to Isaiah 48. We are going to look at the first 11 verses
of Isaiah 48. It reads this way, Hear ye this,
O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are
come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the
name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not
in truth, nor in righteousness. For they call themselves of the
holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel. The Lord
of hosts is His name. I have declared the former things
from the beginning. And they went forth out of my
mouth, and I showed them, and I did them suddenly, and they
came past. Because I knew that thou art
obstinate, and thy neck is as an iron sinew, and thy brow brass,
I have even from the beginning declared it to thee. Before it
came to pass, I showed it thee, lest thou shouldst say, Mine
idol hath done them, and my graven image and my molten image hath
commanded them. Thou hast heard, see all this,
and will ye not ye declare it? I have shown thee new things
from this time, even hidden things, that thou didst not know them. They are created now, and not
from the beginning, even before the day when thou heardest them
not, lest thou shouldst say, Behold, I knew them. Yea, thou
heardest not, yea, thou knewest not, yea, from that time that
thine ear was not opened, for I knew that thou wouldst deal
very treacherously, and was called a transgressor from the womb.
For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise
will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. Behold, I
have refined thee, but not with silver. I have chosen thee in
the furnace of affliction. For mine own sake, even for mine
own sake, will I do it. For how should my name be polluted? I will not give my glory, says
God, unto another." So we see this, as we see ourselves in this,
always in need of much grace and much mercy, always cantankerous. This is just what we are. But
I got a few, few points. And the first point is who is
God through his prophet? Who is he speaking to? Who is
he speaking? I've got to keep it in context.
Who is he speaking to? Well, in verse one, he says,
house of Jacob. Well, that is the type of the
believer. That is the type of the elect,
the bride, the church, his people. So we're going to keep this in
context. Hear this, O house of Jacob, which are called in the
name of Israel, swear by the name of the Lord, make mention
of the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness.
How does he find these people? How does he find these people? In the text, how does he find
us? Well, the very last part of verse
1, not in truth, and not in righteousness. By nature, the children of wrath
even as others. As David says, from the womb
I came out speaking lies. As I said this many times, we
don't have to teach our children how to lie. They know how to
do it. They do that on their own. And so do we. So this is
how, secondly, how he finds them. Well, look with me in verse 4,
because I knew that thou art obstinate, hard-hearted is what
he's saying, thy neck is an iron sinew, that would be a very stiff
neck, and he says, verse 4, and thy brow is brass. Eyebrow is brass. Or I look this
up and it says it could also be rendered shameless, immodest,
or not very forthright. That's us. That is us. Look at verse 5 and even this
is how our Lord finds His people by nature and I have from the
beginning declared it before it came to pass lest you say mine idol." So we're
given, we have a hard neck, we have a stiff neck, we're obstinate
of heart, a brass brow, we're given to idolatry, which is basically,
I could give a general definition, is anything put up in God's place
in our acknowledgement, anything that's takes the place of God
in our thoughts, in our concepts, in our false worship, whatever
it may be. It could be job, it could be money, it could be positions,
it could be people. We're given to idolatry. Well,
let's move on. Verse 8, you didn't hear. Yea, thou heardest not, thou
knewest not. and thou dealt very treacherously
and was called a transgressor from the womb." No ear to hear
God's ways. We invent ways. They're not God's
ways. Our way seems to be right, but
the end we know is the way of death. As Maurice Montgomery
would put it, we're simply a dead dog sinner. And yet we're proud
of it. Stubborn, rebellious, self-serving,
and treacherous or the one who deals deceitfully, and that word
is unfaithfully, unfaithfully. And this is a proper description
of us by nature. We are not faithful to our God
and we've dealt deceitfully with Him. Yet in all this, as we see
and as we continue in this passage and other passages, God is not
mocked. He is not mocked. He is in total
control of all circumstances and thusly as towards his elect,
towards his bride, it says we are not consumed. If he marked
iniquity, no one would stand. And he's marking it and he's
telling them what they are. They're obstinate, stiff necked,
brass brow, deal treacherously, deceitfully, yet we're not consumed
as we should be. The third point. The second point
was, how does He find us? How does He find us in nature,
by nature? Thirdly, why does He find or
rescue us, those His wayward people? Why does He find us or
rescue us? Verse 9, for my name's sake,
and this is God speaking, for my name's sake will I defer mine
anger And for my praise will I refrain for thee that I cut
thee not off. We deserve to be cut off from
the sure mercies of David as more so than anyone else. We
are no different. His grace causes us to be different.
So why does He find us? The first answer to that is in
verse 9. The sole and only reason why
some are found and others are passed by. The sole reason why
He chooses one and does not another. The sole reason why He is gracious
to one and lets others go the way of self, sin, and destruction
is for His own namesake, for His sovereign glory, and for
His own purpose of grace and righteousness. This is the first
reason why He finds His people. Or as He puts it in verse 10,
He says, I have chosen thee, I have chosen thee. 2 Timothy,
we'll look there again, we've done this before, 2 Timothy 1.9, You don't have to turn there,
but it says, God who has saved us and called us with the holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to His own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. As the truth is heard, the Holy
Spirit quickens those lost sheep of the house of Israel and brings
them to Christ. He calls, we follow. Another says the Scriptures,
they will not follow. It says that they hear His voice
and they knew His voice through the enabling of God's gracious
Spirit. And now, we beholding Him and
by Him and because of Him, we have, as we heard this morning
in Bible class, all things are ours. In Ephesians chapter 3
in verse 8, you don't have to turn there, he says, we have
the unsearchable riches, unsearchable, unsearchable riches of Christ.
Mr. Spurgeon said this about that
phrase, riches beyond the count of arithmetic, riches beyond
the calculation of reason, riches beyond the imagination or even
the eloquence of words. And sometimes you stand up here,
and many times I stand up here, the words, it's just they don't
seem good enough to describe our God. Isn't that the case? I cannot fully describe the unsearchable
riches of Christ. They are unsearchable indeed.
He's greater than the sum of all of our thoughts. He is higher
than the heavens. He's more vast in His riches
towards His people than this universe. His grace is matchless. It causes us to lie down in green
pastures. It leads us beside the still
waters. And He says in Jude, it's able
to keep us from falling. This is unsearchable riches indeed. We know these riches somewhat
here below because we have the Word and it tells us that all
these promises that are in the Word are for us in Christ, yes
and amen. For they sustain us in trial
and they keep us in temptation and they cover us in hardships. These unsearchable riches of
Christ. All because For His own namesake,
He deferred His anger, and for His praise, He will refrain for
us that He cuts us not off." It's found first and foremost
in His sovereign decree and who He is. Turn with me to Jeremiah
31. This is some of the unsearchable
riches of Christ in Old Testament form. Jeremiah 31 and verse 10. Hear the word of the Lord, O
ye nations, and declare it to the isles afar off, and say,
He that scattered Israel will gather them and keep Him as a
shepherd does his flock. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob
and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than
he. Therefore they shall come and
sing in the height of Zion and shall flow together to the goodness
of the Lord for wheat and for wine and for oil and for the
young of the flock and of the herd and their soul shall be
as a watered garden, and they shall not sorrow any more at
all." A watered garden. If you want a healthy, if you
want a fruitful, successful, tasty garden, and it's produce,
you make sure you tend it, you take care of it. And we are the
garden. And he speaks about this in the
Song of Solomon. We are the garden of the Lord. And He has promised
to take care of us. And He does. And He fertilizes
and trims and cuts and different things to shore us up and prune
us up. But He waters His garden. And this is just one part of
the unsearchable riches of Christ. Well, secondly, How does God
find or rescue His people? He does it solely based on the
reason of who He is. But secondly, He does all this
for His own glory, as we have said before, but look at verse
10. Behold, I have refined thee,
but not with silver. I have chosen thee. And this
is another reason why we are called out of our treachery We're
called out of our larceny, we're called out of our deceitfulness
and our stiff-neckedness because He has chosen us. And the word
chosen, I'm sure I've looked this up before, it is select. And it is found 123 times in
the Old Testament. Now those who say there's no
such thing as election are those who do not want to acknowledge
election of God's grace. you've got a hard road to hold.
It occurs 123 times in the Old Testament. This is just chosen.
This is just the word chosen. We're not talking about remnant
of His heritage. We're not talking about these
other phrases that also declare God's glorious electing love
and grace. To be selected or elected of
God is monumental to those of us who believe. It's comforting. It's amazing. It's overwhelming. It's a cause for great joy. It's
a cause for song. It's a cause for worship. And
we could go on and on. He has done this. He has chosen
us. He has redeemed us. He has called
us. He has quickened us by the preaching of His gospel. First,
because it's for His glory. He will not share His glory with
another for His own glory. And secondly, because we are
chosen. But it is all grace and glory, but it's not always as
easy as we think. As the verse goes on, listen
to what he says. I, God, have chosen thee, Jacob,
the bride, his elect, the church, in the furnace of affliction. Yes, this selection of God to
usward is amazing. It causes us much joy, much rejoicing,
and much honor to His name. It causes us to worship Him.
But it's usually in the furnace of affliction. Affliction, that
word affliction means trouble or misery. Now, when I step back
and look at that, well, a believer is not miserable. There's an A and a B. when you were in sin and could
care less about who God was, and then He crossed your path.
Like He did Paul. He knocked him off his horse.
He emptied you of all of your self-righteousness. He emptied
you of all your vanities. That's miserable. That old flesh
cannot stand the sight or the hearing of God. So that's one
part. But the second part is, is as
our master has suffered and has been persecuted, we are not promised
that we will not go through persecution. The servant is not above his
master. So secondly, he chooses us in the first of affliction
because he's going to refine us and make that vessel pure
like himself and grace and holiness and righteousness and godliness.
We saw this more in Bible class. But the second part of this is
in the believer's life, he's chosen us in the furnace of affliction. Usually as an afflicted people
and not a prosperous people. Not so much as in the palace,
but in the furnace. Nothing the world would call
lovely or attractive. You remember the Tent of Meetings?
Before the temple was built, the Tent of Meetings, it was
ugly on the outside. Badger skins, but all on the
inside was the Shekinah glory. And we have this treasure in
earthen vessels. Fashion is usually wanting strength,
not so much glory, dishonored, yet We have Christ. He has us. So this affliction,
this trouble, and once God saves you, there's nothing like the good
news, but on the other hand, your troubles will start. You'll
have conflicts within, discouragements, troubles, fightings within, fears
without. You have all these things. The
two natures are constantly warring. But He calls us to the furnace,
and we follow. And it's most often in the furnace
that we grow and increase and faith is enlarged, more often
under hardships and trials than when it's easy, when things go
smooth. Well, and He says this, and you
don't have to turn or aim is 6-1, Woe to them that are at
ease in Zion, in the church. If everything is going smooth,
and there's no trouble, we've got to be careful. Because there's
always internal struggles. And if there's no struggles,
it could be we're not talking, we're holding the truth in. But
it'll come out. It has to come out. Because in
the furnace, isn't that where the Son of God walked with those
three brethren in Daniel chapter 3? Isn't that where He walks
with us? Isn't it? David said, it was
good for me that I've been afflicted in the furnace of trouble. I
have chosen thee in the furnace of trouble. He's not promised
blue skies and yet the new man, the new nature, the new creature
understands that everything is of God and so we're perfectly
happy, perfectly content. But that's only half the story.
We know we constantly struggle. And I'm not saying go out there
and try to cause a fight. No, the believer doesn't do that.
We go forth preaching peace. But they're for war. They're
not for peace. May we, you and I, not shrink in such days and
times as we are in of under God's sovereign affliction, for He
knows what is best for us and we will have sweeter communion
with our elder brother. because of these trials, these
tribulations. I've often used the example of
a wrestler. When you're on your back, you're
looking up at those lights in the gymnasium, it's not good.
You need to start doing a technique to where you can get off your
back. But until you get on your back, you won't exercise that
move. You won't understand those difficulties,
those troubles. And He does use. He calls us
in the furnace of affliction. And He says in verse 11, for
my own sake, even for my own sake, will I do it? He's going
to call us. He's going to choose us. For
His great name's sake, He's going to defer His anger. He will have
His people. He will save His people from
their sins. May we not shrink back. even
though it's in this furnace. May we not shrink back in this
furnace. Because in that furnace, He refines
us. And like Peter says, no temptation
seems to be joyous now at all. But it works that peaceable fruit
of righteousness. So my prayer for us is that He
would keep calling We would keep coming and for grace to walk
with Him while we are here in this world, loving and adoring
our King, our Redeemer and our Friend. That means He would give
us grace that we would keep doing this. Because, the latter part
of verse 11, He says, I will not give my glory to another. May we not seek our own glory,
may we not try to figure it out, but may we go quickly, boldly,
singularly, to Him. And He's sovereign, and He's
in control of all things, and He will keep us. He will keep
us. May we be found in Him, resting
in Him, trusting in Him, knowing that He cares for His people
as He has laid down His life for the sheep. Bruce, would you
close us?