We live in a day of terrible
confusion for everybody, especially for men and women who seek to
live for God in this dark, dark age. You and I who are believers
ought to be the best of citizens. And I say that to believers wherever
they live, you ought to be the best of citizens in the land
where God has put you. We ought to be ideal citizens,
subject to higher powers set over us by the hand of God and
the providence of God. And those who are the best of
citizens, God's people in any nation, are greatly concerned
for the deplorable state of things in the world in which we live. I can't help but to wonder what
God has in store for us in the next few years. Brother David
Peterson said to me this morning before service, we were chatting
out on the front porch, and he said, it looks like God has just
determined to let us have our way as a nation. We've had an abominable wretch
in the White House for eight years. But we've had others like
him and we will have others like him to come. We may have worse
than that in the next eight years. What are we to do? What are we
to do? Live for God. Live for God. Live trusting our
Redeemer who rules all things and assures us indeed It is well
with my soul. But beyond that, it is well with
God's church. It is well with God's kingdom. It is well with God's people. No matter what you read in the
newspaper. No matter what you see on your
right hand or your left. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
1 and verse 1. I want to talk to you, as God
will enable me tonight, about God's prophet, God's providence,
and God's people. God's prophet, God's providence,
and God's people. If we would understand the book
of Isaiah, as we read and study these 66 chapters, We ought constantly
to try to realize and bear in mind the circumstances in which
Isaiah wrote this prophecy and the message this prophecy contains
for us today. This prophecy is as much a message
to you and me. to the members of Grace Baptist
Church in Denver, Kentucky in 2016, as it was for Jerusalem
and Judah in Isaiah's day. It is not written merely as a
piece of history. It is God's message to us. Now, these things are all indicated,
both the circumstances and the prophet's message in the opening
verse of the chapter. The vision of Isaiah, the son
of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days
of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. This is the vision that God gave
to Isaiah concerning his people during the reigns of four kings
of tremendously different characters. Isaiah lived in days of great
affluence and prosperity. Uzziah, the king of Judah, had
led the people of Israel to the achievement of both economic
and political stability. Under his rule, Judah was almost
again at the point of the power, prestige, and glory that Israel
had in the days of David and Solomon. But as is almost always
the case, As the nation increased in riches, it became more and
more degenerate. Vice increased as wealth increased. It almost always does. Vice increased
as wealth increased. Isaiah lived long enough to see
the worship of God degenerate to a lifeless, meaning system
of religious ritualism. It's all it was. It's just a
lifeless, meaningless system of religious ritualism. He saw
the people and the nation he loved forsake the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob in the midst of moral and spiritual decay. God raised up this man Isaiah
to proclaim the coming of a better day. In the midst of moral decadence,
Moral decadence every bit equal to the moral decadence of our
society in our day. In the midst of gross idolatry,
idolatry every bit equal to the idolatry of our day, God raised
up Isaiah to proclaim to his people the coming of a better
day. to proclaim the coming of Christ,
the Messiah, the Redeemer, who would save his people from their
sins, the coming of the kingdom of heaven by the preaching of
the gospel, and ultimately, the coming of eternal glory by the
grace of God. Isaiah has been called the fifth
evangelist because this man Isaiah Spoke more than all the other
Old Testament prophets with specific detail About the person and work
the sacrifice and offices of our Lord Jesus Christ and the
gospel of his grace He doesn't do these things merely in a haphazard
way, not just giving some guesses and estimates about things, but
it does so with precise accuracy and clarity hundreds of years
before Christ came into the world. He spoke as though, as I said
to you last Tuesday night, he had been an eyewitness of these
things. In fact, he was. In fact, he was. Did you notice
the opening words of our text? The vision of Isaiah. The word is the revelation of
Isaiah, not the revelation Isaiah made, but the revelation Isaiah
was given concerning the person and work of Christ. All that
he wrote in this prophecy, he wrote by infallible divine inspiration. so that he wrote as one personally
acquainted with the things he was writing about. He wrote as
one who had a sure knowledge of these things. You see, those
men who speak for God, now listen to me, those men who speak for
God in every age, If I speak for God, your brother Todd Neibert
over at Lexington speaks for God, your brother Paul Mahan
down at Rocky Mount speaks for God. Those men who speak for
God speak always from personal, firsthand experience. They don't
just parrot the things they've heard others say. Sadly, sadly,
that's what most preaching is. I recall my dear friend, brother
Harry Graham, attended Piedmont Bible College many years before
I did. He said they produced and continue to produce a generation
after generation of polyparent preachers. And that's a pretty
good description. They leave Bible college and
they go out and they just parrot things they've heard other folks
say without any personal experience, without any personal knowledge,
without any study. They just parrot what they've
said. Not so with men who speak for God. They speak as eyewitnesses
with firsthand experience of the things they declare. Listen
to what the scripture says. That which we, which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with
our eyes, which we have looked upon, that which we have gazed
intently upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life. If I speak to you as God's messenger,
I speak to you not merely in theory, not merely repeating
what I've heard, not merely repeating what someone else has taught
me, but declaring to you that which God has written on my heart
with the finger of grace in the experience of it. Isaiah knew,
he knew that those things God had revealed to him, he must
proclaim to the people of his generation. The prophet of God
knew, he understood that unless he taught the people the truth
of God, there was no hope of deliverance. Unless he proclaimed
to the nation the vision God had given him and they heard
the message, there was no hope for the nation. So it is in our
generation and in every generation. The only hope there is for mankind
The only hope there is for this nation or any other nation. The
only hope there is for your soul or mine is the gospel of God's
free grace, the message it contains, the Savior it delivers, or the
Savior it proclaims. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. For this reason, we must, we
must, we must, it is Incumbent upon us it behooves us to whom
God has trusted the revelation of his grace to proclaim his
grace in our generation The fact is in every generation and in
every society It appears to me that God raises up a man one
specific man Who more than any other is God's messenger? God's
ambassador God spokesman to his people in that generation for
more than 50 years Through the reigns of four kings in Jerusalem,
Isaiah clearly was that man. In a day of idolatry, ignorance,
and iniquity, the prophet Isaiah faithfully preached the word
of God and called for men and women to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, to come to him in repentance and faith, to believe
on him who soon would come into the world and accomplish the
redemption of his people. Obviously, Isaiah's prophecy
was and is a word of tremendous importance. Let us never read
it casually or read it with indifference. Now, if we're to understand the
message of this book, we need to understand what it says concerning
these three things. First, the prophet of God, then
the providence of God, and then the people of God. First, I want
us to look at this man, Isaiah, the prophet of God. In the Word
of God, there's always a great lack of information concerning
those men God uses to preach the Word. Isn't that amazing?
I'm always intrigued to read good biographies, biographies
of men who have preached the gospel in days gone by. But you
will look in vain in this book to find such. We learn much about other people.
God tells us much about the lives of other folks. We know a lot
about David's life. We know a great deal about his
life. We know about many other people, Abraham's life, even
Lot's life. We know a great deal about them.
But the lives of his prophets, the lives of his apostles seem
to be almost hidden away from us on purpose. So that we don't
know very much at all about the man or his life or his service. All we really know about them,
for the most part, is their message. It appears that it is God's intention
to hide the man so that we might hear his message. His service
is kept in seclusion so that God's message might be remembered. Surely there's a lesson in that.
Children of God, when you listen to me and preach, Focus on the
message, not the man. Focus on the message, not the
man. It doesn't matter whether the
man preaching is Paul or Apollos or Peter or Christ himself. Focus on the message, not the
man. The man is insignificant. The
message is everything. Isaiah was also a man of special
We know that God's election is free, sovereign, and unconditional. God doesn't choose anyone because
of anything good in them, and he doesn't choose anyone because
of anything evil in them. Romans 9 tells us that plainly.
The children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand. And that's God's intention everywhere. But usually, usually, as you
read the book, as you look at history, as you look around you
today, not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble are called,
as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 1. Isaiah was an exception. This man Isaiah was a man of
royal blood. He was a man of royal blood.
His father Amos, A-M-O-Z. was brother to King Amaziah,
who was the father of King Uzziah. Isaiah, then, was Uzziah's first
cousin. He was first cousin to the man
who was king in Judah and Jerusalem. He seems to have enjoyed exceptional
access to the king's court. Isaiah also was a man of exceptional
talent and ability. We don't know whether he was
well-educated or not. We're not told. We had no idea
what his background is in that regard, but he was a man of unsurpassed
literary skill, a man of tremendous reasoning ability. He was not
a showman, but he was a giant among men. Isaiah was not a shepherd. He was not a herdsman. He was
not a fisherman or a farmer. Isaiah was a man of the city.
He spent his whole life in the city. A man of culture. He was what you might call a
refined aristocrat. And he was the son of a prophet.
His father's name, as I told you a moment ago, was Amos. A-M-O-Z. That's not the Amos who wrote
the book of Amos. A-M-O-S. Isaiah's father Amos
was a prophet in the king's court during the reign of his brother
Amaziah Very seldom does God call such men to the work of
the gospel Seldom does God raise up prophets from royalty Seldom
does God raise up prophets from the sons of prophets Isaiah was
all of that And yet God chose him as the special object of
his love and his grace and chose him as his messenger. Above all
else, this man Isaiah was a prophet. If I could speak to Isaiah today
and say to Isaiah, how would you like for us to remember you?
I have no question he would say, remember me as God's prophet. The man by whom God spoke his
word while I walked on the earth. Oh, that I might be such a man.
Isaiah was a man sent from God with a message for God's people.
God separated Isaiah to the work of the ministry, to the work
of prophecy. And Isaiah separated himself
to that work which God trusted to him. Though he was a man of
learning and refinement, Isaiah had no regard, no regard at all
for the opinions, customs, and traditions of men. Like Elijah
before him and John the Baptist after him, he commonly wore a
garment of camel's hair and constantly called for the people to repent.
This man Isaiah, like your pastor, was a married man. He had a family,
but he was married to the word of God Married to the people
of God and married to the cause of God first. And every man who
serves God must be. Must be. You folks know how I
cherish this dear lady. And she knows and has known for
47 years. She takes second row. There's
something more important. More important than her pleasure.
More important than her provision, more important than her security.
That's the word of God and the cause of God in our generation. We're never told the name of
Isaiah's wife just that he had one. She's one time called the
prophetess. Not because she was a prophet,
because she was married to one. The only way she's identified
in the book of God is because she's married to one of God's
prophets. And he even used the names of his two sons to convey
the message God had given him. His firstborn son, he called
Shirjasim, which means the remnant shall return. His second son,
he called Meir Shalahashbaz, which means hasten to the spoil.
In both, he is describing the certain salvation of God's elect,
his elect remnant by the power and grace of God. Isaiah's name,
as I've told you before, means the Lord shall save our salvation
is of the Lord and that's the message he proclaimed throughout
all the book. His message is a prophecy about
the Lord Jesus. The Lord who shall save and he
declares it in these two ways. All flesh is grass. Behold your
God. That's the message God's prophets
are sent to proclaim. All flesh is grass you and I
and all of us together are just worthless Withering grass nothing
else Behold your God. He's everything Turn to Isaiah
chapter 20. Don't you look at this for a
minute? By the commandment of God on one occasion Isaiah Went
naked and barefoot for three years like a slave He walked
naked and barefoot, both as a symbol of God's judgment upon Egypt
and Ethiopia and as a marvelous picture of our Savior. Look here
in Isaiah chapter 20. In the year that Tartan came
to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and fought
against Ashdod and took it, at the same time spake the Lord
by Isaiah the son of Amos, saying, Go, and loose the sackcloth from
off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did
so, walking naked and barefoot. What a picture of a prophet.
Walking naked and barefoot. Verse three. And the Lord said,
like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three
years for a sign and a wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia. So shall the king of Assyria
lead away the Egyptian prisoners and the Ethiopians captives,
young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered
to the shame of Egypt. And they shall be afraid and
ashamed of Ethiopia, their expectation and of Egypt, their glory. and
the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day, behold, such
is our expectation, such is our hope, doesn't matter whether
we lean on Egypt or lean on Ethiopia, wherever we lean on the arm of
the flesh, such as our hope, whether we flee for help to be
delivered from the king of Assyria, and how shall we escape? What
shame, what humiliation Isaiah must have endured during those
three years. I can almost picture. He would
have to have been the drunkard, the song of every drunkard. Mocked
and laughed to scorn by everybody who saw it. Imagine a naked man
walking through the streets of a crowded city preaching. Now just imagine that. Just imagine
that. Who wouldn't laugh? Think again. what a remarkable
picture Isaiah became of our blessed Redeemer. He, who though Lord of life and
glory, went about the streets of Jerusalem in the garb of a
poor Jew, despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. He, who is righteousness, holiness
and perfection incarnate, was put to utter shame for us. despised
of men, mocked and derided, stripped and beaten, and then paraded
through the streets of Jerusalem, crucified between two thieves,
so that the song of every drunkard was a mockery of him. And at
last he was made sin for us. Nakedness throughout scripture
being the exposure of sin. The Lord Jesus, God's darling
son, was made sin for us to bear our shame before God upon Golgotha's
horrid hill. And he says, behold, and see
if there be any sorrow likened to my sorrow, which is done unto
me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Oh, blessed Savior. What unabating
love to our souls you endured such a contradiction of sinners
against yourself. When reviled, you reviled not
again, but committed yourself to him who judges righteously. O Lamb of God, keep the eyes
of your redeemed ones fixed on you. Isaiah was a preacher, a
preacher of salvation by the grace of God through the merits
of Christ's effectual atonement. He preached with clear, unmistakable
words so that when this man spoke, you knew what he said. When this
man spoke, there was no guessing about what he said. I was sent
a brief excerpt from a preacher just this week in which he clearly
declared he clearly declared accomplished redemption. He clearly
declared the accomplishments of Christ. But he did it in such
a way that Nobody sitting in a congregation would have picked
up on it. Unless they fully agreed with his doctrine and knew it
ahead of time. Why? To avoid the offense of things.
Not so with God's servants. Not so with Isaiah. This man
Isaiah spoke of the total depravity of man in the first chapter.
He said, he said, your whole heart is sick. Your whole soul
is faint. From the top of your head to
the bottom of your feet, you're nothing but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. He says you're dumber than the
ox or the ass. He spoke plainly of man's depravity.
In the first chapter in verse 9, he spoke clearly of God's
unconditional election, a remnant that must be saved. He spoke
of our Lord Jesus coming in human flesh, a virgin bearing a son. His name called Emmanuel, God
with us. In chapters 40, 45, 46, if you
want to read about God's sovereignty, Read those three chapters. Read
those three chapters and you'll understand that our God sits
on his throne and everything obeys his will. In Isaiah 53,
Isaiah spoke of particular effectual redemption, limited atonement,
the sacrifice of Christ by which he saved his people from their
sins, by whose stripes we are healed. And in chapter 54, he
declares the steadfastness of God's covenant grace. And then
when you get to chapter 55, no will-worship Arminian in the
world ever proclaimed free salvation to sinners more clearly than
Isaiah. He said, everyone that thirsts,
come to the waters. Everyone that thirsts, come to
the waters. He said, let the wicked forsake his way, the unrighteous
man his thoughts. Let him come to me, and I'll
pour on you the sure mercies of David. And then Isaiah spoke
in chapter 62 of God's irresistible grace and the glory of God in
his providence in chapter 63. And then in the last chapter
of the book, he declares the certain accomplishment of God's
purpose. And this prophet, this prophet
Isaiah was faithful, faithful even to death. His ministry extended
to the beginning of Manasseh's wicked reign in Judah. Manasseh
hated God and hated God's prophet. The Jewish writers of old tell
us that this godless wretch, Manasseh, had Isaiah sewn in
pieces with a wooden saw. He's probably one of those spoken
of in Hebrews 11 as being sewn asunder because of his faithfulness
to our God. Oh God, make me such a man. Make me such a man. And do that
for every man you put into this blessed work. Secondly, I've
shown you God's prophet. Now, I want you to think about
God's providence. Our text tells us that Isaiah's
ministry spanned the reigns of these four kings in Judah. Isaiah
was God's faithful spokesman. in the land of Judah for well
over 50 years, perhaps much beyond that. In fact, John Gill calculates
that Isaiah preached for at least 112, maybe 113 years. That takes in a large chunk of
history for anybody. And all those years, God was
sovereignly accomplishing his own purpose of grace in providence. These four kings, all four of
them, these four kings, like our current president and all
who have preceded him and all who shall succeed him, liberal
or conservative, moral or immoral, godly or ungodly. These four
kings were but instruments in the hands of God by which he
sovereignly accomplished the purpose of his grace in the saving
of his people. The king's heart. It doesn't
matter who he is. The king's heart is in the hands
of the Lord. Like rivers of water, He turneth
it whithersoever he will. When I drive down south where
they raise rice and raise huge fields of soybeans, you'll see
ditches just every little bit, pretty good sized ditches right
out the middle of the field. And there are irrigation pumps
along there. The farmer comes along and he's
going to irrigate this field. He turns on the water. fills
the canal, he turns it off and lets it dry up wherever he takes
a notion just that easily. The king's heart is in the hands
of the Lord like rivers of water. He turns it with us whoever he
will so that truly all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Each of these four kings by God's
providence were remarkably and manifestly used to accomplish
the eternal good of God's elect. And each of them provide important
lessons for us. Let me give you some highlights.
Uzziah reigned for 52 years in Judah. He was a good kid, a powerful
leader. Turn back to 2 Chronicles 26,
2 Chronicles 26. Under his reign, everything he
did prospered until his heart was lifted up with pride. Uzziah
died under the curse of God. Because he attempted to approach
God in his own person. Without a mediator. Without a
substitute. Without a sacrifice. Look at
2 Chronicles 26 16. But when he was strong, when
he thought he was strong. Oh, when you're strong, you're
in trouble. When you think you're strong, you're headed for mess. When Uzziah was strong, his heart
was lifted up to his destruction. For he transgressed against the
Lord, his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn
incense upon the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in
after him, and with him fourscore, eighty other priests of the Lord,
that were valiant men. And they withstood Uzziah the
king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn
incense unto the Lord, but to the priests, the sons of Aaron,
that are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary,
For thou hast trespassed, neither shall it be for thine honor from
the Lord God." Then Uzziah was mad. He was mad. Can you imagine these 81 priests? Who do they think they are confronting
me, the king of Judah? Uzziah was wroth and he had a
censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was wroth with the
priest, The leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the
priest in the house of the Lord from beside the incense altar.
And Azariah, the chief priest, and all the priests looked upon
him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead. And they thrust
him out from the fence. Yea, himself hasted also to go
out, because the Lord had smitten him. And Uzziah the king was
a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house
being a leper. For he was cut off from the house
of the Lord, and Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging
the people of the land. We cannot, we dare not, we must
not approach God on our own. If you would come to God, there's
one way to come. You come by faith in Jesus Christ. not with your own merit, not
with your own works, not with your own person, but in the person
of his Son, Christ the Mediator. In the year that King Uzziah
died, it had an effect on Isaiah. He tells us in chapter 6, in
the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. I saw my Redeemer
sitting on his throne. I saw him having accomplished
redemption I had lifted up and I obtained the forgiveness of
sin by the power of his grace. Jotham then reigned for 16 years
in Jerusalem after his father, Uzziah. Jotham was a devout man. He appears to have been a true
believer, one who worshiped God and prepared his ways before
the Lord. Oh, blessed are those people.
who have a Jotham to reign over them. Though Uzziah didn't know
the Lord, he was used of God to build his kingdom and used
of God to show his son the way of life and faith in Christ. Isn't that remarkable? I recall
many years ago, Brother Mahan and I were driving down the road
and some circumstances had come up that were troubling him. And
he made this statement. He said, when you're building
a building, you use a lot of scaffolding. And when the building
is complete, you get rid of the scaffolding. It has no connection
with the building. It's never part of the building.
It's just used to build the building. And he paused for a little bit.
And he said, God uses a lot of scaffolding to build his church. God uses a lot of scaffolding
to build his church. Uzziah died in the curse of God. And yet he was the instrument
by which his son was led to the way of faith in Christ. Surely
the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath
shalt thou restrain. No matter what's done by men,
No matter what men may do, no matter what laws they may enact,
no matter how vile, how base, how corrupt they make the society
in which we live, only eternity will tell how God overruled and
used the evil deeds of men to accomplish his purpose of grace
in his people. After Jotham comes Ahaz. He was
king in Jerusalem for 16 years. A godless man. A base idolater. Ahaz was a pragmatist of the
worst sort. Ahaz sought help from a pagan
king to protect the kingdom of God. And in doing so, he brought Judah
into captivity. This weakling wretch burned his
own children upon the altar to Moloch. Ahaz brought Judah to
shame, reproach, and bondage. He turned the hearts of the people
of God away from the worship of the Lord God, we're told in
2 Chronicles 28. And yet Ahaz, with all his wickedness,
with all his cruelty, with all his idolatry, with all his unbelief,
did not hinder in the least the accomplishment of God's purpose.
He did not hinder in the least the accomplishment of God's purpose.
Hear me, children of God. Oh, Don Fortner, listen to yourself
now. All of hell, unleashed at one
time against God's church, shall never harm God's church. You got that? Now, I know you
don't. I know you don't. We'll forget
it before we get out the door. So let me say it again. All of
hell, unleashed at one time against God's church, shall not in any
way harm God's church. All of hell, unleashed at one
time against Mark Henson, shall never harm Mark Henson. Oh, would to God I could believe
a tithe of that. Would to God just a little bit
of that would get hold of my heart. And then we come to Hezekiah. Hezekiah reigned for 29 years. He was a godly man. He restored
the worship of God, reformed the priesthood, cleansed the
temple, and led Judah again in the ways of Jehovah. When Sennacherib
thought he would destroy Judah, This man, Hezekiah, prayed to
the Lord. And you know what God did? You
know what God did? One man prayed, and God sent
his angel to destroy at one time 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. What do you learn? The effectual,
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Oh, Hezekiah. Then the Lord sent him another
message. He said, Hezekiah, set your house in order. It's time
for you to die. But Hezekiah prayed again. And
the Lord added 15 years to his life, and you might think, well,
There again it proves that the effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man avails much. You can read it in the 38th chapter
of Isaiah. But there's something else to
be learned from this prayer. If we're wise when we pray, we
will seek not our own will, but God's will. Hezekiah prayed that
God might spare his life. And he did for 15 years. For 15 years. But those 15 years
were sad, painful, and sorrowful. The whole 15 years. I can imagine
Hezekiah saying to himself many times, would to God I kept my
mouth shut. Would to God I had died when
the prophet came to me. After God spared his life, his
heart was lifted up with pride and he showed the Babylonians
all his treasures. And prepared the way for Babylon
to come and take Judah captive. And he fathered Manasseh. Manasseh. the most vile, cruel,
wicked king the children of Israel had ever seen. The most vile,
cruel, wicked king ever known in the world. And yet again,
in all this, we see the overruling hand of God in predestination
and providence. This, too, was used to accomplish
God's purpose of grace toward his elect. Manasseh didn't twist
God's arm and get God to change his mind. This was God's purpose
all along, to add those 15 years to his life. For after Manasseh
came Josiah, that good king, that godly king, that remarkable
king, Josiah's son, through whom came the Lord Jesus Christ, the
son of David, our Redeemer into this world. Truly, our God does
all things well. Thank God for Manasseh. Thank God for Manasseh. Had there
been no Manasseh, there'd have been no Josiah. Had there been
no Josiah, there'd have been no Redeemer. No Redeemer, no
salvation. God does things well oh the depth
of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable
are his judgments and his ways past finding out for who hath
known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his counselor or
who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed unto
him again for of him and through him and to him are all things
to whom be glory forever, amen. Third, let me call your attention
for a moment to the people of God, Judah and Jerusalem. Turn, if you will, to Philippians
chapter three, and I'll wrap this up. Isaiah's prophecy and God's providence
concerns Judah and Jerusalem. Now, without question, the scriptures
specifically refer to the historic southern kingdom of Israel, Judah,
and the capital city, Jerusalem, where the temple of God was established. But as you read the word of God,
if you would understand the Old Testament scriptures, you must
understand this. Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem
were set before us as physical, historical, political nations
in the Old Testament. But those physical, historical,
political nations only typified and foreshadowed the Israel of
God. That is the whole host of God's
elect. God preserved Israel. And through Israel, Christ the
Redeemer came into this world. And so it is that God to this
day builds and preserves his church, the Israel of God, Abraham's
true seed, Abraham's true children, the heirs of promise, the heirs
of the covenant. And by his church, which he preserves
in this world in all ages, he sends the gospel of his grace
into this world. Who are these people for whom
God does everything? We are the circumcision. which worship God in the Spirit. We are truly those who are God's
elect, God's covenant people, who worship God by His Spirit
in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, trust in Christ
Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Now look at one
more text in Romans chapter 11. Now I want you to see something.
Now I want you to carry this home. Romans chapter 11. Are you ready? Everything God
has ever done. Is doing or shall hereafter do. He does. For the salvation of
his elect. The Israel of God. Everything God has ever done
is doing or shall hereafter do He does for the salvation of
his elect the Israel of God In Romans 11 Paul is giving us the
history of Israel as a physical nation Begins back in chapter
9 and it tells us all that God did for him sent his prophets
to them prophet after prophet, generation after generation,
preserved them, kept them, favored them like no other nation in
the world. And then he cast them off. He cast them off. You watch pictures on television,
on the news, every time they have anything going on in Israel,
in Jerusalem, you're bound to get a picture of folks standing
at that ridiculous wailing wall, saying their prayers and chanting
nonsense. Please understand, I'm not belittling
folks who are blind. They're just blind. They're just
blind. How come? Because Merle Hart, when God
sends blindness, you can't see. When God sends blindness, you
can't see. When God sends deafness, you can't hear. But why has he
cast them off after all that? Romans 11, 29. I would not, 25
rather, I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of
this mystery. lest you should be wise in your own conceits
that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness
of the Gentiles be come in." Not all Israel. God's got some
of his elect among the Jews too. But he's sending his gospel to
gather his elect from the Gentile nations. And so all Israel, all
the Israel of God shall be saved. As it is written, there shall
come out of Zion the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto
them when I shall take away their sins. What's God doing? What's God doing? I try to purposely not watch
any news on Friday night, Saturday, Sunday. I don't want to bother
with my preparations. So I just, I don't turn the TV
off. I turn it on and watch Matt Dillon or something. But I do try to keep up with
what's going on around me. And we live in a dark day. Oh, the darkness of the day.
And have no idea what kind of world our children and grandchildren
are going to inherit from us. But this I know. God's saving his people and he's
doing what he's doing to save his people. Let us worship him
when all others around us despise him and give praise and honor
and glory to him who sits on his throne to save his people
because of his covenant ordered in all things and sure in Christ
Jesus. Amen.