Now go back with me to Isaiah
1. You read it with me. Everyone
heard it. This is a very solemn passage, isn't it? It's full
of rebuke and warnings and how we
need it. And yet, there's the blessed
promises here. The Gospel. Right in the middle
is the Gospel, isn't it? It begins the vision of Isaiah,
God's prophet, son of Amos. Amos was a farmer. Isaiah was a nobody from nowhere,
and the Lord made him a prophet, God's Word, and He sent him to
Israel. What a blessing. What a blessing to have a man
sent from God to tell you the truth. He was one true prophet
in the midst of so many problems. And God sent him to Israel. And
it says the vision of Isaiah, he telling them what he saw,
you know, the prophets of old were called seers. Seers means
they would tell what they saw, what they heard. Watchmen, they
were called watchmen. They were men to have their eyes
open. be watching for the enemy and watching over the people
and tell them, warn them and show them when the enemy is approaching
and so on and so forth. What are we telling people? What
is the prophet to tell the people? What does he see? What does he
hear? Well, God's Word. Simon Peter
said, we can't help but speak the things we've seen and heard. Isaiah said, I saw His glory
in chapter 6. He said, I saw His glory. I heard
the angels, the seraphs crying out, describing the true and
living God. How did they cry? What did they
say about the God of the Bible? Holy, holy, holy. And all through Isaiah is this
warning after warning after warning to a decadent, depraved, evil,
sinful world. Warning there. And religion.
This is to Israel. This was to Judah. This was to
those who were supposed to be God's people. What a blessing to have a true
man telling you the truth when the world's turned away their
ears from the truth. And the fables, man-made religion,
a man-made God. Judah and Jerusalem were God's
professing people, Christianity. Israel was a professedly holy
nation. United States of America claims
to be a Christian nation. Is it really? He said in verse 1 that this
was in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of
Judah. 1, 2, 3, 4 kings. Isaiah prophesied 80 years. What a blessing. My pastor was
a pastor for over 60 years. And he was preaching in this
pulpit until he was 80 some years ago. What a blessing. But he lived through these four
kings, and some of them reigned a long time, and there were good
ones and bad ones. I have personally lived through
13 presidents, beginning with Dwight Eisenhower. He was a good
president. You know that? There have been
a few good ones. I don't mean Godly believers,
but yet men of integrity and honesty and men that just did
what's right. Well, there's been some bad ones,
hasn't there? Oh, man. So, he says, verse 2, Hear, O
heavens, give ear, O earth. This is a message that the whole
earth needs to hear. The whole world needs to hear
this. The whole world's gone to pot,
so to speak. The whole world needs to hear
it. But who was this to? Israel. Who heard it? A remnant. Who's hearing this
message this morning? Our nation needs to hear this
message right here. Badly. They're not going to hear
it. Who's going to hear it? Aren't
we blessed? So blessed. Old and young. He said in Isaiah 55, we may
start going through Isaiah. I don't know. Would you like
that? I would. Yeah, me too. He said in Isaiah
55, and there's not a book in the Old Testament that's more
full of Christ than Isaiah. Quoted by more, quoted more than
any other book in the Old Testament, exception of the Psalm, our Lord
quoted. In Isaiah 55, he says, incline
your ear and come unto me. Hear and your soul shall live. That's how serious this is. That's
how vital this is. It's not just a Sunday sermon. That was what was wrong. Israel was just coming on the
Sabbath, observing the Sabbath, and going through the motion,
and God said, I'm sick of this. You read it with me. We need this. Isaiah included
himself, said, we, we. That Daniel prayed, said, we,
we're all sinful, we, we, we. But there was a remnant. And
there's a remnant in here. And I'm not mad at you, and I
don't believe God's mad at you. But we need warning, don't we?
And so much more as we see the day approaching. The whole earth needs to hear
it. He said, I've nourished, verse 2, and brought up children. They've
rebelled against me. I've nourished and brought up
children. I'm ashamed of this, and I've told you many times,
I'm ashamed to admit it. I really am. But if it will help
somebody. I was a rebellious son. And I had such good parents. Godly parents that brought me
to hear the Gospel. and loved me, and fed me, and
led me, and brought me to hear the truth, and loved me, and
protected me, and provided for me all the days until I said,
I'm out of here. I just didn't know. Anybody? Rebellion. You know, Matthew Henry said
this, the worst thing you can call someone is ungrateful, unthankful. Romans 1 describes the whole
world in general and says they're unthankful. Children that have everything
they have been handed to them, and done for them, and rebel
against them. And every sin that mankind commits
is ultimately against God. He's been so good. He's tended
mercies over all His work. He's fed everything that hath
breath. Protected. Watched over. It says
in verse 2, verse 3, the ox knows his owner. The ass is master's
crib. We call these animals dumb, don't we? Dumb ox. There's no creature dumber than
man. It was Calvin, I believe, that
said, man is worse than the beast, but I apologize to the beast.
Beasts aren't sinners. And they groan because of man. They're subject to vanity because
of man's sin. He said, Israel does not know. My people does not even consider. He came to His own. The Creator
came to His creatures. They received Him not. Didn't
know Him. Didn't recognize Him. He didn't even consider it. Don't
give Him a thought. Man doesn't give God a thought. They attribute everything to
mother nature. They attribute everything to
luck. I sure am lucky. No, you have been shown mercy
all your days. It's of the Lord's mercies that
you're not consuming. Oh, I'm not lucky. You're an object of God's mercy,
and it's not going to last forever, unless you're washed. Verse 4, sinful nation, ah, that
ah, it's a sign. Are you like Lot in Sodom, Vexed
with all that you hear and see around you? A sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers. That is,
their fathers were this way and they are this way. Full of sin. Sinful. Full of sin. Iniquity
means nothing right about them. Nothing right. It's all wrong. You go on to talk about the head,
the heart, everything, the feet, it's all, there's no integrity
whatsoever, no soundness anywhere to be found. A seed of evildoers,
a sinful nation, a children that, look at verse 4, a children that
are corruptors. You know, man is just corrupt
through and through, and he's not satisfied to be corrupt himself,
he wants to corrupt others. He's so bad, he takes great pleasure
in making other people sin too. See that? Corrupters. Forsaken the Lord. Provoke the
Holy One of Israel unto anger. False preachers, have you heard
them say, God's not mad at you? Have you heard them say that?
I've heard them literally say, God's not mad at you. Well, they're
not reading the same Bible that we are, people. You know that?
David, a man after God's own heart, he knew God. He said,
God is angry with the wicked. How? Every day. We're going way back to a sinful
nation. Look at chapter 2, real quickly with me. Chapter 2, this
describes sinful nation, the world that we live in. Chapter
2, verse 7, their land is full of silver and gold, no end to
their treasures, full of horses, no end to their chariots. Wealthy. It's a fabulously wealthy
nation that we live in, full of gold and silver and automobiles
and cars. It's just unbelievable. We've got brethren in Mexico
that will never, ever have an automobile. It would be a dream
to get a little motorcycle. Verse 8, the land is full of
idols. Well, idols, that's what men give themselves to, to give
their time, their money, their thoughts, their love, that's
what they go after. Things they've made, man-made
things. Not God. Not God. He says in verse 10,
God's so good and He warns and He says, here's what you need
to do. Get in the rock. Enter the rock. Hide thee in
the dust. Why? God loves us or something. No, that's just not so. That's
just not so. There's no what to say in there.
For the fear of the Lord. Romans 1-3 says there's no fear
of God before their eyes. It's obvious. Very evident. Verse
11, here it is. Here's our generation. The lofty
looks of man. The haughtiness of man. There's
never been A prouder generation than the one we live in, hasn't
it? Everybody's talking. And God hears it. He says, the loftiness of man,
verse 17, will be bowed down. The haughtiness of men. The Lord
alone is going to be exalted in that day. Yes, He is. Chapter 3, verse 8, Jerusalem
is ruined. Judah is fallen. Their tongue,
Their doings are against the Lord to provoke the eyes of His
glory. I see, I hear, He said. The show
of their countenance. Pride. Are you reading this with
me? Witness against them. They declare
their sin as Sodom. Coming out. Pride. Don't leave me. Don't leave me.
Don't leave me. This is now more than ever. Do
you understand that? Isaiah spoke this 100 years before
God turned Israel over to their enemies. They were captive in
Babylon. Many of them were killed. Many
of them were killed. Just 100 years. I don't think
we have that long. Show of their countenance is
like Sodom. They hide it not. Woe unto their soul. Woe unto
them. Verse 11, woe to the wicked,
it shall be ill with them. But verse 10, say to the righteous,
it shall be well with them. You want to be righteous? Do
you know how you're made righteous? Oh, brothers and sisters, do
you know how blessed you are if you know that? Do you know
how? No, we don't know how blessed
we are. I've known this for years now,
and I take it for granted. that my righteousness is not
my own. It's given to me. Many are going about to establish
their own through their religion and so forth. Look at chapter
5 quickly. Isaiah 5. Look at verse 11. Woe unto them that rise up early
in the morning and follow strong drink and continue till night
to whine and blame them. This generation of young people.
Binge drinking and all that. You young people, you know what
it's like. You see it. They take great pride in that.
It's what they're known for. They're exploits in sin. You
think the Lord just turned a blind eye to this? Huh? Don't be a
part of that. Don't do it. Look down at verse
20. Woe unto them that call evil
good and good evil. that put darkness for light,
and light for darkness, bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.
Oh, my. Whoa, one of them. Whoa, one
of them. Look at verse 25. Therefore is
the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, that is,
those who claim to be Christian. Matthew Henry said, if Christianity
is so bad, and that's who he's talking about, Israel, religion,
That's the reason a nation becomes so morally corrupt and because
religion gets corrupt. If the preachers corrupt, the
people will be corrupt. If the message is not God's Word,
anything can happen. And the whole society will fall
apart because religion is bad. And Matthew Henry said, if religion
is that bad, if the example of so-called Christians is that
bad, It's malignant. People talk about the pandemic.
The pandemic is sin, and it's worldwide. Pandemic means a disease
that has taken the whole world, and it's infectious. That's called
sin, and it has permeated the whole world. Go back to our text. Five, why should you be stricken
anymore? You revolt only more and more.
Romans 1 talks about the wrath of God revealed from heaven against
all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men. Earthquakes, tornadoes,
hurricanes, famine, floods, droughts. It's hot right now, so you'll
hear people talk, isn't it hot, isn't it hot? I told a woman,
it's not as hot as we deserve. In the revelation in the last
days, it said the Lord will burn men with heat, scorch men with
heat, and they will not repent to give Him the glory. Meaning,
thank you, Lord, for the sun, and you ought to burn us up.
You're a consuming fire, and you ought to burn us up. Thank
you for the heat, and we sure would be thankful for some rain. Nope. Everybody's cursing it. Have you ever seen it this bad
in your lifetime? Some of you older people in your
80s, have you ever seen it as bad as it is now? No, you have
not. Children of evildoers, you know,
I am a baby boomer, some baby boomers in here, born in the
50s, 40s and 50s, grew up in the 60s and 70s. That was a bad
time, wasn't it, Ron Fanta? It was a bad time. That opened
the floodgate in this country of all the wickedness. It just
opened it up. And our children are worse. Because of us. That's right. Can it get any worse? Our children's
children. Have you ever seen the likes
of what we're seeing? And do you think for a minute
that God's going to put up with this much longer? He's not. He didn't with Sodom. He said,
their sin is exceedingly sinful. And it's come up into my ears.
They hide it not. They're bragging about it. He
said, I'm going down there. And I'm going to see if I can
find ten righteous people. That's what he said. Is there
a more relevant message than what I'm preaching right now?
No, there's not. But we're hearing it. We're hearing
it. Verse, go down. It says the country
is desolate, cities are burned with fire. Verse 6, 5 and 6. The whole head is sick, the mind
void of judgment, Romans 1. The whole heart is faint, the
sole of the foot, the walk, the head, the thoughts, no soundness,
no integrity, nothing. It's just corrupt through and
through. Wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores have not been
closed. You've seen that. You've seen
wounds and bruises and open wounds that corrupt. It's called, what's
it called? Proud flesh. Boy, doesn't that describe me.
Proud flesh. These be covered. Bound up. It needs to be mollified with
oil. Oil and wine need to be poured
in by the Good Samaritan. And there's only one. The country is desolate. Ichabod
is over the door. Verse 7, the city is burned with
fire, burned with lusts. And strangers, strangers are
coming. Strangers, strangers. Anybody
know the truth around here? The God of the Bible is strange.
It's a strange doctrine to the world when it's so clear to us.
The daughter of Zion, verse 8, little old cottage in the vineyard.
Nobody's paying any attention to it. Hear the word of the Lord, verse
10, you rulers of Sodom. That's who He calls Israel. Sodom. If the rulers are corrupt, they'll
make Corrupt laws. Boy. Hear it, you people of Gomorrah.
What purpose? And he goes on in verses 11 through
15. He talks about their religion. This is all religion. They bring
their ceremonies and their sacrifices and go through the Emotions,
and Paul said to have a, in 2 Timothy 3, he talks about the last days,
he said to have a form of godliness. It's just a form. It's just an
outward shape. Deny the power therein. Deny
the God of all power and sovereignty. Deny the gospel as the power
of God. Deny the power of God. What happens to a person when
God saves them? What happened on the cross? There
you go. And he said, I'm sick of religion.
God said, I'm sick of it. One place he said, those that
bring a cow, a calf, and you might as well cut a dog's head
off. That's what he said. This needs to be heard. It hadn't
been heard in this pulpit in a long time. Now more than ever,
this is the most corrupt... Now look at verse 16. Here's
the Gospel. And you know it's so, don't you? You know it's so. No, look at
verse 9. Verse 9 says, Except the Lord
of hosts hath left unto us a very small remnant, we should have
been as saddling of ours. Why are we always talking about
God's sovereign election? A remnant according to the election
of grace. Why are we always talking about
God's sovereign mercy and sovereign choice and sovereign love? That
is, He loves whom He will. He doesn't love everybody. He
loves whom He will. Because nobody is worth loving. Because salvation
is not by chance. People don't deserve a chance
to be saved. People deserve damnation. We do. Don't shout. And Isaiah, he said,
lift up your voice. Hear and your soul shall live. Why are we always talking about
a sovereign God and sovereign mercy and sovereign grace and
righteousness is imputed, that is, charged to our account, something
someone else did for us, someone died for, that our salvation
is completely 100% because of someone else. Why is that? Because with man it's impossible. He's dead. He's a rebel. He's corrupt. And I ain't talking
about him. I'm talking about us. And you
know it's so. And unless God had chosen us,
we've been like Sodom and Gomorrah. Such were some of you, but you've
been what? Washed. Washed. You know good and well,
don't you? Bonnie, Wesley, Deborah, Mindy,
John, Patrick, Pilate, Teresa, you know good and well, if the
Lord hadn't sent the gospel and laid hold of you like lights,
you'd still be in Sodom. And you'd perish with it. And
if He doesn't keep hold of you and doesn't bring you all the
way and set you outside the camp, you're a goner. That's why we
talk about sovereign mercy and grace. That's why we talk about
salvation via the Lord. Why? Because it is. With man, it's impossible. You
can't save yourself. Well, it says here, preacher,
wash you. How? Go ahead, try it. Have you tried? Can you eat the
oak and change your skin? Can the leopard eat spots? Neither
can you do good that are accustomed to evil. Well, how are we going
to wash then? There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's vein. And sinners plunged beneath that
flood lose all their guilty stains. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. There you go again. Talking about
that old blood and that election and all that. Brothers and sisters,
salvation is up to the Lord. You don't accept Jesus. You don't
accept God. You don't decide that He does
it. He washes you. When you take
a bath, do you wash yourself? Do you really? Or does the water? What washes you? You! It's water. There's a fountain flowing and
sinners plunged beneath that. The only reason you'd come, and
hear the Gospel, and receive the truth, and believe the truth,
and confess Christ in baptism, because you were drawn. All the
Father giveth me shall come unto me. No man can, he said, this
is Wednesday night's message, but I can't wait to get to it.
No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me
to save them. Draw down. Come now. This is the way to say it. Come
now. Wash you. Make you clean. Can you make yourself clean?
Is the Lord telling us to cleanse ourselves? John, that goes against
the whole Bible, doesn't it? One verse can't stand enough.
Cleanse you. If we confess our sin, God is
faithful and just. to cleanse us. The blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, cleanses us. We don't cleanse ourselves. What he's saying is here, come
to Christ. Wash in the blood. Confess your
sin. His blood cleanses us. Put away
the evil of your doing before my eye. Listen to this, if I
can find it. I wrote it down. Put away the
evil before your eyes. Oh, here it is. Listen to this. Hebrews 9. It says, Now once
in the end of the world hath he appeared, can you quote the
rest of it? To put away sin. How? By the sacrifice of himself. You can't put away one sin. He
puts them all away. Somebody say amen. I'll say it
for you. Amen. It's something. Oh, it's good news. From before
mine eyes. See, it's against God. Cease
to do evil. Cease to do evil. My, my. You know what the Lord told Cain
in the garden, or outside the garden? He said, if thou doest
well, will you not be accepted? Remember that, John? Two brothers. Both taught the same thing. Same
truth. That you come to God with the
sacrifice of a lamb. Blood. And their parents, Adam
and Eve, taught them, you need to be covered by the robe of
our Lord's righteousness. You need to be washed in the
blood. Your sins are deeply dyed, and only the blood of this Messiah
who is to come will pay for your sins. Now, you come to God with
blood and nothing else. Come to God by the sacrifice
of another, the satisfaction of another. You come to God one
way. Abel came with a lamb. Where did he get it? God gave
it to him. and the blood in their own. And God said, you're accepted. God said, he's righteous, didn't
he? Righteous. He's accepted in the beloved. Cain brought his works. And God
rejected him. Cain did the best he could. Cain
was sincere. Cain brought beautiful flowers
and beautiful fruits and all that. But it was what he produced.
His produce. Not what God slaughtered to put away sin. One thing. And
God said, if thou doest well, Cain, won't you be accepted?
What is it to do well? In that context, what's he talking
about? You better bring the blood. You better come by Christ. You
won't be accepted. It doesn't matter how well you
think it is, how good you think it is, it won't be accepted.
We are accepted in the beloved. That's on our sign out there,
isn't it? To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein,
that is the grace of Christ, He hath made us accepted in the
beloved. That's the theme of our song.
That's the theme of the gospel, if you do well. Seek, verse 17, judgment. This
is a nation without judgment, a mind void of judgment. You
know, the Son of God has come and given us an understanding,
judgment. Relieve the oppressed, judge
the fathers, please with the widows. And this certainly does
mean to help people that are in need. But what is the greatest
need of people? The gospel. And we're stewards
of that. Stewards of that gospel. And
that's how we relieve the oppressed. That's how the fatherless find
a father. They need a father, alright? They need to have a
father. The widows need a husband. They
have one. We have some widows in here.
You have a husband, don't you? Come now. Let's reason again. Isn't our God good? All this
corruption and all this sin. You've done this to me, God said.
I've done nothing but good by you. Come now. Why would He even
call anybody? Why would He even receive anybody?
Why would He do that? Because He's God, not a man.
Come! Come! Christ said, come unto
Me, all you that labor. And are heavy laborers. I will
give you rent. Come unto Me, all you that thirst. Any man
thirst? He said. Anybody thirsty? Come! Irene,
you were that woman at the well. And I said, come, you came. What
did you do? You had mercy on you. Look at
you. Come. When? Now. Young people, come
now. I'll wait until... Well, hold
on a minute. Wait until what? Come now. Let's reason together. Don't you love me? Though your sins be as scarlet, they'll be white as snow. Though
they be red like crimson, they'll be like wool. Wool? Snow? White? Someone wrote a song years ago,
deeper than the stain has gone. Sin hath left a Great stain, but he washed it
white as stone. Where sin did abound. Sin leaves
a deep mark on you, doesn't it? There's only one thing that cleanses. How can you wash something red
in red and it come out white? Would somebody tell me? Somebody
tell me, one word. Christ He'll come like fuller's soap.
Isn't that what it says? He's going to come like a refiner's
fire. He's going to burn up the dross and all that wood, hay
and stubble, purify the sons of Levi, the gold and the silver,
the precious stone, and like fuller's soap, though the stain
is deep, though there are sinners through and through, He's going
to wash them white as snow. They're all going to be robed
in white garments someday. Where'd they get these garments? The king's son wrought them. He made it. It's his robe. And let's close with verse 19
and 20. If you be willing and obedient,
you'll eat the good of the land. Man will not come. He will not
come, that you might imagine. Man doesn't have free will. His
will is bound by his evil nature. He will do what he will do. And
that's sin. I quoted it to you in Jeremiah.
He said, Can the Ethiopian change his skin? A man can't do good.
It's a custom to do evil. But God can. Thy people shall
be willing. When? In the day of thy power. It is God that worketh in us
both to what? Will and what? Do of his good
will. Aren't you glad? Salvation is
of the Lord. Aren't you glad? Salvation is
by Christ alone. If you refuse, if you reject
this gospel, there's no more sacrifice for sin. No matter how religious, no matter
what, no matter how you try to reform yourself, this society,
you know, is not going to get better. It's getting worse. It's
getting worse until God says, that's it. That's it. But come now. Let's be reasonable. God's holy, man's sinful. How
can man get to God? How can God love just, justify
an unjust creature like that? How can He? One way. One way. Okay. That's saying in closing
number 17.