THE SUPPOSED AND THE REAL CAUSE OF FAILURE IN THE CHURCH
Isaiah 59:1-2. Behold the Lord’s hand is not shortened, &c.
As the Church is essentially an aggressive institution, at some periods her success has been most marked; at other times her energies have seemed paralysed. It behoves us not only to inquire into the conditions of the Church’s growth and expansion, but to be most careful as to our spirit and conduct, lest we by any means should prevent her development. In certain conditions, on the testimony of God’s Word, we may be sure of her growth; in certain others we may be as sure of her failure. Her expansion depends upon her purity, &c.; while her failure is as inseparably associated with her sins. The excuses that are often made for the Church’s non-success would be amusing had they not reference to so very solemn a subject. To us we confess they appear alarming, as they seem in many instances to indicate ignorance in regard to the very fundamental conditions of growth and prosperity. If she does not accomplish her soul-saving work something must be wrong. Excuses for her failure generally reflect more or less on the Divine Being and government, an issue from which thoughtful and devout minds ought at once to recoil. The text rebukes those who would so think or speak. Israel in the days of Isaiah attended to the outward forms of religion; and yet tokens of the Divine favour were withheld; and when these favours did not come as in the olden time, the people blamed God, instead of charging it to their own sins. The text is an answer to their utterances (ch. 58.). Consider—
I. THE SUPPOSED CAUSE OF THE CHURCH’S NON-SUCCESS. This has reference to the work of the Spirit, and to unanswered prayer. Dwell—
1. On the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church. Upon His grace all prosperity in the Church depends. In some periods God has been pleased to pour out very abundantly His Holy Spirit. At other times He seems strangely to withhold this necessary gift. The all-important question then is: Why is the Divine Spirit withheld? Some affirm—
(1.) Because it is God’s will. Is this true? It is contradicted by experience. Church history and observation teach that every great revival in the Church has been preceded by the action of the Church herself. Prayer has become more ferment and constant, &c. It is also contradicted by the clear teaching of Holy Scripture. We are not directed to wait till God shall in His sovereign wisdom determine to send us the Holy Ghost; but we are taught distinctly to pray for Him (Luke 11:13, with Matthew 7:7; James 4:3).
(2.) We are not to expect any extraordinary manifestations of spiritual power in these days. Though we do not need the “cloven tongues,” &c., we know of no scripture that would discourage the expectation of the conversion of even three thousand in one day. Pentecost was the type and pledge of something greater and better. We are living in the “latter days,” and there are many plain indications that we ought now to expect the fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy. Plainly, then, if the Spirit is withheld it is not because the “Lord’s arm is shortened.”
2. The efficacy of prayer in the Church. God is moved by the prayers of His people. Witness Moses, Elijah, &c. (James 5:16). Why then so many prayers unanswered? For the cause we must look into the Church rather than up to God.
II. THE REAL CAUSE. As of old—our sins. Look at this matter of sin in the Church. Though the Church in this age may be innocent of those more flagrant transgressions (ch. 58.), yet are we not guilty before heaven, for stopping in some measure the spread and growth of the Church. Let us particularise a few of the Church’s sins. Think of—
1. Her worldly spirit.
2. Her formalism.
3. Her apathy in reference to the masses. It but remains, now that we see the cause of the Church’s small success, that we humble ourselves before God, &c.—F. Crozier: The Methodist Recorder, July 14, 1871.
GOD’S POWER UNDIMINISHED
By the Lord’s hand His power is intended. By the hand of His power He is in contact with the object on which He designs to operate. The question proposed is this: Is His power diminished? Its present extent is considered in relation to some previously recognised extent of it. It was previously recognised as without limit. Is it now less? The text is really an affirmation in the form of an interrogation. The Lord’s hand is not shortened: His power is not diminished. This is the answer to the question in Numbers 11:23 and Isaiah 1:2. Let us consider the truth and some applications of it.
I. THE TRUTH ITSELF (see p. 365).
It is that the Lord’s power was and is unlimited, and therefore equal to anything it becomes Him to do or which He has undertaken to do.
In creation, providence, and redemption, the Divine power has been displayed, &c.
Omnipotence, then, is an attribute of the Divine nature. We probably regard this as a settled point. But the river of our faith does not exhibit an uninterrupted flow. It encounters obstacles at many points. It sometimes suffers loss. When a new difficulty occurs we debate the whole question. Notwithstanding our clear perception of the greatness of God’s power, the temptation is to measure it by our own. We catch the infection of the world’s atmosphere. We are told that if science declares a thing impossible, and revelation declares it possible, science must win the victory. We lack the courage to reply that science is only the human knowledge of the day, which is continually undergoing change. The wonders of the past were pronounced impossible by the science of the past. And as the divine science of the past has shown itself in advance of the human, it will show its superiority in the future. God is unchangeable. Human power, after being used a given time, becomes feeble, and eventually incapable of exertion. There is no cause of decay or diminution in God. He can neither increase nor diminish; because He is infinite and immutable. Let us mention—
II. SOME OF ITS APPLICATIONS (see pp. 365, 366):—
1. It should be applied to our temporal anxieties. Moses and the children of Israel (Numbers 11). The disciples and the five thousand people. How frequently in the experience of believers has there been some pressing difficulty, from which extrication seemed impossible, and their customary faith staggered under its weight, when an unexpected way was made by some new turn of affairs, and the difficulty disappeared. It may have happened to some of you. God seemed to ask an answer to the question: “Is my hand shortened?”
2. It should be applied to spiritual difficulties. Many things clearly revealed in the Gospel as things that may happen. We do not see how they can. Falling into the snare of the devil we measure the Divine power by our own. “How can these things be?” &c. Do some of you say the difficulty in the way of your salvation is insuperable because of your extreme sinfulness and hardness? You are measuring the Lord by yourself. You are putting a limit to the power of His Spirit and the efficacy of the Saviour’s blood.
3. It should be applied to the world’s conversion. You look abroad on the world with something like the prophet’s hopeless scepticism. Can these bones live? It is beyond you. But it is not beyond Him.
4. It should be applied to our intellectual doubts. There are many questions in respect to which we are driven upon the simplest trust in the Divine character. Take only the resurrection from the dead. The apostle throws the whole question back on the Divine power by the analogy of the sowing and the reaping, which to man is impossible and inexplicable (1 Corinthians 15:36; 1 Corinthians 15:38).
The grand lesson from this subject is the cheerful acceptance of our Divinely appointed lot. Cease to measure Him by ourselves. Simply trust.—J. Rawlinson.
Isaiah condemns the sins of ancient Israel, and justifies the judgments of God. Observe—
I. WHAT SIN HAS DONE.
1. Mark its tendency to separate the soul from God. It estranged man from God at the very beginning. It does the same still, and if unforgiven will separate from Him to all eternity.
2. It has obscured and withdrawn from us the tokens of His favour.
3. It fearfully indisposes you to return: you refuse His overtures, &c.
II. WHAT GRACE CAN DO.
1. There is no deficiency in God’s power to save. We are prone to limit the Holy One of Israel. Satan, who labours to diminish the evil of sin before its commission, equally loves to aggravate and enhance the difficulties of reconciliation. All obstacles to the sinner’s restoration removed by Christ.
2. There is an infinite willingness in the heart of God to rescue and to save (Isaiah 55:6-9), &c. God has shown His mercy to the chief of sinners. Heaven itself is a colony of saved souls. Christ describes Himself as more deeply wounded by the rejection of His mercy than He was by the agonies of the cross.
III. THE VAST IMPORTANCE OF SEEKING MERCY—mercy to pardon sin, and grace to subdue it.
1. Seek Him in the full faith of His unbounded grace.
2. Labour to acquire a just sense and apprehension of the magnitude and aggravation of your rebellion. You cannot be united to Christ unless you be divorced from sin.
3. Own and accept Christ in all His relations and offices.
4. Be diligent and earnest in prayer.
5. Honour the work of the Spirit.
6. Keep Heaven and Eternity full in view.—Samuel Thodey.
I. A lamentable state—separation from God. Loss of His favour. No access to Him. II. The cause of it. Much of all knowledge lies in the knowledge of causes.
1. Not in God—He is able and willing to save.
2. But in ourselves—our sins.—Archbishop Leighton: Works (1868 edition), pp. 428–432.
Man’s miseries—I. May not be charged upon God. He is able to save. Willing to save. II. Must be referred to man’s wickedness. Actual—in thought, word, deed; negligent; infatuated.—Dr. Lyth.
SIN SEPARATING FROM GOD
Isaiah 59:2. But your iniquities have separated, &c.
Present separation supposes previous union and capacity for it. Man is capable of communion with God. God is capable of communion with man. There was a time when they were in full communion—when man was pure. When he fell he lost, not the capacity, but the privilege. How great a loss it was! Why are these two, so fitted to each other, one of them absolutely needing the other, separated? Sin has effected the separation. It produced it at first It is the only hindrance in the way of friendly intercourse. This is the doctrine of our text.
I. Sin unfits man for communion with God
Unrepented, unforsaken, unforgiven sin. Such sin is utterly contrary to God’s holy nature. If you have been at any time guilty of sin which you are unwilling to renounce, you have felt that intercourse between God and you was incongruous and presumptuous. Do we not all know this by experience?
II. Sin disinclines man for communion with God
It is “enmity against God.” He who wrongs another will avoid his society if he thinks the wrong is known. The presence of the victim is a rebuke to his conscience and an excitement of his fears. The passage to dislike and hatred will probably not be slow. Is not this the course of the human heart in relation to God? Why do the great majority of men around us seem to live without any conscious thought of God, &c.? He is avoided because there is a deep consciousness of sin. God, instead of being the object of supreme love, has become, through man’s conduct toward Him, the object of fear. Examine your own experience. Does a life of willing sin incline you to pray?
III. Sin excludes man from communion with God
It is possible not only for us to separate ourselves from God, but for Him to separate Himself from us. It is conceivable that a man, while unwilling to forsake his sin, might desire the advantage of intercourse with God in prayer and religious services. Many have imagined that by these they would compensate the Divine Being for sin. This notion seems to have been entertained in the time of Isaiah. The religious services and the flagrant iniquities of the Jewish people are described together. God declines to accept the services because of the iniquities (ch. 58, 59.). No multitude of prayers or religious observances can be set against the holiness of heart and life which are required in those that come into any association with God. The spotless holiness of His nature forbids. Thus then the case stands.
CONCLUSION.—What, then, have God and man cut each other off from all possibility of happy intercourse, &c.? We owe it to God’s mercy that the breach can be repaired. A qualified Mediator has appeared, &c., has bridged over the distance sin had made between God and man. Repenting of your sins, casting yourselves at the footstool of mercy through the cross, friendship is restored. He becomes accessible. The call is addressed to every sinner. His Spirit will be given to help.
This subject teaches the great evil and danger of sin as the separater.—J. Rawlinson.
Isaiah 59:3-4. A sad picture of depravity. I. In the bauds and fingers. II. The lips and tongue. III. Desires and motives. IV. Heart and imagination. V. Life and conduct.
Isaiah 59:4. I. Actions proceed from thoughts. II. Correspond to the thoughts which produce them. III. Hence, when mischief is conceived iniquity is the produce.—J. Lyth, D.D.
Isaiah 59:5-6. I. The devices of the wicked. Like eggs—productive. Like cockatrices’ eggs—injurious, (α.) Like spiders’ webs—frail, useless. (β.) II. Their effect. Upon others—mischief, death. Upon themselves—disappointment, retribution.—Dr. Lyth.
See the spider’s web, behold in it a most suggestive picture of the hypocrite’s religion.
1. It is meant to catch his prey; the spider fattens himself on flies, and the Pharisee has his reward. Foolish persons are easily entrapped by the loud professions of pretenders, and even the more judicious cannot always escape. Philip baptized Simon Magus, whose guileful declaration of faith was so soon exploded by the stern rebuke of Peter. Custom, reputation, praise, advancement, and other flies, are the small game which hypocrites take in their nets.
2. A spider’s web is a marvel of skill; look at it and admire the cunning hunter’s wiles. Is not a deceiver’s religion equally wonderful. How does he make so barefaced a lie appear to be a truth? How can he make his tinsel answer so well the purpose of gold?
3. A spider’s web comes all from the creature’s own bowels. The bee gathers her wax from flowers; the spider sucks no flowers, and yet she spins out her material to any length. Even so hypocrites find their hope and trust within themselves; their anchor was forged on their own anvil, and their cable twisted by their own hands. They lay their own foundation, and hew out the pillars of their own house, disdaining to be debtors to the sovereign grace of God.
4. But a spider’s web is very frail. It is curiously wrought, but not enduringly manufactured. It is no match for the servant’s broom, or the traveller’s staff. The hypocrite needs no battery of Armstrongs to blow his hopes to pieces, a mere puff of wind will do it. Hypocritical cobwebs will soon come down when the broom of destruction begins its purifying work.
5. Which reminds us of one more thought, viz., that such cobwebs are not to be endured in the Lord’s house. He will see to it that they and those who spin them shall be destroyed for ever. O my soul, be thou resting on something better than a spider’s web. Be the Lord Jesus thine eternal hiding-place.—C. H. Spurgeon.