If you'll take your Bibles and
turn back with me to Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah chapter 42. We'll begin
our reading in verse chapter 42 verse
18. The scripture says, Hear ye deaf,
and look ye blind that you may see. Now believers this morning
I want us to see by God's grace that according to God's word
that all of our troubles everything that we go through in this life
Everything that we go through in this life is according to
God's divine will. Every trouble, every trial, every
difficulty is accordance to God's sovereign purpose and decree. Our God who purposed to save
us by Jesus Christ Our God who sent Jesus Christ His Son into
the world and has accomplished our redemption has risen again
from the dead and has called us by His Holy Spirit. We can
be sure of this, that there is not one thing that is going to
happen to God's people without His direct permission. So whatever it is, whatever troubles,
whatever trials that we go through in this life, I want us to see
this this morning, is that God has purposed these. God will
keep us in these troubles and he will deliver us from these
troubles. Is this not sure Do we not have
sure promises of God's faithfulness, of God's deliverance? I know
this, that when we're in the midst of troubles, we don't always
feel God's deliverance. We doubt God's deliverance. Our belief is counted as unbelief,
really. But I want us this morning to
be sure and confident of these things. And we can do this. We
can be sure and confident of these things by seeing what God
has done for us, by looking at all the things that God has done
for us. And we're going to begin here.
We're going to begin in verse 18. This here is a call, God's
call, to sinners. God's call to sinners, hear ye
deaf and look ye blind." Now, this is absurd to the natural
wisdom and order of things, isn't it? If you were a deaf person,
if you could not hear with your ears and you went to an ear doctor,
do you suppose that he would yell at you and say, hey, you
deaf man, you just need to hear. That's absurd. What do you think
I'm here for? I can't hear. I need you to do
something for me. It'd be absurd for a man who's
blind to go to an optometrist and say, the optometrist look
at him and say, hey, I'm over here. Look at me, you blind man,
just look. You know, if you'll just desire
it, you can look. Well, that would be absurd. but
yet this is what passes for uh... religion in our day is passes
for religion in our day hey you don't hear because you just don't
want to hear because you you could if you really tried you're
blind but you know you could see if you really wanted to that's absurd man by nature is
spiritually blind and to see He needs something more than
just a desire to see. He needs God to give him sight. Man by nature is deaf and cannot
hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, I can tell you who are deaf,
who do not believe on the gospel, I say, hear! I say, believe on
Christ! And that message falls on a deaf
ear. I cannot give you hearing. I can only declare what God says
to the deaf and to the blind. But God must give you hearing. If you are ever going to hear,
the scripture speaks and tells us of the fall of man. And it
refers to man's fall as a complete and utter ruin. The fall of Adam
was not just a bump or a bruise. It was a complete fall. 1 Corinthians 15, 22, For as in
Adam all die. Romans 12, 5 verse 12, wherefore
as by one man sin entered into the world and what? Death by
sin. So death passed upon all men. How do we know? For all have
sinned. That's how we know death I remember
one of my children's movies, this guy died and one of the
persons said, he's not all dead, he's just partially dead. It
was a comedy. But there's no such thing as
partial death, is there? You're either dead or you're
alive. There is no middle ground here. Man by nature is spiritually
dead. And this death passed upon all
men. All men are born dead. How blind
is a dead man? How deaf is a dead man? Complete. Complete. We by nature were blind, deaf,
dead, without hope and without God. A man by nature sees no
beauty. in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
A man by nature does not hear the sound of the gospel of Jesus
Christ as a beautiful sound. He's deaf, he's blind. The only
hope then for sinners is that God give them life. That's it. Salvation is not a
decision that we make. It is something God must give
to the dead sinner. It is something the dead sinner
cannot do for himself. It is something God must do for
the sinner. It is something God must do in
a miraculous way. And this message of the gospel
is miraculous because it's not the preacher. It's the Spirit
of God that takes the message and applies it to the heart of
the dead. And the dead receive life. The blind receive sight. And
the deaf hear. They hear. There is no power in my voice
to give you sight, to see that Jesus Christ is all your salvation. There's no power in me. There's
nothing within my power that can cause you to hear the voice
of Christ. And I'll tell you, I have a loud
voice. I've had people tell me, they said, I just don't know
how people would sleep while you're talking. Well, it's happened. It's happened. It's going to
happen. I can't make this effectual, no matter how loud I get. It's
not going to make it effectual, is it? No matter how sincere
my voice may be, if I had the ability, I don't, if I had the
ability to pour out beautiful words. Somebody said that Whitfield,
when he used the word Mesopotamia, when he said it, people would
weep. You don't have that. That's ok. Because it's not in
the ability or the power of the preacher. It is in the power
of God to give life to dead sinners. And He does it as He pleases.
He gives life to whomsoever He will. This is the gospel call. This
is a message that is absurd to the world, but I tell you, it
is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it.
Hear you deaf! Hear you see you blind! That's the message of the gospel
that goes out. I've heard this. Well, I'm not
blind. I've known Jesus all my life.
That's too long. That's too long. If you've known
Jesus all your life, you've not known Him at all. Because this
message is to blind and deaf sinners. People say, well, I'm
not blind. I know these things. I'm able
to see. How dare you call me unable? I can believe on God if I want
to. This message is not for you. You need to go on down the road,
because this ain't a message I got. I got a message for blind
and deaf folk. That's it. I got a message for
sinners. Those Pharisees that talk with
Jesus about that man who was born blind, they said, are we
blind also? And Jesus said, if you were blind,
your sins You would, if you were blind, you should have no sin.
That's amazing, isn't it? If you were blind, you'd have
no sin. Are you blind? Yes, yes, yes. But now you say, we see, therefore
your sin remaineth. Only those who confess themselves
to be blind and deaf will have sight and hearing. Now God commands
the blind. to see this one thing. Look back at your text. In verse
19, who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger that
I sent? Who is blind as he that is perfect? and blind as the
Lord's servant, seeing many things, but thou observest not, opening
the ears, but he heareth not, the Lord is well pleased for
his righteousness' sake. He will magnify the law and make
it honorable. Friends, the only message for
the blind and deaf sinners is to behold and hear God's servant. Behold, look to God's servant. That's where God's going to point
you. When God gives you sight and God gives you hearing, the
only thing you will see and the only thing you will hear is Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. That's the only message you'll
ever want to hear. That's it. You won't want any other message.
He is the only message you'll ever want to see. God points us directly to Jesus
Christ. He said He's my servant. In Deuteronomy,
Moses said that God will raise up a prophet like unto me of
your brethren. Him you shall hear. Hearken to Him. Listen to Him.
And whosoever will not hearken unto my words which He speak
in my name, I will require it. If you won't hear Christ, God
will require it of you. Jesus Christ is the prophet of
God that spoke only the Word of God. Think of that for a second.
Do you realize that every word, every syllable that was uttered
out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ came directly from
God? Every thought, every word, every
action, every motive, everything he did came directly as a result it
was the will of God. Everything. Jesus Christ was the blind and
deaf servant of God in that He heard no sin, He did no sin. He is the only righteous servant
of God, the only one. The only one out of all the billions
and billions of people that have ever lived or will ever come,
there was only one man who lived and served God in perfect obedience
and that was Jesus Christ of Nazareth. This man only, this
man only did all things well. He did all things that pleased
God. Jesus said, Believe us now, not
that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, the words that
I speak unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that
dwelleth in me. It is the Father that gave Him
the words. Jesus, who is God manifest in
the flesh, He said, Which of you convinces me of sin? Could
anyone convince Him of sin? Could anyone convict Him of sin?
What did His enemies say? His enemies said, I find no fault
in this man. His enemies said, never a man
spake like this man. This guy's got authority. That
was his enemies that testified of it. He said, none of you can
convince me of sin. He said he was the righteous
servant of God. And look what God says about
him. The Lord, verse 21, is well pleased for his righteousness sake. The only thing that ever pleased
God, the only thing was the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's the only
thing that ever pleased God to the fullest degree was the obedience
of Jesus Christ. He will magnify the law and make
it honorable. Jesus Christ came into this world
to do one thing, to glorify God. And as a result of Him glorifying
God, He saved His people. But the glory of God was His
first and foremost thing. In everything He did, He glorified
God, honored God. He obeyed the law of God. The law of God demanded perfect
obedience, which we failed to give. The justice of God demanded
eternal suffering and eternal death for our rebellion against
God. The justice of God must be satisfied. Have you ever asked the question,
why must Jesus have died? Have you ever thought of why?
Why was it necessary? If God can do all things, why
was it necessary for Christ to die? It was necessary because
that is the only thing that could satisfy God's justice. It was
the only thing that could satisfy God's demands of the law that
was against us. It's the only thing. There was
no other way. If there was another way, God
would have not sent His only precious Son. There was no other
way. And I tell you, you blind and
you deaf, behold the Son of God. He is the only way, the only
truth and the only life. He is the only way to God. There
is no other way. He is it all by Himself. He alone satisfied the justice
of God, satisfied and magnified the law. You realize if you obeyed
all the law, you'd be just doing what you were supposed to. That's
it. Do you think God would have said,
Oh, you did such a great job. Scott, you obeyed my law completely.
You did such a good job. No. He would never say that. Scott would have been just doing
what he's supposed to. But Scott didn't do what he was supposed
to. I didn't do what I was supposed to. Jesus did more than he was
supposed to. He magnified God and God says,
I'm well pleased with my son. I'm well pleased with Him. As
you stand near the cross and gaze up to the stricken, smitten,
and afflicted Son of God, you will see that this is the only
way God could satisfy His justice, is that your sin be imputed to
His righteous, holy Son. That is the only way. There is
no other salvation. There is none other name given
among men, whereby we must be saved. The only hope for guilty sinners
is to be freely justified through the redemption of Christ in His
precious blood. You deaf, blind sinners hear
and see the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we God, in this passage,
gives us another picture of us. Not only are we blind and deaf,
but look at this. He said, but this people is a
robbed, a people robbed and spoiled. They are all of them snared in
holes. They are hid in prison houses.
They are for a prey. and none delivereth for a spoil,
and none saith restore." Is that not a pitiful condition? Is that
not pitiful? You imagine a people that's been
robbed, a people that a whole civilization has been robbed
and attacked. They have nothing. They sit out
in the dust. They're trapped in holes that
they cannot get out of, in prison. They're in these dungeons that
nobody even knows about. What a hopeless condition. That's
our condition by nature. It's our condition. We are become
prey for our sins and lusts. Let me ask you, sinner, can you stop sinning? Can you stop the evil thoughts
from coming into your mind? You're the man in the hole who
can't get out. You're a prey, a victim of all
your sins. Who among you will give ear to
this? Who will hearken and hear for the time to come? None will
hear and none will come unless God give you eyes and ears. Do you hear the voice of the
Father calling you? Oh, you poor sinner. May God give you grace to see
His Son and to hear His voice. My sheep hear My voice. The day is coming and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And
they that hear shall live, shall live. Have you heard His voice? I've heard His voice. I see that Jesus Christ is all
my hope. His mercy and grace is all I
need to be accepted by God. None of myself. And notice His word to you. You
who hear. You who see. This is His word
to you in verse 1 of chapter 43. Thus saith the Lord that created
thee, O Jacob, he that formed thee, O Israel." Who is Jacob? Who is Israel? Jacob is both
the sinner and the saint. It is the new nature and the
old. Jacob, that was the name, surplanter. and now then he is
given the name Prince, Israel. You that have heard God's voice,
heard his gospel, believed on his Son, you are Jacob, you are
Israel. Now let me ask you, O chosen
people of God, redeemed by the blood of the Son, called by the
Holy Spirit, indwelt by the God of heaven, you who are saved
by the grace of God. Let me ask you, are your trials
o'er? Have your troubles all been gone
now that you've believed on Christ? Are you free from all your troubles? Is that your experience? That's not one of God's people's
experience. We are people of great troubles. God, who has created in us a
new nature, has formed in us by the Holy Spirit, the righteousness
of Christ imputed and imparted to us. John says this, As He
is, so are we in this present world. We have the righteousness
of God in us. It is imputed to us. It's a new
nature. It's one that believes Christ,
that trusts Him. It's one that sees. It's one
that hears. It's a new nature. It's created of God. So why then
are we so prone to unbelief and sin? Why is it that we are so
cold and indifferent towards God's love, His mercy and His
grace? How many of you think you make
it to the car before you forget this? How can we forget such love?
so quickly. How can our eyes be turned so
quickly from this? You have been created in a new
nature. I tell you that you are a people of two armies. You have both the old man and
the new man in you. These two are constantly at warfare,
constantly struggling one against the other. And so then, God knowing
this, He tells Jacob, He said, Jacob, remember, I created you,
I formed you, I made you to hear, I made you to see, I gave you
life. Fear not. Fear not. Why do you suppose he told us
not to fear? Because we are prone to fear. We are prone to fear. He says,
fear not, I have redeemed thee. This was not a cooperation, Jacob,
between me and you. I did it all. I redeemed you. I called you by your name. You belong to me. Is that not precious? I am so
glad I belong to Him. I'm so glad He has bought me
with an unspeakable price. He paid His Son. Praise be to
God for His grace and His mercy. And He says, fear not. fear not I've called you by my
name by thy name and notice this he says fear not these floods
and fires look at verse two when thou passeth through the
waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall
not overflow thee. When thou passest through the
fire thou shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
on thee. Two words that pop out to me
first in this is the word when, not if. It's not a matter of
if, it's just a matter of when. In other words, God is promising
you, believer, that you will have trouble. expected. It hits us the hardest when we
don't expect it. Isn't that right? It comes out
and blindsides us. Believer, be aware. You are not
exempt from any trouble. We are not exempt from any trouble. God makes that very clear. when
you walk through the water, when you pass through the fire. Now
notice these troubles that God promises us. First of all, floods. This word, waters, it has to
do with overwhelming troubles, things that come in an instant.
Like Job. Job was minding his business
and all of a sudden he got this messenger. Hey, all your cattle's
dead. Hey, all your sheep are dead.
Hey, all your servants are dead. Hey, your children are dead. Overwhelming. Overwhelming. Coming out of nowhere. Those
are the kinds of waters the Lord God has taught us. He said, when
you, this comes to you. Not if, just when. When this
comes to you. These matters of floods, they
come in. In Psalm 143 it says, For the enemy hath persecuted
my soul, he hath smitten my life down to the ground. He hath made
me to dwell in darkness as those that have been long dead. Therefore
my spirit is overwhelmed within me. Just let me know if I hit a nerve.
Have you been overwhelmed? Know this, your God promised
you would be. Your God didn't, this didn't
hit him by surprise. Who was it that started that
conversation about Job? It was God. God said to Satan, hast thou
noticed my servant Job? It was God that started that
conversation, wasn't it? And I tell you, it is God that
caused your problems. Is that unsettling to you? Not if you know God. He said, when this happens to
you, and this will happen when this happens to you, notice His
promise to you, I will be with thee. When the flood comes in, what a wonderful promise to know
that God is standing with me. What of this flood can harm me
if God is my refuge? Nothing will destroy you. God says, I'll be there with
you. Where was God when the children
were cast into the fire? He was with them. This is not an if. This is a
sure thing. when they come, I will be with
you." Just as sure as they're coming, He'll be with you. He'll
be with you. What have you to fear? Second
of all, the rivers. He says, the rivers, the rivers,
through the rivers they shall not overflow thee. This word
rivers was surprising to me. It means prosperity. Prosperity. How is that a trial? Oh, it is. It is. What happens in prosperity? What happens to God's people?
We become lazy, we become lethargic, and we forget God. Happened every
time to the nation of Israel when they were prosperous was
when they fell off into sin and idolatry. Is this not a comforting
thing that even in prosperity He will keep us? He said they will. Prosperity
will not overflow you. I'm so glad for that. You know why I don't play the
lottery? I might win. I might win. That scares me worse than anything
is prosperity. Because I know me. I know me. But even if that comes, God says,
I will regulate it. It will not overcome you and
you will not love this world more than you love me. Isn't
that what happens in prosperity when God takes it from us? Where
do we go? We cling so close to Him. We
cling so tight to Him. God says it won't overflow you.
This world is not our home. Is that not right? This world
is not our home. Stop trying to root in it. We're going home. soon enough. Our departure is soon and very
soon. Praise God for it. And His people
will always keep their eye toward heaven and not the earth. Set
your affections not on the things of this world. Set your affection
on things above, where Christ is. Third, our third trial is
by fire. This has to do with the attacks
of Satan and of conscience. Are not the darts of Satan called
fiery darts? Do you not feel the burning of
your conscience as it sears? Yes, we feel that. He says, when Satan throws, not
if, when he throws the fiery darts of accusation at you, when
your conscience accuses you You will not be burned or consumed. That's what these words mean.
Look at that. He said, again in verse 2, He said, When thou
walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be blistered. That's
what that word means. The law and your conscience will
not blister your soul. Why? Because the law has been
satisfied. It's been quenched. Satan, he
says, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. This means
to destroy or to consume you. Praise God that we're not consumed
by our conscience or by the accusations of the enemy. Who shall lays
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justified. Yea, it's Christ that died and
is risen again. Who shall condemn us? To condemn
us is to condemn Him. That's not going to happen. God
says you will not be touched. And you will not be touched. They will not kindle on you.
They have no place to kindle. The sins are gone. If you've got no wood, you've
got no fire. You've got no sins. What is the law going to kindle?
Nothing. Nothing. Our sins are gone. God is with us, God will keep
us, and nothing will hurt us. So then why? Why do we have these
trials? Why is it that you must walk
through the water, the floods? Why is it that you must be held
in prosperity? Why is it that you must go through
the fires of accusations? If these things were not good,
God would not have given them to you. I like this. This isn't mine. This is another man's. J.C. Philpott
wrote this. It was real good. Is not our
heart as hard sometimes as a millstone? And also our feelings utterly
destitute of light, life, and power, without one grain of brokenness,
contrition, godly sorrow, spiritual desire, or fervent breathing
out after the Lord? This painful experience the Lord's
people have to pass through perpetually. That we may know that in them,
that is in our flesh, dwells no good thing. Why is it you
gotta go through this? So that you know that in your
flesh dwells no good thing. You have to be constantly reminded
of that, don't you? Isn't that something? You have to be reminded
of that. You do. These trials remind us of this.
Could I make my own heart soft Would I need the Lord to do it
for me? Could I communicate fertility
to my own soul? Would I ever pant after the dews
and showers of the Holy Spirit? Could I bring pardon and peace
to my own conscience? Would I need the Lord Himself
to speak with power? Could I believe, hope, rejoice,
and have my own command Every gracious blessing and blessed
feeling that I desire to experience, there would be no pleading for
the Lord's promises, no wrestling in prayer, no taking the kingdom
of God by violence. There would be no longing and
panting after the Lord in our souls. The Lord therefore sees
fit that we should walk in these paths that we may know it is
not of him that wills. nor him that runs, but God that
showeth mercy." You need to be reminded of that. If I could
do all of these good things for myself, I wouldn't go to God.
Therefore, God sends these things, so I will. You know why you have troubles
now? You need them. You need them. If you didn't
need them, God wouldn't give them to you. You have what you
need. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. He will bring
you through both the floods and the fires. Has He not brought
us through everything else? Trust Him. Oh, you weary, wounded
sheep. Trust Him. His Word is plain. May God bless you. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed in prayer.