Sermon #72                                                            Series:  Isaiah

 

          Title:       Yet They Would Not Hear

          Text:       Isaiah 28:1-13

          Subject:  The Privilege and Responsibility Of  Hearing  the

                         Word Of God

          Date:       Tuesday Evening - February 26, 1991

          Tape #

 

          Introduction:

 

          I want to make three statements, by way of introduction, that will lay the foundation of my message tonight.  I hope you will write them down and frequently meditate upon them throughout the days of your life.  These three statements will pave the way for everything else I have to say to you tonight.

 

1.   The greatest privilege the Lord God can bestow upon any man or woman in this world is the privilege of hearing his Word.

 

          The greatest blessing God ever gave to any man, any woman, any community is the blessing of a faithful gospel ministry.

 

·        A Gospel Church.

·        A Gospel Preacher.

 

If God has given you the privilege of hearing his Word, he has given you the means of grace (Rom. 10:17; Heb. 4:12; James 1:18; I Pet. 1:23-25).  If God has given you the privilege of hearing his Word, he has given you the opportunity…

 

·        To know the Living God.

·        To be Saved by His Grace.

·        To Know His Will.

·        To be Fed with Knowledge and Understanding.

·        To find Comfort and Rest for your Weary Soul.

 

Every believer ought to cherish the privilege of sitting under and being a part of a faithful, gospel ministry.  This is the ascension gift of Christ to his people (Eph. 4:8-12; I Thess. 5:12-13).

 

2.   The greatest curse God can ever bring upon anyone this side of hell is to remove the light of his word and silence the voice of his preacher.

 

          God never leaves himself without a witness.  But he does take his light away from those who refuse to walk in it and gives it to others.  When God refuses to speak, when God silences the voice of his prophet, when God stops the mouth of his preacher, men and women are left to themselves, to grope about in the darkness of religion without God!

 

·        The 400 years of silence.

·        The blindness of Israel.

 

                             Illus:  John Bunyan’s 12 years in  the  Bedford

                                       Jail.

 

3.   The greatest responsibility ever placed upon a man is the responsibility of the Word of God.

 

          It is my responsibility to preach the gospel in the name of God, as God’s ambassador, to eternity bound men and women!  This is God’s word to me: “He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully” (Jer. 23:28).  If I fail to do so, God will hold me responsible for your blood.  Their “blood will I require at thine hand” (Eph. 3:17; I Cor. 9:16; II Tim. 4:16).  That is an awesome, heavy, heavy responsibility.

 

          But you who hear the gospel also have an awesome weight of responsibility.  It is your responsibility to obey the Word of God.  God will hold you responsible for every gospel sermon you ever heard, or had an opportunity to hear (II Cor. 2:15-16).  If you do not obey the gospel, in the day of judgment you will be judged by the gospel.

 

          Now, with these things in mind, I want you to turn back to that portion of Scripture that I read to you at the opening of our service this evening - Isaiah 28:1-13.  This is a prophecy of God’s judgment upon Ephraim, the ten northern tribes of Israel.  It speaks of the time when Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, would be sent as an instrument of God’s wrath upon Ephraim to destroy the kingdom of Ephraim.  Read verses 11-12.   Here is the reason why God destroyed Ephraim - “Yet they would not hear!”  What an indictment!  God sent them his word.  “Yet they would not hear!”

 

Proposition:  Because they would not hear the Word of God, God destroyed Ephraim in the day of his anger.

 

Divisions:  I call your attention to 5 things clearly revealed in these thirteen verses.  Give me your attention.  These things have been written in the Book of God for our learning and admonition.

 

1.   The Equity and Justice Of Divine Judgment (vv. 1-4).

2.   The Abundance Of God’s Grace (vv. 5-6).

3.   The Sovereignty and Freeness Of God’s Mercy (vv. 7-8).

4.   The Method Of Divine Instruction (vv. 9-11).

5.   The Responsibility of Obedience To the Word Of God (vv. 12-13).

 

I.      THE EQUITY AND JUSTICE OF DIVINE JUDGMENT (vv. 1-4).

 

          God had been good to Ephraim.  He had given Ephraim the richest most fertile land of Canaan.  He had given them His Word, his ordinances, his prophets, and his priests.  But Ephraim despised God’s goodness and refused his Word and polluted his ordinances.  Therefore God determined to destroy Ephraim.              

 

                   Note:  Judgment is always a matter  of retribution.  It

                               is God dealing  with  men  according  to  their

                               sins - The greater the  sin,   the   greater   the

                               judgment (Matt. 11:20-24).

 

A.  Ephraim had become puffed up with pride - Therefore God was determined to cast her down.

          There is nothing that God hates like he hates pride.  Those who exalt themselves, God will abase.  Those who lift themselves up, God will cast down.  Pride is the forerunner of destruction.

 

B. Ephraim had become intoxicated with the wine of idolatry - Therefore God gave Ephraim up to a reprobate mind.

 

          I have no doubt that the inhabitants of Ephraim were guilty of drunkenness in a literal sense.  But the drunkenness for which God destroyed the nation was idolatry (Hosea 4:17).  This is the drunkenness for which God destroys men and nations today (Rev. 17:1-2; II Thess. 2:7-12).

 

          Note:  The wine of Babylon is the doctrine of Babylon.

 

·        The Degradation of God.

·        The Exaltation of Man.

 

God’s judgment upon Ephraim was a remarkable work of providence.

 

1.   It was God’s sovereign work - Shalmaneser was God’s strong one!

2.   It was God’s sudden work - “a flood - a hail storm.”

3.   It was God’s swift work - Shalmaneser gobbled up Ephraim like a man hastily picking grapes and eating them.

4.   It was God’s thorough work.

 

II.   THE ABUNDANCE OF GOD’S GRACE (vv. 5-6).

 

          The Apostle Paul wrote, “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound (Rom. 5:20).  And we have an example of God’s super abounding grace in these two verses.  In wrath God remembered mercy.  He showed the severity of his justice in the destruction of Ephraim.  Now he shows the goodness of his grace in the preservation of Judah.

 

          Judah, here called “the residue of his people,” was God’s elect from among the fallen nation.  When Ephraim was carried away into Assyrian bondage, God gave his favor to Judah, during the days of Hezekiah and Josiah.  During that time the Lord God was the glory and the beauty of his people.  And he gave those two godly kings of Judah the spirit of judgment and strength, to rule his people and to conquer their enemies.  But this prophecy speaks of One greater than Hezekiah and Josiah.  This is a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great King of kings.

 

A.  There is, among the fallen sons of men, a remnant according to the election of grace (Rom. 11:5-6).

 

          This elect remnant is “the residue of his people,” chosen by the Lord God himself in everlasting love, and foreordained to eternal life in Christ before the worlds were made (John 15:16; II Thess. 2:13-14).

 

B. The Lord Jesus Christ himself, “the Lord of hosts,” is the glory and beauty of his people - (Ezek. 16:6-14).

 

1.   He washed us in his blood.

2.   He ruled us in his righteousness.

3.   He sanctified us by his Spirit.

4.   We are complete in him (Col. 2:10).

 

C. And Christ shall be to us for “a crown of glory” in eternity.

 

          The Bible promises crowns to God’s elect, whereby we shall be crowned in eternity.  We are told that there is a crown of life, a crown of rejoicing, an incorruptible crown, a crown of righteousness, and a crown of glory.  But these crowns are all found in the Person of our dear Savior.  Christ is our crown of glory.  Christ is our diadem of beauty.

 

          Let me say it one more time - There are no degrees of reward in heaven.  Those who teach such a doctrine speak in direct contradiction to the gospel of the grace of God.  How can there be any degrees of reward in heaven?  How can there be any crowns and rewards earned by us……

 

 

1.   If all that we do is marred by sin?  Will the holy God reward sin?

2.   If there are no sorrows in heaven?  Would not the loss of reward constitute sorrow?

3.   If our basis of acceptance with God is Christ alone?  Are we only partially accepted in Christ?

4.   If salvation is altogether grace?  Is the fullest revelation and enjoyment of salvation dependent upon our works?

5.   If God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places from eternity?  Did God forget something?  Did God leave something out?

 

          Here is the abundance of God’s grace.  Grace chose us.  Grace put us in Christ.  And grace has made us heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ!  (Rom. 8:17; John 17:1, 5, 22).

 

D. And Christ, who is our glory and beauty is our everlasting King.

 

·        He rules in the spirit of wisdom!

·        He rules in the strength of omnipotence!

 

III. THE SOVEREIGNTY AND FREENESS OF GOD’S MERCY (vv. 7-8).

 

          The men of Judah were just as vile and guilty as the men of Ephraim.  They had committed the same crimes.  They had profaned the ordinances of God with the vomit of superstition and the excrement of idolatry, through the drunkenness of will worship, just as fully as the men of Ephraim.  What was the difference between Ephraim and Judah?  God chose Judah!  God was merciful to Judah!

 

          Grace is sovereign!  Grace is free!  Grace is unconditional!  And grace is distinguishing!  (Read I Cor. 4:7).

 

IV. THE METHOD OF DIVINE INSTRUCTION (vv. 9-11).

 

A.  God will teach none but the humble (v. 9; Matt. 11:25-26; 19:14).

B. God teaches his children with care (v. 10).

·        Divine Instruction is Simple and Clear.

·        Divine Instruction is Progressive.

·        Divine Instruction is Repetitious.

 

C. God teaches his children by the most unlikely teachers (v. 11; I Cor. 1:26-29; II Cor. 4:7).

 

V.  THE RESPONSIBILITY OF OBEDIENCE TO THE WORD OF GOD (vv. 12-13).

 

          When God, by his servants, instructs men in his Word, he calls them to rest in Christ (Matt. 11:28).  The knowledge of Christ, and the blessed doctrines of grace in him, is rest and peace for weary sinners.

 

Note:  When God’s servants speak his Word, by the power of his Spirit, God speaks by them - “To whom he said.”

 

          Those who stumble at the Word of God through unbelief, being disobedient to it, shall be condemned by it - (Matt. 21:44; I Pet. 2:8).  If the gospel is not a savor of life unto life, it will be a savor of death unto death.

 

Application:  God will not trifle with men and women who trifle with his Word - (Pro. 1:23-33).

 

·        The Equity and Justice of Divine Judgment.

·        The Abundance of God’s Grace.

·        The Sovereignty and Freeness of God’s Mercy.

·        The Method of Divine Instruction.

·        The Responsibility of Hearing and Obeying the Word of God.