Sermon #228                                                                 Series: Isaiah

          Title:            When God Fights Against His People

          Text:            Isaiah 63:10

          Reading:     

          Subject:       Understanding God’s Apparent Opposition

          Date:            Sunday Evening - December 10, 1995

          Tape #         S-1

          Introduction:

 

          Here is a very solemn text of Scripture. Let it be read, heard, expounded, and applied to each of our hearts with great reverence and awe. “But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy” (Isa. 63:10). I cannot imagine anything more terrible than this. When God almighty is turned against a finite man, to fight against him as his enemy, that man is in a desperate condition. With other enemies we may fight with some hope of success; but who can fight against Omnipotence? The enmity of others is adversity and painful; but the enemity of God is destruction eternal! If God should mark iniquity in us and turn against us as an enemy, then everything is turned against us. The stars in heaven, the beasts of the field, and the stones in the road are all in league against us, when God fights against us. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” But if God be against us, who can be for us? The words of our text ring out solemnly and fearfully to all who have the slightest idea who God is. “But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy!”

 

          There is in this text a direct allusion to the plurality of persons in the eternal Godhead. We are Trinitarians. We worship one God in the trinity of his sacred Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (I John 5:7). Here the prophet of God tells us of the distinct personalities of the Father and the Holy Spirit. I call your attention to this fact simply because so many in our day have come to look upon the doctrine of the Trinity as a matter of insignificance. Such heresy is not to be tolerated! God the Father is God. God the Son is God. And God the Holy Spirit is God. Three Persons, equally divine, but distinct in personality, one God in three distinct Persons - That is the doctrine of Holy Scripture.

 

This great, triune God is altogether holy. In our text, Isaiah speaks of the Spirit of God as “his holy Spirit.”

·        Holy in His Nature (Isa. 6:3)

·        Holy in His Operations (Ps. 145:17)

Holiness is the very character of God. He cannot be less. He cannot do less. He cannot accept less.

 

          Therefore, the holy Lord God is vexed, angered by, and must punish sin (Ps. 11:6-7). Do not ever imagine that God is indifferent to sin. You may try to persuade yourself that God does not care about sin, or will not punish sin. But you are a fool, if you dare imagine such a thing. God, who loves righteousness, hates sin. He hates sin today just as thoroughly as when he threw Adam and Eve out of the garden, destroyed the world in the flood of his wrath, and rained fire and brimstone from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorra. God is stirred with righteous indignation against sin. Sin vexes his Holy Spirit and moves him to anger. Some think and speak of God as though he were a stone or stump. I know that God is a Spirit and that he does not have passions like we do. But the Scriptures speak of him as a man and represent him to us in anthropomorphic terms, that is to say, after the manner of men. How else could he be represented? If he were represented to us as God, in his absolute, infinite, holy, and glorious Being, we could not understand anything about him. Therefore, the Holy Spirit condescended to write of him in terms we can understand. And, as he is represented in Scripture, though nothing moves him or affects him, the holy Lord God is represented to us as One who notes sin, marks it, feels it, resents it, grows angry against it, and is provoked by it. His Holy Spirit is vexed by the rebellion of men. Read the text again. “But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy.”

 

          Again, it should be noted that though God is immutable (unchanging and unchangeable), his acts often change. This is so very important. Be sure you understand it. It will help you immensely in understanding the Bible, particularly in understanding those passages which seem to indicate a change in God.

·        God does not change (Num.23:19;Mal.3:6;Heb.13:8; James 1:17).

·        Yet, God often appears to change (Gen. 6:6; Isa. 38:1-5).

C.H. Spurgeon put it this way, “He changes not, and yet he is represented in our text as turning. He turns in his action, though he does not turn in his purpose. He often wills a change, though he never changes his will. He is always the same God, but he does not always show us the same side of his character. Sometimes he manifests his mercy, at other times his justice: he is as much God in the one case as in the other. At one time he makes a world; at another time he destroys it: but he is the same Jehovah. A change in his outward dispensation does not argue for any change in his inward disposition. He is the unchanging God of whom we read, ‘He was turned to be their enemy.’”

 

          At first glance, our text appears to have very little in it that will minister comfort to anyone. But, if you will lend me your ear and the Holy Spirit will be our Teacher, I am persuaded that what is here written will be of immense benefit to your soul. “But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy.” The title of my message tonight is When God Fights Against His People.

 

Proposition: When God fights against the reprobate, it is that he may destroy them; but when he fights against his people, it is that he may save them from destruction.

 

I. First, THIS TEXT MUST BE UNDERSTOOD IN ITS CONTEXT AS SPEAKING OF THOSE WHO TRULY ARE THE SAINTS OF GOD.

 

It speaks of God fighting against his own elect. There is no question that this is the proper interpretation of the text.

·        Read verses 7-10.

·        Psalm 106:43-45

·        Psalm 107:1-43

How can that be explained? Some of God’s people sometimes degenerate into such a state that in his providence God turns against them and fights against them as an enemy. Once they were on the lap of love and in the bosom of favor. They knew the presence of Christ and the sympathy of Christ. They sang of his lovingkindnesses and of his tender mercies. “But they rebelled!” Shocking as that may seem, truly converted, truly regenerate people do sometimes rebel against the Lord our God. How sad! What a pity that one who has eaten the bread of heaven should lust after the ashes of the world! How shamefully sinful that one who has been held in the arms of the Savior’s grace and love should turn as a traitor against him! Yet, they do. Need I remind you of David’s sin and Peter’s denial? Indeed, you and I have only to look into our own hearts to find the traitor’s spirit. God forgive us, but it is so. You know it and I do. What we see in the actions of others, we see in the vileness of our own hearts. The people described in our text, after experiencing God’s love ad mercy, goodness and grace, turned against him in rebellion! God calls a spade a spade. He does not call them children who have made a mistake, but rebels. I will not attempt to say how far a child of God may go in sin and rebellion. I shudder to think of it. I tremble to acknowledge what I know by personal experience. But the debate is foolish. We should never think, just how far can I go astray, but how close can a man in this world walk with his God? Let us keep as far from evil as possible. Yet, our text declares that those very people of whom it is written, “In all their affliction he was afflicted,” are here described as those who “rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit.” “Therefore he was turned to be their enemy.”

 

·        A. When God fights against his sinning people, he sends afflictions, one upon the heels of another, in loving chastisement.

·        Hebrews 12:5-11

·         

          I am not talking now about the afflictions of Job, which were sent to try and prove him for the glory of God, or the trial of Abraham by which God proved and strengthened his faith. The afflictions I am talking about now are like the afflictions brought upon Lot, because of his decided transgressions, of Jacob because of his wickedness, and of David who was afflicted in his family because of his great transgressions. God is jealous of his people. He deals severely with his erring children because he loves us. Therefore he afflicts the rebel child until he breaks his rebellion.

·        In Purse and Property

·        In Sickness and Trouble

·        In Family and Life

·        In Bereavement and Sorrow

 

B. When affliction alone will not correct us, God fights against his rebel children by withholding the sweet comforts of his Holy Spirit from them.

·        Isaiah 54:8-10

 

          When God hides himself, there is no finding him. When he shuts up the windows of heaven, no blessings fall upon our souls.

·        Not by the Preaching of the Word

·        Not by the Songs of Zion

·        Not by Personal Prayer

·        Not by the Fellowship of God’s Saints

God deals with his family like he deals with no one else. He says, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities” (Amos 3:2).

 

          Illustration: A Father Corrects His Own Children Not Others.

 

C. When God turns to fight against a rebel child, he often sends barrenness.

 

·        Barrenness of Soul to the Believer

·        Barrenness of Fruit to the Preacher

 

          Preachers who rebel against their God will find themselves fighting against the Almighty! Such men will find that their labors are vain. Such men, when God does not give fruit, try to produce it own their own. They will first try entertainments and amusements to get a crowd. Then they will go down to the modern witch of Endor to conger up a spirit of enthusiasm. If those things fail, they will trim the message to satisfy the cravings of men. But no invention of man can patch up the breach that sin makes.

 

D. Am I speaking to any child of God, any man or woman who is a believer, to whom this text is sorrowfully and painfully true?

 

          If I am, if you know the words of the text apply to you, cry out to God like Job, and say, “Show me wherefore thou contendest with me” (Job 10:2). But do not despair. If the Lord had meant to destroy you, he would have left you alone. He would not contend with you. The angel of the Lord wrestled with Jacob because he meant to bless him by conquering him. And God contends with his people because he means to restore them and keep them from the evil one. Return then to your Father, like the prodigal son.

·        You know the way.

·        You know your Father.

·        You know what you must do.

As a rule, God ceases to contend with us as soon as we turn again to him. If you feel the lash of his rod on your back, the best way to escape it is to run into the arms of his mercy. Run to him, and he will not strike you. He says, “Let him take hold of my strength; and he shall make peace with me” (Isa. 27:5).

 

II. Yet, THE WORDS OF THIS TEXT MAY CERTAINLY BE APPLIED TO THE SINNER GOD IS DETERMINED TO SAVE BY HIS ALMIGHTY GRACE.

 

          Does it appear to you that the Lord God is fighting against you? Is there a sinner here who imagines that he has so sinned against God that you have vexed his Holy Spirit, who fears that God has turned against him? I have a word of encouragement for you, my friend. When God means to destroy a sinner, he does not bother to plague his heart, trouble his soul, and turn his life upside down. Oh, no; if God means to destroy you, he will simply leave you alone.

·        Hosea 4:17

Matthew 23:37-38

 

A. God sends trouble to get your attention.

·        Trouble of Heart and Soul

·        Trouble of Life

B. He destroys you vain ideas about repentance and faith, those thoughts that you can repent and believe as you will!

C. The Lord graciously destroys your self-righteousness.

D. He stirs up the enmity of your hear by the application of his law (Rom. 7:19).

E. He brings you down that he may lift you up by his grace.

 

          He kills that he might make alive. He humbles that he might lift up. He abases that he might exalt.

 

          Is God fighting against you? Do you find yourself fighting against God? There is only one thing for you to do. Yield, surrender, bow to him and be at peace. As soon as you bow to him, as soon as you surrender to him, as soon as you wave the white flag of surrender to him, you will find him waving the white flag of peace in your soul!

 

Application:

 

          If you refuse to surrender, you must be destroyed. I speak to you as one who has been where you are. I implore you for Christ’s sake, surrender to him!