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The Folly Of Trusting Man
Isaiah 3:1-12
February 26, 2023

LAST SUNDAY NIGHT we began what is now
THE SECOND SERMON in the book of Isaiah.

This sermon spans chapter 2 through chapter 4
And the main point of the sermon
Is to move Judah from idols to worshiping God.

It is actually a sermon that runs a full circle.
• It starts with the reality of the millennium (1,000 year reign of Christ) in 2:1-4
• And it ends with the reality of the millennium in 4:1-6.

And the purpose of the sermon is to show Israel WHAT IS COMING
And what is GOD’S METHOD TO GET THEM THERE.

In chapter 2 we looked at a CONTRAST.

We saw what the world will look like SOMEDAY
When all the world seeks and trusts Christ.

On the day when all the nations (not just Israel) will approach the Lord to hear His will and do it, the consequences will be nothing but shear blessing.

Isaiah 2:4 “And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.”

If everyone just sought and obeyed Jesus this world would be fixed.
Someday they will.

The reality was beautiful enough to cause Isaiah to interject in verse 5:
Isaiah 2:5 “Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.”

Isaiah wanted them to do it now.
Why wait?

But as we said, Israel was stubborn.

What is more, they love their sin and have no desire to leave it.
Isaiah 2:6 “For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob, Because they are filled with influences from the east, And they are soothsayers like the Philistines, And they strike bargains with the children of foreigners.”

God had promised a day when all the nations would come to Him
For wisdom and would obey Him resulting in peace.

But the CURRENT DAY was exactly opposite.
Instead of listening to God, Judah was filled with worldly influence.

They followed worldly logic.
They followed worldly thinking.

AND THE MEANS of God to break this cycle
And lead His people to a place where they will seek Him and Him alone
Was simple: TRIBULATION.

Isaiah 2:11-12 “The proud look of man will be abased And the loftiness of man will be humbled, And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. For the LORD of hosts will have a day of reckoning Against everyone who is proud and lofty And against everyone who is lifted up, That he may be abased.”

God is going to bring a day upon Israel
• Which will cause them to no longer trust in themselves or in their idols or in the logic and wisdom of man.
• In which He is their only hope and will use that day to drive His people back to Him.

Incidentally, like much of what we read in Isaiah,
We can see an IMMEDIATE and DISTANT fulfillment.

Much of what Isaiah spoke of was seen in the Babylonian invasion
• In which all of Israel’s faith and trust in man proved pointless
• For Babylon annihilated them and carried their few survivors into exile.
• The result of this exile was that Israel did once again start seeking God and
never again fell into such blatant idolatry.

However, the truest fulfillment of the promise
Is not seen fulfilled until the very end.

We read in Revelation of God’s great tribulation which will cover the earth and the horrific realities that accompany it.
Those realities will ultimately drive Israel to Christ, whom they crucified,
And will usher in His millennial reign.

So we see both a near and far fulfillment.

Now chapter 2
Ended with a direct command from the LORD.

That statement is a main point of God
And one that He is not finished addressing.

Isaiah 2:22 “Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils; For why should he be esteemed?”

God looked at His people
Who were more prone to listen to the advice of the nations
Than they were to listen to His advice and God ordered them to stop.

Well the sermon is not over.
Isaiah continues.

And THIS MORNING we build off of that statement by Isaiah
And we ask the question: “Why is trusting man such a bad thing?”

And that is where Isaiah 3:1-12 comes into play.

What we are going to see this morning is the end result
Of when a people determine to look to man as their salvation.

It is a real issue among humanity.
It is the very essence of pride and arrogance that MAN HAS BELIEVED

That the problems that plague humanity
Can be fixed by the knowledge and effort of man.

Because we have read our Bibles
We know that the problem that plagues this world is sin.
• When Adam sinned in the garden, God cursed this world.
• We saw toil, enmity, pain, and ultimately death.

They are all enemies that man has never been able to defeat
Or deliver themselves from.

In short, man has always proven to be an inadequate savior.
And yet, it is the propensity of man to continually look to himself to save.

We already saw in Isaiah’s day
• How they listened to influences from the east and were soothsayers like the Philistines.
• We are aware of their propensity to trust in their political rulers as deliverers.

All of this amounted to arrogant idolatry in the eyes of God
And He is going to fix it so that He alone is exalted.

So God told His people to stop exalting man.
Here in chapter 3 we see WHY.

We’re going to break these 12 verses down into 5 points.
#1 THE REMOVAL
Isaiah 3:1-4

In 2:22 God said to “stop exalting man”
Now we start to see why.

(1) “For behold, the Lord GOD is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah Both supply and support, the whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water.”

It will begin with A COMMON TRIAL
Which comes directly from the LORD.

It is famine and drought.
God is going to bring upon His people a severe hardship.

It is the type of thing that will cause the people
To begin to clamor to their leaders to fix for them.

And just STOP THERE and pay attention lest we overlook the
SOVEREIGN PREROGATIVE OF GOD over things like drought and famine.

If I were to tell you that the United States is suffering a recession, would you agree?

If I were to say that the prices of groceries and goods has greatly increased, would you agree?

And if I were to ask you who caused it, what would the knee-jerk reaction be?

Well typically if you’re a Republican you’d say, it was caused by the Democrats
And if you’re a Democrat you’d say, it was caused by the Republicans.

We have this propensity to see all the workings and fate of the world
As circumstances which we bring about by our own doing.

And we have this propensity to overlook
The sovereign prerogatives of God in all these things.

What if I were to tell you that it WASN’T a Republican or Democrat that caused it?
What if I were to tell you that the rise in gas prices and grocery prices and the struggling economy was NOT CAUSED by a political party?

What if I were to tell you that such things are the result of the hand of God?

When “Jerusalem and Judah” were promised to struggle for food
Isaiah was extremely clear who was behind it.

And WHY DOES IT MATTER whether or not you see the hand of God behind it?

Because if drought and famine or recession is the fault of a political party then you will blame that party for the problem and you will look to the other party to fix it.

But if drought and famine or recession comes from the hand of God
Then the only one to blame is us
And we must seek repentance and the forgiveness of God to fix it.

It is important to Isaiah that Israel understand where this will come from.

But not only does it begin with this trial.
But notice also that God will remove any and every potential savior that men might be tempted to look to for deliverance.

Not only will God remove “the whole supply of bread And the whole supply of water;” but THERE’S MORE He will remove.

(2-3) “The mighty man and the warrior, The judge and the prophet, The diviner and the elder, The captain of fifty and the honorable man, The counselor and the expert artisan, And the skillful enchanter.”

WHAT IS THIS LIST?

It is a list of the people that Israel might be prone to look to
For salvation from their problem.

• Can it be fixed by “the might man”?
• Can it be fixed by “the warrior”?
• Can it be fixed by “the judge”?
• Can it be fixed by “the prophet”?
• Can it be fixed by “the diviner”?
• Can it be fixed by “the elder”?
• Can it be fixed by “the captain of fifty”?
• Can it be fixed by “the honorable man”?
• Can it be fixed by “the counselor”?
• Can it be fixed by “the expert artisan”?
• Can it be fixed by “the skillful enchanter”?

WE MIGHT ADD IN OUR DAY:
• Can it be fixed by “the politician”?
• Can it be fixed by “the movie star”?
• Can it be fixed by “the athlete”?
• Can it be fixed by “the general”?
• Can it be fixed by “the musician”?
• Can it be fixed by “the scientist”?

You get the idea.

We’re NOT SAYING that God didn’t use their foolish ideas or their corruption to put us in this mess,
But it is naïve to think God didn’t have a hand in it.

And it is even more ridiculous
To suppose that any one of them can fix the problem.

GOD MAKES THAT CLEAR HERE.
He removes every potential savior and deliverer.

Incidentally God will do this exact thing.
Under the reign of Jehoiachin, Nebuchadnezzar will lay siege to Jerusalem and Jehoiachin will surrender.

Listen to what will happen.
2 Kings 24:12-16 “Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his officials. So the king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign. He carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, just as the LORD had said. Then he led away into exile all Jerusalem and all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land. So he led Jehoiachin away into exile to Babylon; also the king’s mother and the king’s wives and his officials and the leading men of the land, he led away into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. All the men of valor, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths, one thousand, all strong and fit for war, and these the king of Babylon brought into exile to Babylon.”

The day Isaiah speaks of is coming.
God will bring drought and famine
And then remove every seemingly capable savior from the scene.

Hosea 13:11 “I gave you a king in My anger And took him away in My wrath.”

(4) “And I will make mere lads their princes, And capricious children will rule over them.”

Ecclesiastes 10:16 “Woe to you, O land, whose king is a lad and whose princes feast in the morning.”

This is the type of judgment Isaiah speaks of here.

God says “I will make mere lads their princes”.
• One could read it as though God will actually let children rule over them,
• But based on the coming history of Israel it is probably better to see that as men who think like children.

So listen to Isaiah here:
• When you face famine and drought and tribulation…
• And when all your qualified leaders are carried away…
• And when you are stuck with leaders who have no wisdom or ability to lead…

You should not see that as anything less than the judgment of God.

This is the LORD’S doing to bring Israel to her knees and back to Him.
Do not overlook the sovereign prerogative of God.

That is the removal, and it is by the Lord’s hand.
#2 THE RESULT
Isaiah 3:5-7

What happens when the LORD removes qualified leaders and replaces them with foolish ones?

IT’S NOT PRETTY.
(5) “And the people will be oppressed, Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor; The youth will storm against the elder And the inferior against the honorable.”

In short you get a backward society and a totally corrupt culture.

“oppression” is NOT a sign of the blessing of God.
• Neither is a culture where the young disrespect the old
• Or the foolish shame the wise.

When God removes wise leadership from a nation
You are stuck with backward and depraved thinking.

When God allows men to throw off the restraints of a wise government
Then the basest carnal impulses of sinful man begin to run riot.

And the result is always oppression.
Men never throw off restraint and become more holy as a result.

Jesus spoke about it in the tribulation.
Matthew 24:12 “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.”

And men should look to God,
• But Israel is not there yet.
• They are still looking to man to solve all their issues.
• “Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils; For why should he be esteemed?” (2:22)

They should look to God, but they continue to look to man.

(6-7) “When a man lays hold of his brother in his father’s house, saying, “You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler, And these ruins will be under your charge,” He will protest on that day, saying, “I will not be your healer, For in my house there is neither bread nor cloak; You should not appoint me ruler of the people.”

My how the standards are lowered.
• The only criteria they are using to determine whether or not a person should be king is if he has a coat.

“You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler”

That’s not much criteria.

And that man will refuse.
“in my house there is neither bread nor cloak”
• I can’t feed my family let alone you.
• I’m no savior.

You have here now total desperation.
• Can anyone save us?
• Can anyone deliver us?
• Can anyone provide bread?
• Can anyone provide water?
• Can anyone fix the recession?

It is a sad reality.

You have people who are struggling under oppression
And they cannot seem to look anywhere but to man
To fix their problem.

WHY IS THAT?

Because they are NOT SEEING the real problem.
(And Israel has been notorious for this throughout the ages)

They DON’T SEE what has caused the drought and famine.

They think it’s poor leadership, so they look to better leadership to fix it.
If they would see that it is their sin then they would repent and look to God.

So, Isaiah seeks to point them in the right direction.
#3 THE REASON
Isaiah 3:8-9

“For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen,”

That much we see, BUT WHY?

“Because their speech and their actions are against the LORD, to rebel against His glorious presence.”

They AREN’T struggling because they have bad leaders (thought they might)
They ARE struggling because they have offended God.

• God removed the bread.
• God removed the water.
• God removed the qualified leaders.
• HE DID THAT!

Because Israel offended Him.

HOW?

We have read it over and over already.
Isaiah 1:15b-17 “…Your hands are covered with blood. “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.”

Isaiah 2:6-9 “For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob, Because they are filled with influences from the east, And they are soothsayers like the Philistines, And they strike bargains with the children of foreigners. Their land has also been filled with silver and gold And there is no end to their treasures; Their land has also been filled with horses And there is no end to their chariots. Their land has also been filled with idols; They worship the work of their hands, That which their fingers have made. So the common man has been humbled And the man of importance has been abased, But do not forgive them.”

We’ll see it again later in this sermon:
Isaiah 3:13-15 “The LORD arises to contend, And stands to judge the people. The LORD enters into judgment with the elders and princes of His people, “It is you who have devoured the vineyard; The plunder of the poor is in your houses. “What do you mean by crushing My people And grinding the face of the poor?” Declares the Lord GOD of hosts.”

DO YOU SEE THE SIN?
• They love the world, they love money.
• They have abandoned the poor in order to keep their money.
• They have disregarded the orphan and the widow.

These were direct violations of God’s Law and yet they didn’t care.

This is why the trials have come.
They have offended God.

But they don’t see it, they think it’s someone else’s fault
So instead of repentance they look for new and better leaders.

But sin is the issue:
(9) “The expression of their faces bears witness against them, And they display their sin like Sodom; They do not even conceal it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves.”

WHAT A VERSE!

First of all “the expression of their faces bears witness against them”

Isaiah has several times now revealed their sin,
• But the very look on their face reveals that they don’t agree with him.

Isaiah told them they had bloody hands
• And their very facial reaction showed that they didn’t agree with him.

But that’s not all. “they display their sin like Sodom”

• Do you remember how Sodom displayed their sin?
• Do you remember the angelic messengers staying at Lot’s house?
• Do you remember the men of the city approaching to have sexual relations with them?
• Do you remember Lot begging them not to?
• Do you remember the angels casting blindness on the men of Sodom?
• Do you remember the wearying themselves trying to find the door?

They were men committing sin and they didn’t even see it as sin.
They weren’t ashamed of it, they were proud of it.

When you told them what they were doing was sinful they made a face like you are out of your mind.

And they did it right there in public for the world to see because they saw no problem with it.

It’s not just a people who are sinning,
It’s a people who no longer even see their sin as sinful.

“They do not even conceal it”

Jeremiah 6:15 “Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They were not even ashamed at all; They did not even know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time that I punish them, They shall be cast down,” says the LORD.”

And Isaiah says the same thing here.
“Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves.”

You have here a nation under the judgment of God
And from God’s estimation they deserve everything
They are getting and are about to get.

THEY HAVE A MASSIVE PROBLEM.

• You have men in sin, and they won’t even recognize it as sin.
• When God does bring judgment they don’t see it as coming from God
because they don’t think God has any reason to judge them.
• And since they don’t see the judgment as coming from God they don’t run to
God for salvation from it.
• They run to men in hopes that man will fix it.

It is a corrupt and clueless and backward culture.

It is no wonder God is pouring out judgment on such a culture.

“Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils;
For why should he be esteemed?”

Jeremiah 17:5-8 “Thus says the LORD, “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the LORD. “For he will be like a bush in the desert And will not see when prosperity comes, But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, A land of salt without inhabitant. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD And whose trust is the LORD. “For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit.”

The LORD alone will be exalted.
The LORD alone is the savior.

But the nation of Israel has instead decided to look to themselves for salvation.
• We can fix it ourselves.
• And God has stepped in to prove otherwise.

And if you sit here in the pew in the United States of America
And have begun to think, perhaps the Lord’s hand is against our nation
I THINK YOU ARE TRACKING ACCURATELY.

Allow me to remind you again what it looks like
When God’s judgment is resting on a nation.

There are clear Biblical explanations so that you can know when God’s wrath is abiding.

Romans 1:24-32 “Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

That’s what it looks like.
When a nation is given over to idolatry, homosexuality, and depravity;

You shouldn’t blame the radical left and you shouldn’t blame the liberal media,
And you shouldn’t blame whoever else you think is causing this.

When a nation is given over to such sin
It is because that nation has failed to honor God.

Romans 1:18-21 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

You can’t see it any other way.
It’s not another election that America needs, it’s repentance.

I HOPE YOU SEE THAT.

Isaiah speaks of a nation under judgment and it feels eerily similar.

But what does that say for us?
What does that say for God’s people in the midst of such a nation?

#4 THE REASSURANCE
Isaiah 3:10-11

We see the obvious contrast between the righteous and the wicked.
It is important here to distinguish the two
And understand what Isaiah means by each.

Based on the context of the sermon
We know who the RIGHTEOUS are, they are those who trust God.
• They seek God, they trust God, they cry out to God, they obey God.

And we know who the WICKED are, they are those who trust men.
• They seek men, they trust men, they are influenced by men, they follow men.

So you have the righteous God-trusters
And you have the wicked man-trusters.

Here we have a wonderful promise from God.

(10) “Say to the righteous that it will go well with them, For they will eat the fruit of their actions.”

Now don’t misread that.
THAT DOESN’T MEAN that the righteous won’t suffer the drought or famine.

Isaiah and Jeremiah were right there in the midst of those hard situations
And they got hungry just like everyone else.

This doesn’t mean that the righteous
Are going to be saved from every hardship.
No, the righteous may be right there in the middle of it.

It means that the righteous don’t have to fear the outcome.

And the flipside is also true.
(11) “Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him, For what he deserves will be done to him.”

Listen, the famine is bad and the drought is bad,
But NEITHER of those are the FINAL JUDGMENT.

The removal of bread and the removal water
And the removal qualified leaders that is a WARNING SHOT.
That is God’s way of calling men to repentance.

The final judgment is WAY worse!

WHAT IS THE POINT?
Just because the righteous and the wicked
May endure the same temporal misfortune
Does not mean they will share the same ultimate fate.

John Calvin wrote:
“Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him. He brings forward this clause as a contrast to the former one; from which it may be easily inferred what was the design of the Prophet, namely, to comfort the godly, and to terrify the wicked by the judgment of God. For when an uncommonly severe calamity occurs, which attacks all without discrimination, we doubt whether it be by the providence of God, or, on the contrary, by blind chance, that the world is governed. On this account godly men fear and dread that the same destruction which overtakes the wicked will ruin them also. Others think that it is of no importance whether a man be good or bad, when they see both classes visited by pestilence, war, famine, and other calamities. And hence arises the wicked thought, that there is no difference between the rewards of the good and of the bad; and in the midst of these gloomy thoughts carnal appetites lead many to despair.
Accordingly, the Prophet shows that the judgment of God is right, that men may continue to fear God, and may be aware that those who, in the expectation of escaping punishment, provoke God, will not pass unpunished.”
(Calvin, John [Calvin’s Commentaries Volume VII; Isaiah 1-32; Baker Publishers; Grand Rapids, MI; 2005] pg. 137-138)

Listen you righteous, who are seeking God!
Just because you endure the same recession as the wicked
Does not mean you will share their fate.

This trial is a wakeup call to the nations that they may repent.
And it is a wakeup call to you as well, that you should warn them!

Look at the final point:
#5 THE REMORSE
Isaiah 3:12

This comes from God’s heart.
He has afflicted these people and yet look at His heart in their affliction.

(12) “O My people! Their oppressors are children, And women rule over them. O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray And confuse the direction of your paths.”

God DOESN’T lament their famine…
God DOESN’T lament their drought…
God laments that they trust in faulty saviors
Who will not be able to deliver them.

• He sees them as men about to swing over a canyon with a frayed rope.
• He sees them as men about to climb in a life raft with a hole in it.

He laments the pitiful saviors they have trusted in.
He laments that in their trials they run to those who cannot save.

And here we find our heart in the midst of such circumstances.
IT IS ONE OF GRIEF AND WARNING.

We may endure temporal trials which God has designed primarily to call the wicked to repentance.

• And when we do endure them, we do so with the promise that for us these trials are temporary.

But we must also endure them with the knowledge that
For the wicked this is as good as it’s ever going to get.

And we must be motivated with the grief and urgency of God
TO WARN THEM.

Is this not the heart of Jesus?
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.”

And who did He weep for but for those who were about to condemn and crucify Him.

Was this not the heart of Paul?
Romans 9:1-3 “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,”

And for whom was Paul grieved, but for those who would falsely accuse him, see him arrested and carried to prison in Rome.

Was this not what the angel told John on Patmos?
Revelation 10:10-11 “I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. And they said to me, “You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”

Even if you are one who trusts God and seeks God and looks to God for salvation
• You may indeed live in the filthy mess of this fallen world.
• You may indeed feel the sting of the punishments God pours out upon the wicked.

Christian people suffer under natural disasters
And under droughts and famines.

• We live in the same fallen world the wicked live in.
• Jesus came and lived in the same fallen world that the wicked live in where He also experienced hunger and thirst and storms and trials.

But even though we endure we have hope of a better day
For unlike the world, our Savior can actually save.

But the world doesn’t have such hope. This trial is to teach them that.

And we are the messengers; we are the Isaiah’s called to show them.

It does Christians no good to get into political fighting and debates about leaders as though any of them could save anyone.

Our job is to make sure the world understands
That such hardships come to us from the hand of God
And only He can deliver us from them.

We are His messengers.
We are His ambassadors.

And we must grieve with God and warn with Isaiah.

Because this world must leave their idolatry
And learn to seek the living God.

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Exalting The LORD Alone
Isaiah 2:1-22
February 19, 2022

Tonight we move into the SECOND SERMON of Isaiah in this book.
This sermon actually covers chapters 2-4.

The chief point of the sermon is God’s plan
For removing Israel’s dependance on idolatry
And restoring their dependance on Him alone as their Savior.

That is really the issue, and certainly one of importance to us.

When we closed our study of 1 John that book closed with one final statement.

1 John 5:21 “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”

The very way John states that warning reminds us that
There is a threat in this world from which we must be guarded.

We live in a world
• Full of demonic influence.
• Full or rebellion against God.
• With much faulty logic.

And that means that we are constantly being bombarded with options
Of things that we can love more than God, trust more than God,
Depend on more than God, etc.

When you go out into this world
When you listen to the news
When you sit in a classroom.

You will be given all sorts of wisdom and advice
Regarding what you should do or whom you should listen to.

But the advice of the world is never, “Trust God”.
We live in a world that tells you to trust doctors and trust politicians and trust financial advisors and trust scholars and trust experts, but never is the message to trust God.

In short, you are being introduced to new idols on a daily basis.

IT IS A THREAT.
Israel had fallen prey to that threat.

But you know that God is a jealous God.
He does not tolerate idolatry.

So while His people may fall into idolatry you can rest assured
That God always has a plan to pull them out of it.

That is what this second sermon of Isaiah is about.

Tonight we start looking at it.

And tonight I really just want us to focus on sort of the first leg of this sermon, which I have entitled “Exalting the LORD Alone”

That is really the focus

(2:11) “The proud look of man will be abased And the loftiness of man will be humbled, And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.”

(2:17) “The pride of man will be humbled And the loftiness of men will be abased; And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day,”

(2:22) “Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils; For why should he be esteemed?”

You get the idea.
It is God’s design that He alone should be your trust,
And He alone should be the object of your exaltation.

And here we see how God brings that about.

Let’s work through this chapter together.

What you’re going to see in this chapter is a contrast.
• It’s going to begin with God revealing the way things will be someday.
• Then it’s going to show how far things are from that way now.
• And then it’s going to show God’s plan for getting us from here to there.

So we’re going to break it down into 3 points.
#1 THE LAST DAYS
Isaiah 2:1-4

Here God outlines for His people where this world is headed one day.
You and I know it as “The Millennium”
Or the 1,000 year reign of Christ after He returns.

This is where the world is headed.
It’s what we might call: A DAY OF REVERENCE

(1-2) “The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it.”

Obviously we are referring here to “the last days”

And on that day “the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains.”

In other words, it will be the highest high place.
It will be the chosen worship site.

Right now Israel is littered with high places
Where people go into the mountains and hills and worship other deities
But it won’t always be this way.

There is coming a day when there will be
1 worship site and it will the LORD’S house.

“And all the nations will stream to it”

You are witnessing the end of idolatry and pluralism.

And that’s not all.
(3) “And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways And that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.”

Not only will idols be eliminated and the LORD alone worshiped,
But the worship there will be LEGITIMATE, SINCERE, and TRUE.

• They won’t be coming to given token worship.
• They won’t be coming just to say they came.
• They won’t be there in hypocrisy like the worship of chapter 1.

They will go to the LORD’S house
Because they will genuinely want to know the LORD.

“That He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths.”

It will be the type of worship Jesus spoke about when He said
People will worship “in Spirit and in truth”

People will want to hear from God and they will want to do His will.

So a Removal of Idols is followed by a Revival of People.

And still that’s not all.
(4) “And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.”

It’s amazing how well everything is going to go
When people stop sinning and start listening to the LORD.

When they quit worshiping idols and start seeking Christ and His will
Then it’s quite amazing what the world will become.

In short, there will be peace; real peace.
They won’t need swords anymore.
They won’t need basic training anymore.

The LORD will judge and because people will follow His judgments
The world will be a place of peace and harmony.

A REMOVAL OF IDOLS
A REVIVAL OF PEOPLE
A RESTORATION OF PEACE

THAT IS WHERE WE ARE HEADED.
That is the coming day.

Now there are many other passages, even in Isaiah, where we could talk more about this day, but here we simply point out the basic generalities of what that day will be.

Idols are gone, People will genuinely seek the LORD,
And the world will enjoy peace.

That is the last days.

But as I told you, this sermon opens with a contrast.
#2 THE PRESENT DAYS
Isaiah 2:5-9

We must notice right off the bat that Isaiah is so enamored with the glory of that day that he immediately stops and asks his fellow man to start seeking God now.

Wouldn’t it be great if we all just did it now!

(5) “Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.”

Isaiah would love for them to start seeking God like,
For as you will see, they aren’t even close to that right now.

Here we DON’T see A Day of Reverence

Here we see: A DAY OF REVELRY
We see a people who are drinking up the world.

Instead of a people who have the instruction of the LORD,
They are a people who have sought the logic of the world
And therefore He has abandoned them.

(6) “For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob”

In those first 4 verses we saw a beautiful reality where
God’s people sought God and God gave them perfect instruction.

But that is NOT what we see today.
Today, people don’t seek God and God has abandoned them.

WHY?
“Because they are filled with influences from the east, And they are soothsayers like the Philistines, And they strike bargains with the children of foreigners.”

What does that mean?
THEY ARE WORLDLY

They aren’t influenced by the word of God
They are influenced by the word of man.

A “soothsayer” is one who supposedly can see the future.
Today they are referred to as psychics or palm-readers, etc.

And men are getting guidance from them instead of from God.

ALSO they are making covenants with foreigners.

Paul reminds us that we should not be unequally yoked.
2 Corinthians 6:14-16 “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.”

But this is the problem with Israel.

Instead of taking their instruction from God they take it from the world.
• They are learning from the world.
• They are listening to the world.
• They are following the world’s advice.

And WE need to pay attention to this very deeply in our lives.

Our world is full of advice.
Our world is full of logic.
So much of that runs absolutely contrary to the teachings of Scripture.

Think about topics like:
MARRIAGE
• What are the world’s views vs the Bible’s views?
• Living together?
• Divorce?
• Roles?
• Even Genders?

MONEY
• What are the world’s views vs the Bible’s views?
• Storing?
• Giving?
• Loving?
• Trusting?

PARENTING
• What are the world’s view vs the Bible’s views?
• Discipline?
• Instruction?
• Purpose?

And we could go on and on.
Our world is full of bad advice, but often we accept it and follow it
Because the majority thinks it to be true.

We are filled with influences from wall-street.
We are filled with influences from social media.
We are filled with influences from Hollywood.
We are filled with influences from our culture.

God sees that as idolatry!
It is to seek and trust and follow the wrong advice.

Now here God gets specific with Israel
About THE EFFECT OF LISTENING too much to the world.

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE WHEN A PERSON STARTS LISTENING TO THE WORLD MORE THAN THEY LISTEN TO GOD?

Well look at Israel.
(7a) “Their land has also been filled with silver and gold And there is no end to their treasures;”

You’ll know when someone listens to the world more than God
When the build a preoccupation with having the world’s stuff.

If you read what the LORD has to say,
• He speaks of sharing with widows and orphans and not storing away your treasures.
• He tells you to give and give freely.
• He tells you to share with those who don’t have enough.
• Being rich is never looked upon favorably in the New Testament.
• James talks about those who fatten their heart for a day of slaughter
• We are told you can’t serve God and money
• We read about men like the guy who tore down his barns to build bigger ones

Perhaps the greatest rebuke of wealth is that
“It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The Bible is constantly warning of the dangers of wealth.
If you listen to the Bible you’ll learn to pray for “daily bread” and to “be content”

The Bible says:
1 Timothy 6:17-19 “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.”

But the world will NEVER tell you it is foolish to hoard wealth.
The world will encourage you to get more and tell you how to keep it.

The world will not teach you to forsake this life for the next,
The world will tell you to get all you can out of this life.

Israel had forsaken God’s commands to follow the world’s logic.

THERE’S MORE INDICATORS
(7b) “Their land has also been filled with horses And there is no end to their chariots.”

This spoke of their power and military might.

You’ll know when a person listens to the world more than God
When they security becomes more important than service.

• We think of all the instructions of God about helping those in need.
• We think of all the instructions about seeking His kingdom, not ours.
• We think of all the instructions about how this world is passing away.

Think of Abraham, a man of faith who never even owned the land:
Hebrews 11:13-16 “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

Or those in the book of Hebrews who truly forsook this world:
Hebrews 10:32-34 “But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.”

But that’s not what you’re going to do if you listen to the world.
• Jesus tells you if someone wants to take your coat, give them your shirt too.
• The world says if they want your coat, shoot them and protect your property!

Israel was following the world’s logic, not God’s.
They were hoarding the world
And their chief concern was protecting what they collected.

THERE’S MORE
(8) “Their land has also been filled with idols; They worship the work of their hands, that which their fingers have made.”

You’ll know when a person listens to the world more than God
When they start trusting the same things the world trusts.

• IT CAN BE SYSTEMS like our medical field or political leaders.
• IT CAN BE IDEOLOGIES like the new WOKENESS or critical race theory or evolution or global warming threats
• IT CAN BE HERESIES like pluralism

It’s just any time you see the people of God
Mimicking and spouting the jargon of the world.

• There is no reason for a Bible believing Christian to believe in evolution.
• There is no reason for a Bible believing Christian to condone gay marriage.
• There is no reason for a Bible believing Christian to endorse critical race theory.
• There is no reason for a Bible believing Christian to pursue women pastors.
• There is no reason for a Bible believing Christian to balk at gender roles in marriage.
• There is no reason for a Bible believing Christian to not believe in a young earth, a literal six day creation, a global flood, etc.

The reason so many “Christians” believe those things
Is because they are following the pattern of this world.

They bow to the world’s because they don’t want to be Shadrach, Meshack, and Abed-Nego as the only ones left standing refusing to bow.

So we live in a day when God’s people,
Who want to be regarded as intellectual by the world,
Will bow to the world’s idols and seek to salvage their reputations.

THAT IS NOT CHRISTIAN!!
1 Corinthians 3:18-20 “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is THE ONE WHO CATCHES THE WISE IN THEIR CRAFTINESS”; and again, “THE LORD KNOWS THE REASONINGS of the wise, THAT THEY ARE USELESS.”

Israel bowed down on the high places because that’s what the nations did
And it was foolish!

DO YOU WANT TO SEE THE END RESULT OF SUCH CONFORMITY?
(9) “So the common man has been humbled and the man of importance has been abased”

Here you see the TWO EXTREMES.
• You see “the common man” which would be the low man on the totem pole.
• And you see “the man of importance” which is obviously the top.

But what do they have in common?
“humbled” and “abased”

THEY ARE BOTH END UP HUMILIATED.

Romans 1:22 “Professing to be wise, they became fools,”

• Do you know how foolish men are going to look someday who believed in evolution?
• Do you know how foolish men are going to look who rejected creation?
• Do you know how foolish men are going to look who endorsed gay marriage or any other of the world’s ideologies?

When the righteous Judge reigns and worldly logic passes away,
All those who proposed such things will be “humbled” and “abased”.

The advice of the world is foolish and it will lead you to ruin.

And it is one thing when the world follows her own foolish logic,
But when God’s people, who have God’s word, ignore God
And follow the world’s logic – IT IS AN ABOMINATION.

In fact, at this point Isaiah lets out AN OUTBURST.
“But do not forgive them.”

Isaiah is so frustrated with what he sees from God’s people
And how worldly they have become
That he doesn’t even what God to extend mercy to them.

So let’s just look at THE CONTRAST.
These two days are far apart.

God envisions a day
• When His people have no other gods but Him,
• And not only they, but even the nations stream to Him
• To learn from Him and do His will.

But what we have today
• Are nations who follow their own gods
• And God’s people are listening to them instead of God.

In short, Israel is a long way from where God wants them to be.
That is clear enough.

The question is: HOW DO THEY GET FROM HERE TO THERE?

#3 THE COMING DAYS
Isaiah 2:10-22

The simple answer of how they get from here to there is: TRIBULATION

Have you ever wondered why the horrors of the first chapters of Revelation are so severe?

It is because God is breaking His people
From their dependance on the world.

Tribulation and suffering has a way of doing that.

God longs for A Day of Reverence
Israel lived in a A Day of Revelry
To fix that we get: A DAY OF RECKONING

(10-11) “Enter the rock and hide in the dust From the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty. The proud look of man will be abased And the loftiness of man will be humbled, And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.”

Does that sound familiar?

Revelation 6:14-17 “The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

You’ll see it again in verses 19-21

God has had enough
• Of these arrogant men who follow their own logic instead of His word.
• Of these lofty men who think they know so much that they can ignore the wisdom of God.

They exalt themselves by following their own logic
AND GOD WON’T STAND FOR IT.

God is going to bring such a day that men will “hide…from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty.”

Andwhen the dust clears and the battle is over:
“the LORD alone will be exalted on that day.”

You won’t trust worldly logic by the time God is finished.

So let’s look at His day of Reckoning.
1) THE PREY (12-16)

That is to say: Who is God going to be firing at?

You see how many times the word “against” is used. (10x)

1. “Against everyone who is proud and lofty”
2. “Against everyone who is lifted up”

That is the arrogant who think they are smarter than God
And who think they can ignore God’s commands.

3. “Against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up”
4. “Against all the oaks of Bashan”
5. “Against all the lofty mountains”
6. “Against all the hills that are lifted up”

It speaks to their high places and the idols which they carve.
God will have a day of reckoning with them.

7. “Against every high tower”
8. “Against every fortified wall”

These are their false securities
And the things they trusted in to keep them safe.

9. “Against all the ships of Tarshish”
10. “And against all the beautiful craft”

Tarshish was the Amazon of Israel.
It is where all their stuff came from.
It is the stuff Israel coveted and loved more than God.

God sat in heaven watching people love and trust in worldly things.

He saw men follow the influence of the world
And on this day God has had enough.

• He attacks those who worship idols.
• He attacks the idols they worship.
• He attacks the stuff they love.
• He attacks the stuff they trust.

He won’t put up with people who love or seek or trust anything but Him.
And on His day of reckoning He will bring it all to an end.

That’s the prey.
2) THE PURPOSE (17-18)

“The pride of man will be humbled and the loftiness of men will be abased; And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.”

Do you see the issue?
It is God taking out all competitors.

Exodus 20:1-6 “Then God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”

Isaiah 42:8 “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.”

Isaiah 45:5-7 “I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.”

When God says you can’t worship anyone or anything else, He means it.

(18) “But the idols will completely vanish.”

• Worldly wisdom and logic will no longer be passed along.
• You won’t be able to find an evolutionist anywhere.
• Money hoarding will be no more.

God’s day of reckoning is for the purpose of securing
That He alone receives glory.

3) THE PANIC (19-21)

Here we see that familiar scenario spoken of again.

Incidentally, notice that verses 19 and 21 are Nearly Identical.

(19) “Men will go into caves of the rocks And into holes of the ground Before the terror of the LORD And the splendor of His majesty, When He arises to make the earth tremble.”

(21) “In order to go into the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs Before the terror of the LORD and the splendor of His majesty, When He arises to make the earth tremble.”

It is that same reality we just read about in Revelation 6 where men will be so afraid of the LORD that they will try to run under the mountains to get away from Him.

Why does Isaiah repeat himself?
It is a literary trick to get you to focus on the verse between them.

(20) “In that day men will cast away to the moles and the bats Their idols of silver and their idols of gold, Which they made for themselves to worship,”

WHAT IS THE POINT?
That men will be so afraid of God
That they will be looking to get rid of anything
They think might be offending Him.

They have loved their idols of silver.
They have loved their idols of gold.
They have loved their money.

But on this day someone tells them that God is angry because of the gold you’ve hoarded and they won’t be able to throw it away fast enough.

Men have such a nonchalant view of idolatry today
As though God doesn’t really mean it
When He tells you not to love the world.

But there is coming a day
When men won’t be able to get rid of the world fast enough.

They will throw away anything that incites the wrath of God.

And then we get to the final point of this day of Reckoning
And the FIRST MAJOR POINT of this second sermon if Isaiah.

4) THE POINT (22)

“Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils; For why should he be esteemed?”

God is tracing back their idolatry and their foolishness
To one major problem.

They have too much regard for man.

• They trust too much the wisdom of man.
• They follow too much the advice of man.
• They love too much the approval of man.
• They seek too much the camaraderie of man.

• They want man to esteem them.
• They want man to love them.
• They want man to honor them.

So they follow man’s logic and worship man’s idols
And join in man’s sinful behavior.

If man says to do it, they do it.
IT IS SO DANGEROUS!

John 12:36-43 “While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.” These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them. But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?” For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, “HE HAS BLINDED THEIR EYES AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART, SO THAT THEY WOULD NOT SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND PERCEIVE WITH THEIR HEART, AND BE CONVERTED AND I HEAL THEM.” These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him. Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.”

Do you see the problem?

We could talk about it in ministry.
• Seeker Sensitive
• Culturally Relevant
• The need to be intellectually acknowledged

We can talk about it in our personal lives.
• Things we’ll participate in
• Things we’ll tolerate
• Things we’ll agree to

ANY TIME WE FOLLOW THE WORLD’S LOGIC OVER GOD’S,
WE ARE REGARDING MAN MORE THAN GOD.

SO OUR QUESTION TONIGHT IS EASY:
• In what ways am I more concerned with what man thinks than with what God thinks?
• In what areas is my decision making based on human logic rather than submission to God’s word?
• In what areas do I trust man instead of God?

God says it plainly: “Stop regarding man”

His “breath of life is in his nostrils”
He won’t last

“For why should he be esteemed?”

Why should you care what man thinks?
And yet we so often do.

Someday this world will be devoted to God and Him alone.
And you can either start doing that now
Or you can wait for God to bring such tribulation into your life
To force you to do that.

All of a sudden Isaiah’s advice looks pretty good.
(5) “Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.”

Download Here:

The State Of The Union – Part 4
Isaiah 1:1-31 (18-31)
February 19, 2023

As you know we’ve begun a new study of the book of Isaiah
And this prophecy begins with what “The State of the Union”

God is speaking through Isaiah to His people
Regarding their spiritual state from His perspective.

You know by now of their comfort and security.
• They have enjoyed 52 years of peace and prosperity.
• They will enjoy 16 more years of the same.
• The comfort and security they have enjoyed has led them to be less focused on their need for God.

In steps Isaiah.
• His name means “The LORD is Salvation”
• His ministry is to remind Judah and Jerusalem that He is their only Savior.

This opening address from God reveals that
GOD IS FRUSTRATED WITH HIS PEOPLE.

As we have said God’s address covers 3 topics:
Rebellion – Religion – Redemption.

We have seen the first 2.
#1 REBELLION
Isaiah 1:1-9

Here we learned that there was an INSURRECTION occurring in Judah.
God’s sons were rebelling against Him.

Specifically they were abandoning Him.
Instead of trusting Him and seeking Him they were seeking the world
And trusting in the pagan deities of their high places.

Because of this rebellion God has already planned a severe judgment
Which will see Judah punished swiftly and severely.

In fact, the only reason any will survive it at all
Is because of God’s mercy to preserve a few.

But God spoke of their rebellion.
#2 RELIGION
Isaiah 1:10-17

We saw this last Sunday night.

As God spoke of Judah’s rebellion their immediate response would be,
“No we haven’t, we still participate in all the feasts and sacrifices.”

But God has a different perspective of their religious participation.

Asking:
(11) “What are your multiplies sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD.”

God pointed out that
• He had enough of the fat and blood they routinely bring.
• He spoke of their attendance as a trampling of His courts.
• He said their offerings were worthless.
• He said their incense was an abomination.
• He couldn’t stand all their assemblies.
• He hated all their festivals.

As a result He had determined to no longer hear their prayers because “Your hands are covered with blood.”

THE SIMPLE POINT WAS THIS:

You have convinced yourself that you are not rebels because you are religious, but I’m telling you that your religion is worthless.

What did God desire?
(16-17) “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.”

IT WASN’T CEREMONY THAT GOD WAS AFTER,
It was a life of obedience which cared for the things that mattered to Him.

It meant nothing to Him for someone to attend church or give offerings
If they failed to rebuke the ruthless or care for the helpless.

GOD WASN’T INTERESTED IN THEIR TOKEN RELIGION.

THEREFORE:
• The REBELLION is real, and judgment is coming.
• The RELIGION hasn’t helped, if anything it has made matters worse.

That is the opening of this State of the Union address.

This morning we conclude it with the final thing God wants to speak about.

#3 REDEMPTION
Isaiah 1:18-31

After addressing their sin and even God’s expectation,
Now God comes to His offer and promise of redemption.

This information is so valuable to our understanding of redemption.
It is a segment that every believer ought to consider and understand.

Let’s break this final segment down into 4 parts to help us grasp it better.

1) TERMS OF SURRENDER (18-20)

The announcement that comes here from God is
NOTHING BUT PURE GRACE.

I WOULD REMIND YOU THAT
• Israel was under the Mosaic covenant of the Law.
• That covenant was very much a performance based covenant.

Consider these realities:

Deuteronomy 24:17 “You shall not pervert the justice due an alien or an orphan, nor take a widow’s garment in pledge.”

Deuteronomy 24:19-21 “When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. “When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow. “When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not go over it again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow.”

Deuteronomy 26:12 “When you have finished paying all the tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan and to the widow, that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.”

Deuteronomy 27:19 “‘Cursed is he who distorts the justice due an alien, orphan, and widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”

But if you fail to keep that stipulation or break any of those commands,
Then God is well within His rights
To punish severely because of your breach of the contract.

Deuteronomy 28:15-20 “But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. “Cursed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. “The LORD will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke, in all you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me.”

And the LIST GOES ON and on and on regarding all the punishments God is legally obliged to bring upon you.

Things like:
• Pestilence (28:21)
• Consumption (28:22)
• Drought (28:23-24)
• Military defeat (28:25-26)
• Boils, Blindness, Bewilderment (28:27-29)
• Your wife and children stolen and defiled (28:30-32)
• Your land will be stolen (28:33)

And many more things ultimately including being carried away into exile.

Based on what God has already revealed in this opening chapter,
It was WELL WITHIN GOD’S RIGHTS to now turn away from Israel
And bring every bit of those consequences straight down on their head.

BUT…
GOD OFFERS REDEMPTION.

(18) “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are as a scarlet, They will be white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.”

• DESPITE their clear and obvious guilt.
• DESPITE the fact that their sins are compared to a blood covered cloth.

God has an offer which will wipe away their sin
And the guilt and the consequences that come with it.

God is offering a plea bargain.
He is offering them a deal.

“I’ve got every right to totally annihilate you this very moment because of your rebellion against Me and My covenant.”

“But before I do that, I would offer you an opportunity to have your sins and your guilt washed away.”

WOW! That’s a great offer!
Any criminal in any courtroom who has just been found guilty and sentenced to death would jump at the chance to do something to have his crimes wiped away.

WHAT IS THE DEAL?
(19-20) “If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword.” Truly the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

The offer is simple.
“consent and obey”

TO WHAT?
The covenant; the agreement; the deal you signed up for.

It’s what we read last Sunday night:
(16-17) ““Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.”

We call this a SECOND CHANCE.

• You have failed to keep up your end of the covenant
• Therefore I am within My rights to totally annihilate you.

• However, if you’ll stop your rebellion
• And start keeping your end of the bargain
• Then I’ll wipe your record clean and will eliminate your judgment.

Suppose your murdered someone
• And then were sentenced to execution by the court,
• But the judge said, “I’ll tell you what, if you’ll stop murdering then I’ll go ahead
and forgive you of this crime.”

Does that sound like a deal you’d want to take?
Of course it does.

WELL, THESE ARE GOD’S TERMS.

The PROBLEM is that we are dealing with a people who love their sin.
• The Rich Young Ruler was offered forgiveness and eternal life if he’d just quit loving his money, but he walked away sad.

And it is apparent that
Even though God has laid out for them the danger they are in,
They are not quite ready to take the deal.

They still aren’t convinced they’ve done anything wrong.

So following the terms of surrender,
God must remind them again of just how much trouble they are in.

2) TESTIMONY OF GUILT (21-23)

God once again lays out for them
The level of their great atrocity before Him.

“How the faithful city has become a harlot, She who was full of Justice!”

She wasn’t always like this.
There was a day when Jerusalem was a “faithful city”

• Under David and Solomon worship of God reigned supreme in this city.
• We remember the mighty Passover celebrations and what great love David had for God.
• We remember Solomon building His temple and sacrificing more oxen than could be counted.

This city was once devoted to God, but my how she has fallen.

She is compared to a woman
• Who was once faithful to her husband and household,
• But decided to leave and pursue a career as a prostitute.

She “has become a harlot”

When we started studying this sermon a couple of weeks ago
We read that account of Ezekiel 16 and how God adopted that baby that was thrown into the field.

• How he rubbed it with salt, washed it and adorned it with fine clothes.
• How he married that rejected child and caused her beauty and fame to spread
throughout the world.

But how did that baby repay God?

Ezekiel 16:15-22 “But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your fame, and you poured out your harlotries on every passer-by who might be willing. “You took some of your clothes, made for yourself high places of various colors and played the harlot on them, which should never come about nor happen. “You also took your beautiful jewels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images that you might play the harlot with them. “Then you took your embroidered cloth and covered them, and offered My oil and My incense before them. “Also My bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil and honey with which I fed you, you would offer before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened,” declares the Lord GOD. “Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter? “You slaughtered My children and offered them up to idols by causing them to pass through the fire. “Besides all your abominations and harlotries you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood.”

This is what God is referring to.
You were once faithful to Me but you turned to other lovers.

The explanation here is of IDOLATRY.
• They were going to the high places and bowing down to other gods.
• They had lives filled with idols and things that took precedent over God.
• They had new passions and new desires and new priorities.

They no longer loved God, now they loved other things.

That was PART of her sin.
But that wasn’t all.

(21b) “Righteousness once lodged in her, But now murderers.”

Not only were they harlots but they were also murderers.

God had already told them back in verse 15 that “your hands are covered with blood.”

WE TALKED ABOUT how they were guilty of murder.
• No, maybe they didn’t physically swing a sword at someone, but they condemned the poor man to starvation by not feeding him.
• They condemned the widow to death by not caring for her.
• They failed to pay their laborers.
• They failed to help the helpless and the orphan.

And the fact that they neglected such mercy caused God to hold them just as guilty for their death as if they had stabbed them with a sword.

So just to remind Judah of her sin:
You have been convicted of HARLOTRY and MURDER.

And still that’s not all.
You can add HYPOCRISY to that list.

(22) “Your silver has become dross, Your drink diluted with water.”

In other words, you are simply putting on a corrupt show.

• To say their silver is no longer pure is a testimony to have little value their
offerings have.

• To say their wine is diluted with water is a testimony to how weak and empty
their religion has become.

You are not holy people or righteous people,
You are merely a people who cover their sin in religious garb.

You are Pharisees
• Who broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments
• While they at the same time devour widow’s houses.
• They wash the outside of the cup and of the dish but inwardly are filled
with robbery and self indulgence.

God sees all that they are.
Harlots, Murderers, Hypocrites

And they are CORRUPT
(23) “Your rulers are rebels And companions of thieves; Everyone loves a bribe And chases after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, Nor does the widow’s plea come before them.”

It reminds us of that unrighteous judge in the New Testament who time after time refuses to give justice to the widow who pleads with him.

And when he finally does give justice it is only because she won’t leave him alone.
By his own testimony he “does not fear God, nor respect man.”

And God says that is what Jerusalem has become.
IT IS A CITY OF CORRUPTION.

Widows and orphans get no justice
Because they can offer no money to bribe the judge.

It is a system where only the wealthy are rewarded
And the poor are trampled.

And God reminds Judah that this is their guilt.

You may not realize the severity of your crime
Or the punishment that it has earned

But you have been convicted of:
• Prostitution in the first degree
• Murder in the first degree
• Hypocrisy and the offering of counterfeit religion
• Bribery and Corruption along with spiritual neglect

The list is long and the punishment is severe.
They are a nation in need of redemption
Even if they have thus far failed to realize it.

And rest assured, God will not leave things as they are.

Terms of Surrender, Testimony of Guilt
3) TIMELINE FOR REDEMPTION (24-26)

Here God outlines His plan to rid the streets
Of prostitutes, murderers, hypocrites, and the corrupt.

And notice how serious this is to God.
“Ah, I will be relieved of My adversaries”

God speaks as one who has been terribly burdened and grieved and frustrated by the continual presence of such sinners in His land.

And now God contemplates the relief He will feel when they are all gone.

But not only relief, God is seeking VENGEANCE.
“And avenge Myself on My foes.”

Here we run right up against the holiness of God.

And this is very important to understand
In any conversation regarding redemption.

A holy God cannot simply overlook your sin.
A holy God cannot simply forgive your sin.

A holy God demands relief.
A holy God demands vengeance.

So any conversation we have regarding redemption
Must include God’s plan for what He is going to do with sin.

This also means that the offer being made back in verses 18-20
Where God promised to take their sins and make them white as snow

Does NOT mean that God is just simply going to forget about it.

I told you then to imagine you had committed murder and the judge said, “Stop committing murder and I’ll wipe your record clean.”

Now that is good news for the criminal, but what about the victim?
What about the victim’s family?

If you are the murderer that sounds awesome,
But if it was your brother the murderer killed
You wouldn’t be happy with that decision at all.

IT WOULD BE MERCIFUL BUT IT WOULDN’T BE JUST.

God is offering redemption to the murderer,
But it is not without justice.

(25) “I will also turn My hand against you, And will smelt away your dross as with lye and will remove all your alloy.”

FIRST OF ALL, here we see who God’s adversaries and foes are.
It is YOU.
• God wasn’t speaking about Philistines or Assyrians,
• His adversaries are the children of Israel.
• His foes are the people of Jerusalem.

And God is going to be “relieved of [His] adversaries, and avenge [Himself] on [His] foes.”

WHAT IS GOD’S PLAN?
He is going to purify the sinful people.
• All of those impurities…
• All of that hypocrisy…
• God is going to deal with it.

He is going to put His people through the fire to “smelt away your dross”
He is going to “remove all your alloy.”

SIN IS NOT BEING OVERLOOKED, IT IS BEING DEALT WITH.

And not only that.
(26) “Then I will restore your judges as at the first, And your counselors as at the beginning;”

After God purges away their sin they then get new leadership.
• Their corrupt leaders had allowed them to fall into sin,
• Once God purges the sin He is not going to put them right back under those old leaders.
• God will raise up new leadership to lead and guide in holiness and purity.

AND THEN WE SEE THE END RESULT:
(25b) “After that you will be called the city of righteousness, A faithful city.”

So when God speaks of redemption
Are you better understanding what He means?

He DOESN’T MEAN just forgetting your sin ever happened.
He DOESN’T MEAN just agreeing to overlook it forever.
He DOESN’T MEAN just forgoing justice for the sake of mercy.

God’s redemption is NOT
A redemption that leaves sin unpunished or in place.

If you think you’ve been redeemed but your sin has not been dealt with
You have not experienced the redemption of God.

His redemption includes A PURIFYING FIRE
And A NEW COUNSELOR to guide you from here on out.

Now, we can stop there for a second and talk about THE GOSPEL.

How does God deal with your sin according to the gospel?

You say, He pours it on Christ and Christ pays the debt.
That is true.

Christ works to grant God relief in His holiness.
Christ propitiates the wrath of God.

Romans 3:23-25a “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.”

1 John 2:1-2 “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”

We understand that in order to satisfy His righteousness
God could not and would not simply overlook sin.

Punishment had to be made.
Appeasement had to be purchased.
CHRIST DID THAT.

BUT DON’T STOP THERE.
That is what Christ did.

WHAT DOES GOD EXPECT FROM YOU?

Did Christ die to pay for your sins and then to just leave you in them?
Certainly not!

Romans 6:1-4 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

The calling for our lives is that we die.
• Namely that we die to self.
• Namely that we forsake our old sinful life and walk in the new life of Christ.

Remember Paul speaking to the Corinthians?
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”

Paul says “you were washed”

What is that?
It is that same smelting away that Isaiah speaks of here.

When God redeems you from your sin,
No part of that redemption allows you to remain in it.

Christ Jesus came to “save His people from their sins.”

We are called to die to self and leave our sin
And be purified into a new life by God.

Yes Christ pays the debt.
Yes Christ satisfies the wrath.
But we are also called to leave the sin behind.

AND THEN, just like Isaiah said, we get a new counselor.
WHO IS THAT?

It is the Holy Spirit.
• He moves in and takes ownership of our life.
• He facilitates our cleansing and guides us in this new life.

Titus 3:4-6 “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,”

So are you understanding a little more
About this redemption we are talking about?

It is NOT God’s decision to just overlook your sin and move on.

REDEMPTION IS THE PROCESS BY WHICH
God atones for your sin through Jesus,
And then bids you leave your sin
And purifies you through the working of His Holy Spirit.

ALL OF THAT IS THE PROCESS OF REDEMPTION.
You see here God’s timeline and how He works.

Now there is ONE MORE POINT God makes here in regard to this redemption.

Terms of Surrender, Testimony of Guilt, Timeline for Redemption
4) TRUTH ABOUT THE FUTURE (27-31)

Pay special attention to verse 27.
“Zion will be redeemed with justice and her repentant ones with righteousness.”

Two things you need to see here.

1) Redemption is a fact.
“Zion will be redeemed”

God made promises to Abraham and He will not forsake those promises.
Redemption is coming.

God WILL atone for their sin, God WILL purify them,
God WILL place new judges and counselors over them.

Redemption is a fact.

2) Redemption comes through justice and righteousness
“Zion will be redeemed with justice and her repentant ones with righteousness.”

And again we see the same point.
• REDEMPTION IS NOT TOLERANCE
• REDEMPTION IS NOT FORGETTING

Redemption is when God deals with sin and saves you from it,
Not when He overlooks sin and leaves you in it.

Many in our world seem to think this is what is meant by redemption.
“I’ve been redeemed!”

And they think that means their sin is overlooked,
And they are free to live however they want now without penalty.

This has never been what God’s redemption does.

Redemption is not done with mercy alone,
Redemption is also done “with justice”.

God EXACTS PAYMENT for your sin through Christ.
God EXPECTS PURIFICATION from your sin.

And if you are noticing this is what the whole segment has pointed to.

Go back to verses 18-20
“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. “If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land; “But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword.” Truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Those verses didn’t offer you a pardon to return to your sin.
Those verses offered you mercy if you left your sin.

REPENTANCE IS REQUIRED

“Zion will be redeemed with justice AND HER REPENTANT ONES with righteousness.”

Do you understand this about redemption?

Do you understand now the preaching of John the Baptist?
Matthew 3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Do you understand now the preaching of Jesus?
Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Do you understand now the preaching of the apostles?
Acts 2:38 “Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

You cannot atone for your sin.
Eternity in hell will not atone for your sin, only Christ can accomplish that.

But you are expected to repent of your sin.
• You are expected to leave your sin.
• You are expected to submit your life to the Holy Spirit of God who will sanctify you and cleanse you.

We talked about it Wednesday night with the youth.
We saw how God commanded Abraham to be circumcised.

• The idea was symbolize the necessity of no longer living by the flesh.
• Now Abraham and all his household were to be holy
• Circumcision was the outward symbol of that.

In the New Testament we are baptized
Which symbolizes death to our old life and new life in Christ.

But this is God’s expectation.
Titus 2:11-12 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,”

SO HERE IS GOD’S CALL TO END HIS STATE OF THE UNION

REDEMPTION IS AVAILABLE!
IT COMES THROUGH REPENTANCE!

• Do you want to have your sin washed away?
• Do you want to be forgiven?
• Do you want to enjoy atonement?

Then “consent and obey”

“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”

This is the path to redemption that we must follow.

Otherwise, God will judge and none will escape.

(28-31) “But transgressors and sinners will be crushed together, And those who forsake the LORD will come to an end. Surely you will be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, And you will be embarrassed at the gardens which you have chosen. For you will be like an oak whose leaf fades away Or as a garden that has no water. The strong man will become tinder, His work also a spark. Thus they shall both burn together And there will be none to quench them.”

• God will crush sinners.
• God will put an end to those who forsake Him.
• God will make it so that all sinners live in eternal regret for their sin.
• And all unrepentant sinners will burn.

There is no scenario where you get to keep your sin and enjoy blessing.

God is willing and eager to redeem
And YOUR PART in that redemption is repentance from your sin.

Isaiah 1:18-20 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. “If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land; “But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword.” Truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Download Here:

The State Of The Union – Part 3
Isaiah 1:1-31 (10-17)
February 12, 2023

This morning we continued in our look at Isaiah’s inaugural sermon, and one of the benefits of coming right back to it tonight is that we don’t need much recap.

Hopefully it is fresh on your mind.

It is God’s “State of the Union” address to Israel
And He desires to speak about 3 things.

REBELLION – RELIGION – REDEMPTION

Thus far we have heard God speak about REBELLION
• Sons He raised who have revolted against Him.
• Namely they have abandoned Him.
• This is a recipe for disaster which Isaiah announced.

Now, if you are Israel, your knee-jerk reaction
To such information is likely to try and blow it off.

AFTER ALL, we haven’t abandoned God.
• We come to His temple weekly.
• We participate in all the feasts.
• We give all the sacrifices.

Surely God is talking about those people
Who don’t sacrifice or who don’t attend.

But us, we’re fine.
• “We thank God that we are not like other people. We fast twice a week,
we pay tithes of all that we get.”
• “We tithe mint and dill and cumin”

We’re fine before the Lord.

It’s as though God says, “I thought you might say that”

So now He moves to His SECOND MAJOR POINT
In this State of the Union address.

We’ve seen Rebellion – Now let’s talk about:
#2 RELIGION
Isaiah 1:10-17

Having seen the FACTS OF THEIR REBELLION,
Let’s now look at the FUTILITY OF THEIR RELIGION.

One of the things that you really OUGHT TO ASK YOURSELF
As you perform religious duties is: WHAT IS IT ACCOMPLISHING?

Why do you do it?
What is the goal?

We have here some of the most religious people who ever lived
And we are about to find out that it was all for not.

1. They were committed to a lifestyle of certain activities
2. They thought these activities to be the means by which they pleased God
3. And here we find out that God doesn’t even like them.

As God speaks of religion here it is easiest to break this section down
Into what we might call:
UNACCEPTABLE RELIGION & ACCEPTABLE RELIGION

And this is information worth knowing.

Let’s look first at their UNACCEPTABLE RELIGION

It really should have been an eye-opening experience
When God looks at their religion and immediately refers to them
As “Sodom” and “Gomorrah”

(10) “Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the instruction of our God, You people of Gomorrah.”

• That is the nickname which He has chosen to give to Judah and Jerusalem.
• This sinful nation is no different before Him than those evil cities.

And before we object and hold up our giving statement from the previous year as proof we’re not like them, GOD HAS A STATEMENT.

(11) “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD.”

Just an observation.
• We are not talking about “part-time people” here.
• Their sacrifices were “multiplied”
• They gave more than once.

But the bone-chilling question is: “What [is that] to Me?”
Or in our vernacular – “What do I care?”
Or perhaps – “Whoopteedo”

All that you do may be impressive to some, but it’s not impressive to Me.
• We think of those Pharisees and Chief priests blowing a trumpet when they gave so that they would be noticed by men.
• We think of them praying on the street corners or offering long elaborate prayers to demonstrate their great piety.
• We think of them looking so miserable as they fasted to demonstrate their devotion to God.

It must have really impressed a lot of people, but not God.

And that is what we see here.

He says: “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats.”

Just use your brain here for a second.
What exactly is it that these people were bringing to God?

“fat” and “blood”

Valentines day is coming up guys, maybe to show your bride how much you really love her you can give her a bucket of fat mixed with blood.

Though don’t be surprised if the night doesn’t go as well as you’d hope.

God’s response was:
• “I have had enough…”
• “I take no pleasure…”

NOW THE OBVIOUS QUESTION IS:
If God doesn’t want it, then why did He command it?

• It’s not like we came up with the sacrificial system.
• These sacrificial recipes we follow are those which we received from the LORD.
• Moses went up on Sinai and God told him what we are to bring.

So why did God tell us to bring what He doesn’t want?

Obviously the fat and the blood were symbolic before God.
The “fat” was
• The visceral fat and that which the priests didn’t eat, it was a sort of tithe to God
of the animal.
• God could have required the entire animal, but in mercy He only required the
fat and allowed the priests to eat the rest.

The “blood” was
• A picture of the life of the animal because sin required death.

God accepted the fat instead of the whole thing.
God accepted the blood of bulls instead of your blood.

It’s NOT that He was just hankering for fat and blood,
IT WAS MERCY to accept that on your behalf.

And now these people think they are doing God some favor by bringing it.
THEY’VE GOT IT ALL WRONG!

Peggy told me many times about how when her mother would cook chicken Francis always got the neck. Now she may have convinced her family that the neck is what she wanted and she may have even grown to like it, but no one wants the neck.

She did that out of love for her family.

But what do you think Francis wanted most from her family?
• She wanted Godly children who served the Lord,
• I promise she didn’t want a box of frozen chicken necks for Christmas.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?
God showed mercy to Israel by accepting the fat and the blood,
But it’s not as though that’s just what He loved.

There’s no joy in the chicken neck.

It was NEVER about the actual offering.

Psalms 50:9-13 “I shall take no young bull out of your house Nor male goats out of your folds. “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains. “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls Or drink the blood of male goats?”

Instead God would go on:
Psalms 50:14-15 “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High; Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”

We remember David in his great penitential prayer in Psalms 51
Psalms 51:16-17 “For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”

Micah was pretty spot on when he asked:
Micah 6:6-8 “With what shall I come to the LORD And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, With yearling calves? Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?”

But the most important picture we get regarding a sacrifice to God
COMES TO US IN THE PERSON OF JESUS.

Hebrews 10 first says:
Hebrews 10:1-4 “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”

But then the writer goes on to make the stronger point:
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.’”

God has always been about the heart.
So if you bring Him an offering but not your heart
It accomplishes nothing.

Several years ago Matt Redman wrote a song that typified this understanding. It’s called “The Heart of Worship”

“When the music fades and All is stripped away And I simply come, Longin’ just to bring Something that’s of worth That will bless Your heart. I’ll bring You more than a song, For a song in itself Is not what You have required. You search much deeper within Through the ways things appear You’re looking into my heart”

But Israel thought they were acceptable
Because despite their idolatry
They were bringing God plenty of goats, sheep, and calves.

God’s question is: “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?”
What am I supposed to do with another chicken neck?

NOT ONLY THAT:
(12) “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts?”

What revealing terminology.
• God DOESN’T call it “going to worship”
• God DOESN’T call it “going to church”

God calls it a “trampling of My courts”

It’s like a person who spends several hours a week maintaining his lawn
• And one day a bunch of people trample all over it.

It’s like a woman who spends hours cleaning her floors
• And then a group of people track in all over it.

I think of nights at the Little League field
• Where you go and mow the field and drag the field and wet the field and chalk the field
• Only to have a bunch of T-ballers come out there and dig holes with their cleats and make sand castles in the base paths.

God doesn’t speak as One who is receiving any satisfaction or enjoyment at all from what is going on.

The clearest picture we have of this is in the New Testament
When Jesus clears out the temple.

He DOESN’T walk in and say, “Oh, it just blesses My heart to see all these people here in God’s temple.”

On the contrary, He drives them all out with a whip
Because what they were doing there was totally unpleasing to God.

Or do you remember this scene?
Matthew 3:5-7 “Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

John would have made quite a greeter wouldn’t he?
• The Pharisees walk up and John says, “What are you doing here?”

That is exactly what God is asking these Jews, especially in Jerusalem.
• Do you think you’ve done Me some favor by coming?
• Do you think I’m just a lonely old Deity who needs visitors?
• Who told you to come?

AND HE’S STILL NOT DONE:
(13-14) “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.”

Did you catch God’s terminology here?
• “worthless offerings”
• “abomination”
• “I cannot endure”
• “I hate”
• “a burden”
• “I am weary”

THAT IS STRONG LANGUAGE.
“Bring your worthless offerings no longer”

They aren’t accomplishing what you think they are accomplishing
And I am commanding you to stop bringing them.

I don’t want your bucket of fat and blood.

Your “incense is an abomination to me”

• We hear that word “abomination” come up from time to time
• But most of the time it is reserved for the sin of homosexuality.
• But here God uses that word to describe the offering of His people.

AND THEN GOD TALKS ABOUT
• Their “solemn assembly”
• Which He says “I cannot endure”

It’s as though God says,
“I can’t even sit through an entire service. I have to get up and leave.”

AND DO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT
“your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts”?

• “I hate” them.
• “They have become a burden to Me”
• “I am weary of bearing them.”

It doesn’t say much for them about their church services.
• I hate it when you have church.
• I hate it when you all get together.
• I hate it when you come here.
• I hate what you bring.
• I hate how you bring it.
• It’s the vilest sin imaginable to Me.

I’ve often wondered how Jesus kept from throwing up
During the Triumphal Entry.

These people who in just a few days would be yelling “Crucify Him!”
Are here crying “Hosannah!”

It must have been totally nauseating.
It was so phony.

One thing that is abundantly clear is that
As God looks at their religious ceremonies as a whole
He has no regard for them.

IN FACT, HE HATES THEM.

We almost always think of church services and religious activity
As that which God probably likes
But here we are faced with the reality that this is not always true.

There were times when God’s people gathered
For the purpose of worshiping God and for bringing sacrifices
AND HE ABSOLUTELY HATED IT.

It was just UNACCEPTABLE

And it did NOT have the DESIRED EFFECT.

(15) “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen.”

That is another way of saying that
You will receive absolutely NO BENEFIT for what you are doing.

Your gifts and your offerings and your songs and your attendance
Won’t help you in the least.

I don’t care if you pray all night, I’m not going to listen.
It is totally unacceptable and ineffective religion.

BUT WHY?
Why does God hate it so much?

“Your hands are covered with blood.”

What does that mean?

• Well the simplest application would be that they were violent murderers.
• That’s the purest definition of “hands…covered with blood”

BUT obviously it’s not like the went out and struck down a man and got his blood on their hands and then went into church without washing.

No, it’s symbolic here.
It speaks of one who has failed
To rightly consider or care for his neighbor.

Consider a prophet with bloody hands:
Ezekiel 3:17-18 “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me. “When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.”

There God actually holds the prophet guilty of murder.
• Why? He didn’t kill the man.
• No, but he had the power to save him and did not do it.

What about the Pharisees of the New Testament?
Luke 20:46-47 “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”

• It is said that they “devour widows’ houses”.
• It is corruption and theft and taking advantage of the less fortunate.

Consider what James said to the rich:
James 5:1-6 “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.”

When James says “You have condemned and put to death the righteous man”
Does James mean that they actually sat as judges and executioners in a court of law?

NO

Then how did they condemn and execute them?
• By failing to pay them their wages and thus they starved to death or couldn’t afford medical treatment.
• By living luxuriously and failing to see the plight of the poor man and withholding from him that which you could have given.

YOU KILLED HIM.
You killed him with malnutrition and starvation and abandonment,
BUT YOU KILLED HIM.

• We read that story of the rich man and of the beggar Lazarus who every day laid at his gates.
• The blood of Lazarus was on that man’s hands for he chose to hoard his wealth instead of saving the poor man’s life.

Jeremiah 2:34-35 “Also on your skirts is found The lifeblood of the innocent poor; You did not find them breaking in. But in spite of all these things, Yet you said, ‘I am innocent; Surely His anger is turned away from me.’ Behold, I will enter into judgment with you Because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’”

Do you understand that from God’s perspective?

Do you understand now why John the Baptist said:
Luke 3:10-14 “And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what shall we do?” And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.” And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.” Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”

Does it make sense to you that God has in fact made you your brother’s keeper?

Do you see that when He equips one to care for another but that one refuses to care that God holds that person responsible?

Luke 12:41-46 “Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?” And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. “Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. “But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers.”

You see what God meant when He said
“Your hands are covered with blood.”

Do you understand then why God hated their religious gatherings?
• You are totally disregarding all that I have asked of you.
• You cheat and steal and use your greed to commit murder
• And then bring Me some offering so that I might be pleased

Why don’t you break into your neighbors house, kill his wife and children, steal his television and then bring Me one of his T-shirts as an offering.

That is how God sees it.

Jeremiah 7:9-11 “Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—that you may do all these abominations? “Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the LORD.”

Listen to Jesus in the New Testament:
Matthew 15:1-9 “Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? “For God said, ‘HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,’ and, ‘HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.’ “But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. ‘BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.’”

You condemn your parents to death because you refuse to care for them in their time of need under the pretense that you are bringing what would save them to Me?

I don’t want your pathetic offering from your bloody hands.

God speaks of it over and over and over and over.

Later in Isaiah He will say:
Isaiah 58:6-7 “Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free And break every yoke? “Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?”

YOU SEE THE POINT THEN.

You live your life loving the world
And neglecting what matters to God
And then come here like you love God with your offering.

GOD IS SICK OF IT!
This religion that you think is so beneficial to you
Isn’t helping you in the least.

IT IS UNACCEPTABLE RELIGION.

But God would not stop there.
He will also speak of ACCEPTABLE RELIGION

(16-17) “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.”

This shouldn’t be a foreign concept to you.

Have you ever read the book of James?
James 1:27 “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

You really want to bring God something He wants?
Quit acting like the world
And take care of those who can’t care for themselves.

Later James will say:
James 2:15-16 “If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?”

And the point is: WHAT ARE YOU REALLY BRINGING GOD?

Bringing an offering with sin-soaked hands
Is hardly that which He desires.

So before you come and bring your offerings to God,
WHAT DOES GOD DESIRE?

Well:
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight.”

They didn’t have literal bloody hands
And He’s not talking about a literal bath here.

• Are your hands covered with blood because you withheld the truth from someone?
• Are your hands covered with blood because you withheld wages from someone?
• Are your hands covered with blood because you cheated someone in a business deal?
• Are your hands covered in blood because you hoarded what you have instead of sharing it?

WELL FIX THAT!

What did Jesus say?
Matthew 5:23-24 “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.”

And that is God’s point here:
“Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”

If you want God to be pleased with the offerings you bring
Then you’re going to have to offer God the religion He desires.

Our world cares nothing about “justice”
• Our world is typified by that unrighteous judge who doesn’t fear God and
doesn’t respect man.

God’s people have to care about “justice”

Our world actually applauds those who are “ruthless”
• Our world sees ambition and cunning and conniving as good things.

That word “ruthless” is KHAW-MOTSE in the Hebrew
It speaks of a violent man, or as a man who has bloody hands.

Do you see that corrupt man
Who is rich because he neglected the poor and cheated his employees?

DO YOU BUDDY UP WITH HIM OR REPROVE HIM?

James 2:1-4 “My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?”

God’s people have to “reprove the ruthless”

Our world doesn’t care about “the orphan” or “the widow”

• What that really means here is the destitute who have no advocate.
• In Bible times widows and orphans were forced into poverty because their means of provision was gone.

It was God’s people who were called to care for those
The world wished to throw away.

Who stands in for the helpless?
Who stands up for the defenseless?

This is what God wants.

Amos 5:14-15 “Seek good and not evil, that you may live; And thus may the LORD God of hosts be with you, Just as you have said! Hate evil, love good, And establish justice in the gate! Perhaps the LORD God of hosts May be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

Amos 5:21-24 “I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. “But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

And there are many more passages we could turn to
But I think you’re getting it.

We have people here who are considered as rebels
Because they have abandoned God.

They think their religion will save them,
But God wants them to understand that their religion has no merit before Him, in fact He hates it.

This is His State of the Union address to His people.

Israel is a nation of rebels.
He is angry.
Their religion is worthless.
Their destruction is coming.

It is a pretty gloomy speech.
But REDEMPTION is possible as we will see next time.

Tonight we just leave contemplating the depth of our worship
And the genuineness of our religion.

Are we bringing God what God desires?
Or do we just expect Him to be happy with a chicken neck?

Zechariah 8:8-14 “Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah saying, “Thus has the LORD of hosts said, ‘Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’ “But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing. “They made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the LORD of hosts. “And just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen,” says the LORD of hosts; “but I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is desolated behind them so that no one went back and forth, for they made the pleasant land desolate.”

Download Here:

The State Of The Union – Part 2
Isaiah 1:1-31 (4-9)
February 12, 2023

Last Sunday morning we began a new study together
And it is a study of the book of Isaiah.

Isaiah’s name is very significant to our understanding of the book.
His name means “The LORD is Salvation”

And that is certainly the theme.

The entirety of this prophet’s ministry is focused upon
Leading Israel back to an understanding that
There is no Savior except the LORD.

Certainly, as God’s people:
1. We should never look for salvation anywhere else.
2. And we should seek Him diligently even after salvation.

Israel was failing on both counts.

Last week as we introduced this book
• We took a look at the setting of the day.
• Isaiah’s ministry is said to have occurred “during the reigns of Uzziah,
Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.”

AND AS WE DISCUSSED.
• Uzziah and Jotham were great kings in a political, economic, and military sense, but they were duds spiritually.
• Both of those Kings did many good things from a political standpoint, but they both came with the same glaring black mark.

Concerning Uzziah:
2 Kings 15:3-4 “He did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.”

Concerning Jotham:
2 Kings 15:34-35 “He did what was right in the sight of the LORD; he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the LORD.”

They did a lot good politically but the part of their nation which irritated God the most, namely the high places, these men did not address.

Following them came a truly evil king named Ahaz
Who himself participated in the idolatry his fathers ignored.

Concerning Ahaz:
2 Kings 16:3-4 “But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had driven out from before the sons of Israel. He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.”

And then Ahaz was followed by his son Hezekiah
Who was a great king, both politically and spiritually.

Concerning Hezekiah:
2 Kings 18:3-6 “He did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father David had done. He removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan. He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel; so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him. For he clung to the LORD; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the LORD had commanded Moses.”

Now we learn from chapter 6 that Isaiah’s ministry began
“in the year that King Uzziah died”.

• So Isaiah came to the forefront after the 52 year reign of Uzziah in which the people knew great prosperity, but had grown cold spiritually.

• The first 16 years of Isaiah’s ministry was during the reign of Jotham in which Israel still enjoyed security and prosperity, but continued to fall deeper into idolatry.

• Isaiah would then walk through the 16 tumultuous years of King Ahaz where the nation would become practically pagan, and would also begin to face outside threats of danger.

• And Isaiah’s ministry would end sometime during Hezekiah’s reign as the nation began to experience revival and to once again trust the LORD.

So you understand a little about where Isaiah is
And why he is preaching as he is.

• Isaiah ministered during a time in which the comfort and security of the people had led them away from devotion to God and into idolatry.

• This idolatry especially shows up when God brings some adversity to the nation and instead of trusting in God, their only Savior, Judah tries to turn to different saviors (namely Assyria and Egypt)

• Finally Israel will learn what Isaiah has been saying, that only in the LORD is salvation and when they trust in Him, He delivers.

It is therefore a simple lesson to us.
We don’t only trust God for our salvation, but we trust God for all things.
• We trust Him for our provision.
• We trust Him for our wisdom.
• We trust Him for our protection.
• We trust Him for our health.
• We trust Him in our relationships.

He is the only Savior.

Well, chapter 1 is the inaugural sermon of Isaiah.
We have called it “The State Of The Union”

(Perhaps some of you watched the President of United States
Deliver his address this past week)

Here is God’s address to the people.
• As we said, in God’s speech (through Isaiah) there are 3 topics which God wants to talk about with the people.

REBELLION, RELIGION, REDEMPTION

We started the first last week
#1 REBELLION
Isaiah 1:1-9

The shocking announcement is that Judah was suffering a rebellion.
There were a group of anarchists who were revolting inside Judah.

The borders may have been secure outside,
But the threat was coming from the inside.

And we started looking deeper last time.
1) THE REBEL’S IDENTITY (2-3)

Very simply put, the rebel was one
From whom you would have expected loyalty.

“Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me.”

WE NOTED the sovereign grace of God to even choose Israel,
Let alone adopt him and adorn him.

But in a shocking turn of events,
This son who had known nothing but grace from the LORD
Was now seeking to break loose from His sovereign rule.

It was mutiny.
It was civil war.
It was a revolt.
AND THIS IS SHOCKING.

As God pointed out:
(3) “An ox knows its owner, And a donkey knows its master’s manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand.”

• Even a dumb ox knows who its master is.
• Even a stubborn donkey knows who to follow for safety.
• But these sons of God were dumber than the ox and more stubborn than the donkey.

And in their ignorant obstinance they have revolted against God.

IN SHORT, it’s NOT the Philistines or the Ammonites or even the Assyrians who are warring against God, IT IS HIS OWN SONS.

As we said last week, it is a tragic thing
When God’s people don’t know how to trust God.

But that is the REBEL’S IDENTITY.

2) THE REBEL’S INIQUITY (4)

“Alas, sinful nation, People weighed down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the LORD, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from Him.”

This verse tells quite the story of what God thinks
Of these sons who have revolted.

He has several descriptive titles for them,
Each paint a picture from God’s perspective about their sin.

1) First God calls them a “sinful nation”

Their problem is much bigger than just their king.
Sure their kings have tolerated the high places,
But these people have been the ones to use them.

And if you were to ask God to GIVE ONE WORD to describe this nation
It isn’t “holy” or “courageous” or “faithful”.

God’s one word to describe the nation is “sinful”.

We understand national or regional nicknames.
• For many years if you talked about the United States we’d be called “The Land
of the free, the home of the brave”
• Texas for example is called “The Friendly State”
• Las Vegas is called “Sin City”

That is how God is identifying Israel.
The entire nation is now known before God because of their sin.
As He looks upon them from heaven, that is all He sees.

Even as we’ve learned from the writer of the Kings,
God can’t get past those high places.

• Sin is their chief characteristic.
• They are all in this together.
• They are all citizens of what God sees to be a “sinful nation”.

2) And then God calls them “People weighed down with iniquity,”

Moving from “nation” to the designation “people” shows us that
God doesn’t just look upon them corporately but also individually.

They are called a sinful nation, not just because they have sinful kings
Or because they have done something sinful in the past.
God calls them a sinful nation because they are full of sinful people.

God says that these people are “weighed down with iniquity”

What does that mean?
Does it mean they are burdened under their sin and they try to get out, but can’t?

NOT HARDLY.
Isaiah 5:18 “Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood, And sin as if with cart ropes;”

When God says they are “weighed down with iniquity”
He is speaking of the reality that they won’t let their sin go
And just keep piling up more and more and more.

They are now pulling a trailer with side boards on it.
They won’t let go.

These people love sin and they refuse to leave any of it behind.
They just keep piling it up and hanging on to it.

They aren’t a people who are seeking God,
They are a people who are seeking sin.
That’s what they want.

But God goes even further than that.
3) He calls them “offspring of evildoers”

Here we learn that sin is not just what they do, IT’S WHO THEY ARE.
• Sin is bound up in their DNA.
• It is who their father was and they are a chip right off the old block.

It reminds us of John the Baptist speaking to the Pharisees:
Matthew 3:7 “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

Jesus of course said the same:
Matthew 12:34 “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.”

“brood of vipers” is the same thing Isaiah is speaking of here
When he calls them “offspring of evildoers”

In other words, these aren’t good people
Who are just doing bad things occasionally,
These are bad people.

Down to their very core they are sinful.
That is why Jesus asked the Pharisees, “how can you, being evil, speak what is good?”
• You AREN’T a good person who has slipped up and done an evil thing.
• You ARE an evil person who is acting according to his evil heart.

And that is what God sees here with Israel.
• It is a nation known for sin
• Because it is filled with people who can’t get enough sin.
• They can’t get enough sin is because they are sinful to the core.

And God is still not yet finished.
4) Finally He calls them, “Sons who act corruptly!”

This speaks to the shocking treachery of their sin.

It would be one thing if they were Philistines of Ammonites or Assyrians or some other pagan neighbor of Israel.
• At least then we’d be talking about people who had never been given God’s Law.
• At least then we’d be talking about people who had never been granted God’s deliverance or God’s provision or God’s saving grace.
• At least then we’d say well, they’re sinful but in a sense they can’t help it because no one has ever told them otherwise.

But not Israel.
They have been clearly told.
• They were delivered from Egypt and adopted as God’s sons.
• They were fed in the wilderness.
• They were given God’s Law.
• They were given God’s land.
• They had God’s temple and subsequently His presence.

Other nations were sinful partly because of their lack of exposure to truth. Israel was sinful in spite of here exposure to truth.

She is the worst kind of sinner.
She is a blasphemer.
She is a treacherous traitor.

She has tasted the grace of God and is revolting anyway.

Isaiah 30:9 “For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the LORD;”

Do you see how deep her sin is before God?
• It is totally unwarranted,
• Yet it is relentlessly loved and pursued.
• It is pursued by all people,
• So much so that they have a national reputation for sin.

These are vile people in the eyes of God.

And you say, WHAT IS THEIR SIN?
What have they done that has so offended God?

Notice the 3-fold announcement:
• “They have abandoned the LORD,”
• “They have despised the Holy One of Israel”
• “They have turned away from Him”

Just a bible-reading insight tip for you.
Anytime the Bible repeats something in triplicate you know it is a big deal to God.

Here we have it: “abandoned” – “despised” – “turned away”

IT IS THE SIN OF APOSTASY.

When God looks at the nation, the sin that jumps at Him the most
Is NOT some gross moral failure or even deeds
Which we might most easily identify as sinful.

We all know why Vegas is called “Sin City”
gambling, drinking, prostitution, corruption, greed, etc.

But when God calls Israel a “sinful nation”
Those are not the types of sins He lists.

The sin He lists is apostasy.

“They have abandoned the LORD, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from Him.”

These are a people who no longer seek or trust God.

Now they are running to the High Places to seek some pagan deity.

Jeremiah 2:11-13 “Has a nation changed gods When they were not gods? But My people have changed their glory For that which does not profit. “Be appalled, O heavens, at this, And shudder, be very desolate,” declares the LORD. “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.”

They were abandoning the true God in order to serve false ones.

Isaiah 30:9-11 “For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the LORD; Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”; And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right, Speak to us pleasant words, Prophesy illusions. “Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

They were not interested in God anymore.
• They didn’t want to hear His word.
• They didn’t want to seek His will.
• They were not interested in what He had to say.

NOW – LET’S BE VERY CLEAR

THIS DID NOT MEAN that they quit going to church
Or quit going through the motions of their prescribed religion.

You’re going to see tonight in this state of the union address
That God is actually going to rebuke them for continuing to do those things.

Isaiah 1:11-12 “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts?”

Isaiah 1:14 “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.”

So the ISSUE IS NOT that they were just skipping church
Or failing to bring offerings, or something like that.

They were doing those things.
• They were bringing sacrifices…
• They were entering His courts…
• They were celebrating the feasts and festivals…

And yet still God said they had
“abandoned”, “despised”, and “turned away” from Him.

We are reminded again that the LORD does not look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.

God is watching so much more than just our routine or our tradition.

THINK NOW FOR A MOMENT
To some of the strongest rebukes we read in the New Testament.

Galatians 1:6-7 “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.”

Paul told they Galatians they were “deserting Him who called” them.

So what were they doing?
• Skipping church?
• Not giving?

No, in fact, they were likely doing more of those things
Because they were trying to earn God’s favor through their works.

PAUL SAID THEY HAD DESERTED GOD
Because they had chosen to believe a different gospel.

To be specific, they had stopped trusting Christ for salvation
And where now trusting themselves.

They were seeking circumcision and salvation through works of the Law.
They, in effect, had said
They no longer needed Christ to save them, they would save themselves.

That is why Paul says later:
Galatians 5:4 “You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”

Do you see that it wasn’t a physical abandonment, it was an abandonment of faith?

They went through all the required motions, they just quit trusting Christ.
That is what the Israelites are doing here.

Listen to Paul confront the Corinthians:
2 Corinthians 11:1-4 “I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.”

Paul said that they were being “led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”

HOW?
• They were believing in “another Jesus”
• They were seeking “a different spirit”
• They were accepting “a different gospel”

Similar to the Galatians they were still going through the motions
But they were no longer seeking and depending totally on Christ.

They were now believing in a different Jesus
With a different gospel which mingled works into salvation
And followed mysticism instead of the Holy Spirit.

It was about their lack of devotion and faith in Christ alone.

Or listen to Jesus confront the church at Ephesus.
Revelation 2:1-5 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.”

It is a similar rebuke.
“you have left your first love”

AGAIN, they went through the motions, they followed all the traditions.
They even tested and rejected those who failed to do it correctly.

But their practiced religion had grown cold and heartless.

They were in church but they had “abandoned”,
They had “turned away from” the Lord.

It’s bad enough when pagans fail to trust Him,
But when His sons, who know better, turn away from Him,
It is nothing short of rebellion in God’s eyes.

1 Samuel 15:22-23 “Samuel said, “Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. “For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king.”

This is their Iniquity.

Rebel’s Identity, Rebel’s Iniquity
3) THE REBEL’S INFIRMITY (5-9)

The overarching point of this section is clear.

God starts with the question:
“Where will you be stricken again, As you continue in your rebellion?”

And He lays out that He has already struck them
Mentally, Spiritually, and Physically.

(5b-6) “The whole head is sick And the whole heart is faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head There is nothing sound in it, Only bruises, welts and raw wounds, Not pressed out or bandaged, Nor softened with oil.”

God speaks as though I’ve already whipped you in every possible way, and still you rebel. Where would you have Me whip you again?

That is certainly symbolic language.
In verses 7-8 He gets more SPECIFIC.

(7-8) “Your land is desolate, Your cities are burned with fire, Your fields—strangers are devouring them in your presence; It is desolation, as overthrown by strangers. The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, Like a watchman’s hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.”

You see that there is great discipline coming from the LORD,
And yet there has not been any repentance.

Despite all the hardship which God has brought upon Israel,
They still refuse to trust Him.

They have insisted upon trusting in themselves
Or their pagan deities or the Egyptians or the Assyrians
And even though it is not working, they still won’t trust in the LORD.

He is the only Savior and they refuse to see it.

And now God calls their land a “desolation”

He says “The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, Like a watchman’s hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.”

That is 3 analogies and they all mean the same thing.
You are alone, the only thing left standing in a field of nothing.

In fact, the only reason even that much remains is the grace of God.
(9) “Unless the LORD of hosts Had left us a few survivors, We would be like Sodom, We would be like Gomorrah.”

That is to say that
• The only reason even the watchman’s hut remains is because God has been merciful to spare it.
• The only reason anyone has survived is the grace of God to preserve them and not let them fall.

AND YET, ISRAEL STILL REFUSES TO REPENT.
So it seems to speak to their stubbornness.

But when we read this passage, it presents a bit of A PROBLEM for us.

If this is Isaiah’s first sermon, and we have no reason to doubt that it is.
Then Isaiah is preaching this in the year that King Uzziah died.

• And we already saw that during that time Israel was secure.
• We already saw that during that time her border was strong.
• Even for the next decade under Jotham Israel remained secure and strong.

It wasn’t until the end of Jotham’s reign (16 years) that God began to raise up Rezin from Aram and Pekah to come and afflict Judah.

And even then, those guys didn’t do much damage.

It wasn’t actually until the reign of Hezekiah (32 years) that Assyria would invade and leave the land of Judah desolate and leave Jerusalem like “a besieged city.”

So it seems strange that Isaiah is now preaching about this desolation
When if you look around, the nation didn’t appear desolate.

It would seem that Isaiah is speaking prophetically of what is coming.

There is certainly coming the day when Assyria will invade and lay waste to most of Judah, reaching the very gates of Jerusalem.

BUT WE WONDER: Why speak of punishment that hasn’t happened yet and then blame Israel for not learning from it?

Why wouldn’t God just say, “if you don’t repent I will send a nation to you to devour you”?

THAT IS NOT GOD’S POINT.

HIS POINT IS THIS:
YOUR SECURITY IS AN ILLUSION.

God sees the future as clearly as He sees the present.
• And their refusal to trust in Him as their only Savior
• Has already brought about a desolation in their land.

They may see their strong borders.
They may have that great army.
They may have a strong economy.
But God sees the end of all those things and it is near total destruction.

None of those things are a savior, and none of those things are secure.

It is easy at times to look upon your security or good fortune,
Mingle that with your religion and assume that all is well.

But the God who sees from heaven sees a totally different picture.

How secure the PHARISEES must have felt
In their lengthened robes and broadened phylacteries.
But it was false assurance.

Israel wasn’t trusting God and when you aren’t trusting God
There is no security, I don’t care how big your wall is.

Only God is their salvation; those false securities are soon to be gone.

THE ONLY REASON ANY OF THEM WILL SURVIVE AT ALL
Is because graciously allows them to survive.

(9) “Unless the LORD of hosts Had left us a few survivors, We would be like Sodom, We would be like Gomorrah.”

This verse actually gets quoted by Paul in the New Testament.

Romans 9:29 “And just as Isaiah foretold, “UNLESS THE LORD OF SABAOTH HAD LEFT TO US A POSTERITY, WE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM, AND WOULD HAVE RESEMBLED GOMORRAH.”

This New Testament reference gives us great clarity to the point.
• Paul is not talking about the Assyrian invasion.
• Paul is talking about how all of Israel failed to trust in Christ.

Romans 9 is the chapter where Paul informs us that “they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel.” (9:6)
Romans 9 is the chapter where Paul informs us that “it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.” (9:8)
Romans 9 is the chapter where Paul informs us that “Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law, Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works.” (9:31-32)

And then Paul quoted Isaiah 1:9.
This passage refers to people who did not give God faith,
But God preserved a few of them simply because
He is faithful to His covenantal promises.

The Jews had no faith. The only reason any Jews trusted Christ at all is because God left them a remnant.

And this is the point here in Isaiah 1 as well.
• These were faithless and sinful people.
• They thought all their works were enough.

• These people had universally abandoned Him.
• They were a sinful nation full of sinful people.
• Their security was an illusion.
• And they would be totally destroyed in their rebellion if it were not for God’s grace to spare them.

And this so easily translates into our lives.

We are the people of God
But God desires more from us
Than simply for us to go through the motions of religion.

GOD WANTS US TO TRUST HIM AND SEEK HIM.

Our call is PURE DEVOTION TO CHRIST.

Consider what Paul says even about marriage:
1 Corinthians 7:32-35 “But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and his interests are divided. The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.”

The goal in all things, even marriage, is
“undistracted devotion to the Lord.”

God forbid we reach the end having prophesied and cast out demons and worked miracles only to hear Him say, “depart from Me for I never knew you.”

SO WE ASK OURSELVES SOME VERY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS.
1. Am I devoted to Christ?
2. Am I clinging to Him?
3. Am I loving Him?
4. Do I have a relationship with Him?

We remember that story with Martha and Mary:
When Martha was busy and distracted but Mary sat at Jesus’ feet:
Luke 10:41-42 “But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

For all the busy religion and tradition in the world
Is mere rebellion to God if we are not trusting and seeking Him.

In fact, participating in all those things without devotion to God
Is nothing short of rebellion in His eyes.

The desire of God is that you seek Him and know Him.
The desire of God is a relationship with you.
Do you have a relationship with Him?