Sermon #8 Series: Isaiah

Title: What Will It Take To Save You?

Text: Isaiah 1:25

Subject: God’s Purging of His People

Date: Sunday Evening - May 7, 1989

Tape #

Introduction:

In this first chapter of Isaiah we have seen five things thus far.

1. The Universal Depravity of Our Race (vv. 2-8).

2. The Certain Salvation of An Elect Remnant (v. 9).

3. The Uselessness of Religion Without Christ (vv. 10-15).

4. The Impossibility of Self-Salvation (vv. 16-17).

5. The Promise of Eternal Salvation To All Who Come To God By Faith In Christ (v. 18).

But What Will It Take To Save You? That is the question I want you to consider tonight. What Will It Take To Save You? I know this . . . It will take more than -

· I have been able to do for you.

· Your friends and relatives can do for you.

· This church can do for you.

· You can do for yourself.

Proposition: “Salvation is of the Lord!”

Divisions: If you are ever saved, if ever you and I are brought into a saving union of faith with Christ, it will be the work of God alone. Salvation is the result of . . .

1. A Divine Resolution

2. A Divine Redemption

3. A Divine Regeneration

4. A Divine Restoration

I. I know this, no one can ever be saved without A DIVINE RESOLUTION that he be saved.

Our text speaks not of man’s resolution to turn to God, but of God’s resolution to turn his hand of mercy upon his elect remnant.

· The Person Speaking here is God.

· The Ones Spoken of and Spoken to are God’s Elect Remnant.

· The Thing Being Described is Salvation.

A. Salvation begins with the will of God (Rom. 9:11-18).

Election alone is not salvation. But without election there would be no salvation. This is what Isaiah declares in verse 9. All of God’s people gladly confess -

“ ‘Tis not that I did choose Thee,

For, Lord, that could not be:

This heart would still refuse Thee,

Hadst Thou not chosen me.

My heart owns none before Thee,

For Thy rich grace I thirst,

This knowing - If I love Thee,

Thou must have loved me first.”

Salvation is not by the will of man, but by the will of God. Salvation is not by the works of man, but by the work of God. Salvation does not begin with man turning to God, but with God turning to man - Salvation begins with the will of God. He says, “I will.”

B. And salvation is accomplished by the hand of God’s omnipotent, irresistible grace - “I will turn my hand upon thee.”

· Not the hand of affliction and chastisement.

· Not the hand of vengeance and wrath.

· The hand of his efficacious grace (Zech. 13:7; Isa. 63:5; 59:16; Ps. 110:3; 65:4).

Sinners are converted and turned to God when he turns his hand upon them. You will be converted, you will come to Christ, when he turns his almighty hand upon you.

1. He plucks his elect as brands from the burning.

2. He snatches his redeemed ones from the power of satan.

3. He turns the hearts of his beloved to himself (Song of Solomon 5:1-4).

When God turns his hand upon a sinner . . .

a. He breaks him - (Job 19:21).

b. He changes him - (Jacob - Gen. 32:24-32).

c. He restores him - (Hosea & Gomer - Hos. 2:1-23).

C. The objects of salvation are God’s elect - “I will turn my hand upon thee.”

The objects of God’s saving purpose, saving purchase, and saving power are the same. If God turns his hand upon you to save you, this is proof that he loved you from eternity, chose you in election, and redeemed you by the blood of his dear son.

So salvation begins with a divine resolution. But God’s resolution to save is not all it takes to save sinners like us. Our sins must be punished. Justice must be satisfied. Righteousness must be upheld.

II. The salvation of sinners requires A DIVINE REDEMPTION.

Before a holy and just God can save a fallen, guilty sinner, our sins must be purged away. Therefore, he says, “I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross.” If you have a marginal reference, you will notice that the text might be read, “I will purge away thy dross according to pureness, or according to righteousness.”

This is a prophecy of Christ’s redemptive work (Mal. 3:1-3). Dross represents iniquity, transgression, and sin. Before God can or will save any man, his sins must be purged away.

A. It is a very difficult thing to purge away sin.

1. Not all the sacrifices and ceremonies of the law could put away one sin (Heb. 10:1-4).

· They were many.

· They were costly.

· They were ordained of God.

· But they could not purge away sin.

2. No work performed by man can purge away sin.

3. No amount of suffering which men endure can purge away sin.

Illustration: “Purgatory”

B. But the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s dear Son, has completely purged away all the sins of God’s elect by His death as the sinner’s substitute (Heb. 9:26).

· Our sins are imputed to Him (II Cor. 5:21).

· Our sins were punished in Him (Gal. 3:13).

· Our sins were put away by Him (Ps. 103:12; Isa. 43:25; 44:22)

Illustration: The Boy and the Vase!

III. Still something more is required. Our text spoke of a divine resolution and a divine redemption. But before any sinner can see and enter into the kingdom of heaven he must be born again by A DIVINE REGENERATION.

In redemption Christ purged our sins away, blotting them out of the book of God’s law. He purged our record in the court of heaven. But in regeneration and conversion he purges his elect from the guilt and dominion of sin by the power of his spirit.

· Justification is redemption accomplished (Heb. 9:12).

· Regeneration, sanctification, and conversion is redemption applied (Heb. 9:14; John 3:5-7; Tit. 3:4-7).

A. In regeneration and conversion God purges the dross of sin from His elect.

“Not that sin, as to the being of it, is removed from them; that dwells in them, and divides them; and, like dross is a heavy burden, a dead weight upon them, and will be whilst they are in this tabernacle, and makes them groan, being burdened” (John Gill).

1. The guilt of sin is purged away.

2. The power of sin is purged away.

“All iniquity is caused to pass from them, and they are clothed with a change of raiment, the righteousness of Christ, by which they are justified from all things, and are pure, spotless, and without fault before the throne” (John Gill).

B. And in conversion God takes away the tin of our self-righteousness.

He removes the dross of our sin and the tin of our self-righteousness - tin has the appearance of silver. And our righteousness’s have the appearance of nobility. But we must be stripped of them (Phil. 3:3-9).

No one will ever be saved until he gives up all hope of personal righteousness. And no one will ever give up his own righteousness until he is born of God.

Salvation requires:

· A DIVINE RESOLUTION.

· A DIVINE REDEMPTION.

· A DIVINE REGENERATION.

IV. And, fourthly, whenever God saves a sinner, there will be A DIVINE RESTORATION (vv. 26-27). (Compare Hos. 2:18-20).

God will restore his elect to righteousness and faithfulness, because he has redeemed us with justice and righteousness.