Series: Isaiah
Title: God’s Effectual Call
Text: Isaiah 52:1-6
Date: June 16, 2013
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Isaiah 52: 1: Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on
thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall
no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. 2: Shake thyself from
the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy
neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
This chapter contains
several familiar verses of scripture which are quoted in the New Testament, each
of which are applied to this gospel age in which we live. So we will apply this passage to this day of
grace in which we live.
Proposition: We will see God’s call to Israel while in Babylon was a
prophetic type of God’s effectual call of grace to his people while as yet we
live in this earth.
I. FIRST, WE SEE GOD’S CALL OF GRACE TO HIS CHILD AND TO HIS
CHURCH IS EFFECTUAL.
Effectual Call
First, God calls his child
to spiritual life-- v52: 1: Awake,
awake.
Regeneration is where
salvation begins in our experience of it. He says, twice, “Awake, awake” because
by nature we are twice dead: dead in trespasses and in sins, dead in our first representative
Adam and dead by our own sins.
Application: Now, sinner, you are
thinking, if I am twice dead, why would God call on me to awake and arise from the
dead? How could anyone call for a dead man to do something dead men can’t do?
Illustration:
Valley of Dry Bones—Ezekiel 37: 3: And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones
live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. 4: Again he said unto me,
Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, HEAR the word of
the LORD. 5: Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause
breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: 6: And I will lay sinews upon you,
and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in
you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Illustration: Man with the withered hand—He could not reach forth his hand. Yet, Christ commanded, “Stretch forth thine
hand.” When Christ commanded it, it says, “And he stretched it out: and his
hand was restored whole as the other.”
Christ is our
Strength
Christ is our Strength to do what God calls us to do—notice
he says, V1: “put on thy strength, O
Zion. Sinners have NO strength in ourselves.
Romans 5:6: For when we were
yet WITHOUT STRENGTH, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
It means “impotent, strengthless, utterly without any
strength whatsoever.” The strength of
Christ’s people is Christ himself.
Philippians 4:13: I can do
all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
We have life inwardly only when Christ the Life has
entered through the Holy Spirit. We hear the word of God’s call only when
Christ the Word has spoken in power in the inward man.
Illustration: An embryo cannot help awaking to life when the seed enters
the womb and gives life. Likewise, when the Incorruptible Seed enters into us, the
Lord’s call is always effectual—there is life.
1 Peter 1: 23: Being born again, not of corruptible seed,
but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 24:
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The
grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 25: But the word of the
Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached
unto you.
By this
power, Christ makes his child to know who he is—V6: Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know
in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I.
Application: When men deny the power of
the Lord in regeneration and effectual calling how then can they know the LORD? They cannot! Until a man has been touched by
the power of God, he will deny the power of God. But not after God has come to
him in power—for his power is irresistible.
II. SECONDLY,
WE SEE THAT WHEN GOD QUICKENS AND CALLS, HE COMMANDS US TO PUT ON SOMETHING—V1:
put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the
holy city:
God’s Strength
of Salvation
Christ is God’s Strength of salvation and the believers Strength
of peace with God.
Isaiah 27: 5:…Let him take
hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace
with me.
When the Spirit commands a sinner to put on Christ our
Strength—he guides us into all truth, putting Christ our Strength within us—so that
when we approach God’s judgment seat now we order our cause before God. Then, our
argument ceases being what we have done and becomes simply this—Christ is our
Strength, God’s own salvation for us. Therefore, because we come to God in God’s
own Strength, God receives us in peace and we are delivered from the Judge in
peace.
Job
23: 3: Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his
seat! 4: I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. 5:
I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would
say unto me. 6: Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would
put strength in me. 7: There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I
be delivered for ever from my judge.
Application: Sinner, lay hold of God’s
Strength, put on Christ Jesus, that you may make peace with God and you shall
make peace with him.
Roman 5:1: Therefore being
justified, by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Christ is Our
Beautiful Garments
When he commands us to put on Christ he is commanding us
to put on Christ our Righteousness—our beautiful
garments—Christ is all the believers Righteousness.
Illustration: All Christ’s redeemed are
prodigal sons—we went away from God backwards. So when he calls us to himself
he does as the father did the prodigal son in Christ’s parable, he says, “Bring
forth the BEST ROBE, and put it on
him; [Christ’s perfect righteousness] and put A RING on his hand, [he makes with us an everlasting covenant of
grace—no beginning, no end like a ring] and SHOES on his feet [he shods our feet with the preparation of the
gospel, declaring to us the work of redemption is finished by Christ’s one
offering.]” (Lu 15: 22)
The
Everlasting Covenant of Grace
Here is the everlasting covenant he makes in our hearts--V2: henceforth there shall no more come
into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. When God regenerates he makes
a separation between our old man who is uncircumcised and unclean and our new man
which is circumcised by God in Spirit and washed in the blood of Christ.
Colossians 2: 11: In whom
also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye
are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised
him from the dead. 13: And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision
of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all
trespasses;
1 Corinthians 6: 9: Know ye
not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived:
neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers
of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall
inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such
were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
Henceforth there shall no more come into thee the
uncircumcised and the unclean.
III. THIRDLY,
WE SEE THAT NOT ONLY DOES HE COMMAND US TO PUT ON CHRIST, HE ALSO COMMANDS US
TO PUT OFF SOMETHING--v2 Shake thyself FROM the
dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself FROM the bands of thy
neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
Dust and
Bands
Before God regenerates us to life and calls us to faith in
Christ we are nothing but perishing creatures of dust and captives in bondage
under sin, under the curse of the law, and under the power of Satan. But God
commands his child to put off the old man of dust—shake thyself from the dust. And God commands us to put off all the
bands that held us in captivity--loose
thyself FROM the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
We put off the old man of dust, along with all his deeds
which held us in bands of captivity: the bands of immoral sin and the bands of
moral, self-righteous sin: touch not, taste not, handle not—the rudiments of
dust and captivity. In other words, treat your old man of flesh as what he is—just
a lifeless, perishing thing of clay—which shall soon return to the dust.
Risen Rest
He says, V2: “arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem:” Christ arose and sat down and we arose in
him and sat down. So arise—set your affection on him above. And sit down—rest in Christ Jesus our
Sabbath!
Freedom is yours, believer!
John 8: 36: If the Son
therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Romans
8: 12: Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the
flesh. 13: For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the
Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 14: For as many as are
led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15: For ye have not
received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Application: How is all this done? By simply looking to Christ in faith. Trust that
Christ is all your Righteousness; trust that he has made with you an
everlasting covenant; trust that he is all your salvation; walk in his gospel
from here on. You will if you have truly heard.
Romans 13:14: But put ye on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the
lusts thereof.
Slumbering
Believers
Believer, this does not apply only to those who are only
beginning to experience God’s effectual grace, it applies to every believer. We often slumber in various ways and for
various reasons. But believers never
cease coming to Christ; we never cease walking in his light and putting off the
old man. If any believer is sleeping here this morning our Savior says to you,
Awake, awake!”
There is no doubt all shall obey his effectual call—the
glory goes to God alone. And at the same time, it is our responsibility to obey
his voice walk in the light God has given us. Let’s see that in Ephesians 5.
Ephesians 5: 8:…ye were
sometimes darkness, but now ARE YE LIGHT IN THE LORD: WALK AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT:…9:
10: PROVING [discerning, examining, approving of, manifesting] what is
acceptable unto the Lord. 11: And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works
of darkness, but rather REPROVE them.
How do we reprove those who walk in darkness? Not by
speaking down to them or acting as if you are holier than they. You do so so simply by walking in the light the
Lord has given you. He says that in verse 13.
Ephesians 5: 13: But all things
that are reproved ARE MADE MANIFEST BY THE LIGHT: for whatsoever doth make
manifest IS LIGHT.
Then Paul gives a quote from our Lord, which very much
resembles our text or at least carries the same meaning.
Ephesians 5: 14: Wherefore
he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall
give thee light.
Here is the conclusion:
Ephesians 5: 15: See then
that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16: Redeeming the time,
because the days are evil.
Few Truly
Believe
Brethren, remember
Christ’s parable of the four kinds of hearers?
3 out of 4 perished. Christ’s
point was, be careful how you hear—give diligence to the word of God, walk in
the light he had given you.
Matthew 25:29: For unto
every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall
be taken away even that which he [seemeth to] hath.
Those who did not like to retain God in their knowledge—God
gave them over to a reprobate mind so that they could not know God. They proved they never knew him.
2 Peter 1: 4: Whereby are
given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be
partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the
world through lust. 5: And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith
virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And
to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness;
and to brotherly kindness charity. 8 For
if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be
barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
How do we give diligence?
By heeding the word of God.
2 Peter 1: 19: We have also
a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a
light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise
in your hearts:
That is why we come to hear the gospel over and over. To hear
God speak effectual into our hearts saying
Isaiah 52: 1: Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion;
put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there
shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. 2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit
down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter
of Zion.
Amen!