Let's turn together to the book
of Isaiah chapter 14. Isaiah chapter 14. Verses 1 through 27. My subject tonight is four stages
of grace. Four stages of grace. This 14th
chapter of Isaiah prophesied that the Jews would be delivered
from Babylonian captivity. Now, this prophecy of deliverance
comes even before the Jews were taken into captivity, many years
before they were taken into captivity. But this is a prophecy of their
deliverance from Babylon and not just their deliverance. but
their complete restoration and much more than just restoration. Isaiah here speaks of them taking
those into captivity who held them as captives. He speaks of
the Jews and promises that the one who was their oppressor shall
be their servant. Now in this prophecy, Babylon's
king, we're told, would fall and fall by the hand of divine
judgment. We're told that all those who
held God's chosen people in captivity for so long would become the
servants of his chosen. And then Isaiah instructs God's
people to take up a song, to sing about the fall of the king
of Babylon. Just as Moses, when he looked
back on the Red Sea and saw Pharaoh and the armies of Egypt drowned
in the Red Sea, led Israel to sing of God's great grace and
God's great mercy, both in their deliverance and in Pharaoh's
judgment, Isaiah here teaches the children of Israel to sing
and rejoice in the fall of Babylon's king. Now let's begin reading
at verse 1. I'm not going to try to read
the entire text, but we'll pick up portions of it. The Lord will
have mercy on Jacob and will yet choose Israel and set them
in their own land. And the stranger shall be joined
with them and they shall cleave. The stranger 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 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 sorrows. and from thy fear, and from the
hand of 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. Skip down to verse eight. Yea,
the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon saying,
Since thou art laid down, since God brought you to nothing, no
feller is come up against us. Verse 12. How art thou fallen
from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut
down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations? Verse 16. They that see thee shall narrowly
look upon thee and consider thee saying, is this the man that
made the earth to tremble, that did shake the kingdoms, that
made the world as a wilderness and destroyed the cities thereof,
that opened not the house of his prisoners? Verse 24. Verse
24. the Lord of hosts has sworn,
saying, Surely as I have fought, so shall it come to pass. And
as I have purposed, so shall it stand, that I will break the
Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him underfoot. Then shall his yoke Depart from
off them and his burden depart from off their shoulders this
is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth and This
is the hand that is stretched out upon the nation all the nations
for the Lord of hosts hath purposed and who shall disannul it and
His hand is stretched out And who shall turn it back? Now, there's no question this
prophecy, being part of the chapter that precedes it, these two chapters,
verses 13 and 14, are a prophecy concerning Israel as a nation
in the Old Testament. But if you read it only as it
regards that physical nation, you miss the whole point of the
prophecy and misunderstand the text that we just read. You see,
there are some things here spoken of which that never could be
said concerning the Jews and the Babylonians. The Babylonians
were never in captivity to Israel. Never. There was never a time
when a Babylonian king was made to serve the children of Israel. Well, Brother Don, how can this
prophecy be understood then? How can we look at this prophecy
as being true? Only if you understand the scriptures
in their entirety and understand the message intended. The whole
history of Israel as a political nation in the Old Testament,
the whole history of Israel, as a civil nation chosen distinctly
by God with whom God made a covenant and a covenant God fulfilled
in every detail Joshua said back in Joshua chapter 23. all their
history and all their experiences, all their weaknesses and failures,
all their captivities, all the days of their judgment under
the judges and deliverance by the judges. The Lord God was
picturing the work of his grace in his church, which is called
in this book, the Israel of God. Now, please do not misunderstand
what I'm saying this book teaches. We are no more anti-Semitic than
we are anti-black or anti-white. I'm not suggesting that there's
something anti-Jewish that we're to find in the book. Not at all.
God's elect is scattered among all the nations of the earth
and the Jews are not accepted. There is yet a remnant among
the physical seed of Abraham who must also be called. But
God's elect as a whole are the whole Israel of God, not that
physical nation over there. Don't ever let anyone deceive
you. No promise of grace is given
to anyone on the basis of physical lineage and physical heritage.
Folks say, well, God still owes things to Israel, the children
of Abraham, you know. It's just that that's nonsense.
That's nonsense. That's just not so flesh and
blood that don't determine anything in this matter of grace and salvation.
Not for you. Not for me, not for your children,
not for Abraham's physical seed. The promises of God are yea and
amen in Christ Jesus to God's covenant people, Abraham's spiritual
seed, Jerusalem, which is above, the church of God, the Israel
of God. And these promises can be fulfilled
only in the people of God considered in that regard. Now, there are
certain things plainly, plainly promised here. Let me give you
three or four that are set before us in the opening verses of this
passage. First, understand that the purpose
of God in all things is his purpose of mercy upon his elect. For the Lord will have mercy
on Jacob. Why did God deal with Babylon
like he did? Why did God raise them up? Why
did God make them such a powerful and great nation? Raising them
up out of the same loins as they came from, from Abraham. Why
did God raise up that pagan people and give them such power, such
wealth, such influence, make them at one time the greatest
kingdom in the world? Why did he do that? He did it
to take his people into captivity. there to preserve them and to
raise up out of Babylon a deliverer for them and bring them then
back to their own land and destroy the king of Babylon all as a
picture of his wise and good providence. God raises up all
nations and all men and all powers and all events because he's determined
to be merciful to Jacob. Oh, God, teach me this. Teach
me this. What's the Lord doing? He's exercising
mercy to Jacob. What was he doing yesterday?
Exercising mercy to Jacob. What will he do tomorrow? Exercise
mercy to Jacob. Jacob, whom he loved. Jacob,
his chosen. Jacob, his people. Here's the
second thing. Though in providence, God sometimes
appears to be angry with his people. And he does. He does. I tell you all the time, your
parents don't ever Whip your children while you're angry with
them. But if they don't think you're
angry, it won't do much good to whip them. Won't do much good. If they think it's a stroll in
the park to you, it won't do much good. You only make the
rod effectual by showing disapproval for the reason Exercising the
rod is your disapproval of the child's behavior. And the Lord
God sent his chosen nation into Babylon. He destroyed everything
that they counted dear. Everything. He caused their land
to become a desert. He caused the bubbling wells
to become dry. He calls the luscious fields
to be barren. He calls their cattle that he
multiplied to become barren. And he took them into captivity
for 70 years to wean them of their ways and to break them
from their sin. And in his providence, the Lord
sometimes appears to be angry with his people. But he will never cast them off. Listen to this. He will yet choose
Israel and set them in their own land. God's going to send you into
Babylon for 70 long years, and it's going to appear that you're
altogether ruined in Babylon. Many will choose to stay in Babylon. And God's going to separate the
wheat from the tares. He's going to separate that which
is dross and tin from the pure gold and silver. But he will
bring his people back to his land because he will yet choose
Israel. Those who are the multitude that
no man can number, scattered among the nations of the world,
God will yet call by His grace. They are now strangers in their
experience to the covenants of promise, but they must and shall
be joined to the people of God. Our Savior said, other sheep
I have, them also I must bring. And there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. He will bring all his sheep out
of the nations of the earth. And he does this by masterly
governing all the hearts of all men, all the time, and all the
actions of all men, all the time, the good and the bad. And he
brings his sheep from far and brings them into one fold under
one shepherd, Christ Jesus himself. Here's the third thing, look
at verse two. Many who now oppose the Lord Jesus, who oppose his
gospel, who oppose his church, shall soon be made to serve him
and serve his cause and serve 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 for servants and
handmaids. and they shall take them captives,
whose captives they were, and they shall rule over their oppressors." Next time you get just a little
bit out of shape with one who opposes you, one who sets himself
against you, one who seems determined to destroy you, remember he just
may be one of God's elect too. She just may be one of God's
elect as well. So just wait, just wait. Many, many who were once the
enemies of God's church, of God's gospel, and of God's people have
been made in God's providence and grace the most useful servants
to his church, his people, his gospel, and his glory. John Newton,
wrote Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch
like me. His mother died when he was just a little more than
four years old, but she prayed for her boy. His daddy was a
rogue, and the young boy grew up as a sailor. Now, Mother Davy
can forgive the analogy. His daddy can forgive the analogy.
But sailors, you know, historically haven't had much of a reputation
for moral decency. They just haven't had. And go
back further in history, and the further back you go, the
worse the reputation is. Even worse than you may have
imagined in your day. He was, Newton's daddy raised
him in the work of a sailor. And he quickly found when Newton
himself became in charge of a ship, found that his best trade was
trading human life in slavery. He was at last caught. A black woman who was head of
a tribe in Africa took Newton, staked him outside like a dog
and threw scraps for him to eat when he could get him. Somehow
Newton escaped, and in God's mighty grace, the Lord called
him by his grace. And the world is still influenced
by that man whom God saved by his amazing grace. Many who are
now our Lord's enemies will by his grace be conquered and made
his friends and servants to him and his people. And God's elect,
fourthly, shall triumph over all their foes. They shall take
them captive, whose captives they were, and they shall rule
over their oppressors. And it shall come to pass in
that 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. Oh, when God makes us triumphant
over all our foes, he will then give us rest, perfect rest from
our bondage and our sorrow. and our fears. All right. Now tonight, if the Lord will
enable me, I want us to focus our attention on the things set
before us right here in this second verse principally. They
shall take them captives, whose captives they were, and they
shall rule over their oppressors. I told you my subject is four
stages of grace. Here they are. Grace finds us
in a state of captivity. And brings us into a state of
deliverance or salvation. And grace sustains us in a state
of war. And grace shall at last bring
us into a state of victory. First, grace finds us in a state
of bondage and captivity. Every man by nature is a slave. Every woman by nature a slave. We all love to think of ourselves
as free. And we all like to brag about
what free spirits we are and how greatly we refuse to submit
to this, that or the other. We like to think we're independent
people, especially Americans, especially Southern Americans.
We like our freedom. We like our freedom. So much
so that the first fad comes along, you say you have to follow it.
Free. Man by nature is in bondage to
the world, the flesh, the devil, and his own sinful nature. People
talk about free will. Imagine that. Imagine that. I
recall Brother Dr. N.B. Magruder. Larry knew him.
Some of you did. He was pastor up at the Redeemer
Church for years. He said to me one night after
I got through preaching, he said, isn't it amazing? that the religious
world chooses the weakest part of man's nature to be his savior. His will. What's weaker about
you than your will? What? I'm not going to have another
bite of those potatoes and gravy. Well, maybe just one more. Nothing
weaker. Nothing weaker than your will.
And yet men vainly, idolatrously, blasphemously imagine that somehow
their will can thwart the will of God Almighty. What blasphemy! Man by nature is in bondage and
we choose bondage. We choose bondage rather than
freedom. Our hearts are vile. Our nature's corrupt. And yet
we choose the way of wickedness every day. We choose the way
of the world. We're naturally inclined to that
which is the bondage of the world. This world is that the care of
the world that holds us down continually because there's so
much of the world in our hearts. Prejudice, pride, greed, ambition,
covetousness. Oh, what ambitious things we
are. But perhaps that which more controls
us than anything else is the love of one another's approval. Man, we love to be patted on
the back. We'd love for folks to smile at us and approve us.
It doesn't matter what group you're looking for. Now, you
might be in the muckety-muck of the high-ranking folks in
society and be in bondage looking for their approval. Or you may
be in the gutter in a drunk and in bondage looking for the approval
of that fellow watered in the mud with you. But we crave approval
and will sacrifice most anything to get it. The things of God
appear foolishness. to all men by nature. Multitudes, the multitudes around
us, and we by nature can never grasp the things of our God.
Hold your hands here in Isaiah and turn over to 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians. Verse 18, chapter 1. The preaching of the cross, that
is the preaching of Jesus Christ crucified, not the preaching
of the tree on which he was crucified,
not the preaching of this kind of silly mumbo-jumbo, the preaching
of the crucifix, not that nonsense. The preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness. The preaching of the gospel to
most men is foolishness. to all unbelieving men's foolishness.
But unto them which are saved, it is the power of God. For it
is written, God says, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of the world? For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. Yes, it was in the wisdom
of God that the world by its wisdom does not know God. After
that, the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God,
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. The Jews, the religious folks require a sign, show us
something. The Greeks, the Gentiles seek
after wisdom, show us a good proof, a scientific evidence,
a logical argument. But we preach Christ crucified. We refuse to try to show you
a sign, and we refuse to try to make the gospel something
that's intellectually palatable to men. We simply preach Christ
crucified. to the Jews, religious folks,
a stumbling block, to the Greeks, the smart alecks, foolishness,
but unto them which are called, Jew and Greek, to them which
are called. Oh, may God do this for you. Christ, the power of God and
the wisdom of God. The only way out of this state
of bondage and captivity is the power of God Almighty coming
to you by his spirit. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? Are the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good that
are accustomed to evil. Fallen man is in bondage, in
bondage to his own sinful nature, in bondage to the world, its
religion, its customs, its practices, and in bondage to Satan. taken
captive by Satan at his will. You find men, women, young people
suddenly, suddenly doing things that seem to be totally out of
character for them. Totally out of character. I grant
that there's plenty of things that are completely consistent
with man's character. And all the evil named in the
world is totally consistent what you are by nature. But as far
as man's behavior is concerned, take somebody who's walked uprightly
as far as men are concerned and behaved well and pursued a path
of integrity as far as men are concerned. Suddenly, just suddenly,
there's something totally out of character. What happens? Taken
captive by Satan at his will. How's that? Because the natural
man is Satan's willing servant, though he doesn't know it. Taken
captive by Satan with no warning, taken captive at his will so
that there's nothing the natural man won't do. Nothing. I've told you before, when I
was a young man, My first cousin, I had an uncle, a fine man, had
a large family, 13 children. His daughter, his oldest daughter,
if I remember correctly, she was the oldest child, married
a fellow, and all the family lived on the farm, all 13 children
lived off the farm, and it was just a very prosperous family,
got along fine. One day her husband walked in,
took down a shotgun, shot her to death. Nobody got any reason. Nobody has any idea to this day
why. Why? I do. Because men are taken captive
by Satan at his will. That's why. Grace finds us all
in a state of bondage and captivity. All right, here's the second
thing. Grace brings us into a state of deliverance. Look at Isaiah
chapter 61. Isaiah chapter 61. Grace brings us into a state
of salvation. The state wherein we stand by
the grace of God. Our Lord Jesus is speaking here.
I know that because he says so in Luke 4. The spirit of the
Lord God is upon me. because the Lord hath anointed
me to preach good tidings to the meek. He has 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 vengeance of our God,
to comfort all that mourn, to a point to 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 the trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that he might be glorified. Look back at chapter
249, Isaiah 49. We are by nature described by
our Lord Jesus as a strong, the house of a strong man armed.
But when Christ comes in, he binds the strong man, cast him
out, and sets up his throne in the house of his captive. Look at Isaiah 49 verse 24. Say,
or shall the prey be taken from the mighty? Are 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
contended with thee, and I will save thy children. 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 see and know that I, the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer,
the mighty one of Jacob. All flesh shall see. When I have taken the lawful
captive captive, when I have come and set my captives free,
I will do this in such a way that every eye will behold and
say, none but God could do that. They will see that I am the Lord,
the Lord of hosts, and they will see that I am distinctly and
peculiarly thy Savior and thy Redeemer. Let me move on quickly. Grace finds us in a state of
bondage. Grace brings us into a state
of salvation, a state of deliverance. This grace wherein we stand,
Paul speaks up in Romans chapter five and grace sustains us in
a state of war. War with the world, the flesh
and the devil. But grace will sustain us in
this war. Paul says, I'm confident of this one thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ. Some of you here yet without
Christ, yet rebels in bondage to God. If you find yourself now believing
on the son of God, I call you to identify yourself with God's
people. I call you to make your determination
this day forward to serve Christ with all your heart and with
all your life. And I promise you, I'm not calling
you to a party. I'm calling you to a war. A war
with religion. A war with religious people.
A war with this world. but more than anything else,
a war with yourself. Oh, what a war this is. We have
natural trials and we who follow Christ will have providential
troubles like everybody else. We will experience religious
persecutions and we have to deal with doctrinal heresies. But
those trials within with our flesh. The corruptions of our nature,
the lust of our flesh. The young believer doesn't at
first see it. I recognize that. It's a good
thing. It's a good thing. I read something
by William Tiptaft yesterday. I had to stop Shelby and share
it with her. He said, God didn't show Israel
the warring sons of Enoch at first. If he had, they'd have
gone back. Oh, no. He gives you a little
taste of the darkness and the corruption of your heart. And
it goes from that to worse. Never gets better. Never gets
better. Paul speaks of this lust to the
flesh, warring against the spirit and spirit against the flesh,
at least to a contrary one to the other, so that you cannot
do the things that you would. While we live in this world,
we must endure constant inward warfare. Warfare that the world
knows nothing about. A warfare that if you begin to
speak of it with other religious people around, they'll look at
you like you've lost your mind. You just lost your mind. What
on this earth are you talking about? How can you talk about
a saved man, a sanctified man, one of God's holy children having
such a heart, such a nature? And I know why they think such. They have no idea what they are.
have no idea what they are. The flesh and the spirit are
at war with one another in here. My heart is like two armies,
the Shulamite said. And I know that as long as I
live in this body of flesh, that's the way things will be. And I
think I know at least in part why. God won't let us trust in ourselves,
Mark. If you're he is God will fix
it so you can't trust in yourself. He'll do it. He will have us
graciously. He will have us graciously. He will force us. to look to
Christ alone for the whole of our salvation. He alone is my
wisdom. He alone, my righteousness. He
alone, my sanctification. He alone, my redemption. Everything. Everything. Truly,
Christ is all. We've learned that here. We're
learning it here. And if we're God's, He's going
to see to it we learn it. He'll see to it. And God Almighty,
our Heavenly Father, would have us be tender, gracious, kind,
and forgiving to one another. I don't know why that's so hard
to learn, do you? I need forgiveness so much. I don't know why it's
so hard for me to forgive. I need kindness so much, I don't
know why it's so hard for me to be kind. I need someone to
deal with me graciously. I don't know why it's so difficult
for me to be gracious. Except my proud, ungodly, self-righteous,
Pharisaic spirit. That which I most condemn in
men, I find to be a raging lion in my own heart. God forgive me. And bless God
he has. And he does. The Lord hath put
away thy sin. The Lord would make us to know
that salvation is by grace alone. He would have us continually
to learn. Salvation is by grace alone. Now here's the fourth thing.
It's four stages of grace. Grace finds us in bondage. Grace brings us into liberty,
deliverance, salvation. Grace sustains us in a state
of war. And then grace will bring us
into a state of victory. Isaiah 14 again, verses two and three. 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 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 was made to serve. Verse 24. The Lord
of hosts has sworn, saying, surely, as I have thought, so shall it
come to pass. As I have purposed, so shall
it stand. In between the verses, Satan, Lucifer, has raised his
ugly head and said, I'll take over being God. And the whole earth trembled,
and the nations were made as a wilderness. But that won't
last long. The day is coming when the God
of peace shall crush Satan under your heels. It shall come to
pass in that day that the Lord shall give thee rest. Turn to
Revelation chapter 7. Let me read three chapters to
you, three passages from three chapters. Revelation chapter
7. Rest. Rest from all your sorrows, from
all your fears, and from all your hard bondage. I started out preparing a message
on this rest itself, but I'll just read this to you, maybe
come to it another time. Revelation chapter 7 verse 14. Questions asked, who are these?
I said unto him, sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, these are
they. Which came out of great tribulation.
And it washed their robes and made them white in the blood
of the lamb. Therefore, are they before the
throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple, and
he that said it on the throne shall dwell among them and they
shall hunger no more. hunger no more for his righteousness, his holiness, his peace, his
joy. Neither shall their thirst any
more. Neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them and lead them unto living
fountains of water. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. Mary asked me last night at supper,
will we remember our sins? I'm sure we will. I'm sure we
will. We will remember God's goodness
in delivering us, God's goodness in redeeming us, God's goodness
in overruling even the evil in us and performed by us for our
everlasting good. He can wipe away all tears, all
tears from their eyes. Chapter 21, verse 1. I saw a new heaven and a new
earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. Oh God, the sooner the better.
And there was no more sea. No more sea. My friend, Brother
Sid Buggins, his last email to me, he said, there's a day coming
when there'll be no more sea. Seas are the things that divide
us. No more sea. No more division
of any kind among God's elect. No barriers, nothing to divide.
And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from
God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. The New Jerusalem is not a city
floating around in the sky. It's a bride. It's the church
of God. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold,
the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell among
them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with
them. and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. I
reckon he intends for us to believe that. What does that mean? And there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying about anything for any reason. Neither
shall there be any more pain for the former things passed
away. And he that sat on the throne
said, behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, write,
for these words are true and faithful. Amen.