God’s Longsuffering to the Elect

By Pastor Matt Black

June 18, 2006
Lord's Day Evening
Isaiah 6:1-13, 2 Peter 3:6-12

 

Introduction: Open your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 6.  Stand with me as we read the entire chapter.  Tonight as we introduce the latter part of Isaiah 6, we are going to be looking into God’s judicial hardening of sinners and His longsuffering for His sheep, so the title of tonight’s message is: “God’s Longsuffering to the Elect”.

 

[Read Isaiah 6:1-13]

 

What an amazing passage of Scripture.  We see the Gospel according to Isaiah. We see Isaiah entering into the very throne room of God Himself, and He sees the Christ in all His glory.  He testifies, “Mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts” (verse 9).  This was an unforgettable encounter for Isaiah.  This encounter revealed to Isaiah who he really was before God.

 

This chapter is obviously about the calling of Isaiah to the ministry, but it is also a summary of his salvation.  Though chapters 1-5 give the main content of much of Isaiah’s message to the Lord’s people, in chapter 6, we are brought back in time to before Isaiah delivered any of those messages.  So the first seven verse of Isaiah 6 speak of Isaiah’s salvation.  We looked at that last week.  We saw how Isaiah had graduated into God’s favor, and how there is no other graduation that is so important.

 

  1. We first saw Isaiah’s contemplation of God.  He said, “I saw…the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up” (verse 1).  He heard the angels shouting praise to the Triune God: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD of hosts!” (verse 3).  He saw the Lord’s sovereignty and lordship reigning over all the earth.  He reported it: “The whole earth is full of his glory” (verse 3).  What a contemplation of Jesus Christ, the only true God, Jesus Christ. 

 

  1. Then we saw Isaiah’s condemnation of himself.  Remember how he reacted when he saw the Lord?  He said, “Woe is me, for I am undone.”   He says, “I’m ‘undone’—unraveled and exposed like the backside of a tapestry.  All my secret motives are made known.  My pride, my lust for position, my desire for worldly pleasure—all of this is exposed, and I am undone.  He saw his coming condemnation, remember: “the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke” (verse 4).  Like the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai, God was demonstrating what a wicked man Isaiah was iin his sight.  Like the pillar of cloud that fell on Pharaoh’s army and blinded and condemned them to the bottom of the Red Sea, God’s heavenly temple was filled with the cloud of God’s presence.  Isaiah as with all men, stood condemned!  He freely admitted it.  He had seen God and he cried out, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (verse 5).

 

Stop the tape.  Freeze the film.  What happens if Isaiah dies here?  He stands before God with a death sentence on him.  “As in Adam all die” (1 Corinthians 15:22).  “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20).  As Paul said, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).  Isaiah is a prophet, but he realizes something about himself and all humanity, as he says in Isaiah 64:6, “we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.”  So Isaiah says, “Woe is me… I am undone.”  Literally he says, “I am perishing” (verse 5). 

 

  1. Then we see Isaiah’s glorious conversion.  It is here that we are reintroduced to the significance of the Old Testament sacrifices.  One of the seraphims (“burning ones”) flies over to Isaiah with “a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar” (verse 6).  This live coal touches the lips of Isaiah, and the amazing declaration is made, “Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged” (verse 7). 

 

This encounter is brief, but we cannot miss the details of what has transpired. 

 

·         In this encounter, we see substitution.  Remember, this is most likely the Day of Atonement, 739 BC.  Isaiah is not simply in the earthly temple which was “a shadow of good things to come” (Hebrews 10:1), but in the very presence of the Holy one.  Though he was not physically there, what Isaiah was seeing was not the shadow, but the real thing, the very throne room of God.  And in this vision, the meaning of the sacrifices is made apparent.  There is a substitution.  Upon the altar would be the sacrifice that would be utterly consumed.  This sacrifice was in the place of the sinner!  And here Isaiah tastes of the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ.  Though Christ had not yet come to earth, He is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation).  So here this burning coal is a vivid reminder that “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).  And so as you look at this burning coal and the substitutionary sacrifice that that coal had utterly consumed, I ask you to look to Jesus and listen to the words of John the Baptist who said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).  So we see Christ’s substitution for us here. 

 

·         In this encounter we also see the Father’s satisfaction.  The New Testament Word for satisfaction is propitiation.  It means the satisfaction of God’s wrath.  Remember when Isaiah entered God’s presence, He entered the presence of an angry God.  There were visible signs of God’s wrath: “the posts of the door moved” at the voice of the angels crying ‘holy’.  God’s throne room was “filled with smoke.”  These were visible signs of the wrath of God that was abiding on Isaiah the son of Amoz, but this live coal was applied to Isaiah. The coal “touched” Isaiah’s lips.  It was applied to him.  The sacrifice on the ultimate day of atonement, on Calvary was received on Isaiah’s behalf, and the Father was satisfied.  The pronouncement was made “thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin is purged.”  Isaiah reiterates this truth when he speaks more directly about Christ’s then coming work on the cross in Isaiah 53:11, saying that God “shall see of the travail of his [CHRIST’s] soul, and shall be satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.”   Again, the New Testament word for this is propitiation, the satisfaction of God’s wrath that is currently abiding on all sinners outside of Christ (John 3:36).  Paul tells us in Romans 3:25  that “God hath set forth…” Christ “…to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.”  God is satisfied with Christ’s work on the cross.  The Father at this moment declares as a voice from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). 

 

So we see this substitution and this satisfaction of Christ in our place for our sins. 

 

  1. We ended last Sunday evening looking into very briefly into Isaiah’s calling. 

Isaiah had experienced this amazing transformation that took place in mere moments.  God can convert the soul in a second—He can break us in a moment!  That is what Isaiah experienced, and his ears which had been dull because of sin were opened up!  He says, “I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” (verse 8a).  And what was Isaiah’s response?  “Then said I, Here am I; send me” (verse 8b).  It’s as if Isaiah says, ‘Lord, here am I; you see me and know me; I am just an undone sinner, but Lord, here am I, whatever is here, as worthless as I have seen myself to be, Lord here am I, send me.’  Isaiah was a young man at this time—it was still very early on in his ministry.  And yet, this transformation made him eager to declare to all the world the Gospel.  He was no longer the man he used to be.  He had undergone a radical change.  Having the burden of his sins taken away and the freedom of a clear conscience compels him to speak.  He had good news to proclaim!  He feels Christ’s cleansing very keenly, so he says “Here am I, send me!”

 

  1. Tonight we go where we left off and after seeing contemplation of God, the condemnation of himself, his conversion and calling, tonight we are going to look at Isaiah’s commission.  We are going to hear what God tells Isaiah to do, and what God also tells us to do.

 

We are going to see in verses 9 though 13 that God commands us to preach to a people that will not hear.  Many times I hear the objection that if God commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30), which He most certainly does, then it by shear logic and implication must be His will for all men to be saved.  Dear friend, if it was God’s will for all to be saved, then He would save all!  The question is could God save all if He wanted to?  YES.  Does He want to?  If the answer is also YES, then we have a God who has two conflicting desires.  God in fact does not have it in His plan to save every individual sinner. Repeatedly, we read that Christ gave His life for His church, for His people. But many object and say that “God is not willing that any should perish.”  Is that true?  Turn over to 1 Peter 3.  Let’s begin with verse 6.

 

We read, “Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” 

 

The first thing we notice is the context.  What is this passage talking about?  It is not talking about salvation (soteriology), but what is going to happen at the end of the world, and why the end of the world has not yet come yet.  So, it is not talking about soteriology, the things of salvation, but eschatology, the last things, the end of the world.  Now Peter in this context wants to give the church comfort.  Look at verse 9.  He says, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us–ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”  Notice first, who is the Lord longsuffering toward?  Has he held off on His coming so that every individual will come to repentance?  No.  Who is he longsuffering toward?  The Scripture says very clearly, “to us-ward.”  This longsuffering was manifested in Christ’s prayer in John 17:9, the Lord says there, “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.”  God is longsuffering not toward the world, but to His people, His elect.   He is not willing that any of these “should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”  Christ tells us in Matthew that though the ninety and nine sheep be safe, still he will tarry and go after that one lost sheep.  As he says in Matthew 18:14, “Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” 

 

Turn over to John 10.  Christ clearly tells us in John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”  This passage goes on to clarify further who Christ was dying for.  Look down at verse 14, “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. 15  As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16  And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” 

 

So turn back to 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us–ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

 

Do you see that Christ is waiting to destroy the earth until the last one of His elect are rescued.  Though the ninety and nine be gathered, still there is one He waits for.  He is longsuffering to “us-ward.” 

 

But you may further ask, well then, why do men perish?  Let me be crystal clear: No man ever went to hell because God sent them there.  Did you hear me? 

 

No man ever suffered eternal torment in the Lake of Fire because God decided to create that person for destruction.

 

As I said earlier, we come into this world born with a death sentence on us.  “As in Adam all die” (1 Corinthians 15:22).  “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20).  As Paul said, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). 

 

We see this even clearer in the Gospel of John.  “He that believeth not is condemned already” (John 3:18).  Adam chose to fall into sin, and the whole human race was plunged in with him.  So men are born “condemned already.”  Because of this they are born as “vessels of wrath fitted to destruction” (Romans 9:22).  This is what Adam’s free will got him!  This is all our free will has ever brought us.  You were born freely willing to dishonor God in all that you do.  “We are all as an unclean thing,” and it is the weight of our own depravity, and not God’s decree, that will send any one of us to hell.  God’s decree elected certain sinners out of the mass of sin-laden humanity, but He when people go to hell, it is because God leaves them to their own condemnation!  They are “condemned already.”

 

Conclusion:  This is a difficult message to preach, but we cannot argue with God.  He is the potter, and we are the clay.  We are going to find out next week that Isaiah nonetheless had compassion for the lost.  He has the balance of preaching the truth, pleading God’s mercy, and giving the stern message of God’s judicial hardening.  Are we willing to do the same?  Are you willing to preach the Gospel until the last of God’s sheep is found?  Are you willing to preach the Gospel no matter what the response?

 

Closing Hymn: 320 Pass Me Not O Gentle Saviour