Isaiah chapter 5. The title of
the message is Severing Sin's Cart Rope. Severing Sin's Cart
Rope. We begin in verse 18. Woe unto
them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it
were with a cart rope. Isaiah gives us a picture here
of the depravity of man. Man is harnessed to sin. We're tied to it. And we can't
get away from them. We're tied in two ways. First,
he says, by thin cords of vanity. We're so vain. This is our nature
now. We are so vain. It's just a thread
that ties us to sin. But it's a thread that cannot
be broken by the natural mean. We're vain. We don't want to.
This cord of pride, it keeps us from seeing ourselves for
what we are. bad and sinful as we are, and it makes us too full
of pride to bow in the dust and beg God for mercy. We're tied
to sin, secondly, by a thick rope, that thick rope of Adam's
nature. And it's so thick we cannot break
free from the burden that that rope is tied us to. We're harnessed
to sin. And I'm telling you, it's a heavy
load. What a burden. We're tied to
sin and tied to the law. Now, that's being in bondage,
being tied to the sin and tied to the law. And it's a heavy
burden no man can carry. It will eventually crush every
one of us. These bodies die because sin eventually crushes them.
Peter, that great meeting that they had, he said, Brethren,
why tempt ye God and put a yoke on the neck of the disciples
which neither our fathers nor we could bear? Why do you want
to entangle people again with the law of circumcision? And
Peter's talking about not just circumcision, but being yoked
to the whole law by these cords of vanity, thread of vanity,
cart ropes. And this is what happens to us
when we've got these ropes, we're tied to this burden, verse 19,
that say, let him make speed and hasten his work, that we
may see it. Let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh
and come, that we may know it. Now this is the self-righteous.
And what they're saying is, let God do his worst to us. We're
not afraid. God's not going to punish us. And they're not afraid
for two reasons. First is this, because they're
dead. They're dead. They're not aware
of sin. They're not aware of the consequences
of sin because you're dead. They're dead so they don't know
God. They don't know that God must punish sin. They think they're
doing good enough. They think their righteousness
is good enough, so they mock sin because they're dead. Secondly,
they're not afraid because they think their righteousness is
good enough. It's good enough to overcome or offset their sin.
And again, they think that because they're dead. They're dead so
they don't know themselves. They're dead, they can't smell
themselves. They can't smell the stench of sin that's in us. They're dead. So they don't know
everything we do is sin. because of our sin nature. We
can't help it. Everything we do is sin. That's
the nature that we got from our father Adam. They're dead. They don't know God. They don't
know God's holiness. They don't know his requirement.
So they mock salvation in Christ alone. Christ is despised in
their eyes. Now, they're willing to have
him help save them. But they're not willing to have
him save them by himself. They think God won't punish them
because they think they've done enough good to avoid it. Now
go on, verse 20, this is what they say. Woe unto them that
call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light and
light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and sweet for
bitter. Now, this is referring to false prophets and particularly,
and I hate to give them any mention whatsoever, but this is Armenians.
This is what they do. They call good evil and evil
good. They put darkness for light and
light for darkness and bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
They call everything what it's not. They turn everything around
backwards. And I'm not here. I'm here to
preach Christ, but now I'm not preaching against Armenians.
But now you listen to this and be warned about this wicked,
wicked doctrine. These Armenians. They call the
good of the gospel evil. They say it's evil to believe
God has a sovereign will, to choose whom he will to save.
They say it's evil, not for God to give everybody a chance. Now,
that might be evil for a country. Our Constitution says everybody's
got equal opportunity. So, because of that kind of thinking,
they say it's evil. for God not to give everybody
a chance. But scripture says it's goodness. It's the goodness of God that
he chose to save some out of Adam's fallen race. They call
good evil. They say God looked down through
the telescope of time and he saw down through history or through
the future who would choose him. So he chose them. Now that's
evil. Now, I mean, that's not mistaken.
That's evil. That's wicked. That's saying
God's taking credit for what man would have done anyway. That's
evil. It's evil because it takes the
glory and salvation away from God, where it belongs, and gives
it to men. At least gives some of it to
men. But I'll tell you what is absolutely good. God chose a
people out of Adam's fallen race. He chose them. He chose to save
them. He chose to put them in his son,
to send his son to shed his blood, to put their sin away. And God
did it just because he would. He just said, I'm going to set
my love on them. Because that's his crown rights
to do. Now I'm telling you, that is good. That's the best definition
of good I think I can think of. These Armenians say that you
must decide. in this matter of salvation.
You have to decide if the blood of Christ is applied to you or
not. You have to decide if the blood is going to save you or
not. Now that's evil. That's not a mistaken understanding
of Scripture. It's evil. It's wicked. That
denies the work of the Holy Spirit and makes salvation and makes
the new birth the work and the will of man, not the work and
the will of God. Scripture says it's good. that
the Holy Spirit gives life to whom he will, and gives it when
he will. He gives life to everyone that Christ died for. Now that's
God's goodness. And none of God's elect would
have life any other way other than God's goodness in giving,
sovereignly giving them life. These Armenians say it's evil
to say man's totally depraved, that all men are totally depraved.
They say that's evil. They say men can do something
to obtain salvation. They can do something to make
themselves savable. Now, friends, that's wicked. That is calling evil good. Man is totally depraved. If man can do something to obtain
salvation, then that means man's not completely fallen in sin.
That means that man is not completely dependent upon God to save him.
He's not dead. He can do something for himself.
Now that's evil. And you know why? Because it
takes away our need of the Savior. We need him. And you take away
man's need of the Savior. That's evil. That's wicked. If
man can do something to obtain salvation, that takes away our
need of the forgiveness of sins. It takes away God's mercy to
sinners, which God himself said, that's my greatest glory. And
we've taken away his greatest glory. if we don't need His mercy. If man can do something to initialize
or finalize salvation, then we've taken away the need for the righteousness
of Christ to be imputed to us. We must have some of our own. It's evil. But I'll tell you
what's good. It's this truth. Man is ruined
in sin. When Adam rebelled against God,
man died. And we're born dead in trespasses
and sin. And the only way a sinner like
you and me is ever going to have life is if the Almighty gives
it to us as a free gift of His grace. You and I are completely
dependent upon God to draw our next breath. I don't think anybody
here would deny that. Well, if we're dependent for
that puff of air, how can you say we're not dependent on God
to give us salvation? We are completely dependent on
God to save us. We are for sinners if we're fallen
in sin. And the Armenians, they call
good evil and evil good. They take the sweet of the gospel
and they call it bitter. They turn it into bitterness.
I'll tell you what's bitter. It's bitter to say Christ died
for everybody, but some people go to hell anyway. Now that's
just bitterness. No wonder they've got to keep
having events and Pap the Pew days and reunion days and stuff
to get people to come hear that stuff. It's bitter. Goodness
sakes. That speaking evil of the love
of Christ and making the love of Christ for his people a bitter
thing. He loves them, but he sends them
to hell anyway. That's a bitter love, isn't it? This is making
the blood and righteousness of Christ a bitter thing that has
absolutely no power to save. those for whom it was shed. It's
taking away the sweetness of the sacrifice of Christ by saying
it's not enough. Now you tell me, you who know
the Lord, you tell me what's sweeter than the sacrifice of
Christ for your sin. But if you say that's not enough,
you've turned that sweetness into bitter. The gospel thrifts
with sweetness when it declares to helpless, hopeless, dead sinners
that everyone for whom Christ died is justified. They're made without sin. They're washed like the snow
in the blood of Christ and they have eternal life that they can
never lose. I love the sweetness of the gospel,
the sweetness of the truth. Christ has the power to keep
you. Now he's got the power to save you and he's got the power
to keep his sheep. Yeah, if he left us alone, we
would wander off. Wayne prayed that in a study
tonight. Don't let us wander off. Keep hold of us. He will. He's got the power to keep his
people from wandering off. He's not going to let them. That's
sweet to the believer. I love the sweetness that life
in Christ can never be lost. Never. It could never be lost
any more than God can die. It never happened. He can't lose
his life so that people won't lose it. But these Armenians,
they call sweet bitter. And they call the light of the
gospel darkness. And you know why? They love darkness
rather than light. It's utter darkness to say that
a person can be saved today, lost tomorrow. Saved today because
he did something right. lost tomorrow because he's backslidden
or did something wrong. That's utter darkness. That darkness
denies the light of Christ. And they think that because they
think Christ alone is not enough. If they thought Christ alone
was enough for salvation, they'd never think a person can be saved
if they lost tomorrow. Never. Unless they think Christ
is not enough. Unless they think faith in Christ
alone is not enough. If they think somebody can be
saved today and lost tomorrow, they have to think that the righteousness
of Christ and the blood of Christ to atone is not enough to save. But the gospel simply declares
Christ the light. We just preach Christ. God's
going to make his people see. In Christ we see. We have light. So we understand how God can
save a sinner like me. Because in Christ we see, we
have light. And when these false prophets,
when they call good evil and evil good, when they call darkness
light and light darkness, when they call bitter sweet and sweet
bitter, they're lying to men and women. And they're tying
them even more tightly to sin. They're taking those cords, those
thick cords and those thin threads of vanity, and they're tying
men and women ever more tightly to sin. putting greater and greater
and greater burdens upon them to be carried. Now let's read
on in verse 21. It's no wonder Isaiah says, woe
unto them that are wise in their own eyes and proved in their
own sight. Now this false religion is, Armenians particularly we're
talking about, make people wise in their own eyes. They're ever
learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.
They know so many facts. But they don't know Christ. If
you're too wise to be taught, if you know the Scripture better
than everybody else, and you read the Scripture and say, well,
I know it says that, but it didn't mean that. That's outdated. That was good for 4,000 years
ago, but that doesn't apply to today. That's being wise in your
own eyes. And you'll never be saved that
way. I know portions of this Word was written four and five
thousand years ago. It's just as fresh and just as
applicable to today, 2014, than it was then. This is the eternal
Word of God. No one will ever be saved until
we see this. I'm nothing. I know nothing. And now I see Christ, the wisdom
of God. Then and only then is God going
to save a person. But, verse 22, Isaiah goes on and he says,
that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle
strong drink." These Armenians make people think they're self-sufficient.
You choose God, you'll be saved. You do right. You do this, this,
this, and this, and you're... That's making people self-sufficient
instead of making them dependent on Christ, isn't it? And they
do that. They think they can overcome
their sin. They think they can do more good than evil. They
think they can atone for it themselves, but that's not so. And God pronounces
eternal woe on them. And verse 23, which justify the
wicked for reward and take away the righteousness of the righteous
from him. A false religion makes people justify the wicked and
condemn the righteous. Now, if you think about it, they
have to. If they're going to hold to their doctrine, that's
what they have to do. Justify the wicked, condemn the
righteous. They justify the wicked. If the
wicked will give God a reward, God will overlook their sin.
It's like they're bribing God. Come down front. Give your tithe. Do this work for Jesus. You know,
just whatever, you know, say the sinner's prayer, whatever.
Do all this stuff. I'll save you. That's trying to get God to give
you something because you gave God a reward. And they say now,
Well, that's how they justify the wicked. And then they condemn
the innocent. Because they say, following God's
way and God's word. Now, that's too hard. That's
just too hard. Y'all are too hard and too narrow.
Remember, these are the ones that call good evil. They say
God's holy way. That God is holy. He must punish
sin. Now, that's too narrow. Why? It's sinful for you to hate sin
and love righteousness. God loves everybody. You should
too. See, the error in their doctrine,
thinking God loves everybody, makes them condemn the righteous,
take away his righteousness. So they don't preach Christ.
They preach what you ought to do. And when you don't preach
Christ, you take away the only righteousness a sinner could
ever have. You take away the righteousness of the righteous
if you don't preach Christ. Now, God's going to judge that.
Now, this isn't going to continue forever. plague on the world
in our day, that God's going to destroy. It's not going to
last forever. Whether it's open sin or it's sin cloaked in religion,
Christ is coming to destroy it. Look at verse 24. Therefore if
the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff,
so their roots shall be as rottenness, and their blossoms shall go up
as dust, because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts,
and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore,
as the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath
stretched forth his hand against them, as smitten them, and the
hills did tremble, and their carcasses were torn in the midst
of the streets, for all this, his anger is not turned away,
but his hand is stretched out still." Now, when he comes, these
great men, these great religious men that we look at as the mountains
and hills of our day, they're going to tremble and fall because
no one No mere man can withstand the wrath of God against sin
when he comes in judgment. And the problem is this. The
root's bad. That's where all this problem
comes from. The root's bad. Adam. That's where we got all of our
life, where we descended naturally from Adam. And the root's bad.
The nature that we receive from Adam makes us hate God. Cast away the law of the Lord.
We despise His Word. What happens when we do that?
We deserve damnation. That's what happens. I mean,
what do you think is going to happen when people cast away
God's Word? Well, God's going to abandon
them. It's surprising how often God gives men exactly what they
want. People didn't want our Lord walking
their coast anymore. He said, alright, I won't. Leave
our town. All right, I won't. And never
came back. The Gentiles heard. They said,
oh, come preach to us again the next Sabbath. They said, all
right, we will. The Lord saved so many of them. He gave them
exactly what they wanted. They cast away God's Word. And
God says, all right. And he abandons them. I think of that and I can't help
but shake in my boots for our country. What a scary thought
for our country. But worse yet, what a scary thought
for congregations of religious people that meet in buildings
that they call church, who have cast away God's Word. They cast it away because it
doesn't match their doctrine. You can't keep calling evil good
and good evil and preach God's Word. So they have to cast it
away. They read it. I mean, they read
the Bible, but they say it doesn't mean what it says, you know.
And God will Abandon them every time. They'll leave them to their
own devices every time. Now we see how all that deserves
God's judgment, don't we? But now listen. One more time,
and Isaiah's right, and this is what we're going to see. In
the midst of all this darkness and this judgment against sin,
Isaiah gives us a hint of Christ. He shows us some mercy in Christ.
Look at verse 26. He will lift up an ensign to
the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of
the earth, and behold, they shall come with speed swiftly." Now
the ensign, that's a standard or a banner, like a flag. This
is Jehovah Nisi, the Lord our banner, and the Lord's going
to lift up the ensign. He's going to glorify and exalt
the banner. He's going to lift that banner
up on high for all the soldiers to see. So they'll gather around
the banner. and they'll follow the banner.
They'll come to the banner. Seeing Christ lifted up is what
keeps us from going our way and keeps us following Him. That
ensign is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father had highly exalted
the Son. He was lifted up on the cross
for all to see. I mean, you talk about a public
event. I mean, I don't know how many
people were in Jerusalem at that time But the population of Jerusalem
was the greatest that it was in the whole year because everybody
was coming for the feast. Everybody was coming for the
Passover. And there He is crucified, lifted up for all those travelers
to see. The Passover sacrifice for us. I don't think I've read the details
of one other Roman Crucifixion. Not one. I've read about this
thousands and thousands and thousands of times. Lifted up for all to
see. Lifted up so sinners see God's
sacrifice for sin. And when sinners see that, they
come running. They'll run to Him. Christ is
lifted up in the preaching of the Gospel. And God's elect to
come running. They come running. Even Gentiles. Just stay in that little Jewish
nation. Went to every corner of this
globe. And they let come running when Christ is lifted up. And
you know how I know that? You don't have to do things to
try to manipulate people to come to the surface. Just preach Christ.
God's sheep will come. I promise you they will. You
know how I know that? God will hiss at them. And that
word hiss means whistle. When you whistle. The sheep come
running. Jan's mom's got a dog, Sugar.
Now, I don't know how to do it, but if you can whistle real loud,
I don't care where she is, she comes running. The dog comes
running when the master whistles. All the shepherds got to do is
sheep are all out there grazing. All the shepherds got to do is
get the sheep to come up to him and following his whistle. And
they all come. The Lord whistles to his people. And he does it through his word.
He does it through the preaching of Christ. And His people hear
Him whistling, and they come running. God's given them an
ear to hear. He's given them feet that respond,
and they come running. Now you mean to tell me that
God's not at our beck and call? That we're at His beck and call?
That's exactly what that's saying. We're at God's beck and call.
And when He whistles, His people come running. We are completely
dependent on God to call. And it depended on God to say,
when he calls, we'll come. Look over at Psalm 129. And when
he calls, we come swiftly. And we're able to come swiftly
because that cord, that thread of vanity and the cart rope of
sin that tie us to that cart, those cords have been severed
by Christ. And now we come swiftly. I see,
especially coming up this past few weeks, the NFL draft had
to combine all this stuff. You see these guys running with
these parachutes tied to them. Back in the day, they ran with
tires tied to them. I don't know if any of y'all
did that. I did that. It didn't make me go faster. But these
guys, they must think that it does. And they've got these things
tied to them. And I would imagine you'd slow down a great deal.
You're running with a parachute strapped to you. Cut that cord. And watch that
guy take off. Christ cuts the cords, that cart,
that load of sin, and his people come to him swiftly. But Christ
is the only one who can sever those cords. Psalm 129, verse
4. The Lord is righteous. He hath,
not he will, he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked. Those
whores that tie his people to sin have been severed by the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He took the burden and bore it
away, put it away under his precious blood. So now a believer is severed
from the law. Absolutely severed from the law.
If you're a believer, you have absolutely no relationship to
the law. The law is not your rule of life.
The law is nothing to you. It's been kept already by the
Lord Jesus Christ. He fulfilled the law for us.
And a believer is severed from sin. That tie's been cut. Sin
gone. You're severed from the controlling
power of sin. You're severed from the condemnation
of sin and the damnation of sin because Christ already died for
us. And once we're cut loose from
that great burden of sin, there's several things that happen. First
one I mentioned a minute ago, everyone he whistles to, everyone
our Lord severs those cart ropes, they see Christ lifted up, they
run to him swiftly. See that in verse 26 in our text?
And behold, they shall come with speed swiftly. Christ gives them
speed to obey his command and they come. Second, when Christ
severs those cart ropes, he whistles to his people, they come. and
he gives them strength for the journey. I don't know how long
the journey will be, but I promise you, every one of God's people
will have strength for the journey. Verse 27, none shall be weary,
none of them, because he's going to give them strength for the
journey. Third, everyone Christ severs those cart ropes from,
he whistles to them, they come. And he gives them a plain path
so they won't stumble and fall away. Verse 27, none shall be
weary nor stumble among none of them because he's made the
way plain. The path will be clear because
in Christ we have light. So we see and we won't stumble
because Christ has already removed every obstacle. The way is plain.
You'll never stumble coming to Christ and you'll never stumble
and fall. You'll never stumble and fall away. Fourth, everyone
Christ severs those cart ropes, and he whistles to them. You
know they'll never fall asleep. Now, they're going to have many
night watches. They're going to have many dark
hours, but they'll never fall asleep. None shall slumber nor
sleep. You won't fall asleep and miss
him. Fifth, everyone Christ severs
those cart ropes from him, and he whistles to them. He's going
to give them both the will and the ability to serve the Lord
wherever it is He puts them. Verse 27, neither shall the girdle
of their loins be loosed, nor the latch of their shoes be broken.
You know, in that day when a person got ready to do some real serious
work, like some of y'all are going to do Saturday morning,
they girded their loins. Tied those ropes up, those robes
that hung down, and the girdle was their belt. They put them
up in that belt and tied it tight so it wouldn't fall down, they
can move freely, their legs and feet and stuff can move freely
and do their work. Well, our Lord is saying here, that girdle,
it's always going to hold. It won't break. It won't come
untied. It will always hold. And even
your shoelaces aren't going to break. Even your shoelaces. So
your feet will always be free to follow and serve the Lord
wherever it is He puts you. It's just like the children of
Israel. They left Egypt and went to the Promised Land. Now, it
took them 40 years to get there, but all those 40 years they wore
the same sandals. Their feet never swelled, got
too big, their shoelaces never broke, because God provided.
And He'll do the same thing for every one of His people. So you
have the will and the ability to serve Him. Sixth, every time
the Lord cuts those cart ropes and He whistles, His people come
running. And He gives them all the ammunition
they'll ever need to fight the enemy. Verse 28, whose arrows
are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses' hooves to be counted
like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind. Now what's
our ammunition? The ammunition we use to fight
the strongholds of sin and self-righteousness. It's right here. This is all
the ammunition a believer ever needs. It's our sword and our
shield. We make a lot of God's Word around
here, teach it, line by line, word by word, because this is
the only ammunition we ever need. It's better than thousands of
horses and chariots. And seven, every time our Lord
severs those cart ropes, He whistles, His people come, and He gives
them boldness for the fight. Verse 29, their roaring should
be like a lion. they shall roar like young lions.
Yea, they shall roar and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry
it away safe, and none shall deliver it. And on that day they
shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea. And if
one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the
light is darkened in the heavens thereof." Every believer is in
a warfare. We're all soldiers, every one
of us. The way we feel, we don't feel
like a hardened, brave, valiant soldier. Most of the time we
feel pretty meek and timid. But when the battle comes, when
the battle comes to you, and it's going to fight you, when
the battle comes to you, the Lord's going to give you the
courage of a lion. You'll roar like a lion. I was watching a special the
other day on, I think it was somewhere in Africa, I don't
remember where it was, but he said, Pride of Lions had this little
spot just to themselves. They really liked it. They just
had one male, a bunch of females, a bunch of little lions running
around. They had water and shade. It was real nice. They didn't
want anybody else coming in there. They didn't want to go anywhere
else. This is where we want to be. Well, across the river, there's
this gigantic male lion. I mean, this is huge. One day he swam across that river,
and he's determined he's going to take that. When he come across
the river, he let everybody know, I'm coming. He's roaring, and
all this miles away, they heard him roaring from that far away.
And they started readying their defenses. And I'm telling you,
if that was me, if I heard that guy roar, I would have been readying
defenses. I would have been running. When
the battle comes to you, the Lord's going to give you the
courage of a lion. And you'll roar like a lion in
defense of the gospel, in defense of the Lord. You charge forward
into the fray. And every foe will fall. Every one of them. The gates
of hell cannot prevail against God's church when God's church
charges forward with the gospel of Christ. Every foe will fall. Christ will tear down every stronghold. Eric, I believe we'll keep preaching. He'll win the victory. So Christ
cuts those cart ropes that tie His elect to sin, and He gives
them swiftness to run to Christ. He gives them strength for the
journey. You won't be weary. He'll make the path plain so
we won't stumble all the way from Him. We'll stub our toe
every once in a while, but we won't stumble, fall away from
Him. And He who never slumbers nor sleeps will be with you in
every night watch. You won't slumber and sleep.
There'll be dark times, but He'll be with you. He who never slumbers
nor sleeps. And He'll enable us to serve
Him. He enables His people to serve Him. We're going to talk
about that Sunday, Martha's. Where would we be without Martha?
God gives His people the ability to serve. And He's our ammunition
for the fight. Keep looking to Him. And He will
give His people courage. He will. The Lord will strengthen
your heart. He will. That's a promise. The
Lord's on our side. Of course we've got courage.
Of course we do. Because the Lord's on our side.
Alright. Well, the Lord bless that to
you. Our Heavenly Father, how we thank
You for Your Word that we've just read. And we pray that You
would, in mercy and grace, apply Your Word to our hearts. That
You sever those cart ropes of sin that tie us to sin, the burden
of sin, and set us free. Set Your people free to run to
Christ. Run swiftly to Him. To serve
Him. To be with Him. sheltered and
protected by Him, that we might be found in Him. And in Him we'll
defeat every enemy and every foe and be more than conquerors
in Him that loved us and gave Himself for us. Father, no matter
the circumstance, no matter how long or difficult the journey
may seem to us, we beg of Thee that You'd constantly give us
a view of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we might follow Him, look
to Him, and find in Him all we need. It's in His precious name
we give thanks.