Let's open our Bibles to Isaiah
chapter 44. Continue our study this evening
in the Gospel of Isaiah. The title of the message is,
Return Through the Redeemer. Ever since Adam fell, men have
been trying to get back to God. It's hard for us to imagine.
We really don't have any idea what it was like for Adam in
the garden to have fellowship He walked with God in the garden
in the cool of the day. Man doesn't know anything about
that. But we know, inherently, we know we're missing out on
something spectacular. We don't have that presence of
God anymore. And the nature of man craves
the presence of God. We crave to be accepted by God. And we know we're not. We know
we're separated from God. So dead man. will do almost anything
some religious nut tells him to do if he thinks it'll get
him back to God. If he thinks that it'll make
God accept him, he'll do anything. But here's what man by nature
does not know. There's only one God and there's
only one way to Him. It's through the Lord Jesus Christ.
The only way we could ever be accepted by God is to come to
Him in Christ. Not anything we do, it's in Christ.
And man doesn't know that. You know why man doesn't know
that? Because we're dead. We're spiritually dead. And so
man, because he doesn't know the way to God, he's invented
many different gods, many different idols. Man has devised many different
ways to try to come back to God. And man has done this even though
the Word of God plainly tells us there's only one God. Look
at verse 8 of Isaiah 44. This is where we ended last week.
Fear ye not, neither be afraid. Have not I told thee from that
time and have declared it? Ye are even my witnesses. Is
there a God beside me? Yea, there's no God. I know not
any. There's only one God. Now, man
knows there is a God, but he doesn't know who God is. He doesn't
know what God's like. He doesn't know the character
of God. So he invents many different idols because man knows he needs
to worship something. And that's where we pick up in
verse nine. They that make a graven image, all of them are all of
them vanity. And their delectable things,
their desirable things shall not profit. And they're their
own witnesses. They see not nor know that they
may be ashamed. Look over Psalm 115. David told us about these men
who make idols. Men who make idols are just like
them. Isaiah says it, they're vain and empty. David said they're
both dead. Psalm 115 verse four. Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak
not. Eyes have they, but they see not. They have ears, but
they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell
not. They have hands, but they handle not. Feet have they, but
they walk not. Neither speak they through their
throat. They that make them are like unto them. So is everyone
that trusteth in them. They're all dead. And that's
what Isaiah is saying. These men who make these idols,
they're just like them. They're both vain. And they make
an idol. And that idol, sitting where
a man puts it, is its own witness. There it sits, silent. It never
says anything, does it? It's its own witness. It doesn't
have a word for it. There it sits. Right where a
man put it. He can't do anything. He's his
own witness that he's a powerless idol. He's powerless to say anything
or do anything. But now, that's not true of the
living God, is it? That's not true of the only God.
The living God, He's not dead. He's living. He is life and He
gives life to His people. Those who make idols, they're
just like their idol, aren't they? They're dead. God makes
His people just like Him. He makes them righteous and holy
and spiritually alive. I'll read on, verse 10. Who hath
formed a God or molten and engraven image that's profitable for nothing?
There's no spiritual profit in these idols. But now there is
in Christ. There's profit in Christ. There's
profit in hearing and believing the message of Christ. You know,
idols normally deal with the flesh. And there's no profit
to them, is there? There's no profit to the body,
the flesh. The flesh still dies. And then that idolater finds
out there's no benefit to the soul either in that idol. No
benefit. But oh, in Christ, there's profit
for your soul. There's eternal life and richness. Any of those fat things you read
about, there's profit for your soul in Christ. Paul told Timothy
in 1 Timothy 4, verse 8, he said, now Timothy, Bodily exercise
profit little. The bodily motions of religion,
and that's the worship of an idol. The worship of an idol
has to do with the motions of the body. All the motions that
you do, stand up, sit down, wave your arms, they profit little. There's no profit in that. But,
Paul said, godliness is profitable in all things. Having the promise
of life, which now is, and that which is to come. That's profitable.
He told Timothy in 2 Timothy 3 verse 16, all scripture is
given by inspiration of God and it's profitable. It's profitable
for doctrine, for proof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness. There's profit in this book,
profit in knowing God and worshiping him, but not an idol. Verse 11,
behold, all his fellows should be ashamed and the workmen thereof
Let them all be gathered together, let them stand up, yet they shall
fear and they should be ashamed together. There is nothing but
shame in worshiping an idol. There's shame in worshiping an
idol in this life. Look at the very end of verse
19. Shall I fall down to the stalk of a tree? That's what
idolaters are doing. That's shameful, but they don't
know it, do they? They don't realize their shame.
And in judgment, oh, they'll be ashamed. They'll be ashamed
because they're found guilty. They're ashamed because their
idol, the idol that they worship, the idol that they made out of
a stump of a tree, couldn't take their sin away. Couldn't redeem
them. They'll be so ashamed to be found guilty before the holy
eye of God. But now listen to me. There's
no shame in Christ. There's no shame in trusting
in Paul said in Romans 10 verse 11, whosoever believeth on him,
whoever you are, whatever you've done, whatever your background,
whatever sinner, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. No shame, no guilt, no condemnation
in Christ because Christ has removed it all. They're not an
idol. There's shame in worshiping an
idol. And idols are important to me. You want to find out how
important they are? Try to take them away. Now you
got a fight on your hand. They work hard to build that
idol, and they work hard to prop him up. Look at verse 12. he fitteth it with planes, he
marketh it out with a compass, and maketh it after the figure
of a man, according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain
in the house." Now there's a lot of skill went on there, isn't
there? A lot of skill, a lot of natural understanding that
went into making this idol. Men are using fires so they can
mold and shape metal into whatever shape they want. They use hammers
and tape measures and planes and compasses. I remember being
in elementary school using a compass. I wouldn't have the slightest
clue how to use one now. These fellows are pretty smart, using
all these things, you know, to make this idol. But what does
man's skill and man's intelligence make? Now what's the end of it?
They make something that's got to stand in the corner where
you put it, or it's got to sit on a shelf where you put it.
It can't move. It can't do anything. It can't
save. If it did have, I mean, it's just a stump of a tree.
It doesn't even have a will. But if it did, it couldn't accomplish
it. That idol sitting on the shelf can't even move to get
a better look out the window to see what's going on outside.
He's powerless, powerless. But that's not the God of this
book. God God puts His people where He will. Doesn't He do
that? Paul just read it to us. How
did Joseph wind up down there in Egypt? In the palace? How
did that happen? God put him there, didn't He?
God puts His people where He will. He's told His people here
in Isaiah, when King Hezekiah dies, you're going to go into
bondage. You'll be carried away. God put him there. What else
did God promise them? He'll deliver them and bring
them out when He will. Men don't move God around. God
moves men around. He puts them where He will to
accomplish His eternal will and purpose. A man has to use tools
to make his idol, doesn't he? Well, God uses something to make
His people. This is the tool. His Word. This Word is the seed
that God uses to give life. How's God going to feed and nourish
and strengthen His sheep? through the preaching of the
word. Just take the word and say what God says, and the sheep
will be fed. They'll be blessed. Now, more
than likely, nobody here would find themselves falling down
and worshiping an idol. More than likely it could happen.
But typically, you know, that's not the way somebody under the
sound of the grace goes, but it could happen. But I'll tell
you something just as bad. Whatever an idol is, it's the
invention of a man. Maybe it's not a stump of a tree.
Maybe it's this Jesus, this powerless, pitiful Jesus that wants to do
something that can't. That's just as much an idol as
a stump of a tree. Just as much. And that idol has
been invented from where? Not from God's Word. It's from
man's imagination. And men think, this is what God
should look like. I think that's what God should
look like because that seems sweet to me. I think this is
what God should look like because this is the best that I can imagine. I can promise you the best we
can imagine is nothing compared to how great God is. Absolutely
nothing. We can't begin to imagine how
awesome He is. Just His glory and His majesty. But men make up this idol and
they prop up their idea of God. They prop up that idol. and they
define him with their pet doctrines and they'll defend it to the
death. That's their idol. And they haven't invented an
idol any better than the stump of a tree. We're going to read
about this fellow Macon. That's all it is. But they make
him. They make him up from their own imagination. They bow down
to him. And here's how much they limit God. How do they make that
idol? In what image? In their image. We think so well of ourselves. We make a God in our own image.
Can you imagine such a thing? What pride and arrogancy of this
flesh. They make a God in the image
of dead, fallen humanity. And there can't be any salvation
there. The only thing made in our image
can be death. But now here's the difference in that idol,
the true living God. God makes His people. We don't
make Him. He makes His people. How many
times in these last chapters in Isaiah has God told us, I
formed my people. I made my people. Look at verse
21. He says, Now remember these,
O Jacob, and Israel My servant, for thou art My servant. I have
formed thee. I formed you. I made you. God
makes His people. When God created Adam, what did
God say? Let us make man in our image. And God made Adam a living
soul. And that's how Adam was made
in the image of God. He's a living soul. The animals
don't have a soul, but Adam did. That's how he's made in the image
of God. Well, that's very different than a man making an idol in
the image of dead flesh, isn't it? God made man in his own image. And God gives his people life
and spiritual life and birth. through the incorruptible seed
of His Word, making them just like Him. But here's all this
sin. God's still in the business of
saving sinners. God's still saving His people.
I know He is, because the gospel's still being preached. But in
the meantime, God's putting up with this sin and the just awful,
degrading, humiliating sin of this world. And I'll show you
why in just a minute. He keeps putting up with it.
Look at verse 14. He heweth him down cedars, and maketh the cypress,
and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of
the forest. He planteth an ash, and the rain
doth nourish it. Now you see what's going on here
with this idolater? He goes out and plants him a tree. He plants
him an ash tree. I guess ash won't rot, you know.
And he plants it. He plants this tree in God's
ground. This tree gets nutrients and
whatever it takes from the ground that God put there for this tree
to grow. And the Almighty sends rain to
fall on that tree, knowing full well what that man intends to
do with it. He sends rain on it. So the tree grows. And a
man takes it, what God made, what God gave life, and he makes
an idol out of it. Look at verse 15. Then shall
it be for a man to burn. For he shall take thereof and
warm himself. Yea, he kindleth it, maketh bread. Yea, he maketh the God, and worshipeth
it. He maketh it a graven image,
and falleth down thereto. He burneth part thereof in the
fire. With part thereof he eateth flesh. He roasteth a roast. Like
Janis cooking a roast. Oh, it smells so good. That's what he's doing with this.
He just catches fire making him a roast. And he's satisfied.
Yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, I am warm, I have seen
the fire, and the residue thereof. He maketh the God, even his graven
image. He falleth down unto it, and
worshipeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me, for
thou art my God. This is how low man thinks of
God. How low man thinks of religion. How low man thinks of his own
sin. He just thinks his sin can be
taken away with the residue of an ash tree. He cuts down this
tree and uses part of it to build him a fire to keep him from freezing
to death. He uses part of the tree to heat
an oven and he bakes bread and he gets that good hardwood. You
know how they do and they smoke him. He smokes him a good barbecue
so he won't starve. And then whatever's left over,
after he filled his belly and warmed his body, whatever it
is that's left over, he uses that to make him a God, an idol. His God is just leftovers. His God is just a residue. That's
what we think of our sin. We don't think very much of it.
We think just this residue is all it's going to take. Now you
see how foolish that is, but the fleshly man can't. because
he's dead, he's spiritually dead. And after a while, God will shut
his eyes so he can't see. You can tell him about the gospel,
you can tell him about Christ, but he can't hear, because God
shut his ears so he can't hear. Just like judicial blindness
that Israel's in today. Look at verse 18. They've not
known or understood, for he has shut their eyes that they cannot
see, and their hearts that they cannot understand. And none considereth
in his heart Neither is there knowledge or understanding to
say, you know, I've burned part of this in the fire. Yeah, I've
also baked bread upon the coals thereof and I've roasted flesh
and eaten it. And shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? Shall I fall down to the stock
of a tree? There's no man has no knowledge
that this, this is foolish to make my God a residue of my cooking
and cleaning and heating the house. Man has no knowledge of
that, so foolish, because he's dead. He can't see. And he never
will see. My friends, we ought to teach
the Word. We ought to teach the people.
But man needs more to be taught. He needs more than to be just
taught. He needs God to give him life
from above. When God gives him life from above, now he can learn. Now he can be taught. Now he
can see. Now he can believe. We need to
be given life from above. You can't be educated into this.
If you can be educated into this, you can finally make somebody
see this is foolish. But you can't be educated into
salvation. You can't be educated into Christ.
You've got to be born into it. Now look at verse 20. We're almost
done with these idolaters. Stay with me. He feedeth on ashes. A deceived heart hath turned
him aside. that he cannot deliver his soul
nor say, is there not a lie in my right hand? Now, when a person
eats ashes from a fire, there's something wrong with them. There's
something wrong with their mind. There's something wrong with
their body that they have a desire to eat ashes, something wrong
with them, they need help. Well, a person who worships an
idol, the idol of his imagination, he needs help. He's God's help. He's eaten the ashes of man's
religion instead of begging for Christ, the bread of life. And
he does that because there's something wrong with him. He
did. That's what's wrong with him.
Now, that's the spiritual condition of all mankind. That's the way
every one of us in this room would be tonight. We'd be idolaters
bound down to some statue in complete ignorance and complete
darkness. unless God does something for
us. I've got good news. God does indeed do something
for his people. Look at verse 21. Remember these, O Jacob and
Israel, for thou art my servant. I have formed thee. Thou art
my servant. O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten
of me. God has a people. What good news? God has a people. The Son came
and bought them with His blood. And God makes them new. The Holy
Spirit comes and makes them be born again. He forms them new.
These people were born in sin, but God formed them new. In the
new birth, He gave them a new nature and a new heart. He gave
them a nature that would serve Him. Adam wouldn't serve Him,
would he? Adam just had one rule, he wouldn't serve God. God gives
His people a heart, a nature that serves Him. follows Him,
gives you the nature of a servant. Now from time to time, to our
shame we have to admit this, from time to time we forget God.
That idolatrous nature is still in us. When you're born again,
that old nature, He's not changed. Not changed in the least. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh. He's still strong in us.
And we forget sometimes, don't we? But here's our comfort. God says He'll not forget His
people. He'll not forget. I think sometimes
of our loved ones with Alzheimer's and they've forgotten. Sometimes
they forget their own name, don't they? They forget their children.
They think their children are a nice lady and they'll come
fix their hair. Maybe they forgot, I don't know. But I promise you
this. They belong to Christ. God didn't
forget them. He did not forget. Now how can
God do that for His people? How can God give life to His
people in the new birth? We've got the same nature as
all these idolaters. How is God going to give us a
nature, a heart that will worship Him and serve Him rather than
this idol we made out of a stump? Well, it's not because God overlooks
the sin of His people. We need to get this thought out
of our head, God's not some fuddy-duddy, grandfatherly-like figure that
just says, oh well, they didn't mean it, you know. No, he does
not overlook the sin of his people. God gives his people life in
the new birth for this reason. God blotted their sin out. He
blotted it out in the blood of his Son. Verse 22, I have blotted
out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins, return
unto me. For I have redeemed thee. I love how God's word does not
gloss over our nature. You and I are sinners. That's
all we are. In this world, the best we could
ever hope to be is a sinner saved by grace. We're sinners. And
that's all we do. It's a continuous stream of sin. Every one of us here is just
as guilty of idolatry and every other sin as the people we read
about in verses 9 through 20, making these idols and falling
down to worship them. We're just as guilty. We're so
sinful. God's word compares our sin to
a thick cloud. Now there's a few ways I want
to give you here that our sins are like clouds. First of all,
the number of them. The number of our sins is like
the number of the clouds in the sky. Have you ever tried to count
clouds? I remember being a little boy
and trying to count clouds. I don't have the patience for
it now, but I remember laying there kind of looking. And here's
the thing about trying to count the clouds. Number one, they're
always moving, so it's hard to remember which one you counted
and which one you didn't. But clouds get bunched together,
and you can't tell where this one ends and this one begins.
You can't tell, is that one cloud or eight clouds? I don't know.
It's impossible to count the clouds in the sky. That's our
sin. You can't tell where one ends
and the next one begins. It's just one long string of
sin. Now our problem is not our sins. You can try to count your sins
plural, but that's not really our problem. Here's our problem.
Our problem is our sin. It's our nature. Sin is not what
we do. Sin is what we are. What we are
is the problem. It's a countless stream of sin
because that's what we are. But God says He's forgiven the
sin of His people. Remember in Luke chapter 7, their
sins, can't count them, can you? But God says He's forgiven them.
In Luke 7, remember our Lord was at the dinner in the Pharisees'
house and that woman which was a sinner, everybody knew she
was a sinner. She came in brokenhearted. She anointed our Lord's feet.
with that expensive ointment as he lay there. And that Pharisee
thought, that's gross. I wouldn't let that woman touch
me. Oh, what a sinner. I'm sure he
wouldn't let her touch him. She's a great sinner. But you
know what our Lord said? Our sins, which are many, are
forgiven. Oh, there are many sins, but
they're forgiven in the blood of Christ. Second, our sins are
like clouds because they're dark and they're threatening. I'm
no meteorologist, but I can tell you when a big storm is getting
ready to hit. I see those big, dark clouds rolling in. The wind
starts blowing. It's getting ready to rain. Thunder,
lightning. That's our sin. Our sin hangs
over us like a dark cloud. You can just tell the storm of
God's judgment is coming. God says, I've taken the clouds
away. I blotted them out. That storm of judgment that has
come, Christ endured it for his people. He endured all the wrath
of God against the sin of his elect. It's taken away. Everyone
who's in Christ is just as safe from that storm as Noah was in
the ark. I imagined Noah for 120 years
building that ark. Like a cloud in the sky. He could
count them all, there wasn't one. Suddenly those clouds start
rolling in. And God said, get in the ark.
God shut the door. No rain ever fell on Noah, did
it? But he heard it. Oh, he heard it. Beaten down
in sheets on that ark. Noah was saved. Because the ark
was bearing all the punishment that Noah's sin deserves. Noah
found grace in the sight of the Lord. And everyone who's in Christ,
you see those dark clouds of judgment. But in Christ, you're
secure. You're safe from that storm.
He's the shelter from the storm. And third, our sin is like clouds because
clouds can blot out the sun. In the middle of the afternoon,
it can look like it's almost nightfall because the clouds
get so thick. And that's our sin. Our sin blocks
out the son of righteousness. What did God say? Your iniquities
have separated between you and your God. Your sins have hit
his face from you. Now we talk about clouds. I know
what everybody's thinking. What about those white clouds?
Those puffy white clouds, you know, they look so pretty. Well,
white clouds can blot out the sun too, can't they? There's
no such thing as a little white sin. Little white sins will damn
you. Probably, I guess they're the
ones that do. They're the ones that blot out the Son. Our sin
has driven us from God and driven God from us. Yet God says He
forgives the sin of His people. He removes the sin of His people.
It's blotted out under the blood. God blotted out that thick cloud
of sins under the blood of His Son. I would imagine people that were
in times of flood, Every day they get up and see those clouds
still there. Oh, they wish those clouds would go away. They're
flooded. And they stay there till when? Can they get fans
and drive them away and do an anti-rain dance? No. How long
are those clouds going to stay there? Until God drives them
away. That's what He's done to the
sin of His people. He's blotted them out. He's removed them.
The sin of God's people is removed. Now think about that for a minute. They're gone. And now what does
God say to His people? Return unto Me. Now we've left
God. We left God in Adam, didn't we? We rebelled and we left Him. But what does God say to His
people? You return. God has removed original sin
in Adam. There's nothing blocking your
way back to God. And God says you come. We've left God in our
own sin, our own rebellion, our own unbelief. But Christ and
His sacrifice has removed all that sin and all that enmity.
And God says He commands His people. You return to me. You return because I blotted
out your sin. That word blotted, it means rubbed
out or wiped away. The sin of God's elect isn't
there anymore. It just isn't there. God's reconciled
to His people by the blood of His Son. God's not angry at His
people anymore because the blood of Christ has removed the sin
that made God angry in the first place. Look at 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. This is what the apostle tells
us. God's reconciled. God's not angry anymore. Now
you quit being angry. You stack your arms. You surrender
to Christ and return to Him. See if this is what Paul says
in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 18. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. And he has given
to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, namely, this is our ministry,
this is our message, that God was in Christ, reconciling the
world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and
hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then,
we're ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's name, be ye reconciled to God. You be reconciled to God. And
here's why. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Now this is very important. God
says, you return unto me. But what's the ground that a
sinner returns to God? Why can a sinner, how can a sinner
return to God? One word. I like one word answers. I can remember those. Redemption. That's the ground that a sinner
returns to God on. It's redemption. God has redeemed
his people. He's redeemed them from the power
of sin. He's redeemed them from the condemnation of sin. He's
redeemed them from the corruption of sin. This word redeemed, it
means the kinsman redeemer. I've redeemed you, the kinsman
redeemer. Now you know the story of a kinsman, but let's go over
it again, it's blessed. When a person had a debt they
couldn't pay, oftentimes what they'd do is they'd sell everything,
even sell themselves into bondage. And all their earthly possessions
would be given to that creditor. And they'd have to serve that
creditor as his slave. And they'd have to stay there
until that debt was paid. Or until the year of Jubilee
came, they're going to have to stay in the service of their new master.
All their possessions belong to him. Now a slave, he doesn't
have much way to earn money, does he? He doesn't have much
way to save, so he's not going to be able to pay his debt. If
he's going to go free, somebody's going to have to pay it for him.
And God provided the way of his redemption. God gave the law
of a kinsman. That kinsman had the right to
buy everything back that was lost by his relative. Now here's
the law of the kinsman. Three requirements. Number one,
you've got to be related to the debtor. Number two, you've got
to be able to pay the debt. Number three, you've got to be
willing to pay the debt. That kinsman was able and he
was willing to buy back everything that had been lost He could do
it. That's what Boaz did for Naomi and Ruth. He bought it
all back. And when the kinsman paid the
price, he took possession of everything. He didn't pay the
price and leave it in the hand of that old fellow that bought
it for a bargain. He took possession of it all.
He took possession of the farm. He took possession of the cattle.
He took possession of the old farmhouse. He took possession
of the wagon and the shovels and all the tools and implements
of the farm. And He took possession of those
slaves, those relatives of His. He took possession of them. He
didn't buy them and leave them under that old master. He took
them out. He took them with Him. And He
set them free. And He said, you're redeemed. That's the Lord Jesus Christ,
our great Kinsman Redeemer. The Son of God. God's not our
kinsman. We're nothing like Him. So the
Son of God became a man. God took on Him flesh and blood
and bones. He took on Him a human body and
a human nature for this reason. So He could be the kinsman of
His people. He could be related to us. Now, of course, the Son
of God, He's able to pay the debt, isn't He? He's able to
pay any debt. His blood is perfect. Precious, priceless blood. He's
the only holy, righteous man to ever live. He'd pay any debt.
Here's the question. Are you willing? I love that
old leper. Come to heart, Lord. Lord, if
you will, you can make me whole. I don't have any doubt about
your power. I don't have any doubt about who you are. You're
the son of David, son of God. But will you? Here's an amazing
truth of God's grace and love to His people. The Son of God's
willing. He's willing to pay the redemption
price for His people. And Paul, it cost him, didn't
it? Oh, it cost him. It cost him his life. He suffered
everything the sin of God's elect deserved. He shed his blood. That precious, sinless blood,
he shed it. And he brought it into the holiest
before the Father. The Father said, the debt's paid
in full. It's enough. It's enough. And then Christ died. You know
why he died? Because the law said the soul
that sins must die. The law demands you die. Christ
died as your substitute. He died so his people will live.
Remember I told you I'd tell you why God allows all this sin
to go on? I'm a sinful man. And almost
every day I think if I was God, I'd wrap this thing up. I can't
imagine why God lets this thing go on. But yet I know. You know
why God lets all this go on? So that He can get glory to Himself
in forgiving the sin of His people. So He can redeem them. There
may be some not born yet. And God's letting this go on
for this reason. I chose them. I formed them.
They're going to be mine. I'm going to bring them to myself. Brethren, the debt's paid. The
Lord Jesus Christ has taken possession of His people. He owns them.
We belong to Him. And He set His people free. Now,
God says, after that, God says, now you return to Me. How could
you not? The all-empowering power of His
love and His grace. And we return, don't we? We return
like that prodigal son, just head hanging down. Lord, I don't
deserve anything. I don't deserve the least of
Your mercies. Just make me a servant. And the
father says, son, welcome home. Welcome home. Kill the fatted
calf. Bring the best robe. Put it on
him. Bring that righteousness of Christ and put it on him.
Bring the ring and put it on his finger. Bring some shoes
and put it on his feet. We're going to have a party.
Let's rejoice. My son was lost. He's dead. He's given life again.
My son has returned home. The hall of heaven rejoices when
just one returns, don't they? And God's people return to him.
And they return to him through the redeemer. We return to Christ. We return to God because the
Holy Spirit enables us to see Christ, the Lamb of God, lifted
up, crucified for us. We see Him lifted up as our sacrifice,
and we're drawn to Him. The Spirit draws sinners to Christ
by showing Him crucified, lifted up for your sin. Now I tell you,
return. Return. Return to God. There's nothing in the way. Nothing's
stopping you. Christ has removed the sin of
his people. What good news? Now return. And sinners that return to Christ,
I'm telling you, they do it with rejoicing and singing. Look at
verse 23, Isaiah 44. Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord
hath done it. Shout, ye lower parts of the
earth. Break forth into singing, ye mountains. O forest and every
tree therein, for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and he's glorified
himself in Israel. Isaiah doesn't tell us the words
of the song that they sung, but if Christ died for you, you know
the words. Now, you know that song, Redeemed. I love to proclaim it. God has
glorified himself in saving his people, redeeming them. Well,
let's glorify him. Let's glorify him by singing
that song, Redeemed, number 475. Now you men, if you would, get
out the tables, and the best of you are there. Janice says
we need two long tables and one short table, so the door, it
all works together, so if you could take care of that for us,
I would greatly appreciate it. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how we thank You
for Your Word. How we thank You for our Lord Jesus Christ, our
Redeemer, the One who gave Himself. gave his back to the smiters.
He gave his cheeks to those who would pluck out his beard, smack
him, beat him. He willingly gave himself into
the hands of your justice that he might put away the sin of
his people, blot out the sin of his people, and redeem us. Remove every obstacle so that
you give the commandment of the gospel to return. We thank you for your mercy and
your grace. We thank you for you constantly
giving us the sound of the gospel, pointing us to Christ and causing
your people to return. Father, I pray you get glory
to your name through the preaching of your gospel. Bless and comfort
and strengthen the hearts of your people. I pray that you
bless us again tomorrow as we meet to celebrate the life and
mark the passing of our brother H.B. Father, bless the word as
it's preached. Enable me to, with a heart of
compassion and in truth and simplicity, declare our Lord Jesus Christ,
our hope and confidence. It's in his precious name we
give thanks.