The State Of The Union – Part 4
Isaiah 1:1-31 (18-31)
February 19, 2023
As you know we’ve begun a new study of the book of Isaiah
And this prophecy begins with what “The State of the Union”
God is speaking through Isaiah to His people
Regarding their spiritual state from His perspective.
You know by now of their comfort and security.
• They have enjoyed 52 years of peace and prosperity.
• They will enjoy 16 more years of the same.
• The comfort and security they have enjoyed has led them to be less focused on their need for God.
In steps Isaiah.
• His name means “The LORD is Salvation”
• His ministry is to remind Judah and Jerusalem that He is their only Savior.
This opening address from God reveals that
GOD IS FRUSTRATED WITH HIS PEOPLE.
As we have said God’s address covers 3 topics:
Rebellion – Religion – Redemption.
We have seen the first 2.
#1 REBELLION
Isaiah 1:1-9
Here we learned that there was an INSURRECTION occurring in Judah.
God’s sons were rebelling against Him.
Specifically they were abandoning Him.
Instead of trusting Him and seeking Him they were seeking the world
And trusting in the pagan deities of their high places.
Because of this rebellion God has already planned a severe judgment
Which will see Judah punished swiftly and severely.
In fact, the only reason any will survive it at all
Is because of God’s mercy to preserve a few.
But God spoke of their rebellion.
#2 RELIGION
Isaiah 1:10-17
We saw this last Sunday night.
As God spoke of Judah’s rebellion their immediate response would be,
“No we haven’t, we still participate in all the feasts and sacrifices.”
But God has a different perspective of their religious participation.
Asking:
(11) “What are your multiplies sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD.”
God pointed out that
• He had enough of the fat and blood they routinely bring.
• He spoke of their attendance as a trampling of His courts.
• He said their offerings were worthless.
• He said their incense was an abomination.
• He couldn’t stand all their assemblies.
• He hated all their festivals.
As a result He had determined to no longer hear their prayers because “Your hands are covered with blood.”
THE SIMPLE POINT WAS THIS:
You have convinced yourself that you are not rebels because you are religious, but I’m telling you that your religion is worthless.
What did God desire?
(16-17) “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.”
IT WASN’T CEREMONY THAT GOD WAS AFTER,
It was a life of obedience which cared for the things that mattered to Him.
It meant nothing to Him for someone to attend church or give offerings
If they failed to rebuke the ruthless or care for the helpless.
GOD WASN’T INTERESTED IN THEIR TOKEN RELIGION.
THEREFORE:
• The REBELLION is real, and judgment is coming.
• The RELIGION hasn’t helped, if anything it has made matters worse.
That is the opening of this State of the Union address.
This morning we conclude it with the final thing God wants to speak about.
#3 REDEMPTION
Isaiah 1:18-31
After addressing their sin and even God’s expectation,
Now God comes to His offer and promise of redemption.
This information is so valuable to our understanding of redemption.
It is a segment that every believer ought to consider and understand.
Let’s break this final segment down into 4 parts to help us grasp it better.
1) TERMS OF SURRENDER (18-20)
The announcement that comes here from God is
NOTHING BUT PURE GRACE.
I WOULD REMIND YOU THAT
• Israel was under the Mosaic covenant of the Law.
• That covenant was very much a performance based covenant.
Consider these realities:
Deuteronomy 24:17 “You shall not pervert the justice due an alien or an orphan, nor take a widow’s garment in pledge.”
Deuteronomy 24:19-21 “When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. “When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow. “When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not go over it again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow.”
Deuteronomy 26:12 “When you have finished paying all the tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan and to the widow, that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.”
Deuteronomy 27:19 “‘Cursed is he who distorts the justice due an alien, orphan, and widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”
But if you fail to keep that stipulation or break any of those commands,
Then God is well within His rights
To punish severely because of your breach of the contract.
Deuteronomy 28:15-20 “But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. “Cursed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. “The LORD will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke, in all you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me.”
And the LIST GOES ON and on and on regarding all the punishments God is legally obliged to bring upon you.
Things like:
• Pestilence (28:21)
• Consumption (28:22)
• Drought (28:23-24)
• Military defeat (28:25-26)
• Boils, Blindness, Bewilderment (28:27-29)
• Your wife and children stolen and defiled (28:30-32)
• Your land will be stolen (28:33)
And many more things ultimately including being carried away into exile.
Based on what God has already revealed in this opening chapter,
It was WELL WITHIN GOD’S RIGHTS to now turn away from Israel
And bring every bit of those consequences straight down on their head.
BUT…
GOD OFFERS REDEMPTION.
(18) “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are as a scarlet, They will be white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.”
• DESPITE their clear and obvious guilt.
• DESPITE the fact that their sins are compared to a blood covered cloth.
God has an offer which will wipe away their sin
And the guilt and the consequences that come with it.
God is offering a plea bargain.
He is offering them a deal.
“I’ve got every right to totally annihilate you this very moment because of your rebellion against Me and My covenant.”
“But before I do that, I would offer you an opportunity to have your sins and your guilt washed away.”
WOW! That’s a great offer!
Any criminal in any courtroom who has just been found guilty and sentenced to death would jump at the chance to do something to have his crimes wiped away.
WHAT IS THE DEAL?
(19-20) “If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword.” Truly the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
The offer is simple.
“consent and obey”
TO WHAT?
The covenant; the agreement; the deal you signed up for.
It’s what we read last Sunday night:
(16-17) ““Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.”
We call this a SECOND CHANCE.
• You have failed to keep up your end of the covenant
• Therefore I am within My rights to totally annihilate you.
• However, if you’ll stop your rebellion
• And start keeping your end of the bargain
• Then I’ll wipe your record clean and will eliminate your judgment.
Suppose your murdered someone
• And then were sentenced to execution by the court,
• But the judge said, “I’ll tell you what, if you’ll stop murdering then I’ll go ahead
and forgive you of this crime.”
Does that sound like a deal you’d want to take?
Of course it does.
WELL, THESE ARE GOD’S TERMS.
The PROBLEM is that we are dealing with a people who love their sin.
• The Rich Young Ruler was offered forgiveness and eternal life if he’d just quit loving his money, but he walked away sad.
And it is apparent that
Even though God has laid out for them the danger they are in,
They are not quite ready to take the deal.
They still aren’t convinced they’ve done anything wrong.
So following the terms of surrender,
God must remind them again of just how much trouble they are in.
2) TESTIMONY OF GUILT (21-23)
God once again lays out for them
The level of their great atrocity before Him.
“How the faithful city has become a harlot, She who was full of Justice!”
She wasn’t always like this.
There was a day when Jerusalem was a “faithful city”
• Under David and Solomon worship of God reigned supreme in this city.
• We remember the mighty Passover celebrations and what great love David had for God.
• We remember Solomon building His temple and sacrificing more oxen than could be counted.
This city was once devoted to God, but my how she has fallen.
She is compared to a woman
• Who was once faithful to her husband and household,
• But decided to leave and pursue a career as a prostitute.
She “has become a harlot”
When we started studying this sermon a couple of weeks ago
We read that account of Ezekiel 16 and how God adopted that baby that was thrown into the field.
• How he rubbed it with salt, washed it and adorned it with fine clothes.
• How he married that rejected child and caused her beauty and fame to spread
throughout the world.
But how did that baby repay God?
Ezekiel 16:15-22 “But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your fame, and you poured out your harlotries on every passer-by who might be willing. “You took some of your clothes, made for yourself high places of various colors and played the harlot on them, which should never come about nor happen. “You also took your beautiful jewels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images that you might play the harlot with them. “Then you took your embroidered cloth and covered them, and offered My oil and My incense before them. “Also My bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil and honey with which I fed you, you would offer before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened,” declares the Lord GOD. “Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter? “You slaughtered My children and offered them up to idols by causing them to pass through the fire. “Besides all your abominations and harlotries you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood.”
This is what God is referring to.
You were once faithful to Me but you turned to other lovers.
The explanation here is of IDOLATRY.
• They were going to the high places and bowing down to other gods.
• They had lives filled with idols and things that took precedent over God.
• They had new passions and new desires and new priorities.
They no longer loved God, now they loved other things.
That was PART of her sin.
But that wasn’t all.
(21b) “Righteousness once lodged in her, But now murderers.”
Not only were they harlots but they were also murderers.
God had already told them back in verse 15 that “your hands are covered with blood.”
WE TALKED ABOUT how they were guilty of murder.
• No, maybe they didn’t physically swing a sword at someone, but they condemned the poor man to starvation by not feeding him.
• They condemned the widow to death by not caring for her.
• They failed to pay their laborers.
• They failed to help the helpless and the orphan.
And the fact that they neglected such mercy caused God to hold them just as guilty for their death as if they had stabbed them with a sword.
So just to remind Judah of her sin:
You have been convicted of HARLOTRY and MURDER.
And still that’s not all.
You can add HYPOCRISY to that list.
(22) “Your silver has become dross, Your drink diluted with water.”
In other words, you are simply putting on a corrupt show.
• To say their silver is no longer pure is a testimony to have little value their
offerings have.
• To say their wine is diluted with water is a testimony to how weak and empty
their religion has become.
You are not holy people or righteous people,
You are merely a people who cover their sin in religious garb.
You are Pharisees
• Who broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments
• While they at the same time devour widow’s houses.
• They wash the outside of the cup and of the dish but inwardly are filled
with robbery and self indulgence.
God sees all that they are.
Harlots, Murderers, Hypocrites
And they are CORRUPT
(23) “Your rulers are rebels And companions of thieves; Everyone loves a bribe And chases after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, Nor does the widow’s plea come before them.”
It reminds us of that unrighteous judge in the New Testament who time after time refuses to give justice to the widow who pleads with him.
And when he finally does give justice it is only because she won’t leave him alone.
By his own testimony he “does not fear God, nor respect man.”
And God says that is what Jerusalem has become.
IT IS A CITY OF CORRUPTION.
Widows and orphans get no justice
Because they can offer no money to bribe the judge.
It is a system where only the wealthy are rewarded
And the poor are trampled.
And God reminds Judah that this is their guilt.
You may not realize the severity of your crime
Or the punishment that it has earned
But you have been convicted of:
• Prostitution in the first degree
• Murder in the first degree
• Hypocrisy and the offering of counterfeit religion
• Bribery and Corruption along with spiritual neglect
The list is long and the punishment is severe.
They are a nation in need of redemption
Even if they have thus far failed to realize it.
And rest assured, God will not leave things as they are.
Terms of Surrender, Testimony of Guilt
3) TIMELINE FOR REDEMPTION (24-26)
Here God outlines His plan to rid the streets
Of prostitutes, murderers, hypocrites, and the corrupt.
And notice how serious this is to God.
“Ah, I will be relieved of My adversaries”
God speaks as one who has been terribly burdened and grieved and frustrated by the continual presence of such sinners in His land.
And now God contemplates the relief He will feel when they are all gone.
But not only relief, God is seeking VENGEANCE.
“And avenge Myself on My foes.”
Here we run right up against the holiness of God.
And this is very important to understand
In any conversation regarding redemption.
A holy God cannot simply overlook your sin.
A holy God cannot simply forgive your sin.
A holy God demands relief.
A holy God demands vengeance.
So any conversation we have regarding redemption
Must include God’s plan for what He is going to do with sin.
This also means that the offer being made back in verses 18-20
Where God promised to take their sins and make them white as snow
Does NOT mean that God is just simply going to forget about it.
I told you then to imagine you had committed murder and the judge said, “Stop committing murder and I’ll wipe your record clean.”
Now that is good news for the criminal, but what about the victim?
What about the victim’s family?
If you are the murderer that sounds awesome,
But if it was your brother the murderer killed
You wouldn’t be happy with that decision at all.
IT WOULD BE MERCIFUL BUT IT WOULDN’T BE JUST.
God is offering redemption to the murderer,
But it is not without justice.
(25) “I will also turn My hand against you, And will smelt away your dross as with lye and will remove all your alloy.”
FIRST OF ALL, here we see who God’s adversaries and foes are.
It is YOU.
• God wasn’t speaking about Philistines or Assyrians,
• His adversaries are the children of Israel.
• His foes are the people of Jerusalem.
And God is going to be “relieved of [His] adversaries, and avenge [Himself] on [His] foes.”
WHAT IS GOD’S PLAN?
He is going to purify the sinful people.
• All of those impurities…
• All of that hypocrisy…
• God is going to deal with it.
He is going to put His people through the fire to “smelt away your dross”
He is going to “remove all your alloy.”
SIN IS NOT BEING OVERLOOKED, IT IS BEING DEALT WITH.
And not only that.
(26) “Then I will restore your judges as at the first, And your counselors as at the beginning;”
After God purges away their sin they then get new leadership.
• Their corrupt leaders had allowed them to fall into sin,
• Once God purges the sin He is not going to put them right back under those old leaders.
• God will raise up new leadership to lead and guide in holiness and purity.
AND THEN WE SEE THE END RESULT:
(25b) “After that you will be called the city of righteousness, A faithful city.”
So when God speaks of redemption
Are you better understanding what He means?
He DOESN’T MEAN just forgetting your sin ever happened.
He DOESN’T MEAN just agreeing to overlook it forever.
He DOESN’T MEAN just forgoing justice for the sake of mercy.
God’s redemption is NOT
A redemption that leaves sin unpunished or in place.
If you think you’ve been redeemed but your sin has not been dealt with
You have not experienced the redemption of God.
His redemption includes A PURIFYING FIRE
And A NEW COUNSELOR to guide you from here on out.
Now, we can stop there for a second and talk about THE GOSPEL.
How does God deal with your sin according to the gospel?
You say, He pours it on Christ and Christ pays the debt.
That is true.
Christ works to grant God relief in His holiness.
Christ propitiates the wrath of God.
Romans 3:23-25a “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.”
1 John 2:1-2 “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”
We understand that in order to satisfy His righteousness
God could not and would not simply overlook sin.
Punishment had to be made.
Appeasement had to be purchased.
CHRIST DID THAT.
BUT DON’T STOP THERE.
That is what Christ did.
WHAT DOES GOD EXPECT FROM YOU?
Did Christ die to pay for your sins and then to just leave you in them?
Certainly not!
Romans 6:1-4 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
The calling for our lives is that we die.
• Namely that we die to self.
• Namely that we forsake our old sinful life and walk in the new life of Christ.
Remember Paul speaking to the Corinthians?
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”
Paul says “you were washed”
What is that?
It is that same smelting away that Isaiah speaks of here.
When God redeems you from your sin,
No part of that redemption allows you to remain in it.
Christ Jesus came to “save His people from their sins.”
We are called to die to self and leave our sin
And be purified into a new life by God.
Yes Christ pays the debt.
Yes Christ satisfies the wrath.
But we are also called to leave the sin behind.
AND THEN, just like Isaiah said, we get a new counselor.
WHO IS THAT?
It is the Holy Spirit.
• He moves in and takes ownership of our life.
• He facilitates our cleansing and guides us in this new life.
Titus 3:4-6 “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,”
So are you understanding a little more
About this redemption we are talking about?
It is NOT God’s decision to just overlook your sin and move on.
REDEMPTION IS THE PROCESS BY WHICH
God atones for your sin through Jesus,
And then bids you leave your sin
And purifies you through the working of His Holy Spirit.
ALL OF THAT IS THE PROCESS OF REDEMPTION.
You see here God’s timeline and how He works.
Now there is ONE MORE POINT God makes here in regard to this redemption.
Terms of Surrender, Testimony of Guilt, Timeline for Redemption
4) TRUTH ABOUT THE FUTURE (27-31)
Pay special attention to verse 27.
“Zion will be redeemed with justice and her repentant ones with righteousness.”
Two things you need to see here.
1) Redemption is a fact.
“Zion will be redeemed”
God made promises to Abraham and He will not forsake those promises.
Redemption is coming.
God WILL atone for their sin, God WILL purify them,
God WILL place new judges and counselors over them.
Redemption is a fact.
2) Redemption comes through justice and righteousness
“Zion will be redeemed with justice and her repentant ones with righteousness.”
And again we see the same point.
• REDEMPTION IS NOT TOLERANCE
• REDEMPTION IS NOT FORGETTING
Redemption is when God deals with sin and saves you from it,
Not when He overlooks sin and leaves you in it.
Many in our world seem to think this is what is meant by redemption.
“I’ve been redeemed!”
And they think that means their sin is overlooked,
And they are free to live however they want now without penalty.
This has never been what God’s redemption does.
Redemption is not done with mercy alone,
Redemption is also done “with justice”.
God EXACTS PAYMENT for your sin through Christ.
God EXPECTS PURIFICATION from your sin.
And if you are noticing this is what the whole segment has pointed to.
Go back to verses 18-20
“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. “If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land; “But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword.” Truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Those verses didn’t offer you a pardon to return to your sin.
Those verses offered you mercy if you left your sin.
REPENTANCE IS REQUIRED
“Zion will be redeemed with justice AND HER REPENTANT ONES with righteousness.”
Do you understand this about redemption?
Do you understand now the preaching of John the Baptist?
Matthew 3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Do you understand now the preaching of Jesus?
Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Do you understand now the preaching of the apostles?
Acts 2:38 “Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
You cannot atone for your sin.
Eternity in hell will not atone for your sin, only Christ can accomplish that.
But you are expected to repent of your sin.
• You are expected to leave your sin.
• You are expected to submit your life to the Holy Spirit of God who will sanctify you and cleanse you.
We talked about it Wednesday night with the youth.
We saw how God commanded Abraham to be circumcised.
• The idea was symbolize the necessity of no longer living by the flesh.
• Now Abraham and all his household were to be holy
• Circumcision was the outward symbol of that.
In the New Testament we are baptized
Which symbolizes death to our old life and new life in Christ.
But this is God’s expectation.
Titus 2:11-12 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,”
SO HERE IS GOD’S CALL TO END HIS STATE OF THE UNION
REDEMPTION IS AVAILABLE!
IT COMES THROUGH REPENTANCE!
• Do you want to have your sin washed away?
• Do you want to be forgiven?
• Do you want to enjoy atonement?
Then “consent and obey”
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”
This is the path to redemption that we must follow.
Otherwise, God will judge and none will escape.
(28-31) “But transgressors and sinners will be crushed together, And those who forsake the LORD will come to an end. Surely you will be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, And you will be embarrassed at the gardens which you have chosen. For you will be like an oak whose leaf fades away Or as a garden that has no water. The strong man will become tinder, His work also a spark. Thus they shall both burn together And there will be none to quench them.”
• God will crush sinners.
• God will put an end to those who forsake Him.
• God will make it so that all sinners live in eternal regret for their sin.
• And all unrepentant sinners will burn.
There is no scenario where you get to keep your sin and enjoy blessing.
God is willing and eager to redeem
And YOUR PART in that redemption is repentance from your sin.
Isaiah 1:18-20 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. “If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land; “But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword.” Truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
