What a great hymn that is. I'm
sure Mr. Watts would roll over in his
grave at the realization that so many, many places his hymn
is reserved to be a celebration of a season rather than a celebration
of a person. But what joy, joy, joy we find
in our souls because Jesus Christ has come. to establish his righteousness,
to remove the curse of sin, and to reign in the hearts of men.
How blessed of God we are to understand that great, great
gospel mystery. Now I want you to turn with me
this evening to Isaiah chapter 63, and hold your Bibles open
there for a minute while I talk to you. As I stand here tonight, I am
in a position where I feel totally unfit to be preaching. I need
someone to preach to me. Matter of fact, whenever I've
been traveling recently, I've been carrying tapes with me because
I need somebody to preach to me. And I pick out some messages
and listen to them and have had my heart challenged and refreshed
and at the same time smitten. In recent weeks, I've had letters
from pastors around the country, letters and telephone calls as
well, expressing great concern for the apparent judgment of
God upon our generation, for the apparent laxity, apathy,
and indifference in their own congregations among many who
profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I share their concerns. Any man who has a pastor's heart
aches, aches for people when he sees their indifference to
those things that are vital to their souls. And that breaks
a pastor's heart. Just as a father grieves for
his sons and daughters when he sees them incurring upon themselves
what he knows will bring them trouble and pain and sorrow.
A pastor who cares for people when he sees them bring upon
themselves what he knows will bring them trouble, pain, and
sorrow. But I have a somewhat more personal,
deep disturbance than that. I am even more disturbed by the
coldness, apathy, and indifference of my own heart to those things
that I know. to be more important than anything
in the world. The Word of God, the worship
of God, prayer, the will of God, love and zeal for Christ. And
yet I see a terrible, terrible tendency in my own heart to neglect
those things. A terrible coldness that I cannot
explain except by two things. The one is my sin. That's the
blame. That's the problem. That's the
problem. I never dreamed before God saved
me, I never dreamed that it would be possible for a man, saved
by God's free grace, a man snatched from the pit of destruction and
ruin, a man whose life was utterly wasted and ruined, saved by God's
free grace. I never dreamed that it would
be possible to love him so little, to believe him so little, to
trust him so little, to, to care really so little as I do for
him whom my soul loves. I never dreamed those things
possible. I never dreamed it'd be possible for a child of God
to be so much engulfed in the care of this world, and so much
moved by things that are just insignificant in comparison with
eternity, and so little moved by things of eternity. I never
dreamed that it'd be possible for a child of God to be so full
of sin and yet at the same time have such a terrible tendency
to trust his own works as I do. Do you find that to be the case
with you? I think that again is one of the reasons for this
condition that I often find myself in and I suspect you do as well. is that we have such a terrible
tendency to trust ourselves, such a terrible tendency to look
to ourselves, such a terrible tendency to find peace and comfort
in ourselves rather than in Christ alone, that God leaves us now
and then to say something of what we are and make us know
that our only hope before him is his free grace in Jesus Christ
the Lord. Now I want us this evening to
look at Isaiah chapter 63 verses 9 through 19, and I'm going to
take for my subject and the title of my message what we find in
verse 17. Why hast thou made us to earth? Oh Lord, Why hast thou made us
to err from thy ways, and hardened our hearts from thy fear? Now, I know I've preached a good
many sermons along this line recently. And as I started preparing
for tonight's message, there's another message I've been working
on for a few weeks now, but as I started preparing tonight's
message, I thought, well, maybe we ought to leave this for a
little bit. Then I realized that we've come to this place at this
time in the book of Isaiah to this passage of scripture by
divine arrangement. And it speaks to my heart. And
as I look at the text, I want to give you a faithful exposition
of what's contained in these verses. I want to be faithful
to the word of God. And yet at the same time, I want
to do it in a most practical, personal way, because what I'm
going to say to you applies every word of it to me. And I trust
that you can enter into what I'm talking about if you don't
have these same experiences at present. Listen carefully, because
I'm certain that the time will soon come, if you're God's child,
the time will soon come, you'll have these same struggles, and
you'll need the instruction of this passage of Scripture. In
the passage before us, we have recorded by divine inspiration,
the penitential lamentation of God's afflicted saints, when
the hand of God was heavy upon them." Now, without question,
the passage, as I have pointed out repeatedly, was written primarily
in connection with the children of Israel, the Jewish people,
during the time of captivity, during the time of trial. But
their captivity was a portrayal of the bondage and captivity
spiritually that we experience as believers in this world. And
though they were in physical captivity, they were actually
brought physically into bondage, those who knew the Lord expressed
for their greatest lamentation not the fact that they were in
spiritual, or in physical bondage, but rather that they were in
spiritual bondage. Matthew Henry very properly observes
convinced consciences complain most of spiritual judgments,
and dread that most in affliction, which draws them away from God
and from beauty." Hold your hands there and turn to Psalm 84. Let
me show you that. Psalm 84. Those who know God,
those who are taught of God's Spirit, those who are concerned
about the glory of God and the worship of God, when they go
through through physical trials, when they go through physical
turmoil, when they go through things that cause them temporal,
earthly trouble, their greatest concern is not for the physical
pain, not for the physical suffering, not for the physical trial, but
rather for the spiritual, for the fact that they are drawn
away from the worship of God and the things of God. Look at
it in Psalm 84. Now some suspect that this psalm, though dedicated
for the sons of Korah, was written by David when he was driven from
his throne by his son Absalom, and he was out fleeing in the
wilderness, hiding, driven away from the worship of God. And
this is how he speaks. How amiable are thy tabernacles,
O Lord of hosts. I can't tell you how many times
I have heard from many women who, when they had the opportunity
of worshiping God, gathering with his people and hearing his
word, they moved away. And now they find themselves
locked into a situation they can't figure any way to get out
of without being absolutely hazardous. And they cry, oh, how can anyone
like that? Would to God, I feel one more
time, into the house of God. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth
for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh crieth
out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found a
house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay
her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts. My King and
my God, blessed are they that dwell in thy house. They shall
still be praised So, Matthew Henry was exactly right in making
this observation. Convinced consciences complain
most of spiritual judgments, and dread that most in an affliction
which draws them away from God and from beauty. Now, let's look
at these verses of Scripture, a section at a time, and let
me show you three things in them. First, look at verses 9 and 10.
Here is a realization of great, great compassion. In all their
affliction, he was afflicted. And the angel of his presence
saved them. In his love and in his pity,
he redeemed them. And he bared them and carried
them all the days of old. They rebelled. Next is Holy Therefore
he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them. God's
loving kindness and tender mercy, his great compassion for us,
is seen here in his tender, tender care of us, illustrated by the
tender care he exercised toward the children of Israel. These
verses exhibit in an unrivaled clarity God's works of providence. and show forth the wonders of
his grace with astonishing exactness. They give us a marvelous summary
of the history of God's dealings with the nation of Israel, and
in these two verses we have recorded God's tender compassion toward
his people, particularly when they were in bondage in Egypt
under Pharaoh's harassment, and how that he sent his deliverer.
Look here now, Isaiah 63 verse 9. The angel of his presence saved them. The angel of his presence is
the Lord Jesus. The angel of his presence is
the messenger of the covenant. The angel of his presence is
our Redeemer, Jesus Christ his Son. And when God sends the angel
of the Lord out to deliver the children of Israel, that's none
other than the pre-incarnate Christ come down from heaven
to deliver Israel out of Egyptian bondage. And they tell us of
the success of his work. He brought them out. He redeemed
them. The redemption that God brought
for Israel was a complete, entire, accomplished redemption. Nothing
left for them to do, but altogether his work. And then the Lord's
continual care of them is demonstrated as well. As he led the children
of Israel and carried them and bared them throughout the days
of their journeyings through the wilderness. Now even as we
think only of God's grace and mercy toward the children of
Israel, we are astonished at God's goodness, astonished at
His faithfulness that God should bear with those people for so
long. But when we realize that these two verses are speaking
not just about the physical troubles and the physical deliverances
of that physical nation, but they represent the spiritual
troubles and the spiritual deliverances of God's spiritual Israel, His
elect. They're talking about you and
me. Oh, now here's wondrous grace. God's been gracious to us. It
was the Lord's great compassion toward us that reserved us and
kept us when we were lost and lived in absolutely begging against
him. This is one of the wonders of
God's grace to me. One of the greatest wonders is
what the old Puritans used to call preventing grace. That is
the grace of God that goes before and prepares the way for God's
grace. Listen to me now. Listen to me.
Learn it, observe it, and rejoice in it. In God's tender mercy,
in his great pity, in his loving kindness, because he chose us,
because he determined to save us, because he said, I will be
their God and they shall be my people. Throughout the days of
our lives, God Almighty graciously protected, preserved, and provided
for us. Particularly to me, some of you
I'm sure can share what I'm saying, all the days of my youth I flirted
with death. I flirted with everything, everything
to wreck my life and everything that would possibly bring me
into utter in God and his mercy, and will not allow the chosen
one to perish, but rather sends his angels to be ministering
spirits sent forth to minister to that one who shall be an heir
of salvation. When we lived with our fist in
God's face, the Lord God looked upon us with pity and he longed
for our return to him. Now listen to me, listen carefully.
We recognize God's absolute sovereignty. We recognize that God is in no
way sort of helplessly leaning over the banisters of heaven,
waiting for sinners to do something. Not at all. But God Almighty
looked upon his chosen, and with pity and compassion, beyond what
any father ever felt for an erring child, God longed for the return
of his children to him. Listen to what he says in Hosea.
Hosea chapter 11. Hosea the 11th chapter, beginning
in verse 7. I think sometimes, sometimes
we kind of want to get things so analytical and get things
so boxed in that we forget that God Almighty is not a stone. God's not a theory. God's our
Father. He's our Father. Baba, he's a
better father than we ever imagined being. And being our father,
having determined our good, the Lord God looked upon us with
pity. Look here in Hebrews chapter
11 and verse 7, or Hosea 11 rather, and verse 7. My people are bent
to backsliding from me. Though they call them to the
Most High, none at all would exalt Him. How shall I give thee
up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee Israel?
How shall I make thee Adamah? How shall I set thee Zeboan? Mine heart is turned within me. My repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness
of mine anger. I will not return to destroy
Ephraim. For I'm God and not a man. Do you understand what I'm saying?
The Lord God urged us and preached us to bow to his mercy. He said,
why will you die? Why will you die? He sends his
prophets, and it is though God did mistreat you by us, we pray
you in Christ's name, be you reconciled to God. How can I
stress that with proper emphasis? How can I express it as it ought
to be expressed? God speaks by his with such tender
compassion that we pray you, as though God did speak upon
us, as though God did speak, be reconciled to God. Be reconciled
now to the Son of God. And at the very instant when
we began to feel any burden of sin, when we began to have any
mourning for our sin and our guilt, as quickly as we resolved
to repent and turn to Him. The Scriptures describe the Lord
God Almighty as our Father beholding us afar off and running and falling
on our necks and kissing us, embracing us as His sons. What
a picture of God. It oughtn't to surprise us. He
delighteth in mercy. Do you understand that? God delights in mercy. Would
to God I could find sinners. I mean bona fide sinners. If you find me some sinners,
I've got good news for them. I've got good news for them.
Sinners, folks who've utterly ruined themselves, utterly ruined
their lives, living constantly, banging against God. I tell you,
God He delights in mercy. Now, though
his compassion toward us is first experienced when we come to him,
it is first experienced when we believe him. It is first experienced
when the prodigal comes to himself and says, I will arise and go
to my father as soon as he starts toward his father. That's the
first experience of grace. That's the first experience of
compassion. But don't ever imagine that's the beginning of grace.
Don't ever imagine that's the beginning of compassion. Oh no,
God's compassion for us, we discover with great joy, was the cause
of our coming to him, not the result of our coming. He says,
I have loved thee with everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
have I grown thee. He chose us to be the objects
of his grace before the worlds were made. and blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus before ever He formed the
world, before ever an angel was created by God. He made a covenant
for us, ordered in all things and sure. David said, this is
all my salvation and all my desire. God made a covenant with me,
ordered in all things and sure. That is, He made a covenant for
me. with my substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, and just as much
personal as that covenant, as though he had made it directly
with me." And then, in the fullness of time, the Lord God sent his
Son into the world to redeem his people, to save his people
from their sins. Then you read Matthew 121, back
in the office a little bit ago. for he shall save his people."
Jesus Christ came into this world with a specific mission to accomplish,
with a specific work to perform, and the mission and work he came
to accomplish and perform was the saving of his people. The
Scripture does not say, he shall save those who shall be his people. The Scripture says, he shall
save His people from their sins. They were His people before ever
He came into the world. They were His people when He
agreed to redeem them. They were His people when He
put away their sin. They were His people when He
arose on high. They were His people when they
lived with their fist in God's face. They were His people, and
that's the reason He called them by His grace. You understand
that? We didn't become his people when we believed, but rather
we believed because we were his people from the beginning. Just
as Israel of old had been carried by God's providence and all the
necessary things to bring them into the land of Canaan which
God promised to Abraham, so we too. had been the objects of
God's providence carried by him, and everything arranged by God
necessary to bring us to Christ in the blessed rest of eternity."
Remember God called Abraham, and God promised Abraham, he'd
give him the light where he's standing, in this direction or
that. And Abraham never possessed He
said your children are going to sojourn in Egypt for 400 years. And I'll bring them out. And
I'll bring them into this land. It'll be yours then. It'll be
yours. But picture the covenant of grace.
God Almighty promised us eternal life in Christ before the world
began. And He arranged everything to
bring us not only down into Egypt, but out of it into the blessed
promised rest of life everlasting. in Christ the Lord, and at the
appointed time of love, God came to us and delivered us, causing
us to flee to him. I was preaching along this line
out in California back in July, I guess it was, June or July,
and a lady who had become a dear friend to Shelby and I, sitting
right on the front row beside Shelby, a crowd of people there,
And I used her for an illustration, the name's Iris Johnson. Her
husband, Brad, is in prison. You've heard me talk about him.
We visited Brad last year when I was there. Brad's in prison
for bank robbery, shootout with the highway patrol, and he's
going to be there for a while. I believe God's genuinely performed
a work of grace in him. He and Iris met, but I won't
tell you how they met. It might get her in trouble.
She was involved in things in prison. They met while he was
in prison, married. She used to be involved with
the Hell's Angels, heavily involved with them. But she and Brad heard
the gospel of God's free grace while he's in prison and she's
married to him. And I looked at her and I said,
she has reason to say, and she'll agree with me, Thank God for
false imprisonment. Because that's what was necessary. Listen to me now. That's what
was necessary in the lives of those two elect of God for them
to be brought to faith in Christ. Why on earth do you reckon it
was that Onesimus ran away again to Rome with his master's goods?
Because God arranged from eternity to meet Onesimus in Rome through
the message of Paul the Apostle, who was in prison at the time.
God arranged everything. That same free, immutable, faithful
love keeps us by his grace, and will not let us depart from him,
and will at last present us, faultless before the presence
of his glory, with unspeakable joy." Now, the Lord's great compassion
for us is also to be seen in his constant, unfailing care
of us, even when we rebel against him. But they rebel. I won't try to say more on that
text than I did last week. But as God watched over Israel
in the wilderness, in those 40 years of rebagging and unbidding,
so he watches over us in this wilderness. As he bared them,
so he bares us. As he carried them, so he carries
us. As he chastened them, so he chastens
us. This is the thing I want you
to see. There is not a state in which his eye is not upon
us fully. Child of God, can you get a hold
of that? There is not a state, there is not a condition, there
is not a circumstance, there is not an experience in which
his eye is not on us as our days demand, so he gives
us strength. He supplies us with grace sufficient
for every need. When we're fallen, he lifts us
up, brushes us off, forgives us our sins, and tells us to
walk on in the way, but more than that, bless his name, Mark,
he carries us in the way, and will not let us depart from Now
look at verses 11 through 14. We see here a contemplation of
great goodness. Now there's some debate as to
whether these words are to be understood as the words of God
our Savior speaking about his former goodness to his people.
Are the words of his people responding to chastisements in a penitential
remembrance of previous goodness experienced at his hand. It does
no violence to the scripture to interpret it and read it either
way. Tonight I want us to read it as the words of his people,
in a penitential remembrance of goodness experienced. Then
he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying
Where is he that brought them up out of the sea? With the shepherd
of his flock, where is he that put his Holy Spirit within him? You remember how Elisha took
the mantle of Elijah and took his rod and he smoked the waters
and he said, where is the Lord God of Elijah? So the people
of God cried, where is he? Where is he that led them by
the right hand to Moses? with his glorious arm, dividing
the water before them to make himself an everlasting name,
that led them through the deep as a horse in the wilderness,
that they should not stumble as a beast goeth down into the
valley. The Spirit of the Lord calls
him to rest, so that thou lead thy people to make thyself a
glorious name. God's wonders wrought in Egypt
for his people are here recounted with grateful recollection. Here the children of Israel recall
the crossing of the Red Sea, God's special anointing of Moses
to guide them through the wilderness, their blessed rest in the land
of Canaan, the land of promise. Repeatedly, each mercy is mentioned
Three times they mention the crossing of the Red Sea. Twice
the Holy Spirit's special work for them is described. Their
entrance into the land of Canaan is both declared and illustrated
with thanksgiving. And thus, even in their time
of great sorrow, bondage, and helplessness, the faithful among
them remembered God. Now, that'll encourage your heart.
That'll sustain you in trouble. When they were in bondage, they
remembered God's sovereign goodness. Mighty power, once experienced
by them and bestowed upon them, by which God brought them with
the mighty arm across the Red Sea, over the land of Egypt,
and destroyed their enemy behind them. They remembered his mighty
power. And they remembered his special
redemption of them. He bought us. He bought us. He redeemed us. Though Pharaoh
and his armies lied dead in the sea, our enemies alive, daring
to the wrath of God upon the far shore, we had been redeemed. God bought us. God bought us. Having bought us, we rest assured
he will do us and his faithfulness, they remembered with joy. We've
been as fickle as sand, but he's been faithful. We've been a nation
of rebels, but God's been faithful. Now this contemplation of God's
great goodness led to a solemn and pathetic question. The question
was really more a statement of a realized fact than a question
Twice this plaintive cry goes up, where is He? Where is our Redeemer? Where
is our Comforter? Where is our God? And my heart joins the cry. We rejoice in past experience. We rejoice in past goodness. We rejoice and what God has done. Recently, I've been listening
to some tapes with regard to Martin Luther. A friend of mine
sent me from the Christian Reformed Church up in Granville, Michigan.
They had a special Reformation celebration and fellows recalled
the doctrine and experiences of Martin Luther. My heart's
just kind of bumping, you know. I like Luther. Luther was, he
was 110% man. He stood firm. He didn't compromise
for anything, anybody. He just, he was bulldog dogmatic
with regard to the grace of God. But I don't want to live in the
past. Father, we can't, we can't live on what God did with Luther. We can rejoice in it, but we
can't go back to that, nor should we go back to that. But I cry,
where is God who did such wonders in Luther's day? Where is our
Redeemer now? Where is the Spirit that inspired
such men? Where is the Spirit that performed
such work? Where is our God? It is much
like the cry that Job expressed in his great sorrow. He said,
oh, oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his
seat. I would order my cause before
him and fill my mouth with arguments." Now, I know some will hear this
message and they'll say, that man talks about things I never
heard men talk about before. I never heard Never heard a preacher
say such things about himself and such things about God. Never
heard such things before. That's because this generation has been duped with religion,
with no heart and no experience and no knowledge of the living
God. God's people want more than a
form of Godliness. We want more than than an exercise
of religion. We want more than going to church. I want God to make his presence
known in a manifest way to me, to you, and to his people in
this day. Oh, that I knew where I might
find him. Now look at verses 15 through
19. Here is a lamentation of great sorrow. There's so much
expressed in these verses that I can't begin to expound them,
but really they need more reverent contemplation than exposition.
They're easily understood if you just contemplate on them.
Let me call your attention to these five things and I'll be
done. First in verse 15, here's a prayer. arising from a heart
sensing God's absence. Oh, how I thank him that he now
and then meets with us and makes himself known. He meets with
us. I know he does. He says he does.
But now and then he makes himself known. Now and then he comes
and shows his face. Now and then he calls us to hear
his voice. But if there is any one characteristic
of this age, in this day, any one characteristic
of the church in this particular time, and I'm talking now about
true churches. I'm talking about God's people. If there's any one thing that
characterizes what I see everywhere I go in this country and out
of this country. This is it. The marked manifest
absence. I see in some places preachers
who acknowledge it and try their best to understand it and encourage
God's people in the midst of it. And then I see others who
refuse to acknowledge it, and they get their programs, and
they get their activities, and the churches are so, oh, they're
just bustling with activities. They print out a calendar every
week, just got bustling activities, activity, activity, activity,
get folks busy, get them excited, get them doing, doing, doing,
because if you don't, you're going to lose them to something
else. And they make a pretense of God's presence. But the pretense
It's like dogs walking across dry leaves. It's nothing but
noise. Look. Lord God, if you'll just look
this way. Oh God, turn your face toward
us. Behold. Behold who we are and
where we are. Where is thy zeal and thy strength? Where is your help? Where is
the sounding of thy bowels and thy mercies toward me? That is,
God, where is the display of your love and your goodness and
mercy toward me? Where can I find some token for
good, some mark of your love, some evidence that you care? Are they restrained? Do you hold
back your love and mercy? If so, why? Are they restrained? In verse 16, here is a confession
of faith without evidence, of confidence, without signs, and
of assurance based entirely upon the Word of God. You read this
16th verse and you might wisely pray, God, grant me this kind
of faith. Give me to trust you, to believe
you, to cast myself upon you when my soul is barren, when
my heart is empty, and you hide your face from me. Look at this
remarkable confession. Now remember what we just read
in verse 15. And this is the confession. Thou art my Father. Isn't that
amazing? Thou art our father. But what
about these Babylonians who are ruling over you? You're never
going to rule over them. You're not their father, you're our
father. Not only are you our father, thou, O Lord, art our
father. Our father, you're the Lord. You're in control of this situation.
Thou art our Redeemer. Not just a Redeemer, but our
Redeemer. our special, effectual Redeemer. You have bought us, not them.
Thy name is from everlasting." That is to say, Lord, we acknowledge
the change, not in you. We change. Your heart toward
us has not grown cold, our heart toward you has. Your love for
us is not lacking. Our love for you is lacking.
Your zeal for us is not lax. Our zeal for you is lax. And
then here is an acknowledgment both of our sin and of God's
absolute sovereignty. Verse 17, O Lord, why hast thou
made us to err from thy ways? and hardened our heart from thy
fear." Why? Now, the commentaries, the commentators,
I picked up several and read them on this. They just do somersaults
when they read this text. They don't know what to do with
it. How can this thing be written in the book of This must be the
prophet just quoting somebody who didn't know God. No, no,
this is written by inspiration. This is not an attempt, now listen
to me, this is not an attempt by believing men and women to
blame God for their sin. No believer would ever dream
of doing so. No believer would ever dream
of doing so. God is not tempted with evil, neither tempteth he
any man with evil. Sin arises from the heart. Lust, when it is conceived, bringeth
forth sin. That's where the problem is.
The problem, the problem with you, the problem with your little
boy, your little girl, the problem with your husband, your wife,
mama, daddy, the problem is not out yonder they've been exposed
to some bad stuff. No. The problem is when they
get up in the morning, they're exposed to bad stuff right here.
the problems in the heart. That's the problem. So we don't
even dream of thinking about laying the blame for our sin
upon the shoulders of God Almighty. Not at all. Our sin is our doing. The hardness of our hearts is
our doing. But this is an acknowledgement
of God's absolute sovereignty. If he wanted if it were for his
glory and best for us in this world, he could keep us from
sin. He could keep our hearts constantly
full of life. He could keep us constantly,
constantly full of zeal. He could keep us constantly devoted. He could keep us constantly,
constantly in a state of perpetual revival if that were his will,
if that were best for us. But here is an acknowledgement,
Lord, we're in this condition, we're here because of our sin. And somehow, somehow, I don't
know how, don't pretend to understand it. I acknowledge it and find
some measure of comfort and rest in this at your appointed time. When it's for your glory and
our good, things change. You understand that? Now then,
here's a cry of a broken heart, longing for God's manifest presence. Return. Return for thy servants, plural,
thy servants' sake, the tribes of thy inhabitants. It's as though James Lee, the
one speaking, feels totally unfit even to ask God for mercy for
himself. So he says, Lord, be gracious, be merciful and
return for the sake of your people. These people called by your name,
these people who are your people. And then in the verses 18 and
19, here are arguments for mercy. that no father could resist,
and God our Father will not resist them either. The people of thy holiness have
possessed it for a little while. Speaking particularly concerning
the children of Israel, they say we possess the land of promise
just a little while. He promised it to us. Applying
it to you and I, God, your children, have enjoyed the privileges of
our inheritance, the privileges of grace, the privileges of being
the sons of God, just a little, just a little. Return, return. Our adversaries have trampled
beneath their feet your sanctuary, your name, your worship, and
your honor. Our adversaries have trodden
down thy sanctuary. This religious generation in
which we live has trodden down the name of our God, has trodden
down the glory of God, the very honor of God in the gospel. So
return. And then in verse 19, we are thine. You never did bear rule over
them. That is, you never were their God. They were not called
by your name, but we are. You never undertook to rule for
them. They never surrendered to your
rule. They still refuse to bear your name. We're not much. Lord God, we're not much. We're
nothing, but we're yours. And we gladly bear your name.
We bear your name. In this day, when men everywhere
mocking deride your name, we bear your name. So return. And the prayer continues. Oh,
that thou wouldest rend the heavens. That thou wouldest come down.