Chapter 4, Isaiah chapter 4. The fourth chapter of Isaiah.
We're going to read the whole entire chapter, which is a full
six verses long. So it's rather short. Isaiah chapter four. Now, before we read, may we pray. Lord, thank you for the wonderful,
gracious hymns of Zion. How delightful they are. when
the words that we sing are true words that declare your gospel
to be all of grace and not of us. Everything we touch and everything
we do we pollute with sin. But our Lord Jesus Christ, the
God-man, is without sin. He put on His people's sins to
go to the cross. And when He was raised from that
grave, those sins are gone forever. Help us this morning as we take
this Bible that is pretty well found in all parts of the world
with some exceptions, I'm sure. But it is a book from beginning
to end that is all about our Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Lord, we read over things in
our Bibles that are the most precious gems in that whole treasury
that belongs to Christ. And yet, when you open our eyes
to see how glorious are these words that before had virtually
no meaning. Guide us as we read your word.
Help us to do so in a way that will honor and glorify your Son
and our Savior the Lord Jesus. We beg in his dear name. Amen. Isaiah chapter 4 verse 1. Now
if you Don't let these glasses bother you. I'm trying for them
not to bother me, but it's just how it is. Verse 1, And in that day seven
women shall take hold of one man, saying, We'll eat our own
food, we'll wear our own clothes, Only let us be called by your
name to take away our reproach. In that day shall the branch
of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and that branch is
none other than our Lord Jesus Christ, and the firstfruits of
the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are
escaped of Israel. And I can think of two prominent
examples of some people that we're fairly conversant knowing
their names that have escaped this God-forsaken Israel. You remember a fellow by the
name of Saul of Tarsus? Oh, he loved that godless religion
called the Israelites. He was proud to be a member of
that. He acceded in zeal against people
who did not believe it, to the putting them in prison or putting
them to death. He did more in that department
than anybody else. But when Christ met him on the
road to Damascus, He ain't never been the same since. It turned
him 180 degrees. The man who tried to stamp out
the preaching of the gospel of Christ in a whole world is now
the foremost person declaring the very truths that he bitterly
hated. And his name was changed to Paul. Then there's another character
in our Bibles found in the book of Acts. And it's the gentleman, oh my goodness, see I've already
gone brain dead. When Philip went and preached
to the eunuch who had come to Jerusalem because he was a Jewish
proselyte. He came several hundred miles
by chariot in order to worship as the religion of the Jews required
God to be worshipped. It involved the giving of money
and it involved the giving of sacrifices or participating in
sacrifices that the priest had done. And this eunuch is reading
from Isaiah chapter 53. And God sends him a preacher.
And Philip goes and joins himself to that man. He said, Do you
understand what you're reading? He said, How can I except some
man tell me? And Philip got in that chariot.
And it wasn't long before he was begging to be baptized. Now there's two people for sure
that have escaped from Israel. Now Israel's old religion is
now the new religion in our generation and on this planet where we live,
particularly in this state, in this county. It is all false
religion. Would to God that He would send
us some Paul's and others like him
because I'm telling you in certain quarters and in this part of
the world is anywhere else but here that they wouldn't tolerate
your message for five minutes and yet God miraculously did
an operation of grace in this very congregation that has greatly
lowered its numbers and whose we're not counting heads They
used to count how much money was given one Sunday and over
against the next one. And then how many people brought
their Bible and all such junk as this. It don't matter if you
bring a dozen Bibles. If God doesn't reveal to us what's
in that book, we will never see it. And he uses one of the sorriest
instruments there could ever be. And that's a preacher, especially
me. Lord, I didn't mean to get off
on that subject like that, but it just got a hold of me. Verse
3, And it shall come to pass, that
he that is left in Zion, and he that remains in Jerusalem,
shall be called holy, even every one that is written written among
the living in Jerusalem. Now where's this list of names?
Oh, they're in heaven. You don't have access to those
names down here. God's running this thing, it's
not me and you running it. If it is, we're in trouble because
it ain't going to amount to nothing. All right, verse 4. Specifically
now, we're going to look carefully at the third and fourth verses
of this chapter. But I want to get through the
chapter first and then start back at verse 3. When the Lord
shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and
shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst or middle
thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount
Zion and upon her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day, and
the shining of a flaming fire by night. For upon all the glory,
this is the glory of God now, shall be a defense Let me explain
that just briefly. Nothing happens to us except
it is by God's express command or else His allowing someone
to do harm to us or to in some way embarrass us or whatever.
But the point is this, God is in control. Well, preacher, what
about the devil? Doesn't he have plenty of power?
He doesn't have any power. Do you know what the devil does?
Only what God lets him do. So what does he let him do? Honor
and glorify the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
all he can do. I don't care how many nightmares
you might have or might not have. He is, you could thump him and
he's gone. He has no power. And there are dozens of examples
in our Bibles to that end. For upon all the glory shall
be a defense. Verse 6. And there shall be a
tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime, from the heat, and for
a place of refuge, and for a covert or hiding place from the storm
and from the rain. Now we go back to verse 3. And it shall come to pass. If you're a Bible reader, and
I hope you are, You ought to pay some real attention when
you come into these shalls and wills of God. They are glorious
indeed. It shall come to pass that he
that is left in Zion and he that remains in Jerusalem shall be
called holy, even every one that is written among the living in
Jerusalem. Now here's my title for this
morning. This statement gives rise to that. He that remains
in Jerusalem shall be called holy even everyone
that is written among the living in Jerusalem. There is a book
in heaven I doubt it's a literal book. God doesn't need books
to remind Him. Lord, I need a dozen to remind
me. But this is important. The fact that there are people
alive to this very day who are declared to be in Christ. And this statement is coming
to pass though we may not have any knowledge of it whatsoever,
and that it is among the living in Jerusalem. So the question
is, I'm trying to answer that question this morning, has to
do with whether or not our individual names are written in the Lamb's
Book of Life. Now you can trace this many ways,
but here's my feeble attempt. Who are these people that are
said to be alive? They are sinners whom God has
saved by the power of His grace to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. to believe and embrace the gospel
that is everywhere to be found in our Bibles. That is the LIVING. Therefore, if that be the case,
then this LIVING is a SPIRITUAL LIVING. Being alive physically
doesn't take anything on our part. We don't know it until
we get here. And then we don't know what living
is, but at some point along As time passes, we become acquainted
with such. And I was born, every doctor
you go to, they want to know if you know the date of your
birth, you know, and if you know this and that and the other.
And I've got to where I just say 10-14 of 1843. Sometimes they don't even bat
an eye, which means they ain't even listening. Honest. And then, you know, if
they don't, if they don't even say anything, I don't even tell
them to change it. But, uh, I was actually born in 1943. I think
at least my mother said I was. Let's talk about this. Have got
to leave the word living now and go to the word written. Do you see that? in verse 3. Everyone that is written among
the living in Jerusalem. That is beautiful. This is not filling up a page
of notebook paper and try to find somebody for every line
that's on the paper. No, this is God in Christ choosing,
calling, bringing, giving life to dead sinners. It is to be
written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Now, I've got some scriptures
printed and I'd like to, I'd like really for you just to listen.
If I don't forget it, I'll give you the reference after I've
read it. I know that ain't fair, but if I don't do that, it'll
take forever, you know, for me to finish. So, first scripture comes out of
the book of Revelation. And all that dwell upon the earth
shall worship Him, speaking of God in Christ, whose names are
not written in the Lamb's Book of Life. There is such a book. It's referred to in chapter 20,
I think it is, in the Revelation. And it is found in other places
in our Bibles whose names are not written in
the Lamb's Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. All that dwell upon the earth
shall worship Him." Now listen, the people that worship this
God, and you'll be surprised to learn which God this is, whose
names are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Now this book, the Lamb's Book
of Life, has every name that has ever been supposed to be
on it and will include all the generations, if there are any,
between us and the end of time. But this says that this people
who claim to be living and are dead spiritually, that their
names are not written in the book of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. Therefore only those people,
and you can verify this, I think it's Revelation 20, that their
names are in this book of life. We didn't put it there. God put
it there before time ever was. Before this world was ever made.
Before there was a human being, let alone a sinner. And another statement in Revelation
tied to this one. If any man have an ear, let him
hear. Let him hear. Second Scripture
comes from the book of Romans. Even so then, at this present
time also, there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. Now, if you have time today and
you go back to Romans chapter 11, you will discover that Paul
is talking about Elijah the prophet who complained to God that he
was the only one left in the whole country. And the Lord said
to Elijah, I've reserved to myself 7,000
men who've not bowed the knee to bail. He said, Elijah, you're
not alone. You just know a little tiny little
segment of ground on this earth and you think you know everything
about everywhere else. It ain't that way. Everything
good, bad, and ugly. is dependent on God Almighty.
And every single thing that happens is by purpose, by divine purpose. Another statement out of Romans, Even so then, at this present
time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And
if it be of grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise work
is no more work. But if it be of works, then it
is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. I don't know
if I got that tangled up or not, but I don't have time to go back
and doctor it up. This one comes from the Gospel
of Luke. Notwithstanding, in this rejoice
not, he sent the seventy disciples to go out and preach in His name,
and they did all sorts of things and cast the devil out of people
and such as this. Notwithstanding in this, rejoice
not that the spirits, the evil spirits are subject unto you,
but rather rejoice BECAUSE YOUR NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN HEAVEN! Oh, that's what we're after. Is my name written in heaven? Am I God's servant? Or just a lost yahoo pretending? Well, let's come now to what these people are. We've
sort of found out in a way who they are, but we want to find
out what these people are. What they are. Let me read you a statement here
if I can. It's in verse 4 of Isaiah chapter
4. Let me just read you a segment.
He that is left in Zion and he that remains in Jerusalem shall
be called holy, even everyone that is written among the living
in Jerusalem. And I hasten to add that that
Jerusalem is not literal Jerusalem. We still have a Jerusalem across
the pond, but it has no meaning. God is not there. Let me read
you another statement. This comes from II Thessalonians.
But we're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto He called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our blessed Lord Jesus
Christ. Now I need you to turn. Hang
on to your place in Isaiah if you will. And let us turn to Leviticus.
That's the third book I think in our Bibles. Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus. Chapter 11. It is truly amazing how many
times in our Old Testaments we find confirmation and enlightenment
upon statements that are made in the New Testament. Alright? Leviticus 11 verse 44 and 45.
For I am the Lord your God, You shall therefore sanctify
yourselves, and you shall be holy, for I am holy." Now look
at those words again. You might be holy. Oh no. You shall be. Who on earth is speaking? None
other than God Almighty. And when He says, Be holy, I'm
telling you, you become holy. Other people might not know it.
They might condemn you for it. Or they might tell you you're
stuck up and you claim to be what you're not. And on and on
and on. But I tell you, if God did it,
it's forever. Now watch this. You shall be holy. There is no reference whatsoever
to our needing to do anything to make this come to pass. It
is altogether the work of God in Christ. And there are several
places in our Bibles that speak to us in regard to these things
that tell us to be something. And religious people that are
too smart for their own britches, they say, If God tells me to
be something, it means I have the power and ability to do it. Oh my soul, that is an absolute
bald-faced lie. You and I can't get out of the
rain. We cannot do anything of a divine
nature that is that God gives credit to. If God does anything in our soul,
He Himself must do it. This business of going down to
the front and shaking the preacher's hand and him telling you you're
saved, that is all just plain manure. And if I could, I'd make it a
little stronger than that. most of us grew up in that kind
of religion. I did, for sure. Lord have mercy. Let me ask you to turn to another
scripture because I want to read some things out of Robert Hawker's commentary on Matthew chapter
5. It's the last verse in Matthew
chapter 5. Now if you don't know where Matthew is, I can't help
you. It's the first book in the New
Testament. Now I wanted to read a full page.
These are his closing remarks. in Matthew chapter 5, and I bring
you here for this one purpose, that He is setting forth the last
verse of Romans 5, that's verse 48, says, Be you therefore perfect. We can't even be half perfect. Even as your Father, which is
in heaven, is perfect. Now don't you know that something
besides human ability has to be at work here? That only God
can create God? Give poor, helpless sinners eternal
life? That's God's business. Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. Let me get this read before I
forget what I'm doing here. Alright, you found Matthew 5.48.
Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven
is perfect. Now what did we learn when we
just left Oh, where was it? Leviticus?
Yeah. Thank you very much. Leviticus. Old Testament, New Testament.
It's one in the same. There ain't never been but one
gospel. It's the one that Noah's Ark
typified. And the only souls that were
saved and the only animals that were saved were on that Ark. And that's still the rules. God
has but one salvation. It is His. He accomplishes it. He applies it. He approves it.
He gives us grace to believe it. It's His work. It's not ours. It's not about
me and you. It's about HIM! Mainly about
the Lord Jesus Christ. Alright, here we go. be perfect
even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Was there
ever such a refinement of the most perfect law of the Lord
as is here drawn, speaking of all of chapter 5 in Matthew but
particularly in the closing statements. He indeed and He alone observed
it in the fullest extent of it. Therefore, the close of the chapter
is expressed toward the purpose with an eye to Christ. Be you
perfect, that is, in the perfection of the Lord Jesus. For there
is no other way of finding perfection but in Christ. This guy just
talks about Christ. That's all he talks about. That's
all there is to talk about. What men talk of respecting sincerity
in place of perfection, they say when people talk of
respecting sincerity for perfection, it is, Hawker says, a fancy form
nowhere else but in their own brain. I kind of like that statement
and I think it's true. But as the members of the body
partake in all that belongs to the head, so the members of Christ's
body are considered perfect in Him. And when Jesus said, Be
you perfect, He wills what He commands. If He tells you to do something,
He gives the will to do it. Otherwise, we would never do
it. We think we're so smart, we know everything, we don't
need to be told everything. Well, you can practice that in
some other occupation other than religion. If you've got any eyes to see,
you know that 99.9% of the world's religion is false from start
to finish. You can call me a bigot or whatever
you want to call me, but that's what I believe we find in this
book. He wills what He commands. His
biddings are His enablings. Therefore, be you perfect in
Him. That's the whole message in Christ. And he gives a bunch of scripture
references that are pertinent to that, but we will not try
to to deal with that at this time if we might just sort of
move along. Who are these people? What are
these people? What these people shall be. It's in the verse that is in
Isaiah chapter 4 where we read from just a bit ago. Here I am trying to turn from
it and I got it laid out right there. Goodness me. In this fourth verse, what these
people shall be They shall be washed in regard to sin and purged
in regard to self-righteousness. And I need to take you to Zechariah,
so I've got it right here in front of me. Almost. Yes, there it is. There shall be a house, a fountain
opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
for sin and for uncleanness. One of our problems in being
so backward and slow to believe things about God that go way
back When there was nothing on this, there was no earth, no
nothing. And ever since then, God has been everywhere present
in this world. And this house of David that
is opened is to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for
uncleanness. So they are said to be washed and purged. And still in verse 4, who's going
to do all of this? The Lord Jesus Christ. He's our Maker. He's our Redeemer. He's as much as our Creator as
God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. It is indeed His glorious
work. So who is going to do all of
this? None other than Jesus Christ
the Lord. It is Him and Him alone. He is
the Creator of the soul, therefore He must be its Redeemer. The Creator of the soul must
be the Redeemer. of the soul. So how will the
Lord Jesus do all of this? Seems like we have it in our
text in Isaiah 4. Going back to include verses
3 and 4. Let me read it out of this printout
because I can see it a lot better. Isaiah 4 verses 3 and 4, And
it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he
that remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one
that is written among the living in Jerusalem. When the Lord shall
have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall
have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the
spirit of judgment, and the spirit of burning. Now how is the Lord Jesus to
accomplish this? Well, I'll tell you what. How
about turning to John Chapter 16, John 16, 8 through 11. Here is how this work, this glorious
work, of the saving of our souls. This is how it becomes a reality. I'm going to start at verse 7
and read through verse 11. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not
away, the Comforter, our Lord Jesus speaking these words, the
Comforter, the Holy Spirit will not come unto you, but if I depart,
I will send him unto you. And when the Holy Spirit is come,
he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and
of judgment." Now those are key words, and they're smack dab
in the middle of the New Testament. Of sin, because they believe
not on me, righteousness, because I go to my Father, of judgment,
because the Prince of this world is judged. That, my friend, is
how this is to be accomplished, to be accomplished. Second Scripture. I won't ask you to turn there,
I'll just turn to it I thought I had these on my printout, but
I was mistaken. Let's see. I'll tell you where I'm reading
it from in just a second. Let me read it. I will not make mention of him,
this is Jeremiah speaking. He said, I will not make mention
of him that is of God in Christ, nor speak any more in his name. This old boy had been put through
the wringer. He was ready to throw in the towel and just count
it all nothing. I will not make mention of him
nor speak any more in his name. But something happened. I took
that same vow untold numbers of times when I was getting kicked
from one church to the next. And I said, when is this going
to stop? And that wasn't a thing in the
world. But training a dumb numbskull like myself to give me enough backbone to
stand up with all the religious hatred that seemed to follow
me everywhere I went. I'll not make mention of Him,
nor speak any more in His name, but His Word was in my heart
as a burning fire shut up in my bones. And I was weary with
forbearing, and I could not stay." Oh my goodness. If vows meant
anything, I'd be someplace else this morning, I assure you. Thank
God they aren't. Let's see, we've got another
scripture here too, I think. Well, you ought to know these.
I'll just remind you of them. Jeremiah 23, 16. the Lord Jesus
is declared to be our righteousness. Jehovah our righteousness in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Then in chapter 33 in verse 16
of Jeremiah it says, and she shall be called the Lord our
righteousness. Sometimes it ain't been often
You run into somebody that wants, all they want to do is use our
building, but they let me preach the, which they don't know it's
preaching anyway, but I don't do nothing if it ain't got preaching
in it. So they want to use this building and she doesn't want
to take his last name. Something wrong with that? I
don't do weddings. for people that want to make
all these changes and stuff. I won't have that. I just ain't
gonna do it. Well, preacher, what if everybody
goes the other way? Then, hey, I don't like weddings anyway.
It's just... Spurgeon... Spurgeon wrote a
play one time and he gave it a title, Much Ado About Nothing. And if that ain't weddings, I
don't know what it is. So this statement in our Bibles
in John 16 is gloriously true. It is unbelievable. So what do our souls say concerning
Isaiah 4 verses 3 and 4? We've read them several times.
Let me take one more shot at it. Verses 3 and 4. And it shall
come to pass. Now you know when you hear that
statement, there ain't but one person, the triune God that can
make such a statement. It shall come to pass. that he that is left in Zion,
and he that remains in Jerusalem, and even everyone that is written
among the living in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed
away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged
the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of
judgment and the spirit of burning, and the Lord will create upon
every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies
a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire
by night. For upon all the glory, the glory
of God in Christ shall be a defense." I'm going to stop right there.