Today is the Day of Salvation
By Pastor Matt Black
27 May
2007
Lord's Day Evening
Isaiah 15:1-5
Introduction: Open your Bibles to the book of Isaiah 15. The title of tonight’s message is “Today is the Day of Salvation”. Let us rise as we read just a phrase from verse 5 that will capture my theme tonight. There is a whole lot of judgment going on in chapters 15:1-5, but I want you to see in verse 5 the heart of a prophet of God. He
In 2 Corinthians 6:2, we read the words of Paul who is quoting Isaiah 49:8, “behold…now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation”.
There is such thing as a day of grace in the Bible, and I believe we see some of this as God deals with the Moabite people.
Isaiah 15:1, “The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence;
I. We need to prepare ourselves for salvation because: this world will not last forever. The Moabites were proud boasting people (see Isa. 16:6), that never thought about their own human frailty. They would die like everyone else. Like most people, they lived like their temporary world would last forever. So hear this message loud and clear…
A. Ten out of ten people will die: please plan accordingly.
Verse 1: “in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence”—this night is speaking of an appointed day when this group of people would die. There are several metaphors here for death: “laid waste” and “brought to silence”. The Assyrians would put an end to the family of the Moabites.
Application: How are you living? Are you living as if this earth is going to last forever? Seriously. Do you think about the eternal souls around you? Do you think on your eternal soul?
There is coming a day when your body will be laid waste—worms will inhabit this body. Job said it this way in Job 19:25-26, “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: 26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: 27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.”
There is an end coming. Get ready for it. I don’t know where “Ar” and “Kir of Moab” are located. But they were familiar places to the Moabites. Friends let me put it this way: Hanover Park and Elgin and West Chicago and Wheaton will all be laid waste one day. No the Assyrians are not coming, but they will come to an end. There is an end to all of this.
Jesus said in Luke 21:33, “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”
The moon flight that President Bush has scheduled for 2011 might happen, or it might not. Don’t plan on tomorrow. God alone holds tomorrow in His hands.
B. Since the end is coming, be careful what you treasure. Look at verse 2:
“He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off. 3 In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth: on the tops of their houses, and in their streets, every one shall howl, weeping abundantly. 4 And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh: their voice shall be heard even unto Jahaz: therefore the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out; his life shall be grievous unto him”. What was all this crying for? The Moabites treasured their cities. What was in their cities? Look at verse 2: “high places”. These people treasured idols made of wood and stone.
I love verse 2, “on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.” They literally had a fit when they realized what they treasured would be lost. What causes you to have a fit? Those are idols in your heart.
Are there idols in your heart? Are there high places in your life? You know what you need to do with the high places? You need to tear them down.
This morning we talked about the Lord having total control over your life. God wants to bless you with Himself, but God is an all or nothing God. He will not share His glory with an idol. Is there anything nearer to your heart than God? Is there anything you are holding back?
What are some things we hold back in our lives?
· The idol of worry: Do you always have to have things go your way?
· The idol of fear: Are you a man-pleaser? You want the praises of men.
· The idol of pride: Do you always have to be right? Do you get upset when things don’t go your way? Are you always seeking to be seen and have the most respected position? You should fight for the back seat in a car. He who dies with the dirtiest towel wins!
· The idol of convenience:
Illustration: Jim Berg shopping cart. One day a fellow student of mine at college was a Wal-mart I believe. It was pouring down rain. He saw Jim Berg (an author, professor, Dean of Students). Dr. Berg did not see him, but my friend observed Dr. Berg in the pouring rain pushing the cart back to the cart terminal.
Remember Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Don’t seek position or praise or pride or pleasure and convenience for self. Seek God with all your heart and soul!
Psalm 37:4, “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
We should treasure what God treasures. God treasures His Son first and foremost. “This is my beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased”.
Treasuring Christ is something we do in public and private with family and friends. It comes out of us—you cannot hide it.
If you treasure something else, know that it will pass away. If you hold on to something else for your happiness, you will perish with it. “Repent or you will all likewise perish” were the words of Jesus. Turn away from your idols.
Some people will not come to Christ because they love their idols or their sin.
Are you prepared for that day when the trumpet sounds? The end for Moab was the Assyrian invasion.
C. The Lord’s coming will be the end for all the world.
James 5:8 says, "Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the LORD draweth nigh".
Hebrews 9:28 gives us a promise! "Unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation".
On that day when we are caught up into the air, Christ will not be coming to deal with sin. Our Lord has already conquered sin! Christ is coming to give us bring us final salvation:
· He will give us new bodies and bring a new creation.
· He will wipe away all tears.
1 Corinthians 15:52, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
Charles Spurgeon said, “Our LORD will have ended the business of sin. He has so taken it away from His people and so effectually borne its penalty that He will have nothing to do with it at His second coming. He will present no sin offering, for He will have utterly put sin away.”
The end for Moab was the Assyrian invasion. They were truly saddened that they lost everything. They held on to the treasure of this world. Is there anything you are hoping to hang on to for eternity?
Matthew 7:19-21, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
II. We need to prepare others for salvation because: there is an end.
Even thought Isaiah lived 2700 years ago, the world has not changed much since. Oh, today the idols have changed, but man’s heart is still self centered, self reliant, and self pleasing.
A. Look around you at people just like you.
Isaiah looked upon the Moabites. He probably thought about the fact that they were kin to Abraham. Lot, who was Abraham’s nephew, was the father of the Moabites. And here he looks on what they had become and warns them. But in the midst of judgment there is compassionate weeping. Look at verse 5, “My heart shall cry out for Moab”. It is so important that we have a broken heart for souls tonight.
God is still in the saving business. How many of you have been saved in the last five years? Ten years?
Romans 10:14, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?”
Our job is to plant and water. Have you forgotten that a lot of the watering comes from your own tears? Psalm 126:5 still says, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.”
B. We need to keep praying and preaching.
· Are you praying for lost family members?
· Are you praying for lost church members? Jesus said the wheat and the tares will abide together until His coming. Are you praying for the tares and the goats? Do you have a compassion for those who do not know the Lord?
· Are you praying for your lost co-workers?
Friends, it is easy to become irritated by sin. Being annoyed and irritated by sin never saved a soul. Getting irritated at your lost family and friends is like getting upset at a blind man for walking into a wall! We need to not be upset, we need to plead with compassionate hearts to God for their eyes to be opened, and then we need to warn them.
Application: Do you find yourself with a judgmental attitude toward the lost? Or do you have a broken heart of compassion. They will never change unless you give them the key to unlock their shackles!
C. There is a way of escape for the Moabites!! Now we continue in the rest of verse 5, and the imagery here is really amazing. It shows a way of escape. Again in verse 5, “My heart shall cry out for Moab: his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar”.
Zoar is a significant place. Remember the father of the Moabites was Lot. Where did Lot flee from? Sodom and Gomorrah. The city of Zoar was where Lot fled to. Calvin says on this verse, “Now Zoar was a town very far removed from the Moabites; and, therefore, he means that they cannot provide for their safety but by fleeing to a distance.
So what the Lord was saying in essence was: “Lot escaped from Sodom and Gomorrah into Zoar. His descendents will now need to flee from the cities of Moab which were just like Sodom and Gomorrah in God’s eyes”.
John the Baptist in the New Testament would tell people to “flee from the wrath to come” (Matthew 3:7). That sounds like a doom and gloom message, but it is actually one of the most compassionate.
Illustration: Imagine your child was playing on a train track. You see the train coming. He does not see it. He’s not paying attention to the approaching sound. He’s busy playing with his ball. What are you going to tell him? “Get off the tracks!”
There’s a train coming for your neighbors, your friends, your co-workers. There is a way of escape from this world of Sodom and Gomorrah. There was a way of escape for the Moabites.
D. Sadly, if you don’t warn them, they are done for. Look again at verse 5, “My heart shall cry out for Moab: his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, an heifer of three years old: for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall they go it up; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of destruction.”
This heifer of three years old—is speaking of a heifer that is strong, and ready to be sacrificed. This is a fatted calf!!
Listen, It is appointed, just as the fatted calf would go to the slaughter, it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment.
But Isaiah says, these people will not turn to God. Verse 5, “for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall they go it up; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of destruction.”
If they don’t flee to Zoar for refuge, then they will flee to the very high place of Luhith. The high place was a place for idols. There are only two places
Conclusion: I believe Jesus summarized this message best: Matthew 7: 13-14, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
Hebrews 3:15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts,
In 2 Corinthians 6:2, we read the words of Paul who is quoting Isaiah 49:8, “behold…now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation”.