Series:
Questions
Title:
Why should ye be Stricken Anymore?
Text:
Isaiah 1: 5
Date:
November 30, 2017
Place:
SGBC, New Jersey
This
time, the question God asks sinners is found in Isaiah 1. This is God speaking
in vision through Isaiah. But it is God speaking. He is speaking to the
inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. But this question applies to all sinners in
our natural born state.
Isaiah 1: 5: Why should ye be stricken any
more?
If God
threatens a sinner, will the sinner
or can the sinner, of himself, hear and obey God? Can the sinner justify himself of his sin
before God? Can the sinner subdue the sin of his own heart and obey God?
God
answers, “No!”—Isaiah 1: 5:…ye will
revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
Proposition: The only way sinners can be saved is for God to intervene
and do all things necessary to save us.
ALL HAVE REBELLED AGAINST GOD
Isaiah 1: 2: Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O
earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and
they have rebelled against me. 3: The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his
master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
God calls
heaven and earth to bear witness of what he has done—I have nourished and brought up children. What is said of Israel is true of every man, woman and child by
creation. We are all the children of God because God created us.
Acts 17: 26:
[God] hath made of one blood [of one man Adam] all nations of men for to dwell
on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed,
and the bounds of their habitation; 27:
That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find
him, though he be not far from every one of us: 28: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain
also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Also, in
our text, God calls heaven and earth to witness of what we have done—v2: “and
they have rebelled against me.” When
Adam rebelled against God, Adam’s entire race rebelled in him.
Romans 5: 12: Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have
sinned…19: For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners,…
Born of
Adam’s corrupt seed, we have each rebelled
against God from day one.
Psalm 58: 3: The wicked are estranged from the womb: they
go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
Our fall
was so severe that we are worse than brute beasts—v3: “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel
doth not know, my people doth not consider.” Not only do we not know God, we do not
even consider these things.
Romans 3:11: There is none that understandeth, there is
none that seeketh after God.
Proverbs 17:11: An evil man seeketh only rebellion:
In our
natural state, we are evil. And we only seek rebellion.
ONE IN DEPRAVITY
Isaiah 1: 4: Ah sinful nation, a people laden
with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have
forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they
are gone away backward.
Before
God, all men of every nation are but one nation—Ah sinful nation. We are one people—a people laden with iniquity. We
are all one race—a seed of evildoers. We are all one family—children that are
corrupters. We all are guilty of the
same crime—they have forsaken the LORD,
they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away
backward.
Romans 3: 9:
What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before
proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; 10
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11
There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable;
there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13: Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues
they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14: Whose mouth is full of
cursing and bitterness: 15: Their
feet are swift to shed blood: 16:
Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17: And the way of peace have they not known: 18: There is no fear of God before
their eyes. 19: Now we know that
what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
So we are
all one in universal total depravity, total ruin, all guilty before God.
USELESS TO CORRECT
Isaiah 1: 5: Why should ye be stricken any more?
Due to
our ruin, God declares it is useless for God to send correction because we can
do nothing to save ourselves. God declares it is useless to strike a depraved
sinner with the law of God. It is useless
to strike him with God’s hand of providence. It is useless to strike him with threats
of hell. Why? Men like to boast that the
sinner has a free will. God declares what the sinner’s will is—ye
will revolt more and more.
Left to ourselves,
though God strike us, OF OURSELVES, we will only revolt more and more. Read vv13-14 and you will see that our revolt
is often religious revolt—Isaiah 1: 13: Bring no more vain oblations;
incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of
assemblies, I cannot away with; it is
iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 14:
Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble
unto me; I am weary to bear them.
What is
our problem?—Isaiah 1: 5: the whole head
is sick, [our judgment is corrupt] and
the whole heart faint. [our affections are corrupt] 6: From the sole of the
foot even unto the head there is
no soundness in it; [we have no entirety, no completeness, no character and
principle in our sinful flesh] but wounds, and bruises, and
putrifying sores: [only stinking iniquity and abomination before God—and no
man can cure himself] they have not been
closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
HOW THEN SHALL ANY BE SAVED?
First, salvation
begins with God’s sovereign electing grace—Isaiah
1: 9: Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should
have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Except the LORD of hosts had—before we fell in Adam, the LORD of hosts chose a people
in Christ—by his grace, not because of anything in us. Except the LORD had chosen a remnant, he would have destroyed Adam
and the whole human race when Adam sinned—like he did Sodom and Gomorra. Except the LORD had chosen a very small
remnant in Israel, God would have destroyed them like Sodom and Gomorra. So what
is keeping God from destroying this world today? It is because
Romans 11: 5: Even so then at this present time also
there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
Secondly,
God’s elect remnant are saved by God sending his own Son to redeem his people
in judgment—Isaiah 1: 24: Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD
of hosts, the mighty One of Israel,
Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies: 25: And I will turn my hand upon thee,
and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: 26: And I will restore thy judges as at the
first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called,
The city of righteousness, the faithful city. 27: Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with
righteousness.
Before
God could turn his hand upon his chosen
remnant and convert us with righteousness, he turned his hand upon his own
Son and redeemed his people with
judgment.
Zechariah 13: 7: Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and
against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the
shepherd, and the sheep [the elect remnant] shall be scattered: [into all the
world] and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
It did
not good to strike his elect anymore. Therefore, God sent his Son and God smote
Christ in our place. In order to purge away our dross and in order to manifest
the righteousness of God, the sinless Lord Jesus Christ willingly gave himself
to bear our dross in his own body on the tree as the Head, the legal
representative, of all God’s elect remnant.
Then God in righteousness smote him in justice instead of his people. By
his blood, by his death, Christ purged
away all the dross of God’s elect
remnant and he did it in righteousness.
Hebrews 1:3: Who…when he had by himself purged our sins,
sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Isaiah
prophesied of the future when he said in verse 27: “Zion”—all God’s elect, his true Israel, his true church, his
remnant—“shall be redeemed with judgment!” Now, it has been accomplished! Christ said,
“It is finished!” So salvation is first by the LORD of hosts electing a remnant
in Christ before the world was made. Secondly, salvation is by Christ being
smitten in place of his people.
Thirdly,
from God’s right hand, Christ, as Head of his church did as Isaiah prophesied—restored our judges and counsellors. He restores our judges and counselors by sending
forth his gospel out of heavenly Zion, from heavenly Jerusalem, from his throne
of grace; by sending forth his apostles and preachers to preach this gospel of
his wonderful works and by sending forth the Holy Spirit to regenerate his
people and guide his people into all truth. Through the gospel by the Holy
Spirit Christ purges away our dross
inwardly, creating in his elect a new nature and causing us to behold what
Christ has done for us.
Hebrews 9:14: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
So Christ
makes his converts with righteousness.
He makes each of his redeemed, regenerated people willing to confess that which is right, that we are only sinners
incapable of adding one thing to his work. He makes us willing to confess that which is right, that Christ alone is our
Righteousness!
Salvation
is by God electing his people in Christ by his grace; by Christ redeeming us
with judgment on the cross; by Christ converting us with righteousness in
regeneration. So he that glories let him glory in the Lord!
GOD’S WORD TO YOU
Isaiah 1: 18: Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD:
though your sins be as scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as
wool. 19: If ye be willing
and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: 20: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the
sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Come now, and let us reason together, saith
the LORD. Has Christ sent this word to you now and made
you willing and obedient through this gospel? Are you willing to confess your
sins are red like scarlett—from the top of your head to the sole of your
feet—no soundness in you, only wounds and stinking sores? Are you willing to
confess you are saved by God’s electing grace apart from yours works? Are you
willing to confess you been born again by the grace and power of God? Are you
will to confess Christ is all your Righteousness, all your hope and stay? If ye
be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. The good of the land is that though your sins be as scarlet, they shall
be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be
devoured with the sword. Christ bore that
sword of justice for all his people. His righteousness is freely given to all who
cast their care on him. Justice demands we shall never be devoured with that
sword.
But if it is your will to refuse and rebel—if you go on taking God’s
daily nourishment while you go on revolting more and more against God and his
Christ then why should you be stricken anymore? You will revolt more and more, ye
shall be devoured with the sword.
How do I
know these things are sure and certain?—“for
the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”
Amen!