Isaiah 57. We'll start reading in verse 16, and read through the end of the
chapter. Isaiah 57, verse 16, The Lord speaking, I will not
contend forever. Neither will I be always Roth
for the spirit should fail before me and the souls which I have
made for the iniquity of his covetousness. I was, I Roth and
smote him. I hid me and was Roth and he
went on forwardly in the way of his heart. I have seen his
ways and will heal him. I will lead him also and restore
comforts unto him and to his mourners. I create the fruit
of the lips. Peace, peace to him that is far
off and to him that is near, saith the Lord, and I will heal
him. But the wicked are like the troubled
sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God
to the wicked. Now, what caught my attention
was the specific phrase in verse 19, peace, peace. It's a declaration. Once again, it's the proclamation,
and it's none other than the gospel proclamation. In another
place in the scriptures, this gospel is referred to as the
gospel of peace, Ephesians 6 and verse 15. But peace is used in
other ways in the scriptures. Sometimes it's used in the Bible
for well-being. Peace be unto you. May you be
in well-being, being in good health. It's also used as quiet
or rest. Peace be unto you, quietness
and rest. But in the context here, the
context here for the iniquity of covenants, verse 17, was I
wrath, Verse 18, I have seen his ways and will heal him. In the context in which it is
being used here in Isaiah 57 and verse 19, it holds forth
contextually the idea of reconciliation. And that's why I was interested.
Reconciliation. Blessed God and our savior of
sinners, we are reconciled through blood, the blood sacrifice and
atonement made by our lovely Lord Jesus Christ. Look at what
he says. Peace, peace to him that is far off and to him that
is near. Say to the Lord, I will heal
him. I will reconcile, be reconciled. So we gotta ask a couple questions.
The first question is reconciled with whom? In our text, whom
is reconciled? Well, the Holy Father. He's the
one that's been offended. And he's the one that must be
reconciled. Second Corinthians, you don't
have to turn there. Second Corinthians chapter five. And verse 19 says,
to wit, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word
of reconciliation. God was in Christ Jesus, reconciling
the world unto himself, making peace, making peace. We have provoked him. God didn't
provoke us, we provoked him. by a thousand falls and rebelliousness
at every turn. Even we who say we know the gospel,
and I hope we do know the gospel, we still can be offensive and
can therefore bring chastisement as a loving father would do his
child. All things against us as we were
against God himself. Nor did God wait for us to apply
to Him for reconciliation. That would never be. That would
never happen. For our sins have made a separation
from us between us and God. Isaiah 59 verse 2. We need to
be brought nigh. The text says, to them that are
near and them that are far. Peace, I will heal them. We need
to be brought nigh to Him. All obstacles must be removed.
The law must be honored. Our vile corruptions must be
covered, atoned for. God himself needs to be honored,
satisfied, and made so he can be approached. And in the person
of Jesus Christ, God provided, and that which he provides, you've
heard it said many times, God will accept. In Romans, you don't have to
turn here, I'll just tell you where these are at. In Romans
chapter eight and verse 32, he that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Why? Because there's peace, there's
reconciliation. And we know the passage in 2
Corinthians verse five, 2 Corinthians 5 and 21, for God hath made Christ
to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. How can that be? Well, because
God's reconciled. God himself is reconciled to
us. So back in our text, peace, peace is heard. Peace, peace
is now the herald Enemies are now made friends by the full
and free sacrifice of that holy and just one. And now we can shout, as he says
in another place in Isaiah, Isaiah 12 and verse 1. And in that day, Thou shalt say,
O Lord, I will praise Thee. Though Thou wast angry with me,
Thine anger is turned away, and You comfort me." Does anybody
here need comfort? Anything. Anybody. Comfort, because
our sins have made a separation between us and God. Perhaps we
are struggling with unbelief. Perhaps we are struggling with
just day-to-day situations. God was angry. And in the person
and work of Christ, He is not angry anymore. Again, Romans
5 and verse 11, And not only so, but we also joy in God through
our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement. The atonement in that word is
reconciliation. So He's speaking of reconciliation
here in Isaiah 57. But there's another question
I ask, and it's in our text. Now, to whom is he, God the Father,
reconciled? Or another way to ask this is
to whom is our text addressed? It's right here in verse 57 again,
chapter 57, I'm sorry, verse 19, peace, peace, to him, whoever
that person may be that is far off, and to him or her, that
person that is near. I want to look at this. And I
think when I get done, everybody will be addressed. Everybody will be addressed in
this room. Well, to whom is the text addressed? Him that is far
off and him that is near. First, as it relates to the Jews
and to the Gentiles. The Jews were a favored people. They had Moses and the law. They had the prophets. They had
the oracles of God and the outspeakings of God. They were nigh. They
were nigh. The Gentiles, so the scripture
says, were far off. Far off. Did not own or have
the same privileges of Israel. Yet in Christ Jesus, again, we
go to the scriptures, in Christ Jesus, Ephesians chapter two,
And verse 14, for he is our peace, that's what we've heard, peace,
peace, who hath made us both one and broken down the middle
wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh
Christ the enmity, even the law and commandments contained in
ordinances, for to make himself of twain one new man, so making
peace. And also, again in Romans chapter
10, he says, Romans chapter 10 and verse 12
and 13, For there is no difference between
the Jew and the Greek, the Jew and the Gentile. The same Lord
over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Jew, Gentile,
near, far, I don't know, we're Gentiles here, there's no Jews
here, or Jew outwardly. Secondly, the Lord, this reconciliation
to whom is our text addressed? Again, you could say as it relates
to persons in various classes, religious or irreligious, nigh,
nigh, as some are raised by godly parents, and brought up under
the sound of the true and living gospel, They are brought up in
the way that they should go, not the way they would go. They
are trained up, at least I hope so, trained up in the gospel. They have a gospel church they
go to. Whether they believe the gospel
is preached or not, they are nigh. They are nigh. That's Proverbs
22, 16. They're trained in the word,
in the way. They're cloaked in the word of
truth. They hear it frequently. Then there's those who are far.
They do not have the same benefits. They don't hear the gospel. They
maybe hear a false gospel. They're ungodly, irreligious
parents, rather taught they're brought up in the ways of the
world. They think it's cute and fun to cuss. and be full of jesting
and folly, and follow the things of the world, more concerned
about the things of the world, TV, getting nice clothes, a decent
job, all these things that godly parents, they desire for their
children, however, they curb it. No, you need to be here,
you need to hear the gospel, you need to continue to hear
the word of truth. These other folks who are far
away only learn to care for themselves, never praying. They don't understand
what it means to pray, leading them to a life of sin and carelessness. And we see this. We see this
in young children, and it breaks our heart. They are said to be
far off. Thirdly, Who does this text address? Well, Mark makes a comment. It's kind of an unusual comment.
Mark chapter 12 and verse 34. You don't have to look there.
And when Jesus saw that he answered, he's talking to this person,
and he saw that he answered discreetly, Christ said to him, you are not
far from the kingdom of God. And then no man durst ask Christ
any more questions. You're not far from the kingdom
of God. Therein I. Morally, they're upright. Perhaps
they lead a good life, as we would say. They're obedient to
those in authority. They wouldn't disrespect their
parents or disrespect the law. Temperamentally, even socially,
they're pleasing. They have a nice disposition.
I put in parentheses, most often they're self-righteous. Because
I'm doing what mommy and daddy told them, which you should.
But that's not going to gain you entrance into heaven. Not
far. But then there are those who
are far off. Those who are, the Roman says, are of the baser
sort. Wicked folks. Insurrectors like Barabbas. Those who seem beyond what we
would say the gospel. Say, no, they can't. There's
no way. And I've told this story before.
I don't remember who it was, Newton or one of the old writers
was in his study and somebody came in and was rejoicing and
said, Lord, the Lord saved so-and-so. Well, he was the town drunk.
He was the town rabble-rouser. You know, if you were around
him, you were in bad company. And the preacher just said, well,
since the Lord saved me, I've never lost hope of anybody. But
we have that. We categorize them, near, far. Fourthly, this also addresses
young, the young, young boys and girls, young men and women. They have not had the world corrupt
them as much or their conscience is not seared. We say, let the
kids be a kid because their conscience are going to be seared. We always tell them not to grow
up too fast. They're not so hardened through the deceitfulness of
sin. The affections are still tender. These are said to be
nigh. Seek the Lord while he may be
found. Spurgeon has many messages on the advantages of trusting
Christ and owning him and owning your sin early in life. It'd
be much use, do much good for the glory of God in this community,
in this town. But then there are those who
are far off. or old. Their vices are deep-rooted. Old habits die hard, we say.
They're almost fully twice dead. Not quite. Not quite. The phrase goes out, can an Ethiopian
change his skin color? Can't do it. Can't do it. We have seen few come to know
Christ later in life. but it doesn't seem to be very
many. These are far off. But I can tell you, based on
this word right in front of me, this unerring, Holy Spirit-inspired
Word of God, with men, salvation, laying hold
of peace is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. All things are possible. My mom's
90 years old. Maybe, maybe the Lord would be
gracious. And I tell you in our text, Peace,
peace to him, to them, to he, she that is far off. It doesn't
make you how old you are and how steeped in yourself and your
sins. It doesn't matter if you've had
privileges, not had privileges, raised on the other side of the
tracks as it were, parents were poor, poor, rich, it doesn't
matter, or those that are near. Seek him while he may be found.
I will heal. The text says, peace, peace,
some rich, some poor, some have many advantages, some will never
see these advantages. But in the eyes of God, you're still a sinner. It doesn't
make any difference if you've taught, like I hear from some
folks who taught Bible class for 30, 40 years, it doesn't
matter. You've had more privileges than
most, at least open the Bible, whether you're teaching from
it correctly or not. But this book also says again
in Isaiah, Isaiah 35 verse 8, in a highway, this is the highway
is the gospel, the grace of God shall be there in a way. And
it shall be called the highway of holiness. That's the truth.
That's the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified.
The unclean shall not pass over, but it shall be for those, the
wayfaring men, though fools shall not err therein. There's hope. There's hope in this gospel.
So I said that thirdly, this gospel of peace addresses all. Now this is a general call. I
cannot give a specific call. I cannot give a discriminatory
call. Only God can make this call effectual and particular
to our souls and our heart. You and I cannot question whether
we are sinners near or far. We're sinners, period. So whether
you've had privileges, you've been coming to this church for
a while and still do not trust Him, worship Him, and call upon
Him, or you've never heard, this may be the first time you've
heard, Christ came to save sinners.
Matthew 121, all sorts of sinners, young, old, rich, poor, great
sinners, destitute sinners, self-righteous folk, moral folk, I ask you, and I ask myself,
will we agree with God against ourselves that there's none good,
no, not one? Can we not agree with that? Because
if you don't, the only other alternative is found in our text,
in the last two verses. But the wicked are like the troubled
sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
There is no peace. There is no peace, saith my God to the wicked. To the wicked. Only, no peace,
but only eternal and everlasting separation from God. That passage of scripture, I
think, and I should have looked it up, it just came to me. It
scares me. Something about the harvest has come, past and we're
still not saved. We still don't know him. We still
don't trust him. Trust him. Look to him. It's
like Spurgeon, look and live. There's life in a look for all
sorts of sinners. May God be pleased to bless this
word. Bruce, would you close this please?