Sermon
#13 Series:
Isaiah
Title: Man
Humbled, God Exalted
Text: Isaiah 2:17
Subject: God’s Determination to Slay the Pride of Man and
to Exalt the Glory of His Grace
Date: Sunday Morning - June 11, 1989
Tape #
Introduction:
The religion of the world is
calculated to make men and women feel good about themselves. Preachers everywhere call upon those who
hear them to stand up and be counted.
Churches and preachers bow and scrape before men to make them feel
important, valuable, and needed. People
like to be recognized, so the give recognition to them for just about
anything.
·
First time Visitors.
·
Father’s Day.
·
Mother’s Day.
·
Youth Day.
·
Women’s Day.
·
Men’s Day.
·
Deacon’s Day.
·
Pastor Appreciation
Day.
People like
to be honored, so churches and preachers invent some way to honor people every
week. People like to have a good time,
so they co-ordinate activities to show everybody a good time. People like to be pampered, so preachers
spend most of their time wiping noses, washing wounds, and mending fences. They call it “pastoral counseling.” But
the job basically is that of an expensive baby-sitter for immature men
and women whose god is too weak to help them.
Even the
doctrine of the religious world is calculated to dignify the flesh and give man
a sense of power, goodness, and self-worth.
·
The will of man is
made to be sovereign and omnipotent.
·
The works of men are
made meritorious.
·
At best, salvation is
set forth as a co-operative effort between God and man - but the whole work is
determined not by God, but by man.
The religion
of the world, the religion of man, the religion of antichrist is man centered,
man exalting, and man pleasing. The
religion of the Bible is exactly opposite.
Hear the words of God by the Prophet Isaiah , as he describes what
happens in the day God saves a sinner by his almighty grace - “The loftiness of
man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that
day.”
Proposition: It
is God’s purpose in all things to humble the pride man and to exalt the glory
of his grace in Christ - and you may be sure of this: what God has purposed he will bring to pass. Man shall be humbled. And God shall be exalted.
Sooner or
later, by one means or another, either in mercy or in grace, God will humble
every child of Adam. Sooner or later,
God will break your pride and mine.
In all his
works of providence up to this day, if you analyze the pages of history, you
will see that God has been causing the loftiness of man to bow down and the
haughtiness of men to made low.
Spurgeon once wrote, “If any man should say to me, ‘What is God doing?’
I would answer, ‘He is lifting up the lowly, and he is casting down the proud;
he seemeth always to be engaged in this, as though it were his natural work,
and he delighted in it.’” Men build
their nests among the stars. God tears
them down. Then he stoops, in the
almightiness of his love, to lift the beggar from the dunghill to set him among
princes, even the princes of his people.
·
God knows how to
humble the proud - Nebuchadnezzar!
·
And He knows how to
get honor to himself alone - Pharoah!
Throughout the history of man, since
the fall, this is what God has been doing.
And he will continue his work until at last the haughtiness of men has
been driven out of the world, until there is no place in the universe for any
majesty, except the majesty of the King of Kings. Yes, there is a day coming when, under the canopy of heaven, “The
loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made
low: and the Lord alone shall be
exalted.” In that day, when God has
thrown down the high looks of men, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall
confess, in heaven, earth, and hell, “That Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory
of God.” “The Lord alone shall be
exalted in that day!”
But our text is talking about the day
of grace particularly. Isaiah is
describing what God does in the hearts of his elect when he saves them by his
grace. There is a day appointed when
God will save each of his elect - “And the loftiness of man shall be bowed
down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.” I pray that for some of you the day of grace
has now come.
Divisions: With
as much brevity as possible, I want to show you that God’s method of saving
sinners by his sovereign grace in Christ is designed to humble man and exalt
the Lord alone.
1.
The Purpose of Grace is Humbling to Man and Exalts God.
2.
The Revelation of Grace in the Gospel is Designed to Strip
Men of All Pride and Self-righteousness and Exalt the Lord Alone.
3.
The Experience of Grace in Salvation Humbles Man and Exalts
the Lord Alone.
4.
The Distinction of Grace in the Judgment Will Lay All Flesh
Low and Exalt the Lord Alone.
I.
GOD’S ETERNAL PURPOSE OF GRACE IS HUMBLING TO MAN AND EXALTS
THE LORD ALONE.
Natural men rebel against sovereignty, denounce
predestination, and ridicule God’s immutable purpose of grace. Proud men can never rejoice in a sovereign
God, because the fact of God’s sovereign purpose robs man of all possibility of
adulation.
A. God’s purpose
of grace presupposes the fallen, ruin, lost condition of all men.
God’s covenant was made in
anticipation of the fall. Redemption
was planned in anticipation of man’s ruin.
The Lamb was slain before the world began in anticipation of man’s sin.
Anyone who acknowledges God’s
sovereign purpose of grace in Christ must also acknowledge man’s total
depravity and inability by reason of personal sin. God, from eternity, devised a way to deliver men from the pit,
because men, from eternity, were looked upon by God as a race fallen into the
pit of destruction (Job 23:34). God
made an everlasting covenant of peace, securing pardon and life for his elect,
because men were looked upon by him as a race of transgressors and a seed of
evildoers (Jer 31:31-34).
B. God’s purpose
of grace is humbling to man because it is an unconditional, immutable purpose
(Rom. 8:28-30).
Nothing in God’s covenant and purpose of grace is, in any
way, determined by, dependent upon, or conditioned on anything in man.
1.
God’s Love is Unconditional and Immutable.
2.
God’s Election is Unconditional and Immutable.
3.
God’s Purpose in Predestination is Unconditional and
Immutable.
4.
God’s Gifts and Callings of Grace are Unconditional and
Immutable (II Tim. 1:9).
C. The whole
purpose of grace is to exalt the Lord God alone, in the Trinity of His Sacred
Persons (Eph. 1:3-14).
1.
The Father’s Purpose is “To the praise of the glory of his
grace” - (6).
2.
The Son’s Purchase is “That we should be to the praise of
his glory” - (12).
3.
The Spirit’s Performance is “unto the praise of his glory” -
(14).
In God’s purpose of grace, “The
loftiness of man (is) bowed down, and haughtiness of men (is) made low: and the Lord alone (is) exalted.”
II.
Secondly, THE REVELATION OF GRACE IN THE GOSPEL IS DESIGNED
TO STRIP MEN OF ALL PRIDE AND SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS AND TO EXALT THE LORD GOD
ALONE.
Chemists have a means by which they
test water for acids and alkalines. It
is litmus paper. When it is dipped in
water, if the water has acid in it, it turns red. Now, here is a litmus test, by which you may test and prove every
doctrine and every preacher you hear, if the doctrine you hear causes your face
to glow with pride, it is not of God.
Anything that lifts up man, anything that lowers God, is not of God and
is not the gospel. The gospel of the
grace of God abases the flesh and glorifies God. Let me show you how it does this.
A. The gospel of
the grace of God is always addressed to men and women as sinners.
Grace is never offered to good
men. Mercy is never promised to
righteous people. Christ came not to
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Matt. 1:21; I Tim. 1:15; I John
1:9).
Thomas Wilcox was right when he said,
“Christ came to save everybody except the self-righteous.”
If you are not a sinner, there is
nothing in the gospel for you. But if
you are a sinner, I have good news for you - Christ died for sinners - Christ
saves sinners. Your sinfulness will
never keep you from Christ. Only your
“goodness” can do that. Your sin will
never keep you out of heaven. Only your
righteousness can do that.
·
There is pardon for
the guilty!
·
There is a robe for
the naked!
·
There is bread for
the hungry!
·
There is water for
the thirsty!
·
There is rest for the
weary!
·
There is grace for
the needy!
·
There is cleansing
for the dirty!
·
There is help for the
fallen!
But there is nothing in the gospel,
not one word of good news, for the good, the great, and the righteous.
B. Moreover, the
gospel is addressed to sinners who are spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1-3).
Talk about helpless! What is more helpless than death? Talk about hopeless! What is more hopeless than death? Talk about obnoxious! What is more obnoxious than death? There is not a complimentary, dignifying,
honorable word between the covers of the Bible to fallen man. If you want a picture of humanity, as the
Bible describes man, you must go to the cemetery, dig up a coffin, open the
box, and look upon the rotten, decayed body of corruption - the gospel of
Christ is addressed to men and women who are dead.
·
Your works are dead
works.
·
Your religion is dead
religion. Until Christ
gives you
·
Your doctrine is dead
doctrine. Life.
·
Your faith is dead
faith.
C. Another
humbling revelation of the gospel is the fact that the sinner’s only hope of
salvation is the finished work of Christ, the sinner’s substitute (I Cor.
1:29-31).
Our works, good or bad, have nothing whatever to do with
salvation. Salvation is the gift, the
free, unconditional gift of the grace of God, bestowed upon helpless,
hell-deserving sinners by the merits of Christ.
1.
Christ is our only Righteousness.
2.
Christ is our only Redemption. “This is my beloved
Son,
3.
Christ is our only Acceptance. in whom I
am well
4.
Christ is our only Sanctification. pleased.”
The gospel calls upon us to look to
Christ for everything -
Illustration: The Brazen Serpent.
D. And this is a
humbling revelation of the gospel - Even the will to look to Christ and be
saved by Him is determined and given by God (Rom. 9:16; Ps. 65:4).
No man will ever come to Christ of his
own “free-will.” Those who come know,
and gladly acknowledge,
‘Tis not that I did
choose Thee
For, Lord, that could not be;
This heart would
still refuse Thee
Hadst Thou not
chosen me.
III. Thirdly, THE
EXPERIENCE OF GRACE IN SALVATION HUMBLES MAN AND EXALTS THE LORD ALONE.
A. Holy Spirit
conviction is a humbling experience (John 16:8-11).
B. Repentance is a humbling experience (Ps. 32:1-2).
C. Conversion is a humbling experience (Lk. 14:23-35).
D. Faith is a humbling experience (Mt. 7:13-14).
Illustration: The
Rich Young Ruler.
E. And, perhaps
more than anything else, the most humbling experience we have is the fact that
the grace of God does not change, alter, or improve our old nature.
Grace gives us peace, pardon, and life. Grace gives us hope, joy, and
righteousness. Grace gives us a new
nature, a new hope, and a new will. But
grace does nothing to change our old nature (Rom. 7:14-24).
1.
We grow in grace, but our growth is humbling to man and
honors God alone - we grow by grace.
2. We persevere in grace, but our perseverance is the work of God’s grace (Phil 1:6; John 10:27-30).
3. Even our blessed times of communion with Christ are humbling to us and exalt our Lord alone, because he will not allow us to leave him (Song 5:2).
4. All that we experience of chastisement and affliction is humbling to man, but exalts the Lord alone (Heb. 12:5-11).
Illustration: The Shepherd breaking the lamb’s leg!
IV. And, lastly,
THE DISTINCTION OF GRACE IN THE DAY OF JUDGMENT WILL LAY ALL FLESH LOW AND
EXALT THE LORD ALONE.
Illustration: What
right have you to enter in?
Application:
I Cor. 4:7
Ps. 115:1
Rev. 5:9-10