Sermon #1307 Miscellaneous Sermons

Title: THE BLESSINGS OF CHRIST’S COMING

Text: Isaiah 9:1-5

Reading: Colossians 1:9-22

Subject: The Blessedness of God’s Salvation

Date: Sunday Morning - December 21, 1997

Tape # U-38

Introduction:

In Isaiah chapter eight, the prophet of God spoke to the nation of Israel in the most searching, solemn terms imaginable, declaring a time of divine wrath and judgment upon the nation he loved. In the closing verses of that chapter he warned his people of certain and sure judgment. He told them plainly what they could expect to see God do because of their unbelief.

· In verses 19-20, he told them they were sure to see a flood of false prophets and false religion, instructing all who would heed his word not to follow them.

Isaiah 8:19-20 "And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? (20) To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."

· In verse 21, the prophet warned the nation that the Lord would bring upon them a time of such famine that they would, out of sheer and utter frustration, revolt against both their king and their God, cursing the king and blaspheming God. Note: Judgment never brings repentance. It only reveals rebellion.

· In verse 22, the servant of God told Israel and Judah that God would bring upon them a time of unparalleled spiritual trouble and darkness.

Isaiah 8:22 "And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness."

Then we come to chapter nine, verse one. The opening word is “Nevertheless”! Oh, what a word! When the Lord God is talking about well-deserved wrath and judgment, I live to hear him say, “Nevertheless”! Whenever God says, “Nevertheless”, he is saying, “There is still hope. I will yet be merciful. In wrath, I will remember mercy.”

Matthew Henry wrote, “In the worst of times God’s people have a nevertheless to comfort themselves with, something to allay and balance their troubles.”

I rejoice to say with David, when I behave as a brute beast before my God - "Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand." (Psa 73:23) Whenever my soul is smarting under his chastening rod, I am thankful to remember that my heavenly Father declared - "Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail." (Psa 89:33) Though, like the nation of Israel, we often provoke the Lord to wrath, it is written - "Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry:" (Psa 106:44) Though often we believe not, we are assured of God’s faithfulness still - "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." (2 Tim 2:19) And though we see all things here dissolving and coming to an end - "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." (2 Pet 3:13) I am thankful for that huge word of comfort - “NEVERTHELESS!”

Back here, in Isaiah 9:1, this word, “Nevertheless,” was a truly blessed word of hope for Israel and Judah. Isaiah was inspired of God to inform the nation that though the judgment he spoke of was sure, it was not to be the forerunner of greater judgment, but the forerunner of great mercy.

Isaiah 9:1 "Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali (Under Tiglathpileser - 2 Kings 15:29), and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea(Under Shalmaneser - 2 Kings 17:5), beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations."

The prophet of God has been describing the judgments of God which were to come upon apostate Israel. The nation would be engulfed in spiritual blindness, cut off, and left desolate in their unbelief and hardness of heart. Yet, while pronouncing God’s judgments upon the apostate nation, the faithful prophet took great care to comfort and cheer God’s elect remnant.

In this ninth chapter Isaiah prophesied that these times of Israel’s greatest darkness and desolation would also be times God’s greatest blessing and most abundant grace upon his people, for the times of which he spoke were the times of Christ’s coming to redeem and save his people. The days of which Isaiah prophesied are these gospel days, when God’s true Israel must be gathered out of the Gentile nations, as Paul explains in Romans 11:25-26…

Romans 11:25 -26 "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. (26) And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob."

Proposition: Our text this morning is a prophecy of the blessedness of Christ’s coming.

We know that this is the proper interpretation of Isaiah 9 because the Holy Spirit specifically tells us so in Matthew 4:12-17…

Matthew 4:12-17 "Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; (13) And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: (14) That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, (15) The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; (16) The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. (17) From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Since Matthew tells us that Isaiah was talking about the time of Christ’s coming, I want to use my text to preach to you about The Blessings of Christ’s Coming. I am giving you the very sense of the text, when I tell you that Isaiah 9:1-5 speaks of the blessedness of Christ’s coming to the earth in human flesh to accomplish redemption for us and of the blessedness of his coming spiritually, in saving grace, by the power of his Holy Spirit, to apply that redemption and all its benefits to chosen sinners. Who knows, it may be that you are one of those people spoken of in this prophecy! Perhaps today these words will be fulfilled in our very midst.

Divisions: When the Lord Jesus Christ comes in saving power and grace, our text tells us that he brings five great blessings of grace with him. Here, then, are The Blessings Of Christ’s Coming.

1. The Lord Jesus Christ gives light to those who sit in darkness (v. 2).

2. He multiplies the citizens of the Holy Nation, the Israel of God (v. 3).

3. The Lord Jesus brings joy to those whom God has broken (v.3).

4. The Son of God gives liberty to those who are in bondage (v.4).

5. He who is the Captain of our Salvation brings victory through grace to every believer (v. 5).

I. The Lord Jesus Christ gives light to those who sit in darkness (v. 2).

Here is a description both of man’s nature and of God’s grace. Isaiah tells us what man is by nature and what God does for chosen, redeemed sinners by his grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 9:2 "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined."

A. All men and women, by nature, live in total spiritual darkness.

There are no exceptions to this fact. Humbling and offensive as it is to human flesh, the fact remains that no man or woman by nature possesses even the very slightest perception or understanding of spiritual truth.

1. The Jews were God’s professed people, but they lived in utter spiritual darkness.

They had the law, the prophets, the sacrifices, the priesthood, the temple, and the ceremonies of divine worship. They read the law every sabbath day in their synagogues. They studied the Word of God in meticulous detail. There has probably never been a people more well trained in religious orthodoxy than the Jews during the days of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Yet, when Christ came, they did not have a clue as to the meaning of the Scriptures. They were engulfed in total spiritual darkness (Matt. 22:29).

Matthew 22:29 "Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God."

Illustration: Nicodemus (John 3:3-8)

2. We are no different (Eph. 5:8).

Ephesians 5:8 "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:"

When Christ came to us, we were darkness. Some of you are yet just the embodiment of darkness. Everything in you is darkness, utter darkness! Though blessed with the privilege of hearing the gospel preached three times a week, every week of your lives, though you have been raised under the constant influence of God’s Word, though you have heard it from your youth up, at home, in your Bible classes, and from this pulpit, you still cannot see the kingdom of God. Like fish hatched and raised in a cave, you have no eyes with which to perceive light. Like a blind man walking in an open field, though he looks straight into the face of the noonday sun, he cannot see it, so you who are yet in darkness cannot see the Light of the Sun of Righteousness, though it is shining all around you (1 Cor. 2:14).

1 Corinthians 2:14 "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

I am not talking now about illiterate, unsophisticated men and women. I am talking about all men and women. I am talking about you. It is utterly impossible for the natural man to see anything of a spiritual nature apart from divine revelation. Though you may be perfectly instructed in doctrinal truth, you know nothing spiritual unless God himself teaches you. You are totally blind to the things of God.

· The Depravity of Your Heart (Matt. 15:19).

· The Glorious Character of God (Ex. 33:18-19).

· The Necessity and Nature of Christ’s Atonement (Rom. 3:24-26).

· Salvation by Grace Alone (Eph. 2:8-9; 1 Cor. 1:26-31).

B. Men and women are blind because, since the sin and fall of our father Adam, and our sin and fall in him, we all “Dwell in the land of the shadow of death.”

Man by nature is spiritually dead (Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:22; Eph. 2:1-3).

Romans 5:12 "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:"

1 Corinthians 15:22 "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."

Ephesians 2:1-3 "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins: (2) Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: (3) Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."

We are all dead men; and we all live and walk in this place called “the land of the shadow of death.” That is a pretty good description of this world. Man, by nature, dwells in “the land of the shadow of death”…

· Separated from God.

· Alienated from God.

· Utterly Helpless.

· Totally Ignorant of His Condition.

Illustration: Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones -

(Ezekiel 37)

C. But when the Lord Jesus Christ comes to sinners in saving power and grace he gives them the Light of Life. “Upon them hath the light shined!”

If you see the things I am talking about and rejoice in them, “Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear.” God does not allow all men to hear the gospel. And he does not cause many who hear it to understand it. “Many are called, but few are chosen.” If you now see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, if you now see…

· The Corruption of Your Heart…

· The Glory of the Cross…

· Salvation by Grace Alone…

You see because the Light of the World has shone in your heart, because God has caused you to see.

1. Salvation comes to men and women by the will, purpose, and power of God alone, by his free and sovereign grace in Christ (Matt. 11:20-25; John 1:11-13).

Matthew 11:20-25 "Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: (21) Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. (22) But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. (23) And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. (24) But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. (25) At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes."

John 1:11-13 "He came unto his own, and his own received him not. (12) But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (13) Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

2. And that salvation comes, at God’s appointed time, through the light of the gospel, by the instrumentality of gospel preaching (1 Cor. 1:23; 2 Tim. 1:9-10).

1 Corinthians 1:23 "But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;"

2 Timothy 1:9-10 "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, (10) But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:"

II. When the Lord Jesus Christ comes in saving power he multiplies the citizens of the Holy Nation, the Israel of God - “Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy” (v. 3).

The prophet, here, is talking about a time when God diminished the physical nation of Israel greatly. Yet, though he destroyed the physical nation and gave no joy to the physical seed of Israel, yet he multiplied the Holy Nation of his elect (1 Pet. 2:9). This Holy Nation, spoken of by Peter, is the Church of God’s elect, the Israel of God. Peter says of us, with an obvious reference to our text here in Isaiah…

1 Peter 2:9 "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light."

In both Isaiah 9 and 1 Peter 2, the Holy Spirit is telling us that Christ has enlarged the borders of Zion to include Gentiles as well as Jews. I am fully aware that the number of God’s elect never increases or diminishes. God chose his own elect in Christ before the world began. Their number can never be changed It is always 144,000. Never 144,001. Never 143,999. But always 144,000!Not one name shall ever be written in or stricken from the Lamb’s Book of Life, which was written by the finger of God according to the election of grace and sealed by his purpose before the world began. But I know this, too…

A. God’s elect are not known by us, or anyone else in this world, until they are called out of darkness into his marvelous light by his grace (1 Thess. 1:4-5).

1 Thessalonians 1:4-5 "Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. (5) For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake."

B. God calls his elect to life and faith in Christ by the gospel (2 Thess. 2:13-14).

2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 "But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: (14) Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."

C. God does not send his servants to preach the gospel in vain (Isa. 55:11; 1 Cor. 15:58).

Wherever God sends his Gospel he sends his Son; and wherever God sends his Son, it is that he may “multiply the nation” of his elect.

Isaiah 55:11 "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."

1 Corinthians 15:58 "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."

D. And whenever Christ comes in saving power and grace to chosen sinners, the first thing that happens is not an increase of joy but a flood of sorrow. - “Thou hast not increased the joy!”

While I was studying for his message, I looked at those words a hundred times, read everything I could about them, and prayed for some light and understanding from the Spirit of God. After a few hours, I got up from my desk and walked outside. No sooner had I gotten a breath of fresh air than it came to me. Our Lord’s first works of grace in our souls are painful, sorrowful works; but they are necessary. He works conviction in us that he might work repentance in us. He breaks our hearts and squeezes from us the humble, contrite confession of sin. Conversion is a painful process. As I will show you in a minute, it is joyous in the end; but it is painful, sometimes very painful in the process.

1. Christ sends his Spirit to strip away our righteousness, that he might clothe us with his righteousness.

2. He condemns us by his holy law and slays us, that he may give us life and free us by his grace.

3. He humbles us, that he may exalt us.

4. He makes us hunger and thirst for righteousness, that he might fill and satisfy us by his grace.

5. He causes us to seek him, that we might find him.

III. Then, blessed be his name, our all glorious Savior brings joy to those whom he has broken by his grace (v. 3).

The brokenness, contrition, hunger, thirst, and seeking, which are sometimes looked upon by men as conditions of grace, are not conditions of grace at all. These things which cause sinners to look to Christ are themselves works of grace which he has wrought in his elect, that he might work in us the experimental joy of grace spoken of in the latter part of verse three.

Isaiah 9:3 "Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil."

There is no contradiction in the text. If God graciously breaks your heart in repentance, he will cause your heart to rejoice in faith; and there is no joy in this world like that which Paul calls the “joy of faith” (Phil. 1:25).

· It is like the joy of a full harvest after a long summer.

· It is like the joy of victory with complete, bounteous spoils after a long battle.

· But it is the joy of full harvest for which someone else did all the labor, and the joy of complete victory and spoils which someone else won.

This joy of faith which God gives to his elect is the fruit of the Spirit. It is not something men work up. It is not just emotionalism. This joy is the work of God’s grace. What is it? It is…

A. The Joy of Complete Forgiveness (Ps. 51:7-12).

Psalms 51:7-12 "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (8) Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. (9) Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. (10) Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. (11) Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. (12) Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit."

B. The Joy of Perfect Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:17-21).

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (18) And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; (19) To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (20) Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. (21) For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

C. The Joy of Gracious Adoption (1 John 3:1-2).

1 John 3:1-2 "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (2) Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."

D. The Joy of A Good Hope Through Grace (Lam. 3:1-26).

Lamentations 3:21-26 "This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. (22) It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. (23) They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. (24) The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. (25) The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. (26) It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD."

IV. When he comes to chosen, redeemed sinners in saving grace and power, The Son of God gives liberty to those who are in bondage (v. 4).

As Gideon delivered Israel from the Midianites, not by might, nor by power, but by the power of God’s Spirit (Judg. 7:15-25), so the Lord Jesus Christ brings his people into “the glorious liberty of the sons of God” by the irresistible power and grace of his Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 9:4 "For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian."

It is written, If the Son therefore shall make you free you shall be free indeed!” Let me take just a minute to tell you about the freedom Christ brings to sinners in bondage. The freedom he gives is freedom from…

A. The Curse and Dominion of God’s Holy Law (Rom. 6:14-15; 7:4; 8:1; 10:4).

B. The Torments of A Guilty Conscience (Heb. 9:14; 10:22).

The Apostle tells us, in Hebrews 10:2, that once sin has been purge there remains no more conscience of sins.

Hebrews 9:14 "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"

Hebrews 10:22 "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water."

C. The Tyranny of Satan

Illustration: The Strong Man Bound

D. The Dominion of Sin (Rom. 6).

E. The Love of This World.

F. Christ Jesus also gives his people the liberty of free access to and acceptance with the holy Lord God as their Father (Heb. 4:16; 10:19).

Hebrews 4:16 "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

Hebrews 10:19 "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus."

G. And the Son of God gives his people a blessed liberty and freedom from the fear of death (Heb. 2:15).

Hebrews 2:15 "And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."

Now, read verse 5.

Isaiah 9:5 "For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire."

Here the prophet of God, speaking by divine Inspiration, tells us that when the Lord Jesus Christ comes to chosen, redeemed sinners in his sovereign, saving grace and power…

V. He brings victory to every believer.

Again, like Gideon’s victory over the Midianites, the victory of grace is won not by the noise of rattling sabers, roaring guns, and dying warriors; but by the might and power of his Spirit. It is a victory accomplished by the work of God in the hearts of his elect, “with burning and with fuel of fire”. That is to say, With the burning of conviction and with the fuel of the fire of gospel preaching.

· The Lord condescends to use earthen vessels to accomplish his work (2 Cor. 4:7).

· Our Lord saves his elect by the light of revealed truth, by the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation”.

· He saves his people with nothing but the blast of a trumpet, the gospel trumpet.

· Yet, the work is altogether his work.

Victory is ours by the irresistible grace and power of God the Holy Spirit in Christ. He gives it to us when he give us faith in Christ. We are more than conquerors in him, because “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world” (Rom. 8:28-39).

Romans 8:28-39 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (29) For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (30) Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (31) What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? (32) He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (33) Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. (34) Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. (35) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (36) As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. (37) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (38) For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, (39) Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Application: This is what the Lord Jesus Christ does for sinners when he comes in saving grace and power. He gives…

1. Light to them that sit in darkness.

2. Increase to the family and kingdom of God.

3. The blessed joy of faith.

4. The glorious liberty of the sons of God.

5. Victory over sin, Satan, death, hell, and the grave.

It is my prayer that he will so come to you all this day.