Sermon
#246 Series:
Isaiah
Title: Zion’s Travail
Text: Isaiah 66:7-9
Readings: Office:
Larry Criss Auditorium:
Bob Poncer
Subject: The Church of god
Travailing for Souls
Date: Sunday Evening - August 25, 1996
Tape # S-88
Introduction:
The title of my
message tonight is Zion’s Travail.
Our text will be Isaiah 66:7-9. Read
along with me, beginning at verse seven.
"Before she
travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man
child. (8) Who hath heard such a
thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one
day? or shall a nation be born at
once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. (9) Shall I bring to the birth, and not
cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God."
In this passage of
Scripture Zion, the church of God, is compared to a pregnant woman who gives
birth to her children without going through the pain and travail of birth. Then
we are told that the birth of her children comes only after she has travailed.
It is a passage filled with spiritual instruction, teaching us something of
God’s method of grace in saving his elect. It is also a passage in which we are
given great encouragement, being assured that the work which God has begun he
will complete. And this is a passage of Scripture which will greatly rebuke
indifference and lethargy. May God the Holy Spirit be our Teacher as we
consider the things revealed in these three verses for our learning and
admonition.
Proposition: This
is the primary thing I want to drive home to our hearts in this message - While we are assured that God almighty will
save his elect, we are also assured that he will do so through the use of his
own appointed means, the means we are responsible to use.
Be sure you get the picture that is
presented to us in this text.
1.
Zion is
the Church and Kingdom of our God, the true, spiritual Israel, “the Israel of
God.”
2.
The man
child and children brought forth are God’s elect, brought forth into spiritual,
eternal life in Christ by God the Holy Spirit in the new birth.
3.
The means
by which this miracle is wrought is Zion’s travail.
Divisions: I want to expound these three verses under four heads. I will show
you...
1.
The
Freeness of Grace.
2.
The
Wonder of Grace.
3.
The Means
of Grace. And
4.
The
Certainty of Grace.
I. The first thing I
want you to see is THE FREENESS OF GRACE.
This is set before
us in verse seven. "Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her
pain came, she was delivered of a man child."
The grace of God is
free and sovereign. The Lord God declares, “I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on who I will have compassion. So then
it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth
mercy” (Rom. 9:15-16).
In this message, my
primary emphasis will be upon our responsibility as God’s servants to seek the
salvation of his people. But I do not want anyone to entertain the foolish
notion for a moment that God’s work depends upon us. Our text is talking
specifically about the spiritual birth of God’s elect. It is something that
takes place by God’s sovereign power and irresistible grace. It is not caused
by our travail. And it does not depend upon our travail. Do you see that in
verse seven? "Before she travailed,
she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man
child." The Lord God will save his elect. There is no possibility of
failure with him!
A. All who were elected unto salvation shall be
saved.
B. All who were predestined to the adoption of
children shall receive the fullness of adoption.
C. All who were redeemed by the blood of Christ
shall be delivered from all the consequences of sin.
D. All who are called by the Holy Spirit shall be
preserved by the Spirit unto eternal glory with Christ.
Every sinner loved
of God and predestined to glory has been redeemed and justified by the Son. All
who were redeemed by the Son shall be called by the Spirit. And all the called
shall be glorified. This is the purpose of God (Rom. 8:28-30).
II. Now, look at
verse eight and behold THE WONDER OF GRACE.
"Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the
earth be made to bring forth in one day? or
shall a nation be born at once?”
The salvation of
God’s elect is a supernatural, wondrous thing, astonishing in the eyes of all
who behold it with the understanding of personal experience. It is here
compared to a woman having a child without pain or labor. Though our salvation
is the result of all God’s works from the foundation of the world, in the
experience of it, it seems to be a sudden, climatic, instaneous thing. It is as
astonishing as it would be for a farmer to sow his crops in the morning and
reap them in the evening, or a nation to be born at once. Yet, in a sense, this
is exactly the case with the salvation of God’s elect.
A. Our sins, the sins
of all God’s elect, were removed by the blood of Christ in one day.
Zechariah 3:9 "
I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day."
B. God’s Israel, his
“holy nation,” the church of the redeemed was born in one day, when Christ was
raised from the dead.
Ephesians 2:4-6
"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he
loved us, (5) Even when we were dead
in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) (6) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:"
C. This passage
specifically refers to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of
Pentecost and the marvelous conversion of three thousand souls, Jews and
Gentiles in one day.
Acts 2:41
"Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the
same day there were added unto them about
three thousand souls."
D. Indeed, every aspect
of our redemption and salvation by Christ is an astonishing, amazing display of
God’s grace.
Take a moment to
consider...
·
Who our
Redeemer Is (2 Cor. 8:9),
·
Why He
Died for Us (Rom. 3:24-26),
·
Who the
Redeemed Are (1 Cor. 1:26-29), and
·
What the
Results of Redemption Are (1 John 3:1).
In the light of these things ransomed sinners stand amazed and
sing...
“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
`Twas blind, but now I see.
IV. Next we are told
of THE MEANS OF GRACE.
Read the last sentence of verse eight. “For as soon as Zion
travailed, she brought forth her children.” While salvation is, in its
totality, the work of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ, we are taught
throughout the Scriptures that God has ordained the use of specific means to
accomplish his work; and that it is our responsibility to employ those ordained
means.
A. The imagery of
birth is used with profound significance in the Word of God.
Ezekiel 16:6-8
"And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own
blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in
thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when
thou wast in thy blood, Live. (7) I
have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased
and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. (8) Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy
time was the time of love; and I
spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee,
and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest
mine."
John 3:3
"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
John 3:5
"Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be
born of water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
John 3:7-8
"Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (8) The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and
whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."
Salvation, as it is
portrayed in our text and throughout the Bible, involves the birth of a child.
Regeneration is a spiritual birth, a birth that is accomplished by God the Holy
Spirit. “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that
is born of the Spirit."
B. Wherever there is
birth there is of necessity a travail that precedes it.
Our text declares that if Zion is to bring forth her children, she
must first travail with the pains of birth.
1. This is God’s
ordained means of grace.
Read your Bible. Study the history of God’s church. Whenever God
has been pleased to accomplish great deliverances for his people, whenever he
has been pleased to send revival to his church, it has always been precede by a
time of travail. Read Psalm 107 once
more and understand that God never sends deliverance until he first causes his
people to cry unto him for deliverance.
a. The children of
Israel cried by reason of their bondage in Egypt; and when their crying was
heard by God, he sent Moses to deliver them.
Exodus 3:7
"And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people
which are in Egypt, and have heard
their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;"
Exodus 2:23-24
"And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt
died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they
cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. (24) And God heard their groaning, and
God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob."
NOTE: The deliverance came as the direct result of
Israel’s travail; but their travail did not cause God to send deliverance. He
had promised to do it by a covenant with Abraham four hundred years earlier.
Yet, he would not send his deliverance until he heard their cry, though he was
already preparing the deliverer and had appointed the time when deliverance
must come. The point I am making is this
- The travail by which God brings deliverance is as much a work of his
grace as the deliverance itself.
b. In the days of
Ahab and Jezebel, when the seven thousand who refused to bow the knee to Baal
cried out to God, Elijah suddenly appeared on Mount Carmel and led Israel out
of its apostasy into a time of great revival (1 Kings 18:21-39).
c. You will
remember that after Hilkiah the priest found the Book of God in the temple and
Josiah travailed before God, the Lord sent a time of great revival. It was
during that time that Daniel, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah all came to know the Lord
(2 Chron. 33-35).
d. After seventy
years of captivity in Babylon, the Jews began to agonize and cry out to God for
his promised deliverance. Suddenly, Cyrus the Persian king appeared to bring
them out, and Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah restored the worship of God and rebuilt
the wall and the temple in Jerusalem.
e. During the time
of Roman bondage, when Rome occupied Jerusalem, the religion of the Jews had
become nothing but ritualism and ceremony. In their utter apostasy, they
crucified the Lord of Glory, killed the Prince of Life, slaughtered the Son of
God. Then, as the chosen remnant waited and travailed in prayer in an upper
room, suddenly the Holy Spirit came upon them like a mighty, rushing wind, and
three thousand souls were added to the church!
f. During those
dark days of popish tyranny and persecution, when pagan Roman superstition held
the world in bondage, faithful men and women were burned at the stake, tortured
upon the racks, beheaded, and bludgeoned to death under orders of his most unholiness, the pope! But all
across Europe bands of men and women were meeting in secret, praying and
travailing before God. Then, suddenly, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John
Knox were thrust into the world and the long arms of the papacy were broken!
2. Divine intervention
always follows travail of soul before God.
God’s gracious
operations by which he accomplishes the salvation of his people, by which he
brings forth his children in Zion always follow travail. Therefore it is right
for us to expect intervention from heaven to follow our travail before him. The
great works of God recorded in Scripture apply to all time. They are recorded
in the Book of God for our benefit. It is only reasonable for us to expect our
Father to be as gracious to us as he has been to his children in ages past.
Travail is the forerunner of birth. A
musician astonishes the world with his music, which he plays so effortlessly.
But the secret to his effortless, spell-binding performance is long, long hours
of travail.
Illustration: Mike Bartram
I remember when Dr.
Debake performed the first heart transplant. The whole world was astonished by
his knowledge and skill. Very few are yet aware of the countless hours of
travail he endured in the study of medicine.
We have just
watched the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Everyone is amazed at the
goldmetalists. Few pause to consider the years of travail required to attain
such skills on the mat, the track, or the ice ring.
We enjoy great
freedom as a nation. But in these day few even want to be reminded of the
travail of blood by which our liberty was won and by which it has been
maintained for two hundred years.
These facts must be
applied to spiritual things. Zion brings forth her children as soon as she
travails to bring forth her children.
C. The Scriptures
specifically speak of a threefold travail by which God’s elect are brought
forth in regeneration.
1. The Travail of Christ in
Death
We are saved and
born of God out of the travail, suffering, sorrow, and death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The church of the redeemed is the Bride of Christ, taken out of his
side, when he was pierced for us. His sorrows, his sighs, his sufferings, his
travail, his blood, his death is the source and cause of our life.
Isaiah 53:10-11
"Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his
soul an offering for sin, he shall see his
seed, he shall prolong his days,
and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. (11) He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant
justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities."
2. The Travail of Gospel
Preachers in the Work of the Ministry
1 Corinthians 4:15
"For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ
Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel."
Galatians 5:19
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness,"
Colossians 1:24
"Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which
is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which
is the church:"
Paul certainly does
not mean that there are some finishing touches to redemption that we are to
complete. When Christ died our atonement was accomplished. When he cried, “It
is finished,” he meant for us to understand that his great work of redemption
was done. Paul’s meaning in Colossians 1:24 is simply this - His sufferings and
travail of soul were the means God ordained for the completion of Christ’s
body, for the conversion of his redeemed ones.
God’s servants
labor in the Word and Doctrine of Christ, which is the Seed of the new birth (1
Pet. 1:23; James 1:18). They travail in prayer over the souls of men.
Romans 9:1-3 "I
say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in
the Holy Ghost, (2) That I have great
heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
(3) For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren,
my kinsmen according to the flesh:"
Romans 10:1
"Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that
they might be saved."
C.H. Spurgeon wrote, “If any minister
can be satisfied without conversions he shall have no conversions. God will not
force usefulness on any man. It is only when our heart breaks to see men saved
that we shall be likely to see sinners’ hearts broken.”
3. The Travail of God’s
Saints in Prayer
Our text speaks of Zion’s travail, of the travail of God’s church
in prayer. “As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” This speaks of “the earnest prayers of the
church and its members, striving and wrestling with God, being importunate with
him, that the word preached might be useful for the good of souls.” (John Gill) The Lord is telling us here
that we will never be instruments of birth until we travail for children to be
born, until we travail over the souls of men.
That is our
responsibility. If we have no such burden, no such heart travail over the souls
of men, that is no excuse. Let us be in travail with God for our own souls,
that he may make us earnest for the souls of men.
D. There are many
reasons why God has made the travail of his church a necessary forerunner to
the birth of his children. He does it for our good.
If you could go to the store and buy a child, you might easily
become indifferent to the child. But we do not get our sons and daughters from
the department store. The child is conceived in its mother’s womb, nurtured
beneath her heart, brought forth through great pain and travail, and nursed at
her breasts. It is a rare thing for a mother to take a child born of her own
travail and leave on a doorstep. Thus
the Lord has arranged the spiritual birth of his children to make each of them
dear to his church. As a rule, no one is more willing and more qualified to
care for God’s chidren than those who have travailed inbirth for them. Those
who are born of God through the prayers, intercessions, and travail of Zion are
precious to the whole church.
1.
This
travail drives us to the mercy-seat, tries our faith, strengthens our patience,
and casts us upon God, who alone can do the thing we seek.
2.
This
travail for souls cements the church and binds our hearts to one another. Two
people kneeling, praying, and pleading with God for the souls of men and the
revival of his church cannot be at odds with each other. (See Acts 2:1-2 and
41-47.)
3.
Sharing
the mutual burden of travail for souls unites our hearts in the worship of our
God, in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion
of the Holy Spirit.
E. How does this
travail manifest itself?
I want so much to
stir up our hearts to the travail that is spoken of in our text. But the last
thing I want is to produce an affected, pretense of travail. Oh, may God be
pleased to pour out his Spirit upon us, drop his grace in our hearts, and move
our souls with travail for the salvation of his elect! But how will we know it
if and when it is given?
Usually, when God
gives this travail to his church, when he is about to do a great work among and
for his people, he burdens the hearts of a few with an insatiable passion for
souls, a passion that cries out to him in importunate prayer.
This passion to see
sinners converted, to see the idols of men destroyed, and to see the church
revived rules them. They think of it when they are alone. They dream of it when
they sleep. They talk about it in their homes, in the streets, and in the house
of God. It is a passion that eats them up. They suffer great heaviness and
continual sorrow of heart for perishing souls. They travail to give birth.
Little by little,
by degrees, others catch the fire that burns in their hearts. Soon the church
meetings are altogether different. Praying is no longer a formal repetition of
words, but a wrestling of souls with God. The songs of Zion are no longer
hum-drum words set to music, but songs of praise and prayer to God. The
preaching of the Word is no longer a dry lecture of denominational rhetoric,
but a message fetched fresh from God’s heart to the preacher’s heart, delivered
as live coals from off the altar to the sinners’s heart. God give us a few people with such travail of heart! If he will, the
gates of hell will soon fall before us.
Where is such
travail today? Where is the pulpit today stained with tears for hell bound men
and women? Where is the prophet today who stretches out his mantle like Elisha
and cries, “Where is the God of Elijah?” Where is the church crying out to God
that he would stretch forth his hand of mercy and snatch sinners as brands from
the burning? Where in Zion are people found today in travail of birth?
God, give me a
heart to preach as a man who may never preach again, as I a dying man to dying
men! May God give you a heart to travail for birth! I ask you, my brothers and
sisters to pray for God to give us this boon of mercy. Pray that he may yet
again “in wrath remember mercy.” Pray that he may once more revive his work in
these days of darkness. What he has done he can do again, and he will do again,
if we believe him. Our Lord’s word is, “If thou wouldest believe, thou
shouldest see the glory of God!”
I see some signs of
hope. Hardly a week passes that I do not receive a letter or call from someone,
who has heard one the messages we send around the world on tape, telling how
God has blessed his Word to his heart. But I long to see the Lord working right
here in our midst. Last week we had the first baptism we have had in a long,
long time. How we rejoice in God’s goodness! But surely our quiver is not yet
full. Oh, may God give us the pains of birth and cause us to travail! “For as
soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.”
IV. Now, look at
verse nine, and let me briefly assure you of THE CERTAINTY OF GRACE.
"Shall I bring
to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to
bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God."
With those words
the Lord God assures us that he will, when he causes us to travail in birth,
also cause us to bring forth! It is impossible for Zion’s travail to miscarry.
Learn what our Lord is teaching us here.
A. All true prayer is God inspired prayer, found in
the heart. God puts it in the heart where we find it and take it back to him (2
Sam. 7:27).
B. All God inspired prayer is according to the will
of God and for the glory of God.
C. Every prayer that is poured out in importunity
before the throne of grace according to the will of God shall obtain that which
it seeks from God (1 John 5:14-15).
D. If our prayers fade, languish, and die without
satisfaction, it is because our prayers have been but the expressions of our
lusts, not the cries of God given travail. "Ye ask, and receive not,
because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it
upon your lusts" (James 4:3).
Application:
I will finish my
message by directing you to a few powerful passages of Scripture. I want you to
turn to them and read them with me. May God speak to our hearts by them. We
must never seek to find an excuse for our indifference to the souls of men in
our strong belief in God’s sovereignty. You know me well enough to know that I
take a back seat to no one in preaching the glorious doctrines of God’s free
and sovereign grace in Christ. But it is our responsibility to labor and
travail for the souls of men and to believe God for the building of his
kingdom. Nothing but our own unbelief prevents God from using us for the
salvation of his elect.
Of Nazareth it is
written, in Matthew 13:58 "And he did not many mighty works there
because of their unbelief." Then we read in Matthew 17:20 the reason why the disciples could not cast the devil
out of the lunatic. "And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for
verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall
say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and
nothing shall be impossible unto you."
Now read Isaiah 48:18-19. God is speaking. He
says to us, "O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy
peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea: (19) Thy seed also had been as the
sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should
not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me."
Isaiah 59:1-2
"Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save;
neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
(2) But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your
sins have hid his face from you, that
he will not hear."
John 11:40
"Jesus saith,... Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest
believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?"