throughout the Old Testament
scriptures, the Lord God reminded the children of Israel again
and again and again and again of what he had done for them,
preserving them in the bondage in Egypt and bringing them out
of Egypt with a stretched out hand by the blood of the Paschal
Lamb and by his mighty arm. How he delivered them in the
days of the judges, from their enemies, one after the other.
How over and over again, through their many falls, their many
backslidings, their many revoltings, God was pleased to be patient,
long-suffering, and gracious, and delivered them, sent judges
to deliver them, one after the other. After the Babylonian captivity,
he reminded them again and again and again of his deliverance,
calling his people to remember what he had done for them. And
by the remembrance of his grace, to be confident of his promises
and to be inspired to devotion to him. The Lord commands you
and me, look ye to the rock from which you're hewn. the hole of
the pit from which you have been digged. We ought, we who are
gods, we who have been washed in the precious blood of Christ,
who have been saved by God's almighty grace, We ought constantly
to ask God to bring to our remembrance every moment of every day what
he has done for us. Where we were, what we were,
and what he's done for us by his grace. He lifted me out of
the deep miry clay. He set our feet on the rock,
Christ Jesus. It is He and He alone who has
maintained us all these days of our pilgrimage. You'll find
my text tonight in the 14th chapter of Isaiah's gospel. As God the
Holy Ghost will enable me, I want to talk to you about four things
experienced by every believer. Four things experienced by every
sinner. four things experienced by every
heaven-born soul. Captivity, deliverance, warfare,
and victory. Now we know that the prophecy
given in Isaiah chapters 13 and 14 has an immediate reference
to the seed of Abraham, to the children of Israel, and to the
Babylonian captivity and the deliverance from Babylonian captivity.
But those who limit the prophecy to just those historic events
have missed the message of the prophet altogether. As you read
these two chapters, 13 and 14 together, you must recognize
that there are some things spoken of in these chapters which cannot
be applied to the Jews and to the Babylonians. Let me call
your attention to just a couple. There never was a time in the
history of Israel when the Jews carried the Babylonians into
captivity, and yet Isaiah 14 speaks of that. There never was
a time when Israel ruled over Babylon, and yet the prophet
promises that. But if we would understand this
prophecy spiritually, as it is intended to be understood, referring
to our experience of grace, referring to the salvation of God's elect
by His power, by His grace through the Lord Jesus Christ, then the
chapters become both easily understood and very practical. The things
spoken of before us find their accomplishment in us. They find their accomplishment
in the experience of God's saints. They find their accomplishment
in the salvation of God's elect, the Israel of God, and in every
believer's experience of grace. The people of God, you and me,
the people of God, you and me, shall be triumphant over all
our enemies by the grace that's ours in Christ Jesus. This book
promises it. God's people shall prevail over
their enemies. This book promises it. We're
more than conquerors through him that loved us and gave himself
for us. Let's read verses one through
four of Isaiah 14 together. The Lord will have mercy on Jacob
and will choose Israel and set them in their own land. And the
strangers shall be joined with them and they shall cleave to
the house of Jacob. And the people shall take them
and bring them to their place. And the house of Israel shall
possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids. and they shall make them captives
whose captives they were, and they shall rule over their oppressors. And it shall come to pass in
the day that the Lord will give thee rest from thy sorrow, and
from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou must made
to serve, that thou shall take up this proverb against the king
of Babylon and say, How hath the oppressor ceased? The golden
city ceased. Now here are four promises in
these four verses of Scripture. First, the purpose of God in
all things. The purpose of God in all things
is that He may have mercy upon His elect. God does everything
in time for the accomplishment of this purpose, that he may
have mercy upon his elect, for the Lord will have mercy on Jacob. What does that mean? God's treatment
of Babylon, God's treatment of the nations of the world, God's
treatment of men, that which God uses men and devils to accomplish. God's treatment of the demons
of hell, God's treatment of Satan himself is regulated altogether
and determined altogether by his purpose of grace toward his
elect. Oh, that ought to sail our boats
through any storm. The Apostle Paul tells us that
if we're born of God, we're new creatures in Christ. Old things
are passed away. All things become new. The very
next word is all things are of God. God does this by the sovereign
manipulation of all things according to his purpose of grace. We know. that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. Here's another promise. Though
in Providence, God sometimes appears to be angry with his
people. He will never cast them off. He will yet choose Israel
and set them in their own land. He took them down into Egypt.
He gave them over to the hands of the Philistines. He gave them
over to this nation and that nation. He gave them over to
the hands of the Babylonians. Looks like God's cast them off.
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no. He will yet choose Israel and
set them in their own land. There is a great multitude in
this world, a multitude which no man can number. They're scattered
among the nations of the world, a people whom God is determined
to save. They're called his elect. They're
called the objects of his mercy, though they are now strangers
to the covenant of promise. These must be joined to God's
people. must be joined to God's Church. They must be joined to God's
Israel. Some years ago when the Iron
Curtain first fell and the Lord opened up means of ministry in
Russia, Brother Bill Clark went over and they established a bookstore,
Evangelical Press, and selling books in Belarus. And as they were getting on the
train coming back, folks were still scared and people aware
that they're being spied on by the government and things were
still uneasy, but Bill's on the train. And as he got on the train,
someone had been observing him in Moscow. And Bill picked up
languages quickly. He could speak their language
pretty well. And this lady, as the train's pulling off, reached
up and just stuck something in his hand. Bill opened it up. It's just a piece of paper. She
said, there are believers here. There are believers here. God
has his people everywhere, everywhere. We see how God opens the door
of utterance for the Gospel in so many ways. I just talked to
Brother Clay, there's a fellow from the Ivory Coast of Africa,
who's been listening to our messages on the radio, on Free Grace Radio
for several years, he and his wife, and he's working up close
to where Brother Clay Curtis lives, and just a couple of weeks
ago, found out that Clay was there, and he plans to attend,
he and his wife, all the time, they've been listening for years.
God has his people everywhere. I haven't been able to push this
thought from my mind, have no idea what God may bring to pass
through this meeting with our president and the ruler of North
Korea, that oppressive, cruel, barbaric, monstrous regime. But God has his people everywhere.
And the politics of the world, the politics of the world, are
determined by God's purpose of grace for his elect. Everything
is brought to pass and comes to pass because God Almighty
will save his people from their sins. Our Savior said of the
sheep, also I have, them also I must bring and there shall
be one fold and one shepherd. Here's the third promise, look
at verse two. Many who now oppose Christ, his gospel and his church
shall soon be made to serve him, his cause and his people. The
people shall take them and bring them to their place. And the
house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord. There are people in this world
who oppose us, who are vehement enemies to God's people, to God's
church. I've experienced it in various
places in the world where people just, oh, just enraged. And then God saved them, become
the very best of friends, companions, fellow laborers in the cause
of Christ. The words their place here perhaps refer to you and
me as the Lord is pleased to use us to bring his chosen home
to Zion, our place. Oh, what a blessed privilege
to be used of God to gather in his people to bring them to our
place, to their place among God's people, to their place in the
sheepfold. Perhaps the words their place
refer to their appointed place, their place in his fold with
his sheep, their appointed place in his house, their appointed
place in his church, in his temple, their appointed place in his
kingdom and the service of his kingdom. The land of the Lord
is not talking about a physical land. It's not talking about
the physical land of Canaan, but rather it is talking about
the land of grace and salvation, the promised land of the covenant,
God's everlasting salvation. We have examples of how those
who were our enemies are made our friends. There was a man
by the name of Saul of Tarsus. who held the clothes of those
who stoned Stephen to death, and he couldn't have been more
happy. He's succeeding in seeing this
man he thought to be a blasphemer stoned to death. And he has papers
from the Roman government to hail to prison those who meet
in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord. But one day, the Lord God
turned him from his own ungodliness and his darkness into the liberty
and light of his grace and kingdom and brought him to his place
in the kingdom. And the disciples who were terrified
by that man said, behold, he prayeth. Saul's become one of
us. Brother Ralph Barnard often told
of his He went to school as an agnostic, an atheist, claimed
to be an atheist, led the Atheist Club when he was in college,
and God had his hand upon him through it all. And God revealed
Christ to him through it all. And God used him greatly in the
preaching of the gospel. You and I were once foes to God,
foes to Christ. foes to his church, foes to his
gospel, and he called us by his grace. Here's the fourth promise,
verses three and four. God's elect shall triumph over
their enemies, all their enemies, by his grace. And it shall come
to pass, verse three, in the day that the Lord shall give
thee rest from thy sorrow and from thy fear, and from the hard
bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, that thou shalt take
up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, how hath
the oppressor ceased? The golden city ceased. Now, in these verses of scripture,
God the Spirit gives us every believer's experience of grace
set before us in four ways. First, The grace of God found
us in a state of bondage and captivity. All men like to boast
that they are free. All men like to flatter themselves
with the idea that they are morally, spiritually, intellectually free. Men love to think of themselves
as free thinking men. But the fact is, every man by
nature is in bondage and captivity, and that's where we were when
grace found us. Those who are without Christ
are bondmen, slaves, abject slaves to the world, the flesh, and
the devil. And the first work of grace is
to show us the misery of that captivity, to make the shackles
hard, to make the bondage painful, to make us willing to be set
free, willing to cry out for mercy. The fact is, even in the
believer, there is a sense of bondage. Paul said, not only
they, but ourselves also, which had the first fruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves growled within ourselves, waiting for the adoption,
to wit, the redemption of our body. The believer knows himself
much still in bondage, and we loathe the bondage. We cannot and I don't know how to say this
and not be misunderstood by some. I know you will not misunderstand
me, but we cannot not sin. And that's horribly painful to
the believer because we still have this nature. I make no excuse
for it. I make no excuse for it, but
it is impossible for a man or a woman in this world not to
sin. Sin is part of all we do. and the natural man being in
bondage. His mind is controlled by the
sentiments of the world. His sense of moral judgment is
determined by the customs of the world. His actions are directed
by the fashion of the world. And those things encroach on
our minds. Many of you are like me, you're
old enough to remember when the things that now are looked upon
as commonplace so that nobody Thinks the thing about it, nobody.
Just a short while ago would have been shocking. Would have
been shocking, just shocking. I was talking to a young convert
just recently. He'd been shacked up with a woman
he's now married to and he said, he said, nobody ever told me
we shouldn't do it. Nobody ever told me it was wrong.
It's just accepted, common way of life. What a sad thing. In the church of God, we tend
to say, well, that's just the way things are. Let us ever be
gracious to men and women, fallen, depraved men and women, but never
in the least give approval to the iniquity that abounds on
every side. Because the world's morals, the
world's discernment, the world's judgment is perverse. That's
no reason why ours should be. In our generation, you're more
likely, well, you're not at all likely for going to jail for
murdering a baby. It happens all the time, government
pays for it. But if you shoot somebody's dog, you can go to
jail for it. Something's bad wrong. It's called bondage. Bondage of man. to the customs
of the day. And men and women, even when
they acknowledge things to be wrong, just don't make any trouble. Just get along. And so we bend
to the age. Now and then, Some individual
steps out of the general mold of society and appears to be
an independent individual and he's going to act different,
but soon you will find the shackles of the world on him. Prejudice
and pride and greed and ambition, opinion and custom, approval
and applause. Men crave them and can't live
without them. And the things of God are more
and more increasingly foolishness to those who believe not. The
preaching of the gospel is foolishness to them that perish. Foolishness,
it's foolishness. Churches, churches today, as a common rule,
engage in almost every form of activity except preaching. Preaching is the least important
thing that goes on in churches. And for that matter, in most
churches, that's a good thing because the preacher just preaches
nonsense. But preaching the gospel is looked upon by many women
as foolishness. The one means by which God speaks
to sinners. The one means by which God calls
out His elect. The one means by which God comforts,
edifies, instructs, and directs His people. Men look at it as
something that's just foolishness. And sadly, God's people, in our
stupid, insane, continued depravity and sin, tend to look upon things
the way the world does. God save us from such utter,
utter foolishness. God make us to understand the
blessedness, all the blessedness of the grace God's heaped upon
us. We listened to Brother Lindsay this morning, talking about his
dad with such admiration. And as he spoke, I said to myself,
as I have said to many of you and many others around the world,
who have been raised in a family where they, where God is feared
and God is honored. Oh, what a privilege. And I would
encourage you as you have to continue to delight in and rejoice
in and give thanks to God that cherish it, build it until the
families go. How much more that ought to be
the case in this place? Where God has been pleased to
call out his elect, establish his word and establish the preaching
of the gospel. What bondman we are to sin. so
that the imagination of our hearts is only evil continually. We were born in a state of captivity
and bondage. We willfully chose to cling to
our chains and cherish our chains until God, by omnipotent mercy,
broke the chains and set us free and brought us out of bondage. We were under the curse of the
law, sentenced to death and condemnation. The law demanding righteousness,
the law demanding satisfaction, and we could give neither. And
the Lord Jesus Christ came and proclaimed liberty to the captives,
declaring that our sins were put away, that righteousness
is ours, and sets the lawful captive free. Men by nature are
in bondage, and that's where grace finds all men. And until
you know something about the bondage, you will know nothing
about the blessed liberty of grace. Second, grace brings us
into a state of deliverance. Turn to Isaiah 63, or 61 rather,
verses one through three. Isaiah 61. Grace finds us in bondage and
captivity. Grace brings us into deliverance. Our Lord Jesus in Luke 4 quotes
from this passage of scripture and said, this is what it's talking
about, it's talking about me. The spirit of the Lord God is
upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted. to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of the vengeance
of our God, to comfort all that mourn. to appoint unto them that
mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of
joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that he might be glorified. Come back to chapter
49, Isaiah 49. We are by nature the house of
a strong man armed, Satan holding us in captivity and bondage. But when Christ comes in the
power of his grace, by the spirit of God in omnipotent mercy, he
binds the strong man, cast him out and spoils, he takes the
spoils of victory, Isaiah 49, 24. And shall the prey be taken
from the mighty or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith
the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away,
and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered. For I will
contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy
children. And I will feed them that oppress
thee with their own flesh, and they shall be drunken with their
own blood as with sweet wine. And all flesh shall know that
I am the Lord thy Savior, and thy Redeemer, the mighty one
of Israel. The Lord Jesus comes in omnipotent
power and sets sinners free. He enters the heart, not by invitation,
but by right. He enters the heart, not because
you open your heart and let him in, but by power and sets up
his throne in the heart, binds the strong man, cast him out,
and takes possession of the house as his own, his rightful, rightful
possession. does this come to pass? What do we do? Do what Moses
commanded the children of Israel to do. Do what God commanded
Jehoshaphat to do. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. Just sit back and watch God work. We put no pressure on men, psychological,
mental pressure, emotional pressure, to try to get them to make a
profession of faith. We put no pressure on folks to
join the church. We simply proclaim the gospel
of God's free grace and pressure them with the claims of Calvary
love and urge them to repentance and wait. Wait for God to work. He will perform his salvation
and he delivers his people. from the charms of the world,
from the power of Satan, from the dominion of sin, the curse
of the law, and makes them free by his grace. Turn to Isaiah
40, one more text in this regard, Isaiah 40. This is God's word to every man
who preaches. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Speak words of comfort to the
heart of my people. Now how is that? What are we
to tell them? Cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received
the Lord's hand double for all her sins. What on earth does
that mean? God sends his servants out into
the world with the message of redemption and grace, preaching
repentance and forgiveness of sin, not as things to be done
by men, but things accomplished for men. Men and women turned
to God by the doing and dying of the Son of God, and the warfare
is over. so that God was in Christ reconciling
the world to himself. God has no quarrel with some
people. God is not angry with some people.
There are some people in this world for whom righteousness
has been brought in, for whom satisfaction has been made. And
everyone who believes on the Son of God is among that people. Believe on the Son of God. Believe
it. Trust Christ. And the Lord God
has spoken to your heart, assuring you that your warfare is over,
that righteousness is yours, that sin is forgiven, redemption
is done. Oh, what blessed comfort. God
forgive me that I should ever be turned aside even momentarily
from this blessed subject in preaching. No matter where I
am in the book of God, no matter what the subject I'm dealing
with, this must be the principal subject or I have failed as a
preacher. I have failed as your pastor.
Third, I want to remind you that once
delivered by God's grace, from our state of bondage. We are still in a constant, perpetual,
unending warfare while we live in this world. Grace brings sinners
into a warfare, into a warfare. The believer in this world is
not in a land of peace. We're at war with the world,
the flesh, and the devil. The world allures us and deposes
us. The flesh is against us. The
devil tempts us and lays every snare possible before us. But
blessed be God, grace sustains us in the warfare in spite of
our weakness and in spite of the strength of our enemies.
Paul wrote to the Philippians and he said, I'm confident of
this one thing. He which has begun a good work
in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. If you're
God's, God will carry you through. As the children of Israel were
brought out of the land of Egypt into the wilderness, they were
in midst of enemies. And then they finally crossed
over into Canaan's land. And all the while in Canaan,
they had Midianites and Perizzites and all those ites described,
they had to deal with constantly all through their age in the
land God had given them. and you and I in this land of
grace and salvation have enemies, enemies without, but greater
enemies within. And we would do well to spend
more time concerned about the enemies within than the enemies
without. Yes, we're tempted on all sides,
Tempted in many ways, tempted in many things. Satan is a crafty,
crafty foe, and he tempts us constantly. But there hath no
temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. That means
whatever temptation you face, whatever temptation I face, nothing
distinct about it. We tend again to excuse things. Well, this is a different age.
No, it ain't. No, it ain't. Things are not
any different at all. We're tempted in common as men
in this world. But there's no temptation taken
you, such as is common to man. But God will, with the temptation,
make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. And the
way of escape is Christ Jesus the Lord, who declares, my grace
is sufficient for thee. My grace is sufficient for thee. That means Don Fortner, whatever
it is you face in this world, whatever it is you have to deal
with in this world, whatever it is you have to deal with in
yourself, my grace is sufficient for you. My grace is sufficient. You see, our salvation, Our being
preserved in this conflict, this warfare, doesn't depend upon
us. I call you and call myself to
faithfulness. I call you and call myself to
check everything that's contrary to faithfulness and devotion
and zeal and consecration. Beware, beware of everything
that would draw you away from what you know is best and precious
and right. But your preservation and mine
doesn't depend on you and me, our faithfulness and our determination,
but rather upon God and his mighty free grace in Jesus Christ the
Lord. That's all, that's all. If you
come to Christ, I don't promise you a life of ease, peace and
tranquility. I promise you nothing but trouble.
and pain, conflict and tribulation and war while you live in this
world. But in the midst of all that
warfare, I promise you peace with God and the assurance of
victory at last. The Lord God says, I'm with you. I'll never leave you nor forsake
you. The rivers will not overflow
you. The flame will not kindle upon
you. In this world, we endure manifold
temptations, but God can hold us up. And when we fall, he can
and will restore us. When we sin, he can and will
and does forgive us. His grace is unchanged. And while we live in this world
contending with our flesh, this flesh lusting against the
Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh, so that you cannot do
the things you would, those things that you would you can't do,
the things you despise you do. That's the whole of Romans chapter
7. God's grace is still sufficient. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus, to them that walk not after the
flesh, but after the spirit. It's best that we live here as
we do. this weakness, in this warfare
with these raging enemies within and without. By these things
the Lord God graciously teaches us and fixes it so that we cannot
trust in ourselves. He graciously makes us mindful
that salvation is by grace alone, in Christ alone, and not in any
way determined by us. And by these things, he graciously
forces us, when we would not otherwise be, to be tender, gracious,
and sympathetic for his own. Our brethren in the midst of
fall. Now, look back to Isaiah 14 again. Grace shall soon deliver us into a
state of victory and dominion. Verse two, the people shall take
them and bring them to their place. And the house of Israel
shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and
for handmaids. And they shall take them captives,
whose captives they were, and they shall rule over their oppressors.
and it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give
thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from thy hard
bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, that thou shalt take
up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, how hath
the oppressor ceased? He who is the prince of darkness
cast out He who held such power over us ceased to have power,
so that now we're set free from the shackles of Satan and darkness,
set free from all that caused us pain and sorrow. When we've
been delivered at last into the glorious liberty of the sons
of God and resurrection glory, there shall be nothing to make
us sorrow. only that which makes us to rejoice. And the God of peace, the God
of peace will cause you to stand like David with his foot on Goliath's
neck, to stand with Satan under your heels. He will crush the
serpent under your feet. and we shall prevail over Satan
himself. And he will leave no mark upon
us to cause us any pain or sorrow forever. That's called grace. That's called salvation. God
give you faith in his son and make it yours. Amen.