Would you turn to Isaiah 64?
I've entitled this message a prayer for God's presence. And in my
saying over the chapter, it says in my Bible, the church prayeth
for the presence of God. Isaiah 64, I'd like to read this
chapter. O that thou wouldst rend the
heavens, that thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might
flow down at thy presence. As when the melting fire burneth,
the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known
to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence. When thou didst terrible things
which we look not for, thou camest down, the mountains slowed down
at thy presence. For since the beginning of the
world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither
hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for
him that waiteth for him. Thou needest him that rejoiceth
and worketh righteousness. Those that remember thee in thy
ways, behold, thou art wroth. For we have sinned, and in those
is continuance, and we shall be saved. But we are all as an
unclean thing. And all our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf. And our iniquities,
like the wind, have taken us away, and there is none that
calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.
For thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us because
of our iniquities. But now, O Lord, thou art our
Father. We are the clay, and thou our
potter, and we are all the work of thy hand. Be not wroth very
sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity forever. Behold, see,
we beseech thee, we are all thy people. Thy holy cities are a
wilderness. Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem
a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house,
which our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire, and all
our pleasant things are laid waste. Wilt thou refrain thyself
for these things, O Lord? Wilt thou hold thy peace and
afflict us very sore? What is our greatest need in
this worship service tonight? The presence of the Lord. That's
the greatest need. The great need of today is the
same great need of yesterday and the great need for tomorrow. The presence of the Lord. That's
what Moses prayed for. And this is what Isaiah prays
for. God's actual presence. And that word presence is quite
often translated face. God's face. The psalmist said, turn us again,
O God, and cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved. I need His face of favor toward
me. I need His face of acceptance
toward me. I need the presence of God. What I think of when I think
of His face, the Lord seeing His face, this is the example
that came to my mind. I thought of Mephibosheth. You
remember the story of David? He said, Are there any of the
house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God to for Jonathan's
sake? And he said, Yeah, there's one.
Mephibosheth. He's lame in his feet. He's not
worth much. He can't do anything for you.
David said, Go fetch him and bring him to me. And when Mephibosheth
was brought before David, he was so afraid. And David looked
at him. And I have no doubt that he looked
back to that covenant that he made with Mephibosheth's father,
Jonathan. He remembered that covenant he
made with Jonathan, where Jonathan said, Show mercy for all my house. I know you're going to be king
of the earth. Show mercy for my house. And when David looked
at that boy Mephibosheth, or man or whatever he was, crippled,
dirty, helpless, I know who he saw. He saw Jonathan's face. Now, when God sees me, I need
him to see the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what I need
him to see. Oh, I need his face. I need his
presence, his presence. How necessary was his presence
in the covenant when he stood as a surety for God's elect?
How necessary was his presence right then? How necessary was
his presence on earth to keep the law for me? How necessary
was His presence, His physical presence on the cross, bearing
my sin and putting away my sin? How necessary is His presence
even now as He's seated at the right hand of the Father as my
intercessor, my great high priest? How necessary is His presence? The great need at all times is
His presence. Now, Isaiah says in verse one,
Oh, that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come
down and the mountains, that's mountains of opposition, mountains
of pride, mountains of self-righteousness, mountains of sin. If you come
down, the mountains are just going to melt in your presence.
We need his presence. Oh, Isaiah said, Come down, that
the mountains might flow down at thy presence, as when the
melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to
make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations
may tremble at thy presence. You know, the Scripture makes
his presence, his name, make his name known, his presence.
I didn't think a lot about this thing about his name ever since
Sunday night, where we considered how, for Jacob, To be accepted,
he had to be Esau. For him to be accepted, he had
to be Esau. Now, when God looks at me, the
only way he can accept me is if I'm Christ. But how could
that be? Hey, are you calling yourself
Christ? Well, I'll tell you this. I'll say this. No, you know I'm
not the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course I'm not. But
I'm in Him. I'm in Him, and I'll tell you this, the only name
that I'm going to answer to is the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When my name is called, I will wait for Him to say, present
and accounted for. I will wait on Him. I need His
presence in Judgment Day. I need His face. I need God to see His face when
He sees me. I need to answer to His name.
And doesn't the Lord say, I put my name upon them? This is the
name wherewith she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. I need his presence. I need God
to see his face. Verse three, when thou didst
terrible things which we look not for, thou camest down, the
mountains flowed down at thy presence. Now, Isaiah used to
say, you gave us your presence before, we want it again. When
you did give us your presence, the mountains came down. We want
it again. You did terrible things for us.
Things that we didn't expect. Things that were surprises. We
never suspected them. But you did them. We want you
to do it again. We continually want His presence. Verse 4, For since the beginning
of the world, men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither
hath the eye seen, O God, Beside thee, what he hath prepared for
him that waiteth for him." Now this, you know, is quoted in
1 Corinthians 2. The things God has prepared for
them that love him. No natural man has seen it, but
Paul goes on to say he's revealed them to us by spirit. And we're
waiting on him. And right now, I'm waiting on
the Lord Jesus Christ to plead for me. I think of what David
said when he said, plead my cause. I'm waiting on Him to plead my
cause. I'm waiting on Him. I'm waiting. I'm not going to make a move.
I'm going to wait for Him to plead my cause. That's the only
safe place. Waiting on Him. I'm waiting on Him. Verse 5,
Thou meetest Him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness. Those
that remember Thee in Thy ways. He gives a threefold description
of a believer here. First, the believer is somebody
who rejoices. He rejoices. Does that mean you feel happy
all the time? No. You might feel sad most of the
time. But you rejoice in Christ. As long as you have your sinful
self, you're going to have reason to be sad. But you rejoice in
the Lord. You rejoice in Him. You always
rejoice in Him. Secondly, He worketh righteousness. He worketh righteousness. Now,
I know this in two ways. When Jesus Christ worked righteousness,
I did too. So I can truly be said to have
worked righteousness because I'm united to Him. I'm one with
Him. If He worked righteousness, I did. That's how real that union
is. Literally, literally, I did. I can't be separated from Him.
And this can also refer to the new nature. He that doeth righteousness
is righteous, even as he is righteous. That could certainly refer to
that, that new nature. He that worketh righteousness
and those who remember thee in thy ways. And I'll tell you what,
I do remember this. I know it's only by the grace of God, but
I remember that Christ is the way to the Father. I remember
that. I don't forget that. I don't
come on my own. Christ is my way. Now, let's
go and read. Now he begins this confession.
He says, Behold, verse 5, thou art wrath, for we have sinned. And then he says something very
painful. I guess we have sinned is painful enough. He says, Thou
art wroth, for we have sinned in those. Those sin is continuance. Now, what in the world does that
mean? Is he saying that a believer can continue in sin? No, he's not saying a believer
can continue in sin. But he is saying this. I want
you to think about this. Listen to me real carefully. Name me
one sin that you quit committing, at least in your heart. Name
one you've got the mastery over. Name me one. If you're honest,
I hope you are. God's people are. If you're honest,
you know that there is not one sin in your heart that you've
stopped. I think of what our Lord said
in Matthew chapter 5. He said, Whosoever looketh on
a woman to lust after her, half committed adultery with her in
his heart. Notice, he didn't say it's as
if he committed adultery, or he came up close. He said he
half committed adultery with her in his heart. Now, what sin
have you stopped? Have you ever quit being proud?
Have you ever quit being self-righteous? Have you ever given up all your
envy? We could go on and on. Now, he's saying, he's being
honest. He said we've sinned and in those sins there's a continuance. You know, I've heard preachers
say, if you're really repentant of your sin, if you're really
sorry for it, you'll stop it. Now, I'm not for stopping sin. Don't
get me wrong. But what sin have you stopped in your heart? There's
a continuance of it. And the prophet is being honest.
That's the way it is. Let's go on reading. He says,
there's continuance and we shall be saved. I've looked up a couple
of other versions. And shall we be saved? With us
like this? Shall we be saved? Can we be
saved? Have you ever thought that? How
can I be saved? How can I be saved when I think
the things I think, when I do the things I do? How can we be
saved? How can I be saved? I've asked
myself that question so many times. Could I be a child of
God and be this way? Can we be saved? Now he begins
one of the most amazing confession of sins. Confession of sin, we
find in all the word of God. I mean, this is unparalleled
as far as a true confession of sin. And if you want to know
what it is to confess your sin before God, listen real carefully. First he says, but we are all
as an unclean thing. Now, something was unclean. If
a person was unclean, that means he couldn't participate in the
worship of God. He was unfit for worship. Remember the leper,
he had to put a rag over his mouth. If anybody came close
to pride, unclean! Stay away from me, unclean. When you're unclean, you understand you're the problem. You don't
need to worry about other people corrupting you. You're the one
that corrupts them. I love what Jack Chase tells
the story of. He said a woman called him when
he was the principal of some kind of Christian school or something
like that. And she said, Brother Jack, Keep
my son out of the wrong crowd." He said, Lady, your son is the
wrong crowd. And that is the case. Your problem is not other people.
It's not them bringing you down. You're the one that did it. You're
unclean. Unclean. Now, look what he says next.
But we are all as an unclean thing, utterly unfit for worship. And all our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. Now, there's no point in trying
to cover up what that means. That means minstrelss rags. Now, what is our righteousness,
our goodness, our prayers, our repentance, our good intentions,
everything, the good stuff about us? God calls them nothing more
than minstrelss rags. They have no more value to God
than a minstrelss rag. You believe that about yourself?
Can you confess your sin like that, where even your righteousnesses
are as filthy rags? That means everything you do
is sin. Everything you do is sin. Even the good stuff is sin.
Doesn't matter what it is. If you do it, it's sin. Next, he says, and we all do
fade. As a leaf, we have complete and
total inability. Now, this leaf that's fallen
off the tree, it dries up, it gets brown. How can it stand
before the wind? It just blows it away. And what
I think that is, is that's talking about our complete inability
to resist temptation. If you're tempted, why even the
fact that you're tempted is for the sin of that. And that's why
we pray, Lord, don't let me be tempted. Don't let me be tempted,
because I know what will happen if I'm tempted. Oh, let me not
be tempted. We're our iniquities like the
wind. We can't stand before them. They carried us away. We can't
stand before temptation. What he says next. And there, verse seven, there's
none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself. to
take hold of thee. What we must do, call upon his
name, stir up ourselves to take hold and lay hold upon him, lay
hold upon eternal life. What we must do, what we're commanded
to do, what we're called on to do, we can't do. That's exactly
what our Lord meant in John chapter 6, verse 44, when he said, no
man can come to me. He likes the ability to come
to me. No man can come to me except the Father which has sent
me. Draw him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. There
is a confession that I can't even do what I'm called on to
do unless he enables me to do it. Now, that's not looking for
an excuse not to do it. Well, I can't do it. I've got
to wait until he helps me. No, my continual cry is, Lord, turn
me. Turn us again, O Lord of hosts, cause thy face to shine
and we'll be saved. But here is the reality of us.
Can't even call on his name. And look what he says in the
latter part of this verse. Thou has consumed us. Thou has
hid thy face from us and has consumed us because of our iniquities. Now notice here, Isaiah is saying
all of this is all our fault. You've consumed us because of
our iniquities. I can't blame God's sovereignty.
I can't try to take comfort in the fact that God's in control
of it. Everything that happens to me is all my fault. Do you know every time you sin,
you weren't coerced into it. You did what you wanted to do. Every time. And he says our iniquities. are all our fault. Now, can you enter into this
confession of sin of the prophet? I kind of thought of Isaiah 53
with the same dialogue. It says, all we like sheep have
gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. And the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all. We are completely responsible
for our sins. Verse 8. But. Somebody once said the definition
of grace is but. I like that. But God. You were this way. You were that
way. You were dead in trespasses and sins. You were going this
direction. You were going that direction. But God, who is rich in mercy,
For his great love, where he loved us even when we were dead
in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ our God." Now, look
at this but. But, O Lord, thou art our Father. Now, is that presumption? I mean,
he just makes this confession about himself. He said, we sin,
and there's a continuing sin, and our righteousness is our
filthy rags, and we all fade like a leaf. Or iniquity is to
tear us away like the wind. He talks about himself. He says,
but thou art our father. Now, how can he make a statement
like that? I mean, doesn't sound like somebody like that is a
child of God when he acts like that and makes that kind of confession.
How can he say, but thou art our father? Well, look in chapter
63, verse 16. He says, doubtless thou art our
father. Though Abraham be ignorant of us, and though Israel acknowledge
us not, thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer. Thy name
is from everlasting." Now, let me give you two reasons why I
know God's my Father. First, because of redemption. All this stuff I'm talking about,
as evil as it is, He's redeemed me. He paid for my sin. It's gone. But that was, He's
my Father. Redemption. And this, notice,
this name that is from everlasting. You see, the reason I can boldly
believe that God is my Father, even though I've described myself,
is because the only name I have is the name which is from everlasting.
I've always been in the Lord Jesus Christ. It blows my mind,
but there was never a time when I wasn't. If the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of the Father, does He say, Father, then I do too. He
said to His disciples, you go to my God and your God, my Father
and your Father. Doubtless, He's my Father through
His redeeming work, through being united to the Lord Jesus Christ. And everybody who knows Him as
Father also knows Him this way. We are the clay. And thou our
potter, and we are all the work of thy hand. Now, if you know
him as father, you also know him as the potter. And you know
you're nothing but clay. And you're completely dependent
upon the potter. Clay in the potter's hand. That's a good place to be, isn't
it? Clay in the potter's hand. Doubtless, doubtless. with our work. Now we. All the stuff I said about myself
is true. But my salvation is his work. That's the only hope I got, is
that my salvation is his work from the beginning to the end.
I don't believe in universal redemption, that Jesus Christ
died for everybody and made salvation possible for everybody, but it's
up to you to do something to make it work. I don't believe
that for a second. There's no gospel in that. No, he's the
potter, I'm the clay. Lord, make me whatever you'd
have me to be. All who seem his father seem
like this. We are all the work of thy hands. Now, he says in verse 9, thy
hand. Before I leave that, Do you believe that if you're
saved, it's God's work only? Do you really believe that? Well, if you're a believer, you
do. You make this plea, the work of thy hands. Now look what he
says in verse 9. Be not wroth, very sore, O Lord, You know, if you love the Lord,
you want Him to be pleased with you. And you can't stand the
thought of Him being displeased with you. And you say, be not
wroth. No, O Lord, be not wroth, very
sore. O Lord, neither remember iniquities
forever. Don't you want the Lord to forget
all your sins? And this is so glorious. He does. He does. The sin you feel guilty about
right now, God doesn't see it if you're a believer, because
it's not there. It's been put away. It was put away a long
time ago. And the reason God doesn't remember it is there's
nothing there for him to remember. It's been put away. But boy,
you cry out, Lord, don't remember my sin. I mean, that's something.
Lord, Lord, don't remember my sin. Don't be rough with me.
Very sore. Behold, as we beseech thee, we
are all thy Now, what does it mean to be God's people? It means
to have God for you. If God be for us, who can be
against us? We are all thy people. I'll be
to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. To be of His
people is to have God as your God. It's to have God as your
Savior. It's to have God as your Guide.
It's to have God as your Lord, your Master, your Husband, your
Best Friend. That's what it is. Beseech thee, we are all thy
people. Verse 10, thy holy cities are a wilderness. Zion is a wilderness. Jerusalem is a desolation. Our
holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praised thee
is burned with fire. And all our pleasant things are
laid waste. Now that's how I see things.
So what do you do? You plead for the Lord to come
in mercy. Wilt thou refrain thyself from
these things, O Lord? Wilt thou hold thy peace and
afflict us very sore? Don't refrain from me. Don't
hold me off. Don't be quiet to me. I can't deal with the silence
of God. I have to have him speak to me.
I have to have him come to me. So when he sees this awful state
that he's describing, he says, Oh, Lord, don't refrain yourself.
Don't don't stay away from me. Lord, come down to me. And isn't
that the way he started this chapter? Oh, that thou wouldest
rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains
might flow down at thy presence. Now there's our need, the presence
of God. And if we have the presence of
God, what else can we ask for? How tedious and tasteless the
hours when Jesus no longer I see. Sweet prospects, sweet birds
and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness to me. The midsummer
sun shines but dim, the fields thrive in vain to look gay, but
when I am happy in Him, December is as pleasant as May. His name
yields the richest perfume and sweeter than music His voice.
His presence disperses my gloom and makes all within me rejoice. I would were He always best,
and I have nothing to wish or to fear. No mortal as happy as
I, my summer would last all the year." Now that's what we want,
His presence. I'll tell you this. Lord knows
if I'm being honest, I hope I'm being honest. If I have his presence,
I don't care if I don't have anything else. I really don't. I mean, put me in a cave, take
away all material possessions, take away all my... If I have
his presence, I've got everything. And if I don't have his presence,
and I have everything else, I have nothing. Let's ask the Lord for his presence.
Let's pray together.