Return To Him – Part 4
Isaiah 31-32 (32:11-20)
November 19, 2023
YOU KNOW THAT
• Judah is facing the threat of Assyrian invasion.
• Judah offended God because they sought Egypt and not God for help.
We have called it the sin of DEFECTION
• They defected in person, by physically approaching Egypt.
• They defected in principle, by even removing their hearts away from God.
Isaiah 31-32 is God calling them back.
So far we’ve seen the two aspects of their defection from God.
#1 FAILURE TO TRUST
Isaiah 31:1-32:8
Isaiah spelled it out in the first verse.
Isaiah 31:1 “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help And rely on horses, And trust in chariots because they are many And in horsemen because they are very strong, But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the LORD!”
He called this deep defection and he called Judah to return to the LORD.
Isaiah 31:6 “Return to Him from whom you have deeply defected, O sons of Israel.”
And hopefully you remember from last Sunday night that
If they would return to Him then God would send to them their King.
The King who would:
• Remove their idols
• Rout their enemies
• Reign righteously
• Restore discernment
Stop seeking Egypt, start seeking God,
And God will send His King to deliver you.
That was the first aspect of their defection.
THIS MORNING we started looking at the other aspect of their defection which was more of an internal and spiritual issue.
#2 FAILURE TO TREMBLE
Isaiah 32:9-20
To put it plainly Judah offended God but was not concerned about it.
They were facing the wrath of God, but could care less.
(9) “Rise up, you women who are at ease, And hear my voice; Give ear to my word, You complacent daughters.”
It is important tonight that I remind you
Of those two words which describe Judah’s defection.
“at ease” – SHA-A-NON
It means “secure”. It can be translated “undisturbed” or even “arrogant”
• It was people who should have been afraid, but they weren’t.
• It was people who should have trembled at the knowledge that they had
offended God, but they didn’t.
They were filled with apathy
And totally unconcerned that God was offended.
“complacent” – BA-TACK
It means “to trust” or “to feel safe, be careless”
We likened it to false assurance.
Like the congregation of John the Baptist who were facing the imminent judgment of God “for the axe is already laid at the root of the tree”,
But they felt secure because “Abraham is our father”.
They had a assurance, but they shouldn’t have.
And on the day of judgment it was all going to come crashing down.
And this is precisely what Isaiah told the people of Judah.
• Right now you are “at ease” and undisturbed.
• Right now you are “complacent” and feel safe.
(10) “Within a year and a few days You will be troubled, O complacent daughters; For the vintage is ended, And the fruit gathering will not come.”
You have been living an allusion.
You have been living on borrowed time.
My what a rude awakening you are in for.
One cannot help but think about our nation
And the ease and complacency that has set in here.
We have fallen fully into an “ENTITLEMENT” culture.
• We deserve “free health care”
• We deserve “free education”
• We deserve comfort and luxury and satisfaction
And we have almost no concept of life without all of our comforts.
It can lull a nation to sleep regarding the judgment of God.
THAT WAS CERTAINLY JUDAH
And Isaiah told them that trouble was on its way.
And that is when we came to
THE INVITATION portion of this second announcement.
It is a little more direct than the first, but it is an invitation none the less.
(11-14) “Tremble, you women who are at ease; Be troubled, you complacent daughters; Strip, undress and put sackcloth on your waist, Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, For the land of my people in which thorns and briars shall come up; Yea, for all the joyful houses and for the jubilant city. Because the palace has been abandoned, the populated city forsaken. Hill and watch-tower have become caves forever, A delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks;”
The key word is “tremble”
• It is the word RAW-GAZ
• It means “to quake” or “to quiver”
Isaiah told them to
• “tremble”
• “Be troubled”
• “put on sackcloth”
• “Beat your breast”
Those are all pictures of repentance.
• Like the tax collector in the temple
• Like the king of Nineveh.
So you quickly see that the call is to REPENT AND RETURN
Acts 3:19 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;”
Now, what we also see here is that
GOD IS WELL AWARE THAT
REPENTANCE WON’T COME OF THEIR OWN FREE WILL.
• They aren’t going to just wake up today and decide to tremble.
• They aren’t going to just change their mind and put on sackcloth.
• These people are “at ease”
• These people are “complacent”
So God is going to rattle them out of their complacency.
God is going to shake them out of their undisturbed mindset.
THEY WILL BE TROUBLED AND THEY WILL TREMBLE.
WHY?
(12-14) “Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, For the land of my people in which thorns and briars shall come up; Yea, for all the joyful houses and for the jubilant city. Because the palace has been abandoned, the populated city forsaken. Hill and watch-tower have become caves forever, A delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks.”
Did you take inventory of all the things God is about to wreck?
• “pleasant fields”
• “fruitful vines”
• “the land”
• “all the joyful houses”
• “the jubilant city”
• “the palaces”
• “the populated city”
• “watch-tower”
GOD IS ABOUT TO REMOVE IT ALL.
RIGHT NOW these people just go forward in their sin with no concern that God is offended and with no fear that He might punish them.
• They just go to their fields and their vineyards
• They harvest their crops.
• They turn their flocks out into the fields to graze like normal.
• The come back home and they sing and dance in their houses.
• The go out into the city and everyone is happy and doing what they want.
• The kings palace is happy and secure.
• The city is populated.
• The soldiers are in the watch-tower.
Life is easy and fun and great.
And in a moment God is about to remove it all.
• Then let’s see if you remain at ease and complacent.
• Then let’s see if you are troubled.
• Then let’s see if you tremble.
• Then let’s see if you are concerned about your offense to God.
• Then let’s see if you are bothered that God is angry.
DO YOU SEE THE POINT?
How long can a nation just continue living in a manner that offends God and expect for things to go on like normal?
• It is a foolish complacency.
• It is a false assurance.
How long can you or I live undisturbed by our sin and feel secure in our apathy and expect that it will always be this way?
• It won’t be long now.
• God is about to break their pride.
BUT it is at this point that we learn a very important truth, and one that absolutely reinforces the reformed theology we have grown to love.
1) Judah has clearly defected.
• Both positionally and principally
2) God has clearly called for their repentance and return.
3) God has clearly stated that upon their repentance and return He will hear them, answer them, be gracious and show them compassion.
4) And God has promised that upon their repentance and returning that He will send the appointed King to deliver them.
WE HAVE SEEN ALL THAT.
BUT WE HAVE ALSO SEEN THAT JUDAH WON’T DO IT.
• No matter how much Isaiah warns…
• No matter how hard Isaiah pleads…
• Judah will not repent.
• Judah will not return.
And God knows that too.
So God will take matters once again into His own hands.
• He will cause Judah to repent.
• He will cause Judah to return.
And the question is:
HOW WILL GOD DO THAT?
Answer: THE HOLY SPIRIT
When you read that story of the prodigal son who returned to his father
It is quite easy to read over one little statement
And fail to see all that is implied.
Luke 15:17 “But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!”
The monumental phrase is, “when he came to his senses”.
We have a tendency to read that like
• The boy just smartened up.
• The boy just invoked a bit of logic.
• But that is NOT what happened.
That boy was dead!
The father said so.
Luke 15:32 “But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.”
• That boy was dead in his sin.
• That boy was spiritually blind.
• That boy was spiritually deaf.
Like Isaiah’s congregation, he had eyes but didn’t see;
He had ears but didn’t hear; he had a heart but didn’t comprehend.
So how did he all of a sudden come to his senses?
GOD DID THAT THROUGH THE REGENERATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Ephesians 2:4-5 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),”
Perhaps you remember when we studied that “500 Years of Reformation” study we talked about REGENERATION.
We said that regeneration is a MONERGISTIC work (work of 1)
It is not a SYNERGISTIC work (cooperative effort)
The sinner DOES NOT work in cooperation with God in regeneration.
How could he?
Now when you get to justification, there is a little synergistic work involved for the sinner exercises the faith that God gives him.
When you get to sanctification, there is a little synergistic work involved for the redeemed sinner works out his salvation with fear and trembling.
But when we are talking about REGENERATION,
THAT IS GOD AND GOD ALONE.
Lazarus did have to walk out of the tomb,
And thus cooperated with the call of Christ,
But Lazarus had nothing to do with Jesus making him alive.
JESUS DID THAT ALL BY HIMSELF.
This is what we call regeneration
And it is important for you to understand
THIS very bedrock of reformed theology.
That: REGENERATION PRECEDES FAITH.
THAT IS TO SAY,
• You must be regenerated before you can even cry out in faith to Jesus.
• You must be made to hear the gospel invitation.
• You must be made to see the resurrected Christ.
• You must be made to understand the high call of God.
• Your heart must be exposed in its sin.
• Your heart must be made to desire salvation.
All of that is regeneration
And it happens BEFORE you ever call on Jesus to be saved.
We call it regeneration,
But you might be more familiar with a different name.
John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Jesus called it being “born again”.
And He was talking about a spiritual work
That is done in the life of a dead sinner
Thus making it possible for him to repent and return.
If you remember John 3
• Nicodemus goes on to question what Jesus is talking about
• Since a man can’t enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born.
Jesus answers him:
John 3:5-8 “Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
The key phrase there is when Jesus starts talking about
Being born “of water and the Spirit”.
That is the indicator to what Jesus is talking about.
AND YOU SAY, “Good, so what is He talking about?”
TURN TO: EZEKIEL 36:22-27
You see here that
• God is about to do something.
• Void of your help.
• And for His own sake alone.
God is about to awaken a dead nation
And cause them to repent and return to Him.
Did you catch verse 25, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.”
• When Jesus said you must be “born of water”,
• That is what He is referencing.
• It is the cleansing work of God on the sinful heart.
And then you see in verse 26-27
• That God will give a new heart
• And put a new spirit inside you
• And “cause you to walk in My statutes.”
God will awaken the dead soul
And cause them to repent and return and obey.
The sinner doesn’t do that, God does that.
The sinner WON’T do that, God has to do it.
The sinner CAN’T do that, God must do it.
And if you like illustrations,
Then look at the next chapter in Ezekiel.
TURN TO: EZEKIEL 37:1-10
Those ten verses are an illustration of what Ezekiel just announced in chapter 36.
That God would, by His Spirit,
Take those who are dead and make them alive.
That is called REGENERATION.
Jesus called it being BORN AGAIN.
It is when God takes a spiritually dead sinner
Who is blind and deaf and awakens them to the truth
And changes their heart to long for the things of God.
Think about it in your own life.
• Why did you all of a sudden become aware of your sin?
• Why did you all of a sudden see you needed a Savior?
• Why did you all of a sudden want to come to Christ?
You just got smart?
Hardly!
I dare say you’d probably heard the gospel message many times before that day and never before had it impacted you or concerned you.
It is that on that day God made you alive.
He gave you ears to hear and eyes to see and a heart to desire Christ.
That is why you came.
That is why you confessed.
GOD DID IT.
Incidentally,
Ezekiel is not the only one to talk about this.
Jeremiah 31:31-34 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
That is the work of the Holy Spirit in a life.
Without that, the sinner will never repent and return.
Without the intervention of the Holy Spirit
The sinner will never hear, will never see,
And will never respond to the gospel.
The only way Judah is ever going to repent and return to God
And be able to welcome in their reigning King is if God does it for them.
THEY’LL NEVER REPENT ON THEIR OWN.
Now look at what Isaiah says that God will do.
Israel will stay stagnant in their sin.
Israel will stay under the punishment of God.
(15) “Until…”
UNTIL WHAT?
• Until they repent? Yes
• Until they return? Yes
But we already saw they aren’t ever going to do that.
(15) “Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high…”
This is so clarifying to us in regard to salvation
And also in regard to evangelism.
IN REGARD TO SALVATION:
• Now we see why heard the gospel.
• Now we see why we felt conviction.
• Now we see why we wanted Christ.
• Now we see why we call on Him.
God had poured out His Spirit upon our life and caused those things.
IN REGARD TO EVANGELISM:
Put yourself in Isaiah’s shoes for a moment.
• God commissioned Isaiah back in chapter 6.
• He was to go and preach to this people.
• But God told him they would not respond because they were deaf and blind and hard-hearted.
• In fact, God told Isaiah that only a remnant would return.
• Only a tenth portion would return.
So what did Isaiah do?
Did he only preach to 1 out of every 10 people? No
Did he go out and say, “You can’t come, you can’t hear, so why bother, I’m just going to sit in my room and play video games”? No
Isaiah went out in the highways and the hedges.
He entered homes and palaces.
He stood in the temple and in the market.
And he called out like a voice in the wilderness to anyone and everyone that they should repent and return to the LORD.
• He told them all about the Holy One of Israel.
• He called them all to lay down their idols and return to God.
• He promised them that if they would repent that God would be gracious.
WAS THAT A TRUE SERMON?
YES!!! That was absolutely true.
That was a true and valid offer to every sinner in his day.
Just as it is a true and valid offer to every sinner in our day.
But at the same time we understand that based on
Our ability to preach and their ability hear
NO SINNER WILL EVER BE SAVED.
We aren’t that good of preachers.
They aren’t that good of hearers.
The ONLY WAY anyone is going to heed the message
Is if God sends His Spirit to open their hearts to the gospel.
And that is exactly what we read about here.
No one is coming “Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high…”
Look at what Zechariah says about the day that Israel returns to Christ.
Zechariah 12:10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”
• It is the Spirit that will cause them to see their sin.
• It is the Spirit that will cause them to recognize Christ.
• It is the Spirit that will cause them to weep over Him.
• It is the Spirit that will cause them to trust in Him.
That is what Isaiah says too.
And then look at what will happen on the day that they do.
(15b-16) “And the wilderness becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field is considered a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness and righteousness will abide in the fertile field.”
First you see a great out-pouring of fruitfulness don’t you?
“the wilderness becomes a fertile field”
• That which was previously useless starts producing a crop.
• That which produced nothing finally starts producing.
“the fertile field is considered a forest”
• That field will be so productive and fruitful that you can’t even hardly walk through it.
But if you’ll remember we AREN’T talking about literal fruit here.
Do you remember that parable of the worthless vineyard all the way back in chapter 5?
Isaiah 5:7 “For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel And the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.”
And that is what you finally see happening here.
“justice will dwell in the wilderness and righteousness will abide in the fertile field.”
They didn’t do it.
Isaiah didn’t do it.
The Spirit of God did it.
And once righteousness and justice return what will be THE EFFECT?
(17-18) “And the work of righteousness will be peace, And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever. Then my people will live in a peaceful habitation, And in secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places;”
You’re going to love this.
What was the problem with the people back in verse 9?
• They were “at ease” – SHA-A-NAN
• They were “complacent” – BA-TACK
And they were wrongfully so
For they were at ease in their sin and complacent regarding judgment.
But once the Spirit of God comes
And does a work in their heart and leads them to pursue righteousness.
Guess what happens?
“the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence (BA-TACK) forever.”
• God will give them true security.
• God will make them genuinely careless.
• God will make them perfectly feel safe.
He will give them true assurance.
“Then my people will live in a peaceful habitation, And in secure dwellings and in undisturbed (SHA-A-NAN) resting places.”
• God will take away their worries and their fears.
• God will cause them to live legitimately at ease.
DO YOU SEE THAT
God is not opposed to you being at ease or to you having assurance?
God is not trying to keep assurance from you.
God is not trying to keep you from being at peace.
In fact, it is God’s design that you be in such a state.
BUT NOT at ease in your sin.
AND NOT at in assurance while under judgment.
It is God’s plan to send His Spirit to transform your life
To make you at peace with God…true peace.
And to give you true assurance.
The Spirit comes to regenerate you and lead you to Christ so that you will be justified and then you will be at ease.
The Spirit comes to make you born again and to grant you faith in Christ so that you will be justified and then you can feel safe.
Judah wanted to feel safe and be at ease in their sin.
God said, “No!”
But He will send His Spirit to drive you to Christ
So that you wil be righteous and thus feel safe and at ease.
Isn’t that a great work!
And then Isaiah gives THE CONCLUSION.
(19-20) “And it will hail when the forest comes down, And the city will be utterly laid low. How blessed will you be, you who sow beside all waters, Who let out freely the ox and the donkey.”
Verse 19 is a little difficult to deal with for it sounds again like judgment in the midst of this otherwise glorious passage.
The NIV simply says, “THOUGH it will hail when the forest comes down…How blessed you will be…”
In other words:
• Even though God is about to walk you through a time of tremendous peril;
• Peril to the degree that it will cause you to tremble and be troubled.
• Even though God is about to bring horrible discipline to you,
• Rest assured that God will use it to drive you to Himself.
• Rest assured that God will also send His Spirit to give you new birth,
• So that you will repent and return and reap all the blessings of God.
In short Isaiah says,
“What you refuse to do for yourself, resulting in trembling,
God will do for you, resulting in security and peace.”
And that is the gospel.
That is THE INVITATION.
And it was valid in Isaiah’s day, just as it is valid in our day.
Have you defected from God?
Are you trusting in other saviors other than God?
Have you found contentment in sin?
Are you loving what God hates and hating what God loves?
Are you undisturbed that God might be offended by your lifestyle?
Well the call is for you to repent and return.
• The call is for you to beat your breast and put on sackcloth and fall in humility before God that He might forgive you.
And everyone who does that
God will certainly grant them grace and compassion.
BUT WE ALSO KNOW:
The only reason anyone will do that is because God is at work in their life to cause them to do that.
It is His Spirit who draws men to Christ.
SO
• If you have repented and returned…
• If you have felt the blessings of the King in your life…
• If He has removed your idols.
• If He has routed your sin which is the enemy of your soul.
• If He has begun to reign righteously in your life.
• If He has restored your discernment and given you the mind of Christ.
If all that has happened for you.
• It is because God caused you to be born again.
• God regenerated you.
• God woke you up.
God did not leave you deaf and blind and complacent.
Like that prodigal, God caused you to come to your senses.
And we praise Him for that.
On my own I would have never come, but God did it for me.
And if Isaiah’s name has never made sense to you before,
It certainly will now.
Isaiah means: “The LORD is Salvation”
How true is that?
He not only saves sinners who come,
But He is the One who causes them to come in the first place.
What a glorious Savior!
Tonight, I invite you to come to Him too.
• I invite you to repent and return.
• I invite you to stop trusting false saviors.
• I invite you to stop defecting from His character.
• I invite you to repent of your sin and find grace from God.
And I implore the LORD to bring that about in your life.
• For He is the One who makes it happen.
