Fourth chapter of the prophecy
of Isaiah. Working now on the third and
fourth verses in Isaiah chapter four. Let's read those two again. And it shall come to pass, that
he that is left in Zion and he that remains in Jerusalem shall
be called holy, even every one that is written among the living
in Jerusalem. When the Lord shall have washed
away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged
the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of
judgment and by the spirit of burning." Now there are five
aspects to these two statements in the third and fourth verses
of Isaiah chapter four. I've tried to put all of them
in the form of a question. The first question is this. Who are these people being described
in this prophecy? Who are they? That's important
for us to find out. And we don't have to look far
to find out, because the answer is right in front of us in these
very statements. Now, we shall look elsewhere
for confirmation, for we certainly run the risk of misunderstanding
what appears to be a plain statement of Holy Scripture because of
our natural blindness to the truth of God's grace in Christ,
and because of the prejudice of our heart by nature as the
fallen sons and daughters of Adam, we are apt to misconstrue
some of the most simple, plain words in this book. I mean, what
I'm speaking about is this, words which in their literal sense
cannot be mistaken, for they are so simple and so plain. But understanding what they mean
when it comes to Christ and to the gospel of Christ, that, my
friend, is a different matter indeed. And for this, We must
have divine help and aid, or we shall make shipwreck of our
souls. So the first question is, who
are these people that are being described in this particular
passage? They are said to be living, to
be alive. I'm speaking about alive before
God. This implies that He has indeed
done something for our souls. And a second thing that we find
in the last, both of these are in the last phrase in verse 3,
is not only that they are living, but that they are written among
the living. Written. Now does the Bible anywhere
speak of a place where people who are alive before God by virtue
of His grace in the gospel of Christ, that their names are
written down? Yes, indeed. This book speaks
extremely plainly concerning that. So if you'll go with me
if you'd like to, and if you don't want to, that's perfectly
fine. But I want to show you a statement in the last book
of the New Testament. It is the book called the Revelation,
and it's chapter 13, and the verse is verse 8. Now, for a long, long time in
my life, I did not know that there was such a thing as we're
about to read. I thought if my name was in any
book concerning God and myself, that I had to write it. But it turned out I was totally,
180 degrees off, absolutely. Revelation chapter 13 and verse
8, And all that dwell upon the earth
shall worship him, referring to the beast, whose names are
not written in the whose names are not written in the book of
life. Remember that word from Isaiah
4? Living and written. Whose names
are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. It is the Lamb's book of life
in which these names are said to be written. Let's look at
another in Luke's Gospel, chapter 10. The tenth chapter of the Gospel
of Luke. Do you remember when our Savior
sent the apostles to various villages and cities and sent
them out to preach? So in verse 20 of Luke chapter
10, they have returned and are rejoicing, as they put it, that
they had power over devils and so forth. And our Lord said to
them in verse 20 of Luke chapter 10, notwithstanding in this,
rejoice not. Do not rejoice in your seeming
victories in overcoming evil or anything else. In this, rejoice
not that the spirits, evil spirits in this case, are subject unto
you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Is there a book? Yes, indeed. What's in this book? It is the
Lamb's book of life. The people whose names are in
this book are people who have been made to live in their souls,
in their spirits. I'm speaking of being in possession
of eternal life, a life that cannot be lost. and cannot ever
be forfeited because it is the life of Christ in the soul. So it is called the Lamb's Book
of Life. And our Lord challenges these
disciples, don't rejoice because you were able to do this, that,
or the other. Rejoice because your names are written in heaven. One more Scripture, if you will,
along this line, because the second thing that we notice in
Isaiah chapter 4, if you'd like to flip back there, I'll point
it out to you. These people are said not only
to be written among the living, but they are said to be those
that are left and those that remain in Zion and in Jerusalem. Now that has a peculiar reference
to the particular time that Isaiah is prophesying about. But for
us, here's what it means. Romans chapter 11. Romans 11. Now, I hope you're able to follow
with me and connect these things all together because they are
connected in that passage in Isaiah chapter 4, and they are
connected in the mind and purpose and will of God as far as the
Scriptures are concerned. These statements found in various
parts of the Scriptures are put in our Bibles where they are
on purpose. God does not write this book
to encourage us to be lazy, to think we can turn to one place
in our Bibles and all the questions about a given issue are answered.
No, no. He speaks to us in various places
of this book through various servants of His, through different
human writers who were inspired by the Spirit of God. So now
we come to the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 11. And he speaks
concerning those people that were left in Zion and that remain
in Jerusalem. Now when we say something remains,
it is the part that is left over from a far greater number. So
when we come to Romans chapter 11 and we look at verse 5, the
apostle puts it this way, having given us the illustration of
Elijah, who complained to God against his fellow Israelites
when he said, Lord, they've digged down your altars, there's nobody
left, and they're trying to kill me. And the Lord said to him,
look at verse 4 for a second, God said to Elijah, I have reserved
to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image
of Baal. Now why does Paul reach back
into the Old Testament and bring that subject to Romans chapter
11? To establish the very same truth
that we are looking at in Isaiah chapter 4 and verse 3. And here
it is explained for us in Romans 11 and verse 5. Even so then,
just like it was in Elijah's day, just like it was in Isaiah's
day, just like it was in Malachi's day. Now, are you listening? And just exactly like it is in
our day. Here it is. This, my friend,
is the truth. Even so then, at this present
time also, There is a remnant according to the election of
grace. There is such a thing as an election. You and I cannot vote in this
election. The devil has no vote in this
election. God the Father said, this people,
whose names are written in this book, are mine. And He said to the Lord Jesus,
who is the eternal Son in the covenant of grace, I give you
these people and I charge you with their care, their keeping,
and their perfect redemption, giving us into the hand of our
Lord Jesus Christ. And God the Holy Spirit, who
is an equal partner in the divine free, in the covenant of grace,
agrees to come to those people that the Father gave to the Son
in eternal grace, in electing grace in old eternity. And He
covenants to reveal Christ to them in the gospel as that gospel
is proclaimed throughout the whole world. And that process
is still taking place this very day. There is a remnant according
to the election of grace. All right, we go back to Isaiah
chapter 4. Here's the second question. My,
what a question it is indeed. goodness alive, these people
are unusual people. Not only who are these people,
but what are they? Now, my generation knows nothing
about what holiness really is. It is a divine miracle of grace
when a person like you or me comes to truly understand what
it means, like we sing in that hymn, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord
God Almighty. We do not have a clue as to what
that means until God makes it known to us in His grace and
in His gospel. If we ever see that it was the
pure holiness of God that put His Son on the tree, we have
just begun to understand a tiny little bit about what it means
for God to be holy. And coming to see that benefits
us at the same time to be able to see ourselves as sinners all
together, dead in trespasses and in sins. So in verse 3 of
Isaiah chapter 4, it says in the middle part of that verse,
after those that are left and after those that remain, it says,
shall be called holy. Holy. Leviticus chapter 11 verse
44. says to us that we are to be
holy because God is holy. Have you ever tried to be holy? Have you ever thought you were
holy? I mean in ourselves now. Oh,
there is a way, because these people are called holy. There
must be a way for human beings like ourselves to be holy. But
it has not one single solitary thing to do with what we do or
don't do. That does not make us holy. The greatest sin that any of
us can plead guilty to is the sin of claiming to be holy in
ourselves. There's nobody in this place
too bad to be saved, but by nature we're all too good to be saved. And God must show us a picture
of ourselves before we'll fall on our face at the feet of Christ,
beggars for God's mercy. They shall be called holy. Holy people. Holy people. My,
my, my, my. How about turning to the New
Testament again? I can't seem to not turn there. Let's start in Ephesians here
for just two or three references together. Ephesians chapter 1,
right past Corinthians and Galatians, first chapter of Ephesians chapter
1. And by the way, while we're turning
to Ephesians 1, I'll remind you of what this chapter is about
if you're not familiar with it. It divides salvation into three
parts. Salvation by God the Father,
salvation by God the Son, and salvation by God the Holy Spirit. But in verse 4 of Ephesians chapter
1, we have this statement. According as He, this is God
the Father, has chosen us in Him, in Christ, before the foundation
of the world, and what did God choose us in Christ to be? Holy. That we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. Blameless. Spotless. Holy. Now you and I know that's
not ourselves. This is something God gives us
in mercy and grace in Christ. This cannot be something that
you and I achieve. That we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse
9. 2 Timothy 1, verse 9. I want you
to put these three statements together. Ephesians 1, 4. God
has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world that
we might be holy and without blame before Him. 2 Timothy 1,
verse 9. Speaking of the power of God
in His grace in Christ who has saved us and called us with an
holy calling. Well, who does He call? Not according
to our works. Oh no, the difference is not
found in us. No, the difference is in Him.
Not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
ever was created before the world began. All right, Hebrews chapter
10. We've got to speed up now. I
don't think we can get all five of these questions. Hebrews chapter
10, taking two statements out of the tenth chapter of Hebrews,
that would be verse 1 and verse 14. And here we read in Hebrews 10
and verse 1, for the law having a shadow of good things to come,
and not the very image of the things, can never with those
sacrifices which they offered year by year continually, they
can never make the comers thereunto perfect. Now let me shorten that
sentence, and let's find the subject and the verb and the
object. What is the subject? The law. The law. What is the verb? Can never make. The law can never make. No exceptions to this. It's not
it can make some people holy, but others it can't. No. It can
never make perfect. Who is it talking about? The
comers thereunto, the people who came to the law in the Old
Testament. Now, please be reminded, this
book never divides the law of God into the ceremonial, the
sacrificial, and the judicial. It does not distinguish between
the Ten Commandments and the commandments concerning the sacrifices
and the commandments concerning the ceremonies. They're all called
the law of God and they are one and the same and indivisible. This law could never make those
persons who came before God in the tabernacle or the temple,
it could not ever make them perfect. And the next verse says, what
it did do was remind them of their guilt. It served as a reminder
that they were guilty. You see, animal blood does not
atone for human sin. And so, what does this leave
us? It tells us that this law that
could not make the comers thereunto perfect, it tells us that this
law sacrificial, ceremonial, and the Ten Commandments that
these laws were a shadow of good things to come. That is, all
of them pictured Christ. Now, look at verse 14 and contrast
that with verse 1 in Hebrews chapter 10. For by one offering, He, the
Lord Jesus, by one offering, He has perfected what the law
couldn't do. Christ has already done. He has perfected. Yes, but we have to improve on
it. Well, no, not exactly. He has perfected forever. Forever. forever and ever and
ever and ever, them that are sanctified. So who does the Lord
Jesus perfect? Those that He makes holy. So
how did those persons in Isaiah 4 become holy? In the person
and redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ. the Son of God. For He has perfected forever,
by one offering and one sacrifice, He has perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Now there are a lot of other
scriptures, but we must move on in our questions and we probably
still won't make the fifth one. But let's look at the third question.
We go back now to Isaiah chapter 4, to find out the details to
put with this particular question. The question is this, what shall
these people be? As a result of God making us
alive in Christ, how are these persons described as being in
the sight of God? What shall we be in Christ? Now there are two expressions
that are used in verse 4 of Isaiah chapter 4. It is the word washed
and it is the word purged or cleansed. So these persons are
people who are washed and purged in the precious blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the means by which
these people can be declared holy. Christ has not only provided
our righteousness, But he's met the demands of God's law against
our sin and put away its penalty forever. If you'll turn with
me in the Old Testament to the book of Ezekiel, I can give you
one of the best pictures any place in our Bibles in regard
to this glorious good news that Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. Romans chapter
10 and verse 3. Turning to Ezekiel chapter 16,
Ezekiel 16. Beginning our reading, I need
to read through, let's see, verses 3 through 14 so that you get
the before and after picture. Now, just as we pointed out in
that him hail sovereign love, that there is a picture of a
sinner being brought from being lost and damned in sin to being
set free in Christ in grace. So here in Ezekiel chapter 16,
right in the middle of the prophecy of Ezekiel, God gives us a picture
of his grace in Christ as it redeems a sinner who is dead. who is born dead, who is dead
to God, who is dead spiritually. And just like our Lord outside
the grave of Lazarus, Lazarus had been dead four days, and
our Lord stood outside his tomb. He said, Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus got up from the dead
and came forth. And that's a glorious picture.
of how God saves us in grace and makes us alive in Christ.
Verse 3 in Ezekiel 16, And say, Thus saith the Lord
God unto Jerusalem, Your birth and your nativity is of the land
of Canaan. Now this is like spitting in
a Jew's face to tell him that he's a descendant of the Canaanites.
Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. And as for your nativity, as
for your birth, so what about my birth and yours? Speaking
about spiritually now, here it is described. As for your birth,
you don't have the best ancestors in the world. Your daddy's an
Amorite and your mother's a Hittite. You're descended from the Canaanites,
and you and I are descended from a man called Adam in the garden. We inherited from our father
Adam our fallen condition and our deadness spiritually before
God. As for your nativity, In the
day that you were born, your navel was not cut, neither were
you washed in water to supple you, you were not salted at all,
nor swaddled at all. Nobody pitied you, none I pitied
you. Now I know, I know looking at
me and looking at you. This ain't how we came into this
world physically. I know some of you out there,
your mamas and your daddies and your grandmas and your grandpas
and your aunts and uncles, they made a big fuss over you when
you came into this world. This is talking about spiritually. This is what we are as far as
God and ourselves are concerned. None eye pitied you to do any
of these things, to have compassion upon you, but you were cast out
in the open field to the loathing of your person the very day that
you were born." Now, we cringe and shudder when we hear of somebody
abandoning an infant that's newborn. We condemn it roundly, and we
say we would never do such a thing. well, I wouldn't go that far
if I were you. If God doesn't prevent, that'll
pale into insignificance to what we're willing to do. But that's not the issue here.
This is our spiritual condition cast out in an open field the
very day that we drew our first breath. We were sinners in our mother's
womb and came forth from the womb speaking lies. Born dead
spiritually. Oh, but look at verse 6. The Lord said, And when I passed
by you, I saw you polluted in your own blood, I said unto you
when you were in your blood, I said live." Well, Lord, I'll have to help
you or I can't live. I said live. Did Lazarus help
the Lord Jesus? Did the widow of Nain's son help
the Lord Jesus raise him from the dead? Neither can we help
him in our spiritually being raised from the dead. It is a
work only God can do. And now you listen good, and
once done, it's done forever. It can't ever change. ever change. I said unto you when you were
in your blood, Live! Yea, I said unto you when you
were in your blood, Live! I have caused you to multiply
as the bud of the field, and you have increased and waxed
great, and you are come to excellent ornaments. Your breasts are fashioned,
and your hair is grown, whereas you were naked and bare. when
we were cast out into that open field. Now when I passed by you
and looked upon you, what was going on? Behold, your time was
the time of love. And my friend, if God loves me
today, He has loved me forever and ever and ever. I cannot do anything to deserve
His love. And I can't be bad enough to
lose it. I spread my skirt over you and
covered your nakedness. Yea, I swear unto you and entered
into a covenant with you, saith the Lord God, and you became
mine. Then washed I you with water, yea, I thoroughly washed
away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. I clothed
you also with broadered work, and shod you with badger skin,
and I covered you about with fine linen, and covered you with
silk. I decked you also with ornaments,
and I put bracelets on your hands, and a chain on your neck, and
I put a jewel on your forehead, and earrings in your ears, and
a beautiful crown upon your head. Thus were you decked with gold
and silver, and your raiment was of fine linen and silk and
broadered work. You did eat fine flour and honey
and oil, and you were exceeding beautiful, and you did prosper
into a kingdom." My, my, what a miracle of God's grace. That, my friend, is what's taking
place in Isaiah chapter 4. This is how God works. This is
what he has to do for us or we'll die and perish in our sins. God help us to see Christ as
he's revealed and set forth in this book to our souls.