uh, Loretta's not feeling well
today, so remember her. Uh, also, uh, Denise Assin-Felter's
family. Teresa's gonna have her operation
next week. That's on Thursday. Thursday next week, remember
her in your prayer. She's got a word on, uh, Miss Layla Pheasant,
who's a gunshot victim, and, uh, they don't know the outcome
of that, so remember her and her family. That's Layla Pheasant.
Uh, alright, next Sunday, we'll have the Lord's Table, and we're
also planning to have a baptism. We're gonna have it all in one
day. Lindsay C. has asked to confess
the Lord in baptism and that will depend on how the river
looks because they're talking about rain all week long next
week so that may change whether or not we have a baptism next
week but right now we're scheduled and we're planning to have a
baptism next week over across the creek and so that'll be and
they will preserve both two of the Lord's ordinances of baptism
and the Lord's table and also the third ordinance which is
the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we're
thankful, very thankful for that and thankful that the Lord has
brought another one of his sheep into the fold and she wants to
confess it in public baptism. Let's remember these folks in
your prayers also. Hymn number 268, How Firm a Foundation,
Ye Saints of the Lord. How firm a foundation, ye saints of the
Lord, in his excellent word. What more can he say than to
you he has said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled? Fear not, I am with thee, O be
not dismayed. I am thy God, I will still give
thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand. Upheld by my gracious, omnipotent
hand. ? When through the deep waters
I cause thee to go ? ? The rivers of hope shall not thee overflow
? ? For I will be with thee thy troubles be blessed and sanctified
too ? ? Be thy deepest distress ? When through fiery trials ?
Thy pathway shall lie ? My grace, all submission ? Shall be thy
supply ? The flame shall not hurt thee ? I only desire to consume and thy gold to refine. The soul that of Jesus has leaned
for repose, I will not, I will not desert. After scripture reading and prayer,
we'll sing hymn number 475. Also, thankfully, Ed's feeling
better. He had the COVID last week, which ain't no party, is
it? Ain't no party. So we're thankful
he's feeling better. If you have your Bibles, turn
to the prophet Isaiah, chapter 57. Been looking at much of the chapter,
but I want to read one verse of scripture. As I text for this
morning, Isaiah chapter 57 and verse 18, Lord speaking to the
nation Israel, I have seen His ways and will heal Him. I will lead Him also and restore
comforts unto Him and to His mourners. Let's pray. We bless you and thank you for
great grace for ruined and wretched sinners who are without hope
and without help in this world. We know, Father, that from the
beginning, before the foundation of the world, you chose out of
a fallen race which did not yet exist, an innumerable company
of people, sinners all, to be saved by your grace. through
the redemption that was accomplished by Jesus Christ on Calvary's
tree. We are thankful, Father, that
you have counted us in that number. We are thankful that you left
nothing of salvation to us, but you finished the work before
we ever knew about it, before we ever heard of it. And then
we're thankful you sent someone along to stand up and tell us
what you had done for your people. and give us faith to believe
the record of Jesus Christ and his substitutionary, propitiatory
work on Calvary's tree. We know, Father, we don't deserve
anything except hell, but you have given us all things in Jesus
Christ. The earth is ours, fullness thereof,
the stars in the sky, the heavens are ours, and we are Christ's
and Christ's gods. While we pray for those who are
sick, going through trials, pray for the Assenfelter family that
lost this loved one. We pray for this young pheasant
lady who's been shot. We ask, Lord, you'd be with her
and her family. For the others who requested
prayer, we ask, Lord, your help for them. For those who are going
through torment, those who are waiting operations, we ask, Lord,
you prepare the physicians. to pray for her sister Loretta
and Arlene with her eye trouble. Also, Teresa, she's awaiting
this operation. We ask Lord this day, if you
might be pleased, Father, for we know you always do your pleasure,
you might be pleased to meet with us in the presence of your
Spirit, to take the things of Christ and reveal them unto us,
to show us our Savior once again, and the beauty of his victory
over sin. We thank you, Father. Help us
now to worship. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Hymn number 475. Redeem, now
I love to proclaim it. Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb. Redeemed through His infinite
mercy. His child and forever I am. Redeemed. Redeemed. Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb. His child and forever I am. Redeemed and so happy in Jesus,
no language my rapture can take. I know that the light of his
presence with me doth continually dwell. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, His child and forever I am. I think of my blessed Redeemer. I think of Him all the day long. I sing for I cannot be silent. His love is the theme of my song. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, His child
and forever I am. I know I shall see in His The
King in whose law I delight, who lovingly guardeth my footsteps
and giveth me songs in the night. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. His child and forever I am. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we are
thankful for the opportunity to return unto Thee that which
You've given us. I'm very thankful for the privilege that is ours.
We have seen it through your wondrous, sovereign ways. To
use this means of your children returning unto you these gifts,
the preaching of the gospel here and in other places. We pray
for every man who stands today to proclaim the glories of your
grace. Pray you'd lift up his arms, give him strength, give
him a voice, cause him to be heard, Help us, Lord, as we endeavor
to preach the gospel, to set forth the things of Christ, to
do so with joy in our hearts and thanksgiving. And as we return
unto thee these gifts, let us do so with the same joy that
we know that you have given us all in the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to worship you. We pray
in Christ's name. you you brought your attention back to
Isaiah, the 57th chapter. We've seen in our studies of
Isaiah, and now we're studying Jeremiah, also our studies through
the Old Testament in Numbers and Deuteronomy, Judges, that idolatry was a rampant and
continuous problem among the Israelites. They came out of
Exodus with statues of the Egyptian gods in their pockets. They carried
along Baha along with the Ark of the Covenant. They practiced
idolatry all throughout their life. So Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos,
Ezekiel, These men who prophesied in these times prophesied against
the idolatry that was practiced in Israel. This passage here
is about that idolatry. It's about what's going on in
Israel at the time. It's also a picture of the free
sovereign grace of God. The people of God are in the
midst of a world of idolatry. those who are righteous and holy
before god are diminished in numbers it says in verse one
the righteous perisheth no man lays it to heart merciful men
are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away
from the evil that is to come that is a blessing to the righteous
for they are removed before babylon comes and the chaldeans come
to destroy and desolate this nation. There was a young king who took the throne at nine years
old and served for thirty years or so. The Lord showed him what
he was going to do to Israel because of the idolatry. His
name was Josiah. And Josiah was delivered a book
that was all dust covered from the temple, and he read it and
saw what God was going to do, and he wept and cried unto God.
He established the greatest Passover that had ever been in Israel,
even to this day. And God said, Don't worry about
it. I'm going to take you home so you won't have to see it. That's what it's saying in this
passage of scripture, the righteous are removed so they won't see
the evil day. Those who are righteous and holy
before God are diminished in number because God is taking
them home to glory and seemingly raising up no other to take their
place and no one seems to know that that day is ending and the
labors are going home from the field. Donny Bell and I were
talking the other day on the phone We're talking about the
dearth of young preachers. There aren't that many out there,
young sovereign grace preachers out there preaching the gospel.
I know a few, a handful maybe. Used to be a lot of us. Most
of us now have gray hoary hairs upon our heads and our strength
is diminishing. We still have the message, but
we don't have much strength in our bodies anymore. And there
don't seem to be replacements showing up for us. Benjamin Keech
wrote a book on that at the ending of the day. What is the ending
of the day? He said, one of the ways we know
that a day is ending is that the laborers are called home
from the fields. I don't know when the Lord's
coming back. I know it's imminent. It could happen any time. But I know it's closer than it's
ever been before. Our Lord, in verses 3 through
12, in this passage, describes the idolatry under whose spell
many of the people have fallen. Many have believed the lie and
begun to accept false worship and whoredoms of the nations
around them. It says in verse 3, it says,
But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorcerers, the seed of
the adulterer and the whore. Against whom do you sport yourselves? Against whom make ye a wide mouth
and draw out the tongue? Are you not children of transgression,
a seed of falsehood? Inflaming yourselves with idols
under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys,
under the cliffs and rocks, among the smooth stones of the streams
thy portion, they are thy lot. Even to them thou hast poured
drink offerings, and thou hast offered a meat offering. Should
I receive comfort of thee? Upon a lofty and high mountain
hast thou set thy bed, even thither winnest thou up to sacrifice.
Behold, the doors also, the posts, have thou set up thy remembrance.
For thou hast discovered thyself to another than me, and are gone
up. Thou hast enlarged thy bed and
made thee a covenant with them. Thou lovest their bed where thou
sawest it. And thou wentest to the king
with ointment, did increase thy perfumes, did send thy messengers
far off, and didst debase thyself even unto hell. Thou art wearied in the greatness
of thy way. Yea, saidst thou, there is no
hope. Thou hast found the life of thine
hand, therefore thou wast not grieved. And of whom hast thou
been afraid, or feared, that thou hast lied, hast not remembered
me, nor laid it to heart? Have not I held my peace, even
of old, and thou fearst me not? Many have believed the lie, and
begun to accept false worships. They have ceased to mourn over
sin, and become comfortable with the ways of idolatry and sorcery.
They will, it seems, worship anything and everything. It even
says they offer up sacrifices to smooth river stones. If a
rock is smooth in the river, they worship that rock. That's
pretty sad, isn't it? Those rocks are slippery places.
They risk and tempt fate. And they've become a thing to
make offerings to, drink offerings and meat offerings. Offerings,
those offerings designed to show praise and thanksgiving for the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ are made to strange gods, even
rocks. They're sleeping with the enemy
and found themselves to be comfortable there. They look to the work
of their hands and salvation and cease to look to God alone
as their only hope. They say there's no hope. God
has been long-suffering, as He is. Long-suffering. He tells them that they don't
fear Him. In verse 13, God says that when
trouble comes and sorrow attends their existence, they cry out
for Him that He will leave it to their stumps and stones that
they've worshipped and the company they've kept to deliver them.
When thou criest, He says, Let thy companies deliver thee. But
the wind shall carry them all away. Vanity shall take them.
But he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land
and shall inherit my holy mountain. In truth, their idolatry is that
they have set themselves up as judges concerning what they will
allow themselves to be comfortable with. That's pretty much how
religion is today. They've invented a God that makes
them comfortable. The problem is our problem and
his name is self-righteousness. It's what we all have and we
all fight. Deb and I were talking about
the other day and I said, I've said many times and I'll say
it again, I'm a legalist in recovery. There's still a lot of it in
me. I can still see people do things
that I do and think they ought not be doing them. That's self-righteousness. God
says that he will disclose their righteousness and their works
and reveal them to be absolutely of no value and so little substance
that a breeze will carry them away so the wind will carry away
your doctrine. This he does in chapter 58 as
he calls upon his people to cry aloud and spare not for his prophet
Cry aloud and spare not, tell the people their sin. Their sin
is religious self-righteousness. Look at chapter 58, cry aloud.
Spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show thy
people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
You'd think that he's going to list a bunch of things like adultery,
idolatry, homosexuality, abortion, all those things that people
fight about today. You'd think that's what he's
going to do. What does he say is their sin? Yet they seek me
daily. Oh, they're worshipers. They're
religious. They delight to know my ways.
They talk about God and how He does things. There's a nation
that did righteousness. They forsook not the ordinance
of the Lord. They keep all the laws and the regulations and
the ceremonies. They ask of me the ordinance
of justice. They want God to punish sinners. They're just
not among that group. They take delight in approaching
me. They make much prayer, long prayer, in public places, as
it says in Matthew 23. They call this a fast, a sacrifice
unto the Lord. Wherefore have we fasted, say
they, and thou seest not? Have we done all these religious
things, God? We've come to church, we've given,
we've read our Bible, we've prayed. Why aren't you doing something
for us? Why are we getting something in return for what we do? Wherefore
have we fasted, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted
our soul? Thou hast taken no knowledge. They didn't really afflict their
soul, they afflicted their bodies with so-called self-denial. Behold, in the day of your fast,
God says, you seem to enjoy that. And if you've ever been hungry
and thirsty, You'll know there is no pleasure in that. There's
no way you can make it a pleasurable experience. You can't do it. If you're hungry and thirsty,
you want to eat. They said you fast, you do these
things, and they seem to please you. You seem to find pleasure
in them. You exact all your labors. In
other words, not only do you do these things, you make sure
that everybody else knows you do these things, and you make
sure they do these things too. He holds your fast for strife
and debate. He smite with the fist of wickedness.
You shall not fast as you do this day to make your voice to
be heard on high. God says it's not a fast that
he accepts. He accepts. In the latter part
of our text in verse 13, our Lord sets forth the difference
between the faith of the idolater and true faith. He said, When
thou cryest, let thy capital accompanies deliver thee. But
the wind shall carry them all away. Vanity shall take them. But he that putteth his trust
in me shall possess the land and shall inherit the land. God draws to faith to a single
and glorious thing. Not him that works, but rather
him that believes will inherit the promise, him that trusts
God. He then calls upon his prophet
to clear the pathway of all things and hinder the believer He says,
cast up the rock, cast away, cast away, prepare you the way
in verse 14. Take up the stumbling block out
of the way of the people. Take up the stumbling block,
clear the path. That's a picture of going to
the city of refuge. There were priests that had to
maintain the road to the city of refuge. Priests were assigned
that duty. They had to keep signs up that
said city of refuge. They had to go along the path
and make sure there weren't any stones or stumps and clear the path
so people could make The Lord said to His prophets, clear the
path. What do we do when we preach the gospel? We do that. We clear
the path. We don't add any obstacles. We
don't add any stumbling blocks. We don't say, you have to do
this, you have to do that, you must be this, you must be that.
We say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust Him. Trust His
merit. Come to Christ. Nothing should hinder you. So
what about predestination? Make sure you come. What about
election? It assures that you'll get here.
Don't keep anybody out. Make sure that some people come.
Clear the path. He says that's the prophet. Clear
the path. Clear out the stumbling blocks. The gospel, the way of
the Lord is seen in opposition to the way of religion. If you
have your time, read chapter 58, verses 5 through 12, you'll
find that God says, that's not a feast that I've ordained this
fast that you're doing. That's not what I've done. The
one I've ordained is to let people go, to set the prisoner free,
to take off the shackles, to feed the hungry, to clothe the
naked. That's my fast. That's the fast
I've seen. The gospel declares the salvation
of the Lord is a delightful thing. It's a wonderful thing. The willingness
of the people to tolerate and even accept the way of the idolater
has brought about the chastisement of the Lord, but thanks be unto
God that He will not put upon His people more than He has equipped
them to bear." I know people say, God has not put on you more
than you can bear. Really, He's not put on you more
than He can bear. That's the case. He's made a
way of escape. And the way of escape is faith,
trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. over in 1 Corinthians 10, 13
when he says he's made a way of escape. He's not talking about
getting out of the troubles. People think, well, you'll escape.
No, he's made a way of escape. And at the end of the troubles,
when the troubles have made their perfect end, then you'll find
a way of escape. You understand that out there,
it's going to be better. so you can bear what's going
on here. That's what he said. You made
a way of escape that you may bear up under the troubles. The
willingness of the people to tolerate and accept the way of
idolatry has been troubled. The way of escape is found in
our text in verse 18. This is how escape really takes
place. God says, I have seen his ways. He just described the ways of
them in idolatry. I have seen his ways and will
heal him. I have seen his ways and will
heal him. This is the Lord's method of
grace. This is the declaration of sovereign grace and absolute
grace. I have seen his ways. The first
thing our Lord does is set things in their proper order. Grace
and mercy are for sinners. I have seen his ways. Having
described their penchant for going astray, their ease with
that which is false, their tolerance and acceptance of the gross idolatry
of the day, he does not pretend that they are not what they are.
He said, I've seen what you've done. I've seen your ways. When I read these words, I thought
of the words that Maurice Montgomery's dad said to Maurice when Maurice
left to go off to the Air Force. His dad, what a sweet old fella
he was. A dear old fellow he was, a strong
believer. A man of few words, however.
He built tobacco barns for a living. His hands were like hands. He was a little man, but his
hands were huge from hanging on those tobacco barns. Have
you ever been up in Kentucky and those tobacco barns were straight
up, way up tall? He'd hang from rafters and build
those barns. He looked at his son, eyeball
to eyeball. Well, he had to look up. Maurice
was about 6'4". But he looked him in the eye
and he said, son, remember, God goes everywhere. God goes everywhere. Maurice said that those words
stuck with him throughout his stint in service. And as he preached
and pastored a church that God had given him, he always remembered
the words of his dad. God goes everywhere. God says,
as he looked at the idolaters, he thought they were doing these
things and nobody was paying attention. God said, I have seen
your ways. What a statement. Where you are
and where I am. These words do not have an immediate
and uncomfortable effect on us. There's something wrong with
us. For God to look at me and say, Tim James, I've seen your
ways. Oh my. Oh my, surely judgment comes
next. He does not say I've seen your
works or your doings or your deeds,
though clearly from the context he has because he sets them forth. He's seen what makes us do what
we do. our hearts, our motivation, our affection, our will, and
our wants are clear as glass before Almighty God. One of the
meanings of the word ways is bent. I've seen your bent. The direction of your motivation
in your life, I've seen it. I've seen what you want, what
you desire, seen what's in your heart. In short, God has seen
the inside. That desperately wicked heart
that is naturally far from God, though with our lips we draw
near. It would seem only fitting that
the very next words out of the Lord's mouth after saying, I
have seen your way, would be words of judgment and wrath. That seems very fitting. But
that's not what happens. What can we expect from the all-knowing,
all-seeing, all-powerful God, holy God, when he declares that
he's seen our ways? No person in his right mind would
want even those he loves to see his ways, much less the holy
God. One fellow says, we have four people that see us. Our neighbors see us. They have
an opinion. Our loved ones see us. They have
an opinion. We see ourselves and we have
an opinion. And then God sees us. He doesn't
have an opinion. He has the truth. He has the
truth. What must be the end of those
whose ways are seen by the inflexibly holy God? Clearly, if anything
that follows is something other than eternal wrath, it must be
by pure grace. because he has seen our ways. The song of Solomon says his
lips are like lilies dropping sweet smelling myrrh judgments
you see according to him is his strange work he delights in mercy
how merciful is God toward his elect look at how he describes
their bent toward idolatry he comes to them not as judge execute
a sentence. He did that in Jesus Christ on
Calvary's tree. He comes as the great physician. I will heal them. Abuse their sin as a disease.
I marvel at that all the way through scripture. Every healing
our Lord did of a physical ailment represented some aspect of the
disease The incurable disease of sin. It's so incurable that
the sinner must die. It's a terminal ailment. Our sin. Our sin is a disease. Thank God He sees it that way.
said in another place to a group of self-righteous religions he
says the whole need not a position but them that are sick and have
not come to call the righteous but bring sinners to repentance
now I've seen his ways what you can do I'm gonna heal him I'm
gonna heal him note that it is not the sinner
who sees his ways and it is not the sinner who heals himself
God Almighty in sovereign grace. This is not a prescription for
healing. This is emergency medical intervention. This is trauma. This must be healed. This is not a course of treatment.
This is utter and complete recovery. God says I will heal him. I will. I've seen his ways. I
will heal him. Idolatry cannot be treated. It
must be eradicated. Sickness is never viewed in wrath
in scripture. We do not wish the sick to be
punished unless we are consummately evil ourselves I remember once
hearing one of the big-time TV preachers saying of the homosexuals
that they had contracted AIDS that they were reaping the wages
of their sin. True or not, the fellow seemed
to relish the fact as if to say that he had no sin that was worthy
of punishment. I've often heard preachers, in
an effort to get advantage over people, blame their sickness
and sorrow or calamity on the premise that they were sick because
they were not right with God. Unless you are self-righteously
indignant, sickness will not bring about thoughts of vengeance
or punishment. I have dear friends who are sick
going through trials. tribulations when they're sick,
I don't get mad at them. When I'm angry with them, I feel sorry for them. I pity them. I pity them. Great is the mercy of God. God sees our ways and says, I
will heal him. I will heal him. This is soul
healing performed by the sovereign physician wrought by himself
when he took our sin upon himself on Calvary's tree, healed us
by our substitute. He has borne our sins, carried
our sorrows with his stripes. We are healed. are he and this is a term ABC
at this way at this way their soul be sick here whether he
says I'll lead what a thing lead when Isaiah chapter 42 verse
16 He says, I will bring the blind
by the way that they knew not. I will lead them in paths that
they have not known. I will make darkness light before
them and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them
and not forsake them. And not forsake them. I will
lead them. God leads us. lead us into green
pastures and beside still waters and restore our soul. He leads
us into all truth and guides us into all truth, takes the
things of Christ and teaches us. He reveals to us that there
is a balm in Gilead and there is a physician there. Oh, we
don't. When we're found out, we're not
caring. We're happy in our idolatry. We're at ease in Zion. We're
not troubled by our sin. We don't even know it is sin
until God cuts the light on in our heart and we see what we
really are. And in comes the wondrous and
glorious news. I see your ways. I know what
you are, Malcolm. I'm going to heal you. Think
about it. Dwell on that. Then in the final
healing he restores comfort. The balm in Gilead. The physician there. Remember
old Simeon. Waiting for the consolation of
Israel. Perfect consoling in Jesus Christ. This is sovereign and free grace.
You can't read it any other way. The only thing about man is his
ways. The only thing about God is his
grace. I see his ways. I'll heal him. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name.