Healing and Pardon (Isaiah 33:24)
Isaiah 33:24 promises that no resident of Zion will say, “I am sick,” and that the people dwelling there will be forgiven their iniquity. This verse depicts a future state of perfect physical health and spiritual cleansing for God's people, often interpreted as a prophecy fulfilled in the Messiah’s reign or the eternal state.
and the inhabitant shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity Isaiah 33:24 healing and pardon a sermon delivered on Lord's Day this whole chapter was a gracious message from God to a people who were in extremis ( This Latin phrase often means "at the point of death," and also "in an extreme situation." Literally, in extremis is "in the farthest reaches." ) they were made to drink the foulest dregs of Sorrow through the invasion of the Assyrians the highways were waste the Wayfarer ceased the Earth mourned and languished Lebanon was ashamed and heed down Sharon was like a Wilderness and Bashan and Carmel shook off their fruits then did God Arise when the worst had come to the worst he laid bare his arm and brought Deliverance for his people is not this a general rule with God is it not a truth fraught with Comfort to any of you whose day has darken down into a Sevenfold midnight when nothing else is left you God remains and God Appears when all your own strength fails you your strength shall be to sit still while God arises into your arm every morning your salvation in the time of trouble l would encourage all who are in spiritual distress to gather Hope from this chapter since it is addressed to Zion in her sore Affliction if it be really so that the joys and blessings which are described in the passage before us come to a people who are driven to the last extremity why should not such blessings come to you we have often noted how the Lord Delights to look upon the poor and needy and comes with sunder to those who are in distress it is the way of the Lord to look in pity upon those who are cast down lift up your heart to him and cry unto him out of the depth let your prayer rise to his throne out of the low dungeon expect that he will be very pitiful and will have compassion upon you in your misery Jerusalem was on the brink of Destruction when the Lord answered the prayer of Hezekiah and smote the vast host of Assyria the Peril of Jerusalem serves as a dark background to bring out the brightness of my text the city might have been destroyed by pestilence through its sins but the Lord saith the inhabitant shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity the great result of God's gracious dealings with his afflicted people is that they glorify his holy name observe how in this chapter God Is Spoken of as being exalted for he dwelleth on High he is called The Glorious Lord truly our Lord never appear more glorious than in the eyes of those who are brought low and humbled in their own esteem their distresses out of which they are graciously delivered call upon them to exalt their saviour they hear a voice saying oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful Works to the children of men for he hath broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron instead our God get little praise in this Fair World which is a masterpiece of his skill for man refuses to adore creation ought to make our voices ring out Perpetual Psalms for it is full of Wonders Providence ought also to keep us always making music upon an instrument of 10 strings but alas we yield our praises to inferior workers we are ever backward and slow in the Praises of the Lord will a man rob God yet do we rob him of his glory and so he brings us into Straits that he may display the Majesty of his grace and the Infinity of his power in rescuing us then are we moved to astonishment and adoration then we burst forth into a song as we abundantly utter the memory of his great goodness at sight of his amazing love we magnify the Lord and ask others to Magnify Him with us that we may exalt his name together this is as it should be let it be so now oh you that have tasted of the Lord's Rich Grace in The Hour of trouble praise him at this good hour let the Hallelujah of your soul go up to him in the courts of the Lord's house if you cannot speak out your praise Let it wait for God in Zion and unto him let the vow be performed Let Your expressive silence mean the praise which you cannot sound forth with your tongue the Holy Spirit who maketh intercession in us with groanings that cannot be uttered will also put into us Praises inexpressible by words as we saw in the reading of this chapter the prophet seems to take Wing as he proceeds he rises from note to note as if like David he said lift up the strain he makes each note more high more sweet more loud than those which preceded it for he sings unto Him that doeth great things for His people the climax is in this verse the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity one of the highest notes of Praise which we can ever raise unto God is that which tells of pardoning love note the opening of the 103rd Psalm bless the Lord oh my soul who forgive all thine iniquities who heal all thy diseases our text is another form of that verse the inhabitant shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity healing and forgiveness are placed in happy conjunction and both bestowed on the Lord's people when they look not for them I shall speak upon our text thus if the Holy Spirit will help me first there is such a thing as present forgiveness the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity secondly with this forgiveness there comes the removal of the consequences of sin the there comes the removal of the consequences of sin the inhabitant shall not say I am sick and thirdly this makes a remarkable change in the language of the favored people the inhabitant shall not say I am sick they shall be so greatly blessed that their language shall lose its complaining tone they shall no longer sigh and lament they shall now have other things to talk about than their own infirmities and sufferings the inhabitant shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity first then beloved I introduce to you a topic upon which I am sure you have no question but still it may do you good to be confirmed in the acknowledged truth there is such a thing as the present forgiveness of sin the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity there must be a present conscious enjoyable pardon of sin else there would be no joy in the world for thoughtful Minds to the Thoughtless and careless there might be a flash in the pan a noisy mirth as the crackling of thorns under a pot but to the penitent to the serious to the careful where could there be a spark of Joy if sin were Unforgiven when we once begin to feel what sin is to discern its true nature and to understand the just punishment which must follow upon it we cannot rest under its condemnation though God should give us dainties from day today and clothe us in scarlet and fine linen and set us among the princes of the earth we should be restless we should be wretched as long as Sin preyed upon our heart sin this casts Darkness upon the sun eclipsing its Meridian light sin is the blast which Withers all the flowers of Life sin is the gall of bitterness a drop of it would turn an ocean of pleasure into wormwood sin would again blight Paradise could it be restored yeah it would turn Heaven into hell could it enter there sin is a burden which an awakened conscience cannot bear it crushes the spirit into the dust and threatens further to Bear it down even to the lowest hell but when sin is pardoned then our hymn which we have just now been singing leaps joyfully to our lips now oh joy my sins are pardoned is not this a necessary ingredient in that overflowing cup which the Lord puts to the lips of his redeemed ones therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through Jesus Christ Our Lord but without that justification there can be no peace and no enjoyment of Life Believers are spoken of as a blessed people who joy in God they bidden to Rejoice ever more the Apostle saith rejoice in the lord always and again I say rejoice such rejoicing would be impossible if sin were not pardoned and therefore we conclude that sin may be pardoned that it may be pardoned now and that we may know it if forgiveness is essential to a state of mind which we are exalted to exhibit then forgiveness may be enjoyed at this present hour further dear Brethren there must be forgiveness of sin else the main motive and Fountain of Love would be dried up forgiveness begets gratitude gratitude creates love and love brings forth Holiness she that wash the Saviour's feet with tears and wipe them with the hairs of her head would she have done it if she had not loved much because she felt that much had been forgiven her the Motive Power of action to a believing Man lies hard by the realization that God for Christ's sake had forgiven his iniquities when I see my Lord his own self bearing my sins in his own body on the tree and blotting out my faults forever by his death then my spirit glows with love my eyes stream with tears my heart dedicates itself wholly to Jesus and my life begins to show the effect of my inward emotion sin forgiven leads to sin forsaken is it not so doubt whether you are forgiven and what can you do can you preach a gospel which has not brought you pardon can you go into the Sunday School to try and bring little children to a Christ who has not forgiven you your sins but understand that through the one great sacrifice your iniquities are forever pardoned and then you must love the great sacrifice and You Must Praise the Lord who gave him to die for your sins is not this the song of the perfected unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood unto him be glory forever and ever there must be a consciousness of forgiveness or our lives will be limp we weak purposeless it must be so that sin can be pardoned and that we can know it else we should be always in bondage through fear of death in what jeopardy should we stand every hour since we might at once sink into hell the prospect of death how terrible would it be to us if sin still accused us unto God many of us now contemplate the approach of death with a calm quiet patient of Hope as our years advance we are not distressed with the thought that the time of our departure draws daily nearer this world is not our rest and we do not desire to live always we anticipate the hour when we shall our body with our charge laid down and cease at once to work and live but how could this be if we enjoyed no sense of Pardon sin it has been my intense Delight to be with many members of this church in the hour of their departure and I have invariably found them rejoicing in hope I have sometimes heard them sing and I have joined in their Holy hymn more often I have heard their steady calm a vowel of their joy in the prospect of being forever with the Lord but how could this have been if sin had not been pardoned is not this true which we sing if sin be pardoned I'm secure death hath no sting beside the law gives sin its damning power but Christ my Ransom died the sting of death is sin and you cannot take away the sting of death if sin be not taken away there could be no looking forward with expectancy if there were no Acceptance in Christ it would be impossible to be in a strait as apostle Paul was when he said for I am in a strait between to having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better to be willing to be offered up and joyfully to say the time of my departure is at hand would be utterly impossible if Believers did not know and know of a certainty that their sins are all forgiven once we cried wash me and I shall be whiter than snow we were not in error in that prayer and now that we have been washed and have heard our Master say ye are clean every wit we are not deluded we have joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have received the atonement we say at this hour oh Lord I will praise thee though thou was angry with me thine anger is turned away and thou comfort me has not the Lord declared I even I am he that bloat out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy sins yes great Lord it is even so there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared there is a city whose inhabitants are forgiven their iniquities blessed be the Lord who passeth by the trespasses of his people once more there must be forgiveness for else the whole system of Grace would be a dead letter and its glorious privileges would be mere shells without a kernel where would be salvation itself without pardon how could we be saved from our sins if not forgiven what glorious gospel could there be if sin could not be cancelled we read of our Lord Jesus Christ that to as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name but how can we be Sons under condemnation how shall I reckon myself to be a beloved child if my Father is still my judge and holds over me the Sword of Justice thy sins which are many are forgiven thee is necessary before the spirit of adoption can enter to make us cry Abba Father there is certainly no possibility of acceptance or justification while sin is unforgiven I have shown you already that there is no motive to seek sanctification if we are hopelessly condemned for sin what is even the gift of Christ himself if he does not put away our sin the whole of the blessings of the Gospel seem to me to have lost their charm unless first of all there is cleansing from all iniquity let us now bend our thoughts to a consideration of this great blessing as it is treated of in this chapter it is plainly promised in the text the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity nor is this a lone word the like is often declared I will not occupy your time by quoting the many passages of scripture in which the pardon of sin is expressly promised is it not in the Covenant I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more he that believeth is Justified from all things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses my pardon is a promised blessing it is God's prerogative to forgive and he Delights to exercise it he saith expressly I will pardon them whom I reserve he hath pardoned he doth pardon he will pardon so stands the Covenant of Love if we wish to obtain this free pardon it will be granted an answer to prayer read the second verse Oh Lord be gracious unto us this is short but full there is sound Doctrine in that cry the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their
