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What Have You Done With Jesus? – Part 2
Isaiah 50:1-11 (4-9)
May 12, 2024

This morning we began this marvelous chapter
Where Christ is now addressing those who have rejected Him.

Indeed the remainder of the book of Isaiah
Is Christ addressing those who have rejected Him
And is His sermon calling them back to Himself.

I am convinced that in the end
• When you have those 144,000 Jewish evangelists or those 2 mighty witnesses in the tribulation preaching to the Jews,
• That many of their sermons will come straight from Isaiah 49-66.

These are the words of Jesus
To those who wouldn’t listen the first time He came.

As we said this morning,
Here we have Jesus addressing 4 different groups of people.

They are all identified by the way they responded to the call of Jesus,
And in several cases, the way they still respond.

Every man who has heard the gospel message of Jesus Christ
Is in one of these 4 camps.

We saw the first this morning:
#1 THE REBEL
Isaiah 50:1-3

We began with the observation that the nation of Israel
(referred to here as “your mother”)
Had been broken off or divorced.

We noticed also that the children had been sold to “creditors”.

AND THE QUESTION WAS THIS:
Why was your mother sent away and why were you sold to creditors?

And the answer to both questions was:
BECAUSE OF YOUR SIN.

(1b) “Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, And for your transgressions your mother was sent away.”

What has happened to Israel is not God’s fault, it is their fault.

WHAT WAS THIS GREAT SIN?
(2) “Why was there no man when I came? When I called, why was there none to answer?”

In short, their sin was the rejection of Christ when He came.

Jesus stated it very clearly:
Luke 11:23 “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.”

There is no middle ground of indifference.
You are either a servant or a rebel.

And the first group Jesus addressed were the rebels.
• They rejected the Lordship of Christ.
• They rejected His offer of salvation.

The consequence is they have been
Broken off, sent away, divorced, and sold to creditors.

And even the modern history of Israel bears this out.
• The Antisemitism that has existed in the world continues to exist
• And is actually even on the rise in our world again today.

While antisemitism is evil and while those who participate in it
will be severely punished by the Lord,

It is still true that the existence of it is part of God’s discipline on Israel
For their rebellion against His Son.

It does not go well for rebels.
We saw that this morning.

Tonight, let’s move to the second group.

#2 THE RIVAL
Isaiah 50:4-9

What you see in verses 4-7 is
A great Old Testament gospel account of Jesus Christ.

We see His person and His work there,
And we are certainly going to spend some time examining it.

But I do want you to see at the beginning here
Why we say that Christ is here addressing His rival.

In verses 4-6 Christ speaks of His earthly ministry.
• His coming, His obedience, His suffering and rejection…

But Christ also speaks of His vindication by the Father.
• We know God vindicated Christ in His resurrection.
• We know God vindicated Christ in His glorification to His right hand when Christ sent back the Holy Spirit.
• We know God is vindicating Christ daily through the preaching of the gospel
• And we know God will further vindicate Christ for He has promised that every knee will bow to Him.

God’s vindication of Christ is ongoing.
The preaching of Christ continues even today.

But it is the response to such vindication
That we see a second group of people emerge.

This group we call: THE RIVAL.

They are not only rebellious and have refused the gospel when offered,
But they take it a step further and seek to argue with Christ.

• They seek to discredit Him.
• They seek to dethrone Him.
• They seek to turn men from Him.

Certainly it is in response to His condemnation of their sin,
But they must discredit Christ in order to sooth their conscience.

SO THEY CONTINUALLY WAR.

And you see them specifically in verses 8-9

(8-9) “He who vindicates Me is near; Who will contend with Me? Let us stand up to each other; Who has a case against Me? Let him draw near to Me. Behold, the Lord GOD helps Me; Who is he who condemns Me? Behold, they will all wear out like a garment; The moth will eat them.”

Did you spot their aggression towards Christ?
• “Who will contend with Me?”
• “Who has a case against Me?”
• “Who is he who condemns Me?”

That is what we call a rival.

A rebel might have simply rejected and walked their own way,
But a rival is committed in their rebellion.

They are not content to simply disbelieve,
But they are ambitious to prove Him wrong
And to see to it that no one else believes in Him either.

They war and struggle against Christ.
They war and struggle against Christ’s ministers.

THIS IS A RIVAL.

And we will talk about them more in a minute,
But first we see 4 verses that make it clear to us what they war against.

When we say a rival is warring against Christ, well
WHAT IS IT THAT THEY ARE SEEKING TO DISPROVE?

• When they contend, we ask, “Contend with what?”
• When they build a case, we ask, “A case against what?”
• When they condemn, we ask, “Condemn Him for what?”

And those questions are answered in verses 4-7.
• This is who Christ is.
• This is what Christ did.
• This is what the rival wars against to try and disprove.

Hopefully you still have some recollection of this text from our Christmas Day service, but even if you don’t, let’s look at it tonight.

It is what Jesus declares about Himself
And it is what the contentious rival of Jesus wars against.

I think we broke it down into 5 points on Christmas, but we’ll just break into 4 here tonight.

1) HIS SYMPATHY (4)

“The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of disciples, That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.”

Here we have that glorious event which you and I affectionately know as THE INCARNATION.

John described best:
John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

It is the story of Jesus Christ, the second person of the Godhead,
Relinquishing His glory and taking the form of a man
And embracing the role of a servant.

And here Jesus gave Himself a specific title in His incarnation
And it was the title of “disciple.”

• “The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of disciples.”
• “He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.”

“disciple” in the Hebrew is (lee-MOOD)
And it means “accustomed to” or “expert in” or “one taught”.

And it might seem strange that such a title would be applied to Christ,
Or that He would take this title for Himself.

AFTERALL,
• We know that He is God, the second person of the Godhead.
• We even see His omniscience on display at times during His earthly ministry.

For example:
John 2:24 “But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men,”

Matthew 9:4 “And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?”

• He knew Nathaniel under the fig tree.
• He knew Judas was an imposter.
• He knew when it was and was not His time.
• He knew the crucifixion and the resurrection would occur.
• He knew Judas would betray, Peter would deny, and the rest would scatter.

He was clearly omniscient deity.
So it seems strange that here the title would be “disciple” or learner.

The writer of Hebrews brings clarity:
Hebrews 5:7-10 “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.”

There is a mouthful of truth about Christ in that passage.
• We learn of His suffering in His prayers and crying and tears.
• And we see that God heard Him because of His piety (He was righteous).
• We learn that He was God’s Son.

But we also see that “He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.”

That of course is not factual obedience, but experiential obedience.

He is NOT LIKE a scholar who has read a book on farming,
But who has never picked up a hoe in his life.

HE GOT DOWN IN IT WITH US.
He learned it experientially.
He felt the toil, He felt the dread, He experienced the temptation.

And through that experience
He learned how to be a sympathetic priest.

Hebrews 2:17-18 “Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.”

Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”

The incarnation is a loathsome notion to the Jew.
• They could not fathom how the God of the universe could or would belittle Himself so as to become human dwell among us.

BUT IT WAS NECESSARY.
• No one wants a priest who isn’t sympathetic.
• No one wants a priest who isn’t acceptable to God.
• No one wants a priest who doesn’t understand tears and crying to God.

Jesus became human and lived a human life to learn human suffering.
HE WAS A FAITHFUL DISCIPLE.

BUT HERE, the emphasis is not simply on the incarnation,
But on a specific role He earned through the incarnation.

Notice what He says about Himself in verse 4.
(4) “The Lord God has given Me the tongue of disciples, That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word.”

The sympathy He gained is NOT JUST so that He will
Faithfully take our troubles to the Father on our behalf.

It is also so that He will know how to answer us in our struggles.

You’ll see this later, but the third group we’re going to talk about here in Isaiah 50 is “The Remnant”.

Isaiah 50:10 “Who is among you that fears the LORD, That obeys the voice of His servant, That walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.”

• They are believers.
• They “fear the LORD”
• They “obey the voice of His servant”
• But despite their faith they still “walk in darkness and have no light”

That is to say, THEY ARE WEARY.
Following Christ has made life difficult for them.

But Christ knows exactly “how to sustain the weary one with a word.”
In His human suffering He became a merciful and faithful High Priest.

He was awakened by God “morning by morning”
Because that’s how life works isn’t it.

To a certain degree part of life is simply the marathon of it.
• It hits you anew every day.
• It is ongoing.
• Part of doing it well is just to keep doing it.

Jesus learned all of that.
He experienced all of the human emotion in that.

He is sympathetic toward us.
And that is part of the good news of the gospel.

2) HIS SUBMISSION (5)

“The Lord GOD has opened My ear; And I was not disobedient Nor did I turn back.”

Revealing that God had “opened [His] ear”
Is a reference to His comprehension of the will of God.

• How many times do we hear Jesus say, “he who has ears let him hear”?
• We are certainly familiar with Isaiah’s prophecy regarding those “who keep on hearing, but do not comprehend”.

But the will of God was made perfectly clear to Jesus.
And Jesus always obeyed it.

John 5:19 “Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.”

John 8:26-29 “I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.” They did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. “And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”

This is another very important aspect of His incarnation.

On one hand, He is A PERFECT EXAMPLE for us.
• We are to follow Him.
• We are imitate Him.
• We are to strive to be conformed into His image.
• He is our head, He is our example in all things.

But even more than being our example,
We know that He is our righteousness.
• His obedience is vitally important because we are counting on Him imputing that righteousness to us.

We have discussed this before,
But it is always helpful to hit on it again from time to time.

When we discuss the obedience of Jesus, we do so in two categories.
HIS ACTIVE OBEDIENCE & HIS PASSIVE OBEDIENCE.

Active obedience refers to that which He actively and intentionally fulfilled.

Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”

His Passive obedience refers to which He willingly and freely endured.

Luke 22:42 “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”

BOTH OF THOSE ARE ESSENTIAL
in order for Christ to be declared righteous by the Father.

ACTIVE OBEDIENCE:
We love the passage in Hebrews:
Hebrews 10:5-7 “Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME; IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE. “THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.’”

Christ came to fulfill all the requirements of the Law on our behalf.
• This is why He was born under the Law.
• This is why He was circumcised on the eighth day.
• This is why He submitted Himself to baptism.

He was obedient, He earned righteousness through His works.
And God declared Him to be righteous.

“I was not disobedient”

Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”

PASSIVE OBEDIENCE
But we also read “Nor did I turn back.”

This speaks of His endurance in that Passive Obedience.
• He did not stop short.
• He did not quit.
• Even on the cross, in order to fulfill the Scriptures, He says, “I thirst” so that
He could get that drink of sour wine before He died.

He endured it all.
He fulfilled it all.
Hebrews 12:2 “who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Christ satisfied the righteous requirement of God on our behalf.
In His body He lived the righteous life that you and I could not live.

That is so important to our understanding of the gospel.
He came to BE our righteousness.
3) HIS SUFFERING (6)

“I gave My back to those who strike Me, And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting.”

We are aware of this.
Mark 15:19 “They kept beating His head with a reed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him.”

Matthew 26:67 “Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him,”

John 18:22 “When He had said this, one of the officers standing nearby struck Jesus, saying, “Is that the way You answer the high priest?”

This was a part of the atonement He would make for us.

TO BE CERTAIN the full force of the atonement
Is accomplished on the cross when the sun goes dark
And God pours out His wrath on sin.

But the human element of His suffering is part of the atonement too
For this is where we see the humiliation and shame and scorn
That our sin deserves.

Jesus DIDN’T go into a secluded place in the garden and bear God’s wrath outside of human view.
• Jesus suffered publicly.
• He bore shame and reproach and insults and mockery.
• He hung naked in humiliation.

That was part of the penalty of sin.

And Christ came to bear that on our behalf.
1 Peter 2:22-23 “WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;”

When Jesus came He took the FULL fury of all the wrath we deserve.
• He fulfilled every command for us.
• He suffered every stroke of punishment for us.
• He left none of it undone.

There is no more command for us to fulfill in order to be righteous.
There is no more punishment to endure in order to be righteous.

JESUS ACCOMPLISHED IT ALL.
JESUS PAID IT ALL.
That is the message of the gospel.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

4) HIS SUPPORT (7)

“For the Lord GOD helps Me, Therefore, I am not disgraced; Therefore, I have set My face like flint, And I know that I will not be ashamed.”

We know about this help of God.
Isaiah 49:8 “Thus says the LORD, “In a favorable time I have answered You, And in a day of salvation I have helped You; And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people, To restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages;”

We see God’s strength bounding through Him throughout His incarnation.

It is God that allows Jesus to “set My face like flint”
And never cater or bow to the pressure of the Pharisees.

It is God who stands with Jesus
That He might endure the pressure and trial of Pilate.

And when all surrounded Christ to mock Him and condemn Him to death,
It was God who stood by Him.

Psalms 118:10-14 “All nations surrounded me; In the name of the LORD I will surely cut them off. They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me; In the name of the LORD I will surely cut them off. They surrounded me like bees; They were extinguished as a fire of thorns; In the name of the LORD I will surely cut them off. You pushed me violently so that I was falling, But the LORD helped me. The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.”

It is THE GREAT PARADOX
Of the relationship between the Father and the Son on the cross.

On one hand Jesus is crying “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
• And that is because God is pouring out His wrath on Christ.

And yet on the other hand it is the Father who stands by His side and helps Him throughout the sacrifice.

And it is God who vindicated Jesus by raising Him from the dead.
Psalms 16:9-10 “Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.”

Not only that,
But it is God who ascended Jesus into heaven and seated Him at His right hand.

Psalms 2:7-9 “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’”

And the statement of Christ is clear and obvious.
“And I know that I will not be ashamed.”

Christ knows how this ends.
With Himself reigning upon the earth.
• He will return to judge the living and the dead.
• He will tread His enemies under His feat.
• He will reign forever and ever.

This has been decreed.
This has been determined.

Psalms 2:10-12 “Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”

And that is a beautiful rendition of the gospel from Isaiah 50.

• Christ our sympathetic supporter.
• Christ our submissive standard.
• Christ our seasoned sufferer.
• Christ our steadfast soldier.
• Christ our successful savior.

BUT AS WE NOTED AT THE BEGINNING,
These are the very truths that His rivals oppose to this day.

• They deny His virgin birth.
• They deny His deity.
• They deny His sinlessness.
• They deny His atonement.
• They deny His resurrection.
• They deny His bodily return.
• They deny His role as High Priest.

WHY DO THEY DENY ALL THESE THINGS?

Because if the truths about Jesus are true
Then they are sinners and they need a Savior.

The only way to preserve their sin without condemnation
Is to prove Jesus a fraud.

• They must prove He is not from God.
• They must prove He was not sinless.
• They must prove He was not a substitutionary atonement.
• They must prove He was not raised.
• And on and on and on and on.

And so they fight against the truth of Christ.
We often seen rebels turn to rivals as the seek to keep their sin.

And this is what Jesus addresses in verses 8-9

(8-9) “He who vindicates Me is near; Who will contend with Me? Let us stand up to each other; Who has a case against Me? Let him draw near to Me. Behold, the Lord GOD helps Me; Who is he who condemns Me? Behold, they will all wear out like a garment; The moth will eat them.”

• You can “contend” if you want.
• You can build “a case” if you like.
• You can seek to “condemn” all day long.

But none of it will work.
• It did not work when Annas tried.
• It did not work when Caiaphas tried.
• It did not work when Herod tried.
• It did not work when Pilate tried.

They all supposed they had won because Jesus was dead.

But 3 days later God vindicated Him with the resurrection
And God vindicates Him still.

THE SIMPLE POINT?
ATTACKING JESUS WILL NOT WORK.

You can devote all your energy to warring against the truth of Jesus and you will not succeed.
• You can fight against His word.
• You can ignore His conviction.
• You can argue with His revealed truth.

But you will not win.
We know how this all ends.

Philippians 2:10-11 “so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

And Christ here reveals what EVERY RIVAL OF HIS CAN EXPECT.

We saw that the rebel was cut off and sent away and sold for their sin.

WHAT BECOMES OF THE RIVAL?
• What becomes of the one who argues with Christ and seeks to discredit and disprove Him?
• What happens to the one who despite the evidence refuses to submit to who Christ is?

(9b) “Behold, they will all wear out like a garment; The moth will eat them.”

Christ compares them to an old moth eat T-shirt.
It is a slow, but certain end.

You can chop on that tree all day long, but you will not get anywhere.
All you’re going to get is a dull axe and tired arms.

At the end of the day Christ will still be reigning
And you will end up in judgment.

It will do you no good to seek to disprove Christ.
The call is for you to submit to Him.

Psalms 118:22 “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone.”

And here is our application this evening.

When you face Christ, the Bible says He is a double-edged sword
That exposes you inside and out.

• He will call you a sinner in need of a Savior.
• He will call you evil in need of righteousness.
• He will call you corrupt in need of forgiveness.

And He will offer to be that Savior.
• He will tell you how He came to earth as a human.
• He will tell you how He lived a righteous life.
• He will tell you how He fulfilled the Law.
• He will tell you how He suffered on the cross.
• He will tell you how He rose from the dead.
• And He will tell you that He did that to save you.

He will offer you His righteousness and His atonement.

You are forced to choose whose righteousness you’re going to trust in.

If you are willing to crush your own righteousness
• Then you will see in Jesus a sufficient and glorious Savior.

But if you are determined to keep your own righteousness
• Then you must discredit the claims of Christ and prove Him a phony.

And there are men who spend their whole lives seeking to do just that.
They think if they can prove that Jesus was not really a Savior,
Then it proves that they don’t really need one.

BUT THEY WILL FIGHT THAT BATTLE TO NO AVAIL.

And yet that is Israel today.

They may not have been the actual rebels at the cross yelling “Crucify”
But Scripture says through their ongoing rejection of Christ
They crucify Him to themselves.

Hebrews 6:4-6 “For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.”

By continually seeking to disprove Him.
By continually striving to contradict Him.
They set themselves up as His rival and there is no victory there.

CHRIST REIGNS.

Tonight, if you have been warring with Christ I invite you to stop.

If He has called you a sinner
• And you are in the process of arguing with Him, STOP.

If He has told you that you are list and need salvation,
• But you are arguing with Him, STOP.

If you would rather prove Jesus a fraud then admit you are one, STOP.

Quit fighting Him and submit to Him.
REBELS AND RIVALS DO NOT SURVIVE.

But those who confess their sins and run to Christ find salvation.

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What Have You Done With Jesus? – Part 1
Isaiah 50:1-11 (1-3)
May 12, 2024

This morning we come to one of my favorite chapters in the Bible.
It is one of Isaiah’s famous “Suffering Servant” passages.

Isaiah is giving vivid detail regarding the Savior who was to come.
More than that Christ is speaking to us through him.

To those in Isaiah’s day
• It was a beautiful prophesy to prepare them for the coming Savior
• And to even encourage them to repent of the type of wicked heart
• That rejects God’s will for their lives.

To those 100 years after Isaiah
• (whom Isaiah had been addressing in chapters 40-48)
• It is a relevant warning about stubbornness.
• For in their day, they were being asked to trust that God was using Cyrus and to leave Babylon.

And we are learning
• That the refusal to trust Christ
• Is no different than the people in Jesus day
• Who wouldn’t trust Jesus and leave the world.

Isaiah 50-66 is certainly relevant to Isaiah’s immediate audience
And for all those who come after him.

But what I love so much about these final chapters of Isaiah
Is because in them Isaiah addresses the time period in which we live.

This is Jesus speaking to people who live in our day.
This segment of Scripture addresses the time period after the cross.

In Isaiah 49-66
• Jesus has already come and was rejected.
• Israel has been broken off and Gentiles grafted in (saw that last week)
• And Jesus is calling for Israel to repent and return to Him.

If you’ve ever wondered what Jesus might preach
If He returned to earth to preach the gospel again,
Well you don’t have to wonder, He already preached it.

It is Isaiah 49-66.
This is a great segment of Scripture!

What I want to do first this morning, even before we get into Isaiah 50
Is I want to give you a bird’s eye view of what I’m talking about.

Let me just show you some simple points that will sort of
Walk you through the timeline and explain what I mean.

Let’s start with the first two verses of our chapter this morning.

Isaiah 50:1-2 “Thus says the LORD, “Where is the certificate of divorce By which I have sent your mother away? Or to whom of My creditors did I sell you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, And for your transgressions your mother was sent away. “Why was there no man when I came? When I called, why was there none to answer? Is My hand so short that it cannot ransom? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, I dry up the sea with My rebuke, I make the rivers a wilderness; Their fish stink for lack of water And die of thirst.”

What is being referenced there?
He is speaking of the rejection of Christ and the subsequent breaking off of Israel.
• God speaks of how they were divorced and their children sold.
• God says it is a result of their iniquities and sins.

Like what?
(2) “Why was their no man when I came? When I called, why was there none to answer?”

What He refers to is the coming of Christ
(Which you will see in verses 4-6)
And Israel’s rejection of Him.

That is a present day reality.

From there the message gets VERY EVANGELISTIC.
We will get call after call after call for Israel’s salvation.

Isaiah 51:1-2 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, Who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were hewn And to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain; When he was but one I called him, Then I blessed him and multiplied him.”

What is that?
It is a sermon to people who are trying to be righteous before God.

And what is the encouragement?
Do it like Abraham did it, by faith.

Leave the works, leave the legalism,
Stop stumbling over the stumbling stone
Put your faith in God’s Savior.

Of course the HEARTBEAT of the entire segment comes in Isaiah 53 where the work of this Savior is put on center stage.

Isaiah 53:5-6 “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”

Obviously in all of these chapters we could read more,
But you are familiar with the point being made.

1. You rejected Christ and have been broken off.
2. You are trying to earn your own righteousness to no avail.
3. You need to follow Abraham’s lead and trust Christ.
4. For it was Christ who, through His suffering, atoned for sin.

And the evangelism continues…
Isaiah 54:6-8 “For the LORD has called you, Like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, Even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,” Says your God. “For a brief moment I forsook you, But with great compassion I will gather you. “In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,” Says the LORD your Redeemer.”

Is that not a relevant message for Israel even today?
• We read of the divorce here in chapter 50,
• But in chapter 54 we find God, like Hosea,
• Seeking to draw her back to Himself.

He is promising salvation if she will return to Him.

Isaiah 55:1 “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost.”

There it is again.
• Reminiscent of the deliverance of Cyrus,
• Israel is again promised salvation without cost
• If they will simply come to Him.

Isaiah 59:1-2 “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”

That is almost a repeat of what we’ll see here in chapter 50,
But it is God’s assurance that if they will repent and He can and will save.

The problem is not His inability to save,
But their refusal to repent and trust.
It is so evangelistic.

Isaiah 59:15b-17 “And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice. And He saw that there was no man, And was astonished that there was no one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, And His righteousness upheld Him. He put on righteousness like a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.”

There again is a reference to the sending of Christ.
• He was the One who came to save.
• He alone could do it.
• If you want salvation, it is found in Him.

Isaiah 61:1-3 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”

That is Christ’s invitation again!
• He is still calling them.
• He is still offering salvation to them.

You can see how relevant this segment is even to our day
As God continues to offer salvation to Israel and to Gentiles.

SO DOES IT WORK?
It absolutely does!

Do you want to see the day Israel repents? (yet future)
There repentance and submission to Christ is found in chapter 64.

Isaiah 64:1-3 “Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, That the mountains might quake at Your presence— As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil— To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence! When You did awesome things which we did not expect, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence.”

Isaiah 64:6 “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

Isaiah 64:8 “But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.”

That is all salvation language.
That is all repentance and confession and faith.
They repent before God.

And then what happens?
GOD SAVES THEM!

Isaiah 65:8-9 “Thus says the LORD, “As the new wine is found in the cluster, And one says, ‘Do not destroy it, for there is benefit in it,’ So I will act on behalf of My servants In order not to destroy all of them. “I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, And an heir of My mountains from Judah; Even My chosen ones shall inherit it, And My servants will dwell there.”

God promises to save them and bring them home.
Isn’t that what we’ve been saying?
• That when Israel repents and returns
• God will bring them home
• And usher in the times of refreshing?

Well, look at what God does after He saves them and brings them home:
Isaiah 65:17-25 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing And her people for gladness. “I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; And there will no longer be heard in her The voice of weeping and the sound of crying. “No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Will be thought accursed. “They will build houses and inhabit them; They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit. “They will not build and another inhabit, They will not plant and another eat; For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, And My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands. “They will not labor in vain, Or bear children for calamity; For they are the offspring of those blessed by the LORD, And their descendants with them. “It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. “The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,” says the LORD.”

The progression is not hard to see.
And there is so much more that is discussed in these final chapters,
I just want you to see what we are talking about here.

THIS IS JESUS SPEAKING!
• He is speaking to the people of our day!
• He is speaking to both Jew and Gentile!
• He is recounting His rejection and offering salvation!

It is a glorious segment of Scripture that you are going to love.
• It is a 5th gospel!
• It is a continuation of the book of Acts!
• It is a prophetic book of Romans!

It has only taken us 15 months to get here, but we are finally here!

SO LET’S START THE JOURNEY.

As I told you a moment ago, Isaiah 50 is one of Isaiah’s 4 suffering servant passages. (42:1-4) (49:1-6) (50:4-11) (52:13-53:12)

You see that here very clearly.
It was actually a text we looked at on Christmas day just a few months ago.

(4-7) “The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of disciples, That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple. The Lord GOD has opened My ear; And I was not disobedient Nor did I turn back. I gave My back to those who strike Me, And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting. For the Lord GOD helps Me, Therefore, I am not disgraced; Therefore, I have set My face like flint, And I know that I will not be ashamed.”

You see the person and work of Jesus there in those 4 verses.

• His incarnation is present.
• His High Priestly office is present.
• His obedience is present.
• His endurance is present.
• His suffering is present.
• His vindication is present.

This chapter is about the work of Jesus and how men responded to Him.

And this chapter answers for us some important questions.
• Why has God broken off Israel?
• What about the One they rejected?
• What about those who reject Him still?
• What about those who didn’t reject Him?

It is also a chapter of warning to those who are resolved
To continue in their own ways and reject Him even further.

Here Jesus addresses all of it.

I titled this chapter: What Have You Done With Jesus?
And that is how we are going to look at it.

In Isaiah 50 we’re going to listen as Jesus confronts
4 types of people based on their response to Him.

The Rebel, The Rival, The Remnant, and The Reprobate.
Every person who has encountered Jesus is one of those 4.

This morning we begin looking at them.

#1 THE REBEL
Isaiah 50:1-3

Here we are addressing the rebel.
In the gospels they are compared to hardened soil.
• They are those who have no interest in the word of God.
• They have no interest in the gospel message.

We read about them right off the bat from John:
John 1:11 “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.”

Christ came and they wanted nothing to do with Him.
• They would not submit to Him as King.
• They would not acknowledge Him as God’s Son.
• They would not trust Him as Savior.

They rejected Christ, they called for His crucifixion,
As we saw last week, God broke them off because of their sin.

Romans 10:16-21 “However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have; “THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH, AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD.” But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First Moses says, “I WILL MAKE YOU JEALOUS BY THAT WHICH IS NOT A NATION, BY A NATION WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING WILL I ANGER YOU.” And Isaiah is very bold and says, “I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO DID NOT SEEK ME, I BECAME MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME.” But as for Israel He says, “ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE.”

That was them, “a disobedient and obstinate people.”

Romans 11:7-10 “What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; just as it is written, “GOD GAVE THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR, EYES TO SEE NOT AND EARS TO HEAR NOT, DOWN TO THIS VERY DAY.” And David says, “LET THEIR TABLE BECOME A SNARE AND A TRAP, AND A STUMBLING BLOCK AND A RETRIBUTION TO THEM. “LET THEIR EYES BE DARKENED TO SEE NOT, AND BEND THEIR BACKS FOREVER.”

And since that day Israel has been the continual subject of the world’s hatred and persecution, (even again beginning to rise in our day.)

While they remain the chosen people of God,
While God has promised they will one day return and be saved,

They have nevertheless been subjected to great turmoil
As a result of their rejection of Christ.

And it is the turmoil that is being addressed here in verse 1.

(1) “Thus says the LORD, “Where is the certificate of divorce By which I have sent your mother away? Or to whom of My creditors did I sell you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, And for your transgressions your mother was sent away.”

In the New Testament we use the language “broken off”

But here in Isaiah there are two different analogies used.
• Here she is seen as CHILDREN OF A DIVORCED WIFE
• And she is seen as A SOLD CHILD

Both of these are steeped in an understanding of Jewish culture.

You may remember what Moses wrote in Deuteronomy:
Deuteronomy 24:1 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house,”

You may also remember that the Jews had totally misunderstood the purpose behind that command.
Matthew 19:7 “They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY?”

When Jesus preached that divorce was a sin
And should not occur apart from adultery
The Jews asked Him why Moses then commanded it in Deuteronomy 24.

And Jesus’ answer was telling:
Matthew 19:8 “He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.”

Jesus said that Moses was not condoning divorce.
• However, because the people were prone to just send their wives away without
setting them free,
• He did tell them at the very least they should give her a certificate of divorce
saying that she is no longer married.

It was not a command to divorce, it wasn’t even a permission to divorce,
But Moses was saying that giving her a certificate
Is better then sending her away and not setting her free.

None the less you understand a little bit of the culture.
If a man in Israel found something in his wife that he didn’t like
He would just write her a certificate of divorce and send her away.

And that is what is being referenced here:
“Where is the certificate of divorce By which I have sent your mother away?”

What is He asking?
• Do you know the reason for the divorce?
• Do you know why your mother was sent away?
• Do you know why your mother were broken off?

There is a SECOND ANALOGY, that of a sold child.

“Or to whom of My creditors did I sell you?”

This is another analogy steeped in a Jewish understanding.
• It was not uncommon in those days for a man to sell even his children in order to pay off his debts.

You see this referred to in various places:
2 Kings 4:1 “Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD; and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.”

Nehemiah 5:4-5 “Also there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards. “Now our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our children like their children. Yet behold, we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters are forced into bondage already, and we are helpless because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”

So sometimes when a man had debts
He would sell his children in order to pay them.
THAT SALE IS BEING REFERENCED HERE.

But notice the particular focus on WHOSE DEBTS caused the sale.
“Or to whom of My creditors did I sell you?”

So I hope you are getting the point.
• Israel was broken off.
• Her mother was sent away
• She was sold

AND THE QUESTION IS:
• Do you know why your mother was sent away?
• Do you know which of My debts caused Me to sell you?

And then the answer:
“Behold, you were sold for your iniquities.”

That is to say, “You weren’t sold to pay My debts, you were sold to pay your debts.”

And regarding Me sending your mother away.
“And for your transgressions your mother was sent away.”

I divorced your mother because of your sin.

IN ONE SENSE We Could Say
• It was only the sin of those alive at the time of Christ who actually rejected Him,
• And yet God broke off the entire nation for the sin of that generation.

So you understand God’s point.
The issue we are dealing with is YOUR SIN.
The issue is YOUR INIQUITY.

You are the one with a debt you couldn’t pay.
You are the one with transgressions I couldn’t tolerate.
THIS IS YOUR FAULT, NOT MINE.

WOW! That’s a pretty direct statement from the Lord there.
• We’ve seen plenty of children suffer in a divorce but the parents remind them that this is not your fault.
• We’ve seen plenty of children suffer under the bad money management of a parent but the parent remind them this is not your fault.

BUT IT IS JUST THE OPPOSITE HERE.
You caused this.
This is your fault.

I think we can agree that this is a grievous sin, whatever it is.

Whatever they did, a person ought not do.
God is serious about this transgression and this iniquity.

SO WHAT WAS IT?
(2) “Why was there no man when I came? When I called, why was there none to answer?”

That is a reference to the coming and gospel invitation of Jesus Christ.

Christ came and preached the gospel.
Matthew 11:1 “When Jesus had finished giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and preach in their cities.”

Mark 1:14-15 “Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Mark 1:38 “He said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.”

Luke 4:18-19 “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

Luke 4:43 “But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”

Perhaps Peter best summed up the ministry of Jesus when He was sent to Cornelius:
Acts 10:36-38 “The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all)— you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed. “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”

That was the ministry wasn’t it?
• He came to His own.
• He came to preach the gospel.
• He came to proclaim the kingdom.

He fed the poor, He healed the sick,
He delivered prisoners, He forgave sinners.

• He offered Himself as the bread from heaven to those who hungered.
• He offered Himself as the light of the world to those in darkness.
• He offered Himself as the water of life to those who thirst.
• He offered Himself as the good shepherd to the abused sheep.
• He offered Himself as the way, the truth, and the life, to all who were lost.

He said it very plainly in Matthew 11:
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

And what was the response to Him?

Matthew 27:22-23 “Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Crucify Him!” And he said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they kept shouting all the more, saying, “Crucify Him!”

• No one came.
• No one answered.
• He was sent to His own and His own did not receive Him.

AND GOD ADDRESSES THEIR THINKING IN ALL OF THIS.

Why did you reject Him?
Why did you not listen to Him?

(2b) “Is My hand so short that it cannot ransom? Or have I no power to deliver?”

Is the reason you didn’t listen to Me because I proved Myself to be a fraud?

I mean, we understand discernment.
• We understand not listening to every “so-called” savior or deliverer.
• We’ve seen enough TV evangelists to know that just because a person claims the power of healing doesn’t mean they can do it.
• We’ve seen enough false prophets to know that just because a person claims to be able to save you doesn’t mean they can.

So that’s fair.

Is that what you found?

Did you find that My power wasn’t all that powerful?
• “My hand so short that it cannot ransom?”
• “I have no power to deliver?”

Is that what you found?

THAT CERTAINLY WASN’T IT.
Mark 6:2 “When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands?”

John 3:2 “this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

John 10:31-33 “The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me? The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.”

John 12:37 “But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him.”

The rejection of Jesus was not because
They found Him to be too weak or incapable.

They rejected Him for a different reason.
WHY?
John 3:19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.”

They weren’t discerning, they were sinful.

And that is what Christ says next.
• (2c) “Behold, I dry up the sea with My rebuke” (The Red Sea)
• (2c) “I make the rivers a wilderness; Their fish stink for lack of water And die of thirst.” (The Jordan River) (and, fish do get thirsty)
• (3) “I clothe the heavens with blackness And make sackcloth their covering.” (Plagues of Egypt)

WHAT IS HIS POINT?
I can save. I did save.
My power is obvious.

Your rejection of Me has nothing to do with some weakness you perceived in Me, it has everything to do with your sinfulness.

My rejection of you has nothing to do with some weakness or flaw in Me, but it has everything to do with the sin and iniquity in you.

Because I came and proved My power and offered salvation,
But you rebelled and rejected Me anyway,
FOR THIS REASON
I have sent your mother away and sold you into the hands of creditors.

That is what we call A REBEL
And those are the CONSEQUENCES that rebels received.

THAT IS NOT A SMART MOVE.

And the consequences of such rebellion are severely stated all over the New Testament.

Matthew 11:20-24 “Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. “Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. “Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”

Luke 12:47 “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes,”

Hebrews 10:26-31 “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

So let’s ask it for the first time here this morning.
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH JESUS?

Do you see that it is no small thing to Him
To come and reveal Himself and then have men rebel against Him because they love their sin more?

He has come and offered salvation.
He has come and offered deliverance.
BUT IT IS NOT OPTIONAL.
• He has called you to leave your sin.
• He has called you to deny yourself.
• He has called you to take up your cross and follow Him.

Have you done that or are you a rebel?

If you choose to rebel against His call
There will be no way to pin your judgment on Him.

On the great day of judgment you will NOT be able to say, “Well, God sent me away, but it wasn’t me, it was all Him.”

You won’t be able to say, “God sold me because of His own problems, it wasn’t my fault.”

No, God will judge you for your rebellion.
God will judge those who were offered salvation
But who chose their sin instead.

Luke 19:27 “But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.”

What have you done with Jesus?
• This morning, I invite you to submit to Him.
• This morning, I invite you to surrender.
• This morning, I invite you to leave your rebellion and yield to Him.

Take His yoke upon you and learn from Him.
And even though you have been rebellious, He will forgive and save.

Paul said it best:
1 Timothy 1:12-16 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.”

Paul said,
• “I was a rebel,”
• “In fact I was the worst rebel ever.”
• “But He saved me!”

He did it to demonstrate His perfect patience
And to prove that if He can save me, He can save anyone.

That is the offer this morning.
Don’t be a rebel.

Come to Christ in full surrender and He will save you.

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Forgetting Israel?
Isaiah 49:8-26
May 5, 2024

We saw this morning a remarkable truth
Regarding the sovereign prerogative of God.

How it was God’s plan to use Israel’s rejection of the Messiah
To push the gospel to the Gentiles.

This plan was so mind-blowing to the apostle Paul
That when God revealed it to him, he wrote:

Romans 11:33-36 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”

God’s ways are indeed unfathomable.

But this announcement, while glorious news to the Gentiles,
CAUSES SOME CONCERN FOR ISRAEL.

The remainder of this chapter deals with Israel.
It deals with Christ’s promises for them.

When you read the chapter
There are two main segments of Scripture that jump out at you.

Both of those segments have to do with Israel’s doubts.

They are a nation that has rejected Messiah.
They are a nation that has been broken off.

And the ringing question in their minds is, is it over for us?
Will we ever escape our current punishment?

You actually see that fear voiced in verse 14
(14) “But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, And the Lord has forgotten me.”

It reminds us of their complaint way back in chapter 40:
Isaiah 40:27 “Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”?

If you will remember, God answered that complaint by saying:
Isaiah 40:28-31 “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”

Israel, in captivity, moaned that God had forgotten them
God reminded them that this never happens.

• He doesn’t grow tired or weary.
• And if you will trust in Him, you will find new strength and deliverance.

Well now we see that same fear manifest itself again with Israel.

This would be the fear, not of the refugees in Babylon,
But even the fear of the Israel of our day,
Since we have noted that Christ is speaking to our time period.

We could see Israel today say, “The LORD has forsaken me, And the Lord has forgotten me.”

It would be easy to see how it may look like the Gentile church has replaced her, and how God no longer cares for her.

And yet, God gives the answer:
(15-16) “Can a woman forget her nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.”

There is a memorable analogy.
• God speaks of a nursing mother.
• She has given birth to a child and she brings it up to her to feed that child.

And the question of God is: “Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb?”

• Every woman in here would certainly say, “Absolutely not!”
• Mothers by nature are focused on their children.

HOWEVER, in our depraved world nothing seems to surprise us,
And it doesn’t surprise God either.

“Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.”

It is an analogy meant to cause you to focus on the goodness of God.

Jesus gave another one like this:
Matthew 7:8-11 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

If you’d do good, then you know God will.

And that is the same type of analogy here.
If you find that mothers love their children,
Well I’m going to tell you that I love you even more.

THE POINT IS, that I am not going to forget you.

God goes on to say:
(16) “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.”

I’m sure every mother has a place like this in her house,
• My wife’s is our bedroom dresser mirror.
• It’s where she keeps pictures of her kids and others that she wants to remember.
• You put them on the mirror because that is something you look at often and you want to be reminded of them.

And God uses similar language here to speak of Israel.
How could I forget you Israel? I look at you every day!
How could I forget Jerusalem? I think about her all the time.

God answers Israel’s fear.
I have not forgotten you…that can’t happen.

What it teaches us is that
Redemption is just as important to God as it is to us, if not more so.

We often think of our desire to go to heaven and be with Christ.

Have you ever thought of His desire for you to come to heaven and be with Him?
• Do you as a parent not long for your children to come home?
• Do you not miss them when they are gone?
• Do you not cherish your moments with them?

Well God is a better parent than you are.
John 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

Or we think of that prodigal father.
Luke 15:20 “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”

One could easily argue that of the two
It is the father who is the most excited.

Earlier in Isaiah we read:
Isaiah 43:6 “I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar And My daughters from the ends of the earth,”

God is not indifferent towards His reunion with those He has redeemed.
HE LONGS FOR THEM TO BE WITH HIM.

Could it even be fathomed that God is more excited about you getting to heaven than even you are?

ABSOLUTELY!

So Israel’s fear here is unfounded, God has not forgotten her.

THE OTHER SEGMENT; the other fear of Israel; that jumps out of this chapter is found in verses 24-26

(24-26) “Can the prey be taken from the mighty man, Or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?” Surely, thus says the LORD, “Even the captives of the mighty man will be taken away, And the prey of the tyrant will be rescued; For I will contend with the one who contends with you, And I will save your sons. “I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh, And they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine; And all flesh will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

What is the fear here?
That even if God wants Israel to be set free and return home, can it really be done?

• Can anyone really rescue captives from a mighty man?
• Can anyone really steal back those whom a tyrant has taken as prey?

And God reassures Israel: I CAN!

“Even the captives of the mighty man will be taken away, And the prey of the tyrant will be rescued; For I will content with the one who contends with you, And I will save your sons.”

I won’t have any problem delivering you from your enemy.

In fact, look at what God says He is doing to do to those who persecuted them and held them captive.

(26) “I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh, And they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine; And all flesh will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

• “drunk with their own blood”
• Eating “their own flesh”

On that day, God will have no trouble liberating His people.
• How much trouble did Pharaoh cause?
• Did Babylon prove to be too hard to deliver from?

It won’t be a problem.

BUT THESE WERE THE FEARS OF ISRAEL.
• God has forgotten us.
• Even if He hasn’t, the enemy has too strong a hold on us.

Neither of those points was true.
They were the IRRATIONAL FEARS of Israel.

It is true that God broke them off.
It is true that God is saving Gentiles.
But that does not mean that He is finished with them.

We even read this morning that if God can graft in a wild olive into that redeemed olive tree, then the natural branch is really on problem for Him.

Romans 11:24 “For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?”

But that is not all Paul had to say
About this majestic mysterious plan of God.

Paul also warned us as that wild olive, not to grow arrogant against Israel.
Romans 11:17-24 “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?”

• It is true that God broke them off to graft you in.
• It is true that they walked in unbelief.
• But it is a mistake to think that it is now over for them.

It is a mistake to think that God cannot and will not save them.
If He can save a pagan Gentile,
Then a wayward Jews is certainly no problem.

In fact, Paul goes on to say:
Romans 11:25-32 “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.” “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.” From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.”

Paul says that their hardening is a PARTIAL hardening.
• There are actually some Jews who believe today.

Paul also says that this partial hardening is only TEMPORARY.
• It will only last until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in.

And then God will open the flood gate
And all the Jews alive at that time will come to Christ and be saved!

We’ve read it many times.
Zechariah 12:10-13:1 “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. “In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo. “The land will mourn, every family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself and their wives by themselves; all the families that remain, every family by itself and their wives by themselves. “In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity.”

• God will open their eyes…
• God will unstop their ears…
• God will awaken their hearts…
• And they will return.

And because their affiliation with Christ is even more natural than yours,
They will come faster and easier than any Gentile ever did.

THEY ARE COMING HOME TO CHRIST.

But Paul also taught us something remarkable
About the day when they return.

We learned this morning that their rejection was riches for the world, but what about they day they come back?

Romans 11:12 “Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!”

Romans 11:15 “For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?”

• By rejecting Christ they opened the door for Gentile salvation.
• By accepting Christ it will be nothing less than the new millennial kingdom.

Listen to Peter speak to Jews:
Acts 3:17-21 “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. “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; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.”

Peter is calling Jews to repent and return
So that Christ will return and set up His times of refreshing.

We are waiting for that!
And all creation anticipates it with us!

Romans 8:18-21 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”

• Creation itself longs for the return of God’s children to Him.
• For their return will bring in the millennium
• The curse will be removed and creation itself will be set free.

This is why even in verse 13 of our text tonight we read:
(13) “Shout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth! Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people And will have compassion on His afflicted.”

It echoes the Psalm:
Psalms 96:11-13 “Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; Let the sea roar, and all it contains; Let the field exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy Before the LORD, for He is coming, For He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness And the peoples in His faithfulness.”

SO I THINK YOU GET THE IDEA:
• Israel is not finished.
• God has not forgotten her.
• She is still very much a central part of His plan.

• God has not forgotten her.
• God will not leave her in the hands of the tyrant.
• He is going to save her.

And that is the reassurance we see spoken
Over and over and over again here in Isaiah 49.

Now it all begins with an important verse, and that Isaiah 49:8
(8) “Thus says the LORD, “In a favorable time I have answered You, And in a day of salvation I have helped You; And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people, To restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages;”

This is a statement spoken by the Father to the Son.

In the first 7 verses the Father told the Son that He would be saving Gentiles.
Here we find that He will also be saving Israel.

God says “And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people”
• The result of that covenant will be “to restore the land”

What does God mean that He will “give You for a covenant of the people”?

We remember the New Covenant that Jeremiah promised:
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.”

God promised a New Covenant which would result in salvation.
And God here reveals that Christ is that New Covenant.

Did He not say?
Matthew 26:27-28 “And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”

Hebrews 9:15 “For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”

And obviously then we understand what God speaks of.
That Christ will be the means of their salvation and return.

When we speak of the return of Israel,
We are NOT saying that God is doing to do something
Different for them than He did for us.

No, the return of Israel is a return to Christ, then it is a return to the land.
Their deliverance is predicated upon their trust in Him.

This is NOT some gracious work of God
Performed outside of the atonement of Christ.

It’s just that God has promised that one day
They will look on Him whom they pierced and will trust in Him.

And when they do, God outlines here 3 basic realities that will occur.

#1 SLAVES WILL BE LIBERATED
Isaiah 49:9-12

Verse 9 speaks of those “who are bound”
And the command is to “Go forth”

It also speaks of those “who are in darkness”
And the command is “Show yourselves”
Which means, “Come out of hiding”.

This is nothing less than the salvation of Jesus.
Isaiah 9:2 “The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.”

And God speaks of His great care to bring them home from their place of slavery.
• He’ll feed them on the roads.
• He’ll pasture them on the bare heights.
• “They will not hunger or thirst”

They’re not going to get hammered by the elements.
He is going to lead them and guide them.

Does any of that sound familiar to you?
Psalms 23 “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

• He is caring for them.
• He has delivered them and He is leading them home.

He’s going to smooth out the rough roads.
He’s going to bring them from every nation.
It is simply a time of His great deliverance.

Psalms 121 “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the moon by night. The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever.”

Christ will do that for Israel.
• He will set them free from their sin.
• He will deliver them from their corruption.
• He will bring them back to Himself.

IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN.

Slaves Will be Liberated
#2 DESTROYERS WILL BE LEAVING
Isaiah 49:17-19

We think today of all the enemies of Israel that live within her land.
• We think of that gaudy Dome of the Rock sitting right there on the temple mount.
• We think of terrorists inside her borders that continually terrorize her.

To be certain,
• The presence of such affliction is due to Israel having been broken off.
• They are under the discipline of the Lord and these afflictions are part of that process.

However, on the day they return to Christ.
On the day they enter His covenant.
The “destroyers and devastators” have to leave.

In fact, the Lord will crush them under His feet.

Destroyers will leave and “builders” will come.
• And Israel will be revitalized into a glorious dwelling.

The time of punishment will be over
And the time of refreshing will come.

#3 CHILDREN WILL RETURN
Isaiah 49:20-23

The point to be made here is that
It will be shocking to see how many return.

You remember in Elijah’s day, he was certain that he was the only faithful man left in Israel.

1 Kings 19:14 “Then he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

1 Kings 19:18 “Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Elijah had no clue how many there actually were.

And so it is with Israel on the day they return to Christ
And He brings them home.

(21) “Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten these for me, Since I have been bereaved of my children And am barren, an exile and a wanderer? And who has reared these? Behold, I was left alone; From where did these come?’”

It will be shocking!

We all grew up with images of Billy Graham crusades and people flocking forward in mass waves.
• That will be nothing compared to the day when Israel returns.
• It will be the greatest revival ever seen in the history of the world.
• They are all coming back.

And Israel will be the chief of all nations.

Other nations will be relegated to their service.
(23) “Kings will be your guardians, And their princesses your nurses. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth And lick the dust of your feet; And you will know that I am the LORD; Those who hopefully wait for Me will not be put to shame.”

That’s a strange role for a King.
• But it speaks to the value of the people whom God has saved.

AND WHAT IS THE POINT TO ALL OF THIS?

CHRIST IS STILL GOING TO SAVE HIS PEOPLE ISRAEL.

Now, this is the first announcement by Him of that fact,
But the next 17 chapters are devoted to revealing that.

Yes, Israel was broken off.
Yes, Gentiles were grafted in.

But God does not forget His people whom He foreknew
And the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

HE WILL SAVE THEM.

We rejoice in this even as Gentiles because
• It reminds of the great compassion of our God.
• It reminds of the great faithfulness of our God.
• It reminds of the great power of our God.

And this is the goal.

Christ says that He is going to save Israel and bring them all back.

And at the end of verse 23
He says, “And you will know that I am the LORD; Those who hopefully wait for Me will not be put to shame.”

• That’s a great point isn’t it!
• No one who ever trusted in God was ever disappointed.

And it’s not just Israel.
At the end of verse 26, “And all flesh will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

THE WHOLE WORLD WILL KNOW IT.

It just really startles and shocks me the number of people
Who so quickly assume that God is finished with Israel.

• I get that they are rebellious.
• I get that they are treacherous.
• I get that they are idolatrous.
• I get that they are stubborn.
• I get that they do wicked deeds.
• I get that they worship the wrong gods.
• I get that they reject God and His Son Jesus Christ.

But what else is new?

God has never promised to save them
Because of their great worth or faithfulness.
He promised to save them because it glorified Him to do so.

And because He promised it, He will do it.

And church, that is the God we trust too.
• We trust a God who keeps His promises.
• We trust a God who has the power to keep His promises.
• We trust a God who does not forget His people.
• We trust a God who has more compassion than your mother.
• We trust a God who can easily deal with our enemies.

AND HE WILL.
He has never even hinted at doing anything else.

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A Message For The Nations
Isaiah 49:1-7
May 5, 2024

If you were with us last Sunday night you know that
We have made a major shift in the message of Isaiah.

Isaiah spent 9 chapters talking to us
About how God was going to deliver His people out of Babylon.
• We learned that God had raised up Cyrus
• Cyrus would free God’s people, send them home, and rebuild their temple without cost.
• We learned all about how God had redeemed them and they were His.

But it was last week when we encountered
That reoccurring stubbornness of the people of Israel.

For when the rubber met the road,
We found out that they didn’t want to leave Babylon.

God called them phonies.
God called them stubborn and obstinate.
God called them treacherous rebels.

And God told them that they were leaving Babylon
Whether they liked it or not.

But it was in verse 16 of chapter 48 that something remarkable happened.

In Isaiah 48:16 the second person of the God-head chimed in.

Isaiah 48:16 “Come near to Me, listen to this: From the first I have not spoken in secret, From the time it took place, I was there. And now the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His Spirit.”

We know that wasn’t God the Father speaking,
• For it was “the Lord GOD” who “sent Me” the speaker says.

And it wasn’t the Holy Spirit doing the talking
• Since “the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His Spirit.”

The only option left is Christ.
JESUS CHIMED IN.

He revealed to these refugees who were hesitating to leave
That this story was about more than just them leaving Babylon.

THIS STORY WAS PROPHETIC IN NATURE.

We already knew that Cyrus was a prophetic type of Christ.
• Both in rescuing refugees
• And in judging Babylon

Now we begin to understand that this story of the return from exile
Was also prophetic about Christ binging His salvation.

This whole story hasn’t just been a history lesson for us.
• This story has been a prophetic picture of the second Cyrus coming to save
His people from their oppressors.

And is this not what Jesus said when He came?
Luke 4:16-21 “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

This whole event was always about Him.
That is why God called Cyrus His “anointed”

Cyrus was a picture of Christ.
Babylon was a picture of the world.

Just as Cyrus came to deliver those slaves from Babylon,
So Christ would come to save us from an evil world.

From this point on in the book of Isaiah we are only talking about Jesus.

Isaiah is leaving the shadow behind and moving on to the substance.
It is no longer about Cyrus, it is only about Jesus Christ.

John wrote that Isaiah saw the glory of Christ.
John 12:41 “These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him.”

So from Isaiah 49-66 it is Christ we are going to discuss.

And it begins with an announcement of
THE GLORY AND SCOPE OF HIS SALVATION.

There are 5 points we want to see about Christ in our text this morning.
#1 HE WAS CALLED
Isaiah 49:1

“Listen to Me, O islands, And pay attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called Me from the womb; From the body of My mother He named Me.”

The recipient of this first announcement is clear,
Even if it is a little surprising.

When Christ starts describing His ministry through Isaiah,
He does so by addressing an audience that we did not expect.

Christ does not begin by addressing Israel.
He begins by addressing the “islands”
Whom He calls “you peoples from afar”.

• He begins by addressing Gentiles.
• He begins by addressing the nations.

The reason will become clear as we study through these final 18 chapters,
It is because Christ is speaking from the vantage point of the end.

These 18 chapters will include events like:
• Christ’s coming and incarnation.
• Christ’s rejection and crucifixion.
• God’s hardening and breaking off of Israel.
• Christ’s call to Israel to repent and return.
• God opening Israel’s eyes to return to the Christ they rejected.
• The ultimate millennial glory of Christ’s reign once Israel returns.

We are listening to a Christ
Who could very well be speaking from our day.

You will see that as He speaks
• He already speaks of having come and having been rejected by Israel.
• He will speak to Israel about their current state of rebellion and their need to
repent and return.

JESUS COULD BE PREACHING TODAY.

That makes these final 18 chapters very interesting to me.

Isaiah wrote it 2700 years ago,
But from the vantage point of an eternal Christ who is not bound in time,
It could be the message of today.

THAT MAKES ME WANT TO KNOW IT EVEN MORE!

Christ is speaking to the nations (the Gentiles) here
Because today, that is who is being saved.

ISRAEL HAS REJECTED HIM
And they live under a state of stupor which God poured upon them.

And here is Christ’s message to the Gentile world.
Here is Christ prophesying about Himself to the nations.

“Listen to Me, O islands, And pay attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called Me from the womb; From the body of My mother He named Me.”

THE MESSAGE IS CLEAR.
I am the LORD’S called and appointed Savior.

Jesus says that God “called Me from the womb; From the body of My mother He named Me.”

When John told us about Christ, there is a word that John liked to use.

John 1:18 “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

John liked the word “begotten”
It is a word that speaks only of sons or daughters.

It reminds us that though Christ was born of a woman,
He was in fact the Son of God.

Psalms 2:7 “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.”

Luke 1:35 “The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.”

It is God who begot Him.
It is God who sent Him.
It is even God who named Him.

Matthew 1:21 “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

What we have here is Christ referencing “The Incarnation”.
• That the second person of the God-head took on human flesh and entered this world as a human.
• He was sent by the Father, through a woman, and under the Law, that He might come to save His people.

And this is Christ’s announcement to the nations.
And Christ tells us to “Listen to Me” and to “pay attention”.

THIS IS IMPORTANT.
I am the One God sent.
I am the Savior God called.

You can abandon every other religion & every other savior
I am the One whom God called and sent into this world.

Luke 2:11 “for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

This is Christ testifying of Himself.
He was called by God.

#2 HE WAS CONCEALED
Isaiah 49:2-3

“He has made My mouth like a sharp sword, In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me; And He has also made Me a select arrow, He has hidden Me in His quiver. He said to Me, “You are My Servant, Israel, In Whom I will show My glory.”

You see the wording in there twice.
Christ refers to Himself as a sword,
• But says that “In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me”

Christ refers to Himself as a select arrow
• But says, “He has hidden Me in His quiver.”

WHAT DOES ALL THAT MEAN?

Isaiah will spell it out for us in a few chapters.
Isaiah 53:1-3 “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”

He was concealed wasn’t He?
• He was hidden behind a veil of human flesh.

How many times did He work miracles and someone say, “Where did this Guy get this power? We know His parents and His siblings.”

He was God, but God concealed in human flesh.

He didn’t split the heavens in glory and come down.
He didn’t enter on a white horse with the armies of heaven.

Philippians 2:7 “but [He] emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”

He was not easily recognizable through physical eyes.

His glory was evident, but not the way we are used to seeing it.
John 1:14, 18 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth…No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

And we understand that.

BUT WHAT DOES THAT SWORD REFERENCE?

“He has made My mouth like a sharp sword”
“He has also made Me a select arrow”

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

We know that upon His glorious return that sword will come out of His mouth
And with it He will strike down the nations,
But that’s NOT what He’s talking about here.

So what does He mean that He was “like a sharp sword” or “select arrow”?

Well listen to Jesus:
Matthew 10:34-39 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. “For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”

WHAT DID JESUS COME TO DO?
HE CAME TO EXPOSE.
• He came to lay the heart bear.
• He came to reveal the corruption of the heart of man.

Hebrews 4:12-13 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

The word of God is a person.
“And there is no creature hidden from His sight”

As a double-edged sword He exposed the hearts of men.

John 9:39 “And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”

John 15:20-22 “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.”

Even at His birth Simeon told Mary:
Luke 2:34-35 “And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed— and a sword will pierce even your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

This is Christ explaining His own earthly ministry.

• I was called by God and begotten of Him in My mother’s womb.
• He concealed My glory and hid My majesty
• As He used Me as a sword to expose the hearts of men.
• I was His select arrow to pierce the heart and expose the conscience.
• I came concealed and I came to expose the hearts of men.

And you see this in the responses to Him.

Matthew 7:28-29 “When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.”

John 4:29 “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”

John 7:45-46 “The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why did you not bring Him?” The officers answered, “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.”

You saw that in His ministry didn’t you.

And what is Christ’s point here to the nations?
• I am the called and sent One of God.
• You might not know it by looking at Me,
• But you’d know it by listening to Me.
• I am the Savior.

Called, Concealed
#3 HE WAS CONCERNED
Isaiah 49:4

“But I said, “I have toiled in vain, I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity; Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the LORD, And My reward with My God.”

And boy did we see this one too!

As He walked those streets of Galilee and Judea
He was absolutely covered up by crowds that wanted healing
But they wanted nothing to do with the righteousness He was preaching.

AND WE SAW HIS GRIEF.

Luke 19:41-44 “When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. “For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

Matthew 23:37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.”

This ministry in which He came to seek and to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel, appeared to have ended in utter failure.

From the Jewish perspective,
The story doesn’t end with Jesus sitting on a throne,
The story ends with Jesus hanging on a cross.

• His people who He came to save rejected Him
• And asked for Him to be crucified
• While they cried out, “We have no king but Caesar!”

It must have looked like a failure of a ministry.
Even after His resurrection and ascension
We find His followers all gathered together in the upper room
And it is a modest 120 people.

THAT DOESN’T SEEM LIKE MANY
For a man who fed the hungry by the thousands, virtually eliminated sickness, leprosy, and demon possession everywhere He went,
And preached relentlessly for 3 years.

From a human perspective it must have felt very futile.

But Christ never stopped, Scripture says He entrusted Himself to God.
“Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the LORD, And My reward with My God.”

1 Peter 2:23 “and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;”

And this sums up the ministry of Christ to His people.

He came to His own and His own rejected Him.
John 1:11 “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.”

And this is what the Gentiles saw as well.
• The King of Jews was crucified by the Romans.
• The Messiah of Israel was rejected as a heretic and executed.

To an outside world, to a Gentile world, it just looks like a Jewish tragedy.
To an outside world He simply looks like a failure.

But that is why Christ is preaching to Gentiles today.
That is why Christ is preaching to you today.

He is preaching that you might understand
The bigger work that was being accomplished by God.

Don’t let the rejection of Israel fool you.
This was all part of the providential plan of God.

What do you mean?

#4 HE WAS COMMISSIONED
Isaiah 49:5-6

“And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him (For I am honored in the sight of the LORD, And My God is My strength), He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Here Jesus tells the world exactly what was going on
In the sovereign prerogative of God when Israel rejected Him.

Jesus says, “Yes, I was sent to save the Jews.”
He “formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him.”

That is who I am.
I am Israel’s savior. (And He still is)

But notice that there was another plan involved as well.
(6) “He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations so that My salvation will reach to the end of the earth.”

DID YOU CATCH THAT?
According to the sovereign plan of God,
Simply saving Israel was “too small a thing”!

It was the objective of God to save “the nations”
So that His “salvation will reach to the end of the earth.”

It was too small to simply be the Savior of Israel.
It is God’s plan to be the Savior of the World.

Well how did Israel rejecting Christ work into that plan?

Listen to what Paul says about Israel’s rejection:
Romans 11:11 “I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.”

Paul says that God is using their transgression.
Paul says that God is using their rejection of the Messiah.

HOW?
“by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles”

Later in verse 12 Paul says:
Romans 11:12 “… their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles…”

To further understand this, all one has to do is read the book of Acts.

Paul’s ministry in particular reveals this issue over and over.
• He goes to a city
• Enters the synagogue
• Preaches the gospel
• Gets rejected
• And says from now on I’m going to the Gentiles.

To the blaspheming Jews in Pisidian Antioch
Acts 13:46 “Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.”

To the blaspheming Jews in Corinth:
Acts 18:6 “But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

To the blaspheming Jews in Rome:
Acts 28:28 “Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will also listen.”

It was the Jewish rejection of Christ
That led to gospel being taken to the Gentiles.
“by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles.”

And so we learn about the coming of Christ
That what may have initially looked like a failure…WASN’T!

God used the rejection of Israel to drive the gospel to the nations.

And this was always the plan!
Isaiah 9:1-3 “But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them. You shall multiply the nation, You shall increase their gladness; They will be glad in Your presence As with the gladness of harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.”

It was always the plan that Christ would be the light of the world
Even for Gentiles.

It was always the plan that every nation tribe and tongue
Would be gathered around His throne in glory.

And part of the wisdom of this plan was that Israel would reject her King, be broken off, and Gentiles would be grafted in.

That DOES NOT MEAN it’s over for Israel, we’ll see that tonight.
Nor should Gentiles get some sort of inflated ego of our own importance.

Romans 11:17-18 “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.”

And again later:
Romans 11:23-24 “And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?”

But you see how God was using their rejection to save the nations.

He was Called, He was Concealed, He was Concerned, He was Commissioned

#5 HE WILL BE CROWNED
Isaiah 49:7

“Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One, To the despised One, To the One abhorred by the nation, To the Servant of rulers, “Kings will see and arise, Princes will also bow down, Because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.”

Here is God’s promise to this Christ who came and suffered.
• Here is God’s promise to this One who subjected Himself to ridicule and shame that He might save the world.

“Kings will see and arise, Princes will bow down, Because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel has chosen You.”

Paul told the Philippians that “every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

Every nation will bow to Jesus.
Every king will bow to Jesus.

He is not just the King of Israel,
He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!

That is Christ’s announcement to the nations here.

Do you want to know what Christ would preach if He were to stand in the street today?

THIS IS IT!
• He’d tell the Gentiles that God sent Him into the world as a Savior.
• He’d tell the Gentiles that He was rejected by His own, but that was all part of the plan.
• He’d tell the Gentiles that He came to expose the hearts of men and call them to repentance.
• He’d tell the Gentiles that because of Jewish rejection that it is now the time for Gentiles to be saved.
• He’d tell the Gentiles that one day the whole world will bow to Him.

Look at the very next verse:
Isaiah 49:8 “Thus says the LORD, “In a favorable time I have answered You, And in a day of salvation I have helped You; And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people, To restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages;”

Do you recognize that verse?

Paul quoted it:
2 Corinthians 6:2 “for He says, “AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.” Behold, now is “THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,” behold, now is “THE DAY OF SALVATION”

Paul quoted it to say today is the day to be saved.
THAT IS THE MESSAGE OF CHRIST TO THE NATIONS TODAY AS WELL!

The door is open, the time is now.
• Israel is currently in a state of God-ordained stupor and blindness.
• God has hardened their hearts and darkened their understanding.
• God has broken them off that you might be grafted in.

But this is a temporary time.
• One day very soon the pendulum will swing back,
• The fullness of the Gentiles will have come in
• And God will open the floodgate for Israel to return.

But today the message is for you.
Today the offer is for you.

Jesus extends the offer of salvation to you.

This One who was God in human flesh.
• This One who was born of a virgin and born under the Law.

He lived a righteous life that He might fulfill all of God’s righteous commands.
• He earned a righteous standing before God.

But then this Righteous One submitted Himself to death on a cross.
• On that cross He bore the full wrath of God for sins He did not commit.
• He paid the debt of all the sin of all the elect who would ever believe in Him.

Based upon His righteous life and His atoning death
He has all authority to offer you salvation.

AND THE OFFER IS THIS:
• Believe in Him.
• Confess Him as your Lord.
• And you will be saved.

Romans 10:9-10 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

When you place your faith in Him,
God reckons that your sin is imputed to Christ and Christ bears all the punishment for the sin you committed.

When you place your faith in Him,
God reckons His righteousness to be imputed to you and you enjoy all the blessing He has earned.

But you must leave your sin and yield your life to Christ.
He is the Savior of the World.
He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

And this is what WE CELEBRATE HERE THIS MORNING
With the taking of the Lord’s Supper.

We have here two elements, the bread and the juice.

They are NOT going to turn into the body or the blood of Jesus.
• Jesus does not have to come down and enter the elements and suffer again for your sin.
• He suffered one time and that was sufficient.

These elements are symbols.
• The bread symbolizes His body in which He fulfilled the Law of God and perfectly obeyed every command.
• It was in His body that He earned the righteousness that He imputes to us who believe.

• The juice symbolizes His blood which He spilled as a payment for our sin.
• It was through His death that He satisfied God’s wrath on the sin we committed.

We eat the bread and we drink the juice as a symbolic gesture
That what Christ did, He did for me.

I needed His righteousness.
I needed His atoning death.

We do it by faith, we do it in gratitude,
And we do it as an act of worship to the One who saved us.

Even Gentiles.
Ephesians 2:11-13 “Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

For us, this is a holy sacrament.

This is why we also mind how we partake.

Paul said:
1 Corinthians 11:27-32 “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.”

We don’t make a mockery of this ordinance, we revere it.
• We do that by examining ourselves.
• We do that through a spirit of repentance.
• We do that in reverence.
• We do that in gratitude.

What we celebrate here today is life and death of Jesus Christ
And that He opened this offer of salvation up even to us.

We praise Him for saving…even me!

We will have a time of preparation and then partake of the table of the Lord.

LORD’S SUPPER

Acts 11:9-18 “But a voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.’ “This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into the sky. “And behold, at that moment three men appeared at the house in which we were staying, having been sent to me from Caesarea. “The Spirit told me to go with them without misgivings. These six brethren also went with me and we entered the man’s house. “And he reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; and he will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ “And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning. “And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ “Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”

• Give bread to Deacons
• Deacon Prayer
• Deacons pass out bread

1 Corinthians 11:23-24 “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

• Take bread

Ephesians 3:4-6 “By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel”

• Give juice to Deacons
• Deacon Prayer
• Deacons pass out juice

1 Corinthians 11:25-26 “In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

• Take juice

• Parting hymn

download here

Go Forth From Babylon – Part 2
Isaiah 48:1-22 (3-22)
April 28, 2024

We began this chapter this morning.

It is God addressing the people of Israel who are living in Babylon,
Whom He is rescuing, but we have hit a snag.

They don’t want to leave Babylon.

Now we looked at those first 2 verses this morning
Because I thought it to be an important reminder to the church.

#1 HYPOCRISY EXPOSED
Isaiah 48:1-2

We only looked here
Because it gave us a chance at some really good self-evaluation.

Here we had people who talked a good game,
• But when the “rubber met the road” they proved themselves to be nothing but shallow hypocrites.

“they call themselves after the holy city And lean on the God of Israel”

That is to say
• They embrace the name “Jew” after the city Jerusalem.
• And they love to talk about their faith in God.

But on the day when God called them to exercise that faith,
Leave Babylon and return to the city they claimed to love, they balked.

It is apparent that their boast was an empty one.

God said they “swear by the name of the LORD And invoke the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness.”

The equivalent today would be
• Those who claim to be citizens of heaven and who profess to know Christ,
• But when the rubber meets the road they refuse to leave the world.
• They won’t forsake their possessions or comforts.
• They won’t forsake their earthly inheritance.

The reality is that they love this world and they want to keep it.

That is exactly who these Jews were
And God exposed them right off the bat.

WE FOCUSED ON THAT THIS MORNING
Because it is a reality we must deal with.
• It is a danger we must protect ourselves from.
• It is a sin we must repent of.
• It is something that sinful men need to be saved from.

We understand that.

WELL TONIGHT, we move forward in the text.
And based on the hypocrisy we saw in the first 2 verses,
The next point is not surprising.

#2 FRUSTRATION EXPRESSED
Isaiah 48:3-8

The frustration here is obviously God’s frustration.
And who can blame Him?

• He shows up to save His people with His mighty right arm
• And when He gets there He finds that they don’t really want to be saved.

• They love their sin and they want to keep it.
• They love the darkness and reject the light.

You’re obviously seeing a parallel here with the coming of Christ.

John 1:11 “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.”

They wanted a Messiah to come and reign,
But they didn’t want one who required them to let go of the world.

We saw the frustration of Christ in His earthly ministry
And we see that same frustration from God here in Isaiah 48.

He is dealing with a people, whom He came to save,
Who don’t want to be saved.

And here God’s frustration comes pouring out.

And the point of Isaiah here is this:
GOD IS NOT SURPRISED BY YOUR HYPOCRISY,
IN FACT HE PLANNED FOR IT.

What do you mean?

God is going to talk about two ways He has worked on Israel’s behalf.
• The first is through PROPHECY
• The second is through MYSTERY

And He did both because of the sinful hypocrisy of Israel.

Let me show you.
FIRST we recognize that God worked through prophecy.
(3) “I declared the former things long ago And they went forth from My mouth, and I proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.”

Let’s think about the Babylonian captivity for a moment.
• Did God speak about this long ago?
• Did God proclaim them in former days?

Listen to what God said through Moses:
Leviticus 26:27-31 “Yet if in spite of this you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me, then I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins. ‘Further, you will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters you will eat. ‘I then will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and heap your remains on the remains of your idols, for My soul shall abhor you. ‘I will lay waste your cities as well and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your soothing aromas.”

God said if you don’t obey Me then I will bring judgment on your cities and make your sanctuaries desolate.

Or how about this?
Deuteronomy 28:49-50 “The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand, a nation of fierce countenance who will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young.”

God absolutely prophesied that He would send His people into exile.
Jeremiah spoke of it specifically in the days in which it occurred.

But God also prophesied that He would bring them back from the land of their oppression.

Leviticus 26:44-45 “‘Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so abhor them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. ‘But I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the LORD.’”

Deuteronomy 30:4 “If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back.”

So this whole Babylonian exile thing is nothing new.

And of course we could read more passages from Moses
Or read several prophecies from Jeremiah where we see these things promised.

AND THE POINT IS THAT the exile and return
Where spoken by God in prophetic fashion long before it happened.

And the immediate question we have now is:
WHY DID GOD DO THAT?
• Why did He prophesy it ahead of time?

(4) “Because I know that you are obstinate, And your neck is an iron sinew And your forehead bronze.”

I told you ahead of time because you are stubborn and hard-headed.

God told Ezekiel:
Ezekiel 3:4-8 “Then He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them. “For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel, nor to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. But I have sent you to them who should listen to you; yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are not willing to listen to Me. Surely the whole house of Israel is stubborn and obstinate. “Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.”

You are a stubborn people.

What does them being stubborn have to do with God telling them ahead of time?

(5) “Therefore I declared them to you long ago, Before they took place I proclaimed them to you, So that you would not say, ‘My idol has done them, And my graven image and my molten image have commanded them.”

God says, “I knew how stubborn and hard-headed you were. I knew that if I just delivered you, then you give credit to your idol instead of Me. So, I told you ahead of time so as to leave no doubt that it was Me who did it.”

And then God says,
NOW, WILL YOU NOT ACKNOWLEDGE IT?

(6a) “You have heard; look at all this. And you, will you not declare it?”

Will you not now admit that I am the One doing it and will you not tell everyone that this is Me!

I’m not surprised that you don’t want to leave Babylon,
You’ve always been a stubborn and hard-headed people.

I’ve known that from the beginning
That is even why I have to spell everything out to you before I do it
So that you will believe it.

You can feel God’s frustration there can’t you?

Do you wonder why God has told us so many things ahead of time?
SAME REASON.

Because as sinful human beings we are prone to credit the wrong things for what God is clearly doing.

But prophecy is not the only way God has worked with His people.
God has also employed MYSTERY.

(6b-7a) “I proclaim to you new things from this time, Even hidden things which you have not known. They are created now and not long ago; And before today you have not heard them,”

Now God is referring to the specifics of His plan;
• Namely the exaltation and commissioning of Cyrus to conquer Babylon.

God spoke long ago that He would send His people into a foreign nation and then deliver them from it.

But until recently the people did not know that
The nation was Babylon and the deliverer was Cyrus.

And as is common with God, while He does make promises for the future,
He doesn’t give us all the details ahead of time.

Here God reveals why He didn’t tell them everything until recently.

(7b) “So that you will not say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’”

This is NOT just like that “know it all teenager” response where you tell them something and they say, “I already knew that.”

This speaks more of a person
Who disdains and mocks the truth that is given.

The Hebrew word there is YADA
Ever hear the phrase “yada, yada, yada”

What God speaks of here is when He does reveal His plan
And then He has to listen to all the debate and disagreement
And pundits sit and tear that plan apart.

God says, “That’s why I don’t tell you everything early, you just argue with it.”

(8) “You have not heard, you have not known. Even from long ago your ear has not been open, Because I knew that you would deal treacherously; And you have been called a rebel from birth.”

That is to say, “If I tell you too much about My plan and you have time to think about it, then you assume you know everything and refuse My plans.”

So we have God here who knows exactly what it is like
To deal with stubborn, obstinate and treacherous people.

You tell them part of the plan ahead of time Or they won’t believe you did it,
But you can’t tell them too much of the plan because they’ll reject it.

God knows what it’s like
To deal with stubborn and treacherous people.

Isaiah 29:13 “Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,”

So, when He does finally reveal His plan
To save them from Babylon and send them home through Cyrus,
He is not surprised to find that they have rejected it.

“you have been called a rebel from birth.”

God knows what it is to deal with sinful and stubborn people.

Furthermore, God knows how to save sinful and stubborn people.

This, incidentally, is what makes things like
Unconditional Election and Effective Call so important.

It’s the only way rebels will ever be saved.

So we understand the setting.
• God has sent Cyrus to save.
• Israel doesn’t want to be saved.
• God exposes their hypocrisy,
• But in frustration admits that He is not surprised by it.

And if we were God,
We might just grant their wishes and leave them in Babylon.
• You want Babylon, fine stay in Babylon.
• I’ll just judge and destroy you along with the Babylonians.
• That would certainly be just.

But it is not God.

#3 RESTRAINT EXPLAINED
Isaiah 48:9-11

God should just go ahead and judge them, but He won’t.

WHY?

(9) “For the sake of My name I delay My wrath, And for My praise I restrain it for you, In order not to cut you off.”

You certainly deserve to be left in Babylon, but I won’t.
And I won’t because My glory is at stake.

God has promised to save these people.
• God has made a covenant with them that He will not break.
• They deserve judgment, but He gave His word to their forefathers.
• God will not defile His reputation.

We remember it in Ezekiel 36 when He outlined the new covenant.

Ezekiel 36:22-23 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. “I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight.”

Ezekiel 36:32 “I am not doing this for your sake,” declares the Lord GOD, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel!”

It is like when God told Moses
After the incident of the golden calf that He was going to destroy them.
• Moses interceded that God spare them for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
• And God spared the people.

It was for His reputation, not their merit.

God has never saved sinners because they deserve it.
God saves sinners for the glory of His name.

AND HERE IT IS TO DEFEND HIS NAME.
Instead of sending them to Babylon, God should have destroyed them,
But He made promises to them.

(10) “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver…”
• To refine silver you pass it completely through the fire and burn it until all that is impure is gone.

God says, “I haven’t done that to you, or else none would have survived.”

“I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.”

You deserved destruction, you received sanctification.
I should have cut you off, but I made promises to your forefathers

We are continually blown away by God’s sovereign election.

Look at it here:
• I have come to save you!
• We don’t want to be saved!
• Well I’m saving you, but not because you deserve it.
• I’m saving you because I said I would, and I am no liar!

We see the same with Israel even today.
Romans 11:28-29 “From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

Today we see a new rise in Anti-semitism.

The past few weeks has seen numerous college campuses embarking on segregation of Jewish students and faculty.

I’ve even seen multiple evangelicals insist that we should not stand with Israel because they are an immoral and corrupt people.
• They mention the homosexuality that runs rampant through Israel.
• They mention the hostility toward Christ that is in the nation.
• They mention their secularism and corruption.
• And they say, “Israel is pagan they are corrupt and we should not side with
them, they are not God’s people.”

And my answer would be:
WHAT ELSE IS NEW?

That’s not just who they are, that’s who they’ve always been.
And yet God made promises that He will not break.

Salvation has never been by merit.
• You proving to me that Israel is corrupt does not convince me that God won’t save them,
• It only enforces what I have always believed; namely that God will save them by pure grace.

He made promises and He will keep them.
For the glory of His name.

So you may not want to leave Babylon.
But you’re leaving.

And I for one am so thankful for this sovereign willingness of God.
I am so thankful for His effectual call.

People love to defend this so-called “Free Will of Man”.
They say things like,
• “God will never violate our free will.”
• “The Holy Spirit is a gentleman, He’ll never make you decide.”
• “Jesus is knocking, oh won’t you let Him come in.”

But Jesus said, “All that Father has given Me will come to Me.”

I am thankful He is faithful to the glory of His name.
He said He would save His people
So He will not let them stay in Babylon, but He will save them.

#4 INVITATION EXTENDED
Isaiah 48:12-16

3 times in this segment we see the command to “Listen” (12, 14, 16)

God is speaking to this stubborn people
Whom He has already determined to save
And He calls them to pay attention to what He has to say.

All three of these commands to listen revolve around:
GOD’S EFFECTUAL CALL

You see in verse 12, “Listen to Me, O Jacob, even Israel whom I called”
• You are Mine because I called you to be.

You see in verse 13, “Surely My hand founded the earth, And My right hand spread out the heavens; When I call to them, they stand together.”
• The heaven and earth exist because I called them to be.

You see in verse 15, “I, even I, have spoken; indeed I have called him”
• Cyrus is coming because I called him to come.

The commands here to listen
Are NOT God giving His people the option to respond or not.

This invitation is for them to get it through their heads
That He is doing this by His sovereign decree.

So you realize that you are Israel because I called you.
And you realize that creation exists because I called it.

So we see that first call to listen:
(12-13) “Listen to Me, O Jacob, even Israel whom I called; I am He, I am the first, I am also the last. Surely My hand founded the earth, And My right hand spread out the heavens; When I call to them, they stand together.”

LISTEN: My call in the past was perfectly fulfilled.
• Creation happened
• You are My people Israel.

No one could stop it.
Pay attention to what I’m saying!

Then we see that second call to listen:
(14-15) ““Assemble, all of you, and listen! Who among them has declared these things? The LORD loves him; he will carry out His good pleasure on Babylon, And His arm will be against the Chaldeans. “I, even I, have spoken; indeed I have called him, I have brought him, and He will make his ways successful.”

This is His current calling and it too will be fulfilled.

I know if you read the MacArthur study Bible
The notes say that this cannot be Cyrus, and it must be Jesus.

I’m going to disagree here.
• I’m not going to remove from this chapter the immediate application for the
people it was written to.

God is talking about Cyrus here.
Is it peculiar that God says He loves him? Yes.
• But it is peculiar that God would call him a messiah too.

God is here reiterating that, like it or not, Cyrus is the plan.

Just like creation, and just like with Israel;
God says (15) “indeed I have called him”

HE IS COMING.
• I raised him up.
• I am going to use him.
• He will carry out My plan.
• He is going to deliver you.
• He is going to send you home.
• He is going to rebuild My temple.

This is going to happen.
You need to get that through your head.
I AM NOT LETTING YOU STAY IN BABYLON.

Then we see that third call to listen:
(16) “Come near to Me, listen to this: From the first I have not spoken in secret, From the time it took place, I was there. And now the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His Spirit.”

This is the future call that is also coming.
• Here is the prophetic part.
• Here is the presence of Christ.

Verse 16 introduces us to a 3rd speaker.
“now the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His Spirit”

Some believe it is just Isaiah interjecting
That He has been sent by God to deliver this message.

The translators of the NASB obviously believe it to be a reference to Christ and that is why they capitalized the word “Me” in the verse.
And I think they’ve got it right there.

From the beginning God has not tried to hide at all that
Cyrus is a prophetic type.

This is why God called him “My anointed” back in chapter 45.

All the while we have sensed that
The message is more than just a message for those refugees in Babylon.

THIS IS MESSAGE FOR ISRAEL TO LISTEN.
Not just about what God did in choosing them.
Not just about what God is doing in sending Cyrus.
But also to what God will do in sending them Jesus Christ.

“From the time it took place, I was there. And now the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His Spirit.”

Christ is interjecting here to Israel.
Christ is joining the call for Israel to listen.
“You can’t stay in Babylon and you can’t keep the world.”

IT’S LIKE CYRUS IS A TEST
“You must learn to follow Cyrus out of Babylon because soon you’re going to heave to follow Me out of the world.”

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE INVITATION HERE?
1. We have people who call themselves Jews but who have no interest in returning to Jerusalem.
2. They frustrate God, but He is not surprised, they’ve been this way from the beginning.
3. They actually deserve to be destroyed, but He has determined to save them for the glory of His name.

And now He approaches them and tells them to “Listen…listen…listen”

Quit being stubborn and listen.
Quit arguing and listen.
Quit rebelling and listen.
STAYING IN BABYLON IS NOT AN OPTION.

And you’d better learn to figure this out now
Because the real Savior is coming later
And refusing Him is not an option either.

#5 SUBMISSION EXPECTED
Isaiah 48:17-22

God starts out with a reminder
Of where a lack of submission has gotten them in the past.

(17-19) “Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, Who leads you in the way you should go. “If only you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your well-being would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea. “Your descendants would have been like the sand, And your offspring like its grains; Their name would never be cut off or destroyed from My presence.”

It was not a good idea, obviously.

God speaks of the reality that caused the Babylonian Exile to begin with.
• Had Israel simply obeyed Him and honored their half of the covenant then God would have blessed them.
• Instead, they landed themselves in this mess by being stubborn and rebellious.

THAT IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA.
And now we come to the present.
Now the rubber meets the road again.

(20-22) “Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Declare with the sound of joyful shouting, proclaim this, Send it out to the end of the earth; Say, “The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob.” They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts. He made the water flow out of the rock for them; He split the rock and the water gushed forth. “There is no peace for the wicked,” says the LORD.”

You can either
Submit to My plan and follow My deliverer and be at peace and enjoy My sustenance.

Or you can
Try to reject me and stay in Babylon, but there will be “no peace” with that decision.

SO CHURCH, ARE YOU UNDERSTANDING THE POINT?

Surely we understand it for them.
• They would have been crazy to resist the salvation of Cyrus in favor of destruction in Babylon.

But they were a crazy people.
• They didn’t like to trust God.
• They liked to evaluate and debate everything.
• They were slow to submit.
• They were stubborn and obstinate and treacherous and rebellious.

And such a mindset will not work.

Church, we live in Babylon.
We live in a pagan and evil world system.

We are citizens of heaven and we are waiting for a Savior
To deliver us from this place and take us home.

He is coming because God said He was coming.
Do not fall so in love with this world that you reject Him when He calls.

STAYING IN BABYLON IS NOT AN OPTION.

God is saving His people.
• Be among His people.

God is pulling His people out of the world.
• Be one of those people.

God is crucifying His people to the world and the world to them.
• Let Him!

Christ is calling people to deny themselves and follow Him, do it.

Christ is calling men to love Him more than
• Father and mother,
• Brother and sister,
• Son and daughter,
• Houses and farms and lands
• Even more than your own life.

DO IT!

He is saving you.
• Don’t question it.
• Don’t debate it.
• Don’t argue with it.
• Don’t rebel against it.

Submit to Him.
God knows what He is doing and He is doing it for His glory.

Submit to Him so that you do not find yourself destroyed
Along with the rest of Babylon.