whenever we read the prophecies
of the Old Testament scriptures, we need to see both the immediate
and the ultimate fulfillment of the prophet's words. Each
prophecy, this is true of every prophecy in the Old Testament,
each prophecy has both an immediate, typical, and an ultimate messianic
fulfillment. Certainly that is the case with
regard to the 12th chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah, Isaiah
chapter 12. Now, while you're turning to
that chapter, let me remind you of the background of the chapter. Isaiah 12 is the conclusion of
the sermon that Isaiah began back in chapter eight. I just
read that chapter again before the service tonight and those
chapters together. And this is what Isaiah said
in the sermon. He said in chapter eight, a savior
is coming. His name is Emmanuel, symbolized
in the prophet's son by the name of Emmanuel. But in the meantime,
judgment is coming. I'm going to judge and make manifest
to all the world and to you my disapproval of your behavior,
your sin, and your ungodliness. And in the midst of this time,
as I raise up the heathen to execute judgment upon my people,
don't be afraid of their God. Fear not their fear. But rather
he says to his prophet in the midst of these things, you said
in order, the testimony of God and proclaim my word to my people. And then in chapter nine, the
prophet was inspired by God to give us a description of the
savior who's coming, the Lord Jesus Christ, our great God and
savior, the promised redeemer, who is the expectation of Israel
throughout the Old Testament. And then in chapter 10, The Lord
God told his prophets to tell his people that in wrath, in
judgment, God always remembers mercy. Though I send judgment
upon the nation, there is an elect remnant whom I will save,
to whom I will be merciful. And then in chapter 11, he tells
us that he will gather that remnant by Christ the banner, by Christ
the branch, by Christ our Redeemer, gather them to himself. And then
he comes to the conclusion of his message in chapter 12, where
he speaks to us about God's marvelous work of grace. In this media
context, Isaiah spoke these words referring to God's deliverance
of the outcast of Israel and the dispersed of Judah. When Sennacherib, the godless
king of Assyria invaded the land of Judah, it looked as though
the nation of Israel would be utterly destroyed. It looked
as though it would be utterly destroyed. As I prepared the
message, I thought to myself, that's so often been the case
throughout church history and is very much the case in our
day. It looks as though the church
of God will be utterly consumed with the idolatry of the generation
in which we live. The Assyrian invasion was certainly
a terrible display of God's judgment, of God's anger against the sins
even of His people. And the judgment of our day displays
the same. But here Isaiah assures God's
people, God's elect of the salvation of the remnant of his chosen,
those whom he's determined to save from the hands of the wicked
tyrant, Sennacherib. That's the immediate picture.
That's the immediate prophecy. But there is much, much more
in this 12th chapter. In its ultimate spiritual messianic
scope, This is a prophecy of the salvation of God's elect
in this day of grace when Christ is revealed in the hearts of
chosen sinners. This text is an illustration
of what happens to each of God's elect when they're translated
from the power of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son.
Isaiah here shows us what happens to a sinner when he is born of
God, born again by the power and grace of God the Holy Spirit,
delivered from the spirit of bondage and wrath, and brought
by the spirit of adoption into the liberty of the sons of God.
So as we read the words of this passage, every regenerate heart,
I have no doubt, will say amen. And as I attempt to preach from
the words in our texts, I'm sure I will only be echoing the thoughts
of your heart if you're a believer. But I want to use the text in
a very personal way. I have found that often speaking
of personal experience is the best way for me to speak to you
about your experience for you to understand what God is doing
in you and with you. In the old days, it was common
for preachers, before they were ordained, to write out a confession
of faith. And preachers commonly have done
so throughout history. I've never written out such a
confession of faith. But I have entitled this message
tonight, My Confession. You'll find it here in the first
two verses of Isaiah chapter 12. This is my confession. And in that day, thou shalt say,
O Lord, I will praise thee. The word praise there is confess. Oh Lord, I will confess thee.
Though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and
thou comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid,
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also is become
my salvation. That's the confession of every
sinner saved by the grace of God. That's the confession that
we make to God and the confession we make to men. That's the confession
we make to the world and that's the confession we make to one
another. That's the confession we make in prayer and that's
the confession we make in song. This is the confession we make
in preaching And this is the confession that I make in quiet
meditation before God. Thou wast angry with me, thine
anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Behold, God is
my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid,
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also is become
my salvation. Now, before I get to this confession,
I want to make four observations that are very important. There
is a day appointed by God when God will save each of his elect. He has arranged the world in
divine predestination and all the affairs of the world in divine
predestination before the world began And he arranges the affairs
of the world in providence. In the details of everyday providence,
he arranges all the affairs of the world to bring to pass this
thing. At the appointed day of God,
he will call his elect to life and faith in Christ. It is called
thy time, the time of love. It's the time appointed of God
from eternity for the calling of his elect. In Isaiah chapter
27, the scripture speaks very plainly about this, again in
Ezekiel 31, numerous passages, but the apostle describes it
like this. In that day when God calls His elect and makes them
willing in the day of His power, when He chooses them and causes
them to approach unto Him, the Lord God comes in grace and reveals
Christ in them. Raising them up from the dead,
He gives them faith in His dear Son. Second, every sinner saved
by the grace of God will confess his Lord and Redeemer. Notice
the personal pronouns used in verse 1. Thou shalt say, I will
confess. This is a personal faith arising
from personal knowledge of Christ. Salvation is an intensely personal
faith. The door of eternal life is open
in heaven. Anyone who will may enter in. Anyone who will may enter in
but you and I must enter in by Christ the door ourselves. I can't enter for you and you
can't enter for me. We each must enter the door by
personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I repeat salvation is
an intensely personal thing. I'm aware that on the day of
Pentecost, when Peter preached that day, when God poured out
his spirit upon his church, there were 3,000 souls added to the
church at once, in one day, in one day. For the most part, that's
not how God saves his elect. This is how God says it in Isaiah
chapter 27 and verse 12. He says, ye shall be gathered
one by one, O ye children of Israel. Turn over to Ezekiel
chapter 20. I want you to see this. Ezekiel
20 verse 37. Speaking of this marvelous personal
work of God's grace, The Lord God says in verse 37, I will
cause you to pass under the rod and I will bring you into the
bond of the covenant. Now this is what Ezekiel uses
by inspiration to describe God's calling of his people. A shepherd
brings his sheep out from the fields into the fold at night.
And as he does, they pass into the gate, into the fold. And
he takes his rod and just taps them. shoulder. 1, 2, 3, 4, 97, 98, 99, 100. There they are. I will bring you and cause you
to pass under the rod and thereby bring you one by one into the
blessed bond of the covenant of free grace. Ours is a personal
confession, but it's also a public confession. It's open, publicly
avowed, and published abroad. It's not something hidden away. It's not something that we keep
secret or desire to keep secret. I love what Spurgeon said commenting
on this. Let me read it to you. He said,
God's grace does not come into the heart as a beggar into a
barn and lie hidden away as if it stole the night's lodging,
no. Its arrival is known all over the house, and every chamber
of the soul testifies its presence. Grace is like a bunch of lavender. It discovers itself by its sweet
smell. Like the nightingale bird, it's
heard where it's not seen. Like the spark which falls into
the midst of straw, it burns and blazes and consumes, and
so it reveals itself by its own energetic operations. Grace in
the soul can't be hidden. Grace experience can't be held
down and covered up as you put a candle under a bushel. Oh no,
this is a very public thing. Believers gladly acknowledge
that they belong to Christ and Christ to them. If the Lord God
is pleased to save you by his grace, you will confess it. You will gladly confess it. You
will say to him, oh Lord, I confess you. Yesterday I blasphemed your
name, this morning I ignored you. Long I've despised you,
but I knew you not. Now, oh Lord, my God, I will
confess you. I'll confess you in my heart
and with my heart. I'll confess you with my mouth.
I'll confess you in the waters of baptism. I'll confess you
as a faithful witness to you. And third, this confession is
itself is a product of God's grace. It is the Lord who says
in that day, shalt thou say, O Lord, I will confess thee. When God says thou shalt, you
shall. What God has spoken, God will
bring to pass. When is it? that God will save
his chosen. He will save them in that day
he ordained from eternity. And we will be wise faithfully
to serve him, preaching the gospel, bearing faithful witness to sons
and daughters, neighbors, friends, and foes, bearing faithful witness
of the gospel, and waiting for God to do his work Not us trying
to pretend that the work is done when it's not. Wait on the Lord. In that day, God says to every
chosen sinner, thou shalt say, I will confess thee. And at that
appointed day, they shall. No one knows, except he, how
to save his elect. How to drive unbelief from their
hearts. and how to bring them to gladly
embrace in the arms of faith his dear son. That can't be done by any except
God in his omnipotent mercy. Pastor, what are we to do for
our sons and daughters? Live before them as men and women
who believe God. Keep them under the sound of
the gospel. See to it they hear the word.
Witness to them, pray for them, and wait. Wait for God to do
his work. I promise you won't regret it.
And the fourth thing. The believer's confession of
faith is always about the Lord himself. Where iniquity is pardoned,
grace is bestowed, the triune God is everything. There is not
a record in the Bible, not one, not of a single sinner saved
by the grace of God who attributes anything to himself except sin. There's not a record anywhere
in this book of any believer who attributes anything to himself
except sin. The whole work of God's grace
is attributed to God alone. Election by the Father, redemption
by the Son, regeneration by the Holy Ghost. And the man who now
speaks to you acknowledges I am a sinner by birth, by nature,
By choice, by practice, from the top of my head to the soles
of my feet, from the inside out, nothing but sin. I acknowledge
that to you as I acknowledge that to God. Sin is my name. Sin is my nature. Sin is what
I am in me, in me. There is by nature nothing righteous,
nothing good, nothing noble, nothing worthy of God's acceptance
and approval. My name is sin, but I'm a sinner
saved by the grace of God. And I gladly acknowledge to all
who hear my voice, by the grace of God, I am what I am. Turn back to the 103rd Psalm. Brother Bobby read this psalm
back in the office a minute ago. Let me remind you of these sweet
words of grace penned by the sweet psalmist of Israel as he
sang God's praises. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. What benefits? Who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction,
who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfieth
thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like
the eagles. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. Oh, what reason
to bless him. For as the high as the heaven
is above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that
fear him. As far as the east is from the
west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Now
listen to this. Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth
our frame, he remembereth that we are dust. I am a sinner, a
sinner saved by God's free grace. That's the doctrine I believe. That's the doctrine. I proclaim
because that's my day by day experience. Sin, that's what
I am. That's my confession. Why do
you keep saying these things about yourself and about us,
pastor? Because I want us never to lose the thought for a moment
that corruption is what's in us. Sin is what we are. Sin is what we do. We deserve
nothing from God but by the merits of Christ's blood and righteousness. Only in the person of his son
do we deserve anything from God except wrath and judgment. From
my heart and with my mouth, I say, oh Lord, I will confess you as
my sovereign Lord. only sin atoning Redeemer, my
Almighty Savior, my Covenant God. Now let's look at the Confession,
verses 1 and 2. You can just hold your Bibles
open here at Isaiah 12 and you'll have my outline right in front
of you. Number 1, Thou wast angry with me. Call it what you will, put it
whatever theological terms you choose, But there was a time
when I was awakened to a sense of my personal sin and made to
realize that God Almighty was justly and righteously angry
with me. I was made to realize that I
was like all other men and women, a child of wrath by nature, cursed
and condemned before God's holy law. Occasionally, I hear from folks
who've either read something I've written or heard something
I've preached, and there is, from some quarters, a tendency
to suggest to folks that hell is not real, and when the wicked
perish, they're just annihilated, that's all. And one fella wrote
to me a week or two ago and said, surely you don't believe that
God created men just to torment them in fire forever. And my
response to that is, I wonder if you've ever realized what
you are. You see, you and I fully deserve
the everlasting punishment of God's infinite wrath against
sin. Sin is man's attack of God. It is man's attempt to murder
God. It is man's effort to push God
off his throne and take over as though he were God. It's the
very rape of God's character and it deserves punishment. The
law was given for this purpose. that the world might become guilty
before God with every mouth stopped. Suddenly, God comes and makes
you know yourself and you, oh my God, it's so. It's so. I deserve your wrath. I deserve damnation. I deserve
to be abandoned and tormented of God forever because I am sin. Paul said, I was alive without
the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Thou wast angry with me. Turn back to the book of Hosea,
Hosea chapter two. You're familiar with the story.
God told Hosea to go marry a harlot. And he did. And God gave them
three children. And one day Hosea came home and
Gomer was gone. She'd gone back to the red light
district to live among her lovers. What a strange word to use. And while she was in rebellion
against Hosea, He found out where she was and he watched over her. He provided for her. While she's
in the room with her lovers, he slips up by the door and sets
a bag of groceries down every night. She gets up and says,
look what my lovers gave me. But Hosea had the right under
law to kill her. He could have gone, brought her
before the elders of Israel and had her stoned to death. He had
the right to go get her and bring her home. By law, she was his
property, for she was his wife. But Hosea said, when I bring
you home this time, honey, you're gonna be glad to come. And this
is how I'm gonna do it. Look at Hosea chapter two, verse
nine. Therefore, will I return and take away my corn in the
time thereof? and my wine in the season thereof,
and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. This is what I'm gonna do for
you when I come to get you. This is what I'm gonna do for
you when I come to make you willing in the day of my power. This
is what I'm gonna do for you when I come to bring you home
to myself. And now I will discover her lewdness in the sight of
her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hand. I will also
cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons,
her Sabbath days, all her solemn feasts, all her religious peace
and security. And I will destroy her vines
and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, these are the rewards
that my lovers have given me. And I will make them a forest
and beast of the field shall eat them. And I will visit upon
her the days available. wherein she burned incense to
them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels,
and she went after her lovers and forgot me, saith the Lord. All that Hosea speaks of in his
love toward Gomorrah and his work toward Gomorrah, God says,
this is what I'm gonna do for my people. I'm going to cause
all your nakedness and lewdness to be made manifest. Has God
made you aware of your sin and your just condemnation of his
law? If he has, rejoice. You will never know the love
of God in Christ until you're made to know the wrath of God
without Christ. You'll never be saved until you're
lost. You'll never be robed in the righteousness of Christ until
you're stripped of your own righteousness. Turn to Psalm 51. Psalm 51, this
I know, God was angry with me and I confess
to God and before you that His anger against me was fully justified. Psalm 51, have mercy upon me,
O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of
Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Watch me throughly
from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge
my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. My iniquity,
my transgression, my sin. Against thee, thee only have
I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight. How could David
say that? Was he ignoring Uriah? Was he
ignoring Bathsheba? Was he ignoring his own family?
Was he ignoring the children of Israel? All against whom he
had sinned to gratify his lust. No, he was acknowledging that
the gratification of lust is but man attempting to get at
God. That's all. Against thee, thee
only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. And I say
this, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear
when thou judgest. Now, back at Isaiah 12. Though thou wast angry with me,
oh, bless God, the prophet doesn't stop there. Thine anger is turned
away. He's turned away. You remember
what God did to his son when his son was made sin for
us? God Almighty turned his back
on his son and his son cries, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? And when the son of God had put
away our sins, God Almighty turned his back on our sin. Never to remember them against
us again forever. Thine anger is turned away. Is it possible for a sinner to
know that? Can I know indeed that I am forgiven? Can this matter of forgiveness
really be known as a matter of certainty? so that a sinful man
can honestly look upon the holy Lord God and declare, thine anger
is turned away. I say he can. More emphatically,
this is my own personal confession of faith. Oh Lord, though thou
wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away. Now, how can
I say that? Not because of how I feel. If you find comfort and peace
in what you feel and what you've experienced in your emotions,
then my friend, you've got a bed too short to rest on. I don't
find the comfort and peace and the blessed assurance that God's
anger is turned away because of some marvelous power of faith
that I have, or some experience that I've had. But rather, I
make this confession upon the authority of God's holy infallible
word. God says, whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God. His anger is turned away. He that hath the Son of God hath
everlasting life. His anger is turned away. There
is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit, and the
spirit bearing witness in our hearts that we are the sons of
God, his anger is turned away. He that believeth on the son
of God hath the witness in himself. And this is the record that God's
given us right here in his word. He's given to us eternal life,
and this life is in His Son. In the book of God, I read and
read plainly that Christ died for sinners. God commendeth His
love toward us, and while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am chief. I confess my sin. And I confess my sin, casting
my soul upon the Son of God as my only acceptance with Him. Believing that Jesus is the Son
of God, I rest my soul on Him, His blood, His righteousness,
His power, His grace. And I plead nothing but the merit
of His holy name. that name which God in heaven
cannot refuse. I bring that sacrifice that God
in heaven has accepted and can never reject, for I bring him
the Lamb of God. Look at the next word. God declares,
he that believeth on him is not condemned. He that believeth
on him is not condemned. That's the blessed assurance
we're given here. All right, look at the third
thing. And thou comfortest me. Present tense. Celeste sang for
us one of my favorite hymns by Cowper. God moves in a mysterious
way his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the
sea. and rides upon the storm. Thou comfortest me. The word
speaks not just of having experienced comfort, but continually the
Lord God comforts me. As often as I'm cast down, he
comforts me. As often as I'm troubled, he
comforts me. As often as my soul needs it,
he comforts me. Since the day that God's anger
was turned away from my conscience, God has comforted me. Though I'm weak, he's strong.
Though I'm full of sin, he's full of mercy. Though I'm tempted,
he's faithful. He comforts me with the sweet
assurance of propitiation accepted. with the sweet assurance of providence
good, and with the sweet assurance of promises sure. All the promises
of God in Christ Jesus are yea and amen. Sometime I'd like to
do what I've told you many times of an old saintly woman. She
had a visit by her pastor, a young man, and he wanted to read scripture
to her before he started leaving. He picked up her Bible He noticed
just every little bit, just every verse or two, T-P, T-P, and curiosity
got the best of him. He said, he said, sister, I see
Mark beside these verses, T-P, what does that mean? She said,
oh, pastor, those are God's promises tried and proved. He tried and proved. Oh, how
faithful He's been. How faithful He is. How faithful
He shall be, fulfilling all the promises of God in Christ Jesus. He promises His presence, even
when I have no sense of it. He promises His preservation,
even when I feel most in danger. He promises soon. to come again
and receive me unto himself. Fourth, behold, God is my salvation. God Almighty, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost is my salvation. God the Father planned
and purposed it. God the Son purchased it and
earned it. God the Holy Spirit brought it
to me. Because God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid. Now I have some difficulty with
that statement. How can I say this of truth? I will trust and not be afraid.
I wouldn't dare presume to expect you to believe that I never have
fear. I have fear when there's nothing
to fear. Most of the time, it's fear when there's nothing to
fear. I invent fears. I think of reasons to be afraid. But David made a statement that
helps me some. He said, what time I am afraid,
I will trust in thee. And here is my confession to
you and to God. with God the triune Jehovah as
my Savior, I will trust and not be afraid. I will not be afraid
of God. He is my fear whom I worship. He is my fear whom I trust. The Lord Jehovah is my strength
and my song. Jehovah is my strength for every
trial, duty, for every day, for every circumstance. I have often looked at something and thinking,
I can't do that. And immediately, thank God, immediately,
thus far, I'm smitten in my conscience. If God put it before me, God
gives me the opportunity, and God gives me the occasion to
do something for Him. Whatever it is, I can do it. Same's true of you. Whatever
it is that God puts before you to do, for His name, for His
honor, for His children, for His kingdom, for His gospel,
whatever it is, if God puts it in your hand, you can do it.
He is my strength. Jehovah is my song. I will sing
of my Redeemer. With his blood he purchased me.
On the cruel cross he suffered from the curse to set me free. Why shouldn't I sing? He also
has become my salvation. By His appointment, by His accomplishments,
by His grace, by His gift of faith, He has made Himself my
salvation. He has made Himself my wisdom,
my righteousness, my sanctification, my redemption. That according
as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. That's my confession. And I'm
confident if you're God's, it's your confession. And I pray that
if it is not yet, before you leave here this night, it will
be your confession as well. Amen.