Exalting The LORD Alone
Isaiah 2:1-22
February 19, 2022
Tonight we move into the SECOND SERMON of Isaiah in this book.
This sermon actually covers chapters 2-4.
The chief point of the sermon is God’s plan
For removing Israel’s dependance on idolatry
And restoring their dependance on Him alone as their Savior.
That is really the issue, and certainly one of importance to us.
When we closed our study of 1 John that book closed with one final statement.
1 John 5:21 “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”
The very way John states that warning reminds us that
There is a threat in this world from which we must be guarded.
We live in a world
• Full of demonic influence.
• Full or rebellion against God.
• With much faulty logic.
And that means that we are constantly being bombarded with options
Of things that we can love more than God, trust more than God,
Depend on more than God, etc.
When you go out into this world
When you listen to the news
When you sit in a classroom.
You will be given all sorts of wisdom and advice
Regarding what you should do or whom you should listen to.
But the advice of the world is never, “Trust God”.
We live in a world that tells you to trust doctors and trust politicians and trust financial advisors and trust scholars and trust experts, but never is the message to trust God.
In short, you are being introduced to new idols on a daily basis.
IT IS A THREAT.
Israel had fallen prey to that threat.
But you know that God is a jealous God.
He does not tolerate idolatry.
So while His people may fall into idolatry you can rest assured
That God always has a plan to pull them out of it.
That is what this second sermon of Isaiah is about.
Tonight we start looking at it.
And tonight I really just want us to focus on sort of the first leg of this sermon, which I have entitled “Exalting the LORD Alone”
That is really the focus
(2:11) “The proud look of man will be abased And the loftiness of man will be humbled, And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.”
(2:17) “The pride of man will be humbled And the loftiness of men will be abased; And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day,”
(2:22) “Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils; For why should he be esteemed?”
You get the idea.
It is God’s design that He alone should be your trust,
And He alone should be the object of your exaltation.
And here we see how God brings that about.
Let’s work through this chapter together.
What you’re going to see in this chapter is a contrast.
• It’s going to begin with God revealing the way things will be someday.
• Then it’s going to show how far things are from that way now.
• And then it’s going to show God’s plan for getting us from here to there.
So we’re going to break it down into 3 points.
#1 THE LAST DAYS
Isaiah 2:1-4
Here God outlines for His people where this world is headed one day.
You and I know it as “The Millennium”
Or the 1,000 year reign of Christ after He returns.
This is where the world is headed.
It’s what we might call: A DAY OF REVERENCE
(1-2) “The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it.”
Obviously we are referring here to “the last days”
And on that day “the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains.”
In other words, it will be the highest high place.
It will be the chosen worship site.
Right now Israel is littered with high places
Where people go into the mountains and hills and worship other deities
But it won’t always be this way.
There is coming a day when there will be
1 worship site and it will the LORD’S house.
“And all the nations will stream to it”
You are witnessing the end of idolatry and pluralism.
And that’s not all.
(3) “And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways And that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.”
Not only will idols be eliminated and the LORD alone worshiped,
But the worship there will be LEGITIMATE, SINCERE, and TRUE.
• They won’t be coming to given token worship.
• They won’t be coming just to say they came.
• They won’t be there in hypocrisy like the worship of chapter 1.
They will go to the LORD’S house
Because they will genuinely want to know the LORD.
“That He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths.”
It will be the type of worship Jesus spoke about when He said
People will worship “in Spirit and in truth”
People will want to hear from God and they will want to do His will.
So a Removal of Idols is followed by a Revival of People.
And still that’s not all.
(4) “And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.”
It’s amazing how well everything is going to go
When people stop sinning and start listening to the LORD.
When they quit worshiping idols and start seeking Christ and His will
Then it’s quite amazing what the world will become.
In short, there will be peace; real peace.
They won’t need swords anymore.
They won’t need basic training anymore.
The LORD will judge and because people will follow His judgments
The world will be a place of peace and harmony.
A REMOVAL OF IDOLS
A REVIVAL OF PEOPLE
A RESTORATION OF PEACE
THAT IS WHERE WE ARE HEADED.
That is the coming day.
Now there are many other passages, even in Isaiah, where we could talk more about this day, but here we simply point out the basic generalities of what that day will be.
Idols are gone, People will genuinely seek the LORD,
And the world will enjoy peace.
That is the last days.
But as I told you, this sermon opens with a contrast.
#2 THE PRESENT DAYS
Isaiah 2:5-9
We must notice right off the bat that Isaiah is so enamored with the glory of that day that he immediately stops and asks his fellow man to start seeking God now.
Wouldn’t it be great if we all just did it now!
(5) “Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.”
Isaiah would love for them to start seeking God like,
For as you will see, they aren’t even close to that right now.
Here we DON’T see A Day of Reverence
Here we see: A DAY OF REVELRY
We see a people who are drinking up the world.
Instead of a people who have the instruction of the LORD,
They are a people who have sought the logic of the world
And therefore He has abandoned them.
(6) “For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob”
In those first 4 verses we saw a beautiful reality where
God’s people sought God and God gave them perfect instruction.
But that is NOT what we see today.
Today, people don’t seek God and God has abandoned them.
WHY?
“Because they are filled with influences from the east, And they are soothsayers like the Philistines, And they strike bargains with the children of foreigners.”
What does that mean?
THEY ARE WORLDLY
They aren’t influenced by the word of God
They are influenced by the word of man.
A “soothsayer” is one who supposedly can see the future.
Today they are referred to as psychics or palm-readers, etc.
And men are getting guidance from them instead of from God.
ALSO they are making covenants with foreigners.
Paul reminds us that we should not be unequally yoked.
2 Corinthians 6:14-16 “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.”
But this is the problem with Israel.
Instead of taking their instruction from God they take it from the world.
• They are learning from the world.
• They are listening to the world.
• They are following the world’s advice.
And WE need to pay attention to this very deeply in our lives.
Our world is full of advice.
Our world is full of logic.
So much of that runs absolutely contrary to the teachings of Scripture.
Think about topics like:
MARRIAGE
• What are the world’s views vs the Bible’s views?
• Living together?
• Divorce?
• Roles?
• Even Genders?
MONEY
• What are the world’s views vs the Bible’s views?
• Storing?
• Giving?
• Loving?
• Trusting?
PARENTING
• What are the world’s view vs the Bible’s views?
• Discipline?
• Instruction?
• Purpose?
And we could go on and on.
Our world is full of bad advice, but often we accept it and follow it
Because the majority thinks it to be true.
We are filled with influences from wall-street.
We are filled with influences from social media.
We are filled with influences from Hollywood.
We are filled with influences from our culture.
God sees that as idolatry!
It is to seek and trust and follow the wrong advice.
Now here God gets specific with Israel
About THE EFFECT OF LISTENING too much to the world.
WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE WHEN A PERSON STARTS LISTENING TO THE WORLD MORE THAN THEY LISTEN TO GOD?
Well look at Israel.
(7a) “Their land has also been filled with silver and gold And there is no end to their treasures;”
You’ll know when someone listens to the world more than God
When the build a preoccupation with having the world’s stuff.
If you read what the LORD has to say,
• He speaks of sharing with widows and orphans and not storing away your treasures.
• He tells you to give and give freely.
• He tells you to share with those who don’t have enough.
• Being rich is never looked upon favorably in the New Testament.
• James talks about those who fatten their heart for a day of slaughter
• We are told you can’t serve God and money
• We read about men like the guy who tore down his barns to build bigger ones
Perhaps the greatest rebuke of wealth is that
“It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The Bible is constantly warning of the dangers of wealth.
If you listen to the Bible you’ll learn to pray for “daily bread” and to “be content”
The Bible says:
1 Timothy 6:17-19 “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.”
But the world will NEVER tell you it is foolish to hoard wealth.
The world will encourage you to get more and tell you how to keep it.
The world will not teach you to forsake this life for the next,
The world will tell you to get all you can out of this life.
Israel had forsaken God’s commands to follow the world’s logic.
THERE’S MORE INDICATORS
(7b) “Their land has also been filled with horses And there is no end to their chariots.”
This spoke of their power and military might.
You’ll know when a person listens to the world more than God
When they security becomes more important than service.
• We think of all the instructions of God about helping those in need.
• We think of all the instructions about seeking His kingdom, not ours.
• We think of all the instructions about how this world is passing away.
Think of Abraham, a man of faith who never even owned the land:
Hebrews 11:13-16 “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”
Or those in the book of Hebrews who truly forsook this world:
Hebrews 10:32-34 “But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.”
But that’s not what you’re going to do if you listen to the world.
• Jesus tells you if someone wants to take your coat, give them your shirt too.
• The world says if they want your coat, shoot them and protect your property!
Israel was following the world’s logic, not God’s.
They were hoarding the world
And their chief concern was protecting what they collected.
THERE’S MORE
(8) “Their land has also been filled with idols; They worship the work of their hands, that which their fingers have made.”
You’ll know when a person listens to the world more than God
When they start trusting the same things the world trusts.
• IT CAN BE SYSTEMS like our medical field or political leaders.
• IT CAN BE IDEOLOGIES like the new WOKENESS or critical race theory or evolution or global warming threats
• IT CAN BE HERESIES like pluralism
It’s just any time you see the people of God
Mimicking and spouting the jargon of the world.
• There is no reason for a Bible believing Christian to believe in evolution.
• There is no reason for a Bible believing Christian to condone gay marriage.
• There is no reason for a Bible believing Christian to endorse critical race theory.
• There is no reason for a Bible believing Christian to pursue women pastors.
• There is no reason for a Bible believing Christian to balk at gender roles in marriage.
• There is no reason for a Bible believing Christian to not believe in a young earth, a literal six day creation, a global flood, etc.
The reason so many “Christians” believe those things
Is because they are following the pattern of this world.
They bow to the world’s because they don’t want to be Shadrach, Meshack, and Abed-Nego as the only ones left standing refusing to bow.
So we live in a day when God’s people,
Who want to be regarded as intellectual by the world,
Will bow to the world’s idols and seek to salvage their reputations.
THAT IS NOT CHRISTIAN!!
1 Corinthians 3:18-20 “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is THE ONE WHO CATCHES THE WISE IN THEIR CRAFTINESS”; and again, “THE LORD KNOWS THE REASONINGS of the wise, THAT THEY ARE USELESS.”
Israel bowed down on the high places because that’s what the nations did
And it was foolish!
DO YOU WANT TO SEE THE END RESULT OF SUCH CONFORMITY?
(9) “So the common man has been humbled and the man of importance has been abased”
Here you see the TWO EXTREMES.
• You see “the common man” which would be the low man on the totem pole.
• And you see “the man of importance” which is obviously the top.
But what do they have in common?
“humbled” and “abased”
THEY ARE BOTH END UP HUMILIATED.
Romans 1:22 “Professing to be wise, they became fools,”
• Do you know how foolish men are going to look someday who believed in evolution?
• Do you know how foolish men are going to look who rejected creation?
• Do you know how foolish men are going to look who endorsed gay marriage or any other of the world’s ideologies?
When the righteous Judge reigns and worldly logic passes away,
All those who proposed such things will be “humbled” and “abased”.
The advice of the world is foolish and it will lead you to ruin.
And it is one thing when the world follows her own foolish logic,
But when God’s people, who have God’s word, ignore God
And follow the world’s logic – IT IS AN ABOMINATION.
In fact, at this point Isaiah lets out AN OUTBURST.
“But do not forgive them.”
Isaiah is so frustrated with what he sees from God’s people
And how worldly they have become
That he doesn’t even what God to extend mercy to them.
So let’s just look at THE CONTRAST.
These two days are far apart.
God envisions a day
• When His people have no other gods but Him,
• And not only they, but even the nations stream to Him
• To learn from Him and do His will.
But what we have today
• Are nations who follow their own gods
• And God’s people are listening to them instead of God.
In short, Israel is a long way from where God wants them to be.
That is clear enough.
The question is: HOW DO THEY GET FROM HERE TO THERE?
#3 THE COMING DAYS
Isaiah 2:10-22
The simple answer of how they get from here to there is: TRIBULATION
Have you ever wondered why the horrors of the first chapters of Revelation are so severe?
It is because God is breaking His people
From their dependance on the world.
Tribulation and suffering has a way of doing that.
God longs for A Day of Reverence
Israel lived in a A Day of Revelry
To fix that we get: A DAY OF RECKONING
(10-11) “Enter the rock and hide in the dust From the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty. The proud look of man will be abased And the loftiness of man will be humbled, And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.”
Does that sound familiar?
Revelation 6:14-17 “The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
You’ll see it again in verses 19-21
God has had enough
• Of these arrogant men who follow their own logic instead of His word.
• Of these lofty men who think they know so much that they can ignore the wisdom of God.
They exalt themselves by following their own logic
AND GOD WON’T STAND FOR IT.
God is going to bring such a day that men will “hide…from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty.”
Andwhen the dust clears and the battle is over:
“the LORD alone will be exalted on that day.”
You won’t trust worldly logic by the time God is finished.
So let’s look at His day of Reckoning.
1) THE PREY (12-16)
That is to say: Who is God going to be firing at?
You see how many times the word “against” is used. (10x)
1. “Against everyone who is proud and lofty”
2. “Against everyone who is lifted up”
That is the arrogant who think they are smarter than God
And who think they can ignore God’s commands.
3. “Against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up”
4. “Against all the oaks of Bashan”
5. “Against all the lofty mountains”
6. “Against all the hills that are lifted up”
It speaks to their high places and the idols which they carve.
God will have a day of reckoning with them.
7. “Against every high tower”
8. “Against every fortified wall”
These are their false securities
And the things they trusted in to keep them safe.
9. “Against all the ships of Tarshish”
10. “And against all the beautiful craft”
Tarshish was the Amazon of Israel.
It is where all their stuff came from.
It is the stuff Israel coveted and loved more than God.
God sat in heaven watching people love and trust in worldly things.
He saw men follow the influence of the world
And on this day God has had enough.
• He attacks those who worship idols.
• He attacks the idols they worship.
• He attacks the stuff they love.
• He attacks the stuff they trust.
He won’t put up with people who love or seek or trust anything but Him.
And on His day of reckoning He will bring it all to an end.
That’s the prey.
2) THE PURPOSE (17-18)
“The pride of man will be humbled and the loftiness of men will be abased; And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.”
Do you see the issue?
It is God taking out all competitors.
Exodus 20:1-6 “Then God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
Isaiah 42:8 “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.”
Isaiah 45:5-7 “I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.”
When God says you can’t worship anyone or anything else, He means it.
(18) “But the idols will completely vanish.”
• Worldly wisdom and logic will no longer be passed along.
• You won’t be able to find an evolutionist anywhere.
• Money hoarding will be no more.
God’s day of reckoning is for the purpose of securing
That He alone receives glory.
3) THE PANIC (19-21)
Here we see that familiar scenario spoken of again.
Incidentally, notice that verses 19 and 21 are Nearly Identical.
(19) “Men will go into caves of the rocks And into holes of the ground Before the terror of the LORD And the splendor of His majesty, When He arises to make the earth tremble.”
(21) “In order to go into the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs Before the terror of the LORD and the splendor of His majesty, When He arises to make the earth tremble.”
It is that same reality we just read about in Revelation 6 where men will be so afraid of the LORD that they will try to run under the mountains to get away from Him.
Why does Isaiah repeat himself?
It is a literary trick to get you to focus on the verse between them.
(20) “In that day men will cast away to the moles and the bats Their idols of silver and their idols of gold, Which they made for themselves to worship,”
WHAT IS THE POINT?
That men will be so afraid of God
That they will be looking to get rid of anything
They think might be offending Him.
They have loved their idols of silver.
They have loved their idols of gold.
They have loved their money.
But on this day someone tells them that God is angry because of the gold you’ve hoarded and they won’t be able to throw it away fast enough.
Men have such a nonchalant view of idolatry today
As though God doesn’t really mean it
When He tells you not to love the world.
But there is coming a day
When men won’t be able to get rid of the world fast enough.
They will throw away anything that incites the wrath of God.
And then we get to the final point of this day of Reckoning
And the FIRST MAJOR POINT of this second sermon if Isaiah.
4) THE POINT (22)
“Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils; For why should he be esteemed?”
God is tracing back their idolatry and their foolishness
To one major problem.
They have too much regard for man.
• They trust too much the wisdom of man.
• They follow too much the advice of man.
• They love too much the approval of man.
• They seek too much the camaraderie of man.
• They want man to esteem them.
• They want man to love them.
• They want man to honor them.
So they follow man’s logic and worship man’s idols
And join in man’s sinful behavior.
If man says to do it, they do it.
IT IS SO DANGEROUS!
John 12:36-43 “While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.” These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them. But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?” For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, “HE HAS BLINDED THEIR EYES AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART, SO THAT THEY WOULD NOT SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND PERCEIVE WITH THEIR HEART, AND BE CONVERTED AND I HEAL THEM.” These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him. Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.”
Do you see the problem?
We could talk about it in ministry.
• Seeker Sensitive
• Culturally Relevant
• The need to be intellectually acknowledged
We can talk about it in our personal lives.
• Things we’ll participate in
• Things we’ll tolerate
• Things we’ll agree to
ANY TIME WE FOLLOW THE WORLD’S LOGIC OVER GOD’S,
WE ARE REGARDING MAN MORE THAN GOD.
SO OUR QUESTION TONIGHT IS EASY:
• In what ways am I more concerned with what man thinks than with what God thinks?
• In what areas is my decision making based on human logic rather than submission to God’s word?
• In what areas do I trust man instead of God?
God says it plainly: “Stop regarding man”
His “breath of life is in his nostrils”
He won’t last
“For why should he be esteemed?”
Why should you care what man thinks?
And yet we so often do.
Someday this world will be devoted to God and Him alone.
And you can either start doing that now
Or you can wait for God to bring such tribulation into your life
To force you to do that.
All of a sudden Isaiah’s advice looks pretty good.
(5) “Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.”
