Remove The

Stumblingblocks

By DR. KEN GRAHAM, Pastor

VICTORY BAPTIST CHURCH

5386 HWY 67 SOUTH -- BENTON ARKANSAS 72015

PHONE: 501.315.5005

E-Mail: drkengraham@experiencevictory.net

Isaiah 57:14-15 "And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock 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."

This is a marvelous portion of scripture. I am not going to deal with this from the view of the nation of Israel or go through a long exploit of Isaiah and all that he teaches. Isaiah is a marvelous book as you know, but I do want to bring out three practical thoughts from this passage of scripture.

The Mandate From

God (v. 14)

The responsibility that is laid out here is that we are to prepare the way. And of course we know that there is reference here to the life of John the Baptist as the one that prepared the way for Jesus Christ. But you and I have a responsibility as children of God, everywhere we go to prepare the way and show people how to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a hill called Calvary where Jesus died, and we need to point people to the cross.

The reality is that there are some stumbling blocks to people getting to the cross. Some people get saved, literally because they are fearful of death and hell. But that is not what draws everyone. Some people desire someone to truly love them.

For example think about the bus kids. The truth of the matter is that a lot of the bus kids that come to church don’t know a lot about God or the things of God. But they know that when they come somebody will love them. And somebody will point them to One that loves them more than we can love them, the Lord Jesus Christ.

But there are stumbling blocks that get in the way. There are many stumbling blocks that I could mention but how about the stumbling block of ignorance. A lot of people aren’t saved simply because of ignorance.

Ephesians 4:18 "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:"

I’m not trying to be unkind in using the word ignorant but the Bible says there are a lot of people who are not saved because of the ignorance of their heart. They don’t know the truth. I have heard a lot of different things before. I have had people tell me that they think as long as they are good enough, nice enough, go to church, be a good neighbor, and don’t treat anybody bad they will go to heaven.

They will give you all kinds of ideas on how they think they can get to heaven. But the Bible is clear that there is only one way to heaven and that is through Jesus Christ. We have got to preach the gospel so plainly that we remove the stumbling block of ignorance. Don’t allow people to go to hell believing that as long as they are sincere or something like that. Sincerity is not enough; you must know Jesus Christ as your Saviour.

Then there is the stumbling block of indifference. A lot of people you meet just literally don’t care. They are indifferent about things. We have got to get people to realize that life is short and eternity is forever. It does make a difference what a person does with Jesus Christ.

There might be the stumbling block of iniquity. Simply sin has taken such a hold on their life.

Isaiah 59:2 "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear."

I know that this is a reference to believers. But it is true of the lost in their sins in regard to salvation and Christians in our fellowship with God. It is our iniquities that have separated us from God. The reality is sin gets in the way; people get caught up in sin.

I have met with literally hundreds of people over the years for counseling. I have heard this statement, "I don’t plan to go too far into sin. I’m just gonna go so far. I can control it." And before they realize it, sin has captured their life. And sin has carried them so much further than they ever imagined they would go. They cannot break the bonds and they cannot break the power of sin.

We’ve got to help people see that there is help to get them past their iniquity but only Jesus Christ can make that difference.

The next stumblingblock is one of imagination. Does your imagination ever play games on you? Does it ever trick you? Do you ever find yourself imagining about things? Yet there are people that do imagine all kinds of things.

I have had people say to me, "God would never send anybody to hell, so I’m just not concerned about it." Then they allow their mind to decide for them. In reality we need to realize that God has made it very clear that they must be saved. Sometimes our imagination will get the best of us and get us to thinking strange things.

For instance, we could never really be what Christian should be. I have had people tell me, "I would like to be saved but I could never live the Christian life." That is true. It is not within any of us, in our own power and strength to live the Christian life.

But remember greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. And it is Christ living in you, the hope of glory that makes the difference.

2 Corinthians 10:5 "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"

But what about the stumbling block of inconsistencies. Have you ever had someone say to you, "I would go to church but there are just too many hypocrites"? And there may be some hypocrites in the church.

A lot of people excuse themselves from coming to Christ because they allow what they have seen in one person to determine their eternal destiny. I wouldn’t want to stumble over a hypocrite and spend eternity in hell with them. I would rather come to Christ and if the hypocrite will not change and be the real thing, then so be it.

I don’t think there are nearly as many hypocrites as we get accused of having. There are hypocrites, fakes, and phonies; but keep in mind that there are weak Christians. Don’t let someone’s inconsistencies cause you to go to hell. People say, "Well I knew this person once and they claimed to be a Christian and look at what they did."

Years ago I worked with a lady and she would say to me, "Well my husband claimed to be a Christian, and he left me, and he did this and that. I just don’t have any use for church. I believe in God but I don’t believe that you can get saved by just trusting Christ." All of a sudden she let the inconsistencies of someone’s life keep her from getting saved.

God said to remove the stumbling blocks. Get anything out of the way that will keep you from Christ. I wouldn’t trip over anything into hell. I would implore you to ask God to remove anything out of your life that may be keeping you from Him. If you are lost, what is keeping you from getting saved? If you are saved, what is in your life giving the lost an excuse not to come to Jesus Christ as Saviour?

The Majesty of God

Verse 15a "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place,"

What an amazing statement. Think about the continuation of our God. He is eternal; He has no beginning and no ending; He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And that Holy God is interested in having a conversation with me. It is honestly hard for us to define how great God is.

Think about the creation that He holds in the palm of His hand.

Isaiah 40:12 "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?"

Who did that? God did. Think about how God spoke an entire world in existence. I don’t know if you do this but I love to go out on a bright, starry night and look up into the heavens. I’m always amazed at how vast and overwhelming the universe is.

I realize that God spoke it all into existence like the Bible says in six days and on the seventh day He rested. I stand amazed at all of His creation! It’s not hard for me to believe that God is able to do al of that. But what really overwhelms me is that same God is interested in what is going on in my life.

He could speak a world into existence; yet He is interested in my insignificant, seemingly unimportant, and probably for the most part unnoticed life on this planet with nearly seven billion people. He walks with me. He talks with me. He tells me I am His own. And the joy we share as we tarry there none other has ever known. What a blessing!

I also think about the character of God. The Bible says He is holy. It’s hard for us to define in our minds the word holy. We are much more acquainted with what is unholy. But God is the opposite of that. The word holy means "to be separate from" and our God is separate from all that is unholy. He is pure, He is powerful, and He is perfect.

The Mercy of God

Verse 15b "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."

God dwells in eternity but think about this, at the same time He also dwells with Him that is of a contrite and humble spirit. His greatness is clearly seen. You can how great He is; He dwells in all of eternity.

But you can also see His grace. He is willing to dwell within my heart. I grew up in church and around the things of God. I grew up hearing how great God is. I accepted that and believed that, having been taught that. Then by faith, one day, I found out that God is not only all that the Bible claimed He was but He was interested in dwelling in my heart.

The same eternal God that dwells in the vastness of all eternity dwells in my heart. And He will dwell in your heart too. I love the song that says, "He’s big enough to rule this mighty universe, yet small enough to live within my heart."

How can He do that? How can I have Christ within my heart? Very simply you must realize that you are a sinner. Don’t let that offend you either. I don’t know everyone, but I do know enough people to realize that we are all sinners.

The Bible says:

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" (Romans 3:23)

"There is none righteous, no, not one"(Romans 3:10).

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him [Jesus Christ] the iniquity of us all."(Isaiah 53:6)

You will never get saved until you realize you are lost. Then you must recognize that Jesus died for your sins. He died, was buried, and rose again three days later according to the scriptures. When you realize that Jesus died, then you must repent of your sins and come to Him by faith believing.

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."(Romans 10:9)

Aren’t you glad also God will give you the faith to believe. The Bible says:

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:"(Ephesians 2:8)

You don’t have to work up the faith or hope that one day you will build up enough faith. God will give you the faith to believe.

And repentance is not a complex matter. It doesn’t take days or weeks or months to repent. It is simply realizing that you are a sinner and God is right about it. That Jesus died in your place and you are willing to turn from your sins to Jesus Christ by faith.

And every child of God should rejoice because He lives in your heart. Isaiah said here that God is not only willing to dwell in the high, holy, eternal place; God is also willing to dwell in the heart of the one that is contrite.

The one that is brokenhearted and humbled over their sin. The one that realizes they have sinned and broken the heart of God. They simply come to God and cry out by faith He will revive the heart of the broken vessel. U