Isa 55:10-11 The Grace of God 2/6/2005 ßà
#1. God’s Ways Are Not Our Ways (Isa 55:8-9, John 4:24, Acts 2:23)
#2. The Grace of God (Matt 5:48, 2Pet 2:21, Matt 11:23-24, 5:44-45, Rom 5:8, 8:28, Luke 12:16-20, Psalm 92:7, 2Cor 2:15-16)
Please open your Bibles to the Prophecy of Isa 55:6 (2X). We started in this chapter two weeks ago and today we will finish this beautiful chapter 55. And what we see developing in the second half of this chapter is reflected by the title of this sermon, “The Grace of God” (2X). Let us first look at:
Of course we understand that the plants God is planting are people. We read here in Isa 55:5-13,
Isa 55:6 Seek ye the
LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Isa 55:7 Let the
wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him
return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he
will abundantly pardon.
Isa 55:8 For my
thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
saith the LORD.
Isa 55:9 For as
the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isa 55:10-11 For as
the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but
watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to
the sower, and bread to the eater: 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.
Isa 55:12 For ye
shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills
shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall
clap their hands.
Isa 55:13 Instead of
the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up
the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting
sign that shall not be cut off.
We saw last week that God’s call to seek Him was very urgent, because we are never sure when He may not be found any more. This opportunity to find Him ends when our body dies, or when our church goes apostate, or when the end of the Final Tribulation Period will be upon us. This is an urgent call that goes out into all the world, and in verse 7 this call is accompanied by the call to repent of our sins. There is no salvation without repentance. However, we want to keep in mind that repentance is also a gift from God. Therefore no one can repent and turn to Christ out of their own free will. No one can do that, because it is absolutely contrary to human nature. All those who have come to realize that they are sinners, and fear God because they know that they are in trouble with God, will God save from their slippery slide into Hell. All those who abhor their sins, and confess their sins to God, will find mercy with God because our God delights in mercy. We thank God that we have a merciful God, for He will abundantly pardon. Who are all those who come to realize that they are sinners? They are all those who have been drawn by the Father to the Lord Jesus Christ, for no one will come to Christ except the Father draw them. We read in John 6:44, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him”. This is God’s way of planting His beautiful garden. And look what a variety. Every one of His plants is different. And when we read about God’s great forgiveness in verse 7 we realize that the cross is in view. God’s pardon for our sins is only possible through Christ crucified on April 3, in the year AD 33. That was the only day in the history of mankind that any sins were forgiven. This was the day when we could most clearly see that
#1. God’s Ways Are Not Our Ways (2X) (Isa 55:8-9, John 4:24, Acts 2:23)
And then God continues to emphasize how different God is from us, creatures. We read in verse 8,
Isa 55:8 For my
thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
saith the LORD.
Isa 55:9 For as
the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
And not only are God’s ways different
from our ways, but God Himself is totally different from us. God said that He
has made man in His likeness. Many people conclude from this that God must be
like us, yea high, with a head, and arms, and legs. And since He is a
compassionate God, does He not feel our infirmities like we do? They have
brought God down to our level. They have made a caricature of God. They have
made themselves an idol. When God said in several places in the Bible that He
has made man in His image, it means that God has given man certain of His
communicable attributes, like wisdom. Man has received some wisdom from
God. Hopefully we grow wiser as we age, but that does not always apply to
everyone. We can think and we can continue to learn and to teach. We can speak
and reason with each other, and with our own selves. And we can learn to speak,
and read, and write in other languages. Man has received some feelings from
God. And by that I mean the ability to love, and to hate, and to have
compassion, and to have mercy, and to laugh, and to cry. Man has received from
God the ability to comprehend abstract knowledge, such as linear
algebra, and trigonometry, and calculus, and invent new tools such as radios
and computers, and to meditate on things such as creation, and intelligence,
and poetry, and music. And God has given man also an abstract knowledge of spiritual
things pertaining to God, such as worship, and prayer, and faith, and hope for
the future, and love for God, and sin, and retribution for sin, and
righteousness, and grace, and Heaven, and Hell, and a host of other things. All
these things are reflecting what God said, that He has made man in His image. But
God is not yea high. The Lord Jesus Christ is God, but He is not yea
high. Jesus is not your buddy. Get that idea as far from you as possible.
Christ never ceased to be God. And therefore when He came to this earth as the
carpenter of
Please turn a few pages back to Isa 46:1 (2X). In Isaiah
chapter 46 God reached into the future and God assured His children, and US,
that He has carried us in the past and He will carry us in the future. In Isa
45 God spoke of Cyrus. In Isa 46 God tells us what will happen when
Cyrus defeats
Isa 46:1 ¶ Bel
boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle:
your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast.
Bel and Nebo were the chief idols of the Babylonians. Since Bel
and Nebo were made of gold and silver the Medes and the Persians carried them
away in carriages. They were a burden to the weary beasts pulling the
carriages. And while the carriages hobbled over the uneven roads
Isa 46:9-10 Remember
the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I
am God, and there is none like me, Declaring
the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are
not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my
pleasure:
Isa 46:11 Calling a
ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far
country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have
purposed it, I will also do it.
What is God saying here about Himself? Paraphrased God
says, “Remember, I am God, and there is none like Me”. I am unlike any other concept of god that came out of
man’s imagination. Remember how I am described in the Bible. This is how I want
to be remembered and this is how I want to be worshipped. I am the one who
declares the end from the beginning. Not because I am omniscient, not because I
know the future, but because I will do it for My good pleasure. “My counsel
shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure”. I shall call a ravenous bird
from the east, referring to Cyrus, My servant, who shall overthrow the
Isa 55:10-11 For as
the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but
watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to
the sower, and bread to the eater: 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.
Verse 10 begins with “For”, indicating that My ways are much higher than
your ways in this manner: First God paints a wonderful metaphor, which portrays
the providence of God: Water like rain and snow is coming down from heaven,
fully under God’s control. Then before the water evaporates and returns to the hands
of God, it waters the earth and causes it to sprout forth all kinds of plants,
and it brings forth seed for the sower and bread for the eater. We can’t help
but think of the spiritual implications of water, and seed, and the sower, and
bread, and the eater. In other passages of the Bible water represents
the Gospel that flows like water from those whom God has saved and sent out to
preach the Gospel. Such an evangelist is compared to a sower who sows
seed into a field, according to Matt 13. The seed represents the Word of
the Kingdom, or the Gospel, and it provides bread for the eater. When someone
hears the preaching of the Gospel and becomes saved, he or she becomes an eater
of the Word of God. The Bible is the Word of God, and it provides the Bread
of Life for those who partake of it. And then the water returns into the
hands of God. Is this not a marvelous introduction to the next verse? There in verse
11 God actually speaks about the evangelist and his message. God says, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth”. God spoke His Word, it is written in the Bible, and God
says that the evangelist who speaks these messages from God is actually the
mouth of God at that moment. And about these messages God says, “it shall
not return unto me void”, which means, like the water in the previous
verse, it shall not return to God empty, “but it shall accomplish that which
I please”. Is God pleased if everyone who hears these messages will be
saved? Absolutely not! That is not God’s plan at all. A man is not saved
because he lends a listening ear to the evangelist. That would be a works
gospel. A man is not saved because the evangelist desires that he will be saved.
That again is a works gospel. Remember that God said in John 1:13, “Not
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man”. And yet, in most churches
this is how verse 11 has been explained to me: “Just preach the true Gospel to
them and leave it alone, and in time God will draw them and save them, because
God has promised it here in Isa 55:11”. But that is not at all the promise of
God. What God has promised here is, “it shall accomplish that which I please”.
It pleases God to save His elect, for to this end He created the world and all
that is therein, and to his end the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross. God
intends to save the remnant, chosen by grace. Out of all the nations of the
world God chose only a remnant. And God’s providence, the hands of God, is
at work to save this remnant, and only this remnant. Not one will be added, and
not one will be forgotten. God does not change His mind later in history,
because He is God. Not only does He know the end from the beginning, but He
says, “I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have
purposed it, I will also do it”. Those whom God wants to save under
the hearing of the Gospel call, He will save. And those whom God does not want
to save under the same Gospel call, will be hardened in their soul. That too is
the purpose of God. When we preach the Gospel we should not feel bad when
someone does not want to believe what God has said so plainly in the Bible. We
must simply accept that God did not intend to save this one, and leave it at
that. To us God has a far greater promise. God says at the end of verse 11, “and
it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it”. In other words,
your task is done; you are 100% successful. How would you like a job like that?
How would you like a Boss like that? He sends you out with the task of
preaching His Gospel, don’t leave out Hell, or any other essentials, and
whatever you do in the execution of your task, your Boss says, “Well done
good and faithful servant; you have done exactly what I wanted to
accomplish”. Now this is the providence of God, for you and for those who hear.
Some of those who hear will be infinitely better for it, and others who hear
will be worse off than before they heard the Gospel. The Gospel will go out
into all the world, both to the elect as well as to the reprobate. For the
elect it will be a great blessing. It will be the grace of God that is
showered upon them. But what about the reprobate? Can we also say that the
grace of God is showered upon them when they hear the proclamation of the
Gospel? Can we say that they share in the common grace of hearing the
Gospel? Is there such a thing as common grace? Let us see what shape the grace
of God takes when we take it into the entire world, both to the elect and to
the reprobate.
#2. The Grace of God (Matt 5:48, 2Pet 2:21, Matt 11:23-24, 5:44-45, Rom 5:8, 8:28, Luke 12:16-20, Psalm 92:7, 2Cor 2:15-16)
God’s grace stands for God’s “unmerited favor”. The word “common” means
“it is shared by all”. And thus the common grace of God means the unmerited
favor that God bestows upon all without exception. When we study the word
“grace” in the Bible we find that there is no such monstrosity as “common
grace”. According to the Bible, grace is only in Christ Jesus. There is no grace that is shown outside the
Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is infinitely holy, and
righteous, and just, and thus He does not show favor or love to anyone who has
anything less than perfect righteousness. The Lord Jesus said in Matt 5:48,
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father
which is in heaven is perfect”. Since God
demands perfect righteousness, the only way we can be righteous in the sight of
God is when the Lord Jesus Christ covers all our sins and gives us His
righteousness. That is exactly what He did in His atonement for our sins, which
includes His cross and His resurrection together, as one act of God. Therefore
for all those who show less than perfect righteousness God has only wrath. Why
then do people hold to the heresy of common grace? It is a heresy indeed.
They are unaware that they are agents of Satan busy destroying the Gospel. The
true Gospel is the Gospel of grace, the one and only grace of God which is
given to us through the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we
have to ask ourselves: When the reprobate are under the hearing of the Gospel,
is God doing what is better for them or what is worse for them? Is God blessing
them or is God cursing them? Let us hear what God says in 2Pet 2:21, “For
it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than,
after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered
unto them” For example, in the days when Jesus walked on earth the people
at Capernaum were greatly blessed by being the city where Jesus had His
headquarters. But what does God say about the people at
Today in the Sunday School the children discussed the question if bad things happen to us when we have done something wrong, or if good things happen to us when we have done something right. This again is related to the common grace heresy that is floating everywhere through the churches. God is not a yoyo. Let us hear again Rom 8:28, and please pump this verse into your memory. God says in Rom 8:28, “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”. Who then are “the called according to his purpose”? The elect. If you are one of His elect, then all things work together for your good, and that includes the so called “good” and the so called “bad” things that happen to you. If you are one of the wicked, then all things work together for your judgment, and that includes the so called “good” and the so called “bad” things that happen to you. Why does God give good things to the reprobate? Is it out of love and grace toward them? Absolutely not! It is to harden them for destruction. In Luke 12:16-20 the Lord Jesus tells us the parable of the rich man whose land brought forth much fruit, and he was able to rest and have fun. Was this common grace? His physical needs were met and he had even more than he needed. Did God show grace for this man? “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee”. Why does God give good things to the reprobate? Psalm 92:7 gives us the plain teaching of the Bible. God says in Psalm 92:7, “When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever”. That is the purpose of the wicked’s flourishing and blossoming, so they will be hardened in their sin and in their unthankfulness toward God. Here is the plain teaching of the Bible. Good things for the reprobate are to harden them for destruction. There is no common grace for the wicked here.
Likewise God does not show common grace by proclaiming the Gospel into all the world, both to the elect and to the reprobate. The truth is that the preaching of the Gospel to the reprobate is meant to harden them for destruction. God says in 2Cor 2:15-16, “For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish; To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life”. Let us now return to Isa 55:12 where we are faced with the bringing of the Gospel into all the world. And then God holds this promise in front of us:
Isa 55:12 For ye
shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills
shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall
clap their hands.
What is the joy with which we shall go out to bring the Gospel? It is the joy of knowing that we are saved, and that we are doing a work that is pleasing in the eyes of the Lord. It is the joy of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ, and knowing that we are certain of our salvation, because we know Him from the Bible, the personally spoken Word of God. We are sure that we are not being led by the nose by some fake gospel, because we have every spoken Word from God at our disposal, and we can check out everything we hear from the pulpit. Therefore we are “led forth with peace”. What is that peace? It is the peace with God that we have, because God has wrought a work of faith within our hearts. Can there be anything more glorious than to know that we are on our way to heaven? Before we were saved this earth was a dark place. This earth was a place were big dogs eat little dogs. It was a place were there was no God and it was a place for the survival of the fittest. It was a jungle here, and we could be killed by anything bigger and more powerful than we were. The boss at work was mean. The drive to work was mean and the drive home was even more terrible and exhausting. We came home into an atmosphere that was tense, and there was a stack of mail most of which was generated by people who made mistakes at our expense. And so on. It was one calamity after another. But after I became saved my outlook on life also changed. The drive to and from work was not so bad. Given the right radio station, I was singing hymns all the way. A mean boss at work did not make me nervous, because I was working for my Father who is in heaven. As long as I got His approval, it really did not matter what my earthly supervisor thought about it. He thought to get me by lowering the annual raise in salary. That is OK. He will be held accountable by God; I would not want to be in his shoes. As long as I am in Christ and Christ is in me, all earthly problems fade by comparison. And so on. God expressed this changed outlook on life in Isa 55:12 by saying, “the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing”. That really is the meaning of verse 12. How wonderful! And then God says at the end of verse 12, “and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands”. What is this? Trees do not have hands. People have hands. God uses the metaphor of trees to indicate people who are elect of God. For example, in Psalm 1:3 God also speaks of His elect as trees. God says in Psalm 1:3, “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper”. And then God speaks in verse 13 of:
Isa 55:13 Instead of
the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall
come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an
everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
What do the thorns and briers represent? They represent people who remain
unsaved. But in their place God causes the fir tree and the myrtle tree to come
up. These are not the plantings of the evangelist, but these are the plantings
of the Lord. He caused these trees to come up and He causes these trees to sow
their seeds so that more trees will come up; just like He causes people to
become saved and they in turn sow their seeds of the Gospel into the world and
cause other people to hear the Gospel, and God saves them. Why then shall they
be to Jehovah “for a name”, and “for an
everlasting sign that shall not be cut off”? Who is God speaking about? He speaks about these trees
who are representing elect people. What is the status of the elect? They are
the Bride of Christ, both in this life and in the NH&NE. What is their
name? The Bride of Christ. What is “the everlasting sign that shall not be cut off”? Christ
shall never divorce His Bride. This is truly a marriage made in heaven. What a
glorious hope we have, and what a glorious future we can look forward to. What
will we be doing and will we ever be bored by listening to long sermons.
Absolutely not! Is God ever bored? We will be like God, because we will be the adopted
sons of God. AMEN.
Let us turn to the Lord in prayer.