I appreciate the talent that God has given
them and the way their voices blend together. But I also very
much appreciate the songs they choose to sing for our worship
services. So Christ-centered and so scriptural.
I don't know if you've ever really given any thought to that about
how Christ Himself, all alone, took our sins upon
Himself, upon that cursed tree, and died as a sinner's substitute
with God the Father forsaking Him. He has promised, our Lord has
promised never to forsake us. But while He hung there on that
cross, He cried out, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken
Me? And that was all purposed by God before Time began. And our Lord purposed that so
that He would never ever have to forsake us. There was no other
way but for the death of His Son upon the cruel cross at Calvary
to satisfy His holy justice. So rest assured, dear beloved
in Christ, God has promised and He will keep His promise never
to forsake his chosen blood-bought children. What a wonderful promise
God gives to us. I invite you to turn to Isaiah
chapter 9. Once again we welcome you. Before
I forget, Pastor Wayne Boyd sends his love and his greetings. He said he really enjoyed his
fellowship with Michael and Lindsay and their children while they
were there on their vacation. And I understand our son Daniel
and his family were also with you after the services, during
the services, and after the services as well. So we're thankful to
hear from Wayne and the saints up there in Central Point, Oregon.
And thankful that our loved ones are back with us. Now as an introduction
to this morning's message, let me share with you something you
already know, but sometimes it's good just to be reminded. National
Israel was God's chosen nation to typify His church. I say that
because of the error that's being taught in many religious circles
today, believing that those unbelieving Christ-hating Jews are still
God's chosen people. God is through with Israel as
a nation, as a type. And Hebrews chapter 8 clearly
tells us this, that they continued not in God's covenant, so God
regarded them not. That city over in Jerusalem is
just as corrupt as San Francisco. God is never pleased. He never
has been pleased. He never will be pleased with
anyone who does not have faith. Without faith, it's impossible
to please our God. But national Israel was extremely
blessed in many different ways. They were blessed with God's
presence. His presence was with them. When
he delivered them out of bondage to Egypt, his presence was with
them as he parted the Red Sea, showing them that he, by his
power, made a way for them to escape. The enemy was right behind
them. Those Egyptian soldiers led by Pharaoh were right behind
them. They had no way to go. The sea
was in front of them. There was a cliff behind them.
They couldn't get up that cliff. The enemy was coming. God's presence
was manifested when he, by his power, opened up the Red Sea. And his presence was with them.
While they walked through this wilderness, a pillar of fire
by night, a cloud to cover them from the heat by day, His presence
was clearly seen when the smoke filled the temple as Moses just
elated over the presence of God. And unto them, unto God, I mean,
unto the Israelites, God gave them his oracles, his commandments. His way to worship Him, to approach
Him through a high priest. His presence was with the high
priest in that innermost sanctuary which was called the holiest
of holies on the day of atonement every year, every year. And our God met with that high
priest and received that blood offering that was sprinkled on
the mercy seat which All of that pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ,
our great high priest who has entered into heaven itself there
to appear in the presence of God for us, not without blood,
but with his own blood. And so, national Israel had many
blessings from the Lord. God didn't send his oracles to
the Gentile nations, no priest to the Gentile nations. There
were exceptions. Nineveh was an exception. But
for the most part, only those Gentiles who proselyted into
the Jewish religion had those promises and God's presence.
National Israel, God's chosen nation, for the most part, the
leaders of Israel and those who followed them did not want God's
presence. They didn't want Him. They didn't
want those types and those figures except to try to revel in thinking
that they were keeping those things to establish their own
righteousness. They did not see Christ in those
types, in those shadows, in those animal sacrifices. They hated
God and proved their hatred by their sinful rebellion against
Him. And when the Lord of heaven and
earth smote them with His righteous judgments, they would not repent. They would not turn back to God.
They would not seek Him. Matter of fact, the righteous
judgments of God caused them to be even more angry and more
hateful and more blasphemous. That's what's recorded for our
learning in this passage of Scripture that I want to read in your hearing
this morning. Three times from verse 9 of Isaiah 9 through verse
4 of Isaiah 10, three times we read these words, For all this
his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out
still." That's in verse 17, verse 21, and verse 4 of chapter 10. Now, title this message, God
is not angry with his people. But, someone might say, isn't
National Israel God's people? Well, like I said earlier, National
Israel was chosen just to typify God's church. God had his elect
in Israel. There was always a remnant, always.
There has always been a remnant that God had blessed all through
the history of man, all the way from the fall of Adam up to this
present day. During the days of the Apostle
Paul, he, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said even
at this present time also there is a remnant according to the
election of grace. Now all of those types, all of
those shadows, all of those figures, all of those animal sacrifices,
everything under the old mosaic economy, all of those things
have been fulfilled by our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Even Saturday,
the day of rest, Christ is our rest. We rest in Him. We do not
rest in a day. So all of those things We're
fulfilled by our Savior. Now, let's take a brief look
at these verses before us, and then I want to take us into the
New Testament to show us why God is not angry with His people. We have covered down through
verse 7 of Isaiah 9, starting at verse 8 of this same chapter,
we read, The Lord sent a word unto Jacob, and it hath lighted
upon Israel." Now, Reverend, Jacob's name was changed to Israel, which means Prince with God. Jacob begat twelve sons, and they're called, the twelve
sons of Jacob are called the twelve sons of Israel. Jacob.
And from those 12 sons came those different tribes which are known
as the 12 tribes of Israel. Now Jesus Christ is our sovereign
King. And like I said, He has a remnant,
a people that were chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. And those people All of them. All of those from Adam clear
up to the last one that will be called out of darkness by
the sovereign, irresistible, drawing power of God, the Holy
Spirit. All of those people make up spiritual Israel. A Jew is
not one outwardly, a Jew is one inwardly. Circumcision is not
that of the flesh but of the heart, whose praise is not of
men but of God. So if you're born again, if God
has sent the Spirit of His Son into your heart, you're part
of spiritual Israel. And the word of the Lord came
unto Jacob and lighted upon Israel. And so if God has come to us
under the preaching of His gospel, His word has come to us. His
Word has enlightened our minds. Has lightened upon Israel, His
people. And we have heard the truth.
We have heard the Gospel. We have heard that Jesus Christ
is our Lord and our Savior. That He by Himself purged our
sins. That He is now our risen, exalted
King who is seated on His throne of power. And as our sovereign
King and as His children, we are those who are of the royal
family. You're a prince. You're princes.
Israel, Prince with God. Now, God reminds us that His
spiritual Israel are the ones who hear His voice. The Word
came unto Jacob. And today is no different in
the midst of a world of spiritually dead sinners, amongst a world
of evil, self-righteous religionists, God has His people that He will
bring on to the preaching of His gospel, and they will hear. God will open their spiritually
deaf ears, our spiritually blind eyes. Our Lord Jesus said, My
sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And when we hear His voice, when
He gives us faith to believe on Him according to the Scriptures,
We see the glory of God by faith in the face of Jesus Christ.
And when we see that, we don't want anything else but that gospel
preached to us. It's what we were talking about
in the men's meeting this morning. It's what I was talking with
one of the brothers before the services started. I mentioned
to John, I don't have anything new. I have the same old message. I preach it over and over and
over again. And John said, God help us if
we do come up with something new. And that's so true. Now
look at verses 9 and 10 of Isaiah 9. It says, and all the people
shall know Even Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria that say
in the pride and stoutness of heart, the bricks are falling
down, but we will build with hewn stones. The sycamores are
cut down, but we will change them into cedars. All the people,
Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, that's referring to
the proud, arrogant, stout-hearted, unregenerate, stiff-necked people
that were part of the nation of Israel. They hated God. They would not repent. They would
not turn to God, even though He dealt with them severely in
righteous judgments. Instead of repenting, they boasted
of being able to rebuild their homes much better than they were
before. Instead of bricks, now they're
going to use hewn stones. Instead of sycamore trees, now
they're going to use cedars. But our Lord says that all the
people shall know And those who died in their sins knew that
God meant what He said. Not only said what He meant,
but meant what He said. Righteous judgment was coming
upon them. He moved His prophets to tell
them about this. And everything that those prophets
said concerning God and what was foretold in them that was
yet in the future came to pass just exactly like God said it
would. Verses 11 and 12. Says, therefore,
the Lord shall set up the adversaries of reason against him and join
his enemies together, the Syrians before and the Philistines behind,
and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this,
his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out
still. The Lord united the Syrians and the Philistines together
and stirred them up against the Israelites. They were boxed in. They were
surrounded. They didn't have any way to go. They couldn't get any help from
anyone. And God wasn't going to help them. He had warned them
this was going to happen. The scripture says, if God be
for us, who can be against us? But turn that around. And this
is just as true. If God be against us, who can
be for us? And so what was happening to them when the Syrians and
the Philistines came upon them is exactly what God had prophesied
would happen. And they came, those armies came,
much stronger than the Israelites. And they came with open mouths. In other words, ready to devour
their adversaries, ready to devour the Israelites, those who were
against them. They came with strength and power
and determination. Make sure you do not miss this
very important part of our text. It was God who set up those armies
against Israel. The Word of God is very clear
about His sovereign power. The last part of verse 12 says,
for all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is
stretched out still. It wasn't God's hand of mercy
that was stretched out still. No, it was his hand of wrath.
It wasn't through with him yet. As John Gill stated, God had
not yet stirred up all his wrath. He had not done with them, He
had still other judgments to bring upon them. Verses 13 and 14 we read, For
the people turneth not unto Him that smiteth them, neither do
they seek the Lord of hosts. Therefore the Lord will cut off
from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, and one day the ancient
and honorable He is the head, and the prophet that teaches
lies, he is the tail. For the leaders of this people
calls him to err. And they that are led of them
are destroyed. Therefore, the Lord shall have
no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless
and widows. For everyone is a hypocrite and
an evildoer, and every mouth speak of folly. For all this,
his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out
still." So the Syrians and the Philistines were the instruments
that God used, but God himself is the one who imposed the judgment
upon them, the one who smote the Israelites. But that did
not turn national Israel to God. They did not repent. They did
not seek after Him. And that's the way it is with
all of the unregenerate today. There's nothing that we can do,
nothing that the individual can do to cause them to repent. We didn't repent of our own doings.
If we think that we repented of our own doings by our own
doings, then we need to repent of our repentance. It's God who
grants repentance unto life, and the goodness of God leads
us to repentance. So these Israelites did not repent. They still hated God, and it
was As it was, it's just as true today as it was. The Word of
God tells us there is none that seeketh after God. That's in
Romans chapter 3. None that doeth good. The goodness
of God is more precious than we realize. And He bestows that
upon His people in a matter of salvation in every aspect of
it. The goodness of God is what convicts
His children of our spiritually bankrupt condition, convicting
us of our need of Christ. We would never, never would we
have seen our need of Christ if it wasn't for Holy Spirit
conviction. It's the goodness of God that brings us under the
preaching of His gospel. I don't know where you were when
you heard the gospel. I know this. If you believe in
Arminian free will doctrine or any doctrine of works, you haven't
heard the gospel. Not with the ears of the heart.
And it's God's goodness that brings us away from those camps
of self-righteous religionists and brings us where the gospel
is preached. And it's the goodness of God that takes the gospel
as it's preached by His faithful servants and makes it effectual
in the hearts of His people, revealing to us that the only
way to God is through Christ our Savior. And the only way
to God through Christ our Savior is by Christ our Savior making
us aware of that way and setting us free from the bondage that
we were in. And that's the goodness of God.
It's the goodness of God that reveals Jesus Christ as our risen,
exalted King. Of course He died. We know He
died. Wonder of wonders, God became
a man so that he could lay down his life for his sheep. But he's
not in that grave anymore. Not on that cross anymore. He
has risen. He's the risen, exalted Christ
of God who rules over this whole universe and everything in it.
And it's the goodness of God that reveals this to us. So that
we'll bow down to Him, confessing that He is capital L, capital
O, capital R, capital D, Lord, which means supreme controller.
And if you have not bowed down to Jesus Christ, you have not
bowed down to God at all. Our text says, therefore the
Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush
in one day. And God describes unregenerate
Israel as nothing but a beast, a beast that has a tail. It's
referring, the head is referring to the prominent people of Israel,
those in high places, those who were governors or judges, or
people who held offices of preeminence, and those who lorded it over
the people, and looked down on the common everyday people with
scorn. And the tale refers to the prophets,
false prophets, who spoke lies. And they love to tell those lies.
And I just have to believe they knew they were telling lies.
And with today, it's the same. I don't know what is in that
poem that Mike Loveless has written titled Television Preacher, but I've
watched a few of them. I can't hardly stand it, but
I've watched a few of them. And they just seem to delight
in telling lies. And all they're after is the
people's money. And prominent people love that. Those people in those religious
organizations, they love those lies. That's what they want to
hear, smooth things. And those false preachers, those
TV evangelists, That's what they want is the money. So these prominent
people, these governors, these judges, they give them money
to keep preaching those lies. And here's something interesting.
And we need to mark this down. Those leaders of Israel, those
prominent men, and those false prophets, they perished. When God sent judgment upon Israel,
they perished. But so did all those people who
believed their lies and followed them, and today's no different.
I know the people in false religions are deceived by the false preaching
of those who are over them, spiritually speaking or religiously speaking,
I should say. But they're believing those lies.
And they're all in the same camp. They're all headed for the same
ditch. They're blind leaders of the blind, and they're going
to fall headlong into that ditch, right into eternal torment, if
they continue in those lies, going through that doormark death,
and there's no escape from eternal torment. So these indictments
that we're reading against national Israel are indictments against
the whole human race. Those who are the reprobate goats,
who will never repent. And did you know that hell will
not cause them to repent either? All eternity, for all eternity,
those people who are in that lake of fire will be gnashing
their teeth. The worm never dies. Fire is
never quenched. The worm refers to the conscience.
over and over and over. They're going to be reminded
of their sinful ways, but they'll still gnash their teeth against
God. There's no repentance in heaven
or in hell. Can't be. Can't be. And they
don't want repentance. They're still hating God, still
striking out against Him. Now our text says, For the leaders
of this people cause them to err, and they that are led of
them are destroyed. Therefore the Lord shall have
no joy in their young men, Neither shall have mercy on their fatherless
and widows, for everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth
speaketh folly." In other words, every mouth speaketh foolishness,
and the gospel is foolishness to them that perish, but unto
us who are saved, it's the power of God. And so this applies not
only to national Israel, but applies to this generation as
well. Once again, we read these words
from God concerning them. For all this, God's anger is
not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. God was
not through with them. He had more judgments coming.
His anger was not turned away. Look at verses 18 through 21.
For wickedness burneth as the fire. It shall devour the briars
and thorns, it shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and
they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke. Through
the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened, and the
people shall be as the fuel of the fire. No man shall spare
his brother, and he shall snatch And he shall snatch on the right
hand and be hungry, and he shall eat on the left hand, and they
shall not be satisfied. They shall eat every man the
flesh of his own arm, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Ephraim, Manasseh,
and they together shall be against Judah. For all this, his anger
is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." And
so these verses are describing the wrath of God against those
Israelites, those rebellious Jews, like a raging fire that
is out of control, devouring everything in its path. So the
wrath of God comes through, consuming all of those that are filled
with this indignation against God, His chosen people, those
who thought that they could earn their own salvation by their
sinful works of righteousness. The fire of God's wrath came
through and every brother was against his brother. Couldn't
be no help. No help from anyone. There's no food. It almost appears
like they were not only cannibals but eating the flesh of their
own arm or spiritually speaking it could refer to tribes turning
against one another like Manasseh and Ephraim turning against Judah. There was no help and so they
just turned against one another. Now in verses 1 through Well,
let me bring this to your attention again. Once again, we read these
words. For all this, God's anger is not turned away, but his hand
is stretched out still. So he still had judgments coming
upon him. And those judgments are still
upon national Israel, still upon the unregenerate people who are
steeped in their own self-righteous works, people who don't want
God, people who continue in their rebellious ways. Let me say something. I wonder,
during all of this wrath of God that was being poured out on
those Israelites, I wonder if they heard this from any of those
false prophets. Smile. God loves you. He has
a wonderful plan for you. God has a plan, alright, and
it's wonderful for His chosen blood-bought children. But it's
not so wonderful for those who refuse to believe on the Christ
of Holy Scripture. verses 1 and 2 of chapter 10
says, Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees and that
right grievousness which they have prescribed to turn away
the needy from judgment and to take away the right from the
poor of my people that with us may be their prey and that they
may rob the fatherless. So woe from God himself is pronounced
upon all those prominent men and those false prophets that
that took and put into effect different laws that did not come
from God, teaching for doctrine, the commandments of men, judges
taking bribes. A person could be brought before
a judge innocent of the charges, but a wicked judge would take
a bribe from a prominent person and convict an innocent man anyway. And today's not much different.
So this is pronounced, this woe is pronounced on those men, but
it's pronounced on all ungodly men who are involved in these
kinds of things. Look at verse three, and what will you do in
a day of visitation and in the desolation which shall come from
far? To whom will you flee for help
and where will you leave your glory? So the day of vengeance
or visitation refers to the day of God's wrath. The day when
there would be no escape, not from those people and God's wrath
is coming. He's willing to show His wrath
and there's no escape from that once that starts getting poured
out on the people. There's escape now. There's a
way to escape it now. John the Baptist said, Who hath
warned you to flee from the wrath to come? The only escape is Jesus
Christ. Flee to Him. Flee to the One.
of Holy Scripture who promises that God's wrath will not be
poured out on you because he himself endured the wrath of
God as our substitute there when he hung on that cross at Calvary
2,000 years ago. Verse 3 says, and what will ye
do on the day of visitation? What will people do when everything
works into the marvelous light of our Lord Jesus? He's coming. You all believe that? He's coming
again. I don't know him, neither does
Harold Camden, but he's coming again. And one of these days,
he's going to show that he's the blessed and only potentate,
King of kings and Lord of lords. And the Bible says when he comes
back, the heavens are going to melt with fervent heat. It's
going to be a great fire. Everything's going to be burned
up. The wicked will be consumed with the brightness of his coming.
He's coming in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who
know not God and obey not His gospel. So that day of visitation
is coming. Where will they turn to? Where
will they leave their glory then? Those prominent men who were
filthy rich, who thought that their children, their grandchildren
would take their positions of authority and they would leave
their riches to their their descendants. Where would they leave their
glory if it's all gone? You know, I've said this before,
and it bears repeating, I have never, ever in my life, and I've
been around a long time, I have never seen a hearse that's going
to a cemetery pulling a U-Haul trailer. Have you? You're not
going to take your goods with you? You can't. We might leave
our riches with our loved ones, and that's understandable. But
in a day of God's wrath, we won't leave that with anybody. It's
all going to be consumed. Verse 4 says, Without me they
shall bow down unto the prisoners, and they shall fall unto the
slain. For all this, his anger is not
turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. Not only
do I believe this refers to the fact that God would not be with
them to help them when his righteous judgments came upon national
Israel. But I also believe it refers to the fact that they
were not God's chosen blood-bought children. They never were his
to begin with. God's anger was never turned
away from those Israelites, those unregenerate Israelites who were
not his sheep and has not been turned away from the death of
Christ our Savior to this day. Did you know they're still looking
for the Messiah over there? He came 2,000 years ago. It's
been over 2,000 years and God has never sent them a prophet
since. And they're still looking for
the Messiah. God's still bringing judgment upon them. They're still
going out into eternity. dying in their sins right into
eternal torment if they don't know Jesus Christ. Now I know
this. I know God still has his elect. I know there are There
are some of His chosen people in Israel, but they're going
to come the same way we come. They're going to come by bowing
down to Jesus Christ and receiving Him as their Lord and their Savior,
believing that He, by Himself, redeemed them with His precious
blood. They had nothing to do with that. Now, I want to take
you over to Romans, and I'll be brief. Turn to Romans chapter
3, if you will, please. When our sovereign Lord sends
His Word, His Gospel, to one of His lost Jacobs, one that he himself has found.
Did you know our Lord Jesus is the one who seeks his sheep?
The Bible says, seek him while he may yet be found. And we encourage
people to do that. But when the Lord Enlightens
our minds when his word falls upon his lost Jacob's and we
see ourselves Redeemed by his blood we realize and we acknowledge
that if he had not first sought us We never would have sought
him. We don't seek him in our unregenerate state We'll see
ourselves also Just as guilty Just as rebellious As those unbelieving
Jews we've been reading about in Isaiah 9 and first part of
chapter 10, we'll see ourselves bankrupt spiritually. No way,
no way to offer anything that will appease God's anger. We'll
see ourselves helpless and hopeless, rightly deserving nothing but
God's wrath. This is what God does. This is
the way He works. He first convicts us of sin,
righteousness, and judgment. And when that comes, when that
falls upon us, and it's out of the preaching of His glorious
gospel, God's preachers must, we must warn people that you're
nothing but sin from the top of your head to the bottom of
your feet. There's nothing good in you. There's no way you can
please God. You say, well isn't helping somebody Isn't that pleasing
to God? Helping some little old lady
across the street, doesn't that please God? Taking some of our
monies and giving to the poor, isn't that pleasing to God? That's
pleasing to our neighbors. That's pleasing to the one who
receives our benevolent kindness. But if it's not done for the
glory of God, if we do not have faith in what we do, it's an
abomination to God. We must understand this or we'll
be swept away by the main street of professing Christians today
who think they've earned their own salvation or earned favor
with God with what they have done and continue to earn favor
with God with what they do so that they'll gain more stars
in their crowns or more rewards in heaven. Listen, Christ is
our reward and the crown belongs to King Jesus. We have a crown
of righteousness, yes, and God is not unrighteous to forget. the works that we do for His
glory, when we manifest good deeds to His saints and continue
to do those. For a Christian, that's done
in the name of Jesus for His honor, for His glory. Now, our
great God will reveal to us when we hear the truth that we
were never objects of his wrath. We, by nature, were children
of wrath even as others. We did drink iniquity just like
water. We ran with the wicked. We did
evil things and still continue to do things we shouldn't do
and refuse to do the things we know we should do. That's the
old man. But we were never objects of
God's eternal wrath. Never. He loves us with an everlasting
love. His own chosen people who were
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world were always vessels
of mercy which he afford prepared unto glory. The redemption of God's elect
was purposed by God in all eternity in the eternal covenant of grace.
Jesus Christ is declared to be the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. I had a preacher tell me he believed
that had reference to Abel's lamb that was offered. Oh, what
blindness. God justified us in Christ before
this world was ever created. Of course, Christ had to come
and the actual event of his walk on this earth, establishing a
perfect righteousness for us, had to take place. He had to
go to the cross as the perfect Lamb of God without spot or blemish.
After satisfying the holy law of God and perfect obedience,
he had to go to that cross and lay down his life. And when he
did that, that satisfied the holy justice of God forever for
all of his people. That had to take place, but it
was all purposed by God before the world was ever created. In
the fullness of time, God sent His Spirit, His Son, made of
the law and made under the law, to redeem those who are under
the law. And this took place according to what God had purposed
before this world was ever created. For the redemption of His chosen
people. And if we believe the Gospel,
if we believe what the Word of God says, we won't have any problems
with that. I know people who have come out
of false religions, and for a little while when they hear the truth,
even after God regenerates them, they might wonder, is that really
right? But I guarantee you no sinner
saved by the grace of God with the spirit of Christ dwelling
in them will have any lasting problems with the truths of the
gospel. Now listen to this. Romans chapter
3 starting at verse, no I'm sorry,
chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. starting at verse 6. For when we were yet without
strength, we had no strength. It's what
Steve brought out of Sunday school this morning. The horn refers
to, in the scripture, refers to strength. An animal with a
horn pushes way through. We didn't have any strength in
our ungodly, unregenerate condition. We have strength in the arm of
the flesh, but we have no strength to come to Christ. No man can
come to Christ except the Father would send him draughts. So we
were without strength in due time. Christ died for me. There's my name. He died for
the ungodly. He didn't come to call righteous
to repentance. came to call sinners to repentance.
Verse 7 says, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die.
Yet, peradventure for a good man, some would even dare to
die. And that's true. We know this to be true. Many soldiers
have laid down their lives for their generals. But that's rare. Scarcely will one do that. Verse
8 says, but God commended his love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While we were yet in
that awful, helpless, hopeless, sinful condition, hating Christ,
hating his gospel, hating his people, just like those Jews
we have been reading about in Isaiah 9 and 10. We were sinners But Christ died for us while
we were in that condition. He laid down His life knowing
full well that He was dying for His chosen people who hated Him
without a cause. Look at verse 9. Much more then,
being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through Him. My subject this morning is God
is not angry with his people. God is not angry with his people. Though he has every right to
be, if he sent the whole human race to everlasting torment,
he would be just in doing that, except for this one wonderful
truth. Jesus Christ paid the redemption
price in full for a particular people. And those people that
He laid down His life for are justified by His blood, not by
what we do. Justified by His blood. Look
at verse 10. For if when we were enemies,
and we were enemies in our own mind by wicked works, like I
said earlier, running from God and hating Him. If when we were
enemies we were reconciled to God by our own free will. Whoops,
wait a minute. No, that says by the death of
His Son. That says that we were reconciled to God by the death
of His Son. He died 2,000 years ago. That's
when we were reconciled to God. You know what the word reconcile
means. It's two quarreling parties and somebody comes in between. and is instrumental in appeasing
the anger of one toward the other and the anger of another toward
the other, then they're reconciled. In other words, their differences
are settled. They're not angry at one another
anymore. Well, Christ reconciled us to God by His own death 2,000
years ago. While we were yet enemies, Jesus
Christ died for us. The gospel points to what Jesus
Christ has done for his people unconditionally upon our part.
We had nothing to do with that. We had no more to do with our
spiritual birth than we did with our physical birth. And it's
Jesus Christ who comes in the person of the Holy Spirit revealing
this wonderful gospel to us. So we were reconciled by the
blood of Jesus Christ, but we shall be saved by His life. In
other words, our Lord Jesus said, because I live, you shall live
also. And before any of those who were given to Him in the
eternal covenant of grace by God the Father, redeemed by Him
at Calvary 2,000 years ago, before any of those can be taken from
Him, you're going to have to take Christ off of His throne.
Who's going to do that? He's God. And so our assurance
is in Him, not in ourselves. Look at verse 11. And not only
so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
we have now Receive the Atonement. Receive the Good News. A man
can receive nothing except to be given to him from above. So
we have received Christ. We have received the Gospel.
We have received the Atonement. And it's ours. It's ours. God
has given this to us. And we rejoice in that. Let me
show you another passage of Scripture. Look at Romans chapter 8. Look
at verse 1. Verse 1 of... Romans 8 says, There is therefore
now no condemnation. That word means judgment. No
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. And that's where
the verse should end. The translators took a part of
verse 4 and put it up with verse 1. It does not belong there.
It doesn't do any harm to it, but it doesn't belong there.
The verse should read this, There is therefore now no judgment
to them which are in Christ Jesus. And if I'm in Christ Jesus, I'm
free from the wrath to come. And I was chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. I was in Christ when He came
to this world. I was in Him when He established the righteousness
for me. I was in Him when He suffered and bled and died. I
was in Him when He was buried. I was in Him when He came out
of the grave. And I've been made to sit in heavenly places in
Him. One more and I'll quit. Look over here at Romans chapter
9, if you will please. Starting at verse 21. And this
is so good and I know The self-righteous religionists hate this. And I
have heard, I don't know how true it is, but I have heard
there are some Bible colleges that will expel you for even
reading the ninth chapter of Romans. Well, you're better off
to get away from that college anyway. Starting at verse 21
of Romans 9, we read, Hath not the potter power over the clay
of the same lump to make one vessel under honor and another
under dishonor? We know that's true. When a potter
is at his wheel making a vessel out of the clay, he'll make whatever
he wants to. Nobody's dictating to him. Look at verse 22. What
if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known,
endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His
glory on the vessels of mercy which He had aforeprepared unto
glory? Now folks, God is a divine potter,
and we're clay in the divine potter's hands, and He forms
a vessel as it pleases Him. Some are vessels fitted to destruction,
and I know Ungodly, unregenerate sinners are fitting themselves
for destruction. But I also know there are some
who are appointed to stumble at the Word. We read this in
1 Peter. And we were just like those people,
and if it wasn't for the grace of God, we would still be just
like them. But God, before this world was ever created, and we're
reading this in this 22nd verse, or 23rd verse, that we are vessels
of mercy which He had aforeprepared unto Gloria. And the afore refers
back to before time began. So we have always been, by God's
appointment, vessels of mercy. God has mercy on whom He will
have mercy, and whom He will, He hearteneth. That's Scripture. Look at the next verse. It says
in verse 24, Even us. Are you one of the even
us? Are you one of God's Jacobs?
that God has enlightened where the light of his glorious gospel
has burned deep into your heart so that, like the two on the
road to Emmaus, You just can't help but contain it. This wonderful
truth of God being the one who chose us and redeemed us and
called us. That's what it says. Even us
whom He hath called. God must call us. Preachers preach
the gospel. We preach the gospel. There's
a call that goes out from us to all of those who come under
the hearing of our preaching. But God Himself must call you
with a holy calling, with that personal, inward, efficacious
calling. It's the job done. And when He
calls us, we will come. When we hear His voice, we will
come. And it won't be down to the front
of the church repeating some terrible blasphemous words by
one of the prophets of Baal. It'll be right where you're sitting,
right where you are. By faith, God will give you the
understanding of who Christ is and what He has done for you
and where He is now, and you'll rejoice in the truth. knowing
that you've heard the voice of Jesus Christ. He has called you
out of darkness into His marvelous light. And this is not just referring
to the Jews. Look what it says. Last part
of verse 24. Not of the Jews only, but also
of the Gentiles. So all Israel shall be saved.
All spiritual Israel. All of God's Israel. All of God's
Jacobs. All of them shall be saved. They'll
all hear the voice of Jesus Christ. Our Lord is our blessed surety.
In the eternal covenant of grace, he agreed to be surety for his
people, responsible for them. And he will say, as I put in
today's bulletin by Pastor Don Fortner, an article, our Lord
Jesus will say to his Father, of all those that you have given
me, I have lost none. All that the Father giveth him
shall come to him. And those who come to Him, He
will in no wise cast down. God is not angry with His people.
God is not angry with those in Christ, those who were redeemed
by Christ. He loves us, rejoices in the
fact that we delight in Him because He delights in us. God bless
us as we ponder these wonderful truths for the glory of the One
who loved us and gave Himself for us. Amen.