Isaiah 56:4-7

For thus saith the Lord

Characteristics and privileges of God’s people

The pride of ancestry, and boast of ceremonial exclusiveness and glorying in the flesh, the Lord, by His prophet, looking forward to Gospel days, now abolishes, and marks out the true distinctions of His people to be that which is moral and spiritual, to the exclusion of all bodily defects or natural peculiarities.

Observe--

I. THE MARKS AND DISTINCTIONS OF GOD’S PEOPLE.

1. Keeping the Sabbath.

2. Choosing the things that please Him.

3. Taking hold of His covenant.

4. Being joined to Him to serve Him.

5. Loving His name.

6. Serving Him.

II. THE GRACIOUS AND GLORIOUS PRIVILEGES OF GOD’S PEOPLE.

1. Incorporation with His Church.

2. Joy in the sanctuary.

3. Acceptance of their spiritual worship. (J. Gemmel, M. A.)

And take hold of My covenant.--

Taking hold of God’s covenant

By a lively faith, although the devil rap her on, the finger for so doing. (J. Trapp.)

Holding fast” by God’s covenant

(R.V.):--Hold fast (as Isaiah 56:2). By holding’ fast My covenant is meant adhering to his compact with Me, which includes obedience to the precepts and faith in the promises. (J. A. Alexander.)

Taking hold of God’s covenant

It was generally supposed by the Jews that no one, except the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, could be in covenant relationship with God. Paul, however, says, in writing to the Romans, “But Esaias is very bold;” and he is so in this instance. He declares that men may take hold of the covenant of God though, heretofore, they appeared to be shut out from its privileges.

I. WHAT IS THIS COVENANT? It has been well said, “He who understands the covenants holds the key of all theology.” There was, first of all, a covenant made with our father, Adam;--not, perhaps, in set terms, but virtually,--that, if he should do the will of God, he should live. But, alas l our great covenant head, Adam the first, could not keep that covenant. I should think that none of us want to take hold of that covenant, for we are all sufferers by it already. There is a second covenant, made with the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ; and by that covenant, it was provided that He should Himself perfectly keep the law, and that He should suffer the penalty due from His people for their breaches of the law; and that, if He did both these things, then all those who were represented in Him should live for ever.

1. The new covenant is a covenant of pure grace.

2. It is a “covenant ordered in all things and sure.”

3. The ensign of this covenant is faith.

II. HOW CAN WE LAY HOLD OF IT?

1. I must loose my hold of the old covenant.

2. The main plan is by believing in Christ Jesus unto the salvation of thy soul.

3. But I have known those laying hold on the covenant begin in different ways. Some have laid hold upon it by a confession of sin; and the Lord has said, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

4. Another way of laying hold of it is, “by seeking” the Lord in prayer. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

5. When you have once accepted Christ, I like you to get a hold of the covenant in all sorts of ways. We have only two hands, but there are some creatures that have a great many hands, or feelers, or suckers; and when they want to be quite safe, they seize hold with all their hands. Christ has made a covenant with His Church, and I like to lay hold of that covenant by uniting with His people. It will be a great help to you to lay hold of the covenant by availing yourself of all Church privileges. The right thing for every sinner to say is just this, “The covenant of grace exactly suits my case. Jesus Christ has come to save the guilty and the needy; that is the sort of person I am, so I will lay hold of His covenant. I have got a grip of it, and there I hang. If His Gospel be true, I am a saved man.”

III. WHAT IS THERE TO LAY HOLD OF?

1. An atonement.

2. There is another place where you can lay hold of the covenant, and that is, the mercy-seat. Go and bow before God in prayer, Christ being your Intercessor, plead with God for mercy, through His atoning blood, and then say, “ I will never leave off praying till I get the blessing.”

3. It is also a grand thine to lay hold of a promise in God’s Word.

4. There is another thing which you should lay hold of, and that is, an invitation.

IV. WHY SHOULD I NOT LAY HOLD OF GOD’S COVENANT?

1. One reason for doing so is this. Others, who are like yourself, have done so.

2. Out of all who have ever come to Christ, there has never been one rejected.

3. You are the very sort of character that is bidden to come. “This man receiveth sinners.”

4. There is nothing else for you to hold to. (C. H. Spurgeon.)