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!