Isaiah

[0:00] Let us sing hymn number 535, p. 6 and 9. O the love of Christ the sinner, who can make it wonders known, sin-born slaves through grace are winners of a bright celestial throne.

[0:20] Jesus gives us endless glory in the Lamb. 535 June 6, 7, 9.

[0:42] O the love of Christ the sinner, who can make it wonders the King.

[0:58] Saint Christ the sinner, the love of Jesus, the love of Jesus, and the love of Jesus.

[1:12] Saint Christ the sinner, the love of Jesus. Saint Christ the sinner, the love of Jesus. Saint Christ the sinner, The End The End

[2:24] The End The End The End

[3:54] The End May I direct your attention to the 51st chapter of Isaiah's prophecy and the latter part of the second verse.

[4:31] The prophecy of Isaiah chapter 51, the latter part of the second verse. For I called him alone and blessed him and increased him.

[4:54] The context tells us that these words have reference to Abraham. And we have about to turn back the pages to Genesis for this clearly to be confirmed that what is here spoken was peculiarly and particularly true concerning Abraham.

[5:24] For I called him alone and blessed him and increased him. But this is not the confession or testimony of Abraham that we have here.

[5:40] It is the testimony of God.

[6:10] For authority would even these things seems be if these words were spoken. For I called him alone and blessed him and increased him.

[6:23] We shall find it.

[6:53] questioning as to whether the work was of God or not. We are reminded by the apostle and he who has done it. We are reminded by the apostle in his epistle to Philippi.

[7:05] He who has done it. He who has done it. He who has done it. Until the day of Jesus Christ. What is emphasized here in connection with Abraham, the father of the faithful, I believe we may apply to everyone who are blessed with like precious faith with faithful Abraham.

[7:33] Abraham. There is in our day, I suppose, in most generations, a religion which demands people getting together.

[7:47] And because of their getting together, the whole atmosphere is charged with an emotion. But it is about a false emotion for the most part.

[8:01] And because the eyes of the people are blinded, they think that they have engaged in worshipping God when indeed it has not been the true God at all, but a mere God, the figment of their imagination.

[8:17] And of their imagination. I believe we may say that God does to every one of his children as he did to Abraham.

[8:32] He called him alone. I believe we shall feel a little confidence of faith if we can look back and reflect upon God's dealings with our souls.

[8:49] And if those dealings have been right, I am venturing to be so emphatic as to say God called you alone.

[9:04] He spoke to your heart when no one knew anything about it.

[9:17] Not only do we have the clear indication that Abraham was called alone as God spoke to him in Ur of the Chaldees, but we also have the account of the apostle Paul.

[9:31] And though he was on the road to Damascus, surrounded by people, all that would help him in his nefarious deed. Yet are we not bound to observe that God called him alone?

[9:46] The others heard a voice. They thought it thundered. But God called to Saul of Tarsus.

[9:57] And though he was surrounded with people, yet in his soul's experience he was alone. Now, what is our testimony personally this evening?

[10:13] Did God call us alone? We may perhaps have been in the house of God.

[10:24] And God called us alone. It seemed as though God was only speaking to us.

[10:40] I had a very humbling experience several years ago, when one of our friends felt able to venture before the church. And she had been with us about two years.

[10:55] And in her testimony she said, it has not been a man speaking in the porphets, speaking to me, but it has been God.

[11:08] May we not say that God called that person alone. It is good when our very thoughts are raised above the preacher, so that the words that may be spoken are words that God is speaking to us.

[11:30] Now, this is how it was with Abraham. I called him alone. And if it may be a question in some of your hearts this evening as to whether God did call you alone, you have always said so.

[11:47] But now it seems a little misty. Well, this is what you want God to say to you. I called him alone. And remember that God cannot lie.

[12:00] He is not a man that he should lie, or the son of man that he should repent. What a consolation to the church of God this is, that God will never tell you a lie.

[12:14] He will never tell you a half-truth. He will give you a direct answer. So, what happened?

[12:29] What happened when Abraham was called by God alone? First of all, we will observe this point.

[12:41] That the first move was with God. Looking upon our own experience, as we may profess it, was the first move with God.

[13:00] You see, the words here are not like this, I called God alone. But God called him alone.

[13:13] I believe it is very desirable to have much time alone with God.

[13:26] And if we are to be blessed, and if we are to be increased, I believe that God will so order it, that we shall be alone with God.

[13:40] Now the scene of course may spring to your minds, that this means being shut up, as it were, from the outside world, diligently praying unto God upon your knees in absolute quiet and secrecy.

[14:07] But I do not think we should be wise to understand it in that way. For these reasons, certainly one reason, and that is in our quieter moments, how often have we seen, seem to have to endure greater plagues from Satan.

[14:30] I believe it was John Warburton that longed for his own study, where he could quietly go in and be quiet.

[14:46] But he had to find this, when the Lord provided him with such a convenience, that Satan liked to study as well as he did.

[14:59] And perhaps we have found out the same thing. How then shall we understand these words, for I call him alone?

[15:15] One would judge from the account that Abraham was much engaged in the things of life.

[15:26] One would not think that he was a man otherwise than such that was diligent in business. But God called him alone.

[15:37] And have we such an experience that will bear testimony to the truth of that? God calls his people alone when they are continuing their necessary duties.

[15:50] Have you not known what it is for God to be in your heart? And yet you have not stopped what you have been doing. You have still continued, but God has called you alone.

[16:04] He has made manifest himself to you in a remarkable way. You may have been in the field or in the factory or at the desk or in the home.

[16:19] And perhaps there have been other people, but God has called you alone. It has pleased him to draw near unto your soul. The others didn't know about it.

[16:30] The others perhaps weren't favored in the same way. But God called you alone. So therefore, it does not mean to say absolutely that we are literally alone.

[16:47] But we are alone in our spirit. And we are alone with God. And perhaps sometimes you have felt to be so much in the presence of God God.

[17:02] That those things that have continued around you, you have been unaware of.

[17:13] So we can recall. I hope we each may be able to recall such occasions over our lives, whether they be short or whether they be long.

[17:26] But what a double blessing will be bestowed upon us if, having thought upon these occasions, when we did feel that the Lord called us alone, we should have this pronouncement from heaven this evening, saying, I called him alone.

[17:48] I called her alone. You see, this is the witness of the Spirit from heaven. It lines up with what we read, He that believeth hath the witness in himself that God called him alone.

[18:10] But there is something else. Because, in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall be established.

[18:25] So we read in the 8th of the Romans, that the Spirit beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And the Spirit beareth witness with our spirit that God called us alone.

[18:40] So we need the two sides. We need the personal experience. But how blessed it is when we have the confirmation from heaven.

[18:52] For I called him alone. Now it was necessary that this should be the condition.

[19:03] If God has something to tell you, or to work in you, then it must be when you are alone.

[19:19] God will make the condition. Make you feel it to be such a condition. That you are alone. And for you to be alone, and yet to believe that you are not alone, because God is with you, will be a blessing indeed.

[19:42] Now God calls his people alone for a purpose.

[19:57] And the purpose is twofold, that he might bless him, and secondly, that he might increase him.

[20:10] For I call him alone. For I call him alone. This is an effectual call. Effectual. Effectual. And that means it is a personal call.

[20:24] And that means it is a personal call. I remember one good man, in the course of his conversation, telling me of an occasion, when he was at one of our airports, and he had never been there before.

[20:54] First time that he had flown an aeroplane, and he wasn't quite sure of the normal courses. So he said, I went and sat down, thinking that they would come and call me when it was ready, when the plane was ready to depart.

[21:13] And he says, I sat there, and I thought the time was getting on, when suddenly, he said, I heard my name called. Because the plane was ready to depart, and I wasn't there.

[21:29] And then he said this, Effectual calling. The other people heard it, but there was only one person of that name, to which it referred.

[21:44] Effectual calling. I called him alone, with an effectual calling.

[21:56] There was no question, of a, an error, being made with the person called. And what can we say about that ourselves?

[22:12] When God's call came, it was just like Ezekiel says, the word of the Lord came expressly, to me.

[22:28] There's a great deal to be said for personal religion. Where God speaks, personally, directly. And this he must do.

[22:41] If we have, what we call and rejoice in, the voice of God, the voice of God, the voice of God, is very powerful, even when it is a still, small voice.

[22:53] The earthquake, and the tempest, and the wind, didn't have very much effect upon Elijah. But the still, small voice did. And it was an effectual call to Elijah.

[23:15] What doest thou hear? Elijah. He couldn't pass it on to anybody else, could he? He called him alone.

[23:31] Can we look back at the beginning, when we were in a certain place, in the world, that lies in wickedness.

[23:42] And the effectual call was this. What doest thou hear? Did you not know that you were in danger?

[23:56] Did you not know that this world, and all that is in it, is to be destroyed? Flee from the wrath to come.

[24:07] And it was an effectual call. And when that call came to you, it was so individual.

[24:19] And though others did not hear it, yet you heard it. Oh, that we may bless God this evening, that his call is effectual.

[24:32] Some of you may have borne a humble testimony to God's effectual call. But some of you may not have done. But has God effectually called you?

[24:49] Now where does he call, from where does he call, out of nature's darkness, to where does he call? For I call him alone.

[25:05] He calls the people of God, to the throne of grace. Is not this an early evidence of divine life, when we are called to the throne of grace?

[25:22] Now this is very different from praying, isn't it? The Pharisee was never called to the throne of grace. He didn't need the throne of grace.

[25:35] He was well able to confront the Almighty in his own self-righteousness. But God called Abraham to the throne of grace.

[25:50] And how wonderfully this is exemplified on the occasion when Abraham was interceding for Sodom and Gomorrah.

[26:02] How beautiful are the words when he said, I, who am but dust and ashes, hath taken it upon myself to approach unto God.

[26:19] And if we feel dust and ashes, and Abraham did, he was no hypocrite when he gave voice to it.

[26:32] He needed a throne of grace. Well does the hymn writer catch the fire of it when he says, and we do bless thee, Lord, because there is a throne of grace.

[26:51] Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

[27:03] For I call him alone to the throne of grace. Well it is one thing to be called to the throne of grace, but another thing to have our mouth opened at the throne of grace.

[27:22] How many have understood John Newton's lines? Have you no words? Ah, think again, words flow apace when you complain and fill your fellow travellers' ear with the sad tale of all your fear.

[27:42] But it is wonderful that God blesses those that he calls alone to the throne of grace first of all with a little faith.

[27:55] It is a searching word whoso cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

[28:09] But he does communicate faith. Perhaps there have been times many times when you have been greatly troubled because you have wondered whether really you had faith in God and if you hadn't you were done.

[28:28] For I called him alone and led him to the throne of grace. And we read in the prophecy of Jeremiah the prophecy of Jeremiah they shall come with weeping and with supplications will I lead them.

[28:51] So, does it find you at the throne of grace weeping because you have no words to say? Because you cannot order your cause before God.

[29:03] It is a good thing though to have wet eyes at the throne of grace. Now remember that God called him alone for this.

[29:18] It was not in public therefore if he wept before God there an impression would have been made on no one because God had called him alone had called him alone to the throne of grace and has he or if we look at this in the general terms of the household of faith he or she with no words to say wept.

[29:55] Wept. I do feel dear friends that we need some weeping in our religion. What has stopped our mouths?

[30:09] Why have we no words when we come to the throne of grace? Has sin stopped our mouths? Why have we no words when we come to the throne of grace? Has sin stopped our mouths sometimes?

[30:22] Have we come with our lips absolutely closed but we bowed before God? We've been compelled to come to the throne of grace though we daren't open our mouth.

[30:35] Well it is a blessing that we are brought there with weeping. And then there is that word in the Proverbs I believe it is open thy mouth for the dumb and is it not wonderful when you are brought called to the throne of grace alone and have no words singe at your mouth to hear one's word and the word is called to the throne of grace alone and have no words singe at your mouth singe at your mouth to hear one as it were speaking in you.

[31:28] We know not what to pray for as we ought but the Spirit maketh intercessions for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

[31:40] God be merciful to me a sinner God be a sinner has the groaning of the Spirit in it because it may have been abused or used or easily repeated by some there are others who know the weight that is contained in such a short petition and the groaning that accompanies it.

[32:19] But the word also says I will they shall come with weeping and with supplications will I lead them.

[32:31] Now how can we supplicate the throne of grace? It is usually considered that supplication is intensified prayer Lord I cannot let thee go till a blessing thou bestow for I called him alone and blessed him blessed him with faith blessed him with prayer blessed him with weeping repentance blessed him with supplication and this is all secret.

[33:17] You know we read in the word of God the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and this is part of that secret the way God leads a person about he led him about he instructed him he kept him as the apple of his eye for I called him alone this calling alone was also that he might be instructed we read in the scriptures times when God called a person alone we have a clear case when Moses was so many years in the backside of a desert called him alone in a very full sense we have a further instance we have a further instance in Elijah's life when for some three years or at least some considerable time he was first at the brook Gareth and then he was sustained by a widow woman a woman and it was a woman that virtually had nothing so God called him alone in Elijah alone in remarkable circumstances he called him alone in the first place and blessed him by showing him how God can provide when outward circumstances say that he cannot be providence hath servants everywhere then he was directed to

[35:35] Zarephath which means refining and what a test he had I have commanded a widow woman to sustain thee there very different to the great woman that sustained Elisha what an astonishment must have overtaken Elijah when the Lord's providence caused this woman to be gathering sticks and what a rejoinder when he put the first question to her I'm gathering a few sticks that I might prepare one more meal and that my son and I might eat it before we die so

[36:50] I called him alone that faith might be tried we cannot be mixed up with other things on these occasions when God is working a work in our souls and instructing us to all intents and purposes when Abraham went to the land of Moriah to offer up Isaac God called him alone but he blessed him let us note this point he blessed him no doubt you have also considered the account of Abraham and Isaac and and especially at that point where

[37:55] Isaac says to his father father behold the wood and the fire but where is the lamb for a burnt offering offering what refining work that was you cannot meet these things these situations with imaginary faith but to the honour of God how sweet and blessed are the words that Abraham replied my son God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering for a burnt offering for I called him alone and blessed him and we read them and so they went on it is good for us sometimes to go on having had the shortest of conversations that have produced from such a small seed such a strong growth that we wish to say nothing more at least for the time being and so they went on and we do not read that any other further words were exchanged between Isaac and Abraham and until at all for that matter but the time came when Abraham was to slay his son and he laid prepared the altar as you know he bowed his son upon it he raised his knife to slay his son and then there was a voice which sounded from heaven saying

[40:13] Abraham now I know that thou fearest me in that thou hast not withheld thy son thine only son from me it was an alone experience perhaps you've had to offer up one of your children not perhaps in the same dramatic circumstances but you've had to give them up virtually to God and then oh what a blessing was bestowed upon Abraham there was a ram caught in a thicket and the command of God was that this ram should be slain and take the place of Isaac and what does this prefigure?

[41:15] well it prefigures what we like to call sometimes the doctrine of substitution in that ram was a prefigurement of Jesus Christ behold behold a scene of matchless grace it is Jesus in the sinner's place and we can only know that experience when we are called alone for I called him alone and blessed him and blessed him and what a blessing is conveyed to the soul of any poor sinner to see Jesus in his place or her place her place heaven's brightest glory sunk in shame that rebels might adore his name tremendous clouds of wrath and dread in vengeance burst upon his head 10,000 horrors seize his soul and vengeful mountains on him rolled we must be called alone to see this sight he sighed he groaned he sweat he cried through awful floods he passed and died all penal wraths the Zion's due infinite justice on him through to see Jesus in your place you will and God will have to call you alone to bless you with this inestimable blessing oh the fullness of Christ's sacrifice the excellency of the atonement the grandeur of the scene the glory of it all for I called him alone you see these are choice parts in Christian experience and if you have a good Christian experience then you must have one spot at least where God called you alone now you'll know whether you've had that one spot even if you're pressed to speak about it it may be with much fear and trembling but nonetheless you will know perhaps some of you pass a field round about here where the Lord called you alone and showed you his sacrifice the sufficiency of it and the acceptability of it and the suitability of it for I called him alone well now that's going to settle it you know if you say yes I believe I've had that experience and then God says to you in these words and I called you to that this is the endorsement of heaven this is the sealing of the spirit upon your heart

[45:19] so that it wasn't imaginary maybe some of you have heard the devil's voice saying ah that was imaginary it all came out of your emotions well now there's one way which that will is bound to be knocked over and that is if God says to you I called you alone it was I that called you alone it was I that called you alone and blessed you and gave you that faith's view of Christ I saw one hanging on a tree in anachines and blood whose languid eyes looked on me while near his cross I stood and I called him alone with a divine purpose a purpose a purpose of blessing a purpose of blessing now there are various ways in which people may be caught my mind just goes to the occasion when Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and there was poor Mary Magdalene vexed in her spirit troubled indeed she said supposing him to be the gardener if thou hast borne him hence tell me where thou hast laid him

[46:58] God called her alone called her to himself unwittingly as far as she was concerned because that was the last place that she knew he had been when she got there he wasn't there and so you may go to a place thinking that you'll find Christ there again and you don't and you need to be reminded he is not here he is not here he is risen as he told you and behold he goes before you into Galilee there you shall see him but he called Mary Magdalene alone she was drawn by love does it not remind us of the words in Hosea drawn by the cords of a man and bands of love the I think that's the right way round for I called him alone and blessed him blessed Mary Magdalene with one word

[48:13] Mary only one word but what a blessing was contained in it great upon she immediately recognized the voice she said Rabboni and he said touch me not for I have not yet ascended unto my father but go and tell my disciples that I have risen it's very important for us to think about Christ's resurrection called him alone called her alone and blessed her with this knowledge that Christ was risen indeed and what a blessing was that for I called him alone and blessed him this sets before us too the sacredness of the experience and it is a sacred experience for any person to have any blessing from God if we've had a blessing from God and it's real it can only have one effect it will make the spot sacred just mark the spot the piece of ground where Jesus did thee meet that spot that spot will be sacred therefore you will not want to trifle about it or have other people trifling about it because God has made the place sacred in other words he has been there it is a consecrated piece of ground indeed for I called him alone and blessed him and finally increased him increased him increased him

[50:24] God knew what he would do I know people today some of them they have many ambitions if we restrict this thought just for a moment to our ordinary natural lives and they make their plans and they budget for the future in their business and sometimes we see that they obtain their objectives but you know it will be a wonderful blessing if God so deals with matters that your increase is due to his goodness perhaps you have to say sometimes I could never have increased as I have done were it not for God's providence says the psalmist surely prophetically

[51:27] I will increase you and your children more and more now that will give you something to watch and while you are watching you will see it taking place because we may repeat God is not a man that he should lie for I called him alone and blessed him and increased him grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ how are we going to do that?

[52:06] can we link it with an expression which relates to the afflictions of the children of Israel and Egypt the more they were afflicted the more they grew I believe if we look closely into the spiritual experience of Abraham we shall find just the same for I called him alone and blessed him and increased him but we must leave the words with you now the Lord prove it in our own experiences to the honor and glory of his great name Amen the Lord of all Mr. Collier will preach here on Tuesday and next week and this close was pym 968 June 455 pym 968 ask my soul which is the Lord which is the Saviour hear his word

[53:16] Jesus speaks and speaks to me say it for us in every notice that I mean in every day I hope in the whole I mean past his hour and sistema� helvert and well as that saw guide in great The End

[54:17] The End The End The End

[55:47] The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End

[56:49] The End The End The End The End The End And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the fellowship of the Eternal Spirit be with you all. Amen.