As I stand before you tonight, I feel totally unfit to be the one preaching. I need someone to preach to me. Recently, I have had calls and letters from pastors in various parts of the country expressing grave concern for the apparent judgment of God upon our generation and lamenting the evident apathy of so many who profess faith in Christ to the things of God. I share their grave concerns. Any man who has a pastor’s heart grieves for the people trusted to his care, when he sees in them signs of spiritual declension. But I am troubled by something far more personal. I am deeply disturbed by the coldness, apathy, and indifference of my own heart to those things that I know to be most important: the Word, worship, and work of God. And I am even more deeply concerned about my coldness and indifference to Christ.
I know that I have preached a good many sermons along this line lately. Yet, as I began to prepare for tonight’s service, we have come at this time to this particular place in Isaiah’s prophecy. I am certain that we have come to this passage at this time by divine arrangement. And I am equally certain that the message of our text has been brought home to my heart at this time by divine arrangement. If it applies to you, may God the Holy Spirit apply it to you, as he has to me. If it does not now apply to you, listen carefully. I assure you that before long it will; and you will then need to remember what you hear here tonight.
You will find my title and my subject in verse 17. "Why Hast Thou Made Us To Err?"
Proposition: In the passage before us we have, recorded by divine inspiration, the penitential lamentation of God’s afflicted saints, when the hand of God was heavy upon them.
Without question, these verses were written in connection with the afflictions of the Jewish people in a time of captivity. But they are as applicable to God’s elect today as they were to God’s elect in those days. Though they were in physical captivity, those who knew the Lord expressed their greatest lamentation not for that, but for their spiritual bondage and captivity. Matthew Henry was exactly right when he wrote, "Convinced consciences complain most of spiritual judgments and dread that most in an affliction which draws them from God and duty."
Divisions: As we look at these verses together, I want to show you three things in them. I will expound the text, faithfully declaring what God has recorded in his Word. But I want to do so in a very personal way, for the words here spoken by the saints of old are echoed in my heart tonight. Here is my outline:
I. First, in verses 9-10, there is A Realization of Great Compassion.
God’s lovingkindness, tender mercy, and great compassion for us is seen here in his tender care of us, illustrated in his tender care of the children of Israel. These verses exhibit with unrivalled clarity the works of God’s providence, and show forth the wonders of his grace with astonishing exactness. They give us a marvelous summary of the history of God’s dealings with the nation of Israel. In these two verses we have recorded...
Even when we think only of God's goodness to the nation of Israel, we are astonished at the Lord’s goodness and faithfulness. But there is more in these two verses than that. These verses are written to assure us of God’s great compassion, tender mercy, and constant faithfulness to his elect, who were typified by the nation of Israel.
When we lived with our fists in his face, the Lord God looked on us with an eye of pity (Ex. 3:7; Hos. 11:7-9). He longed for our return to him (Jer. 13:27). He urged us and pressed us to bow to and receive his mercy (Ezek. 33:11; II Cor. 5:18-21). And the very instant we began to feel any burden of sin, as soon as we began to mourn over our sin, as quickly as we resolved to repent of and confess our sins, his heart was so excited with love for us that he ran to be gracious to us (Luke 15:20). Every sigh, every groan from his chosen, redeemed people enters into his ears and is treasured by him (Jer. 31:18-20).
Though this compassion of God toward us is first experienced when we come to him in repentance and faith, it does not begin then. Oh, no. God’s compassion for us, we discover with great joy, was the cause of our coming to him.
Just as he did with Israel of old, God Almighty arranged all the affairs of providence to bring us out of the house of bondage at the appointed time of love (Rom. 8:28; Ezek. 16:6-8).
At the appointed time, the Lord God came to us and delivered us, causing us to flee to him (Eph. 2:1-4).That same free, immutable, faithful love keeps us in his grace and will not let us depart from him and will present us at last in perfect holiness before the presence of his glory (Jer. 32:37-40; Eph. 5:25-27)).
B.The Lord’s great compassion for us is also to be seen in his constant, unfailing care of us, even when we rebel against him (v.10).
As the Lord God watched over his children in the wilderness, so he graciously watches over each of us today. As he bare them, so he bares us. As he carried them, so he carries us. As he chastened them, so he chastens us. This is the thing I want you to see: "There is not any state in which his eye is not upon us for good." (Charles Simeon) When we are assaulted by persecution or by temptation, he stands by our side to give us aide. As our days demand, so he gives us strength. He supplies us with sufficient grace for every need. When we are fallen, he lifts us up, brushes us off, forgives our sin, and encourages in the way. But more than that, he carries us in the way!
II. In verse 11-14, we see A Contemplation of Great Goodness.
There is some debate as to whether these words are to be understood as the words of God our Savior speaking about his goodness to his people, or the words of his people responding to his chastisements in a penitential remembrance of his great goodness to them. It does no violence to the Scriptures to interpret them either way. But for now, let’s take them as the words of God’s penitent people reflecting upon his goodness (Jer. 3:4). It is God’s object in chastisement to cause us to remember his goodness (Jer. 2:5-7). We are wise to remind ourselves constantly of God’s former mercies, contemplating his goodness to us for our own correction and comfort, and for God’s glory.
A. The wonders God wrought in Egypt for his people are here recounted in a way of grateful recollection.
Here the children of Israel recall the crossing of the Red Sea, God’s special anointing of Moses to guide them through the wilderness, and their blessed rest in Canaan, the land of promise. Repeatedly, each of these mercies is mentioned. Three times the crossing of the Red Sea is mentioned. Twice the Holy Spirit’s special work is recalled. Their entrance into Canaan is both recalled and illustrated with thanksgiving. Thus, even in their time of great sorrow, bondage, and helplessness, the faithful among the nation celebrated...
B. This contemplation of God’s great goodness led to a solemn, pathetic question that was really more of a statement of realized fact than a question.
Twice this plaintiff cry goes up, "Where is he?" Where is our Redeemer? Where is our Comforter? Where is our God? It is like the cry of Job, when he was in such great trouble. "Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat! I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments." (Job 23:3-4)
III. Verses 15-19 contain A Lamentation of Great Sorrow.
There is so much expressed in these verses that I cannot begin to expound them. But really, I think, they do not so much need exposition as reverent contemplation. Let me call your attention to these five things, and I will be done.
A. Here is a prayer arising from a heart sensing God’s absence (v.15).
"Where is thy zeal and strength?" Where is your help?
"Where is the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me?" Where can I find some token for good, some mark of your love, some evidence that you care for me? "Are they restrained?" Do you hold back your love and mercy from me?B. Here is a confession of faith without evidences, of confidence without signs, and of assurance based entirely upon the Word of God (v.16).
God, grant us this kind of faith. Give me grace to trust you, to believe you, to cast myself upon you, when my soul is barren, my heart is empty, and you hide yourself from me. Look at this remarkable confession.
C. Here is an acknowledgement both of our sin and of God’s absolute sovereignty. "O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways and hardened our heart from thy fear?"
This verse causes the commentators to turn summersaults. Most have no idea how to handle it. This is not an attempt to blame God for our sin. God’s children would never dream of doing such a horrid thing (James 1:13-15). This is simply the humble, honest acknowledgement of two facts understood by all who understand the Scriptures:
D. Here is the cry of a broken heart, longing for God’s manifest presence. "Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance."
It is as though the one praying feels unfit to ask even for mercy for himself. So he prays for the Lord’s gracious return for the sake of his people.
E. Here are arguments for mercy that no father could resist (vv. 18-19).
Your children have enjoyed the privileges of the inheritance you have given them but very little. RETURN.
Our adversaries have trampled beneath their feet your sanctuary, your name, your worship, your honor. RETURN.
We are not much. We are nothing. But "we are thine." We gladly bear your name. RETURN! "OH that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down!"
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