Isaiah 44:5

A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF RELIGION

Isaiah 44:5. One shall say, I am the Lord’s, &c.

This chapter begins with a prediction of the future prosperity and increase of the Church of God; and the prophet here represents converts as spontaneously choosing to make a public profession of religion.
I. SOME REASONS WHY TRUE CONVERTS DESIRE TO MAKE A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF RELIGION.

1. Those who have experienced a saving change of heart love God’s law. It is in the creation of such a love within them that this change consists (Jeremiah 31:33; Psalms 119:97). Those who love God’s law choose to obey it, and to bind themselves to obey it for ever (Jeremiah 1:4).

2. They love God’s ordinances. They delight to observe them all, especially that which commemorates the death of their Divine Redeemer (Acts 2:41; Acts 2:47).

3. They love God’s people, and delight to unite with them in the duties of religion, and in their attendance on divine ordinances.

4. They love God’s cause. They desire to be workers together with God in building up His kingdom, and for this reason wish to put themselves in the best situation, and under the strongest obligations to promote the cause of truth and the prosperity of Zion. Their profession gives them a greater freedom, and creates a greater obligation to speak and act for God and for the good of their fellow-men.

5. They desire to grow in grace; and for that reason desire to join the Church, that they may enjoy the best means of spiritual instruction and edification.

6. They desire to persevere to the end; and being conscious of the deceitfulness of their own hearts, and their proneness to forget and forsake God, they gladly avail themselves of the help that is afforded by a public vow and covenant to be steadfast in His service (H. E. I. 3903–3911).

As all who make a profession of religion are not Christians, so neither are all who omit to do so unbelievers. Let us note, therefore—
II. SOME EXCUSES WHICH SOME CONVERTS OFFER FOR NOT MAKING A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF RELIGION.

1. “I am not absolutely certain that I am a Christian.” But you hope you are; and will disobeying God do anything to turn your hope into a settled confidence? The way to get more grace is to use the grace you have.

2. “I do not know that the Church would receive me.” Why not? Do you think that the Church is not competent to arrive at a just judgment concerning you? or that it would wilfully judge you unjustly? or that your excellences are so transcendent that full justice would not be done to them? If this is what you mean, you are not worthy to enter the Church. But if your fear of not being accepted arises from a humiliating sense of your own unworthiness, such humility will rather commend you to the esteem and confidence of good men.

3. “I fear I should do more dishonour than honour to religion.” But you have no right to fear anything of the kind. God promises to sustain you with His all-sufficient grace. Put away this sinful, because unbelieving, fear.

4. “I know a great many good people who are not Church members.” That is no concern of yours. Their neglect will not excuse yours (John 21:21; Romans 14:12).

5. “A great many Church members are no better than they ought to be.” True. Let us be sorry that it is so. But this is no reason why you should neglect to name Christ’s name and promote His cause; it is rather a strong reason why you should unite with His few friends to purify, strengthen, and revive religion, and to rectify whatever is amiss in the Church. Note—

III. SOME OF THE EVILS THAT RESULT FROM THIS NEGLECT TO MAKE A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF RELIGION.
Those who are guilty of it—

1. Injure themselves, by depriving themselves of that peace and comfort which they might enjoy in communion with God and His people.

2. They injure religion, by neglecting to perform those peculiar and important duties by which it is to be promoted in the world.

3. They injure the friends of God by practically joining with the world in neglecting and opposing the cause which they desire and have bound themselves to promote (Matthew 12:30).

4. They injure the impenitent by practically justifying them in their impenitence and unbelief. The more upright and amiable they appear, the more they injure the cause of God and the souls of men by the weight and influence of their criminal example.—Dr. Emmons: Works, vol. v. pp. 458–469.

The immediate effect of the outpouring of the Spirit, promised in Isaiah 44:3, will be a general awakening to the claims of religion. When so visited, men think seriously about the soul, eternity, and God. Hitherto their practice may have been at one with the sentiment expressed in the words, “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die;” but, under the influence of the new quickening, the unseen state is felt to be a reality, and the interests of time give way before the urgency of the great hereafter. Such views ripen into religious devotion, or the soul’s consecration to God.

Touching the nature and method of the surrender and dedication of the soul to God, the prophet’s language indicates these things:—

I. The act is strictly personal. “One shall say,” “and another shall call himself,” “and another shall subscribe with his hand.” [1411] Men proceed singly in the matter. Repentance, faith, and regeneration and consecration are individual transactions between the creature and the Creator. Into the fellowship of saints many may enter at the same time. The text favours the idea of concealed action. In their turning to God, it is common for men to move together. Yet the procedure is no more a collective process than eating and drinking at one table and hour is a collective process. As the servants of the Crown have to take the oath of allegiance one by one, so must the vow of service to the King of kings be, in every case, independently plighted. Each person has to enter into the covenant on his own account.

[1411] “And another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.” According to Bishop Louth, this might be rendered, “Another shall inscribe his hand to Jehovah;” or still more plainly in the Septuagint translation, “An other shall write upon his hand, I belong to God.” You have doubtless seen upon the hands or arms of seamen the name of the ship in which they have served, rendered indelible by puncture, or by staining; this, perhaps, is one of the oldest customs in the world. The slave, in former days, used thus to be marked with the name of his master; the soldier, of his commander; the idolater, with the name of his god; while one of the Christian fathers tells us that in his day, “many marked their wrists or their arms with the sign of the cross, or with the name of Christ.” This, then, will give you a very distinct idea of what the Lord requires of you, and what He will enable you to perform; it is such a decided choice of the Lord for your portion, such an avowal by your daily actions, that you are not your own, but His who has bought you with the price of His precious blood, that all shall know it as certainly, and that your actions shall proclaim it as unequivocally, as if the name of Christ were inscribed on the back of your hand, and could be seen and read in all companies, and on all occasions.—Blunt.

II. The act is performed specially by the faculty of choice and determination. The other mental powers share in the engagement. The understanding and reason, the conscience and the affections, are parties to it. But, whilst the sister faculties conduce to and support the pledge, the utterance of the binding promise does not rest with any or all of them. The decision itself pertains to the instrument of choice. The making up of the mind to what is good and holy is pre-eminently the function and act of the will. “Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power.”

III. The act, in order to be rightly completed, requires an outward sign or seal. The word of acknowledgment is spoken. “I am the Lord’s;” or “the name of Jacob” is assumed, the visible fellowship of good men is entered; or a subscription with the hand is appended in token of acceptance and submission. When the soul attaches itself to the service of its Saviour, the internal establishment is to be accompanied by some sort of external work. This is seemly by way of open confession. It is right and becoming for the children of God to show whose they are. The sign, too, helps one’s own resolution. Our purpose is the stronger when we have definitively committed ourselves to the adopted course. Again, the sign has its effect upon others. Where the decision for Christ is not avowed, the example cannot be clear and forcible. The token is a reasonable adjunct, and not to be neglected without loss in various ways. Hence the Scriptures call for the outward profession of faith. Our courage is not to shrink from view. Instead of continuing to come to Christ by night only, Nicodemus must consent to receive baptism with water, and take upon him the badge of open identification with an unpopular cause. The Christian’s light is to shine before men. Jesus did not invite to secret discipleship (H. E. I. 1042–1045).—W. Follard.

I. The nature of true religion.

1. It is a surrender of ourselves to God. “I am the Lord’s.”
(1.) He has an original right—formed us for Himself.
(2.) Reasonable right.
(3.) Redeeming right.
2. It is an avowed acknowledgment of God. “Another shall,” &c. Profession is demanded by the Lord.
3. It includes union and fellowship with His people. “Call themselves,” &c. So in apostolic times, &c.

II. The characteristics of religion as presented in our text.

1. It is personal.
2. Voluntary.
3. Deliberate.
4. Determinate.

III. The importance of such a spirit of religion.

1. It is intensely important to Jesus.
2. To the Church. 3. Supremely important to yourselves; it is not a vain thing, it is your life.—R. M. M‘Cheyne: Sermons on Special Occasions, pp. 170–173.