If you would, turn with me to
Isaiah 38. Isaiah 38. Isaiah 38, and for
now, verse 17. Behold, for peace I had great
bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it
from the pit of corruption, for thou hast cast all my sins behind
thy back. Now I want to turn to Isaiah
51 real quick. Turn there, Isaiah 51 and verse
one. Hearken to me ye that follow
after righteousness ye that seek the Lord Look unto the rock when
she are hewn and to the hole of the pit when she are dig Look to the rock when she are
hewn into the hole of the pit when she are dig These words
kind of remind me of the passage that Joe preached on on Isaiah
40, where we are told to cry, all flesh is grass and behold
your God. That from whence the people of
God are hewn by the handiwork of God is the rock. That rock
which when the storm comes, the house built on it shall stand. Those built on that rock are
hewn from it. They are part of that rock. Other
scriptures talk of this as the body, the church. These who are
hewn from this rock are those who were plucked up out of the
hole of the pit. They were digged out of this
pit. What is this pit? Death. We were in a grave and
God Almighty came by and digged us out of our grave. Ezekiel
37, 12 and 13 we read. Therefore prophesy and say unto
them, thus saith the Lord God, behold, O my people, I will open
your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and
bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the
Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought
you up out of your graves. We are dead to God. That is the
state of everyone born of Adam, dead. That is our problem. Dead men and women don't do anything. They don't even know they're
dead. They certainly cannot answer anyone if someone asks them if
they're dead. But here's the point. If all
of mankind is born this way, then there is no one to even
ask the question. Now concerning this thing about
being born of Adam, we certainly come from Adam. In the carnal
realm, we call this being stillborn because all of mankind is dead. Then one being born of mankind
is born dead, stillborn. And I'm talking spiritually,
I think that's obvious, because we're born alive, we're alive
right now, but as we're born in Adam, we're still born. Again,
we read in scripture in Ezekiel 16, four through six. And as
for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born, thy navel was
not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee, thou
wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None I pitied thee to
do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee, but
thou wast cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy
person in the day that thou wast born. And when I passed by thee
and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee,
when thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee,
when thou wast in thy blood, live. Sadly, we've seen this type of
thing before in our day, that is, you know, someone being,
a baby being cast out. It's not in open field most of
the time. We've seen it in trash dumpsters and so on. That in
and of itself shows the depravity of man. But that's what all of us are
by nature. We're dead, stillborn babies
out in the field, that's what that says. There in Ezekiel 16,
we have an account of a baby thrown out into an open field.
This is us. And you were in a place where
any and all could see. You had no way of defending yourself
and there was none to help. None could help. Who in this
earth born is any different than you? But God. When he passed by, this is God
looking for his sheep because this is said to be Jerusalem.
This is talking about the elect of God. It took God to pass by
looking for you before you could live. And it was his pleasure
to look upon those in love and saying to them, live. The reason
this could be done, that is the way in which it was possible
that God would be able to do this, that is justify the ungodly,
is for someone to die for their sin. We know from scripture that
sin is the transgression of the law, and we also know all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. We also know that
the soul that sinneth, it shall die. But even if we do not know
this, God has said it, therefore it is so. The law could do nothing
for us. Now me and Paul read something
from Gilbert Beebe and he wrote this and it was good and I wanna
read this. Our dead husband never blessed, but always cursed. Our living husband always blesses
and never curses. The former required everything,
but furnished nothing. The latter furnishes everything
freely and demands nothing in payment." The law, so to speak, comes to
us in our grave and it starts shoveling dirt in our face. But
God be thanked, he has ordained that some might be digged from
this pit, from this grave and pulled up out of that grave.
Now back to our text in Isaiah 38. Let's just go through this
passage to see what God tells us about this pulling from the
pit. So I have the following things. God's showing his people they
are in the pit. God causing them to cry out for
help. God hearing their cry. God pulling
them from the pit and then the rock from whence we were hewn. So number one, God's showing
his people they're in the pit. This passage gives us a look
at one being pulled from the pit, but it for sure shows us
who did the pulling from the pit. In fact, it shows us who
did the pulling and the state of the one being pulled from
the pit. What we have here, I believe, is the gospel. The gospel in
Isaiah, Joe. Although it may not have all
the details that we have in the New Testament as it concerns
the gospel, but the gospel is here. It first starts out with
Hezekiah being sick unto death. Now we've all heard the phrase,
I'm sick to death of this or that. This is not what this is
saying. This is a man who is, in this
passage, was actually sick and he was going to die. He was specifically
told he was going to die. But in this passage, we know
this is telling us about a sickness unto death that is spiritual.
We all die. Who is going to get around that?
No one. All of God's people come to this
point at some time in their journey here on this earth. God will
send you a messenger and in hearing that messenger, he, that is God,
this is God's people, will inform you by his spirit that you are
sick unto death. This sickness has only one place
it will take you, to death. But those who are one of God's
people will be visited by God, and this is what they will hear.
You will hear the word, Isaiah 1.6. Isaiah 1.6, that's not right. Yeah, Isaiah 1.6, I'm sorry.
From the sole of the foot, even into the head, there is no soundness
in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have
not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
His word comes to us by his messenger, and in grace, hearing of God's
law, we will be informed that we are sick unto death. Four,
the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Hear what God tells us in
Ezekiel 18, four. Behold, all souls are mine, as
the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine.
The soul that sinneth, it shall die. So who is it that has sinned? Romans 3.23. For all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. But listen, this is not
a community thing. It is true that every single
person born of Adam has sinned and come short of the glory of
God. We see here God specifically sending a messenger to one man,
a specific man. God will come to you in power
through his word and by his spirit, and he will convict you of sin. If he does not do this, then
you will not be convicted. We do not have to be concerned
about those who are not convicted. God will convict those whom he
is pleased. So that you will come to see
in your very soul that you are a dead man. You will see that
you cannot recover yourself from this state. So what does it cause
you to do? Number two, God causing them
to cry out for help. We have in this chapter of Isaiah
38 a man who was sick. He was sick unto death. This
was not just a feeling he had. He was told by the messenger
of God he would die. When he hears words of this message,
this messenger happened to be Isaiah here. After hearing these
words, the man Hezekiah turned to pray. Just as I said previously,
this is just like Cornelius did before God had fully revealed
himself to Cornelius. And I don't think I previously
said that. I think I moved that. But this man Hezekiah was praying
to God. It was just like Cornelius was
praying to God. It causes his people to cry out
for mercy and help. When God first comes to us in
power, we do not know if there will be help or not. We cry out
just like the leper did in Luke 5.12. And it came to pass when
he was in a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy, who seeing
Jesus fell on his face and besought him saying, Lord, if thou wilt,
thou can make me clean. This is the cry of all of God's
people when God comes to them. Now I want to come back to this
later. As I told you, we see the gospel here. So I will come
back to this, but for now, I just want to mention this. Our cries
are all because of another who in our place took our place so
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So what happens
once this one cries out? Number three, God hearing their
cry. Verse five of Isaiah 38. Go and say to Hezekiah, thus
saith the Lord, the God of David, thy father, I have heard thy
prayer, I have seen thy tears. God heard his cry, he heard his
supplications, or that is his prayers, just as Cornelius did
when he prayed having already been cleansed by God. He cried
out to God what to do in prayer. Those who come to God in a broken
heart and a contrite spirit, he will hear. Why is this? Because it is he that has given
this broken heart and contrite spirit. Just as he did with Hezekiah
and Cornelius. He informs them through his word
and by his messenger that he does hear their cry. God tells
them he will prolong their life. The answer comes to them that
instead of death, they shall have life. God deals with those
who are his. He does this by showing them
the hole of the pit from whence they were digged. So God pulling
them from the pit, this pit being the grave, Hezekiah begins to
remember the pit from whence he had been digged. Verses 10
of Isaiah 38. I said in the cutting off of
my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave. I am deprived of
the residue of my years. We begin to read of the writing
of Hezekiah about that which God had done for him. He tells
us that he was about to plunge himself deeper into the pit,
that grave. It was his time that God Almighty
was going to kill him forever and that he would be cut off.
Verses 11 through 14. I said, I shall not see the Lord,
even the Lord in the land of the living. I shall behold man
no more with the inhabitants of the world. Mine age is departed
and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent. I have cut off like a weaver
my life. He will cut me off with pining
sickness. From day even to night wilt thou
make an end of me. I reckoned till morning that
as a lion, so will he break all my bones. From day even to night
wilt thou make an end of me. Like a crane or a swallow, so
did I chatter. I did mourn as a dove. Mine eyes
fell with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed. Undertake
for me." But what does he finally come
to cry in verse 14? undertake for me. What does it
cause that one who has been shown by God his utter ruin and the
utter holiness of the God who he has offended? Verse 15, what shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me and
himself hath done it. The child of God admits to the
truth of the matter. It is God who has done it all. He speaks to us and it is only
because he speaks to us that we will ever know him. I do not
come to him seeking him. He comes to me in that time of
love when I am cast out into the open field. He speaks to
me. What does he say? Live. But it
also says here, he has done it. What do you suppose it is that
he has done? everything. The scripture says
that God is too holy to look upon sin. Sin is what I am by
nature. God cannot look upon me or speak
to me unless something causes a change for me and in me. It
is he that has done it. What does it go on to say, Isaiah
38, 16 and 17? Oh Lord, by these things men live. and in all these things is the
life of my spirit, so wilt thou recover me and make me to live. Behold, for peace I had great
bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it
from the pit of corruption, for thou hast cast all my sins behind
thy back. So who is it that did this? This
is the rock, the rock from whence we were hewn. the grace of God
who has done it all. He has cast all my sins behind
his back. There is nothing about the pit
that will allow a person to give glory and honor to God. It is
not possible. They must be pulled from this
pit. Isaiah 38, 18, for the grave
cannot praise thee. Death cannot celebrate thee. They that go down into a pit
cannot hope for thy truth. Oh, what darkness to be in a
pit, to be in a grave, to be dead and never know it. Oh, but
if he does something for us and to us, then there is hope. Being dead and in the grave,
we will not be able to praise the God of heaven. We cannot
rejoice in the word, mean to boast. We cannot rejoice in the word,
and the word means to boast. And what does it say? The, boast
on thee. Being dead in trespasses and
in sin, no man will be able to boast in God. Those who are of
this world who never are digged from the pit cannot and will
not ever hope for the truth of God. Who is the truth of God? Jesus Christ tells us He is the
truth, the way, and the life. No man comes unto the Father
but by this solid rock from whence some were hewn. The word for
hewn in Isaiah 51.1 means to cut or to carve. Another word
for it is to divide. So in being cut or carved or
divided, I can see several things in this. Being cut asunder by
his word, the word of truth, which is sharper than any two-edged
sword. But we are also divided. When
God is pleased at that time when we are in the open field and
he says unto us, live, what happens? We live. We are a new creature
in Jesus Christ. Second Corinthians 5.17 says,
therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things
are passed away, behold, all things are become new. We now
are divided, we have this old man still with us, but we are
in the new man and led by the spirit of God in that new man.
Now all of this must and is done by God. But we see something
else here in this account. This account which is God actually
dealing with a sinner. But we can see this rock who
in my stead took my place. In him doing this he sees all
my sin before him because he was made sin for me who knew
no sin. In verse three we read, and said,
remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee how I have walked before
thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which
is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. Now I
know this was Hezekiah saying this, I know that. God, later
on, did not even recognize what he had said here. But he does
recognize this from Jesus Christ. And we can cry this for sure.
Who can do this is not knowing fully who we are yet. But more importantly, we can
cry this because of what he has done. Us being in him, we can
say we have done this in him. But him taking our place, who
knew no sin, could say to the father, I have walked before
thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which
is good in thy sight. I think Walter said this in one
of his messages before, but we see in John 17 forward, I have
glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. He walked before God the Father
in truth. He was, after all, full of grace
and truth. He did this with a perfect heart,
and he did that which was good in the Father's eyes. But then
we read in 2 Peter 1, 17, we read, for he received from God
the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him
from that excellent glory, this is my beloved Son in whom I am
well pleased. But he also finished another
work when he died on that tree being made a curse in sin for
me. Can you see a rock there? Oh, how he was set to do the
will of the father and in doing so, he made it possible to show
mercy to those whom he died for. For it was the whole purpose
of the father to have a people for his name. So he himself took
on their debt, and what was their debt? The soul that sinneth,
it shall die. He cleansed me from all unrighteousness
by his own doing. It shows us this rock from whence
we were hewn, although it does not say all this specifically
in this passage. We know it is that rock because
it says that God did all the work. No matter what work it
is speaking of, God has done all the work. all the work to
satisfy the judgment against us, and all the work to bring
us to himself. It is that rock from whence we
were hewn that pulls us from the pit which we have dug. There
is no one who is born of Adam who will ever serve and worship
him unless God himself does something. Isaiah 38, 18 and 19 we read,
for the grave cannot praise thee. Death cannot celebrate thee.
They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The
living, the living, he shall praise thee. As I do this day,
the father to the children shall make known thy truth. What does
this cause the child of God to say? What will be the end result
of the work of God? that work that God does to a
man or a woman where they see their death and they see their
descent into the pit of the grave. Then God lifting them out of
the pit by the right arm of his strength, Jesus Christ. What
then is their speech then? Psalm 42 and three we read, he
brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry
clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my going. and
he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it and fear and
shall trust in the Lord. And this is what Hezekiah cried
out, and it sounds something like this, Isaiah 38 20. The
Lord was ready to save me, therefore we will sing my songs to the
string instruments all the days of our life in the house of the
Lord. We are told those who follow
after righteousness, those that seek the Lord, we are told, look
into the rock which you're hewn, and to the hole of the pit which
you're digged, Isaiah 51.1. If we try to look anywhere else,
then we will at least be miserable. But it could be that we are just
yet in darkness. I do not look to how much I know
in the scripture. There's far more in this book
than I can ever know. But if I miss the rock spoken
of in this book, that rock from whence I was hewn, then I have
not been hewn from this rock. If I try to look to what I do,
God help me. But if I look to what I do, I
am looking at filthy rags and attempting to show them off before
a thrice holy God. If I do not look, or that is
remember the pit, we're not told to go visit the pit, and we are
certainly never told to go back down into the pit. But we are
told to remember the pit from whence we were digged. This being
digged out of the pit is not something we did ourselves. It
was something someone else has done for us. We were digged out
of this pit, all the while we were screaming to stay in this
grave. If you wanna turn with me, you can turn with me to Job
33. I'm just gonna read a little bit. Job 33, verses 16 through
24. Job 33. Verse 16. Then he openeth the ears of men,
and silleth their instruction, that he may withdraw man from
his purpose, and hide pride from man. He keepeth back his soul
from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword. He is
chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of
his bones with strong pain, so that his life abhorreth bread,
and his soul dainty meat. His flesh is consumed away that
it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out.
Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the
destroyers. If there be a messenger with
him, an interpreter, one among a thousand to show unto man his
uprightness, then he is gracious unto him and saith, deliver him
from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom. We cannot look to ourselves and
we cannot look to another fallen sinner to pull us from this pit
or to keep us from going back into this pit. We have no strength
of our own. I love Walter and Joe, and I
do want to hear them proclaim this gospel about who pulls us
from this pit. But I cannot look to Walter and
Joe to do the pulling of me from this pit. Walter and Joe are
remembering the pit from whence they were digged and the rock
from whence they were hewn. As Earl used to say, if you look
to a preacher or if you look to any other fallen sinner, you
are leaning on a broken stick. You will come crashing down.
You know, a lot of people talk about growing in grace. There
are some who even speak of being progressively sanctified. We
do grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. I think
as we look to the rock from which we were hewn and remember the
pit from which we were digged, the growth we see is, first of
all, continual. It is a continual thing, not
a progressive thing. But I see this as, He must increase
and I must decrease. As I go along the way, I am revealed
from God's word more and more as time goes along that my work
is filthy rags in God's sight and that his work is everything
and is absolutely holy, just, and good. God help me to remember
the rock, that one who has digged me from my pit, amen. Dear Lord God, you are almighty,
all powerful. May you apply these words to
our hearts, dear Lord, and may it be that your son is in some
small way glorified, dear Lord, by these words. All these things
we ask in Christ's name, amen.