Our scripture reading from the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 57. We'll begin reading at verse 14, but let me first set this in its context. The prophet has revealed to us the work of his servant, the Messiah, Climaxing in that wonderful 53rd chapter where we see in prophetic detail the sacrifice of the Messiah as he takes upon himself the sins of his people, that he suffers the chastisement for our peace. After that we have the gracious call of invitation to come unto the Lord, those that are thirsty, while the Lord is near. A gracious gospel invitation. But then in chapters 56 and 57 we have a tragic picture of Israel's rejection of that servant, their rejection of that gospel message. It is now that we pick up the context at verse 14, let us hear the word of the Lord. And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way. take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people. For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with Him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. For I will not contend forever Neither will I be always wroth, for the spirit should fail before me and the souls which I have made. For the iniquity of his covetousness I was wroth and smote him. I hid me and was wroth, and he went on forwardly in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways and will heal him. I will lead him also and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of lips, peace, peace to him that is far off and to him that is near, saith the Lord, and I will heal him. But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. The grass withers and the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever. Our meditation this morning from the text in Isaiah that we have read together, chapter 57, the closing part of that chapter. Certainly the genius of Isaiah is without parallel. It is impossible to read this prophecy without being impressed with the richness of the language, the beauty of the imagery. From any and every perspective, this prophecy of Isaiah is a literary masterpiece. But yet soaring above the majestic style is the profound message of the everlasting gospel. And it is with theological precision equal to that of the Apostle Paul, that this prince of the prophets expounds a gospel of a free and a sovereign grace. A gospel that is defined in terms of God's elect son, his servant, the only redeemer of God's elect, the only mediator between God and men. But notwithstanding the beauty of the gospel, And notwithstanding the simplicity of the call to life, sinners are so dead, and they are so blind, and they are so deaf, and they are so insensitive, that they can face the gospel head on and yet stay in their state of misery. Isaiah describes something of the depths of that misery, particularly in chapters 56 and 57, after that gracious revelation of the gospel and gracious call to repentance. A stumbling block had to be removed and that's where our text begins. Take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people. This obstacle, this stumbling block had to be removed or sinners would not and sinners could not come to light. And here's our proposition this morning, that it is God's grace that takes away the obstacles. Unless the God of grace intervenes, there is absolutely no hope for sinners to come to spiritual life. But it is because God is who He is. And it is because God does what He does. That salvation is a possibility. But beyond that, it is because God is who He is, and because God has done what He has done, that He sent His own dear Son to be the Redeemer. Not only to make salvation simply possible, but to make salvation a reality for those that come to Christ. This text that we have read together is one of the high-water marks in Isaiah's prophecy. It's a message that is profoundly simple, but yet profoundly complex with paradox as we read of a God that is so high, a God that is so far, but yet a God that is also so near and so low with those that are contrite. Though the word grace does not occur in the text before us, I submit to you that the reality of grace is between every line. It is grace that is, as it were, a magnet that draws obstinate and dead sinners unto the Lord. And that's the theme then that I want us to consider this morning as we have our Bibles open, the magnetism of grace, the magnetism of grace. And there are three statements that Isaiah makes designed to draw sinners to the Lord and to keep them there. Can I say first of all that the God of grace is the sinner's only hope. The God of grace is the sinner's only hope. For sinners that are left to themselves are helpless. and they are hopeless, to be without God is to be without hope. But the more we can understand something of the greatness of God, the more we can sense then something of the greatness of His grace. And in this text, Isaiah describes for us remarkable truths about who God is. Remarkable declarations of how absolutely great God is. And I say the more we can begin to comprehend something of the greatness of God, the more we begin to understand something of the magnitude and the wonder of His amazing grace. Our attention is first drawn to the sovereignty of God. He's sovereign. He's the high and lofty what? That one that is self-raised, that one that is infinitely high. It's interesting that this is the same description, exactly the same words that we find back in Isaiah chapter 6 in that opening vision of the prophecy. Remember it was in the year that King Uzziah died that Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up. Same words, same description. In the year that King Uzziah died, the Lord was high and lifted up. And now, as Isaiah comes to this part of his ministry, not only was Uzziah dead, but Jotham was dead, Ahaz was dead, and it wasn't long before Hezekiah was going to die. Earthly kings come and earthly kings go. But here is this one that is inherently high and lifted up. Here is this one that is the King of Kings, the Supreme King. Here is that one that is the Lord of Lords, the Supreme Lord, that is forever the same. He rules, his sovereignty, this one that is high and lofty, his sovereignty, his kingship, he is absolutely independent, from all of his creatures. He is absolutely unaffected by anything outside of himself. He is uninfluenced by anything external to himself. He is absolutely in and of himself the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. There is none higher. He is infinitely high and his rule is absolute. And I say when we think here something of the sovereignty of God, the fact that He is absolute King and does what He will, this highlights for us the very source of grace. Where does grace come from? Where does grace come from except from this One who is absolutely and totally sovereign King? There is none that is above Him, infinitely high, infinitely lifted up, so high is He. So powerful is He in His authority. Grace is the demonstration of the pleasure and the will of the King. This King, I say, who owes the creature nothing. This King that is under no obligation to demonstrate grace. Grace is not an obligation that God has, but grace is that which is generated By that sovereign will, He is gracious to whom He will be gracious. He is merciful to whom He will be merciful. But God owes grace to no man. The reason for grace and the source of grace, therefore, comes from this One. High and lifted up, this One who is absolutely and totally sovereign in His very being. And unless this sovereign God, get it straight, get it straight, that unless this sovereign God interrupts the will of the sinner, there is no hope. Nothing but helplessness, nothing but continuing misery, nothing but continuing bondage, unless this sovereign God chooses by His grace to interrupt. The reason for grace, the reason for grace is not found in the fact that we need grace. The angels needed grace, the fallen angels, but they received no grace. The reason for grace is not just because we need grace, the reason for grace is found within the person in the heart and the will of a sovereign God. Why does He love us? Why does God demonstrate His love to those who are the recipients of that love. Have those remarkable words in Deuteronomy chapter 7 as Moses there is preaching his last sermon to the people before he dies and they enter into the promised land. And he warns them, don't you think that God is bringing you here to this place of deliverance because you deserve it? Don't think that God is loving you here because you're a great nation, because you're not. Don't think that God is demonstrating his love to you because you're a righteous nation, because you aren't. God loves you, he said, because he loves you. Pure and simple. The reason God loves is found within the very heart of God. A sovereign God. Here's the source of grace. That's not reason for us to despair. But that is reason for us to hope, for apart from this sovereign grace, apart from sovereign grace that comes from the sovereign, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, there is no hope. But there is hope. There is hope because God is a God of grace. We see His sovereignty, the source of grace. But we see also something of His eternity. He's the one that inhabits eternity. God is eternal, and we're going to see here that this says something to us of the unfailing purpose of grace. The eternity of God. I think of all the perfections of the Lord. God is incomprehensible. He is infinite, right? The Westminster Shorter Catechism describes God in these terms, God as a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. He's infinite and therefore incomprehensible. God has revealed things to us about Himself that we can understand, but ultimately God is incomprehensible, for we are finite and He is infinite. But as I think of all the perfections of God, I think the one that boggles my mind the most is the fact that God is eternal. What is eternity? We are creatures of time. Everything that you know, everything that I know is defined in terms of time. I can think of past time. I can anticipate future time. And we are now in the present time. Or are we? How long is present? How long is present? Everything we know, I say, is a succession of moments. And those moments pass, and what is past cannot be regained. Everything that you know, everything that I know, is determined and defined by the fact that we are creatures of time, a succession of moments. I say I can well understand I have memories of things past. And I have dreams and anticipations of things in the future. But I say, what's the present? The present for us is here, and the present now is gone. I'm thinking of something up here in my head to say, but I no sooner say it than now it's gone, it's past. How long is the present? For us, the present is more of a notion than it is a reality. But God is eternal. And there's a sense in which eternity is timelessness, no succession of moments. I know from our perspective we often talk about eternity past and eternity future, but that's because we're finite. Eternity is timelessness. This is why Jesus said before Abraham was, I am. I am is the name of our God. A constant, unceasing, unchangeable presence. That's why the immutability of God, big word, right? The unchangeableness of God is inseparably linked to the fact that God is eternal. He inhabits, He takes up His residence. This is where He lives, as it were. His residence, His permanent residence is eternity in timelessness. Because we're creatures of time, things change. Things change. We have on some walls in our home pictures of family, and pictures of my grandparents, and pictures of my parents, and pictures of my grandchildren, pictures of us. Things change. I do not look now. as I looked some years ago. My hair was not always this color. And it grieves me in some way to know that when my grandchildren look at my picture, they think of me the way I thought of my grandparents. There's somebody that's old. Somebody that's old. Things change. As soon as we are subject to the passing of moments, we are subject to change. But God is eternal. God is eternal and there is no change, therefore, in God. There is no time for God to change His immutability. And how this then declares something so wonderful about the unfailing purpose of grace. When that God in eternity determines to be gracious to whom He will be gracious, There is that eternal decision, therefore, that cannot change. There's no time for it to change. I love the statement that Malachi makes, or it's recorded in Malachi, the Lord speaks. But the Lord says in chapter 3 there of Malachi's prophecy, I'm the Lord. I'm the Lord, I change not. And what's the next statement? Do you remember? I'm the Lord, I change not, and therefore, You sons of Jacob are not consumed. What an amazing statement that is. You think of Jacob and everything that Jacob did to deserve condemnation. You think of Jacob's life and all of his deceit and all of his things that earned judgment and chastisement. But God had a purpose for Jacob. Jacob have I loved in eternity. And because I am the Lord, You sons of Jacob are not consumed. God had a purpose of grace for Jacob. God has a purpose for grace, unfailing grace for all of his people. Unfailing purpose, because he is the eternal God. He's holy, whose name is holy. The name is referring not just to some title by which we designate the Lord, but when you see in your Old Testament particularly references to the name of God, that designates the entire person of God. The name of God represents His person with all of His perfections. We have read in the law today that we are not to take the Lord's name in vain. That goes far beyond just using God's name lightly or in profanity. No, it is taking the whole person of the Lord in all of His being, in all of His person, all of His perfection. That's the focus. So here is God whose name, whose very being, whose very essence is holy. And what is holiness? Holiness is that which is different. Word. simply refers to that which is separate from anything and everything else. The holiness of God, yes, it speaks of God's freedom for sin. There is no sin in God. But the holiness of God goes far beyond just a reference to His sinlessness. It is His absolute distinctiveness from anything and everything else that is. He is holy. He is different. He is different. Sometimes in theology we speak of God as being holy, other, W-H-O-L-L-Y. He is completely different, completely distinct from anything and everything else that is. Interesting that the opposite, sometimes we learn what a word means by looking at its opposite. And the opposite of the word holy is not sin. The opposite of the word holy is that which is common. that which is ordinary. We are not to profane the name of God. That is, we're not to take the name of the Lord and make it common. We're not to bring the Lord down in the ordinary. No, He is distinct. He is distinct. He is different from anything and everything else that there is. Who's a god like unto our God? Moses asked that question. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness? fearful in praises, doing wonders, the holiness of God, this One that is absolutely transcendent, this One that is majestic, this One that is so high above anything and everything else that there is. His name is holy. Here, I say to you, is the power of grace. What power must there be in grace that can, like a magnet, draw sinners that are so infinitely low to this God that is so infinitely high? What a fearful thought, but what a beautiful thought that grace has the power to transform sinners, those that have no merit to approach God, that grace has the power to bring those, as we'll see, that are contrite and humble into this relationship with that One who is absolutely holy. He's merciful. He's merciful. I will dwell in the high and holy place with Him that is of a contrite and humble spirit. He dwells up high. He dwells in that holy place, but also with those that are contrite, those that are humble. Here's the success of grace. Here's the success of grace that is able to affect the union between the holy and the unholy. The same word that describes God's dwelling in eternity describes now His dwelling with those that are so low. The contrite. The contrite, those literally that have been crushed. Those that have been humbled by something outside of themselves. Those that have the humble spirit, not talking here about a character trait, but those that have been abased. Those that have been humiliated. Those that have been brought low by the God of grace. It is God's grace that brings the sinner in his misery to realize what his misery is. It's the grace of God working in the heart of that miserable sinner that awakens him even to the fact of his misery. Those that have been crushed. Those that have been abased. You think of that situation, remember back in Daniel when Nebuchadnezzar, that most powerful king in the face of God's earth, how great he was, how majestic he was. the head of gold in that image of the Colossus. He stands over Babylon. He stands looking over Babylon and says, this is Babylon, the great Babylon that I have built. But what happened to him? The Lord brought that one that was so high in his own estimation, he brought him low, he abased him. And this king was now made to live like a cow for some seven years. How humiliating. But in that humiliation, Nebuchadnezzar came by the grace of God to his senses, making a confession that the Lord is in heaven, that it is God that does whatever he wants. What God does to every sinner brings him low, brings him low, makes him realize the depths of his sin and the depths of his depravity. And the Lord says, with those that have been so crushed, By my grace, I will dwell from the depths that we look to the God of grace and the God of mercy. I say it is the God of grace that is the sinner's only hope. But I say, secondly, that it is the good of grace that is the sinner's salvation. It is the good of grace that is the sinner's salvation. This grace of God really works in the saving of sinners. It's a grace that works with purpose. You look at verse 15 again, you have these infinitive statements, to revive the spirit of the humble, to revive the heart of the contrite ones. This is expressing the reason, the purpose, the intent of the Lord. who comes to dwell with those that are of the contrite and the humble spirit in order to revive them. Here's the purpose of grace. The word revive here has the idea of preserving, of making alive, of causing to live. To cause to live. Presupposing here that these sinners that God now is making alive were dead. Dead without any spiritual sensitivity. Dead without any spiritual consciousness. But it is the purpose of grace to make these that were dead, alive. To keep alive. To give life and to maintain life into those that are contrite and have been brought low. Here's regeneration. Here's regenerating grace. Here's the regenerating grace of God that implants that principle of spiritual life into the heart of a dead sinner who had no consciousness of God, who had no desire for God, who had no will for God, no affection for God, and here now is this implantation of life into that dead heart. The mind, the emotion, and the will that awakens him to spiritual reality. Regeneration, the new birth, the new birth. without which no man can see God, without which there's no entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. That's God's purpose. Here's the purpose of grace to regenerate, to bring to life those that are dead in their trespasses and sins. There's no life. There's no life apart from that special breath of God. You think of the first creation. Remember when God on the sixth day the dust of the earth, and he formed man. There was Adam. There he was. On the ground, he looked like Adam was going to look, but there was no life. And it was not until God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life that Adam became a living being. Oh, there he was. It looked like Adam, but there was no life. Until that special breath of God and so it is in the second creation in the new creation as it was in the first There is no life There is no life apart from that special breath of the Spirit of God to give life That inspiration of the Spirit of God that grants spiritual that's God's purpose. It's a new birth It's the new birth. Grace works with purpose. But grace works without merit. As youngsters we often have learned the definition of grace as that which is God's unmerited favor. Indeed it is. Not only is grace that demonstration of God's favor, of God's goodness to those that are undeserving, but to those that are ill-deserving. Grace is that which we cannot earn. Grace is that which we cannot merit. We don't deserve grace. I think the greatest, in many ways to me, the greatest line In the passage before us, we have in verse 18, the Lord says, I've seen his ways. I have seen his ways, but I'll heal him. Notwithstanding what he sees, notwithstanding the hatred, notwithstanding the stink and the stench of death, spiritual death, Notwithstanding that, I see His ways, I see what He is, but I heal Him. Is that not grace? Is this not that which is unmerited favor in spite of what God sees in the center? In spite of all of the corruption, in spite of all of the depravity, in spite of that which is but filthy rags, even the very best that man is, filthy and stinking rags before God, in spite of what God sees, I see it. I'm not ignoring what I see the Lord says. I see it. I know what He is. But I'm going to heal Him. I'm going to heal Him. What grace! I see Him. I see everything He is, but I'm going to heal Him, all His diseases. You think of Psalm 103 and how it describes the forgiveness of God as the healing of all diseases. That's the imagery here. I will lead him. Oh, he's on the way to death and destruction, but I will lead him to life everlasting from that path of destruction. I will make complete his comforts. I'll restore comforts unto him. I'll make those comforts complete. Mercy. Mercy to those that are so needful of mercy. Grace works without merit. Oh, and there's our hope as well, isn't it? There's our hope for grace because we cannot. If we had to do something to earn that grace, we would be forever trying to fulfill its demands. Nothing we can do. Nothing in my hand I bring. Nothing I can offer. Nothing that I can contribute. Nothing that we can give to the Lord as evidence of that which makes us worthy of grace. No, it's all without merit. All so very undeserving. But grace is grace. How amazing grace is. How wondrous that grace is. That can take the dead sinner. That can take the dead sinner, that one that is so deserving of hellfire. Make him alive. Deliver him. Deliver him from that. And in consequence of that deliverance, there is gratitude. Do we not see that in our catechism? There is the misery. There is the deliverance. And now the gratitude. We see that in verse 19. I create the fruit of lip. Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord, and I will heal him. Grace works with success. This grace works with success. The Lord says, I create. That's the same word for create that we had back in Genesis. It's a word of irresistible power. It's a word that belongs only to God. Only God is ever the agent of that word. Irresistible power. In that word, you think of the first creation, you think of the creation of the world. There's something that man can't do. There's something that man cannot duplicate. Something that man cannot repeat. Only God creates, but as you read the creation account, there was no exertion of divine energy. There was no exertion, but there was simply the word God said, let there be. And there was. There was darkness. There was darkness and just with the spoken word, just with the spoken word, God says let there be light and when God said let there be light irresistibly, the darkness gave way. Darkness could not stand. When God said let there be light, there's power. There is absolute irresistible power in the creative Word of God. And the Lord here then says, I create the fruit of lips. What's the fruit of lips? What does that mean? Hebrews tells us in chapter 13, By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. So we have New Testament interpretation of what the fruit of lips refers to. The fruit of lips, the giving of praise, the expression of thanksgiving unto the Lord. Misery, deliverance by grace, and now because grace is successful, here's the praise. And what a transformation. God-haters. God-haters now transformed to God-praisers. And the reason for that praise is this peace, this peace, the repetition has the idea of superlative peace. Here is this absolute superlative and elative, this extreme peace that belongs to Him that is far off, to Him that is near. Paul plays on that in Ephesians chapter 2. Those that are far, those that are near, Jew, Gentile. Here is God's purpose for all of His redeemed race, not just Jew, Gentiles as well. God's purpose. God's purpose accomplished. Bring them together to the enjoyment of peace. But this grace also works with urgency. It works with urgency. You look at verses 16 and 17, without this grace there is no hope. I'll not contend forever. If God would match His wrath against our sin, it would be completely fair. If God were to match His wrath against our sin, it would be completely just. But we could not stand. For who can stand in the day of His indignation? Nahum asked that question in chapter 1. Who can stand in the day of His wrath? Nobody can. There's an urgency here. There's an urgency here to grace. Don't trifle with grace. Don't make excuses. But you sue for peace. And you sue for peace now. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. There's an urgency of grace. An urgency of grace. For without it, there is no hope. the magnetism of grace, the God of grace, the sinner's only hope, the good of grace, the sinner's salvation. But tragically, it is the gloom of gracelessness that is the sinner's worst horror. For sinners that are left to themselves are in eternal trouble. Sinners without God, therefore without hope, under the sentence of terror. Very quickly, but very soberly, the text declares to us that without grace there is no peace. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. There is no objective peace of reconciliation. The alienation between God and that sinner continues. Without resolution, therefore, eternal wrath. No objective peace of reconciliation. And there is no subjective peace of the quietness of the soul. The quietness of the soul that is able to enjoy that peace, that peace, when the mind is fixed upon Jehovah. The prophet says that in chapter 26. There is peace, there is peace to those whose minds are stayed fixed upon the Lord because he trusts in the Lord. But without that trust, without that faith, without that, grace, there is no peace. And without that grace, there's no holiness. And without holiness, there's no way that man can see God. Without holiness, the Bible makes it clear, no man can see God. Verse 19 or verse 20, the wicked are like the troubled sea, can't rest, waters casting up mire and dirt. That image here of the troubled sea that's churning up all of the muck and the mire. Like a cistern with all of the filth at the bottom that is now being churned up. That describes the wicked. Vile. Polluted. No holiness. And without that holiness, there's nothing but gloom. No prospect of light. No prospect of ever seeing God, just the prospect of horror, eternal horror, eternal terror. That's the wicket. What a contrast from the way of life. But in conclusion, that just raises the very simple question that we all have to face. Without grace, there's no life. Without grace, there's no salvation. So how do we get that grace? Yes, it's the sovereign will of God. He is gracious to whom He will be gracious. It's a sovereign work of God, a mysterious work of God, a secret work of God. How do we get it? How do we get that grace that we don't deserve? The Bible is very clear. You come to Christ. You come to Christ. You say, I can't come unless the Lord draws me. Yeah, that's true. That's true, but come. John has a wonderful statement, doesn't he? Chapter 6. All that the Father, Christ says, all that the Father has given me will come to me. All that the Father has given me will come to me. There's eternal election. There's God's eternal manifestation of grace. He gives a people to Christ. All that the Father has given me will come to me. But then Christ makes this wonderful and glorious statement that takes all the guesswork out of it. Christ is all that come to me. I will in no wise cast out. I will in no wise... You come to Christ, He's not going to cast you out. Christ doesn't say, figure out whether you're elect or not. No, Christ says, just come to Me. Come to Me. The fountain of living water, just come to Me. And Christ gives us on the authority of this Word, on the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, He says, come to Me and I'll not cast you out. So we come to Christ. You don't have to despair that you are so sinful. God won't receive you because we're all sinful. No man can deserve God's grace. Don't think you can ever do enough to merit because you can't. No one can. I love the line of Bonar's hymn, Nothing in my hand I bring, But simply to the cross I cling. What can we offer God? We can't add to it, not by works of righteousness that we have done, but by His grace. But you come. You come to Christ, and to come to Christ is to have that life, and to have that life guaranteed for he that hath the Son hath life. It doesn't matter what else you have. You can have all the religion in the world, but if you don't have Christ, you don't have life. How do you get Christ? You come to Him. You come to Him, and you surrender to Him. You trust in Him. You forsake the old, you forsake yourself, you forsake every work of your hand, you turn from your sin, and you come to Christ. Coming to Christ, you see, is the magnet. That's the magnet that's drawing you. It's the grace of God that's drawing the sinner. Oh, mysterious. Secret, yes. But that's the answer. You come to Christ. The grace of God is powerful. The grace of God is our only hope. No reason to despair of grace. Every reason to come to Christ, the only place to know the love of God, the only place to know the grace of God in Christ. May God bring us each one. I don't know your hearts. I don't know your hearts, but on the authority of the Lord Jesus, I say come to Him. He'll never cast you out. Amen.