Restoring True Worship – part 1
Isaiah 66:1-24
January 5, 2025
This morning we come to the end, the final chapter of the book of Isaiah.
MY INITIAL PLAN was to try to wrap this up by Christmas, and then by New Years so we could have “Missions Month” in January, but there is just no value in speeding through something.
We’re going to be a couple more weeks finishing up Isaiah and then we’ll jump into Missions Month and our focus on that great mandate.
But first…Isaiah 66.
I have titled the message of this chapter, “Restoring True Worship”.
If you read the chapter, you will see that this is precisely what is occurring.
We begin in the first 4 verses with God lamenting hypocritical worship.
• He isn’t looking for temple builders…
• He isn’t looking for ox killers…
• He isn’t looking for incense burners…
• He is looking for people who fear and obey Him.
(2b-3a) “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. “But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog’s neck; He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine’s blood; He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol.”
Incidentally, there is a bit of a parallel here,
For the way Isaiah begins this final chapter
Is indeed the same way Isaiah began the entire book.
We all remember back to Isaiah 1 where we saw that “State of the Union” address and where God exposed and rebuked the hypocritical worship of the people.
Isaiah 1:11-15 “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”
That was the problem wasn’t it?
• Their worship was bad.
• Their worship was unacceptable.
Isaiah started his ministry preaching about it,
And here in this final chapter he brings it up again.
But this chapter doesn’t end with bad worship,
This chapter ENDS with true worship.
(23) “And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the LORD.”
So you could say that in some ways
This chapter follows the theme of the entire ministry of Isaiah.
It is a confrontation of bad worship, and the revelation of
How God is going to bring about true worship.
And, even though I had planned to perhaps be finished with Isaiah by now,
What a glorious way to BEGIN THE NEW YEAR…talking about worship.
Is there anything you do that is more important than that?
I promise you there is not.
For even the mundane things of life that you undertake;
Things like working or cooking or mowing or cleaning
Or even raising kids or loving your spouse…
All of those things are to be done in a spirit and attitude of worship.
Colossians 3:23-24 “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”
EVERYTHING IS WORSHIP.
The question of the chapter, and the question we are going to be addressing as we look at Isaiah 66 IS NOT whether or not you worship God.
The question we are going to be asking is:
Is the worship I bring to God acceptable to Him?
Do I bring true worship or do I bring false worship?
Do I bring acceptable worship or do I bring unacceptable worship?
And lest we think this to be a small issue,
I could make the case that this issue of true worship is the one consistent message
That finds it’s way into the ministry of every Old Testament prophet.
WORSHIP IS THE CONSTANT THEME OF SCRIPTURE.
And I just want to first of all, make that point to you.
(We may not even make it into Isaiah 66 this morning,
I really just want to set this thing up for you.)
So let me ask you, where does worship first show up in the Bible?
It first shows up in the garden and it is bad.
You have Adam and Eve
Choosing to gratify their own flesh instead of obeying God.
We call that idolatry.
• They served themselves over and above the living God.
• They listened to the snake instead of to God.
Where do you see worship next?
With their sons Cain and Abel.
• Abel brings an acceptable offering because he brings it in faith;
• Cain brings an unacceptable offering because he brings it through works.
• God regards the worship of Abel
• God rejects the worship of Cain.
And true worship becomes one of the rarest occurrences on earth.
By ch 6 there is only one worshiper on earth and his name is Noah.
BUT WORSHIP IS THE THEME,
Eventually leading us to a man named Abram.
Now, the first time the English word “worship” occurs in the Bible is Genesis 22.
Genesis 22:5 “Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”
• Abraham is referring to the coming sacrifice of his son Isaac to God.
• Abraham is giving that which he loves most to God in obedience and he refers to it as an act of worship.
“worship” there is the Hebrew word SHA-KHAW
It means “to bow down; to prostrate oneself”
Even though Gen. 22:5 is the first time the word is translated “worship”
It is NOT the first time SHA-KHAW is used.
We first see it:
Genesis 18:2 “When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth,”
And again:
Genesis 19:1 “Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.”
Both of those passages speak of the angelic messengers who visited Abram before going into Sodom, residing with Lot, and eventually destroying the city.
In Genesis 18:1 Abram bowed HIS BODY,
In Genesis 22 Abram bowed HIS WILL
And that is why chapter 22 calls it “worship”.
And this is THE STANDARD expected by God
From all those whom He has created.
• Men were created that they might bend their wills in worship to God.
• Men were created that they might submit their lives to the sovereign authority
of the God of the universe.
That, in its purest form, is worship.
IT IS WHEN YOU SUBMIT YOUR WILL TO GOD.
You put your thoughts and desires and dreams and wants
On the back burner and you submit yourself
To God’s thoughts and God’s desires and God’s wants.
THAT IS WORSHIP.
And you should know that GOD DESIRES TRUE WORSHIP from His people.
• Do you remember the conversation Jesus had with “The woman at the well”?
John 4:19-24 “The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
God seeks for Himself people who will be true worshipers.
• They will worship in “spirit” identifying their desire and attitude.
• They will worship in “truth” identifying their obedience and submission.
God desires a people who desire to obey Him.
God desires a people who love to submit to Him.
Now this would be a good time, I suppose, to tell you that
WE CAN BREAK WORSHIP DOWN INTO 3 TYPES.
And perhaps this will help you understand it a little better,
Even as we evaluate the worship that we are personally prone to bring to God.
The first would obviously be: TRUE WORSHIP
That is when people delight in submitting to God.
• More than prostrating their body to God (though that might be included),
• They actually prostrate their will to God.
Their outward bowing is merely symbolic of their inward submission.
• They deny themselves.
• They put aside their flesh.
• They submit to Christ and confess Him as Lord.
• They obey God.
THAT IS TRUE WORSHIP.
And I do want to give you a practical example of this.
The John 4 passage with the woman at the well is perhaps the most famous passage on worship since Jesus uses the word 10 times.
But I think the most detailed passage on worship is Romans 12.
TURN TO: ROMANS 12:1-2
Romans 12:1 represents the response segment of the book of Romans.
The first 11 chapters are theology.
• Paul gives us both the explanation and the application of the gospel.
• We learn all about God’s gracious salvation through Jesus Christ.
When we get to Romans 12
• Paul addresses our response,
• You will notice in the very first verse that the appropriate response is…WORSHIP
(12:1) “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
And again notice the submissive element there involved.
It is us, in gratitude, submitting our bodies in holy obedience to God.
And Paul, just as we saw in the Old Testament saints, calls this worship.
But Paul doesn’t stop there.
He spends the rest of chapter 12 and all of chapter 13
Showing you what true worship looks like.
We can’t hit it in detail, though we aren’t that far from it on Wednesday nights, if you’ll start coming then.
READ VERSE 2:
Paul tells you to stop listening to the world and start listening to God.
• He tells you to let God’s word renew your mind.
• He tells you to listen to and obey God
• And prove to the world that God’s will is best.
THAT IS WORSHIP.
When you turn your back on worldly ideologies
In favor of obedience to God.
When wives, who live in a feminist culture,
Determine to submit to their husbands because God’s word tells them to, that is worship.
When children, who live in a rebellious culture,
Determine to obey their parents because God’s word tells them to, that is worship.
When husbands, who live in a selfish culture,
Determine to love their wives sacrificially because God’s word tells them to, that is worship.
YOU SEE THE POINT?
Worship is not just you walking into a sanctuary
And physically bowing your head,
It is you bowing your will to the revealed will of God.
It is a commitment to learn God’s word and obey it in the world.
But Paul is far from finished.
READ VERSES 3-8:
• Obviously there is a ton of detail that could be addressed here,
• But the main theme is that you use the gifts God has given you for His glory.
Don’t be arrogant
• Don’t suppose that your abilities make you better than someone else.
• Why are you fast?
• Why are you tall?
• Why can you speak well?
• Did you do something to make that happen? No, those were gifts from God.
See them as such and humble yourself,
And use them for God’s glory to the best of your ability.
Are you a servant, then serve!
Are you a teacher, then teach!
Are you a giver, then give!
SEE THE POINT?
Do what God created you and equipped you to do,
And do it to the best of your ability and for His glory.
THAT IS WORSHIP OF GOD.
It is a recognition of His grace in your life
And a decision to honor Him through the exercise of it.
And Paul is still not finished by a long shot.
I’m just going to read to you verses 12:9-13:7
Here you will find over 30 direct commands from God.
• Nothing is said here about bowing your head…
• Nothing is said here about raising your hands…
• Nothing is said here about singing in harmony…
But everything that is said here requires a heart of worship to fulfill it.
You want to know what true worship will look like in your life?
THIS IS IT
READ 12:9-13:7
Did you see all those commands?
They are commands that fly right against your natural fleshly nature.
• Your flesh doesn’t want to hate evil and cling to good.
• Your flesh doesn’t want to be devoted in brotherly love.
• Your flesh doesn’t want to persevere in tribulation.
• Your flesh doesn’t want to refrain from paying back evil.
• Your flesh doesn’t want to pay taxes.
In order to do those things you will have to bend your will to God’s will.
THAT IS WORSHIP.
And then perhaps the highest calling of all from God.
READ 13:8-10
What else could be called worship but a fulfillment of the Law?
• Paul tells you to sacrifice yourself for the good of your brother.
• Paul tells you to do no wrong to your brother.
And we learn that loving your brother is to worship God.
WHY? Because God told you to do it.
Now does that make sense?
Do you understand a little better what true worship is?
It is a prostrating your will to the revealed will of God.
• It is submission to God.
• That is true worship.
UNFORTUNATELY what becomes the norm in Israel is NOT true worship.
See, there are two other types of worship in Scripture
That are not true worship and that are not acceptable to God.
The second type of worship we see in the bible is IDOLATRY
What is idolatry?
It is to give worship to the wrong god.
• It may be done in the right way or the wrong way,
• But the problem is that it is given to the wrong recipient.
So if true worship is to submit to the commands of God
Then idolatry is to submit your will to another false god.
• This could be one of the named ones in Scripture like Baal or Molech,
• Or it could be to worship yourself as god and let your flesh have full control.
That is idolatry and unfortunately Israel’s history is littered with it.
It is actually what caused them to be removed from the Promised Land.
And we are not void of it either.
For example:
Colossians 3:5 “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.”
Do you see the correlation to what we saw in Romans 12?
There Paul told us to present our bodies to God.
Here Paul tells us not to present our bodies to “immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed” because to that would be idolatry.
It would be to submit ourselves to the flesh as god.
It would be to do what we want instead of what God wants.
THAT IS IDOLATRY AND IT IS FALSE WORSHIP.
It is to attribute ultimate authority
To that which does not deserve authority.
So you understand what idolatry is, and I don’t want to spend a ton of time on that.
I want us to talk about the third type of worship, and that which is also unacceptable to God: HYPOCRISY
And I bring it up, because that is the type of false worship
Which God addresses at the beginning of Isaiah 66.
(1-4) “Thus says the LORD, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the LORD. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. “But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog’s neck; He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine’s blood; He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol. As they have chosen their own ways, And their soul delights in their abominations, So I will choose their punishments And will bring on them what they dread. Because I called, but no one answered; I spoke, but they did not listen. And they did evil in My sight And chose that in which I did not delight.”
We’re going to get more into it tonight…
But just a quick scan will reveal to you
That even though the people here are sacrificing oxen and lambs and bringing grain and burning incense that GOD IS NOT PLEASED.
God desires true worship and this is not it.
WHAT IS HYPOCRISY?
It is to worship the right God in the wrong way.
• All you have to do is ask Uzzah who touched the ark and God struck him dead.
• Ask Nadab and Abihu who offered strange fire and God consumed them.
• Ask Ananias and Saphira who lied to the Holy Spirit and God struck them dead.
• Ask the Pharisees who received the scathing rebuke from Jesus in Matthew 23
Hypocrisy is to worship the true God in the wrong way
And unfortunately Israel’s history is saturated with it.
Throughout her history Israel was notorious for trying to pull the wool over God’s eyes; they constantly tried to hoodwink Him.
What do you mean?
Well, they decided that instead of submitting their wills in obedience to God, they would try something else.
They would put on a big ceremonial display
And tell God they were going to obey Him,
But then go out and do their own thing instead.
Psalms 78:34-37 “When He killed them, then they sought Him, And returned and searched diligently for God; And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their Redeemer. But they deceived Him with their mouth And lied to Him with their tongue. For their heart was not steadfast toward Him, Nor were they faithful in His covenant.”
Instead of truly loving and serving and bowing their will to God,
They would try to substitute that for a flamboyant ceremony instead.
They would in effect say, “We won’t do what God says, but we will put on a big display in front of Him of how important He is to us.”
However, God saw right through it and He never accepted it.
And it becomes perhaps the most addressed issue in the Old Testament.
And I want to take you on a little journey this morning
As we introduce worship.
Let’s take a walk through the Bible this morning
And see how frequently God addresses hypocrisy.
TURN TO: PSALMS 50:7-15
God is clear there isn’t He?
• I’m not here to talk about sacrificial animals.
• I don’t need another goat from you.
What does God want?
(14-15) – I want you to be grateful, I want you to be obedient, I want you to trust Me.
David seemed to understand this:
TURN TO: PSALMS 51:16-17
The infamous Psalm after David had his affair with Bathsheba.
• David knew better than to bring God a goat.
• God wanted a broken heart.
TURN TO: PROVERBS 28:9 and let’s see what Solomon had to say.
If you aren’t going to obey God,
God isn’t interested in your fabulous prayer life.
That is like a Pharisee reciting long prayers on the street corner
And God is not interested.
TURN TO: ISAIAH 1:10-17
We already read this one earlier this morning, but again God is not concerned with the big-time worship service.
What does God want?
• Stop doing evil and start doing good!
• Sound like Romans 12?
TURN TO: JEREMIAH 7:1-11
Do you see how displeased God is with church attendance if the rest of the week is filled with things He hates?
Look down: VERSES 21-26
• God didn’t care about the sacrifices,
• God wanted obedience.
• God wanted them to stop oppressing their neighbor and to stop shedding
innocent blood.
TURN TO: EZEKIEL 14:1-3
There were some of the elders who came to ask Ezekiel a question
• God said He wasn’t taking questions from them because they had idols in their hearts.
He wasn’t interested in their presence before Him
If their heart was somewhere else.
TURN TO: HOSEA 6:6
• You see clearly what God wants.
TURN TO: JOEL 2:12-13
What a statement, “rend your heart and not your garment”
• I don’t care if you tear your clothes, I want you to tear your heart!
TURN TO: AMOS 5:21-24
There it is again.
• Not interested in your worship service, I want you to love your neighbor.
TURN TO: JONAH 4:10-11
God wasn’t interested in Jonah’s personal vendetta,
• God wanted compassion from Jonah.
THAT IS WORSHIP.
TURN TO: MICAH 6:6-8
What does God want from you?
• He wants justice and kindness and humility.
• It is not about the outward worship!
TURN TO: ZEPHANIAH 1:4-6
You have idolatry, pluralism, backsliddennes, self-righteousness.
• God is going to judge all of it.
• God doesn’t want phony worship.
TURN TO: MALACHI 1:6-11
God wanted honor, they gave Him dishonor.
• He wasn’t interested.
DO YOU SEE THE POINT?
David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea,
Joel, Amos, Jonah, Micah, Zephaniah, Malachi…
AND THEY WERE ALL SAYING THE SAME THING!
ISRAEL NEVER GOT IT RIGHT.
They were a nation filled with bad worship.
• Sometimes they worshiped the wrong gods.
• Sometimes they worshiped the right God in the wrong way.
• And God would not accept it.
HE DOES NOT WANT some showy party.
HE DOES NOT WANT men who say things and do not do them.
He wants those who bow their wills to Him, that is worship.
Listen to Jesus here:
Matthew 21:28-32 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ “And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. “The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. “Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. “For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.”
IS IT GETTING CLEAR?
We are going to start this new year off in Isaiah 66 talking about worship.
For what we learn here is that
One of the things God will do in the end
Is to restore true worship to this world.
He will reject hypocrisy.
He will destroy idolatry.
And by the end of this thing
The entire world will be coming to bow at His feet.
Look at it again.
(23) “And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the LORD.”
And do you want to guess what the world will be doing?
“will come to bow down” SHA-KHAW
They are coming to submit in body and soul to the LORD.
THAT IS THE CALL CHURCH.
• Submit your will to God.
• Bow your soul to Him.
• Don’t just rend your garments, rend your heart.
• Don’t just bow your head, bow your will.
• Don’t just raise your hands, raise your life.
• Don’t just sing, submit.
Tonight we’ll start looking at this passage in more detail,
But I hope you are interested in being a true worshiper of God.
John 4:23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”
