Sermon
# 140 Series: Isaiah
Title: The Judgment of God Upon
Babylon
Text: Isaiah 47:1-15
Subject: Divine Judgment Illustrated
in Babylon’s Destruction
Date: Sunday Evening – February 14, 1993
Introduction:
1. Throughout the Scriptures Babylon represents false religion. Babylon is the great whore of Revelation. Babylon is freewill, works religion- All
false religion is freewill, works religion- (Gen. 11:1-9).
Babylon
has many names, many creeds, many denominations, many religions. The servants of God and the people of God
are one and speak with one voice- “Salvation is of the Lord!”
2. The Lord God calls for his
people to come out of Babylon- (Rev. 18:4; Isa. 48:20; 52:11; Jer. 51:6; II Cor. 6:17).
If
you are yet trying to embrace the people of Babylon, it is time for you to make
a decision. Either come out or
perish! You cannot walk with Christ and
satan. You cannot be saved by God’s
free grace and continue to worship at the altar of freewill. You must come out of Babylon!
Illus: Baptism – The Mark of
Separation.
3. Babylon is marked for
Destruction – This
cage of every foul spirit and every unclean thing must be and will be
destroyed. This murderess of God’s
prophets and of his saints shall be overthrown in the wrath of God (Rev.
18:1-3; 21-24).
My
subject tonight is The Judgment of God Upon
Babylon. Isaiah 47 is a prophecy, it is
a prophetic song celebrating God’s destruction of Babylon and his salvation of
his people by the hand of Cyrus. But
this prophecy looks beyond the physical city of Babylon and the deliverance of
the Jews.
Proposition: The destruction of Babylon portrayed in these fifteen
verses is prophetic of God’s judgment upon the religions of this world by which
the souls of men have been and are being deceived.
I. The Judgment of God shall be
thorough and Just (vv. 1-3).
With
God judgment is a matter of justice, a vindication of righteousness, the
avenging of his holiness. The wheels of
divine justice often grind slowly. Babylon got by with her abuses against Israel
for years and years. Then judgment
came, and Babylon was gone! The wheels
of justice grind slow; but they grind to powder.
II. But, the God of Judgment is
also the God of Mercy, He is the Redeemer of All Who Trust Him (v. 4).
While
Isaiah wrote God’s word of judgment he could not refrain from interjecting a
word of grace and hope. The fourth
verse is light in the midst of darkness.
Blessed be God…
III. God in Great Mercy Chastens
His Erring People That He Might Preserve Them in His Grace- (v. 5).
He
used Babylon to chasten his people, to do them good. Yet, Babylon was responsible for the evil she did to his
people. God uses even the wicked deeds
of reprobate men against his people to do them good.
Note: Judgment begins at the house of God; but it never
ends there! (I Pet. 4:17; Heb 12:5)
IV. God’s Judgment is Always a
Matter of Retribution and Justice.
In verses 6-15 the Lord God tells the Babylonian exactly why he was determined to destroy them.
A. Their Cruelty to His People- (v. 6).
Note: God will avenge his elect!
B. Their Pride and Carnal Security- (vv. 7-9).
Illus: A Refuge of Lies (Isa. 28:14).
C. Their Conceit, Their Confidence in
Themselves and Their Contempt of God (v. 10).
D. Their Idolatrous Superstitions and Sorceries
(vv. 11-15).
Application:
1. The Judgment of God is Sure.
2. The Judgment of God will fall upon you Suddenly.
3. The Judgment of God is Just.
4. The Judgment of God is Endless.
5. The Judgment of God will Cause No Sorrow to the Redeemed. (Rev. 19:1-6).
6. Your Religion will not save you from The Judgment of God (Matt. 7:22-23).
7. The Only One who can save you from the Judgment of God is Christ, the Son of God, who bore the Judgment of God For Sinners!