“Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare you [state your case] that you may be justified” (Isaiah 43:26).
Looking over my sermon notes from 2003-2004, it’s easy to tell when I was battling with back pain, because my handwriting is hard to read. I have a nice handwriting, but when writing in pain, it was scribbly. In 2003, I suffered a back episode, and my first time back in the pulpit was July 2004. My notes for Plead Your Case are abbreviated and written with scratchy strokes. I intended to give a short message that Wednesday night, but as I listen to the CD, it was truly a word in due season for myself and anyone who had a standing issue with the Lord.
The great evangelist of the early 1800s, Charles Finney, was a lawyer who was converted to Christ by reading law books, because they contained so much Scripture. After going into the ministry, he approached God with the same lawyer mindset. He would say: “God, Your Word says…” and then quote chapter and verse for that particular need. His heart burned for revival in America, and he would pray: “God, Will You not send revival here? You said in Your Word…” Again he would quote chapter and verse of God’s promises concerning revival.
In this verse from Isaiah, God is speaking in the first person and invites us to “plead our case” before His throne of mercy: “Let us plead together.” In the courtroom, the defending attorney pleads his case by bringing before the judge precedents in the law that bear upon his case. For instance, he may cite:
“In 1902, in Smith v. Jones, the judge ruled such and such…” or: “In 1963, in Johnson v. Brown, the judge ruled…” and so on. We too must plead our case by citing the precedents in God’s Law Book that pertain to our petition. For example:
In Christian v. Satan, in Luke 10:19 it is written: Behold, I give you authority over all the power of the enemy. In 1John 4:4 it is written: Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
In Child of God v. Fear, in 2Timothy 1:7 it is written: God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Psalm 91:10: There shall no evil befall you, and no plague shall come near your dwelling place.
In Saints v. Sickness, in Exodus 15:26 it is written: I will put none of the diseases on you which I permitted on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord that heals you. In Exodus 23:25: You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you.
In Psalm 107:20 it is written: He sent his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction. In Psalm 118:17: I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord. In Jeremiah 30:17: For I will restore health unto you, and heal you of your wounds, says the Lord.
In Psalm 103:1-5 it is written: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
In Isaiah 53:5 it is written: But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him: and with his stripes we are healed.
In Matthew 8:17 it is written: And Jesus healed all that were sick: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses. In 1Peter 2:24 it is also written: …And by his stripes you were healed.
(Read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John for many precedents on healing, and remember that it is written in Hebrews 13:8: Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.)
In Christian v. Curses, Galatians 3:13: it is written: Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: as it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree. According to Deuteronomy 28, all sickness and disease are part of the curse of the law.
In 1John 3:18 it is written: For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. The Greek word for destroy means to undo. Jesus came to undo what the devil has done. He came to steal, to kill, and to destroy, but Jesus said, I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly (John 10:10).
I think you get the idea: Plead your case to God! He is righteous and merciful, and it is written in Psalm 89:34: My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Psalm 119:89: Forever, O Lord, your word is settled in heaven. Lord is Jehovah in Hebrew and refers to the covenant-making, covenant-keeping God.
Remember, it is written in Malachi 3:6: For I am the Lord, and I change not…
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