Sermon # 143 Series: Isaiah
Title: Mercy’s Master Motive
Text: Isaiah 48:9-11
Subject: God’s Motive In Grace – His Own Glory
Date: Sunday Evening – March 7, 1993
Introduction:
Such is the immutability of God’s purpose that no circumstance in time can alter it. Such is the immutability of God’s love that he cannot allow the objects of his love to perish. Such is the immutability of God’s grace that he will never cast off his people whom he foreknew. We see these things clearly set before us in our text.
God sent Israel into Babylon because of her great sin not to destroy her in wrath, but to refine her in mercy. No sooner did he lay his rod upon his erring children until his heart began to yearn for them. Even before they had been brought into such cruel bondage, the Lord God saw his people in Babylon sitting in sorrow by the river of that pagan, strange land, their harps hanging silently upon the willows, and weeping at the remembrance of Zion and the house of God. Looking upon the people of his love, the children of his covenant, whom he had chosen, the Lord God looked for a reason to deliver them. He searched for a reason to be merciful to his people.
God never acts without a reason. But what reason could be found for the saving of this obstinate, stubborn people from the Babylonian captors?
When no reason for mercy could be found anywhere else God
fell back upon himself and found a reason in himself to be merciful and
gracious to his chosen—(Read the reason God gives for his mercy – vv.
9-11). The title of my message is Mercy’s Master Motive.
Proposition: God’s motive in all his acts of mercy, love, and grace to fallen, hell-deserving sinners is the glory of his own great name- (Ps. 106: 8).
I have given you the historical setting of our text. Now I want to give you the blessed, glorious message of grace it contains.
I. God’s Motive In All His Great Works Of
Grace, Above All Else Is The Praise and Glory of His Great Name.
The Triune God will be glorified by all his works of creation and providence. Even in the judgment of the wicked, our great God will be glorified. But none of these works of God truly and fully set forth the glory of his great Being. Yet, he has arranged a plan, a scheme, a purpose of grace that will ultimately show forth all the riches and all the glory of the triune God. God’s purpose in saving sinners, and his purpose in saving sinners the way he does is to glorify his name- (I Cor. 1:26-31; Eph. 1:3-14; 2:4-7).
A. Election Glorifies His Sovereignty.
B. Redemption Glorifies All His Attributes.
C. Regeneration Glorifies His Effectual Grace and Power.
D. Presentation Glorifies His Immutable Love.
Note: If God’s primary object in all things is the glory of his name, that certainly ought to be our primary object as we seek to serve him. If our object is the glory of God we never have reason to compromise.
Illus: Elijah (I Kings 18:37).
II. No Reason Can Be Found For The Salvation Of Any Sinner Except In God Himself- (Ezek. 36:21-23).
Suppose there is one sitting here whom the Lord has purposed to save. He has ordained you to eternal life and predestinated you to be conformed to the image of his dear Son, by whose blood you have been redeemed. Perhaps today he will begin to deal with your soul in a way of grace. If he does, where will he find you?
A. God Finds The Sinner So Bitterly Ruined And
Depraved That There Is In The Sinner No Argument For Mercy And No Plea For
Grace.
Grace never finds men seeking the Lord. Grace found us fleeing from God. Grace made us seek him. But it did not find us seeking him.
Illus: “Have you found the Lord?” “I didn’t know he was lost; but I was, and he found me!”
· God found Adam hiding behind a bush, hiding behind his fig leaves.
· The Lord found us naked, polluted, and cast out (Ezek. 16:1-8).
Have you been awakened to a sense of your true condition before God? Do you crave his pardon for your sins? If so, I ask you upon calm, honest reflection, can you find any reason why God should pardon you in yourself? None! Looking within, you can find every reason why you should be damned, but not one reason why you should be saved.
1. You have been treacherous from the womb (Ps. 53:8).
2. You have been obstinate in your rebellion.
3. You have sinned against God with high-handed impudence.
4. You are totally depraved! – From the soul of your foot to the crown of your head there is nothing in you but sin, wounds, and burses, and petrifying sores!
5. And you know that you will never change – You dare not think about promising to change, even if God should have mercy upon you – Will you now confess your sin? (Ps. 51: 1-5; I John 1: 9).
“My lips, with shame, my sins confess
Against Thy law, against Thy grace;
Lord, should Thy judgment be severe,
I am condemned, but Thou art clear!
Should sudden vengeance size my breath,
I must pronounce Thee just in death;
And, if my soul were sent to hell,
Thy righteous law approves it well!”
God finds no reason for mercy in the sinner!
B. But God Does Find Reason For Mercy in Himself! (v. 9).
God’s object in saving sinners is that saved sinners should adore and praise him for his grace (Mic. 7:18-20), and that in the regions of the damned lost worlds be astonished at his goodness toward his elect (Eph. 2:7).
1. When God would magnify his patience and longsuffering he subdues an old scoffer.
2. When he wills to magnify his mercy, he saves a hard-hearted harlot – ( John 8: 1-12; Lk. 7: 42).
3. When the Lord is pleased to show the irresistible power of his grace, he conquers the stout-hearted rebel.
4. When God wants to display the immutability of his love, he fetches home the wandering prodigal from the hog pen.
5. When the Lord God was pleased to magnify his mercy, exalt his grace, display his longsuffering, and show the immutability of his love – He saved me! When he revealed Christ to me, I could not resist his grace!
“I yield – by mighty love subdued,
Who can resist it’s charms?
I throw myself, by wrath pursued,
Into my Savior’s arms!”
6. Thank God for his almighty, irresistible, saving grace--
Grace makes all things new! (II Cor. 5:17).
· The Lion becomes A Lamb!
· Manasseh is made a zealous servant of God!
· Jacob is transformed into Israel!
· Gomer is Made a Faithful Wife!
7. The only cause for grace is grace! “I will love them freely!
III. Now, look at
verse 10 and listen carefully as The
Lord God Condescends To Explain His Dealings With You.
Perhaps you have been brought very low. Maybe the Lord has brought some hard things upon you. It may be that God has been beating you hard with the rod of his providence. But his strokes have been measured and they have come with a gracious purpose. God says, “I have refined thee, but not with silver!”
Silver requires greater heat than any other metal for its refinement. What does the Lord mean, when he says, “I have refined thee, but not with silver?”
A. God Has A Gracious Purpose In The
Afflictive Providences He Brings Upon Chosen Sinners.
God has not brought upon you the severest of troubles. He has chastened you. But he hasn’t slain you. He has not dealt with you as you deserve. You have been made to suffer; but your strokes are fewer than you deserve. God’s purpose all along has been to refine you, to purge away all dross and purify you – (Mal. 3:1-3).
1. Afflictions alone will never have any good effect upon men.
2. But afflictions accompanied by the gracious influence of God’s Spirit do much good.
· Destroy Self-Righteousness!
· Humble Proud Hearts!
· Expose Our Sin!
· Show Us Our Need of Grace!
Note: The proud prodigal would never have “come to himself,” or “come to his Father,” had he not come to the hog pin!
3. And afflictions accompanied by the revelation of Christ in the gospel are often the means God uses to save his elect – (Ps. 107).
B. The Time of Trouble Is God’s Chosen Season For Revealing His Everlasting Love To His Elect – “I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction!”
This verse does not teach that God’s election takes place in time. God’s election took place before the world began (Eph. 1:4). But, more often than not, God reveals his electing love to chosen sinners when they are almost consumed with trouble, when they are brought down to the very gates of hell – (Hosea 2:6-23).
I never heard the
Lord say, “I have chosen thee” until…
· My Heart Broke under Pain of Conviction!
· I was Stripped of All Imaginary Righteousness!
· He had Emptied Me of All Personal Worth!
· The Fires of Hell Burned In My Soul!
C. Then, notice in
verse 11 and echo of verse 9 – Here The
Lord Repeats Himself And Again Shows Us Mercy’s Master Motive.
1. Sinner, God cannot and will not save you for your own sake, because you are not worth saving!
Others will lie to you. They tell you that “U” are needed. “We can’t spell-
· Church without U!”
· Sunday without U!”
· Budget without U!”
· Success without U!”
You an’t that important! Neither am I! We are not worth saving. We are nothing. We have nothing. We can do nothing good. And if we all come to nothing, nothing will be lost!
2. But God will save every sinner who comes to him by faith in Christ for his own name’s sake! (John 6: 37-40).
The honor and glory of his name is at stake.
a. He swore that he would in the covenant – (Heb. 6: 37-40).
b. He promises he will in the gospel (Rom. 10: 9-13).
If you will now come to God trusting Jesus Christ Alone as your Lord and Savior, though you are all but already in hell, God will not and cannot reject you! He will not allow his name to be polluted. He will not give his glory to another. And were it possible for a sinner to perish while trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s glory would go over to satan!
IV. I am done when I have Applied my text to
God’s Fallen Saints, His Backsliding Children.
You may not prefer to use the term “backsliding;” but God does, so I suppose it will be okay for me to. Some of God’s true saints are at times as “a backsliding heifer” (Hosea 4: 16). But the Lord God declares, “I will heal their backsliding” (Hosea 14: 4). Certainly those are the people to whom our text is most particularly addressed.
A. In many ways the sins of backsliding believers are even more censerous than the sins of others. You have sinned against…
· Light and Knowledge.
· Blood and Grace. }Jer. 3:1, 11, 12, 14
· Truth and Love.
B. But the Lord God is still as gracious as
ever.
Though you do not deserve it, though you have well earned his wrath, mercy’s master motive is still the same – He says, “For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off!”
C. The reason for your present trouble should be obvious (v. 10).
1. Our Heavenly Father Chastens His Children (Heb. 12: 5).
2. Sometimes the Lord takes believers out of this world because of sin – (Moses) – (Jim).
3. If you belong to God, he will refine you – He will have your heart!
4. In the furnace of affliction he will prove his love for you and his choice of you.
“If I met no chastisements here,
No afflictions by the way,
Might I not with reason fear
I should be a castaway?
Aliens may escape the rod,
Sunk in earthly, vain delight,
But the true born child of God
May not, would not, if he might!”
C. Return now to the Lord your God, and he will receive you; he will heal your backsliding (Jer. 3: 21-25).
Spurgeon said, “The Lord never thinks his children’s faces more lovely than when they are slobbered with tears; when repentance defiles the face before men, it beautifies it before God; when the eyes grow red with sorrow they are lovely unto the Lord.”
D. God will yet be merciful to you for his name’s sake (v. 11).
1. He will never cease to love his loved one.
2. He will not lose his chosen.
3. The blood of Christ cannot be shed in vain.
4. The seal of the Spirit cannot be broken.
5. The gifts and callings of God are without repentance.
Application:
1. If God is so merciful to us, we ought to be merciful to one another (Eph. 4:32-51).
2. Since the cause of mercy is altogether in God himself, there is no reason to imagine he will be merciful to you.
Illus: The Handkerchief