We're back to Isaiah 59. Before we get into this, let
us seek the Lord's help here. Our Father, we do pray for the spirit of
worship. We pray that You'd enable us
tonight to hear Thy voice and the message Enable me to preach
with clarity and simplicity. Enable me to exalt and lift up
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and to magnify Thy grace unto
us. Give us understanding of Thy
Word. Our Father, we thank You for
Your many blessings. We continue to pray for Andy
and others that are sick that we don't even know of, but you
know them. You know the heartache, the trouble, the afflictions
of all your children. This gives us great comfort and
great confidence that our God is able. Our God is able to deliver
out of all situations. Therefore, we look to Thee. Bless
Thy Word. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. I think there are some people
sitting here who have experienced this. I believe I can say standing
here, I've experienced this. I've not forgotten my past or
my nature. I live with it, just like you
do. And it raises its ugly head up way too often. Way too often
it raises its head up. But where sin abounded, God's
grace did much more abound. Now in the last chapter, God
reproved Israel for their heartless, hypocritical worship of Him. And in this chapter, God reveals
through His prophet the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Now that's something we can't
fully comprehend. God gives us an understanding
of it. He gives us some revelation of sin, but we cannot see sin
as God sees it. Most people that you would look
at and say, you know, just naturally looking at them out there, they're
a good man or a good woman. God wouldn't call them that.
God sees the heart. He says, this is what man is.
This is what he is. In this chapter we see the exceeding
sinfulness of sin and we see the superabounding grace of God.
We see in the sin set before us, not only the sin of Israel
here, but we see the corruption, the absolute corruption and depravity,
total depravity of all mankind. Now we read this and I want you
to turn over for just a minute over to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3, see if this
does not sound familiar. In Romans chapter 3, it says
in verse 10, as it is written, there is none righteous, no not
one, not even me, by nature. There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one." That's what God sees. That's
what he sees. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have
used deceit. The poison of ass is under their lips, whose mouth
is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood, that's what he said right over here, back over in Isaiah.
Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace
have they not known? That's what he said over in Isaiah.
Hasn't changed, has it? Hasn't changed. This is what God says. There
is no fear of God before their eyes. Total inability to please God
in any way, shape, or form. Naturally. Naturally speaking. Totally unable. The prophet charges
here the people. He charges the people for stopping
God's favor towards them. And he tells them why God's judgment
was upon them. We'll see that in the first eight
verses. And he says here, The first thing he said in verse
1 is, Behold, give great attention to this. He's saying pay attention,
close attention to this. If you remember, they were complaining.
They said we fasted and we afflicted ourselves and you haven't taken
any notice. You haven't helped us. He says, Behold, pay attention
here. The Lord's hand is not shortened
that it cannot save. Neither his ear heavy that it
cannot hear. The problem is never with God. The problem is never with God. They say he took no knowledge
of their troubles, even though they fasted. Well, the problem
is not with God. He said you fasted for pleasure.
That's what you fasted for. Time has not weakened God's hand. Time has not shortened God's
hand to save. Nor has it made Him dull of hearing. You know, as we get older, our
hearing goes. I don't hear as well as I used
to, which is really not a bad thing. God's, He said, His ear
is not dull of hearing. He's ever ready. He's ever ready
to hear the broken heart, but not the proud heart. He's ever
ready to save the penitent sinner. Ever ready. Here's the problem. The prophet says, here's the
problem. Your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from
you that he will not hear." I thought about sin today as I read this. Sin separates from God. If there's anything that will
separate a man from God, it's sin. Adam, get out of the garden. There was a time that Adam fellowshiped
with God. God walked in the garden in the
cool of the day. And Adam really fellowshiped
and communed with God Almighty. And then he fell. Sin entered.
And then God kicked him out of the garden. Separated. God is
light and we are darkness by nature. Is there anything that's
more opposite than light and darkness. I reckon there is nothing
more opposite than light and darkness. God is light. By nature we are darkness. All
men are. God is holy and we are not. Sin defiles. Look over in Isaiah
chapter 1. Sin defiles the whole man. Over
here in Isaiah chapter 1. In verse 5, He said, Why should
ye be stricken any more? Ye will revolt more and more.
That's what happens when you deal with a rebel. He just revolts
more and more. The whole head is sick and the
whole heart faint. Now listen. From the sole of
the foot even unto 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." That's a description
of man. All men. The whole man is infested
with sin. Have you ever been infested with
bugs or termites? Boy, the house is just infested
with termites. This man, by nature, is infested,
and you are too, by nature, infested by sin. From the sole of the
foot unto the head, God says, there is no soundness. There is none. And then sin brings
forth God's wrath. It'll bring forth His wrath,
or it'll bring forth the chastening rod of God. And listen. keeps good things from us. Look
over in Jeremiah 5. Jeremiah chapter 5. Look in verse 24. Now look in
verse 23. But this people hath a revolting
and a rebellious heart. And you can apply that to all
men. They are revolted and gone. Neither say they in their heart,
Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the
former and the latter, in his season. He reserveth unto us
the appointed weeks of the harvest, Verse 25, your iniquities have
turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good
things from you. Good things from you. Sin will
keep good things from you. And then sin brings forth death
always. It brings forth spiritual death,
as it did in the garden, and it brings forth eternal death
if left. left upon us. It will bring forth
eternity. And sin comes in many forms.
Most people who recognize sin, they recognize it as outward
wickedness, drunkenness. They'll name off all these outward
sins. But I tell you, the worst of
all of them is self-righteousness. He said those Sodomites will
do better than Capernaum, for the gospel is preached in judgment
to those self-righteous people in Capernaum. It comes in outward
wickedness, and it does. It comes in self-righteousness.
It comes in hatred inwardly, the heart. A man hates his brother. He hates God. He hates the Lord
Jesus Christ. When they nailed the Lord Jesus Christ to the
cross, He was nailed there out of pure hatred. Paul says, you
by wicked hands. He said, you did what your heart
wanted to do. It comes out in covetousness,
desiring more than what God has given us. Sin is everything that God is
not. It is everything that God is
not. And He says, if your hands are defiled with blood, you've
slain the innocent. Look over history. I was thinking
about this today. I would say there's probably
been about as many people died innocent, except look at the
apostles, at the hands of religion. Look at these Muslims, killing
all they can kill in the name of religion. Your hands are defiled
with blood, your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken
lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calls for
justice, for right, nor any pleading for truth. They trust in vanity,
speak lies, conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. My,
what torture! That's a description of men.
No one stands up and cries out for justice. That's why he says it. You know
one of the most corrupt places on earth is? The courtroom. There's more plea bargaining,
more under the table stuff that goes on in these courtrooms.
It becomes a game with many of these lawyers and judges. Go to other countries. There
is no justice. Over in Iraq, look what happened
over there over the years. There's no justice. He says,
none crieth for justice. No one cries out for truth to
be told. No one has the backbone, and
this is the way I believe he's saying, no one has the backbone
and the character to stand up and cry out for justice to be
done and for the truth to be told, especially in the pulpit. Because they were preaching lies
constantly. And their works prove their nature.
They hatch cockatrice eggs, the adder, the viper, it's venomous. And they weave the spider's web.
He that eateth of their eggs dies, and that which is crushed
breaks out into a viper. Their works prove who and what
they are. In time it sure does. It comes out after a while. Look
what happened to that PTL club. Didn't that prove out to be what
it was? They were there for a long time. Boy, people just thought
that was just the berries. Look what that thing turned out
to be. There works when time will prove out who and what they
are. They weave their web, the spider web. You know why a spider
web is four? You know why she weaves it like
that? To catch her prey. She catches
her prey as it comes in unsuspectingly. He says that's what they do.
They weave their web of lies to catch their prey. And their
web, he says here in verse 6, their webs shall not become garments. I won't let it. Neither shall
they cover themselves with their works. Their works are works
of iniquity. God calls them what they are.
He calls them what they are. And the act of violence is in
their hands. Works, he says, will not save
them. Works will not save anyone. You cannot work enough to cover
your sins. You can't do it. You cannot work
enough to cover your wretchedness that God sees. And I can't do
it. You can't do it and I can't do
it. No man can do it. He says their feet run to evil
and they make haste to shed innocent blood I read you the story of
Jezebel the other day. One of that vineyard, her husband,
the king, one of that vineyard, she shed an innocent man's blood
over that just to get that vineyard. And thought nothing of it. Their
thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Now listen, that's continuing.
That's continuing. Wasting and destruction are in
their past. Boy, he said they run to do evil. You know the best way and fastest
way to get a crowd, you can see this at school, is holler fight. There's a fight going on across
the street. I mean, it's like a magnet. I remember it when
I was in school. You holler fight. I mean, I remember
one time there was a fight in the gym class. That was probably There's probably 75 people around
there. Just fight. They run to evil. They love it. It's entertainment.
Have you seen this ultimate cage fighting? Sheesh. But they love
it. Modern day gladiators. Well,
we've come a long ways, haven't we? At least we put them in cages
now. Quick to do evil, slow to do
right. Always thinking. Always thinking
of some way to satisfy the flesh. This is us by nature. It's not
just them by nature, it's us too. By nature it is. And the way of peace, they know
not. They don't know anything about peace. They're all the
time causing trouble. There's no judgment in their
goings. They've made them crooked paths. That way it's not easy to follow
them. You made a crooked path. Makes it hard to follow them.
Whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace. They are void
of peace, void of the peace of God, and void of peace with God,
and void of peace in the heart. The natural man does not have
peace. He's restless. The Scripture
says, like the ocean, like the restless, cannot rest. Everything that the natural man
does is void of peace. It does not promote it. It promotes
unrest. And then we have the effects
of sin. Verses 9 through 11. Therefore is judgment far from
us, neither does justice overtake us. We wait for the light, We
hold obscurity for brightness, but we walk in darkness. Why? Because of sin. Because of sin. We grope for the wall like the
blind. We grope as if we had no eyes.
We stumble at noonday as in the night. We are in desolate places
as dead men. This is what dead religion produces
also, right here. This is what religion without
Christ produces. We roar like bears and mourn
sore like doves. We look for judgment, but there
is none. For salvation, but it's far from us. Sin removes sound
judgment, doesn't it? People make judgments with their
emotions. They make judgments according to the lust of their
flesh. But sin removes sound judgment. Judgment, he said,
is far from us. Sin causes blindness. We grope
for the wall. Standing there like a blind man
trying to find the wall so he can follow it. Our Lord said, seeing they see
not. Hearing they hear not. It causes
deafness. The Word of God says, God speaks
once, yea, twice. Man perceives it not. He does
not know or understand that God has just spoken. A man can sit under the gospel,
or a woman, and God can speak through his preacher. The gospel. And that person would get up
as though they didn't hear a thing. And God spoke. Man perceives it not. Sin causes
stumbling. He said we stumble. Right in
the brightest part of the day we can't see where we're going.
We stumble. Our Lord said if the light in
thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. Sin causes mourning. It's sorrow. He said we mourn like doves.
It causes loss of all hope. We look for salvation. But there
is none. You know why? They looked in
the wrong place. Life is hid in Christ. Forgiveness is in
Christ. People are looking for salvation
everywhere but Christ, where God put it. And here's the reason for judgment.
He says, for our transgressions are multiplied before thee. They
keep building up. They just keep heaping up. And
our sins testify against us, for our transgressions are with
us, and as for our iniquities, we know them. And transgression
is lying against the Lord and departing away from our God,
speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from
the heart words of falsehood. But I see a hint of repentance
going on right there. God is starting to reveal sin
and bring it around to repentance. And he says, and judgment is
turned away backward, and justice stands afar off, for truth is
fallen in the street. Well, is that so? And equity
cannot enter. It's not allowed here. Judgment, good sound judgment,
truth and equity is not allowed in most houses and in most services. It's not allowed. Yea, truth
faileth. He that departs from evil makes
himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased
Him that there was no judgment. Men completely avoided judgment. God knows our sin, doesn't He? It says here, before thee. He
knows it. He knows every man's sin. Sin
damns us, if not taken care of, by our substitute. It says it
testifies against us. Our own conscience cries out
against us. Sin follows us. It says it's
with us. Wherever you go, there it is. We have no excuses, it says,
for we know them. You know, men and women, God
has written a law on the heart. They know right from wrong. Your
children, while they're just as small, two or three years
old, you can watch them start to look and see if they're going
to get in trouble. Don't they? That law is written
on my heart. We know this. We know this. We
know them. It turns away good judgment from
us and will not allow justice to come forward and relieve the
oppressed. It loves a lie, sin loves a lie and hates the truth
because it says your truth has fallen in the streets and nobody
cares. If God were to leave us alone,
we would leave Him alone and we wouldn't care a thing about
truth, His truth. Not if He left us alone we wouldn't. And sin, listen, sin is against
everyone that departs from evil. He said everyone that departs
from evil becomes a prey. Becomes a prey. They think it's strange that
you don't run with them anymore. Sin is not hidden from the Lord.
It says the Lord saw it. And this is us by nature. And that's gloomy, isn't it?
I'm glad it doesn't not stop here. I'm glad you get the first
part of it over with. Because the second part is all
of grace. It's all of the grace of God.
And he saw, who saw? God. God saw that there was no
man and wondered that there was no intercessor. There was not
a just man upon earth that does good and sins not. There was
none to intercede for men with God. There was no man among the
sons of men to intercede with God for men. Therefore, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the arm of God, stepped forward. He stepped forward. Now there is a man. Now there
is a man seated at God's right hand who's making intercession
for transgressors. His arm brought salvation. And notice what it says. It brought
salvation unto Him. It brought it to us, but it brought
it to Him also in a just way. And His righteousness, it sustained
Him. It's sustaining. Salvation from
all the above that I have just read. What a black picture. What a bleak picture. If you're going to paint a portrait
of this, you just need a black paintbrush. That's all you need.
Just paint the thing black. That's all it is. But salvation
from all the above. is of the Lord. There was no
man, not me, not you, not any man among the sons of Adam. How
many billions have lived on this earth and there was no man? Jesus Christ brought salvation. He brought the salvation of God's
people unto Him. He entered back into glory. He
entered back into glory, the successful Savior. When He entered back into glory,
He brought the whole church of God with Him. He brought the
salvation of God's people back to Him. And now God can
be a just God and a Savior through the blood and righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. God can have something to do
with me. You and I can truly, I mean truly, have fellowship
with the living God through the Lord Jesus Christ. That ought
to just absolutely stun us and make us stand in absolute awe
that we can truly have that fellowship. And now these other verses, verse
17 through 19, The Lord is presented as a warrior. The conquering Christ. The conquering
Messiah. And notice His battle garments.
Everyone that goes into battle puts on their battle garments. They'll put on, nowadays, this
bulletproof vest. They put the helmet on. And you
can see him dressed. You know a soldier when you see
him, don't you? It's not a mistake. You know
he's a soldier by his dress. Well, here's his dress. He put
on righteousness. He didn't put it on anything
that we came up with. He didn't do like Adam and pull
some fig leaves together and protect him. He put on righteousness
as a breastplate and a helmet You know what his helmet was
made of? Salvation. It's all spiritual, isn't it? Salvation upon his head. He put
on the garments of vengeance. He wrapped himself in vengeance
for clothing and clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their
deeds, accordingly he will, the Lamb of God, the one that was
crucified and despised, He will repay. Recompense is mine, says
the Lord. Fury to his adversaries. Recompense
to his enemies. Even to the utmost islands. God's
going to repay. There is no escape from judgment.
Not one person will escape judgment. This will happen when the Lord
comes to save His people. So shall they fear the name of
the Lord. This is what happens. He's going to deal with his enemies,
but when he comes and saves his people, they will fear the name
of the Lord from the west and his glory from the rising of
the sun to east, when the enemy shall come in like a flood. And
he will. Satan at times and enemies will come in like a flood to
God's church. And it will be like, what in
the world happened? But he says this, the Spirit
of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. His church will
not be hurt from it. I can't explain a lot of things,
but I know this, this is good for us. Or we wouldn't be here. Good for us. It says his righteousness
sustained him. He was righteous in all His ways
and holy in all His works. It sustained Him. Righteousness
was as a breastplate to Him. I thought about this today. When
righteousness protects the breast, nothing can enter the heart.
Satan came, it said, and had found nothing in Him. Righteousness. Absolute, pure
righteousness. And Satan couldn't penetrate
it. He could not penetrate it. And you know what? His armor
is our armor. You go over and read Ephesians
6, 14 and 17 sometimes. It speaks of righteousness as
a breastplate and the helmet of salvation. You read that. His dress is our dress. The helmet of salvation on His
head, it will be very evident that He's the Savior. He's the
Savior. He's the Captain. No one's above Him. No one. As the helmet is very evident
when worn on the head, you can see it. When you see Jesus Christ,
when God gives you eyes to see Him, you know what you see? Salvation. Just like you'd see the helmet
on a soldier's head. When you see Him, you see salvation. He is the salvation of His people. He Himself is. And he will clothe
himself with vengeance. No one ever gets away with sin.
You ever hear of someone saying, boy, he got away with murder.
That's what everyone says about O.J. Simpson. He got away with
murder. If he did it, he ain't going
to get away with it. We may not catch him, but God
will. No one ever gets away with anything. Not even an idle thought. Listen, and He will do His work. The Lord Jesus Christ will do
His work with great zeal. I was working on an article for
the Bulletin, and I was thinking about this right here. He'll
do His work with great zeal. I scratched it out here. I'll
see if I can read my own writing. Christ never preached a careless
sermon. Never preached a careless sermon.
He never preached a meaningless sermon. He never preached without heart. Without his heart completely
in it. He never preached without compassion. Never. And he never preached without
power. Never. He never preached a cold, dead
sermon. Not at all. He said, The zeal
of thine house hath eaten me up. He never preached without truth. And He never preached without
the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God was always
upon Him. He had the Spirit without measure. He was all ablaze when He spoke. I tell you what, that makes me
want to crawl and stoop down here and get outside. And he never preached without
results. Never. The zeal of thine house
hath eaten thee. And the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus
Christ, shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression
in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant
with them, saith the Lord, my spirit that is upon thee, and
my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out
of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of
the mouth of thy seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and
forever. to his church. He will not leave her alone in
the wilderness. He will come and redeem her from
all her iniquities. He will help her, and that right
early. He shall save his people from their sins. That's what
it says over Matthew. He will come and satisfy justice
on her behalf, destroy him who had the power of death, the and
bring in an everlasting righteousness for us. His church. He will have mercy on those who
turn from their transgressions in Jacob, His elect. That's who
it is. His elect. No man is saved who
does not believe and repent. No man. He said He'll have mercy
on those who turn from their transgression in Jacob. As for
me, He said, this is my covenant with them, my people, my church. First of all, He promises His
Spirit. That's what our Lord said, that the Comforter will
come after He left. And He will never depart. And He promises that His Word,
this is comforting, especially when I think of these young ones. Look at these young ones. They're
so young. He said His Word, His Gospel
will always be around. When you and I are gone, His
Word will still be here. I told Dale, I'm supposed to
teach at the Bible class, I think, on a Friday down there, and the
teenagers, how do you do that? I've never been as good at dealing
with that. But he kind of left it open.
He just said, well, just do what you know, you feel led to do. And I thought about it, I was
reading Proverbs the other night. And I told Dale, I said, I think
what I'm going to do is try to deal with wise counsel from the
Word of God. I said, because when you and
I are gone, Dale, it'll still be here. It'll be like the lighthouse
on the shore that guides the ships. He will always, always have His
preachers. Always. He'll never leave Himself
without a witness. Ever. There will always be someone,
until the end of time, proclaiming the gospel of God's glory. Always. Where sin abounded, Grace does
much more now. Okay. Okay, Mike.