Series:
Isaiah
Title:
Three Assurances of Redemption
Text:
Isaiah 52: 3-6
Date:
June 22, 2013
Place:
SGBC, New Jersey
Oftentimes,
as you sojourn through this world, as a child of God, you have doubts and fears
about being finally redeemed out of this world into the glorious liberty of the
sons of God. We don’t want to have
doubts. We know that you have no reason to. We abhor the fact that it is our
own unbelief causing you to do so. Yet,
we do nonetheless.
So God charges me, as your pastor, to do for you what he charged Isaiah to do
for his people in his day, what he has charged his ministers to do in every
age,
Isaiah 40: 1: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 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.
So
today I want to give you: Three
Assurances of Redemption.
Our
text is found in Isaiah 52: 1-6. I will
give you our divisions as we read the text.
Divisions:
1) Our first assurance is God’s promise—v3:
For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed
without money. 2) Our second assurance is past deliverances—4: For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people
went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed
them without cause. Yet God delivered them as he promised. 3) Our third assurance is God’s glory—v5: Now therefore, what have I here, saith
the LORD, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them
make them to howl, saith the LORD; and
my name continually every day is blasphemed.
6: Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in
that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I.
Proposition: So I want you who
believe to be assured that by God’s word, by his manifest ability and power,
and for the sake of his own glory all who trust him shall be redeemed into the
glorious liberty of the sons of God.
I. OUR FIRST ASSURANCE THAT GOD SHALL REDEEM HIS
PEOPLE OUT OF THIS WORLD IS GOD’S WORD—V3: For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold
yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.
Ye Have Sold Yourselves for Nought
As we
have seen throughout the Old Testament scriptures, if a man sunk himself into
debt, and was too poor to pay off his debts, he could sell himself to his
creditors. Then he became a bondman to
his creditors for a certain term of years. This is what the LORD says of Judah
and Jerusalem—Ye have sold yourselves.
There
was no one else to blame. Their captivity was the fruit of their own rebellion.
They sold themselves into the hands of their enemies, the Babylonians, by their
own rebellion against God.
Even
worse, they sold themselves for nought, for nothing. Abject slavery was the
only compensation they received for their sin against God.
Let’s
learn from this. This is a picture of the slavery of sin and death which all
men, God’s elect included, sold ourselves into.
“Ye were the servants of sin,…servants to uncleanness and
to iniquity unto iniquity;” (Rom 6: 17, 19, 23.)
There
is no one to blame but us—we sold ourselves. God is not to blame.
James 1: 13: Let no man say when he is tempted, I am
tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any
man: 14: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and
enticed.
We were
by nature like Ahab, “he did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of
the Lord;” (I Kings 21: 25) So did we. In
Ahab’s day, the vainly religious men and women were so sincere and so certain they
were pleasing God by their self-denying works that they even “caused their sons
and their daughters to pass through the fire” (2 Kings 17: 17) But God says of
it all, they “sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke
him to anger.”
Application:
Religion without Christ formed in the heart—without being made a new
creature—is nothing but men selling themselves to do evil in the sight of the
LORD and it provokes him to anger. Paul
said, “The law is spiritual, but I am carnal, SOLD under sin.” (Rom 7: 14) Sinner, hear what the law says—ye have sold
yourself—you are a sell-out to sin and Satan—in bondage, captivity to him. You have
no ability to come to God by your law-keeping. You need Christ the Kinsmen
Redeemer!
And we
sold ourselves for NOUGHT! Look at the
things that entice us to sin. Satan does not have to show us all the “the
kingdoms of the world and their glory” like he did our Savior. Esau sold his birthright for bowl of soup. We
don’t have to have golden carrots dangled before our eyes to sin, we sell
ourselves for nothing.
Sin
pays us nothing in return. How many times have you sinned, thinking it the
means to some great gain? But what was the return: bitterness, sorrow, pain,
suffering and the end death:
“When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and
sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (James 1: 15)
Wherever
you find SIN you find the payment for sin…DEATH!
Romans 5:12: Wherefore, as by one man SIN entered into
the world, and DEATH BY SIN;
And so
death passed upon all men.
Psalm 51:5: Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin
did my mother conceive me.
For
that all have sinned.
Psalm 58:3: The wicked are estranged from the womb: they
go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
And we
cannot deliver ourselves out of this slavery because we have nothing with which
to pay the ransom, which is eternal death.
Job 14:4: Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
not one.
Job 15:14: What is man, that he should be clean? and he
which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
Jeremiah 13:23: Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the
leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
So you
see, “by one man’s offence DEATH REIGNED by one;” (Romans 5: 17) So God says of
us, “Ye have sold yourselves for
nought.”
Application:
Let me ask each one here this question, “Are you in bondage to sin, unable to free
yourself?” If you answer NO then I have no good news for you—you have to be in
bondage for this to be good news. Believer, “Do you desire to be finally
redeemed from this body of sin and death to be with the Lord in glory?—not just
to be saved from hell—but to truly be with Holy God in his holy hill?” I have a great word of comfort for God’s
people, for those who cannot save themselves. God says,
And Ye Shall be Redeemed without Money
Child
of God, first, just take in this great word of comfort—“ye SHALL be
redeemed!” Whatever God says shall be,
shall be. “Ye shall be redeemed!”
Without Money
When a
foreign country holds captive exiles, they usually demand a ransom price be
paid for the release of those captives. God’s children were in bondage to the
prince of the power of the air—the devil.
But as Cyrus came and paid nothing to the king of Babylon when he
redeemed Judah from slavery, so Christ paid nothing to the devil, except
crushing his head which the devil earned by his own rebellion against God. God
promised Satan in the garden, that Christ the Promised Seed, “shall bruise thy
head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Gen 3: 15)
But
there is another even greater blessed truth contained in this good news of being
redeemed without money. God’s child pays nothing to be redeemed. The spiritual and eternal redemption from
sin, Satan, and the law; as well as the believer’s future redemption from the
world, death, and hell, is obtained for God’s people without his people paying
anything.
Romans 3:24: Being justified freely by his grace…
Justified—cleared
of all sin past, present, and future so that God remembers our sins no more.
And this justification is “freely by his grace.” God chooses whom he will not
based on any good or evil in us but “freely by his grace—freely by his
unmerited favor! And God redeemed those he chose “freely by his grace.” By
grace are ye saved!
But
there WAS a price which had to be paid! In
order for God to give his people free justification, payment had to be made to
his justice. His law had to be established in order for God to remain
just. But if WE do not make this payment
then who did?
God’s Own Son Paid it All
Romans 3: 24: Being justified freely by his grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
The
redemption price—the ransom—was death—Christ paid with his own blood unto
death. Redemption was accomplished when the ransom price was paid in full by
Christ Jesus. It is finished!
Hebrews 9:12: Neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us.
Let me
pause a moment. I sometimes get accused of not focusing on things that will
make sinners stop sinning. I want for
you, child of God, to try to enter into this great and glorious act of holy
justice in harmony with free grace. God
the Son willingly, volunteered himself: to be made of a woman, to be made under
the law, to be made sin for us, to suffer the punishment of our sin, to declare
God just and to declare God your Justifier. Now then you are justified freely from
the curse of the law by his grace through the redemption that in Christ Jesus.
Believer,
next time we are about to complain about anything being too costly, too
demanding of our time, too far a distance to travel for us to take up Christ’s
cross to worship and serve him or when you have trouble freely forgiving our
offending brethren, stop and think: Christ endured the agony and shame of MY
cross—the agony that was MY due, the shame that would have been MINE to bear. And now that Christ paid the unimaginable
depths of shame and suffering unto death for me, I am justified freely by his
grace. That is the antidote for our
murmuring, hard-heartedness, and for sin. That is the power to make a believer
lay down his life for the cause of Christ and to honor him in his life. And if
Christ crucified doesn’t mortify the deeds of our the flesh, chase away our
doubts, end our anxious cares and make us live for him—nothing else will!
For you
without Christ, “God hath set [Christ] forth to be a propitiation through faith
in his blood.” That means Christ is where
God will meet with you in mercy but only through faith in his blood. Drop your works, your so-called goodness, and
come believing. He promises all that come to him, he shall give rest. Stop
fighting, stop working for redemption and believe on Christ, right now! I pray
God the Holy Spirit give you life and make you willing to do so. So believer,
God’s word is our first assurance.
Isaiah 46: 11:…yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.
II. OUR SECOND ASSURANCE OF REDEMPTION IS
PAST DELIVERANCES—V4: For
thus saith the Lord GOD,…
“For”
indicates that what he is about to say is connected with what he just said. He
is about to give assurance that his people shall be redeemed by reminding us how
he made good on his word in the past and delivered his people from other men
and nations.
Delivered from Egyptian and Assyrian Bondage
First from
Egyptian bondage—v4—“My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there.”
Then from four separate Assyrian oppressions—V4—“and the Assyrian oppressed
them without cause.” So the Lord says, ‘As a proof that I can redeem you, and
shall do it, remember how I delivered you out of Egypt and out of all the
Assyrian oppressions.” What a kind
and loving God who assures his people that he is faithful and able to redeem
us! We need this assurance don’t we?
Romans 8: 23: [We] ourselves also, which have the
firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for
the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. 24: For we are saved by hope:
but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope
for? 25: But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for
it.
Remember Past Deliverances
So let’s
do what the Lord did here: believer,
next time doubts come, remember some of the past deliverances the Lord has
already workded for you.
1 Corinthians 1: 5: That in every thing ye are enriched
by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; 6: Even as the testimony
of Christ was confirmed in you: 7: So that ye come behind in no gift;
Our
regeneration and conversion was a deliverance—a redemption of sorts—which God
performed. Our Savior promised he would,
saying,
John 6:37: All that the Father giveth me shall come to
me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
So Christ
sent his gospel to you, the Holy Spirit regenerated you and broke every chain
of darkness delivering us into his glorious light. So we have that past
deliverance to give us assurance of future redemption.
Furthermore,
you have the assurance from the fact you still believe?
1 Corinthians 1: 7:…waiting for the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ:
Perseverance
is deliverance. You have faced trials of which you would have surely fallen
away had he not preserved you and kept you in faith. But our Savior promised he
would, saying,
John 10: 28: And I give unto them eternal life; and they
shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
God
gives us these little repeated deliverances to assure us we have been redeemed
and shall be redeemed into glory. Child
of God, you are Christ’s purchased possession. Therefore, be assured,
1 Corinthians 1: 8: Who shall also confirm you unto the
end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9:
God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son
Jesus Christ our Lord.
So we
have seen: 1) we have the assurance of his word; 2) we have the assurance of past
deliverances.
III. OUR THIRD ASSURANCE OF REDEMPTION IS
GOD’S GLORY— V5:
Now therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people is taken away
for nought?
God is
not profited by his people remaining in captivity: not in sin nor in this world
or this body of death.
Taken Away for Nothing
One, his
people were “taken away for nought.” God’s
true elect, Chrsit’s redeemed, are his “purchased possession.” (Eph 1: 13) Christ
purchased us lawfully and those who lead his people away into oppression are
doing so unlawfully. So to uphold his own righteousness, he
shall take back his own chosen and purchased people.
Their Rulers Make Them to Howl
Two, we
are told in verse 5, “they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the
LORD;” God made his people to praise and
glorify him. But when God’s people are
lorded over by men instead of worshipping and praising God, they are made to
howl—to murmur, to complain.
Application:
I don’t ever want to be chargeable with making your life bitter with the hard
bondage of works religion. Never misunderstand me: be careful to maintain good
works. Glorify God in all your
conduct. If you need to know what you
should do, God teaches us exactly how we are to do all things in this
book. Read it! Heed it! But the last thing in the world I
want to do is create a bunch of white-washed, phony Pharisees—I never want to
make you howl.
I set
before you the works of our triune God—Christ and him crucified—because I am
fully persuaded that we have one Head who is: able to add to the church daily
such as should be saved, able to teach, correct, and grow his children and I am
persuaded that he shall do so through the gospel of Christ and him crucified.
(So was Paul Titus 3: 3-8)
His Name is Blasphemed
Another
reason God is not profited by his children being in bondage is because, “my
name continually every day is blasphemed.” As the self-righteous and the world
catch and entrap and oppress God’s true saints, they glory in their false gods,
in their will, in their inventive methods and their fleshly message, so “Everyday
God’s name is blasphemed.” The Assyrian never acknowledged it was God who gave
his people into his hand. Nor does vain religion. They call themselves fishers of men and catch
large numbers of men and women and children. But listen to this:
Habakkuk 1:15: They take up all of them with the angle,
they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they
rejoice and are glad. 16 Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn
incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat
plenteous.
Like
Babylon, vain religion uses various methods to attract sinners. So they rejoice in and sacrifice and burn
incense to all their methods—not Christ—because by their methods their portion
is fat and their meat plenteous—they have large catches of men. But our great God and Savior knows the
oppressors and God hears the cry of his people.
Exodus 3:7: And the LORD said, I have surely seen the
affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason
of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8: And I am come down to
deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that
land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey;
Nothing
is out of God’s control. Even those who blaspheme his name serve his purpose
but it is for a limited time:
Revelation 13:5: And there was given unto [the beast] a
mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to
continue forty and two months. 6: And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against
God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in
heaven. 7 And it was given unto him to
make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over
all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 8 And all that dwell upon the earth
shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. 9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with
the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of
the saints.
God is
destroying them with their own methods.
God Shall Redeem all His Own
God shall
deliver his elect children from all oppressors by his effectual grace in this
gospel age—v6—“Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall
know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I.” He
says “my people” “shall know my name.” God’s elect—Christ’s sheep—shall know
that it is Christ who speaks.
John 10: 3: To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear
his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. 4: And
when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow
him: for they know his voice. 5: And a stranger will they not follow, but will
flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers….27: My sheep hear my
voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able
to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. 30
I and my Father are one.
God
promises that this gospel age shall not end until ALL his people know his
name--“all shall know me, from the least
to the greatest.” (Heb 8: 11)
For His Name’s Sake
He
shall redeem us from all captivity for his name’s sake—for his glory!
Psalm 106: 8: Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s
sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.
He put
his name upon his people from the foundation of the world! His name is the God
who keeps his covenant! Included in his name is his divine perfections and his
glory: wisdom and faithfulness; grace and mercy, justice and holiness, power
and goodness, and truth.
So
brethren, you have the assurance of his word, the assurance of past
deliverances and the assurance that God shall glorify his great name—he has
redeemed us from the curse of the law and he shall redeem us from the curse of
this world—he shall return for his purchased possession!
Amen!