Title: One Who Says, “Restore!”
Text: Isaiah 42: 22
Date: December 11, 2011
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Isaiah 42: 22: But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.
What a sad state of affairs! Sinners are the victims of our own robbery and spoiling. Snared in the holes of our own making. Hidden in the prison houses of which we made the bars and locks and threw away the key. The prey of our own ravenous, deceitful hearts.
Amongst the fallen sons of men there is none to deliver. All lament the mess we are in, trying come up with solutions to restore—but it is all more robbery and spoiling and preying upon sinful man’s own abject poverty—(good for one group in this life is usually at the expense of another) and none saith, “Restore.”
Proposition: I am here this morning to tell you about one who says, “Restore!” Christ Jesus, who is himself the the full Restoration and Restitution to Almighty God! The one who speaks “Restoration” into the heart and saves each of his children from our poverty-sin-stricken state into the equal and all-good full Restoration and Restitution of God’s grace!
I. THE GRACE AND MERCY OF GOD IS TOWARD THE ROBBED AND SPOILED.
God demands by his own law the restoration and restitution for those who are the victims of robbery.
Ex 22:1: If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. 3: If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. 4: If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double….7: If a man shall deliver unto his neighbour money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man’s house; if the thief be found, let him pay double…
God provided restoration for those fallen into utter poverty and for those who help those in utter poverty.
In the jubilee year—on the day of atonement—the silver trumpets were blown throughout the land and the whole land was to rest. Every man who had lost his inheritance had it restored to him free and clear. All debts cancelled. Every prodigal son went home to his father’s house to rejoice with his family. All work ceased and God promised to provide increase in the fields
And those poor who were helped were either redeemed by a near kinsmen or they were restored in the jubilee. The lender was even restored. He was either restored by the near kinsmen or able to use the possessions until the day of jubilee then returned all to the poor freely. God promised to provide for both the poor and the one who helped. This meant good for the poor as well as for the one who helped him in his poverty. God only required they believe him and not oppress one another—neither rob nor take interest of the poor. Only restoration. God would provide for all. (Read Lev 25 at your leisure.) This is all a picture of Christ in whom atonement is made and the believer restored freely to God.
Leviticus 25: 11: A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. 12: For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. 13 In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession….17: Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the LORD your God….20: And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase: 21 Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.
Leviticus 26: 4: Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5: And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. 6: And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.
What a complete and total provision promised of God!
II. SO HOW DID THINGS FALL INTO THE SAD STATE OF OUR TEXT?
Isaiah 42: 22: But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.
None believed God. Instead of restoring, they oppressed and exacted of one another. Oh, they went through a form of religion and pretended to believe and obey God and set the poor free…
Jeremiah 34:11: But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids
Doing so they robbed God of his glory. God turned them over to captivity.
This is the sad condition of fallen humanity---none saith “Restore!”
In our nation in our day...poor sinners are without jobs—you cannot work. Your creditors exact payment with interest. Yet you have nothing with which to pay. Instead you are taxed and oppressed more. Religion is the worst of all. We hear great swelling words of “restoring” but only to benefit some at the expense of another—none saith “restore”. And IT IS GOD WE HAVE ROBBED AND SPOILED AND IN DOING SO WE ROBBED AND SPOILED OURSELVES AND WE ROB AND SPOIL OUR OWN PEOPLE.
Isaiah 58: 6: Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Isaiah 42: 22: But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.
But God says to his child of grace:
Jeremiah 30:17: For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.
III. ONE WHO SAYS, “RESTORE”. GRACE TO THE ROBBED AND SPOILED IS IN HIS SON CHRIST JESUS. HE IS THE ONE WHO SAYS, “RESTORE!”
Psalm 69: 4: They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.
TO GOD
Christ is the restorer and the double restitution. He took the place of his people and as the one who robbed God.
We See Our Oppressiveness
Here is Christ the Great Lawgiver himself. Here is Christ the Judge of heaven and earth. Here we are guilty dead sinners in need of him to make full restitution to God on our behalf. We found no fault in him.
Yet, we dragged the Prince of life into our so-called court of justice. Our justice—our oppression, our exacting courts found nothing in him worthy of death yet we exacted of him the payment of a felon.
We meant if for evil, but God meant it for good. If he would save his people from our sins—himself he could not save. The Surety had striken hands and he must surely pay the debts. His bed must be taken from under him (Pr 22: 26-27.) In suffering the punishment due for our robbery, he paid to God his own blood, the full restoration demanded of God. And get this, he restored his elect who did the robbing.
· Perfect fidelity
· Perfect service
· Perfect love to God and his brethren
· Perfect satisfaction to the laws demands
· He restored that which he took not away
· It is finished!
But He is more! Christ Jesus the beloved Son of God IS the DOUBLE RESTITUTION above and beyond that which was taken away. God is delighted IN HIS SON!
Isaiah 40: 2: Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.
In the Heart of His Child
And Christ is the Restoration in the heart of his child—Christ formed in you—is the hope of the new life created in his children in the new birth.
Picture: Joseph was in charge of all the storehouses in Egypt. When his poor brethren came, Joseph filled them and sent them back to their father. Genesis 42:25: Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man’s money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus did he unto them.
How Would It Fill Your Soul With Joy Unspeakable to Know that All Your Debt is Paid. You are not hearing this message by accident. You are not brought to the end of yourself by accident. God is sovereign in salvation. All the burden you are under right now: loss of a job, financial debt, family troubles. Worse--all the debt you know you owe to God. You keep trying to make God’s sovereign salvation bend and come into reconciliation with some experience of your own yet you know you have no peace. You are seeking peace where there is none.
God is able by his sovereign hand over all things to put his elect child under every possible burden to make us to see it is his gracious hand bringing us to hear him—Christ is the only place the peace of full restoration is found. Do you hear the silver trumpet blowing this morning? Of all the other trumpets blown in the land, none sounded like this jubilee trumpet. It is clear and unmistakably the trumpet of liberty!
V. WHEN CHRIST SPEAK ‘RESTORE’ INTO THE NEW HEART HE MAKES HIS CHILD A RESTORER!
Toward God
Sinners give nothing to God but what God has already given freely by his grace: that is his Son, the Lamb of God’s satisfaction.
Picture: Example of the believer coming to God--Jacob and his sons feared when Joseph filled them and they sent back what Joseph had given them along with the son he demanded they bring. Genesis 43:12 And take double money in your hand; and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand; peradventure it was an oversight:…15: And the men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.
Through faith the believer bows before God with only Christ—and he is the full restoration and double requirement God demands. It is called believing God, faith in his Son!
Picture: All is restored for the sake of another--King David to Mephibosheth: 2 Samuel 9:7: And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.
This Grace Makes The Forgiven Believer a Restorer Toward Those Truly Poor and Bankrupt in Sin—(Gal 6: 1). In the year of jubilee the children of Israel were required by law but they would not. But in the gospel jubilee sinners are made partakers of the divine nature—the love of God—Christ himself abides in us. His love for us makes us love those begotten of him and show mercy toward those who are yet, robbed and plundered in sin. Christ speaks in the heart:
Galatians 6: 1: Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. 2: Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Brethen, we have experienced by the personal revelation of God, something of the abject poverty we are ourselves, something of his great Restoration. So we understand something of how wide this word “overtaken in a fault is”.
We committed all the crimes robbing God—yet Christ restored God and us. If your brother is overtaken in a crime—restore him.
We sold ourselves for nothing—our near kinsmen paid our Creditor and restored us with all. If your poor brother has sold himself—restore him. How?
Numbers 35:25 …restore him to the city of his refuge
Restore to Christ the Restorer! Not by yoking men but putting their sin behind us and running to Christ! Not by uncovering their sin but Restore with Christ the Restorer!
Parable in Matthew 18--a forgiven servant who took his fellow servant by the throat demanding payment: destitute of grace and forgiveness which he had experienced from his master.
How different was Zaccheus! At the Word of the Restorer--he came down to the feet of the Master and by only the constraint of grace.
Luke 19:8: And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
Sovereign saving love makes men restorers! Not of our left-over’s—but with double restoration—shaken down and spilling over—Christ Jesus and all God has given us. He is the union of our hearts.
“When we have been taught in the Word we truly begin communicating TO HIM that teacheth in all good things.” To Christ our Restorer who teaches us in the heart. “As much as ye do it to the least of my brethren ye do it to me”. His brethren whom he has provided us his gospel have feet as precious to us as Christ’s own. We provide for each other, for the sake of another.
Ephesians 4:32: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
1. Application: Believer, as poorly as your attempts are at trying to obey your Restorer, as faulty as you are in restoring your brethren, though all the enemies of your own flesh and the Pharisees round about accuse you, God doesn’t. Your works are perfect before God in Christ. Lord, teach us that about each of our brethren.
2. Application: Most of our sinful faults (our plain out acting ugly and thinking we can stand on our own) is due to the vanity of wanting somebody to recognize us. Brethren, don’t let that be our concern, this is where our peace and strength to continue is:
Hebrews 6: 10: For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
Galatians 6: 9: And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Hosea 10: 12: Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.
But what shall we eat if we rest from all our working to earn a righteousness? God says “Rest in my Son, I will make the ground fruitful. Ye shall dwell in safety and be filled with plenty.”
“I God spared not his only Son shall he not with him freely give us all things.”
“Contentment with godliness is great gain”—contentment in Christ our Righteousness with the God-created reverence that he has restored us to God and is working in our midst to provide all our need is truly great gain.
When all our wants become Christ our Righteousness we become content with his provision of our needs. Thus He makes a fruit bearing field called a believer.
Instead of wringing our hands, we have the assurance that however lean our times may be “our times are in his hands.” So that he uses us to speak his grace by which he Restores!
3. One last word: Do you hear him this morning? If he is speaking Restoration into your heart, I have one last word that will send you home dancing: Christ is the heavens right now—but there is coming a day called “the restitution of all things.” (Ac 3:21)
1 Corinthians 15:52: In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
With that trumpet our eternal jubilee will truly begin. Every restored child of God shall begin to enjoy the eternal bliss of: restoration such as eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and the heart of man has never conceived! Atonement in the fullest! Forgiveness in its greatest magnificence! Perfection of Liberty and Rest and Bounty beyond imagination! Brotherly love in unfailing perfection! All because there is one who says, “Restore!”
Amen!