Alright, as I said here in Isaiah
chapter 63, this is the prayer of the remnant. And the foundation
of this prayer is the first six verses, which sets forth in prophecy
the glorious person and work of the Messiah in all that He
would come to do both in His first coming to save His people
from our sins, and in his second coming, to come again and gather
his church unto himself and to judge his enemies. Beginning
at verse 7 is the prayer of the remnant. The book of Isaiah speaks
a lot of the remnant. What is that remnant? What it
is speaking of in the remnant is out-of-the-nation Israel and
all of their rebellion and depravity and unbelief and even idolatry,
all of their straying away from the Lord. It seems that God,
in His sovereign pleasure and goodwill, always preserved out
of that nation a small remnant of people, true believers, sinners
chosen by the grace of God, justified by the blood of Christ, redeemed
by His blood, and regenerated. That remnant. This remnant was
first mentioned over in the book of Isaiah, chapter 1, when God
was bringing an indictment against Israel, who was religious but
lost, And he says in verse 9, he said, here's how bad it had
gotten in Jerusalem and in Judah and in Israel. He says in verse
9 of Isaiah 1, except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very
small remnant, we should have been as Sodom and we should have
been like unto Gomorrah. And when you think of Sodom and
Gomorrah, you think of infamous, perverted sin and sinners who
deserve punishment. And you think of this, God destroyed
the whole mess of that people. He spared only Lot and his family.
And that's what God's telling Israel through the prophet Isaiah.
That it is so bad in Israel, even in their religion, even
in their ceremonies, they had lost sight of the truth. They
had lost sight of the purpose of everything that God had given
them in the law of Moses. to bring them in as guilty sinners
and drive them to Christ and His blood and righteousness for
all salvation. And God said, essentially in
Isaiah 1, I'm sick of it. And He told Isaiah, you tell
them, He said, except for that small remnant of people whom
God preserved out of that nation, who believed in Him and who trusted
in Him and His grace and looked forward to the Messiah's coming,
He said it would be just like Sodom and Gomorrah, no different.
It would be just a total destruction of the whole race. The next time
the remnant is mentioned is in Isaiah chapter 10 and verse 20,
where it says, "...and it shall come to pass in that day that
the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of
Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them." In
other words, they are not going to be fixed upon the one who
is trying to kill them. But shall stay they'll be fixed
upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel in truth." They'll focus
upon Christ. They'll focus upon the God of
salvation, the God of power. And then another time it's mentioned
is in Isaiah chapter 37 and verse 32. It says, "...for out of Jerusalem
shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of Mount
Zion, the zeal of the Lord of hosts, shall do this." So in
other words, when the whole nation perishes, when the whole nation
goes in, there will be a remnant, a small part. Paul used that
to explain God's dealing with the Jews under the Old Covenant
as he wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit in Romans chapter
11. And he was describing that God had not failed to keep a
promise. It was not that God was unable
to do what He wanted or said He would do. But they had to
understand that out of that nation there was just a small remnant.
And he defined it this way. He said it's a remnant according
to the election of grace. Now, my friend, don't ever, don't
ever think of or talk about or try to teach or witness the doctrine
of election in a negative sense. Because it's the election of
grace. And if it were not for the election of grace, there'd
be nobody saved. Isn't that right? There will
be no one saved. And he calls it a remnant according
to the election of grace. Well, this remnant out of the
world includes both Jew and Gentile, spiritual Israel. So as we look
at this prayer, keep that in mind. This is the prayer of the
remnant. Back over in chapter 60 and 61
and 62, leading up to this, Isaiah told that Zion is to have a future
glory. They are going to be going into
captivity in Babylon. But that's not going to be the
end of the nation. Eventually, they would be destroyed, this
earthly nation. But that's not going to be the
end of the spiritual nation. There is a future glory. And
we've been told of the power and the grace and glory from
where that future glory comes. It doesn't come from the people.
It doesn't come from man. It comes from God through his
Messiah. It comes through Christ. And that's Israel's future glory.
Listen, it's the coming and the finishing of the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And you know that's our future
glory, too, because if it weren't for that, we'd have no future.
We'd be of all men most miserable. Well, here in chapter 63, again,
the six verses, we're told that the Messiah would come both to
save His people from sin and to judge the nations. And in
the remainder of this passage, this section, Isaiah himself
offers an intercessory prayer. He intercedes for the remnant. And what he does, he offers this
prayer as a representative of the believers, the true believers
in the company of Israel of his day. And the theme of this prayer,
he's already said in verse 7, I will mention the loving-kindnesses
of the Lord. That's the theme of it. God's
grace, mercy. His loving kindnesses, not without
His justice, but in light of it. He says, God's merciful dealings
with Israel in the past are encouragements for sinners to look to the future.
Look to the coming of Christ. Your hope, Israel, is in the
Lord. God who has worked in the past
is able to work in the present, and He will work in the future.
Remember the former things of old. That was stated before in
Isaiah chapter 46. God who declares the end from
the beginning, then He sets forth that great gospel statement about
how He's going to send the Son into the world, His Christ. He's going to bring near righteousness.
It will not be a far off. God who's worked in the past,
we should always acknowledge this in our prayers. That's why
when we pray, when we're inspired by the Holy Spirit in prayer,
when we're driven to prayer, What we should first acknowledge
is our sinfulness and our undeservedness of the least of God's blessings
and the greatness of Christ. Hebrews chapter 4 teaches that.
As we pray, we pray because we have a great high priest who
has passed through into the heavens, Jesus Christ, who was tempted
like as we are yet without sin. He was touched with the feelings
of our infirmities. He knows what we're going through.
And so we pray in His name and for His sake and upon the ground
of His finished work. Look at verse 9 now. He says,
remember in verse 8, He said, Surely they are My people. God
owns His people. He's not ashamed of us. We have
a lot to be ashamed of, but Christ is not ashamed of His brethren.
Why? Because of His grace. Because of His glory. And He
says, Children that will not lie. That's speaking of the conviction
of a purified heart, purified by faith. Coming clean with God
and with men. I'm a sinner. I have no right,
no title, no reason for God to save me in myself. And that's
no lie. But God saved me by His grace
and by His mercy in Christ. That's the truth. And that's
what He's talking about. So He was their Savior. This
is evidence that He's your Savior. Who did He come to save? He came
to save His people from their sins. What did He say? If I be
lifted up, I'll draw all men unto Me. That's all His people.
All men aren't drawn unto Him. There are many who don't even
think about Him, who reject Him and rebel against Him. But He's
going to draw His people. And so look at verse 9. He says,
"...in all their affliction He was affliction." That's the identification
of Christ with His people. He says, and the angel of his
presence saved them. That's speaking of God's presence
with Israel throughout their history. And my friend, I believe
that all of those manifestations of the angel of his presence
were pre-incarnate visitations of Christ. And we know that from
the New Testament. For example, the rock from which
water came out. Paul says that rock was Christ.
The pillar of fire, the pillar of the cloud, all of that, you
see, was a manifestation of Christ, the presence of the glory of
God, the Shekinah in the tabernacle. That's Christ all through the
Old Testament. Listen, He began His work as
God-man, you see, in the New Testament, but He was already
working before that. He's God. He has no beginning
and no end. We need to understand that. And
then he says, in his love and in his pity, he redeemed them
and he bared them, he carried them all the days of old. They
would have been obliterated. I tell you what, they would have
been obliterated on the shores of the Red Sea if it hadn't been
for God bearing them and carrying them. You know what they did,
you know, when they murmured and complained, said, let's go
back to Egypt. They would have been assimilated into Egypt.
Just like the Northern Kingdom years and years and years later
was assimilated into the Assyrian Empire. You never see them again.
And I know people have legends and they have myths about the
lost tribes of Israel. But let me tell you something
about their lost. You're not going to find them. I don't care
how much blood you check and test. DNA. It's not going to
happen. Because that was God's purpose.
Well, God bore them. So, here's his identification
with his people. Now, that's pictured in the Old
Testament as it was he who was with Israel in the wilderness.
He led them up out of Egypt. He brought them into the promised
land. It was he who was there when
David was king and when Solomon was king. And finally, when God
departed from them, it was he who departed. But he proved himself
to be their savior by the fact that he was afflicted in all
their afflictions. He went through it with them.
He identified with his people. Ultimately, He came in time and
He was afflicted in our stead. He was afflicted for our sins. He was killed as a sacrifice
for the sins of His people. And what an identification that
is. He identified with His people in our name and in our nature,
that is our human nature, without sin. And He died on that cross
to establish a righteousness for us. And it is he who is afflicted
when his people are afflicted. Do you remember when Paul met
him on the Damascus road? What was Saul of Tarsus doing
on the Damascus road? He was going to a rest to try
and ultimately kill Christians. And you remember when the Lord
spoke to him, you remember what he said? Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou them? Me. You can't persecute his people
or speak evil of his people without speaking evil of him. That's
how He identifies with us. Every time one of the members
of the body of Christ is touched, Christ is touched. In their affliction,
He was afflicted. And in all our affliction today,
He's afflicted. You know, that's just as true
today as it was back then. And whether one member suffers,
that's why the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write this, when one
member suffers, all the members suffer. One body, one head, Christ. When one member rejoices, all
the members rejoice. And that's why I told the men
in the back, I said, I know y'all have heard about my new grandson,
but I don't mind mentioning him again, because I know y'all rejoice
with me. But you see, maybe not as much
as I do, but you do rejoice with me. But you see, this is the
body of Christ. This is not just 13th Street
Baptist Church. We need to understand this. This
is the body of Christ. And this truth includes every
sinner who believes in him by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Now, he says, "...and the angel of his presence saved him." Now,
in verse 10, he goes on with this prayer. And look at what
he says here. Now, this verse has really wrapped a lot of commentators
around a pole to try to figure out what it says. And people
will take verses like this and they will try to build doctrines,
draw conclusions that other scripture will not fit. But listen to what
he says. Now, I want you to understand who is speaking here. This is
Isaiah the prophet. He is speaking by inspiration
of the Spirit. That's true. But it's a prayer
of the remnant. You know, a lot of times when
I pray, I pray for things in ways that maybe I shouldn't pray
for. You ever done that? And that's why we always have
to say, Lord, thy will be done. I may want something, but that
may not be his will. But look at what he says here.
He says, But they rebelled, verse 10, and Vex troubled his Holy
Spirit. That's God the Holy Spirit. Don't
let them tell you that the Trinity was not taught in the Old Testament.
It was. It is. God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit. So they rebelled, and Vex troubled
his Holy Spirit. Therefore he was turned to be
their enemy. And he fought against them. Now,
first of all, before I go into some of this, listen to this.
Over in the book of Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 30, you can
mark that down, Paul mentions this. He says, "...grieve not
the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of
redemption." Grieve not the Spirit. What does that mean? Well, as
you know, and I know, The Scripture many times uses human language
to describe hard concepts, things that we can't understand. For
example, God. Let me show you what I mean.
There are three responses in the Bible for a believer to the,
well, three responses, period, to the Holy Spirit. You know,
there's a general call of the Gospel, and then there's the
powerful, invincible call of the Spirit where He convicts
a sinner of sin. Well, there are three possible
responses. Listen to this. Number one, as an unbeliever,
we may resist him, as they did the spirit by which Stephen spoke.
You remember, Stephen in Acts chapter 7, he says, you do resist
the Holy Ghost. What's he talking about? He's
talking about the general call of the gospel. By nature, we'll
all resist and reject. If God leaves us to ourselves,
the Scripture says, we'll resist and reject. That's why we must
be born again, not by blood, not by the will of man or the
will of men, but by God. It's the will of God, the power
of God. So that's one response. Secondly, as an individual, we
may grieve Him by doing that which is contrary to His Word.
And that's what Paul's talking about in Ephesians 4 and verse
30. You know, grieve. There, in Ephesians 4, is a love
word in the original language. It's an expression of love. You
see, if someone, for example, in this audience, whom you don't
really know very well, let's say, you may know their name,
and if they do something that was contrary to what you think
should be done or you desire to be done, You really wouldn't
be that particularly grieved. You don't really know them. But
let's say it's someone you know well. Someone you're close to. Someone you have a real binding
history and relationship with. Let's say they do something contrary
to your desire. Then you're really grieved, aren't
you? Then you're really grieved. And
that's what this means. If I should love you, And you
did something that was contrary to your best good or my best
good, I'd be grieving. It's a love word. And you see,
grieve not the Holy Spirit. We grieve Him because He loves
us. That's what He's talking about. And I'll be honest with
you. I cannot explain to you what it means to grieve the Holy
Spirit and the Holy Spirit Himself. I know it is a believer acting
contrary to the Word. But I know this. God never changes. Now, hold on to that thought.
Now, here's the third thing. In 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 19,
Paul uses this line. He says, quench not the spirit.
And that's addressed to the church, not to an individual. And it
refers to the preaching of the truth as it is in Christ, the
preaching of the gospel, the preaching of the Word of God.
And what he's saying there is this. When God's Word is preached,
when the gospel is preached, we're to hear it. We're to take
heed, we're to listen to the teaching of the Lord, and not
walk away unaffected. Because when you walk away unaffected,
you're quenching the Spirit. Now, look back here at Isaiah
63. He says, they rebelled. And he vexed his Holy Spirit.
Therefore, he was turned to be their enemy. Now, one thing I
know is this. That does not teach that there
is a change in God in His very nature. And I'll tell you how
I know that. I know that because I know who
God is. I know what the Scripture says about God. But Malachi chapter
3 and verse 6 says it plainly. He says, I am the Lord, I change
not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Now let me
tell you something. If you've got a God who changes,
then what does that mean? That means there's no salvation. I am the Lord, that's Jehovah
our Savior, I change not, therefore, based upon the immutability of
God, you sons of Jacob, sinners saved by grace, are not consumed."
So if God changes, what does that mean for me? It means I'm
going to be consumed. If God changes at my whim, if
God changes at my pleasure, If God changes at my request, or
if God changes at my behavior, what does that mean? It means
I'm a goner. You too. You mark it down. We change all the time. We're
moody people. Circumstances move us. They cause
us to despair, cause us to curse, cause us to do this, cause us
to do that. We get angry. We feel better.
All the time. You think God changes as we change?
You've got a problem. You've got a God-like unto yourself.
So this is not teaching that there's any change in God or
any turn in Him from love to hatred. He doesn't love His people
one second and then hate them the next. But He may, and sometimes
does so appear in His dealings with His people, seem to us to
change. And you see, that doesn't say
anything about his nature. That says something about our
nature. We think upon things, you know. Well, I had a good
day yesterday, so I felt God's love. But now today I'm having
a terrible day. I've lost everything. Now I'm
feeling like God hates me. And that's what's being expressed
in this prayer. Not the mutability of God. That would deny God. But the
changeableness of the sinner. And what he's teaching here is
this, is that as we change, God doesn't. And that's our hope. That's our stay. You think about
it. Job. You can read the book of
Job. You write down this verse. We'll
turn over to Job 13. Look at Job 13. You know Job
and his friends. They were going through quite
a bit. Job was going through quite a bit in his problems,
in his troubles. He didn't understand why. You
ever been there? Sure you have. We all have. Things
happen and I just don't understand why God is doing it that way.
And then sometimes things happen really bad and I get in a bad
way and I start thinking, and that's the problem there in those
areas. Well, Job was the same way. And
he began to try to justify himself and figure all this out. He couldn't
do it. And here's what he says. Now,
Job was a justified sinner. That's what the scripture says.
He was a man upon whom God had favor by grace. That's established
well in the first part of Job before any of this ever happened.
And when Job, when it first started, and this is something. You know,
if you look through the book of Job, and you say, well, you
know, What could be the worst thing that could happen to a
person here on earth? A man, let's say. You'd say,
well, to lose my family, to lose all my possessions, that would
be the worst thing that could happen. Well, you know, when
that happened to Job, do you know what he did? By the grace
of God and by the power of the Spirit, he said, the Lord giveth,
the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord. He didn't
complain. I'm sure he had a lot of emotional
problems and issues to work through, just like any human being. Job
was not a superman. He wasn't a super Christian.
He was a sinner saved by grace. But he did say that, and that's
recorded in the book of God. And he said it by the power of
the Spirit. And even when his wife despaired to the point she
said, just curse God and die, he said, no, no, no, no. Can't
blame God, he said. But then here these three fellows
come along in their religion and they start trying to figure
it out. And they say, now, Job, we've got to figure out what
you did wrong so that you can make it right and get God back
on your side. And Job began to reason with
them on that fleshly level, that worldly wisdom, and he got caught
up in it too. And he began to complain and
justify himself. And look what he says here in
verse 24, speaking of God. He says, wherefore, why hidest
thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy? Why, God, are
you hiding from me? Why do you look upon me as your
enemy? Well, now, you see, God wasn't
Job's enemy. Never had been. Job's standing
before God didn't change one iota. He said over in chapter
9, he said, I know my Redeemer liveth. It's a stand in the last
day. That's his standing in Christ
who was to come. But then he says, why do you
hold me as your enemy? Have you ever felt like God was your enemy?
Well, look back at Isaiah 6.2. That's what's going on here.
God hasn't changed. Sometimes in our sin and our
rebellion and our despair and our self-justifying, we look
upon Him as one. He says, therefore, he was turned
to be their enemy, and he fought against them. Now, whenever God,
listen to me. Do you know whenever God punished
the nation Israel, it wasn't as an enemy. When an enemy comes
at you to punish you, what's his goal? It's to destroy you. But you see, this When they rebelled,
you know, that included the elect remnant. I'm not saying that
every individual in the nation rebelled, but they were there
in that nation. When the nation was captured
and taken into Babylon, there were believers there with them
that went right with them. To them, it was considered as
the loving chastisements of God. Even when in their despair, in
their ignorance and in their sorrow, looked upon God as their
enemy. God doesn't change. But He often
appears to us to change. And when God fights against the
reprobate, it's for His destruction. But when God fights against His
people, it's for their salvation. Did you notice that there in
verse 10? It says He fought against them. You know, it's sad to know
that even God's children, those who are recipients of His grace
and love, will at times turn and rebel against him and his
word. Think about Jonah. God said go
to Nineveh. Jonah didn't want to go. So he
ran. Where did Jonah end up? Huh? He ended up in Nineveh. I bet
you were going to say he ended up in the belly of a whale. No,
he didn't. He ended up in Nineveh. But he had to get there by the
belly of a whale. Now, when you're inside the belly of a whale,
are you thinking God's my friend? But you know what? God was the
best friend Jonah had. And he ended up in Nineveh. Now
how Jonah saw it and how he thought about it, that's one thing. But
God didn't change. Think about David. When David
got in his despair and he lost the joy of his salvation. Why
did that happen? Because of David's sin. Was God his enemy? No. If God was his enemy, David would
have been utterly destroyed. But on his deathbed, he said,
this is all my salvation. It's ordered in all things insure.
Think about Peter when he denied the Lord three times and how
he despaired. But now here's something to think
about ourselves when we get in that way. For whatever reason,
God doesn't change. Somebody may ask, well, how far
can a believer go? I don't know. I just know this. You better get on your knees.
We better get on our knees and pray, Lord, lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil. Every one of us. Do you know this? When God fights
against his people, he does it for their good, sending afflictions
in the form of chastisement. Hebrews 12 teaches that. The
loving father. What father who loves his child
doesn't chastise him for his correction? And there are several
things to consider. Number one, there's a sense in
which we need God to fight against us. Do you know that? There's
a sense in which I need God to fight against me. I need Him
to fight against my sin. I need Him to fight against my
flesh. I need Him to fight against myself. Secondly, God sometimes
sends afflictions not as chastisements for sin, but as trials to prove
our faith. He did that to Job. He did it
to Abraham. And He does it to all His people.
Thirdly, not all sin is met with specific afflictions. If they
were, we wouldn't be able to hold up our heads. Do you know
that? Because we are continual sinners. I hear these preachers
say that God's people sin, but they are not continual sinners.
They are habitual sinners. They don't know what sin is.
And fourthly, sin can never condemn us. We can't even condemn ourselves. But sometimes we have to meet
with the consequences of our own bad behavior. Think about
Lot, what he had to go through. What about David? Many times
our prayers should be that God deal with us and our brethren,
but deal with us gently. You know what the worst thing
that God can do to a saved sinner, even in their sin and rebellion
sometimes, is leave them alone and let them go comfortably on
in their rebellion. God sends affliction. He sends
it to get our attention. He destroys our vain notions
and our vain ideas. The Lord graciously destroys
our self-righteousness. It's a continual thing. It's
a continual warfare. He stirs up the enmity of our
hearts by the application of His law, and He brings us down
that He may lift us by His grace and drive us more and more to
Christ and to Him alone for salvation. He kills us. He's going to make
us alive. He humbles us that He might lift
us up. He abases us that He might exalt us in Christ. And all of
this has as its goal to cause us to look to Christ, rest in
Him, and follow Him as His disciple. Look at verse 11. Here from verse
11 to verse 14, he goes back to the Old Testament. He says,
Then he remembered the days of old Moses and his people, saying,
Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd
of his flock? Moses was the shepherd of Israel.
Where is he that put his Holy Spirit within him, led by the
Spirit, you see, that led them by the right hand of Moses with
his glorious arm, dividing the water before them to make himself
an everlasting name? Who's he talking about? He's
talking about Christ here parting the Red Sea. Why? To make himself an everlasting
name that he might be remembered in his people. And he says, that
led them through the deep, verse 13, as a horse in the wilderness,
that they should not stumble. As a beast goeth down into the
valley, the Spirit of the Lord calls him to rest, so didst thou
lead thy people to make thyself a glorious name. Turn with me
to Hebrews chapter 13. I believe, and some commentators
will disagree, but some agree, that this is a direct reference
here in Hebrews 13, verse 20, is a direct reference to this
passage in Isaiah 63. Listen to it, Hebrews chapter
13, verse 20. And understand now, this proves
that even though they saw God as their enemy, He really wasn't
their enemy. You see? You remember that now?
It says, Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good
work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing
in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and
ever. Amen. What is he teaching us? No matter
how we see things, no matter how things are, if we are in
Christ, God is not our enemy. Never has been. Paul the Apostle
looks back to Isaiah, and he remembers how God took Moses
and the children of Israel, and how He took them down to the
Red Sea. Moses was their shepherd. They went down into the waters,
waters on each side of them, waters above in the pillar of
clouds surrounded by water, and they went down into the water,
and walked across on dry land, and they were led up by their
shepherd through that water to the other side in one of the
mightiest examples and manifestations of the power of God in the Old
Testament. But let me tell you something about one who's greater
than Moses. Let me tell you about a redemption
that's mightier and greater than that redemption from Egypt through
the Red Sea. Here's what the Holy Spirit's
teaching is using this as a type, the God of peace. who brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of
the sheep, one greater than Moses." See, Moses was the Shepherd of
Israel, but Christ is the great Shepherd of the sheep. Christ
is Moses' Shepherd. Moses went down into the Red
Sea. Christ went down into the Red Sea of His blood. He went
down into death, into the sepulcher. Moses led the redeemed of Israel
to the other side. Salvation on the other side.
Our Lord has gone down into death with His people. He's our substitute,
our representative. And of all who belong to Him,
the sheep of His flock and those given to Him by the Father, He's
brought them safely up out of death on the other side. They
shall be saved. Now with that in mind, look at
verse 15. Here he's in his prayer. He says,
Israel, look to the future. Look at it. Look down from heaven. Praying to God now. Look down
from heaven and behold, from the habitation of thy holiness,
from heaven itself, and of thy glory, where is thy zeal and
thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies
toward me? Are they restrained? Feeling
like he's been forsaken. But he hasn't been. You ever
felt like you were forsaken? Forsaken of God? But you haven't
been. You just need to listen to God's
Word. You're listening to yourself. Too much. You're listening to
what other people say. Too much. Just listen to God. And this is the way that he's
feeling. Verse 16, Doubtless, for sure, thou art our Father. He was the father of the nation
Israel in a national sense under that temporal covenant, but my
friend, he's the father of mercies to his people. He's our everlasting
father. Each and every individual who
is in Christ, who rests in him, can say, Abba, Father. Abba,
Papa, Papa. And he says, doubtless thou art
our father. Though Abraham be ignorant of
us, and Israel acknowledge us not. Now Abraham, And Israel,
that's Jacob, they were already gone and dead. Abraham knew that
there was a seed coming, but he didn't know these folks here.
But God did. A lot of things Abraham didn't
know, but God knows all, for He's decreed all. He's sovereign
in all. So he says, Abraham didn't know
me. Jacob didn't know me. But he says, Thou, O Lord, verse
16, art our Father. Abba, Father, our Redeemer, and
thy name is from everlasting." And you know what that means?
That means redemption can't be given and then lost. Once it's
given, it's there. You're redeemed by the blood,
you are redeemed eternally. And you know, if redemption could
be gained and then lost, then His name wouldn't be from everlasting.
It'd be on and off. If he changed, his name wouldn't
be from everlasting. Look at verse 17. He says, O
LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened
our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake
the tribes of thine inheritance. Now, you know what he's saying
there? It's kind of like us. We'll see people do things they
shouldn't do. We'll do things we shouldn't do. And we'll say,
why, God, did you allow me to do it or make me do it? Why do you let that go on? That's
the kind of language he's using. Well, why did the Lord? He says,
made us to err from thy ways. We know God's not the author
of sin, but we do know this when he talks about the hardness of
the heart. What is that in the scripture? It's what the Bible
calls judicial blindness. What does that mean? That means
it was It was God giving them for a time what they wanted and
what they deserved. Not in an eternal sense, but
in a way of chastisement. Somebody said, be careful what
you pray for, you just might get it. You see, God knows what we have
need of. Sometimes we don't. And then
notice the two appeals here for returning. When he says, God,
return unto me. Well, God never left. Sometimes
we lose sight of God. Sometimes we go astray. God never
leaves us. And He says, return for thy servant's
sake the tribes of thine inheritance. Look at verse 18. The people
of thy holiness, that is the people who are holy in Christ,
have possessed it but a little while. Take like Israel and the
land they possess. It's only been for a little while.
And people talk about today how they, well, they're getting it
back. Well, you better listen to the news. If they are, it's
news to me. They only had it for a little
while. Really, they only had it all, I guess, during the reigns
of David and Solomon, and then it became divided. But here's
the two appeals for returning. Number one, we're the servants
of God. We're chosen of God. We're His
inheritance. He bought us lock, stock, and
barrel. He says, our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.
They had no respect to God. They had no regard for the worship
of God. They had no regard for the truth.
But he says in verse 19, we are thine, we belong to you. Thou
never barest rule over them, they were not called by thy name.
Now what he means there is not that God doesn't rule over all
things, He does. God is sovereign over all things.
Even His enemies. Christ stood before the most
powerful man in Judea of His day, Pontius Pilate, the representative
of the heathen emperor. And he says, don't you know that
you have no power over me except it were given by God? And he
proved that over and over again. God is in control. He does have
rule over them, but what he is saying here is they don't acknowledge
it. They don't believe it. Caesar thought he himself was
God. He thought it was all his power
and his goodness and his wisdom. He wouldn't acknowledge God.
You see, this is a call for justice against
his enemies. And this is the prayer of the
remnant. Now we'll pick up in chapter 64 and go on with this
prayer, but that's something isn't it? What is he seeking
to do here? He's seeking to inspire and motivate
sinners to have confidence in God and His promise to send the
Messiah. To seek after the Lord and to
worship and honor Him. All right.