I take your Bibles now and turn
with me to Isaiah chapter 17. Isaiah chapter 17, the text will
be found in verses 10 and 11. And I should try to get
to 12 and 13. We'll see. I really need to,
but let's see how far we get. Let's read this together. The
scripture says, because, because thou hast forgotten the God of
thy salvation and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength,
therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants and shalt set them with
strange slips. Now the word strange slips means
strange seeds. You don't plant pleasant plants,
but they're going to be done with these foreign seeds. In the day shalt thou make thy
plant to grow, and in the morning thou shalt make thy seed to flourish. But the harvest shall be an heap
in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow. I'll be just in there for right
now. I've entitled this message, The Misery of Self-Planted Afflictions. I know I've preached from this
passage before, but as I've read this passage this week, I've
considered I need this. I need this. The misery of self-planted
afflictions. Now, we know this for sure. The
Word of God is clear concerning fallen man. And when Adam sinned
and judgment fell upon him, The very second he disobeyed God,
all of his race failed. All of his race died. Wherefore, as by one man's sin
entered into the world, and death by sin was the result, so death
passed upon all men, for all have sinned. We know this as
he ran from God, as he tried to cover his nakedness, so then
did all his race run from God. Seek to cover ourselves in the
fig leaves of our works. We hid from God because we despised
God. Man by nature hates God. We do
not despise a God of our own making, do we? By nature, man
loves a God of his own perverted imagination. Why? Because he
can manipulate that God. He overpowers and overrules that
God. Why? Because the carnal mind
is enmity against God. For it's not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be. Therefore, the only hope for
sinners is what? The rock of thy strength, the
God of thy salvation. This is the only hope for sinners
is the God of salvation. I like when the psalmist said,
Salvation belongeth unto God, unto the Lord. Salvation belongs
unto God. If there is any hope for any
sinner, salvation must be totally, absolutely of God. If there is any hope for any
sinner to be saved. And we know this, that the rock
of our strength, the salvation of God is Jesus Christ. He is the only hope and everyone
who has rested their soul upon Him. The Scriptures are very
clear. They shall not be ashamed. When God comes, when Christ comes
again, listen, you will not be ashamed. How often do we feel
ashamed? You that believe and still rest
on Him, we feel ashamed. But this is His promise that
His salvation is so secure that we shall not be ashamed of our
transgression. Listen to what it says in Zechariah
3 verse 11. It says, In that day thou shalt
not be ashamed. Ashamed of what? Thy doings,
wherein thou hast transgressed against me. Them will I take
away out of the midst of thee, them that rejoice in thy pride,
and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain. You see, he's going to take away
our transgression because of his holy mountain, Christ. He
removes our transgression. How far has Christ removed our
transgressions from us? Can you measure the distance? Is there any measure? You might
as well measure the love of God, because that's how far it's gone.
It's so far as the east is from the west, so far as He removed
our transgression. Therefore, we may come before
this throne of grace and not be disappointed. We shall receive
the full inheritance that Christ has purchased. So in the day of His coming,
either if we die and go to be with Him, or He comes again,
either way we shall not be ashamed. We shall not be disappointed.
He shall freely receive us into heaven. Isn't this what He said?
He said the last day comes, He's going to divide all men into
those two groups. The sheep on His right hand and
the goats on His left hand. What shall He say to His sheep?
You bad sheep. You've fallen into those pits
too many times. Is that what He's going to say? Come, you blessed of my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation
of the world. Why? You're righteous. When I
was hungry, you fed me. When I was naked, you clothed
me. What is our response? Lord, when did we ever do those
things for you? He said, when you've done it
unto least of these, my brethren, you've done it unto me. You see,
the love of Christ is manifest in this with love of the brethren.
Our salvation, our faith, true faith in Christ is always manifested
by love, love of the brethren. But our righteousness truly is
His righteousness. Believer, you that are born again
of God, rejoice, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give
you the kingdom. That's good news, isn't it? I
see people smiling. That's just wonderful. But I got a but, here. There's
a but in my notes right here, a but. Until that day comes, until that
day comes, we must be constantly reminded that in this world we
shall have tribulation. You know why? Because we're always
surprised by it. When we're in trouble, we're
always, what? I don't understand. I'm a child
of God. I have an inheritance. Why am
I in trouble? He told you you would be in trouble.
In this world you shall have tribulation because of the curse. Because the curse was not only
upon Adam, but upon the world in which we live. Instead of the strength of the
field, it shall yield thorns and briars. And you shall work
by the sweat of your brow to eat bread. Isn't this exactly
what Solomon found out when he tried everything? He tried joy
and he tried sorrow. He was wise and he was foolish
and he found out this. Everything is vanity and vexation
of spirit in this world. Therefore, God having decreed
disappointments and sorrows in this life, No man shall escape
them. Nobody's going to escape the
sorrows appointed to you. No man by work or skill can ever
escape. We try. You try to stay out of pain,
because I do. I don't like it. I run from it
in every instance. If I can do something to get
outside of pain, I'll do it. But truly, we can't escape these
things that God has appointed for us. Therefore, because we are sons
of God, and yet in this world we shall have tribulation, it
would be wise of us to prepare ourselves for trouble. It would be wise of us to anticipate
trouble, wouldn't it? Think of a sailor. Think of a
sailor and he sets out to sea and everything seems to be well.
But this is a wise sailor. He knows that it may not go well
out there. So he does everything he can.
He prepares everything he can for the storm. Now if that man's
ship goes down, I'm sure he'll experience sorrow. But surely he wouldn't be to
blame. He did everything that he could to make sure of it. But what of the other sailor
who was not wise, who did not prepare? That sailor should experience
more sorrow, more shame than the one that prepared. Even so,
believer, seeing sin remains in our flesh and the world is
opposed to us, let us not let these troubles
take us by surprise. Let us not willingly neglect
to be wise concerning our troubles. Why? Because the most cutting
sorrows we face are self-inflicted. The most cutting sorrows we face
are self-inflicted. Go to Jeremiah chapter 2, look
at this. Look what God says to Israel, who themselves were not
wise, who made no preparations for their troubles. Look at this.
In Jeremiah 2 and verse 17. He says, Thou hast thou not procured
this unto thyself? He's talking about misery. They
were in misery. And He said, look, did you not
procure this for yourself? In that thou hast forsaken Me,
the Lord, thy God. They willfully, deliberately,
mindfully neglected God. Look at verse 19. Thine own wickedness shall correct
thee and thy backsliding shall reprove thee. Therefore know
and see it is an evil and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord
Thy God. Believer in Christ, this world
is full of sorrows and griefs and enemies. Satan walks about
as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. The world seeks
to allure us and accuse us. The flesh is constantly being
pulled in the opposite direction from Christ. surrounded by enemies. Therefore, we should be most
wise sailors as we sail through this world. We should be wise. I know this. Even the wisest
of sailors confesses we fail daily. That should be no hindrance
to constantly seek to be wise. But the most painful sting is
our folly. when we willfully and purposely
forget the God of our salvation and are not mindful of the rock
of our strength. You say it's not possible for
the believer to forget Christ. No. It's not possible for the
true believer to be separated from Christ. But it is possible
for the believer to forget. It is possible for us to forget
and forsake our God. We are free from the guilt of
sin, we are free from the power of sin, but make no mistake,
we are not free yet from the presence of sin. Therefore, Paul
warns us, if any man thinketh he stand, what? Take heed, lest
he What? You mean a believer can fall?
You bet! We can fall into all sorts of pride and sin. We're going to see some of these
in a moment. Therefore, God warns us and prescribes
for us the consequence of willful neglect. In our text, God's people
had willfully neglected Him. And what does He say is going
to be the consequence? He says, look, you're going to
take some pleasant plants and some foreign seed And you're
going to nurture them, and you're going to care for them, and they're
going to grow up like it's all is well. But in the end, he says,
there's going to be deadly sorrow. Now this is my intent of this
message. That every believer be wise to keep Christ constantly
before them. to have our minds stayed on Him. That's wise. Is that not wisdom? Seeing that we are His children,
we are preserved by Him, we are kept by Him, we are saved by
Him, He has done great things for us. Therefore, is it not
just reasonable for us to keep our minds constantly stayed on
Christ? Now I want to see four things
in our text. Four things in this text. First of all, I want us
to consider Him. Consider God lest we forget Him. Lest we forget Him. Secondly,
the result of forgetting God. When we forget Him, when we forsake
Him, there is a result. And this is what these have done
in this text is what we do. Thirdly, I want us to see that
the temporary prosperity of our sin, and fourthly, the harvest,
and if I can, fifthly, our deliverance. Our deliverance. So first of
all, the forgetting of God. Now, let us remember this text
is speaking to believers. Notice this in your text. Look
at this. He said, Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy
salvation. Not the God of salvation. You
didn't forget the God of salvation. You forgot the God of thy salvation. And thou hast not been mindful
of the rock of thy strength. Not the rock of strength, but
the rock of thy strength. He's speaking to those who are
believers in Christ. Laws can't forget a God they
never knew. How can you forget somebody you never knew? We who
know him are possibly capable of forgetting. We who know him are rather known
of him. This then is our charge, that
we should not forget or forsake him. Now consider the God of thy salvation. That's what I want us to set
in our minds tonight, the God of our salvation. Consider the
goodness and kindness of our God to be the God of our salvation. Let us set our minds and hearts
upon the Lord Jesus Christ, the rock upon which the church is
built. Now I want to see three things
about this salvation. First of all, the God of thy
salvation has planned your salvation. The God of your salvation has
accomplished your salvation. The God of your salvation has
applied your salvation and keeps your salvation. Look at this
first. Our God is the God that planned
our salvation. Consider Him. Lest you forget
Him, consider this. He purposed your salvation. Salvation's
no accident, is it? You weren't accidentally saved.
You were saved on purpose. You were saved on purpose. You were saved by the eternal
love and decree of God the Father. Isaiah 43 once said, I created
you, I formed you, I redeemed you, and I called you. Our salvation is on purpose.
See then that the whole mind of God, the whole heart of God,
and the whole glory of God was set from eternity for the salvation
of His people. Paul says then that all things
were created by Christ for this intent. That the church should
know the manifold wisdom of God. See our salvation displays the
manifold wisdom of God. What no man or religion could
ever answer, the salvation of God is answered. How could God
be just and justify the ungodly? In that is the manifold wisdom
of God. Where? In the face of Christ. That's how He could do this. So our salvation is on purpose.
Consider that. Don't forget that. In the middle
of your trouble, don't forget that. God saved you on purpose. And not only did He determine
to save you, He actually saved you. This is the second thing,
He actually accomplished our salvation. This gospel that was
hid from men by nature, even though it was preached plainly,
yet man, it's a mystery to him. Until when? Until God reveals
it. And what does He reveal to you? When He revealed the gospel
to you, what did He reveal? He didn't reveal a system. He
didn't reveal a doctrine. He revealed a person. Our salvation
is wrapped up in a person. Jesus Christ. He is the gospel. This is the eternal purpose of
God that Jesus Christ should redeem all that the father gave
him. Look at that in John six with
me, because this is a blessed chapter. This is a wonderful. He said in verse 37, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all he hath
given me, I should lose nothing, but raise
it up again at the last day. Notice, notice those words. I
and me, I and me, the father gave them me and I will lose
nothing. You're just the one that was
given. You're just the one he won't lose. But it's all, you
get the point that it's all his responsibility. He takes upon himself the full
weight of doing the Father's will which is to save you. See election and predestination
is kind of like an architect drawing a plan. Architect he
draws out in detail everything in that building But somebody's
got to come along and build it God determined and purposed every
part of your salvation, but Christ came along and actually built
it He made our salvation He He said upon this rock will I build
my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it
This one Christ. Was the wise master builder and
he's the foundation upon which all the elect souls are built. Consider that. In the middle
of your trouble, consider that that all your salvation is totally
dependent upon the accomplishment of Jesus Christ. Listen, and
this is important because it's something that he already has
done. We're not anticipating it's something that he's going
to perform. He's already done it. Your salvation is already
been completed. All your righteousness. Every
bit of it has already been made. Your atonement, your offering,
your sacrifice has already been offered and accepted. So then the full responsibility
of the salvation of the church is totally dependent upon Christ.
Remember that. Don't forget that. Don't forget
Him. He's our second Adam. He made
the robe of righteousness and merited it for us. And that righteousness
has been charged to all of His elect. But not only this, Christ Jesus,
the holy and sinless son of God, was made also to bear our sins
in his own body. Don't forget that. Don't forget
what he did. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. Our Lord Jesus as a substitute
bore them that none of us could bear. To him were all the sins of his
people charged as he was made sin for them. An absolute righteous
and holy justice poured out upon his body, soul, and spirit. And listen, when justice could
demand no more for our sins, he said, it is finished. He said,
it is finished. Don't forget that. Don't forget. And because our sin was paid
for, because there was no more sin left to pay, God raised our
Savior from the dead and sat him on the throne of God, where he is now accomplishing
the will of His Father, which is to experimentally apply that
salvation to His people by the Holy Spirit. Over in John 17, this is His
high priestly prayer. He said, Father, glorify Thy
Son, that Thy Son may also glorify Thee, as Thou hast given Him
power over all flesh. He should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given Him. Therefore, this salvation that
was purposed, remember, purpose to the Father, remember, it's
accomplished by the Son, and remember, it is applied by the
Spirit. It was applied by the Spirit. Our Lord Jesus Christ, sitting
upon the throne, has decreed it, that the Spirit should go
forth and quicken every elect sinner to life and faith. Paul said, We are bound to give
thanks always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and Belief of the truth. How? By our gospel. This is the means by which the
spirit uses to declare and preach the gospel of Christ. And it
is then the gospel that is the joy of every believer's heart. You that have received him as
many has received him to them gave you the right, the power
to become the sons of God, which were born. I'm so thankful our
birth is not of blood, aren't you? It's not of our kin, nor is it
the will of the flesh. It's not my will that saves me,
nor is it the will of some other man that saves me. It is the
will of God that we were born again. That's important because
who can stop the will of God? Who can overcome the will of
God? God decreed that we should be
born again. Isn't that what happened? You
that are born again, did that happen? Well, that was decreed.
That was a work of the spirit. Remember, he promised. He said,
I will bring near my righteousness. Isn't that what he did? He brought
near his righteousness. When Christ came into the world,
he brought near his righteousness. He has fulfilled this promise
by giving us the righteousness of Christ through faith in him. We have believed on the only
begotten Son of God. We are sure then that our salvation
shall be kept. You see this? Don't forget. Don't
forget your salvation was purposed to the Father. Don't forget it.
Hold fast to that. Hold fast that your salvation
was accomplished by Christ. Hold fast. Hold fast that the
Spirit of God applied that salvation to your heart. And the evidence
of that is faith and love and hope. And hold fast to this. Everyone He applies His salvation
to, He keeps. Peter said, You are kept by the
power of God. Jesus said all that the he's
talking about his sheep in John chapter 10. He said, My sheep
hear my voice and I know them. I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. Do you see that there? We are
in his hand. Who then can pluck us? Who who
can match omnipotence? Unfold the grasp of thy right
hand, and pluck the sinner thence. Who? Name him. You? Look, I didn't plan my salvation. I didn't accomplish my salvation.
I didn't apply my salvation. And I'm not keeping my salvation.
He is. If you don't carry my God, my
God carries me. Isn't this wonderful? I don't carry my God. I don't
help my God. My God helps me. He saves me. And never forget this because he
is the God of our salvation and the rock of our strength. Listen,
he will never leave you nor forsake you. Never. He said in Isaiah 49, 15, can
a woman forget her sucking child? Well, of course you can. We have
women killing their children all the time. He said, but I
will not forsake you. I will not forsake you. So then, even though, yet even
though our love of God is purpose, It's accomplished, it's applied,
and it is kept. This should restrain us, shouldn't
it? It's not this, what the Apostle
said, the love of Christ constraineth us. Constrains us from sin. It is the love of Christ. Therefore,
we should keep these things in the forefront because this is
what constrains us. This is what moves our love. Love is the motivating factor
of constraint. Not so much our love for Him,
but His love for us. Yet if we are honest, have we
always kept Him in the forefront of our mind to restrain our sin? No. Often we forget. Often we forget. And so because
of our sin, our backsliding, God, in keeping us, leaves us
His promise. Listen to what He says in Hosea
14. I thought this interesting. He said, I will heal their backsliding
and love them freely. He's already anticipating your
backsliding. You see? He said, I already know
you're going to backslide. I know that. And yet, what did
He say? What is His response? Yet, I
will love them freely. And do what? Heal their backsliding. Heal their backsliding. For mine
anger is turned away from Him. O believer, have you forgotten
Him? Have you abandoned Him? This is a sting of a believer's
heart when we do. But rejoice in this, that God's
anger is turned away. God's anger, even in our backsliding,
is turned away, seeing Christ as satisfied, our God. Behold, then, the rock of thy
salvation, upon which all our souls are built, the rock and
fortress of our soul, Jesus Christ, ever keep Him in mind. We sing
this on occasion. I like this hymn. It says, Here
we have a firm foundation, a refuge for the lost, Christ the rock
of our salvation, his the name of which we boast. Lamb of God
for sinners wounded, sacrifice to cancel guilt. None shall be
confounded who on him their hope is built. Is your hope built
upon Christ? Let us by his grace be wise and
constantly be mindful. Let us be mindful. So with this
in mind, God knowing our then our propensity, our propensity
to leave, let us constantly cleave to him and keep our eyes upon
him. Yet we know It is still in our hearts and
flesh to forget. We sing another hymn, don't we?
Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I
love. So then I wanted to see the result
of this, when we do forget Him. What takes place when the believer
begins to forsake Him? Look at this, go back to your
text. We saw the rock of our salvation. We saw that God is
our salvation. We see that God, He is the rock
of our strength. But those that have forgotten
Him have not been mindful of Him. What happens? Therefore,
because of this, shalt thou plant pleasant plants and set them
with strange or foreign seeds. A church of God often is likened
unto a garden, isn't it? He said, Behold, my sister, He
says in Psalm 412, a garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse. We're like a garden, aren't we?
Planted of the Lord. But behold, the seed of the gospel
has fallen into our hearts by the gift of the Holy Spirit,
and we have been planted of God. Isaiah 61 says, we are trees
of righteousness planted of the Lord. Even us who are called by the
grace and power of God, we still carry in this body of death around with us. We are prone
to seek the pleasures of this life and easily are we seduced
to look away and forget. They're easily prone to the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. I want us to see some of these
pleasant plants, then. What are these pleasant plants?
Well, there are many things that are pleasant plants to us. How
about family? There's a pleasant plant, isn't
it? There's nothing wrong with family,
is it? Family's good. God instituted marriage. He said,
he that findeth a wife findeth what? A good thing. Children
are an heritage of the Lord. They are a blessing. Blessed
is the man whose quiver is full of them. Children are a blessing,
aren't they? You are grandparents. You love
and adore your grandchildren, and you should. Blessing, aren't
they? Wonderful. Husbands should love their wives
and wives should honor their husbands. Children should obey
their parents in the Lord. This is right. So then what's the danger of
this pleasant plant? If we're not careful, these blessings
will be grief if we set them above Christ. If we set them with strange seed,
what's a strange seed? Taking that and setting them
above Christ. That's strange. How easily are we seduced to
set our loved ones above Christ and make them idols. David did
this, didn't he? When he saw Beersheba, I'll tell
you this, he had to have it. He had to have her. And he'd
do anything against God to get her. Why? He was not mindful
of the rock of his salvation. Think about how he treated Absalom.
He set that boy above everybody else. Eli and his wicked sons. Jacob
setting Joseph above all the others. See the turmoil and strife
that Jacob caused by setting Joseph above his other children,
exalting him above them. But yet what's the result of
every one of those scenarios? When they set their family and
their kin above Christ, was it pleasant? The end of every one
of those things was bitter. It was cutting sorrow and grief
to their hearts. These pleasant plants rotted
before their eyes and misery took its place. How many of God's
people have set the worship of God aside for the sake of family? How many? How many determined to live,
determine where they worship God based on their family? What
if there were no church here? If God were to put the light
on this place, but this is where my family is, If you will not move to where
there is a place of worship, then friends, you have set your
family above the worship of Christ. If God had no church in this
city, would you give up your family to go where the word of
God is preached? If not, listen, it's a pleasant
plant. set with strange seed. What about
our work? There's another pleasant plan,
isn't it? Business. There's nothing wrong with business,
is there? Work is good. There's nothing wrong with. Matter
of fact, we live in such a lazy generation where nobody works
hardly. It's hard to find anybody to
work. I like what Paul said, he said, a man don't work, don't
let him eat. That's kind of strange in this
modern religion, isn't it? Something like that. Not just
so. Work is good. There's nothing
wrong with it. It's good that a man should be
industrious. A job is a blessing, isn't it? It's a blessing. You've been
out of work for a long time and the money dwindles and you get
it when you, thank you for a job. Thank you for a blessing so I
can eat. But not only this, it helps support
the ministry. That's what these jobs, the things
that we have are for the furtherance of the gospel, for the spreading
of the word of Jesus Christ. So work is a blessing, isn't
it? It is a pleasant plant. Let us not be so fooled for the
blessing if we set it above Christ as an idol. Pleasant plant. We set our business above the
things of Christ. What about the pleasant plan
of sin? This is an easy one, isn't it? That we can see. The
lust of our flesh, the lust of our eyes, the pride of life.
We saw that with consider lot. I mean, lot. There he was. He had the word of God right
there. This was the man that God chose to give his word. And
lot left the word of God for a bunch of cows. His business took precedent over
the word of God. He looked out that field and
he lusted after that field. He wanted that field so much
he was willing to separate himself from the worship of God. Here's one. The plant of self-righteousness. Someone once said there's a pride
of face, pride of race, but the worst is pride of grace. How easily are we seduced by
our flesh to be proud. Oh God, I thank you that I don't
have any pleasant plants set with strange slips. I'm so thankful
I don't set my family above the worship of God. I'm so thankful
that I don't set my business above the word of God. I'm so
thankful I don't have any of these sins that all these people
are talking about. Oh, you got the worst ones. You've
got the pleasant plan of self-righteousness. That's a strange seed in the
garden of grace, isn't it? I tell you, there have been many
believers in this generation, some men that I've known that
have fallen greatly. And I've had believers tell them
that they need to stand up in front of the church and confess
their sins to the church. Oh my goodness, you self-righteous
man. Oh, you got a strange plant.
The plant of self-righteousness is strange in the garden of grace. But notice this, look back at
your text. See that not only God allows us or even decrees
that we let these pleasant plants be planted with strange seed.
Notice this, He also says they're going to flourish. In that day
shall make the plant to grow and in the morning thou shall
take thy seed to flourish. Make thy seed to flourish. You
see this one out there, he's planting that strange plant and
he's watering it, he's caring for it, he's daily watching over
it, makes sure all the bugs are off of it, takes real pride in
it. Because God does not speedily
condemn or crush our pleasant plants, we give our hearts more
and more to them and less and less to Christ. You see the family
that you have put above God, oh how they love you. You love them and What joy, you
labor over them, you take care of them. It's like this. Well,
I've got to tend to their homework. I've got to make sure that they're
bathed. I've got to make sure that they're clothed. I've got
to make sure they're ready for school in the morning. I've got
a lot of work to do here. I really can't tend to this worship
business. I've got to tend to my children.
Well, that's a pleasant plant. And listen, it's going to flourish
for a while, I'm telling you. It's going to do good. You tend
to your children, you take care of them, you're going to enjoy
it, you're going to nurture them, you're going to grow, they're
going to grow up, and you're going to say, oh wow, let me tell you,
it's not going to end well. See a man with his business,
how he takes care of his business, and nothing wrong with taking
care of your business, but then what? Well, I'm just too busy.
I'm just too busy. to attend to the things of God.
Too busy to attend to prayer. Too busy to attend to study.
Too busy to attend to service. Too busy... You know what God's
gonna do? He's gonna let it grow. He's
gonna let it grow up. Even let our self-righteousness
grow up. But remember, You can't tell
the love or hatred of God by what you see. So if everything's
going well, you can't tell God loves you because everything's
going well. How do you know that God loves you? Only if you're
mindful of the rock. Only if you're mindful of Christ
can you see the love of God. What keeps us from then from
the worship of Christ What will you look to as proof
of salvation? If it's not Christ, if it's not
him alone, then you have forsaken and forgotten him. And God will
allow this plant to grow up, but he will not allow it to grow
forever. God will allow none to rival
him. in love and faith of his elect
people. Let me see this fourth thing.
The end of all our pleasant plants is misery. Look at your text.
Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, not been
mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore thou hast planted pleasant
plants. Thou shalt set them with strange seed in the day that,
in the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning
shalt thou make thy seed to flourish. This is going to be the end of
every one of these pleasant plants. Listen, but the harvest shall
be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow. Oh, these tender plants that
we have spent so much time nurturing, God will not let them grow to
rival Him. I'll give you an illustration,
Jonah. Remember old Jonah, how he loved
that gourd. That tree, that tree's out there
in the middle of the desert, there's, I'm telling you what,
that tree was a blessing to him. It gave him shade, it gave him
shelter, it gave him refreshment. But you remember, God planted
a worm. What is God going to do with
all your pleasant plants? He's always going to plant a
worm. And just as Jonas Gord was destroyed,
so will all our pleasant plants be a heap. I've seen this, haven't you?
I've seen people put all of their life into their children and
they come out a heap of misery. Why? They were not mindful. Now, does that have anything
to do with their salvation? No. I'm talking about God's people,
friend. I'm not talking about those outside of Christ. I've
seen people put all of their lives and money into their business
and it flourished for a time and what? They're left with a
heap. Now, they may be millionaires, but it brings misery. Why? They have forgotten the God of
their strength, the salvation. God of their salvation. Now why
is God doing this? Not for our destruction, but
for our good. Why? Because when He brings these
things to a heap, we then feel our need of Him. When we see that all of these
things we have worked so hard for are nothing but vanity and
vexation of spirit, it is then we cleave to Him. It's then we turn away from the
things of this life and see them as they are, vanity. By these so-called pleasant plans
which God moves into a heap, we He fulfills His covenant.
Remember what He said about His covenant? He said, you shall
loathe yourselves. Isn't that what these pleasant plants do?
When they come into a heap, we loathe ourselves. We know this.
It's my fault. I have forgotten the God of my
salvation and the rock of my strength. Lastly, here's a hope of deliverance. Go back to your text one more
time. I know. Look at verse 12. God says, woe to the multitude
of many people which make a noise like a noise of the sea in the
rushing of the nations that make the rushing like the rushing
of mighty waters. The nations shall rush like the
rushing of mighty waters, but God shall rebuke them. And they
shall flee far off and shall be chased as a chaff in the mountains
before the wind and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. When these things come upon us
like a flood, here is our hope. God will rebuke them. Give you
an illustration of that. Remember Joshua the high priest.
Joshua the high priest, he comes before the Lord in those filthy
garments. There is his enemy ready to accuse
him. Everything he had worked so hard
for came to a heap. He had nothing left. There he
is filthy before God of his sin. Satan ready to accuse him. And
what does God do? He rebukes, not Joshua, He rebukes
Satan for trying to accuse him. See what God does? He lets these
grow up so they become a he, so that we come to Him. So that
He might rebuke the wave of accusations against us. And he said to Joshua,
he said to his men, take away that filthy garment, put on him
the robe and a crown. Isn't this what he does every
time we come to him in those garments, with our heap? We got
our heap in our hands. The misery of self-inflicted
wounds, it's all my fault. I got nothing to say. That's
okay, because Christ says this, I am the God of thy salvation. I am the rock of thy strength. I am so thankful that salvation
belongs unto God. Let us not forget it. Let us
not forget it. Let us be wise to remember him,
lest we plant these plants of pleasant plants with strange
slips. I pray God will bless this and
help us. Stan, be dismissed in prayer. Father, dismiss us with your
blessing and mercy, please. Pour out your spirit upon us
and apply the word to our hearts as you please. Forgive us our
sins and lead us. Bring us back again to this place
to worship in Christ's name, I ask.