Isaiah 54 now. Isaiah 54. I could have entitled this message
a song or a message for the barren, for the childless, for the widow,
for the divorcee, for the forsaken, for the fatherless, for the strangers,
for the eunuchs, for the sinners. Someone in this room fits every
one of those categories. Spiritually speaking, we fit
all of them. But I wrote this down, only those
who know it, know it. Only those who know what this
is saying can sing this song. It's my prayer, though, that
all in here will come to know your barrenness and so on. It begins with verse 1, sing.
Sing. It tells these people to sing. Oh, barren. Childless. Thou that didst not bear." Break
forth into singing, he says. Cry aloud. Sing loud. Thou that
didst not travail with child. Four. You actually have many. More the children of the desolate
than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord. He says,
enlarge the place of thy tent. Build the nursery bigger. Those of you who've had no children. Now, this is a trial. It's a trial. It's a heartache
for an adult, married adult, to not be able to have children. It really is. I counted eight
or nine or more people in this room, in our congregation, Never,
the Lord just did not give physical, give children. Mindy and I went
through that. For five years, the doctors told
us you cannot, it's impossible for you to have children. I know now, I do know now why
the Lord gave us HIV. We have granddaughters now, so
more than one. But I do know because it's concerning
his kingdom, his church. It's clear to me from Scripture,
Timothy and Titus, that a preacher, a pastor, must be a married man
with children. I would not be here if I didn't
have a wife and didn't have children. Right? And it goes further than
that. We had to have a child so that
another man who's going to be a preacher and a pastor has a
bride and has children and there's a congregation. You see, this
is the kingdom of God. Everything's for the purpose
of the furtherance of his gospel. Everything, including having
children. But it's a trial. We went through
five years there. They told us we couldn't have
children and my wife cried many, many times. It's more trying
for the woman than it is the man. But we, and we'd love to
tell you, you've heard our story, but when we finally came to the
point where we bowed to God's will, Lord, it's just not your
will. Let us be content with your will. Let us bow to your
will that we're not going to have any children. She conceived. And we've got to bow to God's
will and everything. You know, several of God's choice elect
ladies throughout the scripture were barren women. Sarah, Abraham's
wife, old woman. It's impossible now, she thought,
90 years old, no way that I can have a child. And God said, God
came and said, you're going to have a child. And what a picture
that is. And if I'm not careful, I'll
stay right there. All of these stories, I'd love
to dwell on. But there's a reason, isn't it?
Barren, childless. Rebecca, Isaac's bride. Childless. Isaac prayed to pray
for her. She has to have a son. She has to bear Jacob. She has to. And then Rachel,
Jacob's wife. Barren. She couldn't have children. Leah, you know, had all those
children. Illegitimate, all of them. Rachel was a true wife
of Jacob, wasn't she? No children. Couldn't have children.
She has to have children. She has to. Joseph was a type of Christ. Has to.
Samson's mother. We don't know her name. It's
not important, is it? She's called Manoah's wife. Her
name's not important. She has to have a child. She
was barren. Her son was named Samson. There's
a picture of him. Hannah. Samuel's mother, Hannah. You know the story of Hannah. Elkana's other wife had many
children, didn't she? Many children. And she began
to taunt Hannah because she didn't have children. What a picture
that is of false religion with all its converts when the true
people of God have very few. Oh, no, no, no. The children
of the barren are a lot more than the children of the world. Elizabeth in the New Testament. Right? She's an older woman. John the Baptist. She has to
have a boy. His name is John, John the Baptist,
the forerunner of Christ. You see how it's all concerning
the kingdom of God. Martha, Mary, apparently neither
one of those ladies had children. Martha and Mary. And yet he says
to these barren women, sing. Sing. Enlarge the nursery. That's my take on it. Big family. He said, you'll break forth,
verse 3, on the right hand, on the left, your seed shall inherit
the Gentiles and make desolate the cities to be inhabited, a
big family. Brothers and sisters, those of
you whom the Lord has not given earthly offspring, this is your
family. These are your children. Oh,
yes, they are. Christ's bride is your bride.
The Father in Heaven is all our Father in Heaven, isn't it? These
are our brothers and sisters. Some of you, Hannah, we wish
she'd have had a sibling, a brother or a sister, don't we? Don't
we, Minnie? We often think that if Minnie had a boy, oh, man,
he'd have been rotten worse than me. But we didn't or didn't give
us a boy. He gave us a daughter. But those
who haven't, oh, we have a big family. And I've often said this,
and I really mean this with all my heart. I really do. You know,
the Lord saved our daughter at a young age, and we were thrilled,
but I wasn't more thrilled. Margaret, I was not more thrilled
when the Lord saved your daughter. No way. No way. No way. You see, in Christ there's
no male, no female, no rich, no poor, no Jew, no Gentile,
no barren. And what a picture this is of
all of us who are barren. We bear no fruit. until Christ
comes and plants that seed in us. You bear fruit. You have a child when the seed
is conceived in you and brings forth life. And there was a time
when I bore no fruit. The seed, the Word of God, had
not been planted in my heart. I was dead. And you? Barren. See? The seed has been
planted. You've conceived. What's in you? Just like Mary. Christ in you. What a picture this is. I knew
I'd get stuck right there. It's all right. Sing. You've
got something to sing about. You've got a big family. You've
got children. Ruth. Ruth. The story of Ruth. I keep coming back to Ruth. I'm
reminded of her every day. We've got a Ruth here. By the
way, that little cat, I put her on my lap yesterday. Brought
her in to study. Yep. Free access. Come right to my throne and find
grace. Ruth finds grace. And I made
a covenant with her. I said, Ruth, I don't care what
anybody says. I'm going to love you. I'm going
to feed you. You can come in here freely.
I'm going to take care of you until the day I die. I made a
covenant concerning you. You're going to find grace with
me, Ruth. As long as I live, you're going to find grace with
me. That cat is me. It reminds me
every day. But Ruth, she was a widow. She had no children. She had
no hope of any children. And when Naomi said, Go back,
find you a husband, she said, I don't need one. But she won't
have children. That's okay. She said, what I want is your
God to be my God and your people to be my people. Whether I have
a husband or any children, it doesn't matter. I want God to
be my husband. Christ to be my husband. His
people to be my people. I want to be a child of God,
whether I have a child or not. My son-in-law said this before
they had children. He said, God, don't give me a
child unless it's one of your elect. What a good prayer, isn't it? Oh, I hope the Lord honors that.
That prayer. But that's what she said to Naomi,
and that's what every one of God's people say, whether I'm
married or not married or have children. None of that matters,
because you know what? We're all going to be left childless
one of these days. We're all going to be without
husbands and mates someday. It's going to come someday that
those that are married will be as if they've never been married
before. And those that had children, if they didn't belong in God's
family, then one thing matters. Not if you have children, are
you a child of God. Not if you are married and have
a husband, is Christ your husband. That's all that matters. I'm
telling you, that's all that matters. And if your children
are in the kingdom of God, bless God. If not? But all of us are spiritually
barren. Now look at verse 4. Fear not, thou shalt not be ashamed,
neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame. Thou shalt forget the shame of
thy youth. and shall not remember the reproach
of thy widowhood any more, the shame of thy youth." In those
days, the only hope for a young lady, a young female, there was
only one hope, is she get married. Otherwise, it's going to go bad. She's not going to earn it. She's
not going to have anything. No one will provide for her.
She'll have to stay home with her parents all her days and
be provided for. Women were just second-class
citizens. They weren't allowed to have
anything. No inheritance whatsoever. And somebody had to take care
of them. They could not fend for themselves. So for a young
lady to be unmarried, their only hope for a home, only hope for
happiness, only hope for their general welfare and have possessions,
was to have a husband. If not, they're going to live
in shame all their days. as one who nobody wanted. And
they're going to grow up to be what we call an old maid that
nobody wanted, that nobody would have as a bride, that no one
would choose. Sing. Everybody smile with me. This
is who Christ came for. Do you understand me? He didn't
come for the beautiful, the lovely. He came for the forlorn, the
ugly. None that nobody wanted. The outcasts, like that child
in Ezekiel's field, Ezekiel 16, that's who Christ came for. The
ugly, because they're made beautiful by His comeliness. It glorifies
Him to marry such an ugly bride. Young? Ashamed? There are many in here, including
myself, who are ashamed of your youth. Aren't you? Male and female. Ashamed of some
things that you did in your youth that you will never forget. And
you wish you'd never done it. And you'll never get over it.
Live in shame, don't you? Everything's forgiven. Everything's
under the blood. All matter of sin is forgiven,
isn't it? But you can't forget it. You cannot forget it. Young
people, listen to me. I want you to listen to me. Young
people, everybody, listen to me now. Don't do anything that you'll
be ashamed of later. Beware. Young ladies, young men, give
yourselves outside of marriage, and you'll live in shame. And you'll never get out of your
head and out of your mind, will you? Don't live in such a way
that you'll be ashamed of it later, ashamed of your youth,
and regret it. How to live where there'll be
no regrets. That's humanly impossible, isn't
it? Hmm. Shame. But all through the Scriptures,
it talks about those that believe Christ, those that trust Christ,
shall not be ashamed. Not be put to shame. David said,
listen, and those I was just talking about, shame of your
youth. David said, remember not the sins of my youth. Pray that,
Lord, please forgive what I did yesterday. I'm ashamed. Sing. Sing! Why? It's blotted out. It's clear. No record. No record on God's book. God
doesn't see it. He said there are sins and iniquities. They'll never forget it. They'll
always think on the shame. They always will, as long as
they're on this earth. They'll think, but I'll remember
no more. No more. The only way you can get over
the shame is to trust Christ. That's right. Look at verse 4,
your widowhood, widowhood. And as said, you know, if you're
married, one of you is going to die first. Right? It's got to happen. Men and I
all the time hope and pray, Lord, take us both the same time. Last night she fell asleep and
I said, you awake? No answer. You awake? You awake? I thought, she's dead. I told
her about that this morning. She said, oh, wouldn't that have
been wonderful? I thought, not without me. Wouldn't you love
to have gone up with Mark, with Mac? The grief, the loneliness. I haven't been through that.
We've got how many? Six widows. Six. Married a long time. My mother
and dad were married 73 years. That's a long time to be a son.
You get pretty attached, don't you? And I guarantee you Nancy
and Margaret and Sarah and Roberta and Bonnie, they all still miss
them. Still wish they were right there,
don't you? Still do. Sing. Sing. You've got a husband. He'll never leave you or forsake
you. He's providing for you. You're not alone. You're not
alone. Oh, no. You're not alone. You know it,
don't you? You know it. How could you have gone through
that, Margaret? How could you have gone through that, Sarah?
Because you're not alone. Because your Maker is your husband. He said, I betrothed you to me
before you were born. I paid for you. I bought you
with a price. You're not your own. You're mine.
He said, you're not for another. You're mine. And I'll never leave
you. You may leave me. Which brings
me to divorcees. Look at it here in our text. Six, the Lord hath called thee
as a woman forsaken, grieved in spirit, a wife of youth who
was refused, who was divorced, as one not wanted anymore. Some men think you shouldn't
bring up these things. It makes people feel so guilty
and puts a burden on them. No, we've got young people who
are not married yet. And I got to talk about divorce.
Got to. Got to warn. I got to tell them
what God says, don't I? And every one of these people
who have been divorced, and we've got twelve or fourteen people
who have had. Every one of them would want
me to warn their children, wouldn't you? Don't you? God says so. Do it. Divorce is a horrible
thing. Terrible thing. It's not normal. I know what they say. Last week
we talked about homosexuality and transgender and divorce.
That's not normal. God forbids it. God condemns
it. It's a terrible thing. You love
somebody and love turns to hate, doesn't it? Terrible thing. Unity, inseparable. Now you can't stand to be around
each other. It's a terrible thing. It brings
such a reproach on your testimony. Peace, a home full of peace,
and then you have nothing but war and fighting. A home where
you desire, you can't wait to see the person, and you can't stand aside of
them. It's horrible, isn't it? What brings about it? Why did
it happen? Sin. You've got two sinners. My dad used to say if two professing
believers are married and they can't get along, something's
wrong with one of them or both of them. One of them's lost or
both of them is. I've got to deal with it. It's
a terrible thing. Terrible thing. And you know,
most of the time, And sometimes the only reason that people can
give is irreconcilable difference. You've heard that. What's the
reason why you all separate? Irreconcilable difference. What
that means is we don't want to get back together again. I don't
want to be with this person ever again. I can't stand the sight
of them. Isn't that horrible? Terrible. Terrible. It's very rare for two divorced
people to be reconciled and remarried. Very rare thing. Very rare thing. See, every one of God's people, before
God does a work of love and mercy and grace in their hearts, they
can't stand the sight of the churchhouse. They don't want
to hear about Jesus Christ. They see in Him no form or countenance,
no beauty that they should desire in Him. They don't love the sound
of His voice. It's noise to their ears. Oh no, I don't want Him. I don't want Christ. I don't
want this religion. I don't want that. I want the
world. I want my lovers. I want to be
out here doing all this. But God. This is why he's saying
now, he chose you. You didn't choose him. He didn't
ask you, will you have him as your lawfully wedded husband.
There was no ceremony that you were around asking you if you
do. Oh no, the husband of all his
bride took that vow before the world began. We weren't even
born yet. And God said, will you take this
forlorn woman who will not have you and come to you? He said,
I will. Do you promise to go down there and love her and redeem
her and buy her and bring her to yourself and do all and be
made sin for her and pay her punishment and pay her debt and
pay her, you know, to bear her shame? Do you promise to do this? I do. She's not going to have you.
Yes, she is. Now, she'll divorce you if she
had to. Nope, there ain't no writ of divorce that's going
to be found, he said. Where is it? Find it. Find it.
It won't alter it. He said here, the covenant, verse
10, that I made concerning you, my covenant of peace, my kindness
will not be removed. Yes, it's a rare thing for two
divorced people to get married again. I've seen it happen. for
two people at odds to be reconciled again. But I've seen it happen.
And it takes the grace of God to do it. And it takes greater
grace than that for God to bring somebody to reconcile them to
Himself. Take a hater of God and make
them a lover of God. To take ones, I will not come,
to say to them, would you have me? Will you please? Is that you? That's me. Sing, sister. Start singing. If that's you. You see, who's this applied to?
Who's all this applied to? Sing. Sing. Sing. Why? How did this all come to
pass? You know, Isaiah 54 follows what? This wasn't written in chapters
and verses. It was a book. to be read all the way through,
from the start to finish. Alright, right before Isaiah
54 is Isaiah 53. Right after Isaiah 53, he says,
Sing! You know how this all happened?
You know how we were reconciled to God? You know how He brought
this divorcee to Himself, back to Himself? You know how He makes
a widow to sing, a childless, a barren sent her to sing of
His mercy. Verse 1 of chapter 53. Look at
it with me. How many times have we heard
it? Here's who can sing. Here's who's
going to sing. Who hath believed our report? I have. Sally? I wish women could
stand. Come up here and stand with me.
We've believed this report, haven't we, Sister Sally? Sarah, Kate,
Tammy, Deborah. Margaret, Mindy, Elizabeth. I believe this report. It's a
true report of all that they've said. All that the prophets said. All the apostles said. It's true.
It's all true of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I believe
I've heard the report. To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? I say this all the time. I have
to bring it up. Right there it is. False religion
across the board. It doesn't matter if it's Catholic,
Baptist, Methodist. They all say God has no hands
but your hands, no feet but your feet. God can't do anything. He's a quadriplegic. That is not the God of the Bible.
That's a God who God can't save unless you let him. That means
he cannot save. As God The Scripture says He's
made bare. Chapter 52 says He's made bare
His holy arm. What is it? Not a what, it's
a who. God does have hands and ain't yours. God does have feet
and they're not yours. God did walk this planet. His
name is Jesus Christ. He's not this poor Jesus standing
outside hoping you'll let Him in. Oh, He's an ugly husband
hoping his beautiful bride will accept Him. No! It's the other
way around. He's on the inside and his body
is knocking on the door. Will you please have me? This is the arm of the Lord.
This is the sovereign God of the Scripture. This is a Jesus
Christ who is altogether lovely to God and His people. To the
world, He's ugly. Not to His people. He was ugly
as a man. No form. No comely. Nobody desired
Him. He spit in His face. And He peeled
back that plain brown skin and send it on the right hand of
God, and he's the most beautiful person in the universe. And all
his ugly people look on him and say, he's lovely. We're ugly. He's sovereign. We're nothing. And it's up to him. Completely
and totally up to him. Will you save me? Oh, his arm's
not short, is it? That he cannot say. We sing that
song, when he reached down for me, and the dung heap, that's
where all his people, and set him on the right hand of the
princess, sing. You see, when I say sing, you've
heard the report. This is life eternal that they might know
Thee, the only true God, God who is God, who God let you know
He's God, not a God you let be God, a God who let you be His
child. This is eternal life that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ who He
sent to do a work of redemption. Did He do it? All the way back
in chapter 42, Isaiah said, He shall not fail. What's He going
to do? Redeem His bride. Read on with me. You grow up
as a tender plant. This is the tree of life. See
that? It's the tree of life, the seed,
the incredible seed, planted by God in this earth. Earthy,
a tender plant, the tree of life, a root out of dry ground, water
in a thirsty place. I need another hour. No form,
no comeless, we seem, no beauty. That was me. Wasn't it you? Despised and rejected. And people,
if you ignore someone, you despise them. People that ignore God
don't come to worship and ignore Christ, ignore the message. That
means they despise Him. They don't care if He lived or
died. Doesn't it? That's exactly what it means.
He died, I don't care. He lived, it makes no difference
to me. Despised and rejected, a man
of sorrow is acquainted with grief. We hid as it were our
faces from him, despised, esteemed him not. No estimation, no high
estimation, no regard, not interested. No beauty, I don't see anything
in him that I need. Sing. One day, you heard this report. You heard this message. And God caused you to see His
face by faith. Look at verse 4. He had borne
our griefs and carried our sorrows. We did esteem, stricken, smitten
of God and afflicted, but He was wounded for our transgression.
You know what transgression means? It says it four times in these
verses. Four times. And we talk a lot about sin here,
don't we? We can't hardly preach or teach
God's Word. Can't hardly bring it up without
bringing up sin. Why? Because that's why Christ
came. He came in this world to save
sinners, transgression. Now it's not just people. My
dad used to say, God doesn't send people to hell for stealing
a watermelon. Back when he was a boy, you know, that's about
all the trouble you could get into in South Alabama was stealing
a watermelon. He said, that's not the crime. It's hating God's Son. He's not wanting to have anything
to do with God's Son. What people hated your son. What
people took your son and brutally beat him and killed him and said,
spit in his face. What would you think? What would
you do? They tried to kill the child. They tried to kill him as a baby.
Pharaoh did and took all those babies trying to get to Moses. He was wounded for our transgression.
He was smitten, stricken, smitten, stricken, and afflicted of God. He was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquities.
Verse 5, the chastisement, the whipping, they beat our Lord
with stripes. With His stripes, we are healed. And so we sing. Who's the we? Who's the us? Who sings? Who can sing this from the heart?
Verse 8, For the transgression of my people was he stricken. God's people who know God, who
fear God. Worship God in spirit. Rejoice
in Christ. God's people. That's those who
had Christ revealed to them. Who He is. Why He came. What
He did on Calvary's tree. What they are. Barren. Ugly. Forsaken. Unclean. Transgressor. That's what I was getting at.
Transgressor means a rebel. That's what it means. A rebel. causing nothing but trouble. Transgression. He was oppressed.
Verse 7. He opened not his mouth. He was
brought as a lamb to the slaughter, to the altar of God's justice. As a sheep before her shearers,
our Lord spoke not a word. As a lamb before her shearers
is dumb, Scripture says. He opened not his mouth. He became
his people. sin for them. Bore their shame in his body. Taken from prison. That's where
we belong. That's where criminals belong.
They put him in prison. Who shall declare his generation?
He was cut off out of the land of the living. Cut down like
a tree for the transgression of my people. Verse 9, he made
his grave with the wicked, crucified between two thieves. Why? Because
Scripture said so. Why? Because one of them belongs
to him. With the rich in his death, given
a rich man's grave, a grave that no one had ever laid in. We know why he did that. He did
no violence, no deceit in his mouth, holy, harmless, separate
from sinners. But he became sin. Yet, but God. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. Verse 10, he put him to grief. God did. He made his soul
an offering for sin. And when God sees that offering,
he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days. The
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. The seed of God
is Christ. The seed of Christ is his people.
They come from him. He bore them in His body like
our sin. He shall prolong His days over
in another place, it says, His years without end. He had a few
more days on the earth after this. The Lord stayed after He
arose 40 days on the earth. The Lord prolonged His days,
but of His years, no end. His government, no end. Without
end. Without beginning. Without end.
Alive forevermore. And it says in verse 10, don't
you love this? The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in His name. What's that? It pleased the Lord
to make you His people. You cannot be His people unless
Christ died for you. You cannot be with God someday
unless Christ died for you. You cannot. You cannot be His
bride unless He came down to purchase you. Pay the price for
you. Buy you to Himself. Did He do
it? Yes, He did. Sing. Sing. You'll see, verse 11, "...that
travail of his soul be satisfied." Is God satisfied with what Christ
did? Oh, yes, He is. Are you? Is God satisfied with you? That's the right answer, Sally.
Yes. Why? Because of Christ. You've got to substitute. Oh,
Jacob. Remember the story? Jacob came
to his father. He's going to see me. He's going
to smell me. He's going to feel me. He's going
to hear me. He's going to know it's Jacob. It's not the elder
brother. It's not the one who has the
right to be blessed. He's going to find me out. No,
he's not. His mother said, ìNo, heís not.
If he does, Iíll bear the curse.î Did he? No. He blessed him. You come by Christ. You come
through Christ. Your sins wonít find you out.
They were laid on ground. That good? Sing! Somebody sing! Youíll justify many. Justify. You know, surely shall one say
in the Lord, Righteousness. Here's one. The Lord I've been
justified. By His knowledge. His knowledge
of the law. He knew it. He kept it. Every
job. Every task. Our righteousness. The Lord our righteousness. He
bore our iniquities. Verse 12. And so He divides this
portion with the great. Does that trouble you? The great? Divide the spoil with the strong.
You say, I'm not great. I'm not strong. If Christ is in you, if you have
faith in Christ. In Hebrews 11, he mentions all
those people, doesn't he? Who died in the faith. The hall
of faith, we call it. Every one of them. God is commending
their faith. Every one of them. They all died
in the faith. He never brings up one single person's faith. Not Samson. Not Abraham, not
any of them. Never brings up their sin. The
only one he mentions is Rahab the harlot. But anyway, he never
brings up anybody's sin. It's like they've never sinned.
It's like they were all their lifetime full of faith and strong
in the faith. Abraham, he was afraid. God said, nope. If he has any
faith at all, his faith is strong enough, to
be one of God's people. If he's a great sinner, he's
got a great Savior and a great salvation. And he's great. And God's not going to let anything
happen to him. Sing. Sing. He's numbered with the
transgressors. He bare the sin of many. He made
the intercession for the transgressors. So saying, you barren, so I don't
have anything. Hold on now. Do you trust Christ?
You widows, you have a wonderful eternal husband. You fatherless,
oh what a father we have. Oh what manner of love. You divorcees, he'll never leave you and you'll
try to leave him, but he'll come and get you. You've forsaken? He said, I will never forsake
you. Ever. Ever. You sinners, you
transgressors, you rebels, sing. Now sing. So let's sing 488. 488.