Isaiah 5-6 "The Man for a National Crisis" - Dr. John MacArthur

well what a grand and glorious occasion this is and i know that you're as excited as i am uh to hear the preaching of the word today uh there is no one in all the world that i would rather introduce to you than dr john macarthur he is my all-time all-time favorite preacher and dead or alive [Laughter] hopefully alive today so [Laughter] and i have learned more bible and more theology from this man than anyone else which is why he's my all-time favorite preacher he is the pastor of grace community church he is in his 52nd year as pastor of grace community church [Music] he is the chancellor of the masters university and the masters seminary where he has served as the president for 35 years his name is synonymous with the bible truth sound doctrine christian orthodoxy expository preaching and contending for the faith in my estimation dr macarthur is the patriarch of the body of christ he is the last man standing in a world of evangelicalism as we once knew it a world with r.c sproul james montgomery boyce dr macarthur is our last link to that era of a reformed resurgence he is the editor and primary author of the macarthur study bible which is just a monumental work it's been translated into arabic chinese french german countless other portuguese as well as spanish russian english his ministry literally covers the globe he has preached verse by verse through the entire new testament every verse and virtually every clause in every sentence he is the voice of grace to you each day there are 70 000 downloads of his sermons per day that is over 2 million downloads of his sermons every month he has heard every day on the radio in english 1500 times on over a thousand radio outlets every state of the united states plus 12 other nations there is also grace to you in spanish which reaches or has 300 daily outlets television etc etc is why he has been called america's pastor he is a front line warrior of the truth in my estimation the john calvin of our day [Music] history will reveal him to be mr valiant for the truth uh he has been the linchpin that has held much of christian truth together in its orthodoxy he is arguably in my estimation the single most influential christian voice today he is married to patricia who is here with him and two sons matt and mark are both here with him he has two daughters marcy and melinda 15 grandchildren two great grandchildren and it is our privilege that of all the places in the world where he would be preaching today it would be a trinity bible church would you give him a warm reception [Music] thank you that was a preview of my funeral so you don't have to come i love steve lawson he knows that and uh our love for each other passes through the scriptures that's um that's the common denominator in our affection i am really thankful to be here this morning um i have been watching from afar the development of the church from the coffee shop across the street to here this is the first place i've preached in the pandemic other than grace church so i haven't preached anywhere but there for a year so they're thrilled that you invited me to come because i'm beginning to feel like the poor they always have me with them [Music] so and some of the guys who are great preachers at grace are thrilled that i'm gone so they get a shot at the pulpit we have been threatened by the county the city the state of california endlessly for about a year they have not been able to close us down at all um we're thankful for that they have made all kinds of bizarre threats they have threatened to lock down our parking lots that didn't work the latest threat was that two weeks ago they called and said they're going to they're going to put a homeless encampment in our parking lot they're going to bring gather homeless from everywhere this is actually true and fill up our parking lot with homeless people to try to shut us down my response was perfect we'll have our seminary students evangelize them all day long [Applause] maybe somebody got the word in the city because they pulled back from that it's amazing i i think obviously none of us knows when this nonsense is going to end but we may we may get to a point where this coveted lockdown begins to slow down to such a point that this would our case will never even be litigated and that's our hope so uh so far we have managed to escape that and by the way we haven't paid a dime in legal fees not one cent uh because uh the thomas more society which has funded the whole thing the health department basically finds us every single week for meeting and they can't get the money it goes into an escrow account because they are not entitled to the money until they defeat us at the case of the first amendment so we haven't we haven't spent any money on anything we haven't had an offering in a year and the giving has exceeded any any giving in any period of time in the history of our church so it's just been really really amazing i say that because people have said the only reason we went back was to take offerings saw that on the internet we haven't had an offering that's going to be hard for us to start an offering once we get back to normal because people have found other ways to give so a little bit of an update i am thrilled to be here many many people that i love here not the least of which is cal stain back our new little great grandson with the beautiful cheeks and blue eyes we tried to reintroduce ourselves to him yesterday but he's not really sure i think patricia was a hit i i'm still an alien uh he's gonna find his way to me somehow for my benefit i want to give you a big picture this morning i know it talks about isaiah 5 and 6 as the subject but i want to try to help you understand kind of where we are in terms of the church and the gospel and the purposes of god that are unfolding in our time so i'm going to go through a lot of passages surrounding isaiah 5 and 6 and i'd like to begin in acts 14 so if you have a bible turn to acts 14 there are just a couple of verses here that will serve as a starting point for us verse 15 the apostles barnabas and paul are saying to this crowd that are worshiping them as if they are gods men why are you doing these things verse 15 we are also men of the same nature as you and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living god who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them and then this really remarkable statement in verse 16. in the generations gone by he that is god the creator permitted all the nations to go their own ways that is an astounding statement god permitted all the nations to go their own ways and yet he did not leave himself without witness in that he did good and gave you reigns from heaven and fruitful seasons satisfying your hearts with food and gladness but god has put not only his power on display in creation as romans 2 says in romans 1 god has not only put his power on display in the in the heavens as psalm 19 says the heavens declare the glory of god but god has also put his goodness on display in the provision he has made for humanity throughout its history god is not without a witness in that he did good and gave you rain satisfied your heart with food and gladness this is what calvin coined as common grace so all the nations in history have benefited from the revelation of god through creation and through common grace history then is linear and i i want to begin by saying that no uncertain terms history has to be linear because it is an unfolding plan that god has ordained before the foundation of the world so it's going from its beginning to its culmination history is linear as god moves and he moves unhindered and he moves on schedule to the final goal of redemption the return of the lord jesus christ to judge the wicked to uh bring the righteous into his kingdom to reign for a thousand years and then to establish the new heaven and the new earth which is the eternal state so there is reality in the sense that history is linear it's going from the first creation to the second creation the first creation is in genesis the second creation is at the end of revelation the new heavens and the new earth it goes from an inexorable first order to an inexorable second order an inevitable ending and we get nearer to it every ticking second at the same time though we have to acknowledge that history is also cyclical there are cycles of history and you just read the essence of that cyclical aspect of history in verse 16. in the generations gone by he permitted all the nations to go their own way there is a pattern that is repeated over and over and over through all of human history and that is that god shows himself reveals himself demonstrates his power through creation demonstrates his goodness through the benefits and the fruitfulness of creation fills people's lives with all levels of goodness and that is the revelation of himself which when it is rejected and people turn from god turn against their conscience against the law of god written in the heart against what is obvious from the creation and the goodness of god god lets them go you get that he lets them go there's a point at which god says i'm i'm through i'm i'm backing out he permitted them it says to go their own ways that word permitted the verb it's a little short verb it basically means to leave alone do you remember our lord saying ephraim is joined to the prophet saying ephraim is joined to idols let him alone but that's essentially what this is about god has limited tolerance for the nations that turn against him and that would be essentially all the nations of human history now more is revealed about this in romans 1 and i don't want to belabor that because that that's a long passage but turn to romans one for just a moment and you will get a picture of what happens when god lets a nation go when they turn against the obvious revelation when they don't follow that which is revealed in conscience the law of god of the heart creation and the goodness of god when they turn against that rebelling against god god lets them go what does that look like verse 18 of romans 1 the wrath of god is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness so we're talking about a wrath here that god unleashes on nations that suppress the truth not necessarily biblical truth in our case yes we have not only the truth of the law written in the heart and the activated conscience not only the truth of god revealing his power in the creation and we know more about the creation now than we ever have known not only the macro but the micro we not only have all of the revelation of god in terms of his common grace and goodness but we in our country have also had biblical revelation from the founding of it so when people turn against that the phrase suppress the truth and suppressing the truth is an act of unrighteousness and that's very clear suppressing the truth is an act of unrighteousness just in our own culture today with the new powers that have been established in washington there will be an escalated suppression of the truth because they are unrighteous people we have a wicked king and a wicked court in washington and the agenda is going to be to suppress the truth the greatest danger in this nation right now is the truth it's what they hate the most that's the suppression of the truth so when nations suppress the truth when they reject verse 19 what is known about god that is evident in them when they reject what is known of god from what is around them verse 20 the creation of the world shows his invisible attributes his eternal power his divine nature having been clearly seen being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse it's inexcusable not to understand the nature of god by looking at creation and looking at all that god has revealed of himself in creation here's the problem though they knew god that is they knew god existed they did not honor him as god or give thanks they became futile in their speculations their foolish heart was darkened professing to be wise they became fools so this is the cycle of nations they go from the revelation of god being manifest to them turn against it develop their own gods they develop into idle nations you go down to verse 23 they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible god for an image in the form of corruptable man birds four-footed animals and crawling creatures so you have this cycle going on all the time when it talks about wrath in 118 there's lots of wrath there's eternal wrath eschatological wrath sowing and reaping wrath what you sow you reap there's cataclysmic wrath like a tidal wave or something like that that takes hundreds of lives or thousands of lives this is not that this is the wrath of god letting a nation go and he does that in the case of every nation through human history no nation in human history did you hear that no nation in human history has been faithful to the revelation of god given to that nation the degree to which they have been given the revelation of god may vary uh depending upon their scientific insight which then exposes them to a greater understanding of the greatness of god in his creation and if they've been given the word of god there's even a greater a greater judgment to fall on them so god's wrath is unleashed on nations that turn away from him and that's precisely what all nations do and he lets them go i want you to keep that in mind now what does it look like when that happens here the wrath is explained starting in verse 24 and i'm just you know touching the main points god gave them over or god gave them up so this is the way the wrath works god gave them over that is a verb that means to turn someone over to to punishment that's a legal term so god judicially turns the nation that turns away from him over to judgment what does that judgment look like he lets them go their own way so he gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity so that their bodies would be dishonored among them when god lets a nation go you'll have a sexual revolution whatever vestiges of morality we're holding that nation together in some judeo-christian framework we could say that begin to disappear and there's a sexual revolution and this because in verse 25 they exchanged the truth of god for a lie and they worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever amen so the first phase of god giving a nation over is you will have a sexual revolution we've been through that the second phase is in verse 26. the second thing is a homosexual revolution for this reason god gave them over to degrading passions for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural starts with women because they're they're assumed to be less drawn into homosexuality because they have mothering instincts childbearing instincts and when this kind of wrath is unleashed on a nation women feminists will lead the homosexual movement not just them verse 27 in the same way men abandoned the natural function of the woman burned in their desire toward one another men with men committing indecent acts receiving in their own persons to do penalty of their error which could be a refer or referring to aids or some built-in disease so when god turns over a nation when he lets the nation go there will be a sexual revolution verse 24 followed by a homosexual revolution verse 26. there's a third step in verse 28. since they didn't see fit to acknowledge god any longer god gave him over to a depraved mind this this means there's a kind of insanity and i used to wonder what that is that's when you don't know whether you're a man or a woman that is the ultimate insanity because what is patently obvious is denied that's a non-functioning mind and out of that comes all unrighteousness wickedness greed evil envy murder strife deceit malice and it goes on and on and on they practice these things they know verse 32 they're worthy of death but they do it anyway give hearty approval to those who practice these kinds of things so when you have a culture that's gone through a a basically a sexual revolution followed by a homosexual revolution followed by an insanity where you have people in washington say there are a hundred genders this is this sounds like somebody who thinks he's a potato chip this is insane you know the wrath of god is at work because that's the way it's spelled out so while we say history is linear in that it goes from god's first creation to his last creation and moves inexorably toward that at the same time cycling through that linear history is the rise and fall of nation after nation after nation after nation after nation after nation and god gave them over now that's just foundational to to what i want to talk to you about there's a classic illustration of this and it's the best illustration because you would think it's the most most likely nation to escape this cycle and that is israel so with that in in general introduction let's go back to the book of isaiah isaiah chapter 1 verse 2. this is isaiah his opening message to kings of judah the people of judah listen o heavens and hear o earth for the lord speaks sons i have reared and brought up but they have revolted against me just like every other nation an ox knows its owner and a donkey its masters manger but israel does not know my people do not understand the last sinful nation so once they reject god once they revolt against him once they forfeit their understanding then they will be as we saw in romans 1 weighed down with iniquity offspring of evil evildoers sons who act corruptly they have abandoned the lord they have despised the holy one of israel they have turned away from him you would think that they would be the one nation that would be faithful and that the cycle wouldn't repeat itself there but they're the greatest illustration of the sinfulness of sin even under the best of all revelatory opportunities verse 5. after saying they have turned away from him where will you be stricken again as you continue in your rebellion the whole head is sick the whole heart is faint from the soul of the foot even to the head there is nothing sound in it only bruises welts and raw wounds not pressed out or bandaged not softened with oil your land is desolate your cities are burned with fire your fields strangers are devouring them in your presence it is desolation as overthrown by strangers this is god letting them go right this is god permitting them to go their own way verse 8 the daughter of zion is left like a shelter and a vineyard like a watchman's hut in a cucumber field like a besieged city like that shack that once was a hut on the farm and there's nothing but barren ground around it unless the lord of hosts had left us a few survivors we would be like sodom we would be like gomorrah that's that's how history works even the nation israel went through rebellion and only at the end were there a few survivors a few survivors this is human history to add one other i think very helpful perspective to this look at psalm 81 and we're we're going to hone in on isaiah 5 and 6 in a minute but this is very important to get the big picture psalm 81 just a few verses there verse 10 i the lord i'm your god who brought you up from the land of egypt open your mouth wide and i will fill it but my people did not listen to my voice and israel did not obey me so i gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart to walk in their own devices that's the same indictment isn't it sounds exactly like acts 14 sounds exactly like romans 1. god did with israel essentially what he has done with every nation and of course isaiah in particular is pointing them in the direction of the coming babylonian captivity which was so devastating now with that as an introduction look over at isaiah chapters five and six and to cover two chapters is pretty epic for me so we're going to move rather rapidly here's the most powerful account that i know of the most powerful account that i know of of a nation that goes beyond god's protection goes beyond god's provision and it's the nation israel and god let them go their own way now chapter five begins with a marvelous marvelous picture let me read the first couple of verses let me sing now for my well beloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard my well beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill he dug it all around removed its stones and planted it with a choicest vine and he built a tower in the middle of it and also hewed out a wine vat in it then he expected it to produce good grapes but it produced only burushim the hebrew word for sour berries inedible this is the parable of the lord this is the parable of the lord it is an exquisite poem it is an elegy it is a dirge it is a funeral song it is a plaintive weeping song it is a sad song and everyone who heard it or read it would get it because they all understood what a vineyard was and how much effort went into producing a fruitful vineyard but just exactly who are we talking about here go back to verse one let me sing now for my well beloved a song of my beloved this is the father referring to the fact that the vineyard that's planted is the vineyard that belongs to his well beloved and who is his well beloved at his baptism what did the father say about jesus this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased so yahweh god the father sings a funeral song for the vineyard that was his sons now everybody knew about vineyards the hills of judea even today are filled with vineyards there's still some remaining in the valleys of the land of israel they grew green on the hillsides they terraced with all the rocks and they grew the vineyards stony hills in judea in fact the rabbis used to say somehow god when he created the world made a mistake and dumped too many rocks in israel because there were so many of them but just exactly who is he talking about here who is this about verse 7 explains it and now oh inhabitants of jerusalem men of judah judge between me and my vineyard so it's god and his vineyard given to his beloved he says what more was there to do for my vineyard that i have not done in it why when i expected it to produce good grapes that it produced but washing worthless berries now i will tell you what i'm going to do to my vineyard i will remove its hedge it'll be consumed i will break down its wall it will become trampled ground i will lay it waste it will not be pruned or hoed but briars and thorns will come up i will also charge the rain or the clouds to rain no rain on it god curses the vineyard that bore sour berries instead of good grapes who is this vineyard verse 7 for the vineyard of the lord of hosts is the house of israel and we read that from the psalms that god said you are my vineyard i brought you out of egypt and i planted you the men of judah verse 7 are his delightful plant and then you have a play on words he looked for justice but behold bloodshed for righteousness but behold a cry of distress the vineyard is israel the vineyard is israel god did everything he could do he asked some rhetorical questions what more could i have done when i expected good grapes why were there worthless grapes is this my fault and then comes the judgment of abandoning it not protecting it not pruning it not caring for it and not allowing rain to fall on it god provided absolutely everything for the nation israel more than any other nation had ever received from his good and kind hand in romans it says theirs were the the promises the covenant the messiah the the law the divine revelation of the word of god psalm 80 verse 8 you removed a vine from egypt this is israel you drove out the nations and planted it brought them into the land and drove out the other canaanite nations you cleared the ground before it it took deep root and filled the land in other words you brought your people into the land and you prepared for them to be productive so backing up a little bit just really quick what do these elements mean verse two he dug all around and removed its stones this is creating a separation of a moat or some kind of barrier to keep animals from coming in to destroy the crop gathering out the stones may have reference to the elimination of the canaanites and other pagan nations to make israel safer built a tower in the middle of it that tower all these vineyards would have a tower so that somebody could observe the coming of an enemy to do damage the tower was the watchtower probably a reference to jerusalem the wine vat a reference to the sacrificial system in other words god did everything he could have done and even the choicest vine what is the choice is vine i think we all understand that jewish people are a noble people i was just reading last week something that pretty shocking one one tenth of one percent of the population of the world is jewish one tenth of one percent there are 27 jew nobel prize winners 50 of the world chess champions are jewish 21 of all who go into ivy league schools are jewish there's something about that vine that is noble they've made massive contributions to human survival so god picked a genetic strain that was noble and he put him in the land and he cleared the land and he put a tower in the city of jerusalem from which the prophets and the priests could be the protectors he created a sacrificial system that would confront their sin and draw them to him for salvation he had every reason to expect a fruitful result that did not happen was it his fault no what more could god have done nothing more and he looked at what did he see instead of justice which is mishpoch he saw bloodshed which is mispock instead of righteousness sedeka distressed satika a couple of word plays god expected justice and righteousness saw bloodshed and distress so here is a picture of yahweh god lavishing love on this one particular nation and they have gone the exact same way that all the other nations go and as a result we come to verses five and six and destruction from heaven is unleashed and god takes away all their protection so that's the general picture that isaiah is giving them which essentially is looking at what is coming in the babylonian captivity which devastated the whole nation now when you come to verse 8 we shift from the parable to what i like to call the probing the lord goes deeper and i won't spend a lot of time on this but the indictments of what israel is doing are laid out in a series of woes woe is sort of an onomatopoeic word in in hebrew oye uh it's just an it's an a passionate expression of horror over judgment so the first woe is against extensive materialism you add house to house field to field so there's no more room so that you have to live alone in the midst of the land in my ear says the lord of hosts in my ears the lord of hosts has warned surely many houses shall be desolate judgment's going to come on your materialism and your wealth and great and fine ones are going to be without occupants and your vineyards are going to produce famine conditioned crops that's what he's saying in verse 10. so god's going to judge your materialism second woe is in verse 11 who rises the word of those who rise early in the morning and may pursue strong drink who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them this is drunken pleasure seeking banquets or parties accompanied by music they do not pay attention to the deeds of the lord nor do they consider the work of their hands which is probably the dissipation of their bodies the god's work of his hands is the creation of human body so you have specifically in israel grasping materialism drunken pleasure seeking verse 13 sums it up my people go into exile for their lack of knowledge their lack of knowledge they have turned against that revelation which god gave them verse 16 then the lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment the holy god will show himself holy in righteousness then he comes to a third woe in verse 18. what are those drag iniquity with the courts of a falsehood this is defiant sinfulness this is like having putting your sin on parade putting all your sin in a in a cart and hooking up animals to pull the cart in other words this is parading your sin and with a defiant attitude toward god in verse 19 you're you're saying to god let him make speed let him hasten his work that we may see it let the purpose of the holy one of israel draw near and come to pass it we may know it if god doesn't like it let me see him do something about it this is scorn this is mockery this is shaking a fist in the face of god then they are characterized by moral perversion as we saw in romans 1 they call evil good they call good evil they substitute darkness for light light for darkness they substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter what begins to happen is they criminalize righteousness and they make laws to protect iniquity which is exactly what we're seeing in our country dominated by dominated by grasping materialism the wealthy become so wealthy that they overpower the entire culture characterized by drunkenness parties characterized by defiant sinfulness shaking their fist in the face of god characterized by moral perversion everything is overturned and righteousness is going to be criminal you're going to be held responsible for hate speech if you say something against legalized sin that's just the beginning in verse 21 the fifth woe what are those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own side arrogant concede you go from moral perversion to arrogant conceit and then it culminates in verse 22 woe to those who are heroes and drinking wine valiant men and mixing drink could justify the wicked for a bribe take away the rights of the ones who are in the right essentially corrupt leaders so this is what a culture looks like when god has taken his hands off of it it will be consumed with materialism it will be defined by a drunken pursuit of pleasure and all manner of personal lustful fulfillment it will be defiant about and open about its sinfulness it will be characterized by every kind of moral perversion it will not be humble about its condition but rather arrogantly conceited about it and it will all be driven by corrupt leaders this is what a culture looks like that god has abandoned from those uh probing indictments you come to verse 24 and you have the judgment of god maybe i'm not going to go through all that but the best way to look at it is verse 26 god whistles and the babylonians come god whistles and a destination comes and they devastate they absolutely devastate the land of israel the people of israel massacre slaughter occupation people taken captive we're familiar with all of that history we don't need to know a lot of details they're just fearsome things in the ancient world this army is fast verse 26 it is unrelenting it never stops it never tires verse 27 it is deadly in verse 29 it is powerful verse 28 like a lion growling as it sees as its prey and it growls over over it in the day like the roaring of the sea all of those things are indications of the power devastating power of the babylonian army when they came as you know they began to come just like culminating they're coming in 586 bc so that is the punishment of the lord now all of that gets us to the sixth chapter of isaiah and i'm skipping some things because i want to make sure we get to this so the question is this if you happen to be alive in a culture that has been abandoned by god what kind of person do you need to be right what do you need to know because that's exactly where we are in this country everything that characterized that nation characterizes us everything that was true of the judgment cycle of romans 1 is true of us we've had a sexual revolution a homosexual revolution and now we're in the category of the reprobate mind where we can never find our way back to sanity again because our minds don't function and we're legalizing the insanity and we're making laws to protect the insanity against reality so we are in the insanity of the reprobate mind we are driven by the very same sins categorically the grasping materialism the drunken pleasure seeking we're driven by all of those things moral perversion and wicked leaders so isaiah gets this message and the question is posed in his mind what is going on and what he needs is to find god he needs he needs to see god because i think he's wondering whether god is still on the throne because it just seems too far gone now remember this is not just any nation this is israel god's chosen nation so as we come to chapter six isaiah has the fulfillment of his heart's desire in the year of king azaya's death i saw the lord um does that matter that king azaya died well it does if your name's aziah but it mattered for the nation as well because he had been king he died in 740 so he had been king 52 years same amount of time that i've been at grace church he had been king a long time and as long as he was king there was security there was peace um they had a strong cold war position because he had a good army his reign had been a very very peaceful reign for 52 years and it was as if in spite of all the the decline and all the devastation going on spiritually as long as isaiah was alive it was sort of like everything was okay god god was still on our side isaiah was i was a kind of a symbol of god's protection but second chronicles 26 16 says this when isaiah became strong his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly and was unfaithful to the lord his god what did he do he entered the temple and he offered a sacrifice you say isn't that something people were supposed to do no it's not it's something priests were to do he invaded the priesthood he moved from his kingly position into the role of a priest upon doing that he was confronted by 80 priests 8-0 and after that the lord nailed him and the lord hit him with leprosy and he lived in separate isolation for the rest of his life until he died of leprosy cut off from the house of the lord he went into the house of the lord only that one time and usurped the role of a priest violating what might seem to you as a non-spiritual sort of ritual command but every command of god is true and pure and to be obeyed and as a result he never ever entered the house of the lord the rest of his life and he died in isolation as a leper so now isaiah is saying well the symbol of god's blessing is gone this leaves us unprotected and the question is what's god doing and is god still on the throne so we pick it up in chapter six the year of king azai's death i saw the lord sitting on a throne lofty and exalted with the train of his robe filling the temple you think that gave him a sigh of relief one thing you want to check in on when you get into the cycle that that nation was in and that our nation is in you want to make sure god is still sovereign right on the throne the question comes up where is god in all of this answer on the throne i saw the lord an accurate view of god is the foundation of life and understanding of history and god is still on the throne lofty and exalted and his glory permeated the temple in isaiah's vision he is sovereign he is undisturbed he is unconquered unconquerable and i'm going to add this impassable he is unmoved by what is going on it is not out of his control it is his doing he's on the throne sovereignty of god is the most important of all christian truths by the way those descriptions of god lofty exalted sitting on the throne those verbs in hebrew are repeated in isaiah 52 where they refer to christ which then is another evidence that christ is one with god the ultimate comfort for the believer is the sovereignty of god i know there are people who don't believe in the sovereignty of god i don't want to live in their world i really don't want to live in the world where they think satan is sovereign listen to isaiah 14 and just a couple of verses verse 24 to 27. the lord of hosts has sworn saying surely just as i have intended so it has happened just as i have planned so it will stand is that helpful to you do you want to live in that world just as i have intended so it has happened and just as i have planned so it will stand verse 27 for the lord of hosts has planned and who can frustrate it and as for his outstretched hand who can turn it back you're not seeing god lose control you're seeing god in total control total control the greatest comfort history is his story so the first thing we find is comfort in the sovereignty of god he is still on the throne still lofty and exalted above all others and his glory fills everything in that vision and then we read in verse two seraphim stood above him those are angelic beings apparently in scripture who have kind of a guardianship over his holiness and each have having six wings with two he covered his face because they're created beings and they can't look on his face face any more than moses could in exodus 33 without being incinerated and with two he covered his feet which means the place they stand is on holy ground and with two he hovered these are the hovering seraphim why are they hovering like celestial helicopters over the throne of god they're waiting to be sent as ministering spirits to minister to the saints and carry out the work of god as hebrews 1 14 says so you see these these angelic beings and verse three one called out to another this is antiphonal and said holy holy holy is the lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory so we go from sovereignty to holiness and sovereignty and holiness work together because holiness means god is unique he is other than we are he is separate from us and sovereignty is separate from us as well no one occupies the sovereign place in the universe except god that is part of his uniqueness he is holy holy holy the trihagion holy is the father holy is the son holy is the spirit holy holy holy thrice repeated but no other attribute in the bible has ever repeated three times this is god's uniqueness so isaiah saw a comforting picture of god's sovereignty and then isaiah saw god's holiness and that had the opposite effect verse 4 and the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out while the temple was filling with smoke then i said woe is me for i am ruined this this was a pretty sudden shift he went from comfort to sheer terror he went from feeling secure in the sovereignty of god to feeling terrified over his own sin he knows what woe means he just used it right six times in chapter five it's to pronounce a curse the verb ruined means lost destroyed it's the end of me why because i'm a man of unclean lips i have a dirty mouth why does he refer to his lips because it is with your mouth that you sin most freely and most frequently while you're planning to do some sinning you don't have to plan to do some speaking sinning it's out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks right never are you more in touch with your depravity than when you listen to your mouth you have to plan to do things you don't have to plan to say things so he simply confessing his utter sinfulness and it's so profound that he believes he is lost and destroyed you could be translated i'm crumbling into because i'm a man of unclean lips and i live among a people of unclean lips he didn't think he was any better than the nation it's like daniel in daniel 9 where he confesses the sins of israel and does it with a we which encompasses himself i live among the people of unclean lips so we've gone from the the parable to the probing to the punishment not to the presence of god and the presence of god is a two-fold experience it is an experience of comfort in the sovereignty of god and terror over the holiness of god that is why in isaiah's final chapter chapter 66 we we read what all of us should be familiar with the opening few verses of chapter 66 i can get the page here it's coming there we go thus says the lord heaven is my throne the earth is my footstool where then is a house you could build for me and where is the place that i may rest for my hand made all things thus all these things came into being declares the lord i don't need you to build me anything this is what i need so this one i will look to him who is humble and contrite of spirit and who what trembles up my word yes we live in that um sort of spiritual schizophrenia of being comforted by the sovereignty of god and terrified by the holiness of god and that's where we have to live that means on the one hand we sing the hymns that we sung so beautifully this morning to express our love to god from the bottom of our hearts and we sing with joy because we know god is sovereign but at the same time there's a deep deep ache in our hearts over our own sinfulness the clear view of god is both reassuring and terrifying it is a frightening thing fearful thing to fall into the hands of almighty god hebrews 12. the prophet knew he had a sovereign god but he also knew he was a wretched sinner and he said woe is me i'm disintegrating my sin to borrow from another scripture is ever before me why do you say this why are you speaking such words that indicate you have a lack of healthy self-image why are you saying that end of verse 5 because my eyes have seen the king the lord of hosts it depends on who you compare yourself to right you can do well if you compare yourself to the people you resent that's why peter when the lord helped him catch those fish miraculously in luke 5 8 he didn't say wow lord that was some miracle what the lord did proved that the lord was god the creator and peter's response was depart from me for i am a sinful man so these two things are at the heart and soul of our understanding of god when people ask my friend who's now with the lord r.c sproul what is the greatest need in the evangelical world he would always answer the same way to understand the nature of god it's still the greatest need there's a book floating around written by a guy named ortland i think it's called meek and lowly or something um that looks at god only in the sense of jesus saying he's meek and lowly and it is so out of balance because there's nothing in the book to terrify even the redeemed sinner because god is holy this generation has neither understanding of god's sovereignty or his holiness we have people fussing around in washington trying to fix this country when these are quote unquote evangelical people who think somehow that this thing is out of control and there's some christian organization that can fix it i got news for you this is the work of sovereign god we are under divine wrath obviously he allowed us to go our own way because we rejected him when we had the revelation of him we've cycled through the sexual revolution homosexual revolution reprobate mind we can't fix it no amount of christian nationalism or lobby in washington is going to fix this and god is not in heaven rubbing his hands like some armenians saying i hope somebody can work this deal out because i'd like it to go another direction that is just an absurdity if you don't understand god is sovereign and you are looking at a cycle that has repeated itself over and over and over through all of human history including with the nation israel then you don't understand your god god is at work and you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this my other little great grandson was running around he ran his first tour of grace church campus he's what 14 months his little legs and his dad was watching him go and he would dart between people after his service was over and he went all the way around the worship center and somebody said you know it's so sad that little guy's going to grow up in this world i said i got news for you this world is under the control of the sovereign god and he made that little guy for such a time as this and you're here because this is your time and this is the time for trinity bible church that's why you're here you're not here because somebody had a good idea you're here because god ordained you for this time this is your time [Applause] you have to have a view of god's sovereignty and then you can rest in what's happening it doesn't take your joy away and you must at the same time have awareness of god's absolute holiness his sovereignty is missing from evangelicalism it's almost a threat it's almost certainly a threat to pragmatics if you think you can build the church by clever design then you think you're sovereign and that that's a form of blasphemy god is sovereign and not only that god is holy this generation knows nothing of either even the evangelicals know nothing of either god is treated in a frivolous way well isaiah feels it he feels the satisfaction and the comfort of divine sovereignty and he feels the agony of his own sinfulness before a holy god what's he going to do about it well he's like nicodemus he can't do anything about it because it's not in his hands to do it you don't initiate salvation but in this image something marvelous happens from the presence of god comes the purification as the building is shaking in the vision filling with smoke and he's confessing his wretchedness verse 6 says one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand which he had taken from the altar with tongs he touched my mouth with it and said behold this has touched your lips and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven wow what a moment what a moment this picture salvation there's an altar here that altar would look forward to the cross right the altar on which the sacrifice was made um repentance is painful i don't know if you've ever tried this but you can have an illustration of the painfulness of repentance the next time you have a barbecue joe biden says you can have one on july 4th and when you do that you can take a coal off the altar and you can put it on your tongue and you will feel the symbolic pain of repentance so repentance is painful and cleansing is sovereign and he was forgiven he was forgiven that's the only hope for us to be any help to this culture isn't it what is god looking for people who see his sovereignty see his holiness and whom he forgives whom he cleanses this is the purification powerful painful heavenly the altar is the place of atonement the word behold is used because this is the surprise of sovereign saving grace your iniquity is atoned for is the hebrew and your sin is forgiven a picture of the cross the sinner then goes from uselessness to usefulness and then the proclamation of the lord in verse 8 this is really where i wanted to get this is the the culmination then i heard the voice of the lord saying whom shall i send and who will go for us notice the us trinitarian us then i said here am i send me you know i've heard preachers say isaiah stepped up and said here am i send me i i don't think this was some kind of bold thing i think he looked around in the vision and there was no one else there it's probably more like you could send me and maybe a duck so who's going to go who is going to go to this this nation under judgment who is going to go who is worthy a dirty mouth prophet whose mouth is no better than the rest of the population no not unless something dramatically happens to him from heaven unless his sins are atoned for and he is forgiven and then he is useful who will go unto this nation under condemnation under judgment now listen to this carefully to warn them of what is coming this is humble this is willingness this is brokenness here am i send me that that's been used so many times for a missionary call but people don't get the rest of the story verse 9 from heaven the word comes go go and tell his people hear just exactly what i am looking for someone who understands my sovereignty and my holiness someone who has been touched with the atonement provided by christ on the cross who has gone through repentance atonement and cleansing go and tell this people so what do i tell them lord are you ready for this here's where you tell them it's too late it's too late it's what you tell them too late are you kidding no look at verse 8 keep on listening but don't perceive keep on looking but don't understand render the hearts of this people insensitive their ears dull their eyes dim otherwise they might see with their eyes here with their ears understand with their hearts and return and be healed that is not the commission that you have associated with jeremiah send me go tell them it's too late go tell them they can see and hear but not understand go tell them that it's too late their hearts are insensitive their ears are dull their eyes are dim so that they cannot see with their eyes they cannot hear with their ears they cannot understand with their hearts they cannot return and be healed go tell them it's too late by the time you're this far down in the cycle of judgment you can't repent you can't believe this is judicial blindness judicial hardening the hour is dark the judgment is sure the doom is inevitable and the future is decided go and preach judgment i don't hear that being preached i don't hear that being preached tell this nation it is too late it is too late when jesus came he preached the same message this passage from isaiah verses 9 and 10 you will find in matthew mark and luke matthew 13 mark 4 luke 8 and jesus said the same thing it's too late it's too late it's too late listen to what john said about this in recording our lord's judgment john 12 37 but though he had performed so many signs before them and they were not believing in him this is the israel of the first century we were looking at the israel of the eighth century with isaiah now we're looking at the israel of the first century he had performed so many signs before them yet they were not believing in him this was to fulfill the word of isaiah the prophet which he spoke lord who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the lord been revealed that's from isaiah 53 1 for this reason they could not believe for isaiah said again and here comes the passage we just read out of isaiah 6 he has blinded their eyes hardened their heart so they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart and be converted and i heal them these things isaiah said because he saw his glory and he spoke of him this means that the vision was of christ as we said jesus gave the same message isaiah gave it's too late it's too late it's too late to illustrate that look at verse 42 many even of the rulers believed in him but because of the pharisees they were not confessing him for fear they would be put out of the synagogue for they love the approval of men rather than the approval of god too late even those who wanted to believe couldn't believe they were held captive by pleasing men so what is the message to this culture message is the same message that isaiah gave it's too late it is the same message that jesus gave it's too late and at the end of acts if you look at chapter 28. verse 23 they said a day for paul they came to him at the lodging in large numbers and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of god and trying to persuade them concerning jesus from both the law of moses and from the prophets from morning until evening still trying to talk to the jews some were being persuaded by the things spoken but others would not believe and when they did not agree with one another they began leaving after paul had spoken one parting word the holy spirit rightly spoke through isaiah the prophet to your fathers you're no different than what isaiah saw saying go to this people and say you'll keep on hearing you will not understand you'll keep on seeing you will not perceive for the heart of this people has become dull their ears they with their ears they scarcely hear they have closed their eyes otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and return and i would heal them verse 28 therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of god has been sent to the gentiles they will also listen the final turning from israel in the eighth century in the first century with jesus and with paul the message to this nation that had cycled into god's wrath is it is too late it is too late now go back for a closing from isaiah 6. now if i had been isaiah and that had been my commission i would have asked what he asked verse 11. then i said lord how long how long do you want me to do this since judgment has come and it's too late how long do i preach this judgment message now get this how contrary is this to evangelical conventional wisdom about how you approach the unconverted world in which we live with this schmaltzy god loves you and he's just holding his breath in hopes that you'll run to him how long can he answer until cities are devastated without inhabitant houses are without people and the land is utterly desolate and the lord has removed men far away and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land you do it until there's not a soul left here to talk to until no one's left you just keep doing it and what are you saying to them it's too late it's too late it's too late now you wouldn't believe and now you can't believe why would i do that what's the point this comes to the promise which is the final thing in verse 13. this is um challenging in the hebrew i'll just give you the the gist of it yet there will be a tenth portion in it and it will again be subject to burning like a terabyte or an oak whose stump remains when it is fell the holy seed is its stump when everything is burned down there'll be a tenth this is the doctrine of the remnant there'll be a holy seed what is that referring to the holy seed is the elect the chosen people why do you preach judgment until there is no one left because there is a holy seed there is a remnant there is a stump back to psalm 81 again and verse 11. but my people did not listen to my voice and israel did not obey me so i gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart to walk in their own devices and then this oh that my people would listen to me that israel would walk in my ways i would quickly subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their adversaries those who hate the lord would pretend obedience to him and their time of punishment would be forever but i would feed you with the finest of the wheat and with honey from the rock i would satisfy you did you see that verse 13 oh that my people would listen to me and israel would walk in my ways if you would turn i would bless you that is obviously the promise of the remnant if you turn i will bless you go back to isaiah 1. i read you down through verse 9. let's pick it up in verse 10. hear the word of the lord you rulers of sodom this is really referring to the people of judah in jerusalem he's identifying them as if they were sodom and gomorrah and you people of gomorrah what are your multiplied sacrifices to me says the lord i've had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle and i take no pleasure in the blood of bulls lambs and goats when you come to appear before me who requires of you this trampling of my courts bring your worthless offerings no longer incense is an abomination to me new moon and sabbath the calling of assemblies i cannot endure iniquity in the solemn assembly i hate your new moon festivals your appointed feasts they have become a burden to me i'm weary of bearing them so when you spread out your hands in prayer i'll hide my eyes from you yes even though you multiply prayers i will not listen your hands are covered with blood so he says i don't want your religion i don't want your religion then the invitation beautiful verse 16 wash yourselves make yourselves clean remove the evil of your deeds from my sight cease to do evil learn to do good seek justice reprove the ruthless defend the orphan plead for the widow come now and let us reason together says the lord though your sins are as scarlet they will be as white as snow though they are red like crimson they will be like wool i'll cleanse you if you repent too late for the nation but not too late for those who are penitent too late for our nation but not too late for the remnant right for the holy seed in closing mark 11. mark i'm not 11 but 12 mark 12. jesus here draws from isaiah 5. began to speak to them in parables a man planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower oh that sounds familiar doesn't it right out of isaiah 5. only he says in this case this has to refer to israel right because he's referring to isaiah 5 which is israel so the lord is telling another parable a parable about israel and he says it adding to it and rented it out to vine growers and went on a journey at the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine growers in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine growers they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed and he sent another slave they wounded him in the head and treated him shamefully he sent another and the one they killed and so with many others beating some and killing others this is israel and what they did to the prophets isn't it that's how far gone they were he had one more to sin in verse six a beloved son and the beloved is the one who owned the vineyard in isaiah 5. he sent him last of all to them saying they will respect my son but those vine growers said to one another this is the heir come let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours they took him and killed him threw him out of the vineyard what will the owner of the vineyard do he will come and destroy the vine growers and give the vineyard to others stop there this is where we are preachers of truth are vilified one of our graduates of the seminary is in prison in canada for preaching they're going to crank up the hostility against those who preach the truth people are worried about freedom of religion there's always freedom for false religion it belongs to the darkness this is a picture of the father sending the son and they killed him so when the culture silences the preachers and resents the son if you reject christ you're guilty of crucifying him afresh right our society would crucify jesus again if he were here but that's not the end of the story quoting from psalm 118 verse 10 have you not even read this scripture the stone which the builders rejected this became the chief cornerstone this came about from the lord and it is marvelous in our eyes what is that the resurrection yes they rejected the stone they killed him but he became the chief cornerstone the miracle of the resurrection so christ triumphant resurrection over his enemies is the culminating marvel of our proclamation you may reject the son but he lives and he reigns and he is sovereign he is the chief cornerstone it is marvelous in our eyes it says we will give the vineyard to others who's that church so now we are the possessors of the the vineyard of the beloved son and our responsibility is to care for that vineyard on behalf of the one who is the chief cornerstone having risen from the dead and to proclaim to the culture around us too late for the nation but not too late for you who knows but that you are one of god's chosen how do you know that cry out to him and see if he hears and gives you salvation father we thank you for your word so rich and full and we feel like we've barely touched the surface of these profound realities but it gives us a sense of history a sense of the reality of the world in which we live and of the world in all its history to understand that it's moving inexorably toward the coming of christ the establishment of his kingdom the destruction of the ungodly the reign of the saints and the new heaven and the new earth but in the process of that linear sovereign unchanging plan there are cycles in which nations rise and fall and you let them go their own way you abandon them you leave them alone we saw it with israel even they couldn't avoid it and nor can our nation and the nations of the world in our day may we be faithful to be the isaias who see you as the sovereign and are comforted by that who see you as holy and are terrified by that understand the reality of your holiness and our sinfulness come to you for cleansing come to you for atonement and forgiveness and then represent you in proclaiming judgment not that judgment is about to come but judgment is here it's too late for this nation but there is a remnant there is a remnant to them we can say though your sins be as scarlet they can be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they can become like wool may we preach both judgment and gospel grace and forgiveness and may this church become a light shining in the dark world for your glory may there be many here who say here am i send me and will be used to proclaim the reality of judgment and the surprising offer of saving grace to the end that you would be glorified in your son's name amen thank you john if if i'm able to get you and patricia more great grandkids will you come back we really want to thank you a lot of you don't know john has been from the very beginning with us years ago three four years ago we were on the phone with me matt and mark he was encouraging us guiding us we wouldn't know steve lawson if it wasn't for john we wouldn't have these great men like austin duncan and paul twist and others that have come from master seminary if john wouldn't share them with us thank you for doing that john we even use your sunday school material for the kids we use the hymnals from grace and so he has been a tremendous blessing i know god builds a church but he's used you we have a little gift we want to give you it we're going to play a little two-minute time lapse of 45 hours of work and we want you to see this and then we'll give it to you [Music] up here max is a young man come on up john max is a young man in our church who's never been trained formally and he drew that with a pencil can you believe it [Music] and he's incredibly talented but if he may be more talented as a preacher max you're 20. he is taking online courses at masters university he wants to be a preacher and god's given him this talent and this is entitled the preacher's preacher and it is thank you from trinity bible church [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] i listened to 118 messages of revelation from grace community church while doing it [Laughter] so i was more blessed so max has copies of these i'm sure you may want them but john we're so thankful and uh we hope that you'll remember how much we are appreciative of what you've done for us

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Published: Mon Mar 15 2021