Good evening, everyone. Let's
begin our service by standing and singing 328, close to the
328. ? You're my everlasting portion
? ? More than friend or life to me ? ? All along my pilgrim
journey ? ? Savior, let me walk with thee ? ? Close to thee,
close to thee ? ? Close to thee, close to thee ? Now along my
pilgrim journey, Savior, let me walk with Thee. Not for ease or worldly pleasure
Nor for fame my prayer shall be Gladly will I toil and suffer
Only let me walk with Thee Close to Thee, close to Thee Close
to Thee, close to Thee Gladly will I toil and suffer, only
let me walk with thee. ? Lead me through the vale of shadows
? ? Fair me your life's fitful sea ? ? Then the gain of life
eternal ? ? May I enter, Lord, with thee ? ? Close to thee,
close to thee ? ? Close to thee, close to thee ? And the gate
of life eternal may I enter, Lord, with Thee. Good evening. In my reading tonight, I'm gonna
read our text, but also a little bit beyond that. So it's in Isaiah
59. In Isaiah 59, our text is verses
nine through 15, but we're gonna read to the end of the chapter.
Actually, I'm gonna read verses one and two, and then we'll pick
up in verse nine. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened,
that it cannot save, neither is ear heavy, that it cannot
hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your
God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not
hear. Verse 9 Therefore is judgment
far from us, neither doth justice overtake us. We wait for light,
but behold obscurity, for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope
for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no
eyes. We stumble at noonday as in the
night. We are in desolate places as
dead men. We roar all like bears and mourn
sore like doves. We look for judgment, but there
is none. For salvation, but it is far
off from us. For our transgressions are multiplied
before thee, and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions
are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them. In transgressing
and lying against the Lord and departing away from our God,
speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from
the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward,
and justice standeth afar off. For truth is fallen in the street,
and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth, and he that
departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And the Lord saw it,
and it displeased him that there was no judgment. 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. For he put on righteousness as
a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head. And
he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with
zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly
he will repay. Fury to his adversaries, recompense
to his enemies, to the islands he will repay recompense. So
shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory
from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in
like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard
against him. And the Redeemer shall come to
Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob,
saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant
with them, saith the Lord. My spirit that is upon thee,
and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart
out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out
of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth
and forever. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord, we thank you
for your grace and mercy that you show to us here tonight who
are sinners and have no righteousness of our own, no works to boast
of, nothing to glory in of this flesh. But Lord, we thank you
for your awakening of grace, of your mercy and kindness to
us, which you show to us for Christ's sake. And Lord, we thank
you that you don't leave us to ourselves, but that you separate
us from the works of the flesh, and you make us to know wisdom
and the fear of the Lord, to know that there is salvation
in none, nothing we do, not in ourselves, and no one save the
Lord Jesus Christ. And you make him glorious to
us. Thank you, Lord. Father, we thank you for this
night. We thank you for gathering together
your sheep here and those who would watch online. to hear your
gospel, to be fed with your heavenly food, the bread of heaven. Lord,
thank you for our savior, for our salvation. Lord, we pray
for those who are sick and wounded, those not well. We pray that
you would heal them. that you would comfort your people
who mourn and are fearful and afraid. And Lord, that you would
continue to do a work here, that you would pour out your spirit
and bless your people, that you would call out those that sit
in darkness and bring them into the light of your son, Jesus
Christ, that you would make your people to know he that is the
salvation of our God, that all your people, Lord, would be brought
under the blood of Christ. Lord, we pray that you would
be with us in this service, Lord, that you would pour out your
spirit, lift our hearts, cause us to rejoice in you. It's in
Christ's name we pray and give thanks. Amen. Our second hymn is 445. There
is not a friend like the lowly Jesus. 445. Also, No Not One is the same
title. There's not a friend like the
lowly Jesus. No, not one. No, not one. None else could
heal all our soul's diseases. No, not one. No, not one. Jesus knows all about our struggles. He will guide till the day is
done. There's not a friend like the
lowly Jesus. No, not one. No, not one. No friend like Him is so high
and holy. No, not one, no, not one. And yet no friend is so meek
and lowly. No, not one, no, not one. Jesus knows all about our struggles. He will guide till the day is
done. There's not a friend like the
lowly Jesus, no, not one, no, not one. There's not an hour
that he is not near us, no, not one. one no not one no night
so dark but his love can cheer us no not one no not one jesus
knows all about our struggles he will guide till the day is
done there's not a friend like the lowly jesus no not one no
not one Did ever saint find his friend forsake him? No, not one,
no, not one. Or sinner find that he would
not take him? No, not one, no, not one. Jesus knows all about our struggles. He will guide till the day is
done. There's not a friend like the
lowly Jesus. No, not one. No, not one. Let's just sing that last one
acapella. No, not one. Will he refuse us
a home in heaven? No, not one. No, not one. Jesus knows all about our struggles. He will guide till the day is
done. There's not a friend like the
lowly Jesus. No not one. Thank you. Thanks for putting
up with that. We'll get that fixed. Good evening. Okay, our text is in Isaiah chapter
59, and we're going to be looking at verses 9 through 15. Now,
in the first eight verses, our Lord was showing his people their
sin. He was exposing their vain religious
hopes that cannot save. He said in verse 5 that they
hatch cockatrice's eggs, and he that eateth of their eggs
dieth. That's because man's works, they're
not nourishing, they're not nutritious, salvation, spiritually speaking,
they're poison. They're poison. And those who
trust in them and feed upon them for their standing with God,
they're going to die. They've already died, they're
already condemned. And then he speaks of the web
of lies that we make as a garment for ourselves to cover our nakedness,
to make a robe of righteousness for ourselves. And our Lord calls
them spider's webs, saying their webs shall not become garments,
neither shall they cover themselves with their works. Their works
are works of iniquity. And so the Lord exposes the dead
works of His people to show us our need of Christ, to show us
that we need a Savior. We're not our own Savior. We
don't make ourselves accepted with God. We need the salvation
that He has provided. Well in the verses tonight, verses
9 through 15, the Lord here exposes, he continues to show the false
ways that his people trusted him. And he shows us this is
what he separates his people from. in the awakening of His
grace in them, what He works in them. He shows them their
undone-ness. He shows them that everything
we've done has come to nothing. It's only brought us darkness. There's no peace, and there's
no rest, and there's no light in it. And so, by the grace of
our God, working His wonderful works, He separates His people
from these hateful things. He separates us from the vain
dead works of this flesh, that we may rest in the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. So I've titled this message,
The Awakening of Grace, or we're awakened by His grace. We just
call it The Awakening of Grace here. So the Lord makes a strong
indictment against his people in these verses. These people
have come to realize they're in great, great trouble. And these words, they describe
the false ways of all people. Everybody's in darkness. We all
come forth in Adam in complete and utter darkness. However,
most people just go on living their lives. careless of these
things. They don't take any notice of
the darkness that they're in. They don't care whether their
religious works are foolishness or silly or do nothing at all. They don't care. They're happy
to live in them till the day that they die. Every knee shall
bow to the Lord and every tongue shall confess to God. Everyone's going to know that
Jesus Christ is Lord. And for many, that's going to
come when they stand before God in judgment. But in this passage,
as you read it, in this passage, there's someone who takes notice
of it now. They hear now, in the day of
God's grace. They hear the charges that are
laid against them and they're made to confess their sin. They bear an honest testimony
about themselves. and sinners left to themselves,
they don't, not before God. They don't come to a knowledge
of just how wasteful, how vain their works are. Now we don't
often know the intimate details of what the Spirit of God does
when He brings understanding into a heart. It's through the
preaching of the Gospel that we hear our Savior, that we hear
our need of Him and find our need of Him. But while we don't
know exactly when, it could be later on as they're driving home,
it could be when they're laying in their bed, it could be when
they're reading something else or back under the sound of the
gospel at another time, but there is a beginning of life for every
one of God's people. There's a beginning of spiritual
life when they're awakened by His grace. Proverbs 9.10 says,
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge
of the holy is understanding. And so this passage here shows
us that awakening of grace in the hearts and minds of His people
who become troubled. They become troubled. Look at
what they say in verse 9. Therefore is judgment far from
us. Neither doth justice overtake
us. We wait for light, but behold
obscurity. For brightness, but we walk in
darkness. And so when you read these verse,
you realize someone's taking notice. Someone's heard what
the Lord has said, and they realize I'm the problem. I'm the problem. They heard when the Lord said
back in verse two, Look at Isaiah 59, your iniquities have separated
between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from
you that he will not hear. And so someone was listening
and someone only listens when the Lord gives them an ear to
hear. They only realize they're in
darkness when suddenly they have some sight, some light given
them to know that they are in darkness. They only know that
they're dead when the Lord has given them life to know that
they're dead. They only hear when He's given
them an ear. And they only receive the things that the Lord has
said when he's given them a heart to receive it. And so they hear
and they take it to heart. They know that their ways, their
ways according to this flesh are corrupt. They're not pleasing
to the Lord. And it's because the Lord will
be gracious to them. He's making them to see their
need of him. Our Lord says over in Isaiah
54, you can turn there if you want, Isaiah 54 verses 16 and
17. We see here in our text that
there's a people that are brought into trouble and he says over
here in Isaiah 54, 16, Behold, I have created the blacksmith
that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth
an instrument for his work, and I have created the waster to
destroy. No weapon that is formed against
thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against
thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants
of the Lord, and their righteousness, their righteousness is of me,
saith the Lord." And so that soul which is awakened by the
grace of God, They'll come into fear. They'll come into dread. They'll come into being troubled
by the Lord and being troubled by the things which they are
hearing. But it's for the purpose of good.
It's for their good. And that good is recognized when
it drives a fearful sinner into the arms of Christ. Some can
be made afraid, but they can just go back to their couch and
just sit and watch TV, and their troubles just fade away, or they
could just go to whatever it is that makes them happy. But
that one who's awakened by grace cannot escape the Lord. They cannot escape what the Lord
is speaking to their heart and how he's stirring and troubling
their heart. And they won't be still, and
they won't be satisfied until they are plunged into that healing
fountain of blood, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ whom
God has provided to quiet the screaming conscience, to make
still the troubled heart. It's all in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So we're going to go through each of these verses, beginning
in verse 9. Let's read 9 again. Therefore is judgment far from
us. Neither doth justice overtake
us. We wait for light, but behold
obscurity. Or behold, there's just a very
faint, basically imperceptible light. That's all we're getting.
We look for brightness, but we walk in darkness. So the natural man, when he does
his works and makes sacrifices, especially in religion, when
he does that which he thinks he's supposed to do and he's
consistent in it and he's doing what others tell him is the right
thing to do, he expects good to come his way. And he expects
some recognition and reward for his goodness and his wisdom.
But the best thing that can come upon a sinner who doesn't know
the Lord is for there to be no relief, for there to be no reward,
for them to look and wonder, what's going on? Why am I still
troubled? Why is this not working? Why
is it that what I do, it seems that God doesn't hear and God
isn't taking any notice of my efforts and my works. So the
best thing that could happen is that they find no hope. and
no satisfaction in themselves, and find no reason to trust in
the things that they are doing for the Lord. Because for all
their efforts, the wrongs that they experience, they're never
set right. Nothing that they try to do and
fix is never set right. There's no judgment. There's
no justice that overtakes them. Good never seems to catch up
to them. And we've experienced that where
things just never ever go our way. We just seem to miss always. We just miss out all the time,
but it's for our good. It's for our good. It makes us
to know our need of the Lord and keeps us ever leaning on
him and depending upon him. They say we wait for light, but
behold obscurity for brightness, but we walk in darkness. The Lord has mercy on His people
not because they bring themselves light. He brings light to those
who have no light. He brings grace and mercy to
those who don't deserve grace and mercy. He's not looking to
us to brighten our darkness. There are others that are just
constantly pep talking the people and just telling them to put
a smile on and turn that frown upside down and put a smile on
your face. And it sounds good and maybe
it cheers you for a few moments until you leave their presence,
but it never satisfies. And that's good for those who
have no knowledge of the Lord, who have no understanding of
His grace and peace which He's provided in His Son. And so the
Lord humbles His people. He brings them low that He may
lift them up. He darkens our eyes that He may
be our light. He makes us to walk in darkness
and to know our need, to struggle and to see that we need His light,
His grace, His mercy, that whatever we're doing for ourselves isn't
sufficient, isn't bringing us any relief, that we may seek
Him to know, Lord. What is it, Lord? What would
you have me to know? And he shows us it's not what,
it's who. It's who, this is my son, and
whom I'm well pleased. Look to him, trust him, believe
on him. And so the purpose of our darkness
is to bring us to the end of ourselves, to bring us to call
upon our God for help. It's for God to show us Him who
is the light of the world. To see that we were striving
and struggling and trying to be that light, and trying to
get in good favor with the Lord. And the Lord shows us that what
we were doing was not pleasing to Him. And it wasn't salvation. It wasn't life. And it wasn't
light. And that's why He broke us of those vain ways and that
darkness that we walked in. He makes us to know we've been
walking in darkness all this time. We just didn't even know
it. And so He makes us to see, He brings us to see Him who is
the light of the world. Look at His word to the desperate
sinner who's made a recipient of His grace in Isaiah chapter
50. Look at Isaiah 50, and let's look at verses 10 and 11, and
listen to this description in relation to what we're seeing,
where this soul here in our text is calling out, saying, I'm walking
in darkness. I have no light. I'm struggling
here, Lord. I think I'm doing good, but why
aren't you noticing me? Well, verse 10. Isaiah 50.10
Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice
of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light?
Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God. The name of the Lord that your
God has given to you is Jesus Christ. Stay upon Christ. Look to Christ. All who call
upon Him shall be saved. Those who trust in Him and hope
in Him shall receive forgiveness of sins. Now, contrary to that
object of his grace, he says to the proud and arrogant one
who's confident in their religious works and what they're doing,
he says, behold all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves
about with sparks. Walk in the light of your fire
and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of
mine hand. Ye shall lie down in sorrow. And so that one who's left to
himself has light. It's a false light. It's a light
by which they're warmed, and they're comforted, and they think
things are good. But that one who's brought to
darkness, the one who's brought to know, I have no light. I am in darkness. Lord, I need
you. I need your mercy and your grace. Save me, Lord. Have mercy upon
me. That one receives comfort of
the Lord. He says, you trust me. That one receives comfort of
the Lord, but that one who's happy in their ways, happy in
their religion, happy looking to the law, happy in what they
do and bring to the Lord. He says, you go on in it in your
life, but you're going to lie down in sorrow. You're going
to die in your sins, as Christ said. Next he says in verse 10,
or this is the sinner. So back in Isaiah 59 10, this
is the awakened sinner. They cry out, we grope for the
wall like the blind. We grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble at noonday as in the
night. We are in desolate places as
dead men. So the cry of this poor sinner
is the realization, I'm blind. I'm blind. I can't see. I'm just
stumbling about. I don't know what I'm doing. Now, look back in Deuteronomy.
This harkens back to the curses of the law. Deuteronomy 28. Deuteronomy
28, and first we're going to look at verse 15. And here, Moses is recounting
to the children of Israel this law which they have submitted
their neck under. They've put their neck under
this yoke of the law, boasting that they'll do it. They're going
to do all that the Lord has said to do. And Moses says, but it
shall come to pass if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of
the Lord thy God to observe to do all his commandments." We've
been seeing how men like to separate and divide out which portions
of the law are still applicable to believers this day. He says
you need to observe all the commandments of the law and his statutes which
I command thee this day that all these curses shall come upon
thee and overtake thee. Now look down at verse 29 Deuteronomy
28 29 And thou shalt grope at noonday,
as the blind gropeth in darkness. And thou shalt not prosper in
thy ways. And thou shalt be only oppressed
and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee. You see, that soul that looks
to the law for their righteousness, They come under the curses and
condemnation of the law because the law demands perfect obedience. Perfect obedience. God isn't
winking and saying, well, you did your best. You did your best. Good enough. Good enough. No,
the law demands perfect obedience. And that one who will live by
the law and gain his acceptance with God by the law, he brings
himself under the curses of the law if he does not keep all the
commandments perfectly. And we don't keep the perfection
of the law. We don't keep the commandments
of the law. perfectly. And so that man who's trusting
in the law, when we come to the Lord and we profess Jesus, but
we're looking at the law and thinking, this is how I'm to
live now, and I got to do my best now by the law. we now have
brought ourselves under the curses and condemnation of the law.
We're not trusting and resting in the blood of Christ. And so that one who trusts in
the law, if he's the Lord, if he's Christ, he's gonna find
that the law is no shelter. He's going to hear the thundering
sound, the rumbling and the shaking of his house. He'll hear the
crashing of the lightning about him and everything will shake
and fall apart and he'll find this is no refuge for me. This
is no salvation. This is not salvation, the salvation
of God. I'm undone. I'm a guilty, vile
sinner before God. And the Lord does that. He lets
us know that to drive us from that hope in the law, which we
cannot keep because of the weakness of this flesh, and to drive us
to Christ. As our Lord said, if ye believe
not that I am he, I am the Christ, I am the Savior whom the Father
has sent to save my people. If you believe not that I am
he, ye shall die in your sins. even if you're living pretty
good under the law. Because the law demands perfection
and we can't give the law what it demands because of the weakness
of this flesh. We are sinners who come short
of the glory of God. This flesh is weak and it's vile. And so the sinner in our text
is made to know, I'm blind. And they're groping about with
no relief, they stumble, they're brought to desolation. But he's
been given a sight, if you will, to know his terrible undone condition
before the Lord. And he's not finding relief in
his religion. He's not finding relief in the
law. That's why he said those words,
because he was looking to the law. And so for this cause, For
the sinner's relief, God the Father sent his son into the
world, taking upon him the likeness of the weakness of this flesh,
yet without sin. And he faithfully fulfilled all
the demands, all the requirements, all the justice of the law, and
loving his God with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength, and
his neighbor as himself. and having fulfilled that law
perfectly, being the fit sacrifice, the spotless Lamb of God, He
went to that cross as our substitute, as the substitute of His chosen
people who cannot save themselves, though they were loved of God
from all eternity. We couldn't save ourselves and
God could not forgive us justly, except that His Son die in our
room instead, in our place, sacrificing Himself, shedding His blood for
the remission, the forgiveness of our sins, that God may be
just to forgive you. who now hope and believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ for all your righteousness. All who trust
him shall find the Father welcoming, a friend, one who forgives them
and receives them into their kingdom. So you won't find relief
by the law. Not if God is gracious to you,
you won't. You'll find relief only in the
Lord Jesus Christ. You see what I'm saying? You
won't find that relief under the law. God won't let it. If
he loves you, if you're his, if he chose you and gave you
to Christ, you won't find relief in dead religion. You'll keep
being troubled until you find yourself in the arms of Christ,
all by his grace and mercy. And so our Lord said in John
9 39, for judgment, I am coming to this world that they which
see not might see. you that are stumbling about
in darkness, that you would see the light of this world, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the light of God, the lamb of God, whom
he sent to save his people, and that they would see those who
are so confident and cocky and boastful in their religion, that
they might be made blind, just kept shut up in darkness until
they die and stand before holy God in the day of judgment. Next
we see the sinner who's awakened by God is brought to mourn their
sin and they'll look for salvation. Look at verse 11, Isaiah 59 11. We roar all like bears and mourn
sore like doves. We look for judgment but there
is none for salvation but it is far off from us. Now I had
to do a little looking this up because I'm not a bear expert,
but apparently, I mean, there are people that study bears and
know them, and bears don't really, they don't typically roar. That's
not one of their things. They make clicks and chomp their
teeth and do little sounds and stuff, but they do roar, and
it's called, they call it a human vocalization, which is they roar,
they make a sound like a way a human might roar, When they
are brought into extreme emotion, when they're stressed and made
afraid or experiencing a very traumatic loss, that's when they
begin to roar. It's from an intense emotion. They're in pain. They're in sorrow.
They're afraid. And that's when they begin to
roar. And then this morning dove, I always thought they were morning
doves, like the beginning of the day dove. But the morning
dove, it's because their coo has a mournful sound. And there's
tons of them around us. You probably have some in your
yards. They're the brownish gray ones with the little black dots.
And they're always a pair, because they stay together for the season,
usually. And they have that sound. It's like, coo, coo, coo, coo. that and it's kind of a mournful
kind of a mournful sound and so the child of God mourns because
they're looking for relief from their pain and from their sorrow
they're they're brought into great straits because they find
no relief in what they do and they're trying they're sincere
they're just sincerely wrong and in their religion and they
want to do what's right. The Lord has given that to them,
but he doesn't leave them there so that they see Everything I
was doing just isn't finding me any relief with God, no lasting
comfort, no peaceful rest. And that's where we'll remain
until the Lord brings us into the arms to rest on the bosom
of our Savior who loved us and gave himself for us and who is
revealing himself to us. for the purpose that you would
know Him who is the truth, Him who is the way, and Him who is
our life. And so our Lord does that. And
so our sovereign Lord, He knows exactly what's best for each
of you, His children. And that distressing time that
we go through, And for some, it's a lot of distressing times
that we go through. It's never, it's not for our
punishment. And God is in, he's not just
giving us little digs to get us back because we weren't cooperating
with him earlier. The Lord doesn't do that. It's
always for our good. It's always for our care. It's
always to bring us to know that the end purpose is to know the
Son. And so it's useful, our distresses,
our perplexities, they're useful in bringing us to see that our
worldly comforts, that's not it, that's not what the Lord
has determined to give us. He's given us the Son, and he's
given us life in the Son, and an inheritance in the Son. And so when distressing time,
when that distressing time has served its purpose, the Lord
then reveals the good news. He makes us to hear that good
news. We may have been sitting under the good news the whole
time. But in the day of His grace, when He's purposed to relieve
you of your great stress and distress, He enables you to hear
that the word of His good news in the Lord Jesus Christ, to
know that I'm His, and He is mine. And He's purposed all these
things because He loves me. And He's determined to help me,
and to bring me to a comfortable end in Christ. Though all things
around me may fall apart, we have an inheritance and a comfort
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's a great, great comfort
to his people. So take comfort, as Jeremiah
said in Lamentations 3, 31 and 32, for the Lord will not cast
off forever. But though we cause grief, Yet
will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. And so, our Lord Jesus Christ,
He is the multitude of God's mercies. All spiritual blessings
are given to us in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. It's all given to us through
the Son. It's all purposed of God to bless
us in the Son. Nothing good, nothing at all
comes to us outside of the Son. All things are given to you.
through the Son, to the glory, praise, and honor of His glorious
name." And so the Lord gives that to His people. It's said
that the mourning dove actually isn't sad at all when it's making
that coup. They do that when they're preparing
their nest oftentimes, when they're getting ready to make a nest.
And I think there's a picture in there that when we sound mournful,
when it sounds most mournful and looks most horrible and sad,
the Lord is ready to bless you. The Lord is preparing to bless
you and to bring you into the end of that purpose for which
He's brought that distressing time upon you. As our Lord said
in Matthew 5, for blessed are they that mourn, for they shall
be comforted. It's His promise to you. Trust
Him. Trust Him. Believe Him. Lord, You say, You
say that You comfort those who mourn. Lord, please, please bring
Your comfort to me now. Please wrap your arms around
me and comfort me. Keep me, Lord. He knows. Next
we see in verse 12 how the Lord makes his children to know their
sin. They say, for our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and
our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with
us, and as for our iniquities, we know them. We know them. And so it's good for us to be
brought to know that we are sinners before holy and perfect God. It's good for us to know that,
no, we can't make an accounting for our sins. There are too many
to number. Even if there was something that we could do about
them, there's just far too many, and we can't do anything. to
relieve ourselves, to relieve the debt that we've accrued for
our sins. And so the purpose isn't to sink
us to hell. It's to show us that we need
the salvation of God. We need the salvation of his
son. We need him whom God has provided
for this very purpose. I cannot do what God has done. I cannot outdo what the son has
provided. the richness of his blessings,
of his forgiveness with the Father. The guilty sinner's plea to God
when taught by the Spirit is as David prayed in Psalm 51,
verses 10 through 12, when he cried, create in me, Lord, a
clean heart. O God, renew a right spirit within
me. Cast me not away from thy presence,
and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the
joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit, or thy
ready and willing spirit, because the Father is ready to forgive
you. The Father is ready to pour out
his blessings upon you, and he's willing. And so that prayer is
only wrought in the one who knows themselves, that in themselves
there is nothing good. and that in God alone is salvation.
And they know that, they learn that God is merciful to the needy
sinner. Now through our Lord's chastening
of the sinner to make us see our need of the Lord's salvation,
he also strips us and removes the vain, foolish thoughts and
words and thoughts that we had about God and about religion
and how the Lord saves his people so that we cease to trust them,
we cease to speak of them, we stop trusting in them. He says
in verse 13, in transgressing and lying against the Lord and
departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And so we're brought to see all
my hopes were vain refuges. All my hopes were vanity. They
didn't save me. You know, by nature, we trust
lies. We trust in that which is false. We think we see the light. We
think we see salvation. That's why so many go after false
Christs and false saviors and false hopes. Because by nature,
we love the darkness. We love that which is a lie and
is false. Look over at Isaiah 28. Go to
Isaiah 28, verses 15 and 16. Isaiah writes, Because ye have said we have
made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement,
when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall
not come unto us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under
falsehood have we hid ourselves. darkness. They don't say those
words. They don't use the words lies
and falsehood. What God is saying is everything
that man trusts in, everything he turns to, is a lie and a falsehood
that is not Christ. You just fill in X and Y. You just put whatever it is that
you're hoping in, and the Lord's saying to you, you're hoping
in that which is a lie and a falsehood. You can say whatever it is, and
it says, we've trusted this. This is gonna save us. And he
says, it's a lie. It's falsehood. You might as
well just call it what it is. And so, because of that, our
Lord says in verse 16 there, Isaiah 28, 16, Therefore, thus
saith the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation of stone,
a tried stone. He's proven, he's come through
the fire, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth
him shall not make haste. And so, our God removes from
his people those lies and falsehoods that we trusted in, and he lays
for us the foundation and places us upon the foundation, which
is Christ. And Peter said it this way, 1
Peter 2, 6, wherefore also it is contained in the scripture,
behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, chosen of
God, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Are you troubled, having done
all you can in religion, expended all your labors and all that
you have to find a relief and peace and comfort for yourselves?
Behold, the servant of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom the Father
has sent, he is the salvation of his people. all who call upon
Him and rest in Him, He says, you shall find rest for your
souls. He was given and spared not that
He might put away the sins of His people, so that you who have
no hope and have no other confidence, have no other trust, but trust
in His blood alone, You are accepted and received by the Father. The condemnation is put away. It's passed. There is no death. There is no second death waiting
for you. You have eternal life by the
Son, through the Son, in the Son. Believe Him. Trust Him,
brethren. Alright, back in Isaiah 59, verses
14 and 15. And judgment is turned away backward,
and justice standeth afar off. For truth is fallen in the street,
and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth, and he that
departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And the Lord saw it,
and it displeased him that there was no judgment." And so the
nature, our nature, brethren, the nature of man, that which
we are, It's fallen. In our nature, there's nothing
good. There's nothing righteous. We are at the same level as the
dirt in the street upon which men trample. That's our goodness. That's our works before God. And how few men would agree to
that. How few people would say, yep,
Lord, I am no greater than the dirt in the street that men walk
upon. That's my goodness. That's all
I am before you, Lord. But if there's a sinner, if there's
one that says that, that is me, Lord. I'm nothing. You should
take notice of me. If there's a sinner, there's
a Savior. the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what the Lord is doing.
He's stripping His people of these false hopes, these lies,
that we would find all our confidence, all our hope, all our joy, all
our peace, and all our rest in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the salvation of God's
people. And so, The only salvation from
this wickedness and this evil flesh for the awakened soul by
grace is the Lord Jesus Christ. And when this world sees one
who sees the sun going off, they hate him. They despise those
who have hope and peace in the Lord Jesus Christ because we're
not one with them. Our hand and our labors, our
works are not for what they're laboring for and what they're
working towards and pushing for. We don't want those things. We
want the salvation of our God. We want to see his kingdom established.
We're thankful and happy in him and what he's doing for us. Those who are stripped of these
things that we saw tonight, they find their happiness and their
joy in the Lord Jesus Christ, even if it means being hated
and despised by family members and friends and those that we
once knew. And so this understanding and
this knowledge, brethren, is what's worked in that soul, which
is being brought under the awakening power of God, through grace,
by his grace, in which he's purposed and determined to show them Christ
and to reveal faith in them, which looks to the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. So I pray the Lord will bless
that word and comfort your heart, brethren. Amen. Let's close in
prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your grace and mercy. We thank you, Lord, for your
power and your glory for your salvation, for your grace in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we cannot do it. We cannot
save ourselves. We cannot work a work that can
deliver us. But Lord, you say to the sinner,
look no further than my son. Look to the son. Lord, we pray
that you would indeed bless your people and you would pour out
your spirit upon us, that we would see Jesus Christ, the righteous,
Lord, that we would be found in Him, not having our own righteousness,
which is by the works of the law, or by the works of religion,
by the works of this flesh, but that we would be found in the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. It's in His name
we pray and give thanks. Amen. I probably know it by heart here. The music for this one will be
better than the other one we sang. This is a Fanny Crosby hymn,
but it's not in our hymnal, so I believe we're going to like
this one. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn. My song shall be of Jesus. Song shall be of Jesus, his mercy
crowns my days. He fills my cup with blessings
and tunes my heart to praise. My song shall be of Jesus, the
precious lamb of God, who gave himself my ransom and bought
me with his blood. My song shall be of Jesus when
sin I call to mind His goodness,
and know my joys complete. My song shall be of Jesus, whatever
else befall. I'll sing the grace that saves
me and triumphs over all. My song shall be of Jesus Oppressing
on my way To where my home shines glorious In pure and perfect
day And when my soul shall enter the many mansions fair. A song of praise to Jesus, I'll
sing forever there. Thank you.