As God the Holy Ghost will enable
me, I want to talk to you today about my experience of grace,
my experience of grace. Perhaps you'll find something
in my experience to relate to yourself. Our text will be at
Isaiah chapter 38, verses 9 through 22. Salvation, obviously, is more
than an experience. I wouldn't give you a plug nickel
for folks whose religion is all experience. And I wouldn't give
you a plug nickel for folks whose religion involves no experience. Salvation is more than an experience,
but God's salvation is an experience. It's something felt in the depths
of your soul, experienced in your heart. It is an emancipation. It is a deliverance from the
pit. Salvation is freedom for captives. Salvation is pardon
for a condemned felon. It is the restoration of sight
to the blind, the giving of legs to the lame, causing the deaf
to hear, the blind to see, the dumb to speak. Salvation is a
heart transplant. God's salvation is a resurrection
from the dead. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath
no power. When good King Hezekiah, that
great godly king of Judah, was sick, the Lord sent his prophet
Isaiah to him. to tell him directly that he
would not be healed of this disease, but rather he was going to die.
Hezekiah was just a young man. He had been a godly king. At
25 years of age, he took the throne in Judah and began immediately
to reestablish the worship of God. In 14 years, he had almost
eradicated idolatry from the land. He tore down the high places. He tore up the idols. He even
took that brazen serpent the children of Israel kept all those
years and burned incense too. He called it a worthless piece
of brass and destroyed it. He destroyed all forms of idolatry
wherever he was. And now he's 39 years old, right
in the prime of his life, and he's sick, and God's prophet. told him that he would die. As
soon as he heard that word, Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall
and prayed unto the Lord. Turned his face to the wall,
toward God's altar, toward God's house, toward the mercy seat,
and he prayed. And said, remember now, O Lord,
I beseech thee, How I have walked before thee in truth and with
a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. Now this is the sum and substance
of what it said. I've walked before you trusting your son. I've walked before you as one
born of God and taught of God. I've walked before you believing
on the Lord Jesus, in his righteousness, in his blood, perfect, born of
your spirit, made upright in heart. And Hezekiah wept sore. While he was praying, the Lord
sent his prophet Isaiah back to the king. He said, you go
back to Hezekiah and tell him that I've added 15 years more
to his life upon the earth. And in order to show that he
would do it, To fulfill his promise, God calls the sun to go down
on Ahazdiel by 10 degrees. Isaiah ordered that a plaster
of figs be made and laid on Hezekiah's boil. And on the third day, he
was healed. God made the promise, God gave
the sign, on the third day, he was healed. Portraying of course,
the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. All those things
in the Old Testament scriptures on the third day, speaking of
that beginning of new life by the resurrection of Christ. That's
what Hezekiah experienced. In verses nine through 22, Hezekiah
tells us in his own words, his own thoughts about this experience. Let's read it together. Verse
nine. The writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah, when he had been
sick and was recovered of his sickness. I said in the cutting
off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave. I am
deprived of the residue of my years. I said, I shall not see
the Lord, even the Lord in that land of the living. I shall behold
man no more with the inhabitants of the world. Mine age is departed
and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent. I have cut off like a weaver
my life. He will cut me off with pining
sickness. From day even to night wilt thou
make an end to me. I reckon till the morning There
is a lion, so will he break all my bones. From day even to night,
wilt thou make an end to me? Like a crane or a swallow did
I chatter. I did mourn as a dove. Mine eyes
fail with looking upward. Oh, Lord, I am oppressed. Undertake
for me. What shall I say? He hath both
spoken unto me, and himself hath done it. I shall go softly all
my years in the bitterness of my soul. O Lord, by these things
men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit. So
wilt thou for it recover me, and make me to live. Behold,
for peace I had great bitterness, but thou hast, in love to my
soul, delivered it from the pit of corruption, for thou hast
cast all my sins behind thy back. For the grave cannot praise thee,
death cannot celebrate thee, they that go down into the pit
cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall
praise thee, as I do this day. The father to the children shall
make known thy truth, The Lord was ready to save me. Therefore,
we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the
days of our life in the house of the Lord. For Isaiah had said,
let them take a lump of figs and lay it for plaster upon the
boil and he shall recover. And Hezekiah also had said, what
is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord? Now,
I don't doubt that Hezekiah had many reasons for writing out
his thoughts about this experience during the time of great affliction
and great deliverance. Certainly, he did this in order
to keep a record of his thoughts at the time. It's a good idea. Certainly he wrote these things
down to inspire himself, his family, his friends, and others
to remember God's great goodness. No doubt he wrote these things
down to provoke his own heart to unceasing dedication to the
Lord. He writes out this experience of God's grace and his thoughts
about the experience to remind himself of these things. Hezekiah
and his writing was very good. I'm sure his intentions were
good, and yet he soon forgot what he wrote. I read these words
about Hezekiah, and I bow my head in shame and acknowledge
this is much like me. I expect it's much like you.
We have much to remember of God's goodness, much to remember what
God has done for us, to remember our resolutions, our determinations
at the thoughts of God's goodness. But it didn't last for long.
In just a few years, Hezekiah rendered not a gain according
to the benefit done unto him, for his heart was lifted up. And when his heart was lifted
up, God brought judgment to Judah and to the people of Judah. What
a lesson for us here. Don't forget God's mercies. Don't forget those things you
experience in times of great trouble that bring you to your
knees. And don't forget God's great
goodness in delivering you. When a man thinks he's about
to die, he begins to realize how precious life is. This is
especially true for the believing man. When Hezekiah thought he
was dying, a young man in the prime of his life, just 39 years
old, deprived of the residue of his years, many things went
through his mind. He expresses them here. He thought
to himself, I'm no longer going to see the Lord in the land of
the living. That is, I'll no longer be able
to join you in the house of God, worshiping God. I'll no longer
be able to go with God's saints into the house of God. I'm about
to leave all those that I love in this world, those for whom
I care so deeply. God is bringing my life to its
close. He's about to make an end to
me as far as this world's concerned. And I don't know how to pray.
He said, my praying must be like the chatter of a swallow of a
crane, like the barking of a whooping crane, like the pierce, senseless,
unmelodious sound of a swallow, just the chatter, the yak of
a swallow, at best, like the mourning of a dove. I don't know
how to pray. I'm anxious for heaven. anxious
to see my Savior, anxious to be done with sin and all the
pain, sorrow, and loss that sin has caused. But then how shall
I teach my children? How shall I make known the truth
of the gospel? Yes, I have peace with God. I'm
ready to depart in love to my soul. God has delivered me from
the pit of corruption. He's cast all my sins behind
his back. And yet for peace, I have bitterness. Bitterness for you who are yet
without Christ, without hope, without God, without faith. Bitterness when I think of how
little I have done. How little I've done. Bitterness
when I think of how much more I should have done. Bitterness
for the pain and injury I've caused, for needless offenses. These are the things that went
through his mind. We need to learn to live for
eternity. Oh, Spirit of God, teach me. Spirit of God, set my affection
upon things above, Teach me to live for Christ and to live for
eternity. For our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things
which are seen, but the things which are unseen. For the things
which are seen are temporal. The things which are unseen,
they are eternal. Paul says to you, and I set your affection
on things above, not on things on the earth, for you're dead
and your life is hid with Christ in God. This writing of Hezekiah
here in Isaiah 38 is preserved for us in the Word of God because
the writing itself was inspired by God the Holy Ghost. It certainly
shows us the experiences of a believer in times of trouble, sickness,
even utter despair, and the working of God on the hearts of his people
in such times. I've been with many of you through
trouble when you were just in utter despair. And God's been pleased to do
for you such things as he did for Hezekiah. Hezekiah was a
believer, but he was a man who had these anxious, fearful thoughts. Though he failed miserably, he
was humbled. He was broken, he was repentant,
and God forgave him. We read that Hezekiah humbled
himself for the pride of his heart. both he and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them
in the days of Hezekiah. I'm certain these things were
written to remind us of Hezekiah's experience, but I'm equally certain
that the writing of Hezekiah was intended by God the Holy
Spirit to show us a picture of the experience of grace in a
sinner's heart. When God delivers a sinner from
the pit of corruption into the salvation and life that's in
Christ Jesus, these are things he experiences. In these verses,
the Holy Spirit shows us by Hezekiah what a sinner feels and experiences
when he's brought from death to life in Christ. from bondage
to liberty in Christ, from damnation to everlasting salvation by the
grace of God in Christ. Now, I don't want you to leave
here thinking, I must feel like Hezekiah before I can be saved. Don't go out those doors thinking
that somehow you've got to meet certain conditions in order to
know God. That is not the case. I'm not
laying down conditions for you to meet. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. I'll go a step further
than that. That's exactly what Paul told
the Philippian jailer, and this is what our Savior says. He that
believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life. Believe on
Christ right now, and everlasting life is yours. Believe on the
Son of God, and everlasting life is yours right now. But I'm certain
of this as well. Every sinner, as it comes to
Christ, experiences God's grace. We have different experiences.
We have different experiences of grace. Shelby and I were talking
about it yesterday, pictures we have in the book of Genesis,
Jacob and Abraham, Isaac. When were they saved? Isn't it
interesting? It's real hard to pinpoint that. It's interesting, real hard to
say, this is when they were saved. Why? Because God doesn't intend
for us to go back to an experience. But believers, for the most part,
experience conversion gradually. Once in a while, you'll have
one like Saul of Tarsus who is just suddenly converted. But
for the most part, they gradually are converted by God's grace.
It's hard to tell when God begins his work in a man. Hard to tell
when God actually grants a man life and faith in Christ. But
if God saves you by his grace, I'm certain you're going to experience
things, at least these four things. For some of you, this will be
a message of remembrance, reflection. I'm simply going to be reminding
you of things that you know. For some of you, I hope it will
be a message of instruction and explanation. I'm going to show
you what God is doing in you. You may be wondering what's going
on in me. For my own part, I remember well some of the thoughts that
went through my mind before God gave me faith in Christ. I thought sure I was going crazy. I thought sure I was absolutely
losing my mind. I would have committed suicide
on many occasions if it hadn't been for the fear of hell. I
was just sure no man could live like I live. but God was working
His grace in me. All right, let's look at our
text. First, understand this. When God the Holy Ghost performs
His work of grace in you, when God saves you by His grace, somewhere
along the way, He's going to bring you in utter despair. He's going to put you in utter
despair. Despair. You will despair of
life, despair of hope, despair of salvation, despair of grace,
despair of the possibility of faith for you, despair of heavenly
glory, despair of eternal life. We see this in verses 10 through
13. When God the Holy Spirit goes to work on a sinner, real grace. The first thing he
does is bring that sinner to the end of himself. He causes
the particle to come to himself. He causes Gomer to be stripped
and brought alone into the wilderness. He causes Isaiah to be bowed,
Nebuchadnezzar to be turned out like a wild man. He causes Zacchaeus
to come down. When God works grace, he brings
down the proud, stubborn heart with the conviction of sin. This
conviction of sin may be protected or it may be very brief in its
experience, but of this you can be sure. Before God grants his
salvation, he will convince you of your sin. He will bring you
under the sentence of death before he makes you to know the joy
of life. God always strips before he clothes. He always empties before he fills. He always abases before he exalts. He always sends darkness before
he sends light. He always kills before he makes
alive. Read through the scriptures.
He's addressed just this way. God kills and God makes alive. I am he that killeth and maketh
alive. He never speaks for himself the
other way. He never says, I am he that makes alive and kills.
I am he that killeth and maketh alive. God takes you down to
hell. It's described here as the very
gates of the grave, verse 10. The gates of the grave, the gates
of Sheol, the gates of hell. He takes you to the gates of
hell before he brings you up to the gates of heaven. I've
told you many times, my dear friend, Brother Harry Graham,
once we were discussing this very thing, I was just a young
man, and Harry said to me, he said, Brother Don, if you could
see what God's doing, or begins to work with a man, or convicts
a man of his sin, or begins to break a man, you'd think to yourself,
I wouldn't treat a mad dog like that. God will bring you to hell
before he brings you to heaven, I promise you. He will make you
to know the terror of his law before he makes you know the
peace of his grace. You will never look to Christ for life
until God the Holy Ghost convinces you that you are dead spiritually,
dying eternally, without Christ, without hope. Look at verse 10. I said in the cutting off of
my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave. I'll go to the
gates of hell. I am deprived of the residue
of my life. I said I shall not see the Lord,
even the Lord in the land of the living. I shall behold man
no more with the inhabitants of the world. You will not look
to Christ until God the Holy Ghost shows you that the destruction of your
soul is the work of your own hands. Isn't it interesting? He says in verse 12, I have cut
off like a weaver my life. I did this. I deserve to die. My condition is my fault. The
wages of sin is death. I've well earned it. You'll never
look to Christ for life until the Spirit of God convinces you
that in God's hands you are. And you're gonna meet God in
judgment. Verse 12, mine age is departed and is removed from
me as a shepherd's tent. I have cut off like a weaver
my life. He will cut me off with pining sickness. From day even
to night, wilt thou make an end to me? I reckoned till morning
that as a lion, so will he break all my bones. From day even to
night, wilt thou make an end to me? In this generation, this sounds
strange. Everybody in this generation
thinks God's just waiting for them to turn to him, God's just
begging them to turn to him. Oh, but if God ever turns to
you in grace, you're gonna find him like a lion first, a lion
ready to devour. You'll be in terror of him, a
terror because of your own sin. Blessed is that man who brought
into such utter despair, the utter helplessness. Blessed are those who are brought
to nothing, to acknowledge themselves nothing, to know they're nothing
but sin, nothing else. Now here's the second thing.
Holy Spirit conviction, Holy Spirit conviction, Not religious
conviction, Holy Spirit conviction. Not legal conviction, Holy Spirit
conviction. That is conviction wrought in
you by the Spirit of God, not conviction wrought in you by
the stories of a preacher or by the psychological massaging
of your mind. Holy Spirit conviction always
leads to the comfort of hope and the joy of faith in Christ. Show me a sinner and I'll show
you a believer. Show me a sinner and I'll show
you a believer. Show me someone who's lost, I'll
show you somebody who's saved. Show me someone who knows he
deserves God's wrath, I'll show you somebody who will never taste
God's wrath. The despair of conviction always
results in the dependence of faith. That's what we have in
verses 14, 15, and 16. When Hezekiah had no hope anywhere
else, he looked to God for grace. Broken, he poured out his soul
to God. He said, like a crane or a swallow,
so did I chatter. I didn't mourn as a dove. My
eyes fail with looking upward. Oh, Lord, I'm oppressed. Undertake
for me. Day and night, he says, I poured
out my soul. I cried to God in prayer. I confessed
my sin, sought his mercy. But you would hardly call what
I was doing prayer. It wasn't something that you'd
write down and say, now this is how you ought to pray. It
was more like the barking of a whooping crane, the shrill
chatter of the swallow, the sad mourning of a dove. It's brought
about by something that this generation knows little about,
conviction, Holy Spirit conviction. Turn to John chapter 16, John
16. The Lord Jesus says in verse
7, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that
I go away. It's necessary for you that I
go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come.
But if I depart, I will send him unto you. Verse eight. And when he has come, he will
reprove. The word is convince or convict. He will reprove the world that
his chosen redeemed sinners scattered throughout the world. of sin,
of righteousness, and of judgment. When God the Holy Ghost comes
in saving grace, he will absolutely convince you of these three things,
of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. That's not talking
about convince you that you ought not smoke because that's sin,
or you ought not to drink whiskey because that's sin, or you ought
not to go to a picture show because that's sin, or you ought not
wear shorts because that's sin. That's all kinds of religious
nonsense. That's all kinds of religious
nonsense. The Holy Spirit convicted me I ought not dance. No, he
didn't. Some preacher may have, some church may have, but not
the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convinces you of sin. And the
sin is one issue. Of sin, our Savior says, because
they believe not on me. Sin, because they believe not
on me. Sin, your refusal to bow to Christ. Sin, your refusal
to own Christ. Sin, your refusal to believe
Christ. Sin, your refusal to trust the substitute of sin. He'll convince you your problem
is that you hate God and you will not trust His Son. When
he comes, he'll convince you of righteousness. Not convince
you that God is righteous, you were born believing that. Not
convince you that God requires righteousness, you were born
believing that. But when he comes and convinces
you, he'll convince you of righteousness fully established by the Son
of God. He'll convince you of righteousness
because I go to my Father and you shall see me no more. of
righteousness because I finished the work I came here to do. I've
satisfied the law, magnified it, made it honorable. And he'll
convince you of judgment. Not that there's going to be
a day of judgment. You were born knowing that. Everybody knows
that. But he'll convince you the judgment is over. There's
no judgment for you because the prince of this world is judged. Oh Lord, Hezekiah said, I am
oppressed. Oppressed with your holiness
and your righteousness, your law, your justice, your truth. Oppressed with the load of my
guilt and sin. Oppressed with death. The convinced
sinner, the God-taught sinner, seeks and looks to the Lord Jesus
to be surety for him. I'm oppressed, undertake for
me. Be surety for me. Oh, what a
blessed surety Jesus Christ is. He undertook for me from eternity.
He undertook for me when he came into this world as a man. He
undertook for me when he obeyed God in all his life of obedience.
He undertook for me when he took on himself my sin and satisfied
the justice of God at Calvary. And he undertakes for me now
in his rule. Oh, how blessed, how blessed
to know that he who rules the universe is he who has undertaken
for me as my surety. Look at verses 15 and 16, Isaiah
38. Hearing from God's prophet, Hezekiah
looked upward in faith. What shall I say? He hath both
spoken unto me and himself hath done it. I shall go softly all
my years in the bitterness of my soul. Lord by these things
men live and in all these things is the life of my spirit So wilt
thou recover me and make me to live That's exactly what happened
to me when God saved me He sent a preacher to me with
a message of his grace Early in the spring I'm sitting
in the house of God just like you are. Sitting about three
quarters of the way back. Wasn't particularly interested
in what was going on, but God got my interest. There's a fellow
there from Orlando, Florida by the name of Jewel Smith. And
he came and preached on the sacrifice of our Redeemer. And God gave
me faith in Christ. He called me to believe his word
of grace, the gospel of his son. He broke me. He humbled me. He laid me low before his throne.
I shall go softly. He gave me repentance. And I
repented of my sin. I shall go softly all my years
in the bitterness of my soul. In the bitterness of my soul. Bitterness because of my sin. Bitterness because of the evil
that's in me. Bitterness because of what I
know I am. And like Hezekiah of old, I give
God alone the glory for what he's done. This is God's work. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation
belongeth unto God and only to God. He alone shall have the
praise for it. By these things, by God's predestination,
God's election, God's covenant, God's providence, God's work,
God's word, God's gift, God working faith in me, by these things
I live. He gives life to my spirit. He
recovered me. He recovered me. He recovered
me from the ruin of the fall. He brought me out of the horrible
pit. And let me ask you, would you be saved? Would you have
God's salvation? I wonder if you'd be serious
for just a minute about this thing. Would you be saved? Would you
have God's salvation? Are you just playing games with
God? Would you have God's salvation?
Are you just trying to hide from God? Would you have God's salvation? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and walk out those doors saved by God's free grace. Preacher,
it can't be that simple. Just that simple. There's got
to be more to it than that. Anything more than that's not
God's salvation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Now, how sweet, how blessed,
how wonderful is the deliverance we experience by God's grace.
I'll come back to this another time. Look at verse 17. Behold,
for peace I had bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul
delivered it from the pit of corruption. For thou hast cast
all my sins behind thy back. God destroyed the peace of my
false refuge with bitterness. So that he's made me these past
53 years to live in the bitterness of repentance. Oh, sweet bitterness
that is. And in the bitterness of this
warfare between flesh and spirit going on inside me, the Lord
God, my savior, delivered me from the pit of corruption. Oh,
Spirit of God, let me never for a moment forget where you found
me. Hearken to me, ye that follow
after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord, look ye unto the
rock which you're hewn and to the hole of the pit which you're
digged. God found me. in the pit of corruption,
and loved me out of the pit." What a word! He loved me out
of the pit. He loved me out of the pit. He delivered me because of His
everlasting love set upon That love that's revealed and made
known in the sacrifice of his Son. That love that's revealed
and made known when the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts. And having delivered me out of the pit, thou hast
cast all my sins behind thy back. Now listen to me. When God forgives sin, He so thoroughly forgives sin
that he remembers it no more. He forgives it all and he forgives
it forever. He cast it behind his back. What a description. Where is
that? Where is that? God's the infinite,
eternal, incomprehensible spirit. Where is his back? He cast our
sins behind his back in the sense he takes away our sins forever. He took them away by the sacrifice
of his son who with his blood purged our sins. One more thing, saved sinners are devoted disciples,
devoted to Christ. Ours is not the dedication of
law, but the dedication of gratitude. The love of Christ constrains
us. God has saved us that we might
glorify him. He says in verse 18, for the
grave cannot praise thee, hell can't praise you, death cannot
celebrate thee, They that go down to the pit cannot hope for
thy truth. All who are saved by God's grace
gladly praise him. Verse 19, the living, the living,
he shall praise thee as I do this day. Save sinners, propagate
and perpetuate God's praise and God's truth. The father to the
children shall make known thy truth. The Lord was ready to
save me, therefore, we will sing my songs through the stringed
instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the Lord. Saved sinners are devoted to
Christ. They're devoted to him. But oh, how sad, how regrettable, how shameful
is our devotion. Says, that doesn't make any sense,
preacher. Oh, I think it does. I'm devoted to that lady there.
I'm devoted to her. And I don't think any of you
have ever seen me do anything that would indicate otherwise.
I don't think any of you have ever
heard a word from me that would indicate otherwise. Because I'm
pretty good at keeping up a show of things. But she'd been living with me
for 50 years. And she's had to experience for
me many actions and many words that would indicate otherwise. Jerry, that's just fact. That's
just fact. So it is with our devotion to
our Redeemer. Believers are devoted disciples,
devoted disciples. I've never had, never been inclined
to have what folks call discipleship classes because I don't try to
get folks to make a profession of faith, start acting like Christians
and then try to teach them how to act like Christians. Believers
are disciples, devoted disciples. How could you be anything else?
when you've been delivered from the pit, loved out of the pit
of corruption by the grace of God. Oh, may God make this grace
and this salvation yours for Christ's sake. Amen.