to the way in which the Lord God himself prepares
the way for his people to return to him. Particularly verse 14. Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare
the way, take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people. With regards to the context here,
the historical setting, we see how that The nation of Israel
was sunk in idolatry. We read those earlier verses
in the chapter, verse 5. Inflaming yourselves, it says,
with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in
the valleys under the cliffs of the rocks, and so forth. how
in their idolatrous ways they were even sacrificing to their
gods, their own offspring, their own children. We see time and
again in this book how God, through the Prophet, will rebuke them
for all their idolatrous ways. Go back to the language that
we find earlier, there in chapter 40, at verse 18 and the following
verses. God asks the question, to whom
then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare
unto him, the workman, male to the graven image? The goldsmith
spreadeth it over with gold and casteth silver chains. He that
is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that
will not rot. He seeketh unto him a cunning
workman to prepare a graven image that will not be moved. As a contrast is made between
their foolish idols and him who is the only living and through
God. As it says there in the following
verses, God is the one who is indeed the maker and the sustainer
of all things, and yet they forsake God. And what is their idolatry? It's likened unto a spiritual
adultery. And we see that in the language
that is employed here in this 57th chapter. Verse 7, upon a lofty and high
mountain, as thou said thy bed, even didst thou up to offer sacrifice. They were those who were supposedly
married to the Lord, Jehovah was the husband of the people,
but now they have departed and they've run after their idols
and committed the most awful spiritual adultery. Again there in the language at
the end of verse 8. Thou hast enlarged thy bed, and
made thee a covenant with them, that ye be their idols. Thou
lovest their beds where thou sawest it. And remember how it's
Hosea who is a prophet contemporary with Isaiah and it's that idea
of spiritual adultery that is so prominence in the language
that we find in that prophet in Isaiah chapter 2 and there at the second verse
plead with your mother plead for she is not my wife neither
am I her husband Let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of
her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts. Verse
4, I will not have mercy upon her children, for they be the
children of whoredoms. For their mother hath played
the harlot. She that can see them hath done shamefully. She
said, I will go after my lovers. Give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, mine oil and drink. Oh, the prophets,
you see, are so faithful in the language that they speak as they
upbraid the nation for all these idolatrous ways. Why is it that
the prophets are so direct in their language condemning these
wicked ways? Is it not simply because they
are the mouthpiece of God? It is God who is speaking through
them. It is God who is rebuking the nation. Here in verse 12
of this 57th chapter, I will declare thy righteousness and
thy works for they shall not profit them. Or they thought
that they had a religion. They thought that they had a
righteousness, but God sees things as they really are. And God speaks
so plainly and so directly. And they're brought to acknowledge
that later, remember, we're all as an unclean thing. All our
righteousness is out as filthy rags. We do all fade like a leaf,
our iniquities like the wind, they carry us away is the language
that we find subsequently here in the end of the book of chapter
64. But God, so faithful in the way
in which He speaks, how does He address them? Here at the
beginning of our chapter, verse 3, "...drawn near hither ye sons
of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer, and the whore." This is God, and this is the
way God speaks against a sinful people, a sinful nation. They
were like unto Sodom and Gomorrah. In fact, God says that they really
are Sodom and Gomorrah, right at the beginning of the book,
those striking words that we find in chapter 1. Verse 9, Except
the Lord of Hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, We should
have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
But there's not only a comparison being made there, in the very
next verse, hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom,
give ear unto the Lord of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. They're
not just like those wicked cities of the plain, but God addresses
them as if they actually are those very wicked cities of the
plain. Oh God then He speaks so plainly
and He will punish His people and He tells them straight that
that will be their lot. There in verse 13, When thou
cryest, let thy company deliver thee, but the wind shall carry
them all away. Vanity shall take them, but he
that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall
inherit my holy mountain, and shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye
up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling block out of the
way of my people." Oh, God will punish His people, yes. He will
so deal with them as to see that they will be carried away, they'll
be removed into exile. The wind shall carry them all away it
says in verse 13 or they would be carried away by the Babylonians
and there they would languish for some 70 years in exile but
God would eventually come and he would deliver them, he would
restore them and that's really what is being said at the end
of verse 13 And then into verse 14, those who put their trust
in the Lord shall yet possess the lands and inherit God's holy
mountain. They'll come again into that
promised land and God will make a way, cast you up, cast you
up, prepare the way, take the stumbling block out of the way
of my people. Now, that's something of the
historical context as it were. But of course Isaiah isn't just
speaking to Israel and to their historic situation. His prophecy
is full of gospel. It's full of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when we go back to the previous chapter there in chapter 14 and
verse 3, the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare
ye the way of the Lord, made straight in the desert a highway
for our gods. Every valley shall be exalted,
every mountain and hill shall be made low, the crooked shall
be made straight, and the rough places plain." Now, it's the
same as we have in chapter 57. It's God making a way for the
restoration of these sinful, idolatrous people after they
have been chastened for their sin. But as we know, those words
in chapter 40 have their ultimate fulfillment in the ministry of
John the Baptist. He is that voice that is crying
in the wilderness and he is preparing the way for the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ and that great work of salvation. why it is
the Lord Jesus Christ himself who is the way I am the way the
truth and the life he says no man cometh unto the father but
by me and it's it's the spiritual significance of these words that
we've read these verses here in chapter 57 it's that spiritual
significance that I really want to concentrate on this morning
here we have that way that is prepared for the people to come
to God. And in order for there to be
such a returning to the Lord God, all the stumbling blocks
have to be taken out of the way. And I want to divide what I'm
going to say into two parts, a negative and then a positive. or to say something with regards
to what we might term was a false faith and then speak of that
faith that is true faith. First of all, the negative is
this, the exposing of all false faith. Look at the words that
we have here at the beginning of verse 13. When thou cryest,
it says, when thou cryest, let thy companies deliver thee. but
the wind shall carry them all away, vanity shall take them." What are we to make of these
words? Well, the companies here is from a verb that means to
gather together. It has the idea of collecting
a great company and We can understand that in terms of a multitude
of idols. They made many idols. And what
God is saying is let the company of their idols be their deliverance. They were not only looking to
their idol gods, but they were also those who were looking to
the heathen nations round about them. they were entering into
league with these nations, into confederacies with these various
nations. Here at verse 9 we're told they
went as to the king. with ointments, and didst increase
thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst
debase thyself even unto hell." That's referring to the way in
which they would go to these various kings in the nations
round about Israel and Judah. We know for a fact that they
entered into league with Egypt, because the Prophet speaks quite
specifically of that. Chapter 31, Woe to them that
go down to Egypt for help, and stay on horses, and trust in
chariots, because they are many, and in horsemen, because they
are very strong. But they look not unto the Holy
One of Israel, neither seek the Lord. And then again, Chapter
36, verse 6, Lo, they trust us in the start of this broken reed
on Egypt, whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand and
pierce it. So is Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
to all that trust in him." Here is where they're putting their
confidence in their own ideas. They have their idols, a multitude
of idols. They can look to them. They're
in league with all these gentile nations, these unbelieving nations
round about, but they're not trusting in the Lord. And my
thoughts then went to the words that we have, and I made some
reference to them in our prayer. Those words that we find in chapter
8 at verse 12. Say ye not a confederacy to all
them to whom these people shall say a confederacy? Neither fear
ye their fear, nor be afraid. And as I thought about that particular
verse, My mind went to the political situation in our own nation.
I mean, what are our leaders saying at the moment? We need
to be in a confederation. And if we're not in a confederation,
we're going to be in a terrible situation. We're going to have
great economic decline. They try to fill us with fear,
you see. But what does the word of God, this word seems to be
so opposite. Neither fear ye their fear, it
says, nor be afraid. What a mercy it is that we can,
even in such a day as this, look to the Lord God, and pray to
the Lord God, and we desire only that the Lord will yet accomplish
His purpose. There are many devices in a man's
heart, says the wise man. Nevertheless, the counsel of
the Lord, that shall stand. We know not what God's counsel
is, but we know that God will be inquired of by His children
to do it for them. And this is what we were to do.
We're not to be like Israel of old. Our God is rebuking them,
you see, here in the words of the text this morning. When thou
cryest, let thy companies deliver them. All these confederations,
all these idols, but the wind shall carry them all away. Vanity
shall take them. There is no hope. in man or in
the strength of man. Our hope, our trust must be all
together in the Lord God himself. But how it comes to us so personally,
we're surely to be wary of any trust in self. To look to any fullness in ourselves
is but following. What does God say here in verse
12? I will declare thy righteousness
and thy works that they shall not profit thee. Our own works
are of no profit at all to us. Whatever those works might be. We go over to chapter 59 and
look at the language that we find there. In verse 6 of that
chapter, their webs shall not become garments, neither shall
they cover themselves with their works. Their works are works
of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. All our works,
even our best works, even our righteousnesses, are works of
iniquity, anything of ourselves. We're not to look in any sense
to any of our own doings. What is the language of faith?
It's looking away from self. It's looking to that blessed
object. It's looking on to the Lord Jesus, who is the author
and finisher of our faith. We're not to trust in any stock
of grace in ourselves. We're not to think, oh well,
God will hear us for how much praying. Or God will hear us
because of our repentings and because of our faith. It's not
even any truth of the Spirit. We're all together to look away
from self. We need that true faith, that
faith that is of the operation of God. And it is so different
from all natural faith and all notional faith. Oh, you know
the various verses of scripture that speak of what that true
faith is. By grace are you saved, through
faith it is. And that not of yourselves, It
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, for
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
It's those good works that follow faith. There is nothing that
is good but that that comes from faith. whatsoever is not of faith,
we're told, is sin. And we need, therefore, to be
delivered from every aspect of false faith. That faith that
we might imagine we can some way or other conjure up in our
own souls. People seem to think that it
is possible simply of themselves to believe. We cannot believe.
Or we can assent to the truth of God's words intellectually.
That's a natural faith. And many might have that sort
of a faith. They recognize that God is. But that's not saving
faith. Saving faith surely is born of
a complete and utter denial of self. Remember the language of
Moses there in Psalm 90. He says, To God thou turnest
man to destruction. and sayest return ye children
of men no confidence at all in self but all our trust, all our
confidence placed only in the Lord God and how the Lord deals
with His people He will bring them to the end of themselves
before ever He will bring them unto Himself and Job knew it
oh Job learn that lesson in all the mystery of God's dealings
with that man. What does he say there in chapter
12? He shutteth up a man and there can be no opening. Or when
God shuts up the man to what he is, makes him to feel all
his impotence, all his weakness. Before faith came, Paul says,
we were shut up under the law. before faith came we have to
be shut up to what we are condemned by the Lord of God and then delivered
only by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ himself and what
must a man do? he must be brought to this he
must be brought to see and to feel his own folly again we have
it here in this 13th verse the wind shall carry them all away
This is all their works, you see. God's declaring what their
righteousness, what their works are. They are of no profit. When
thou cryest, let thy companies deliver thee, but the wind shall
carry them all away. Vanity shall take them. All we have to see are our own
foolishness. The vanity. the futility of any
reliance upon self. That a man as a sinner is so
feeble and so frail. The language of God's Word is
so telling at times. Look at what we read previously
in the Psalms. There in Psalm 78 and the 39th
verse. A striking description of man. He remembered, that is God remembered,
that they were but flesh. A wind that passeth away and
cometh not again. Oh, what a description of man.
A wind that passeth away. It reminds us, does it not, of
the language that we find in the New Testament, in that epistle
of James. What is your life? It is even
a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanishes away. Or what is man that thou art
mindful of him? Or the son of man that thou visitest
him? the question that is put again
in the book of Psalms. But we have it here. We have
it in the ministry of John the Baptist, that 40th chapter that
we've already referred to. The voice crying in the wilderness,
the voice said, cry. And he said, what shall I cry?
All flesh is grass, all the goodness thereof is as the flower of the
field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth. Because the Spirit
of the Lord bloweth upon it, surely the people is grass. The
grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the Word of our God shall
stand forever. For it is God's Word that endures. Although men reject the Word
of God, although men despise the commandments of God and disobey
those commandments, Although men have no ears to hear the
good news, the glad tidings of that salvation that is only in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Every stumbling block you see
must be taken out of the Word. Man must be delivered from any
idea of anything in himself, no fullness himself. He must
be brought to recognize his own foolishness. That's what we have here in the
14th verse. cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take
up the stumbling block out of the way of my people." All these
things must be removed. There's that negative aspect.
We have to be brought to see that in us that is in our flesh
there dwelleth no good thing. It's nothing of self. We have
to be brought to that though I be nothing. But then as we
see that false religion being exposed to what it is. That negative
aspect. Then we can come to that that
is really the positive, the establishing of that faith that is true and
real. What does God say at the end
of verse 13? He that putteth his trust in
me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain. And shall say, Cast ye up, cast
ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling block out of
the way of my people. And all in order that they might
be brought to that that is spoken of in verse 15. That they might
come to God, that God might come to them and dwell there in their
hearts. This is where God dwells, in
the high and holy place with Him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit. to revive the spirit of the humble
and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. We sang just now
there in that metrical psalm concerning that way that leads
to a city. them also in a way to walk that
right is heeded guide that they might to a city go wherein they
might abide." Or that is that city of God. It's God bringing
his people onto himself. And so, in the second place,
to say something with regards to the establishing of that faith
that is real faith, true faith. And it is that faith that is
associated with trust, as we see in verse 13. He that put
it is trust in me. That to turn from all their multitude
of idols, to turn from all the confederations of nations round
about them, they're not to look to anything of man, they are
simply to look and to look only to the Lord God himself. Now,
I just said something with regards to the folly of that false faith. But there is a foolishness that
is also associated with true faith. There is a foolishness associated
with true faith. There are different foolishnesses. But what do we read here in verse
14? This casting up, cast ye up,
cast ye up, prepare the way. What is this way? Well, Isaiah
has much to say with regards to the way. And there's words
that we find previously in chapter 35. Verse 8, and highway shall be
there, and a way. and it shall be called the way
of holiness the unclean shall not pass over it but it shall
be for those the wayfaring men though fools shall not go therein
no lion shall be there nor any ravenous bee shall go up thereon
it shall not be found there but the redeemed shall walk there
now it's the same way that is being spoken of in chapter 57
as we read up there in chapter 35 It's that way wherein the redeemed
are walking. And who are the redeemed? By
their wayfaring men, it says, though fools. Though fools. As I said, there is a folly that
is sinful, a folly, a foolishness that we might say is is associated
with false faith. The Lord Jesus himself of course
speaks of the significance of the word fool in the course of
his preaching in the Sermon on the Mount. The Lord expounds
the real spirituality of the Lord of God and remember how
he speaks in reference to the sixth commandment. They shall
not kill You have heard that it was said by them of old time,
Thou shalt not kill, whosoever shall kill shall be in danger
of the judgment. But I say unto you that whosoever
is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of
the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his
brother, Raka, or vain fellow, shall be in danger of the counsel.
But whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell
fire. Oh, here is a word, fool. Literally it means stupid. Now,
we know in the Old Testament again, there in the Psalms, Psalm
14, Psalm 53, the fool hath said. The fool hath said in his heart,
there is no God. And now the words of those Psalms
are then taken up by Paul in Romans chapter 3 at verse 10
following. Obviously these are significant
words spoken by the Psalmist concerning the foolish man. Now that's the fool that we're
to think of with regards to any false faith. But what we have
in that verse that we just referred to, in chapter 35, is not that
sort of father. The words are quite different.
Remember that one, that redeemed person, who is walking in that
gospel way of holiness, he says, "...the wayfaring men, though
fools, shall not err therein." What is this foolishness then
that is associated with true faith? Well, it's those who are
fools, not that they're stupid, but they're the people who are
brought to feel something of their own ignorance. They know the truth concerning
themselves. They're brought to despair of
self. They have to turn away from anything
of themselves. There's no fullness that they
can draw of in self. And again, the Apostle speaks
of those that the Lord is pleased to call to himself. You know
the language that we have in the opening chapter of that first
epistle of Paul to the church at Corinth. Ye see your calling,
brethren, that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world, to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world, to confound the things which
are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are
despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to
bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in
his presence." It's these fools. It's these fools that God has
chosen. who recognize that they have no wisdom in themselves
nothing of themselves and again think of the words of the Lord
Jesus after his resurrection when he meets those two on the
road to Emmaus and he begins to walk with them and to talk
with them and as he discourses how they have to recognize subsequently
their hearts are burning within them and yet he speaks in a sense
hard words, oh fools he says oh fools and slow of heart to
believe all that is written in the scriptures it's that language you see that
belongs to those who have something of true faith, real faith or
do we feel at times our foolishness so slow of heart to believe the
things that are written and we feel that we are bedeviled by
sin and that sin which so easily besets us, that accursed sin,
that unbelief we can't believe God's word because of the folly
that is yet within us and yet these are things I say that are
associated with that real faith, that saving faith Again, look
at that chapter, that 35th chapter. Such a short chapter and yet
so much good in it. Strengthen ye the weak hands,
it says. Confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that out of a fearful
heart be strong. Fear not, behold your God will
come with vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come
and save you. All these are those, you see,
who are in that way, their knees are feeble, their hands are weak. What does it say concerning those
who walk in that way? Again we have a negative in verse
9. No lion, no lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast
shall go up thereon. It shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there. Who are These liken to lions
and ravenous beasts. Are we not to think of those
proud, bold, fearless creatures? It's not for them, you see. Not
for those who have any confidence in themselves. It's rather a
way for those who are sheep, weak, foolish creatures, silly
sheep. the Lord says my sheep hear my
voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them
eternal life and they shall never perish and they're not only likened
to sheep in a sense do we not see them there in the book of
Proverbs compared to the Cones those rabbit like creatures the
Cones it says are but a feeble folk but make their houses in
the rocks Oh, I'll be those friends who are like these sort of creatures. Oh, this is a people that must
have the way prepared for them. They cannot prepare it for themselves.
The Lord must do everything. Cast you up, cast you up, prepare
the way, take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people. Everything must be done for them.
There are people who are marked by that grace of humility. How they have to humble themselves.
And they are brought to that as the Lord deals with them.
By His strange contrary ways, His chastenings, His correctings.
But the Lord will indeed bring them even to Himself. He will
come and dwell in their hearts. Look at what we read in this
15th verse. Thus saith the hive and lofty
one that inhabiteth eternity whose name is holy I dwell in
the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive
the hearts of the contrite ones. Oh God is mindful of them God
ministers to them so different to those that have been spoken
of previously where God speaks so plainly and pointedly I will
declare thy righteousness and thy works he says that they shall
not profit but no he is a different character altogether that is
that one who has a true living faith in the Lord God himself
it's those who put their trust in him He that putteth his trust
in me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain. Oh the Lord grant that we might
be those then who know what this true faith is, this real faith.
To be delivered from any trust in self or any trust in man but
simply to rest all our hope and all our confidence. only in the
Lord God Himself. Well, the Lord willing, I want
this evening to say something more particularly with regards
to those words that we find in the 15th verse concerning the
dwelling place of the High and Lofty One. Will the Lord be pleased
to bless these things to us today? Amen.