Sermon #98             Series: Isaiah

 

 

Title:   “Behold, For Peace I Had Great Bitterness”

 

Text:   Isaiah 38:17

 

Subject:  God’s Method of Grace

 

Date:   Sunday Evening – January 5, 1992

 

Introduction:

 

 “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness.”  These are the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah.  When Sennacherib was defeated and he was once again allowed to live in peace, great peace.  His surroundings were peaceful.  His kingdom was peaceful.  His heart was peaceful.  And he anticipated nothing but peace for many years to come.  Then, suddenly, his peace was destroyed.  He was seized with sickness, sickness which embittered his soul to such to such an extent that he found no comfort.  Everywhere he looked there was nothing but bitterness.  And the bitterness which destroyed his peace was the work of God.  The Lord said to Hezekiah, “Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live.  “So far as mortal help was concerned, Hezekiah was a dead man.  Like Jeremiah, he said, “The Lord hath filled me with bitterness, he hath filled me with wormwood…And…remove my soul far off from peace” (Lam. 3:15-17).  Yet, he turned to the Lord God in prayer and prevailed with God.  His health was recovered and the number of his days was lengthened by fifteen years.  In one text Hezekiah recorded his experience for the glory of God, for the refreshment of his own soul, and for our learning and admonition.

 

Proposition:    In this verse of Scripture Hezekiah shows us something of God’s method of grace in delivering his people from the pit of corruption.

 

Divisions:

 

Here Hezekiah sets before us…

 

1.       His Blessed Bitterness.

2.       God’s Effectual Love.

3.       God’s Absolute Forgiveness of Sin.

 

I.  First, Hezekiah speaks of His Blessed Bitterness- “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness.”

 

At the time he experienced it, the bitterness Hezekiah felt in his soul was anything but blessed.  But, now, he speaks of the bitterness with gratitude and praise.  His bitterness had been the forerunner of great blessedness.

 

A.  Here is a child of God who had felt his Father’s chastening rod.

 

Like David, he had learned the value and blessedness of God sent affliction (Ps. 119:67, 71; Heb. 12:5-11).  “Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Heb. 5:8).

 

Let me tell you three things which I hope you will never forget.  If we belong to God…

 

 

1.  Hezekiah had enjoyed great peace.

 

Sennacherib was gone.  Rabshakeh was gone.  The Assyrians were gone.  Everyone hailed Hezekiah as a great king.   All of these blessings of providence appear to have gone to Hezekiah’s head.  Self-content, stagnant, slumbering, careless, and very much loving the world in which he now lived, Hezekiah wrapped himself in a blanket of ease and carnal security, and appeared to have forgotten God.

 

Note:  Prosperity often makes men forget God (Pro. 30:8-9).

 

2.  God destroyed Hezekiah’s peace.

 

What a change he underwent.  Suddenly, surprisingly without warning.  This man of great peace was in great bitterness.  “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness.”  Bitterness broke up his peace and replaced it.

 

  1. His bitterness was very great- Bodily health, mental strength, and comfort of soul all fled from him immediately- Hezekiah looked upon himself, not as one favored with grace, but as the object of God’s wrath (vv. 11-13).
  2. His bitterness came from God himself-   True, Hezekiah should not have been bitter.  That was his fault.  But the thing that made him bitter was the work of God (v. 1).
  3. His bitter experience led Hezekiah to repentance (v. 14).  He mourned.   He looked to God for help.  He sought grace through Christ, the Surety- This is Blessed Bitterness!

 

    1. It brought him to his knees.
    2. It exposed his sin.
    3. It revealed his God and Savior- “The Lord was ready to save me” (v. 20).

 

  1. Once Hezekiah’s heart was corrected, peace returned to him with songs of joy – (v. 20).

Chastisements do not last forever.  As soon as the rod of affliction has done it’s work, our Father’s smiling face appears (Isa. 54:7-10).

 

B.  I would neglect some whom I most want to help if I did not also show you that this is exactly the way God deals with sinners in saving grace.

 

            1st  He will destroy your peace- (Rom. 3:19).

            2nd He will fill your soul with bitterness- (Zech. 12:10).

            3rd He draws you to Christ- (John 12:32).

            4th He comes to you in peace- (John 14:18).

 

II.                 Secondly, Hezekiah shows us something of God’s Effectual Love.

 

I hope I never forget what Bob Poncer told us here on Tuesday night.  “The believer is God’s advertisement to needy sinners of his effectual love.”  Here Hezekiah is advertising God’s effectual love.  “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness:  but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption.”

 

Effectual love is that love that will not let it’s object perish.  Effectual love is not a helpless passion.  It is love that saves sinners from the pit of corruption!

 

A.     The Deed of Love is God’s Salvation!  (Jer. 31:3).

 

I was in the pit of corruption- He delivered me (Zech. 9:11)

            Illus:  The prison pits of the ancients.  My nature!

Yes, the Lord God delivers every soul that he loves from the pit-

 

·         Of Hell!

·         Of Despair!

·         Of Sin!

·         Of Death!

·         Of Temptation!

·         Only he can!

 

1.       He delivered me by blood redemption!

2.       He delivered me by sovereign regeneration!

3.       He delivers me by gracious restorations!  (Ps. 34:18-19).

 

B.     The Source and Cause of our Salvation is God’s Sovereign, Effectual Love.

 

Our text reads, “Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption;” but it might be read, “thou hast loved my soul out of the pit of corruption.”

 

1.       Love found a way to deliver us (Job 33:24).

2.       Love actually performed the work (I John 3:16; Eph. 2:4).

3.       Love broke our hearts, and then bound them up.

4.       Love sets us free, and then holds us captive!

 

We are, by God’s love, loved out of rebellion, sorrow, despondency, coldness, indifference, worldliness, and weakness.  Let every redeemed sinner heartily and gratefully acknowledge God’s effectual love (I John 4:19).

 

Measure God’s Love to Your Soul!

 

·         By Your Unworthiness!

·         By Your Danger!

·         By Your Present Serenity!

·         By the Greatness of Your Deliverer!

·         By the Cost of Your Deliverance!

 

Now and forever Treasure God’s Effectual Love!  “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4:10).

 

Do the best you can to Imitate This Love (Eph. 4:32-5:1).  “If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another!”

 

III.  Thirdly, Hezekiah speaks in our text of God’s Absolute Forgiveness of Sin.

 

            “Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.”

 

John Gill wrote, “The object of God’s love is the souls of his people; the instance of it is the delivery of them from the pit of corruption; the evidence of it is the pardon of their sins.”

 

A.  The forgiveness of sin is the cause of peace.

 

Hezekiah was burdened while sin remained, but when that was gone peace returned- (Rom. 4:8).

 

B.  God’s forgiveness of sin is thorough and complete.

 

·         He has forgiven “sins.”

·         He has forgiven “my sins.”

·         He has forgiven “all my sins.”

 

C.  God’s work of forgiveness required great effort on his part.

 

 “Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.  “The Lord Jesus took the horrible load of our sins upon his back and by his great blood sacrifice he hurled the load behind God’s back.

 

D.  This is a wonderful, blessed description of forgiveness.

 

            “Thou.”

            “Hast Cast”

            “All my sins”

            “Behind thy back!”

 

1.       This is the place of forgetfulness!  God will not remember our sins anymore, forever!

2.       This is the place of desertion!  Our sins are gone from God; and God is gone from our sins.  He has left them forever.  They will never cross his path again, because he never moves backward.

3.       This is the place of nonentity!   That which is behind God’s back does not exist, because there is nothing behind his back (I John 3:5).

 

Conclusion:

 

This is the way God deals with his people.

 

            1st  In Blessed Bitterness.

            2nd  In Effectual Love.

            3rd  In Absolute Forgiveness.

 

Let us now tell our story, as Hezekiah has told us his.  Seek out someone who will  hear it, and tell him, or her, what God has done for you by his Effectual Love!