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Isaiah’s Commissioning – Part 2
Isaiah 6:1-13 (6-13)
April 16, 2023

This morning we continued working on this wonderful 6th chapter
Where we learn the details surrounding the commissioning of Isaiah.

We have noted how Isaiah started his ministry with tremendous boldness and confrontation.
• Calling out false religion as that which is unpleasing to God.
• Calling out worldliness as that which offends God.
• Pronouncing woes upon Israel’s fruitlessness.
• And calling Israel to repentance in every sin of their life that they might once again find the blessing of God.

He came out of the gate swinging.
In chapter 6 we find out why.

Isaiah saw the Lord and it changed everything for him.

We’re continuing to work through this 6th chapter.
We saw the first two points this morning.
#1 THE SOURCE OF ISAIAH’S CONVICTION
Isaiah 6:1-4

Isaiah was a man content in his phony religion,
Just going through the motions of worship,
Even entering the temple to continue the charade.

But on this day Isaiah saw the Lord.
• He saw HIS ELEVATION – “lofty and exalted”
• He saw HIS EXALTATION – “Seraphim…called out to another…Holy, Holy, Holy”
• He saw HIS EFFECT – “the foundations…trembled…the temple was filling with smoke.”

Isaiah realized that he had seen “the LORD of hosts”
And what is even more terrifying is that
The LORD of hosts had no doubt seen Isaiah.

That vision would forever change Isaiah’s life.
• All of the petty sin that he had been involved in…
• All the concern for the world’s approval…
• All the desire for the things of the world…

In a moment all of those things were less than important
For now Isaiah was standing in the presence of the Holy One.

This is the Source of His Conviction.
#2 THE SIN OF ISAIAH’S LIPS
Isaiah 6:5

Isaiah pronounced woe upon himself for he was a man “of unclean lips”

This spoke of his hypocrisy.

Later Isaiah would spell it out in a passage Jesus would eventually quote as well:
Isaiah 29:13 “Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,”

That had been Isaiah as well.
• His sacrifices were just as offensive.
• His attendance was just as irritating.
• His hands were just as bloody.
• His religion was just as detestable to God.

He had been a phony.
He was playing the game, giving lips service to God
But ultimately he did whatever he wanted.

And while Isaiah may have successfully deceived his contemporaries,
He knew that he could not deceive God.

Isaiah had been EXPOSED
And all he could do was fall to his face and pronounce woe on himself
For he knew he was about to die.

“Woe is me, for I am ruined!”

He was standing before God and that is
The absolute worse place that a hypocrite can stand.

God cannot be deceived.
ISAIAH WAS SOON TO PERISH.

BUT IN THAT MOMENT,
We see God do something that Isaiah had not expected.

And that is actually where we left off this morning, with the introduction of this 3rd point.

#3 THE SALVATION OF ISAIAH’S SOUL
Isaiah 6:6-7

As Isaiah lay on his face waiting to die at the hands of the Holy One,
Something remarkable happened.

(6) “Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.”

No doubt this came as an order from the Holy One.
That one of these angels should take this coal and approach Isaiah.

This is the process of SANCTIFICATION.
This holy fire is coming for a purpose in Isaiah’s life.

(7) “He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”

Isaiah’s lips were the problem, Isaiah’s lips must be purified.
It is another way of saying that God was curing his hypocrisy problem.

There is nothing that sounds overly fun
About a burning coal touching your lips,
And no one is denying that repentance may be a little painful.

BUT THE EFFECT of this cleansing touch is remarkable.
“your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”

It was THE SIGHT OF THE HOLY ONE
That brought Isaiah to the depths of despair.

It was THE TOUCH OF THE HOLY ONE
That brought him redemption.

Psalm 32:5 “I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.”

And what we noted this morning is that the Holy One is merciful
To those who humble themselves in His sight.

Isaiah 57:15 “For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.”

Psalms 51:14-17 “Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise. 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.”

You can see how Isaiah is no longer trying the hypocrisy game.
• He is not offering God another goat or a bull.
• There is no pretense left.
• There is no phony religion.

Isaiah comes totally clean before the Lord regarding his sin
And God reaches down to atone and forgive him.

And to make sure that we do not miss the GOSPEL PICTURE found here;
You need to see that coal as picture of Christ.

He is the One who touches the sinner
That iniquity may be taken away and sin forgiven.

• He is the One who atones for sin.
• He is the One who takes our sin upon Himself and carries it away.
• He is the One who purchases our pardon.

Isaiah’s sin cannot just vanish into thin air, it must be paid for.
Isaiah’s sin was removed from Isaiah and placed upon Christ.

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

Perhaps no Old Testament prophet was more aware of this atonement
Than Isaiah who gives us that beautiful 53rd chapter.

Isaiah 53:4-6 “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”

Isaiah didn’t just announce that, Isaiah enjoyed that.
He experienced it, he lived it.

In a moment, Isaiah would turn from being a hypocrite
To a true worshiper.

We’ve read Isaiah 57:15 a couple of times now.
That passage continues:
Isaiah 57:15-19 “For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite. “For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would grow faint before Me, And the breath of those whom I have made. “Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him; I hid My face and was angry, And he went on turning away, in the way of his heart. “I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners, Creating the praise of the lips. Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near,” Says the LORD, “and I will heal him.”

God takes those in sin
• Who humble themselves before Him
• And become mourners over their sin
• And God says, “I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners, creating the praise of the lips.”

God takes those who feared for their lives and deserved to be undone
And says, “Peace, peace to him” and “I will heal him.”

Do you see why he is so aware of God’s salvation?
• He tasted it.
• He experienced it.

I’ll tell you right now this is one of the reasons
We have so many in the church who never preach the gospel.

They don’t know how to preach about sin and forgiveness
Because they’ve never owned their sin
And they’ve never experienced forgiveness.

It’s hard to be a hypocrite, playing the church game,
And then go out and explain to a sinner how to repent and be forgiven.

But those who have felt the terror of God’s holy gaze
And the peace of God’s atoning touch
Have no problem telling sinners how to be forgiven.

And those who refuse to repent never experience the peace of God like Isaiah did.

That same 57th chapter where God announced peace to those who mourn over their sin; Isaiah continues.
Isaiah 57:20-21 “But the wicked are like the tossing sea, For it cannot be quiet, And its waters toss up refuse and mud. “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

God gives peace to those who humble themselves and mourn their sin,
But those who insist on playing the game; they get no peace.

Isaiah 66:1-6 “Thus says the LORD, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the LORD. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. “But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog’s neck; He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine’s blood; He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol. As they have chosen their own ways, And their soul delights in their abominations, So I will choose their punishments And will bring on them what they dread. Because I called, but no one answered; I spoke, but they did not listen. And they did evil in My sight And chose that in which I did not delight.” Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at His word: “Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for My name’s sake, Have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy.’ But they will be put to shame. “A voice of uproar from the city, a voice from the temple, The voice of the LORD who is rendering recompense to His enemies.”

THAT SPELLS IT OUT AGAIN DOESN’T IT?

So you see why Isaiah took such a hard stance against all those worthless sacrifices in chapter 1.

He had been bringing those his whole life
And they had never produced peace between him and God.

But it wasn’t until Isaiah met Christ that his sin was dealt with,
And he humbled himself, and found forgiveness at Christ’s expense.

Christ did what Isaiah’s religion never had.
• This sinner was atoned for.
• This sinner was forgiven.
• This one who is called an abomination in chapter 1 for his worthless worship is now at peace with God.

What a beautiful picture of the gospel!
Here was a hypocritical sinner
Who should have died in the presence of the LORD
And yet God saved him.

God sanctified Isaiah’s lips
And now God will use those filthy lips for His glory.

And that is the 4th point

The Source of Isaiah’s Conviction – The Sin of Isaiah’s Lips – The Salvation of Isaiah’s Soul
#4 THE SPECIFICS OF ISAIAH’S MINISTRY
Isaiah 6:8-13

Now we come to perhaps the MOST FAMOUS VERSE in this chapter,
Perhaps even the entire book.

But you see that this verse could not happen without the first 7.

I want to break down the specifics of Isaiah’s ministry a little more to help us grasp even better what it is that God has called him to do.

1) RESPONDING (8)

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Of incredible significance is the first 3 words of the verse.
“Then I heard…”

Isaiah DOESN’T say, “Then God said…”

Perhaps God had been calling for someone to go for some time
But Isaiah had never heard the call because he was dead in his sin.

But once God made him alive through Christ,
Now all or a sudden Isaiah has ears to hear.

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord”

I hear it said from time to time by people in the church. “The Lord isn’t calling me to be on mission.”

In light of Isaiah 6 I should think it is time for repentance.

There is no doubt the Lord is calling His people on mission.
That may not be Africa, but I promise you He is calling you on mission.

What else would He be calling you to do?
(Watch TV and go on vacation?)

He has left His children here for the purpose of His kingdom.
• We are His witnesses.
• We are commissioned by Him to “go and make disciples”
• We are to “seek first His kingdom”
• We are to pray for “His kingdom to come”

The great missionary William Booth said:
“Not called!’ did you say? ‘Not heard the call,’ I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father’s house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face — whose mercy you have professed to obey — and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.”
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/692389-not-called-did-you-say-not-heard-the-call-i

Isaiah was deaf until he turned from his sin,
But once he found salvation from the Lord
He said, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord”

Does He burden your heart for the lost?
Are you ever compelled to share the gospel?
Are you commissioned at all?

ISAIAH HEARD.

And what did he hear?
“Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?”

He was looking for one
• Who would expose the people in their sin,
• Who would call them out for their hypocrisy,
• Who would preach to them the necessity of repentance,
• And who would offer them the mercy of God if they would humble themselves.

It reminds us of the pitiful condition in Ezekiel’s day.
Ezekiel 22:30 “I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.”

God had been calling and none would answer the call.
In fact, none were even hearing the call.

But on this day, Isaiah’s ears were opened by the Lord
And he heard God’s call for someone to go and tell the people.

And Isaiah famously answered, “Here am I. Send me!”

Isaiah volunteered.

And let me put it again bluntly.
PEOPLE WHO ENCOUNTER CHRIST SHARE ABOUT CHRIST.

The woman at the well
John 4:28-29 “So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”

• She’s like a present day Isaiah.
• He told me I was a sinner! Let me tell you about Him!

The Gadarene Demoniac
Luke 8:38-39 “But the man from whom the demons had gone out was begging Him that he might accompany Him; but He sent him away, saying, “Return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.”

• Now telling the story of his humiliating condition
• And how Jesus freed him from it.

The Apostles under threat of persecution
Acts 4:19-20 “But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

• We cannot stop!

Those who encounter Christ speak of Christ!

But it’s really hard to speak about what you have neither seen nor heard.

People go out and talk about their church attendance and their religion,
But they have no testimony of an encounter with Christ.

Isaiah could not preach to the people about the holiness of God
And the redemption of Jesus until he experienced both.

That is why Spurgeon said:
“Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter.”
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/404648-every-christian-is-either-a-missionary-or-an-imposter

Isaiah’s ministry began with responding to God
And volunteering to share what he knew of God with his contemporaries.

They were “a people of unclean lips” as he was,
And he now would go tell them what God had done for him.

It started with Responding
2) REPORTING (9a)
“He said, “Go, and tell this people:”

• Isaiah was NOT simply called to be more faithful in attendance.
• Isaiah was NOT simply called to do more Bible studies.
• Isaiah was NOT simply called to pray more.

Isaiah was called to “Go, and tell this people”

God has ordained that those who know Him
Should go and testify of Him to those who do not.

Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Romans 10:14 “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”

You know the passages.
But familiarity with the passage should not nullify responsibility to them.

These are the commands of Jesus.
DOES THAT COMMAND MATTER TO ME OR NOT?

Isaiah was to report what he had seen and heard about God.
3) RENDERING (9b-10)

“He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”

Now this is the hard part.
And many have a tough time wrapping their minds around the call here.

The MESSAGE that Isaiah is to speak is clear.

“Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.”

• It’s a clear message of judgment.
• It is a statement that seemingly drips with sarcasm.

Isaiah is to preach to people the truth,
And at the same time remind them that they don’t get it.

“I’m preaching but you don’t understand a thing I’m saying.”

It’s NOT the type of message that promises to be received very well.

But that’s been precisely the way Isaiah preached
In those first 3 sermons we studied in chapters 1-5.

What could possibly be GOD’S OBJECTIVE
In preaching a message like that to people?

Well, look at what God says in verse 10:
“Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”

“Render” God says.
• That is to say, “Make them this way”
• It is literally “Make their heart fat”

And on one hand we could say, “Oh, so Isaiah was supposed to preach a message that exposed the people like he had been exposed.”

He was supposed to preach in such a way that proved that they were blind and deaf and hard-hearted, right?

Well, that’s part of it.
• Certainly when one preaches as Isaiah would preach
• And calls down the holiness of God to apply to the hypocritical religion of the day
• You would expect that people would be exposed.

That is sort of what the Law does.
Paul testified to that.
Romans 7:7-10 “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.” But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;”

• The Law didn’t actually kill Paul, he was already dead.
• But the Law did reveal his spiritual deadness to him.

And some would say, “Well that is Isaiah’s ministry”
He’s supposed to go around and expose that people are actually deaf, dumb, blind, and heard-hearted.

That is partly true, but that is NOT the full grasp of his ministry.
God says to “Render the hearts of this people insensitive…OTHERWISE they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”

Isaiah will expose some men and may lead them to repentance,
But the main thrust of his ministry is NOT to lead them to salvation,
But to actually harden them in their sin.

His ministry is to preach to truth to sinners
Which will in effect solidify their blindness and intensify their judgment.

That’s what the text says.
Render them blind “otherwise” they might see.

That sounds very anti-gospel
And perhaps nothing like we would expect from God.

But can I remind you that Jesus did this?
In Matthew 13 Jesus gave the crowds the truth, but He gave it to them in a manner in which they could not understand it.

And then said:
Matthew 13:11-13 “Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”

These were people who had been given the truth but had not listened to it
And now they were being hardened in their sin.

Now here’s a good question for you.
WHY WOULD GOD DO THAT?

WHY would God give truth to a sinner that is meant to harden them in sin and intensify their judgment?

Isaiah has already answered that question.
Isaiah 5:16 “But the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment, And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.”

The answer is: FOR HIS GLORY

You can cry “foul” and “unfair” all you like,
But this is how God has revealed Himself to Isaiah.

WHAT IS MORE,
Did you know that of all the great Old Testament passages we have in the Bible, none is quoted more in the New Testament than this one?

Matthew 13:14, Mark 8:17-19, John 9:39, John 12:40,
Acts 28:26, Romans 11:8;
They all say the same thing.

Matthew 13:14 “In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE;”

What should you take from this?
Well YOU SHOULD BELIEVE Isaiah’s word.

Later God will say through Isaiah:
Isaiah 55:11 “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”

If you think about that verse, IT CAN’T BE TRUE,
If the only purpose for preaching is to see men saved.

If that is the only thing God’s word accomplishes
Then that verse can’t be true for not all who hear the gospel are saved.

But what if God’s word also accomplishes securing men in judgment also for the glory of God?

Then that verse is true.

Paul said:
2 Corinthians 2:15-16 “For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?”

To some people Paul’s preaching was “an aroma from life to life”
But for others it was “an aroma from death to death”

And what a warning to all who sit under gospel preaching.

God’s word IS working in your life.
• It is either working to draw you to salvation
• Or it is working to secure your judgment.

Isaiah’s primary ministry would be a ministry “from death to death”

He would preach for the purpose of rendering men
As deserving of God’s wrath and that to the glory of God.

That is a harsh ministry to be assigned, but it is real.
• And many a prophet and minister has labored under that exact calling.
• Many have preached for years and seen very little saved,
• But that does not mean they failed.
• They merely succeeded in hardening sinners.

That is Isaiah’s ministry.

Responding, Reporting, Rendering
4) REMAINING (11-12)

With such a difficult ministry, Isaiah’s question is fitting.
“Then I said, “Lord, how long?”

How long do I have to do this?

“And He answered, “Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, Houses are without people And the land us utterly desolate, The LORD has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.”

The answer?
Preach until they are all dead.
• You must endure.
• You must remain.
• You must keep preaching.

• Even if the results seem few.
• Even if people hate you for it.
• Keep preaching.

As Paul told Timothy:
2 Timothy 4:1-4 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

Preach rather they like it or not.
Preach rather they listen or not.
God’s word is at work through you, keep preaching.

God is using your preaching to secure the judgment
Of the hard hearted who turn away from His word.

Granted, it is not an enviable ministry,
But it is Isaiah’s ministry
And many have followed in his footsteps since that day.

But there is one more point.
5) REVEALING (13)

Thank God for that little word “Yet”

Your ministry may primarily be a ministry of securing judgment,
BUT IT WON’T TOTALLY BE THAT.

“Yet there will be a tenth portion in it, And it will again be subject to burning, Like a terebinth or an oak Whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump.”

We call this the remnant.
• Your preaching will secure the salvation of some.
• 10% according to God’s announcement will receive the preaching of Isaiah and repent.
• And they will be tested, and they will walk through the fire, but it will be proven that they are real.
• It will be proven that they are holy.

Remember, Isaiah told us about that remnant too.
Isaiah 5:16-17 “But the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment, And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness. Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, And strangers will eat in the waste places of the wealthy.”

Isaiah heard what the LORD told him.
• He knew that most would be judged to the glory of God,
• But he also knew that some would be saved to His glory as well.

You want to sum up the ministry of Isaiah.

Preaching to hypocritical sinners for the rest of his life.
• To secure 90% of them in judgment
• But to save some 10% of them from judgment,
• And all of that to the glory of God.

And so you see now why Isaiah is preaching the way he is preaching.
You see now why he so boldly confronts sin and calls men out of it.

He saw the Lord!
• He feared judgment,
• But God showed him mercy to save him.

Now he takes that message to the people.
• It is the gospel!
• It is the message of God’s holiness and yet God’s mercy to sinners who repent.

• And this message will either lead men to repentance and salvation
• Or it will harden them in sin and secure their judgment.

But either way God will be glorified,
Either in saving sinners or in judging them.

THIS IS OUR MINISTRY.
If you have seen the Lord and received His salvation, take that message to the world.
Don’t be discouraged if they don’t respond as you’d like, God is at work through His word regardless.

And if you are not saved, you had better listen to the message
For God will be glorified in your life one way or another.

But now you see Isaiah’s commissioning
And understand why he preaches the way he does.

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Isaiah’s Commissioning – Part 1
Isaiah 6:1-13 (1-5)
April 16, 2023

Last Sunday morning we introduced this passage
As we celebrated the resurrected Christ on Easter Sunday.

And just to quickly highlight the point that was made,
Isaiah 6 explains to us why Isaiah came out of the gate swinging.

Before we knew it Isaiah had preached 3 sermons
And every one of them proved to be messages of serious warning.

• Whether it was Isaiah confronting worthless religion
• Or confronting idolatry and worldliness
• Or pronouncing woe upon the worthless fruit of Israel

ISAIAH HAS PULLED NO PUNCHES.

We imagined that his direct style right out of the gate likely caused some to wonder what had him so riled up.

No doubt Isaiah’s answer to their curiosity is:
I SAW THE LORD, AND IT CHANGED EVERYTHING.

We discussed Isaiah’s vision and how it was actually the glorified Jesus whom Isaiah saw in his vision.

And we took a moment TO CELEBRATE the glorified Lord
And TO REALIZE that one day we will all stand before Him
In His glorified state as well.

WELL THIS MORNING, we return back to this vision
• To pick up some of what we did not discuss
• And to ultimately move through the remainder of the chapter
• And see the effect that this vision had upon Isaiah’s life.

I didn’t give you any kind of an OUTLINE last week,
But let’s work on that outline here.

We can divide this chapter up into 4 main points.
#1 THE SOURCE OF ISAIAH’S CONVICTION
Isaiah 6:1-4

Again, we have already noted that Isaiah came out preaching
A bold message of woe and judgment to the children of Israel.

He has come out and exposed the sin of Israel at every turn.
• He has been literally a man on a mission.
• He has dripped with conviction.
• He has spoken boldly and without apology.

And here we see why.
“In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.”

“the year of King Uzziah’s death” was 739 BC

It is remarkable to realize that Jesus was sitting on the throne 740 years before He was ever born, and He’s been sitting there ever since.

But this was the year in which God appeared to Isaiah
And called him to ministry.

Some have commented that Isaiah may have gone to the temple to mourn the death of the king, but that is really a stretch.
• For one, it only says that it was the year in which he died, not in response to his
death.
• Secondly, if you will remember, Uzziah was struck with leprosy for trying to
enter the temple and offer sacrifices and his son Jotham sort of reigned as
Co-regent with Uzziah.
• At this point Jotham has been operating with kingly authority for 11 years.

Isaiah is NOT mourning the death of Uzziah and thus entering the temple.

No, Isaiah is entering the temple because
That is what Jewish worship looked like.
He’s doing what he has always done.

BUT ON THIS DAY in 739BC
He would have an encounter that would change his life forever.
“I saw the Lord”

The word “Lord” there is NOT YAHWEH,
Like you are used to seeing which is signified by all caps.

The word “Lord” there is ADONAY
Which is the word of a sovereign ruler.

That is to say that Isaiah walked into the temple
And he saw the One who was really in charge.

In a moment the seraphim will identify who this Lord is and in verse 5 Isaiah will call Him “the King, the LORD of hosts”

And we know that John reveals that it is Jesus whom he saw.

But at least at the outset of this vision Isaiah is merely struck
By a sovereign ruler that was extremely ELEVATED in stature.

Isaiah says He was “sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.”

Some say that kings purposely wore long trains because they were hard to maneuver and thus required many servants to handle it.

Some mention that kings would routinely cut off the robes of conquered kings and sow them to their own train and thus a long train indicated a king who had conquered many others.

But perhaps the best way to view it is through the lens of John’s gospel when he said that Isaiah “saw His glory”.

Speaking of His long train may just be ANTHROPOMORPHIC language
To speak of the tremendous glory of the king.

You measured the majesty of a king by the length of the train of his robe
So Isaiah reveals to us here that this is
The most “exalted” and glorious king that he has ever seen.

THIS ONE HAS NO EQUAL.

But you don’t just see His Elevation you also see His EXALTATION.

(2-3) “Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”

The “Seraphim” are holy angels and they are surrounding the throne.
• There name comes from a root word that means “fiery ones”
• We see them in Ezekiel’s vision of the wheels
• And again in John’s vision of the throne room of heaven.

And here we read that they have “six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.”

What does all that mean?

No doubt he “covered his face” as SHADE
• Even holy angels could not gaze upon the brilliant glory of this holy King.
• He was too much for even them to behold and so they had to cover their face in His presence.

“he covered his feet” out of SHAME
• Even though glorious and righteous to us, these creatures still do not measure up in splendor and glory to the One they serve.
• There is humility before Him even among the holy angels.

“with two he flew” – Which represents SERVICE
• These creatures are busy in the service of the King.

But what greatly captured Isaiah’s attention
Was THE DECLARATION that they each kept saying to one another.

“And one called out to the other and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”

Now Isaiah knows who it is he stands before.
These Seraphim have identified Him.

And they keep calling out to each other,
Lest anyone there should forget who they are dealing with.
HE IS THE HOLY ONE.

WE REMINDED LAST WEEK that this is the only 3-quoted declaration like this in the Old Testament.

God is not referred to as “Love, Love, Love” or “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy”
Though He is such things.

God is declared “Holy, Holy, Holy”

And this is the scene that would strike Isaiah to the core.
You just have no idea how Holy He is.

You have no idea how far above us He is.
This is true of the glorified Christ.
It is Jesus whom Isaiah saw.

And though we are used to the humbled version seen during His earthly ministry, THIS IS THE JESUS OF ALL ETERNITY.

This is a truer picture of who He actually is.
HE IS SO HOLY!

• It is to speak of His God-ness.
• It is to speak of His uniqueness and separation from humanity.

• He is not like us and we are not like Him.
• He is holy and we are fallen.

• We cannot relate to Him.
• And even holy angels dare not gaze upon Him.

The angels continued by declaring “the whole earth is full of His glory.”

That is a unique statement.
• They don’t say that the whole earth should be filled with His glory.
• They say that “the whole IS full of His glory.”

Everything you see is a testimony to His greatness and power and might.

What did Paul tell us about Him?
Romans 1:18-23 “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. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

“the whole earth is full of His glory” but not all the earth recognizes it.
AND CERTAINLY NOT EVERYONE WORSHIPS HIM FOR IT.

(And thus the wrath of God abides on man.)

And here we have THE FIRST REBUKE
Which would come from the throne room of God
Regarding man He has created.

• The holy angels recognize the glory of the LORD everywhere and never stop
declaring it.
• Whereas sinful men seem to have totally overlooked His glory and refuse to
worship Him for it.

It is just a brief picture of how out of touch earth is with heaven.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote:
“Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees, takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries,
And daub their natural faces unaware.”
(Ortlund Jr., Raymond [Isaiah: God Saves Sinners; Preaching The Word Commentary Series; Crossway Publishers; Wheaton, IL; 2005] pg. 78)

The first rebuke we find here is from the angels
Who would be totally offended that we should live our lives
So ignorant of the glory of God all around us.

That we would fail to see His eternal power and divine nature
And that we would fail to worship Him accordingly.

The angels continually call out to each other to remind one another.

We often fail to see it or remind each other of it.

Raymond Ortlund wrote:
“The whole earth is full of his glory,” We keep trying to fill it with monuments to our own glory – kingdoms, businesses, hit songs, athletic victories, and other mechanisms of self-salvation. But the truth is better than that. Created reality is a continuous explosion of the glory of God.”
(ibid. pg. 78)

The angels see that and would rebuke humanity for being so blind to it.

Isaiah is getting a first-hand lesson
From beings that are consumed with the glory of God.

And as they cry out, ISAIAH RECOUNTS:
(4) “And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.”

As these creatures herald the glory and holiness of God
The very earth beneath Isaiah quakes.

We SAW THE SAME when Jesus died upon the cross:
Matthew 27:51 “And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.”

And we SAW IT AGAIN 3 days later when He rose from the dead:
Matthew 28:2 “And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.”

It is a reminder of the sheer power of the presence of God.

Isaiah also notes that “the temple was filling with smoke.”

This is a picture of the WRATH AND JUDGMENT OF GOD.
Revelation 15:5-8 “After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened, and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chests with golden sashes. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.”

Psalms 97:2 “Clouds and thick darkness surround Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.”

And when you put all this together
You begin to grasp the scene of what Isaiah saw.

In his vision he immediately saw one who was high and exalted.
• He immediately saw ADONAY the sovereign Lord.

But when he heard those angels,
• Who wouldn’t dare look at the One on the throne call Him “the LORD of
hosts”
• And declare Him “Holy”
• And rebuke humanity for failing to see it.

And as they spoke,
• God’s glory and smoke fill the place,
• And the whole ground begins to shake.

What are we to make of this except that:
The LORD is more glorious and exalted than we have ever realized
And that He is serious about the worship that occurs around Him.

I again come to the conclusion that we too often live this life with absolutely no concept of who it is we serve.

Many of you have heard R.C. Sproul’s famous “What’s wrong with you people?” answer that he gave at a Q&A. (If you haven’t, google it)

He grows frustrated with people who think
God was too severe on Adam when Adam fell into sin.

But Sproul concludes his answer by saying, “This is what’s wrong with the Christian church today; we don’t know who God is and we don’t know who we are.”
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Sproul+What%27s+wrong+with+you+people&view=detail&mid=A0B2F725CF4FAF236000A0B2F725CF4FAF236000&FORM=VIRE

THAT WAS CERTAINLY TRUE IN ISAIAH’S DAY.
Isaiah had no clue who it was he was entering that temple to worship,
But in a moment he found out.

And God was more holy and more glorious
Than anything He could have imagined.

• God was not Santa Claus…
• God was not a fuzzy Teddy Bear…
• God was not even approachable…

• He was so Holy even angels wouldn’t look at Him.
• He was so Holy even angels hid themselves from His gaze.
• He was so Holy even angels continually reminded one another of His chief essence of perfection.

This is not some God you show up before unaware.
This is not some God you overlook.

AND YET HERE THEY WERE
• Bringing their broken sacrifices…
• Cheating one another and ignoring the widows and orphans…
• Ignoring His word and following their own logic…
• Acting like He didn’t see and wouldn’t deal with sin…

And then they thought they could just run into the temple,
Lift up their hands, tell Him what they wanted,
And He’d just hop right to it?

They had no clue.
Isaiah had no clue.

I’m wondering if we have any clue.

That is The Source of Isaiah’s Conviction.
#2 THE SIN OF ISAIAH’S LIPS
Isaiah 6:5

We spoke of this last week as well, but the response of Isaiah
Tells us everything about what it is like in the presence of God.

“Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined!”

I gave you the words last time.
• “Woe” – OY – it is that cry of intense pain and grief.
• “Ruined” – DAWMAW – it is “to cease” or “to be undone”

When Isaiah saw His glory…
Then heard from the angels who it was he was seeing…
Then witnessed the ground shaking and the smoke rolling in…

ISAIAH KNEW IT WAS OVER.
“Oh! I’m a dead man!”
• I shouldn’t be here!
• I should not be looking at Him!
• I should not be in His presence!
• I have come to close!

WHY ISAIAH?
“Because I am a man of unclean lips,”

Certainly the issue is much deeper than just having a filthy mouth.

Jesus taught us:
Matthew 15:17-20 “Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. “These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”

Your lips are the barometer of your heart.
Isaiah doesn’t just have a filthy mouth, he has a filthy heart.

So do you see what Isaiah’s sin is?
Can you spot his problem?

ISAIAH WAS A PHONY!
Isaiah was a hypocrite.

How do we know that?
TURN TO: MATTHEW 15:1-9

• Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for being phony hypocrites.
• They invalidated what God said because they wanted to keep their traditions.
• And Jesus said that Isaiah was right about them.
• That they were a people who honored God with their lips but their heart was far away from Him.

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

And here in the throne room, Isaiah confessed that this was him.

Isaiah was exactly that type of man.
• He was the type of man who would draw near to God with his words
• And honor God with his lip service,
• But his heart was far away from God.

And on this day, when confronted
With the holiness of God’s presence, Isaiah came clean.

“I am a man of unclean lips”

THAT IS TO SAY, “I’m a liar!” – “I’m a fraud!” – “I’m a hypocrite” – “I’m not real!”

And THE LAST PLACE a fraudulent hypocritical liar needs to be
Is directly in the presence of the Holy God of the universe.

I’M A DEAD MAN!

Isaiah had been merely going through the motions his whole life.
• He knew when to go to the temple,
• He knew how to bring a sacrifice.
• He knew when to stand, when to sit, what to sing, and what to pray.

• He could do it.
• He’d been well trained.
And perhaps he even had everyone around him fooled.

But on this day, he stood before God
And he knew that before God
He could no longer conceal his hypocrisy.

“I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips;”

I’m a fraud and so is everyone around me.
• No one here really cares about God.
• No one here really loves or honors Him.
• We’re all just going through the motions,
• And perhaps I was the best at it.

AND NOW “my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

“Woe is me!”

LISTEN FRIEND,
• You can play the game and go through the motions and fool a lot of people.
• You can go to church and sing the songs
• And even pray the prayers you’ve been taught to pray.

And you may fool a lot of people.
And that’s all well and good until you stand before the Holy One.

Matthew 7:22-23 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

THERE’S NO FOOLING HIM.

Isaiah had been a bloody-handed sinner
Covering his iniquity with religious involvement.
But on this day Isaiah could hide no more.

Does that help you understand why he preached things like:

Isaiah 1:10-15 “Hear the word of the LORD, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the instruction of our God, You people of Gomorrah. “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”

That WASN’T Isaiah taking issue with their worship.

HE had been that worshiper and felt the scorn of God for it.
HE had done just like them and felt the terror of judgment.

He was passing along the message he had received.

Or this one:
Isaiah 1:21-23 “How the faithful city has become a harlot, She who was full of justice! Righteousness once lodged in her, But now murderers. Your silver has become dross, Your drink diluted with water. 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.”

When Isaiah spoke of them as being a diluted drink
He could do it accurately because he knew it looked like.
He had been just as phony.

“I am a man of unclean lips…”
AND SO ARE YOU!

AND IT’S NOT OK.

I remember when the Lord exposed me like this.
• Standing in a worship service at Howard Payne University
• I was serving as a camp counselor at a youth camp called Super Summer.
• And as we sang that song about needing holiness, the Lord looked right through all my empty and phony religion.
• He exposed me as the hypocrite who was not enough.
• I was forced to confess as Isaiah did that I was not enough and nothing that I had done had been enough.

THIS IS WHAT THE LORD DOES.
He comes and confronts what is phony
And calls you to the righteousness
Which can only be found in Him.

AND HE HAD TO DO THIS TO ISAIAH
Before Isaiah would ever be a messenger to the people.

Matthew 7:5 “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

He had to address Isaiah’s dirty mouth
Before Isaiah would be able to address anyone else’s.

I certainly know how that feels.
I know what it is to be exposed as a phony and a fraud,

But the Lord had to do that to me
Before He could send me to do that for anyone else.

I KNOW WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE
• When you’re just going through the motions.
• When you sit in church but don’t want to be there.
• When there is religion without love for God or a concern about His glory.

I know what it looks like because I lived it.
And some of you are living it now.

And I can only tell you that it may work here,
But it won’t work before the Lord.

The Lord didn’t even have to call Isaiah out.
God’s holy presence exposed him to such a degree
That Isaiah fell on his face confessing it.

This is part of the gospel.
This is what Jesus does.

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

In HIS MINISTRY He constantly did this:
John 5:42 “but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.”

John 8:43-45 “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.”

Matthew 23:27-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

Exposing people is what Jesus does.

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

He sees it all, you cannot hide from Him.

DO WE NOT REMEMBER
His conversation with the woman at the well as Jesus told her all about her love life?
• And how she ran away saying, “He told me everything I’ve ever done.”

Jesus is the Light and He exposes men.

He told Nicodemus:
John 3:19-21 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

WHERE DO YOU STAND IN THAT?
• Have you ever had your sin exposed by Jesus?
• Have you ever confessed that sin to Him?

There is no salvation apart from that.
• God is opposed to the proud who try to hide in their sin.
• God is opposed to the proud who seek to keep up the charade.

Isaiah was exposed by the Holy One
And he fell on his face and confessed it to the Lord.
YOU SHOULD DO THE SAME.

We don’t have time to complete the next point,
But it is important to introduce it.

The Source of Isaiah’s Conviction
The Sin of Isaiah’s Lips
#3 THE SALVATION OF ISAIAH’S SOUL
Isaiah 6:6-7

When Isaiah CONFESSED his sin before the Lord…
When Isaiah HUMBLED himself before God…
GOD FORGAVE HIS SIN.

This is the remarkable truth of the gospel.
This is the unfathomable greatness of our God.

That though He is holy and totally unapproachable,
He has chosen to be merciful to sinners
Who humble themselves before Him.

Later Isaiah will preach:
Isaiah 57:15 “For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.”

WHAT A STATEMENT!
• That even though His name is “Holy”
• And even though He dwells “on a high and holy place”
(Both things Isaiah saw)
• He also dwells with “the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the
spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

This great and holy God has unfathomable mercy
Upon those who are contrite and lowly.

Jesus would say:
Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Isaiah deserved death before God for his hypocrisy,
But God extended mercy to him.

And friend this is the glorious joy of the gospel.
GOD FORGIVES SINNERS.
• I’m a walking testimony.
• I was a phony, I was a fraud.
• I could list for you all my sins (of which I am totally ashamed) and most of them I did while wearing a Christian T-shirt.

• I grieve over the number of people I must have turned off to Christianity by my hypocritical and phony living.

• I wonder how many people want nothing to do with Jesus today because I claimed to be a Christian in high school while being a total hypocrite?

God would have been served best by killing me in their midst
And showing them what He does to phonies.

But He didn’t do that to me.
Instead, He confronted me, and when I confessed my sinfulness to Him, He forgave me.

He’ll do that for you too, but you cannot hide in the game.
• You have to come clean.
• You must confess it to Him.
• Your unclean lips have to go.
• But He promises mercy if you turn from them.

We’re going to talk about this MORE TONIGHT,
But that is where I leave you this morning.

Would you be willing to own up to the game you’ve been playing and confess your sin to God so that you might find mercy before Him?

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

download here

I Saw The Lord
Isaiah 6:1-7
April 9, 2023

I realize it is Easter Sunday so we may have some family
Visiting with us who have not been in our worship services
Over the past couple of months.

But we have begun a study of the book of Isaiah
And having just finished chapter 5, this morning we come to chapter 6.

I am amazed at God’s timing,
• For this will prove to be a tremendous text to study on Easter Sunday
• As we think about the glory and the wonder of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So here we come to Isaiah 6.
• Isaiah 6 is a famous chapter for most.
• It and Isaiah 53 are no doubt the two that are the most well-known.

Isaiah 6 is where we find the details
Surrounding ISAIAH’S COMMISSIONING.

The peculiar thing in the book of Isaiah
Is that unlike other prophets,
His commissioning is not mentioned at the first of the book,
But rather Isaiah waits until chapter 6 to give it to you.

Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Jonah, etc.
• Most prophets start there as a way of indicating their authority right from the
start, but not Isaiah.

But when Isaiah’s starts, instead of giving you his credentials
As a commissioned prophet from the LORD,
He just comes out swinging.

• He doesn’t give you the formalities of his calling
• There is nothing of his education or his degree
• He tells us nothing of past experiences.
• There is no testimony or pedigree or anything like that.

Isaiah simply steps up to the pulpit
And punches the children of Israel right in the mouth.

We have already studied 3 sermons from Isaiah
And they have NOT been for the faint of heart or the easily offended.

Things like:
Isaiah 1:10-15 “Hear the word of the LORD, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the instruction of our God, You people of Gomorrah. “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”

He barely got into his first sermon before he was already referring to the children of Jerusalem as “Sodom and Gomorrah”.

And he wasted no time telling them what God thought about all their worship.
• It was worthless
• It was detestable
• It was an abomination
• God hated it

That’s quite a way to begin.

The second sermon proved no better as Isaiah began to confront their idolatry and their love of the world’s approval.

Isaiah 3:8-9 “For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen, Because their speech and their actions are against the LORD, To rebel against His glorious presence. 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.”

• Isaiah labeled the children of Israel as those who are “against the LORD”
• He called them rebels and lovers of sin.
• Once again referring to them as Sodom

And then pulling out the word that he would use multiple times,
The infamous word “Woe!”

These are NOT blessed people.
These are people under judgment.
“Woe to them!” Isaiah says.

And then we came to that 3rd sermon located in chapter 5
• Where Isaiah announced them to a be a fruitless vineyard
• That God was about to judge by ripping them out of their land
• And exiling them to a foreign country.

And again Isaiah pulled out the woes!
This time hitting the people of Jerusalem with 6 of them.

Isaiah 5:8 “Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field, Until there is no more room, So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!”

Isaiah 5:11-12 “Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink, Who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them! Their banquets are accompanied by lyre and harp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine; But they do not pay attention to the deeds of the LORD, Nor do they consider the work of His hands.”

Isaiah 5:18-23 “Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood, And sin as if with cart ropes; Who say, “Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it; And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near And come to pass, that we may know it!” Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes And clever in their own sight! Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine And valiant men in mixing strong drink, Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!”

We looked at those 6 woes.

It was the worthless fruit of Israel:
• Coveting
• Sensuality
• Indifference
• Depravity
• Pride
• Corruption

Until finally Isaiah announced that these people
Whom he had invited to “walk in the light of the LORD.” (2:5)
Were actually trapped in darkness awaiting judgment.

Isaiah 5:30 “And it will growl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress; Even the light is darkened by its clouds.”

Needless to say, when Isaiah took the pulpit, he came out swinging!

And such a confrontational beginning from the preacher
Would no doubt have the people in a state of shock and confusion:

“Goodness Isaiah, what has you so bent out of shape?”
“What has you so riled up?”

And in chapter 6 Isaiah answers
What has him so fired up:
“I saw the Lord”

And that vision completely changed Isaiah’s view on God, on himself,
On the people, on sin, on the future, etc.
IT CHANGED EVERYTHING

And just in case you suppose Isaiah to be too harsh…
Here in chapter 6 we also find out that

The first “woe” Isaiah ever pronounced was not at the congregation,
But was focused ON HIMSELF.

(5) “Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips…”

Isaiah had been a sinful man.
He was clearly one of the people.
• He had been covetous like them.
• He had been sensuous like them.
• He had been indifferent like them.
• He had been depraved like them.
• He had been arrogant like them.
• He had been corrupt like them.

He was a “bloody-handed”, worldly living, idolatrous,
Hypocritical worshiper just like them.

And then “I saw the Lord”
IT CHANGED EVERYTHING!

IN ONE MOMENT, I realized my great sinfulness.
IN ONE MOMENT, I realized the gravity of my error.
IN ONE MOMENT, I realized the justice I deserved.

“Woe is me, for I am ruined!”

That word “Woe” in the Hebrew is OY

It’s that automatic response that comes out of you
When something awful takes place.

• When a football player gets completely run over in a play.
• When a baseball player takes a fastball to the middle of the back.
• When someone does a belly flop off a high dive.

“OH!” Is the word, and even that is not enough
To express the agony of what you have just seen.

Isaiah saw the Lord,
What is more he saw himself in the light of the Lord and cried, “OH NO!”

“I am ruined!”

“ruined” is the Hebrew word DAW-MAW
It means “to cease; to cut off, destroy, perish, to be undone”

It would be comparable to being in a car that went over a cliff
And in those brief seconds before you hit the ground,
The realization would hit you, “I am DAW-MAW!”

I’M A DEAD MAN!

When Isaiah saw the Lord
He was not instantly overcome with warm fuzzy feelings.

• It didn’t feel anything like Thanksgiving at grandmas
• Or sitting on Santa’s lap at Christmas.

When Isaiah saw the Lord, ONE REALITY overwhelmed him.

(1-3) “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”

Isaiah saw the Lord.
And if you were to ask him what he saw,

Isaiah did not come of that temple and say, “Oh, it was love, love, love..”
He didn’t say, “I saw such mercy, mercy, mercy…”

Isaiah came out of that temple, no doubt pale and trembling,
And when asked what he saw, the answer was simple, “Holy, Holy, Holy”

R. Kent Hughes writes:
“Holy, holy, holy” is not just repetition; it is emphasis. It isn’t one + one + one; it’s perfection x perfection x perfection. The holiness of God distinguishes him absolutely, even from the sinless angels. The Bible speaks of the splendor of God’s holiness (Psalm 29:2), the majesty of God’s holiness (Exodus 15:11), the incomparability of God’s holiness (Isaiah 40:25). His holiness is simply his God-ness in all his attributes, works, and ways. And he is not just holy; he is “holy, holy, holy,” each word boosting the force of the previous one exponentially. No other threefold adjective appears in all the Old Testament….the seraphim strain at the leash of language to say that God alone is God. He is not like us, only bigger and nicer. He is in a different category. He is holy.”
(Hughes, R. Kent [Isaiah: God Saves Sinners; Preaching The Word Commentary series; Crossway; Wheaton, IL; 2005] pg. 77)

A.W. Tozer says:
“We must not think of God as highest in an ascending order of beings, starting with the single cell and going on up from the fish to the bird to the animal to man to cherub to God. God is as high above an archangel as above a caterpillar, for the gulf that separates the archangel from the caterpillar is but finite, while the gulf between God and the archangel is infinite.”
(ibid, pg. 77)

THE POINT?

Isaiah entered that temple and saw One
To whom he did not compare at all.

He was nothing like God and God was nothing like him.
God was God!
He was Holy, Holy, Holy

• How could I have been so mistaken?
• How could I have been so far off in my understanding?
• How could I have so grossly underestimated who He is?
• How could I have so grossly overestimated who I am?

In an instant Isaiah evaluated himself, not by his contemporaries,
But by the perfect and holy God!

And he felt like Peter on the boat when he caught a sense of the glory of Jesus.
Luke 5:8 “But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!”

It is the realization: I DON’T BELONG HERE WITH YOU!

And Isaiah announces to the people.
“I saw the danger I was in, and I saw the danger you were in.”

“Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

If you want to know why I came out of the gate swinging
It’s because you don’t realize who we are dealing with!

When you bring those sacrifices, you have NO IDEA who you’re bringing them to.
When you come into His courts, you have NO IDEA who you’re approaching.
When you pray, you have NO IDEA who you’re appealing to.
When you attend Easter Sunday worship, you have NO IDEA who this Holy One is!

He is Holy, Holy, Holy and I feared for my life and I feared for your life.

BUT…
In spite of His unapproachable holiness, I FOUND MERCY in His sight.

(6-7) “Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”

I found that this God who is holy beyond comprehension
Is also merciful to sinners who grieve over their sin.

And when I confessed my sinfulness before Him,
He took away my iniquity and He forgave my sin!

He didn’t kill me!
He didn’t destroy me!
HE PARDONED ME!

It’s as David had said:
Psalms 32:5 “I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.”

That would be ISAIAH’S TESTIMONY as well.
God was merciful to that sinful prophet.

And Isaiah would then reveal that
When this holy God who had forgiven his sin asked
Who would go and proclaim what he saw to the children of Israel?

• Who would go and tell the people how sinful they were?
• Who would go and tell the people how holy God was?
• Who would go and tell the people how much danger they were in?
• Who would go and tell the people how mercy and forgiveness could be found?

Isaiah said:
(8) “Here am I. Send me!”

That is WHY I CAME TO PREACH to you,
And that is WHY I HAVE COME OUT SWINGING.

God is holier than you have ever imagined
And when you are compared to him,
You have no concept of how far short you have fallen of His glory.

We quote it sort of nonchalantly all the time:
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

We say that almost as an excuse for sin.
“Oh well, we all fall short!”

Isaiah would put his hand over his mouth and FALL TREMBLING to the ground.
• You have no idea how far short you have fallen.
• You have no idea the gravity of your sin.
• You have no idea how glorious He is.

The fact that all have sinned is not a reality to boast in,
It is one to grieve over.

• That reality DOES NOT TEACH us to find comfort in our common failing.
• That reality TEACHES us to fear the holiness of a God who has every right to immediately annihilate us.

And this is WHY ISAIAH HAS COME with such a message
To the children of Israel and by extension to us as well.

“I saw the Lord” and trust me, you are not ready.

And perhaps that helps those of you who have been with us through the first 5 chapters of Isaiah to understand why the preaching of Isaiah has been so heavy.

He is preaching as a dying man to dying men.
• All of life’s trivialities have faded away.
• His petty covetousness, his ridiculous sensuality, his unbelievable arrogance and indifference and corruption and depravity…

THOSE THINGS ARE GONE!
Seeing the Lord changed everything for him.

NOW, YOU SAY, that’s all well and good,
And it certainly clarifies the first 5 chapters of the book of Isaiah,
But this is Easter, what does this have to do with the resurrection?

WELL FIRST OF ALL,
• When we read Isaiah 6 we see that Isaiah saw “the Lord”
• In verse 5 Isaiah said the person He saw was “the King, the LORD of hosts.”

But it is not until we come to the NEW TESTAMENT
That the reality of WHO ISAIAH SAW comes into full view.

TURN TO: JOHN 12:36-41

Jesus is speaking and like Isaiah He calls men to come to the light.
• It is a calling from sin to righteousness.
• It is a calling from ignorance to wisdom.

But as we see in verse 37 they were not listening to Him
Any more than they were listening to Isaiah.

And this was all a fulfillment of what Isaiah spoke of.
(38-40).

But then comes the revealing verse.
(41) “These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him.”

Who did Isaiah see?
• He saw Jesus.
• He saw “the King”

And again, what was Isaiah’s estimation when he saw Jesus?
• He is more holy than you can imagine.
• He is not like us and we are not like Him.
• I was terrified in His presence and were it not for His mercy, I would have
immediately perished.

Isaiah had a vision of what we might call the PREINCARNATE JESUS.
• This was Jesus before the incarnation.
• This was Jesus before He took on flesh and walked among us.

The picture we are used to is the human Jesus.
The picture of Jesus in His humility.

Philippians 2:5-8 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

• That was Jesus in His humiliation.
• That was Jesus when His glory was concealed by human flesh.
• That was Jesus when He emptied Himself of glory.

We only saw His true identity for a brief moment on a mountain.
Matthew 17:2 “And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.”

• But that scene was only witnessed by 3 of His disciples.

The rest of the world only ever saw Him in his humiliation.
Including the moment in which He died upon the cross.

In that moment, on the cross, to a world steeped in darkness,
He appeared weak and we saw no glory that was attractive.

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

When you read that passage in light of Isaiah 6
You can finally feel Isaiah’s frustration breaking through.
• I saw Him!
• I know Him!
• He is more holy and more magnificent than you can imagine.

But when Jesus came in His humiliation, the world didn’t see that.

And Isaiah asked, “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?”

Where was this glory we heard about?
Where is this magnificent holy you spoke of?

• This Man is despised.
• This Man is forsaken.
• This Man “has no stately form or majesty”

But there was an answer for that.
There was a reason why He looked so ordinary.

Isaiah 53:4-6 “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”

He looked unattractive because He was identifying with us.
He was standing in the place of sinners.

No man alive would ever be able to ascend
And become like the One Isaiah saw in chapter 6,
So the King would have to descend and become like Isaiah.

We couldn’t put on glory, so He put on flesh.
He came to stand as one of us
That He might bear our sin and take our punishment.

This Jesus, the glorious holy King,
Humbled Himself to become like us that He might take our punishment.

IT IS THE ULTIMATE HUMILIATION.

BUT THIS MORNING WE PUSH THE STORY 3 DAYS LATER.
We don’t stop on Friday, we look to Sunday morning.

Romans 1:3 “[He] was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord”

When the world looked at Jesus on the cross,
Suffering and humiliated
They had a very difficult time seeing the One Isaiah spoke of.

The Centurion saw it when he saw how Jesus died, but few others did.

He looked weak, He looked like a criminal, He looked anything but holy.

That would come 3 days later when the glory would break out again!
• Jesus would step out of that tomb.
• Jesus would step out of His humiliation.
• The One Isaiah saw would come bursting forth.

Those guarding the tomb would become like dead men and would freeze in fear.

They weren’t the only ones.
Saul of Tarsus had an encounter with this glorified Jesus.
• He was on his way to Damascus to arrest and kill Christians.

Acts 9:3-9 “As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.” The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.”

The church’s leading persecutor encountered just a flash of this Holy One
And it sent him to the ground in fear and trembling.

Just one look at this glorified Jesus
And Saul was transferred from the church’s greatest enemy
To the church’s most dedicated missionary.

Sound like what happened in Isaiah’s day?

And while we see Him a few more times on earth,
Certainly with more glory than we had seen previously.

It isn’t until John is imprisoned on the island of Patmos
That he finally sees the One Isaiah spoke of.

TURN TO: REVELATION 1:9-18

John saw the One Isaiah saw.

This same one, by the way, will show up again in Revelation 4
And there we see a similar scene.

Revelation 4:8 “And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.”

This is the same thing Isaiah saw.
John saw it also on the island of Patmos.

It is “The King”
It is the Holy One

And I make sure you see this because THIS IS THE REAL JESUS.
This is who He is!

• We certainly love that He took on flesh and dwelt among us.
• We certainly love that He humbled Himself to become a servant.
• We certainly love that He submitted Himself to death on a cross.

But you must understand that
From the scope of eternity past to eternity future
That humiliated Jesus was the exception, not the rule.

He was humbled for 33 years, He is glorified for all eternity.

We praise, honor, and give thanks to THE CRUCIFIED JESUS who bore our sin and took our punishment that we might be forgiven.

But now we look to the resurrected Jesus
Who is more holy than anything you can imagine.
And catching a glimpse of Him will CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

A failure to see Jesus for who He is,
Is why so many have no problem living in sin.

It’s why so many covet the world.
It’s why so many are indifferent.
• Jesus doesn’t care about my sin.
• Jesus loves me just as I am.

In fact, many suppose themselves to be more like Jesus
When they do tolerate sin.

THAT IS AN INCOMPLETE PICTURE OF JESUS!

When John saw Him, “I fell at His feet like a dead man.”
• Had John not lived 3 years with Jesus?
• Was it not John who rested his head on Jesus’ bosom during the Last Supper?
• Does John not refer to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”?

So what was John so afraid of?

John saw Jesus in His glory, and like Isaiah before him,
John realizes that He is more holy than I could have ever imagined.

• I was a dead man before Him!
• If He had not extended mercy to me, I would have been undone.

And John, though imprisoned for following Jesus, would “prophesy again” and tell the world of this Holy One He encountered.

Easter Sunday is NOT the time to mourn the humiliated Jesus who died on the cross.

Easter Sunday is the time to look higher to the glorified Jesus who conquered sin, death, and the grave.

Easter Sunday is the time to realize that He is more holy than you can ever imagine and if not for His mercy you would never stand before Him.

Easter Sunday is the time to rise to your feet and proclaim this glorified Lord to all the earth.

We go and preach the same message of repentance
The same message that Isaiah, Paul, and John did

Because we now realize that apart from His mercy
No man will survive an encounter with Him.

AND THIS IS THE MESSAGE THE WORLD MUST HEAR.
• Someday, at the judgment, it is not the meek and lowly Jesus that you will
stand before.
• At the judgment, it is the Holy and glorified Jesus you will stand before.

Listen to Paul as he preached to the city of Athens:
Acts 17:30-31 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

God will judge the world “in righteousness through a Man”

What Man?
• The man He raised from the dead!
• The righteous one!
• The holy one!

• The One who caused Isaiah and Paul and John to fear for their lives.
• The One who made guards faint like dead men.

Thanks to Isaiah, and thanks to Paul, and thanks to John,
We have seen the resurrected and glorified Lord.

And we know what they have told us;
That we are too sinful to stand before this Holy One.

But they have also told us that He is merciful to sinners
Who confess their sin and run to Him for mercy and forgiveness.

This morning, if you have never repented of your sins, you must!
Coveting, Sensuality, Indifference, Depravity, Pride, Corruption and a host of many others.

YOU MUST REPENT.
You dare not stand before the Holy One in your sin.

You must ask for His forgiveness
You must trust His saving work
That you may be clothed in His righteousness
And justified in His sight.

AND IF YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED and justified then you must respond as Isaiah did and say, “Here am I, send me!”
• You must respond as Paul did and turn from enemy to missionary.
• You must respond as John did and write the things which you have seen and heard, you must prophesy again.

We are here to proclaim, not just the humbled and dying Jesus,
But the exalted and glorified Lord!

• The One who is so Holy that even angels tremble to look upon Him.
• The One who put Isaiah, Paul, and John on their faces.
• The One who made guards faint as dead men.
• The One who will one day cause every knee to bow and every tongue to confess that He is Lord!

Psalms 2 “Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’ ” Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”

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The Fate of The Worthless Vineyard – Part 2
Isaiah 5:13-17; 24-30 (24-30)
April 2, 2023

This morning we discussed WHY listening to God’s word is so important.
FAILURE TO LISTEN RESULTS IN EXILE.

Listening to God is important.
• James said we should be “quick to listen”
• 16 times in the New Testament we see the phrase, “He who has ears, let him
hear”

Those who didn’t listen were exiled.
And this exile is necessary for HUMILITY,
For the GLORY OF GOD, and for JUSTICE.

THOSE WHO DIDN’T LISTEN WERE REMOVED.

It is an important lesson to learn:

People who don’t produce fruit
Because they don’t listen to the word
Eventually quit receiving the word at all.

TURN TO: MATTHEW 13:1-7

DO YOU REMEMBER THAT STORY?
• That farming parable which seemed to make no sense to anyone, including the
disciples.

And they asked:
• “Why do you speak to them in parables?”

And the answer of Jesus is absolutely shocking.
• “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of
heaven, but to them it has not been granted.”

They haven’t listened to what they’ve already been told,
Why would I give them more?

See, everyone Jesus spoke to could be categorized as that hardened soil.
Why would Jesus keep throwing seed onto the path just the birds could eat it?

And Jesus even applied to that crowd the same thing we’re going to read in Isaiah 6.
(READ: Matthew 13:14-15)

But it’s the eyes that see and the ears that hear that are blessed.

You understand the point here.
IF YOU FAIL TO LISTEN YOU WILL LOSE THE PRIVILEGE.

And that is why in Isaiah’s sermon, Exile is linked to knowledge.

Jesus is that light that is shining.
• Men are either accepting that light or ignoring it.
• If they accept His word, they get more.
• If they ignore His word, eventually they lose even what they have received.

LISTENING IS IMPORTANT.

And we would remind that how you listen directly affects your fruit.

Keep looking at Matthew 13
(READ: Matthew 13:18-23)

Jesus clarifies there what we’ve been speaking about.

That how one receives the seed
Directly corresponds to how one produces fruit.

The fruitfulness of the vineyard
Is directly proportional to the acceptance of the seed.

LISTENING IS IMPORTANT.
How can you produce fruit if you ignore the very seed which produces it?

Israel ignored God’s word in favor of the world’s entertainment
And produced no fruit and now they were headed to exile.
They were compared to a destroyed vineyard.

So THIS MORNING we learned that LISTENING IS IMPORTANT.

Tonight we’re on a similar point, but I would go a little further and tell you
NOT LISTENING IS DANGEROUS.

In fact, I would point out to you that
God takes it serious and as a personal insult.

AND THINK ABOUT IT.
Do you like it when you know something and the person you are talking to won’t listen to you?

How much more so for God, when His wisdom far exceeds ours?

I learned this learn early on as a child.
• You could say a lot of things to my dad but the word “No” was not one of them.
• If you wanted to unleash fury in a split second just tell him “No”.

In similar fashion, God takes the rejection of His word
Very personal and very serious.

And yet Israel made a practice of it.

Isaiah 28:9-10 “To whom would He teach knowledge, And to whom would He interpret the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just taken from the breast? “For He says, ‘Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there.’”

They actually mock the very words of God as baby gibberish.
Is it any wonder God is furious?

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 in effect tell God to “shut it”.
Is it any wonder God is furious?

TONIGHT we’ll look at that fury.

So we’ve walked through the sermon.
#1 THE SONG OF THE VINEYARD
Isaiah 5:1-7

#2 THE SIN OF THE NATION
Isaiah 5:8-12; 18-23

#3 THE SOLUTON OF GOD
Isaiah 5:13-17; 24-30

We said this morning that this section of God’s response
Easily follows the 3 “therefore” statements in the text.

We saw:
1) THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF EXILE (13)

“Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge; And their honorable men are famished, And their multitude is parched with thirst.”

2) THE NECESSITY OF EXILE (14-17)

“Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure; And Jerusalem’s splendor, her multitude, her din of revelry and the jubilant within her, descend into it.”

And tonight we look at the 3rd and final statement.

3) THE FURY OF THE EXILE (24-30)

We are learning that
Ignoring God’s word is no laughing matter.

Just look at this 3rd “therefore”

(24) “Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble And dry grass collapses into the flame, So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust; For they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.”

We remember of course the 4 “woes” that precede this statement.
• We had the indifference of those who drag their sin with cart ropes.
• We had the depravity of those who rewrote God’s standard and called what was evil good.
• We had the pride of those who thought they knew better than God.
• We had the corruption of those who compromised what God said to get ahead.

They all have to do with ignoring, rejecting, rewriting,
Or compromising the word of God.

And because of this sin God is sending the fire of judgment.

“Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble And dry grass collapses into the flame, So their root will become rot and their blossom will blow away as dust;”

Here God speaks of the judgment on their “root” and their “blossom”

• Their “root” is obviously their source of nutrient.
• Their “root” is the word they believe.
• Their “root” is the knowledge they follow.

They have ignored God’s word, but they do believe someone’s word.
Rather it is their own logic and understanding
Or the reasonings of their culture.

They have a standard they follow, it just isn’t God’s.

That is their “root”.

• The “blossom” is NOT the same thing as fruit.
• The “blossom” would have to be their pride in what they do.
• It is how they display their happiness in the wisdom they follow.

God is looking at men
Who have rejected His word and the fruit it produces
For their own knowledge and the pride that comes with it.

AND GOD SAYS,
• “Have you ever thrown dry grass into a fire?”
• “How long did it last?”
• “Well that’s how long their pride is going to last.”

I’m going to cause their wisdom to “rot”
And their blosom to “blow away”.

If you reject God’s word in favor of your own, do you really suppose He’s going to let your word succeed?

We’ve read it before, but what a good reminder:
Jeremiah 5:30-31 “An appalling and horrible thing Has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?”

• Do you really suppose God will let your own logic trump His?
• Do you really think you can disobey God and disregard His wisdom in favor of your own and God will just sit by and let you display your blossom?

FORGET IT!

Isaiah 30:12-15 “Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Since you have rejected this word And have put your trust in oppression and guile, and have relied on them, Therefore this iniquity will be to you Like a breach about to fall, A bulge in a high wall, Whose collapse comes suddenly in an instant, Whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar, So ruthlessly shattered That a sherd will not be found among its pieces To take fire from a hearth Or to scoop water from a cistern.” For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, “In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.” But you were not willing,”

God will take those who ignore His word,
And though it may all look well for a while, their fall will come “suddenly”

God doesn’t allow disobedience to prosper forever.

Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.”

THAT’S A GOOD REMINDER.

God is sending a fire to destroy their logic and scatter their pride.
He will not allow their wisdom and plans to succeed.

WHY IS HE SO ANGRY?

“For they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.”

Can you see how personal God takes this?
• He uses words like “rejected” and “despised” as synonyms.

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.”

See what that word “rejected” means there.
What Saul did to God’s word, God did to Saul.

That word “despised” actually means “to spurn”

GOD TAKES THIS SERIOUS.

We talked about this years ago when we looked at
The doctrine of SOLA SCRIPTURA.

Remember the privilege that is revelation?
• God dwells outside of time and space.
• We dwell inside of time of and space.

The point is that God is beyond us
And there is no possible way that we could ever get to Him
To find out truth.

Divine truth does not come to us because of our EXPLORATION
• None of us never journeyed outside of time and space to find God and learn of
Him.

No, the only way we know anything of God
Is if God in His grace and mercy chooses to reveal Himself to us.

Divine truth comes to us because of His REVELATION

Now imagine the insult when undeserving man
Takes the gracious revelation of God and ignores it
Or wads it up and throws it behind his back.

Do you understand that God takes this personally?
• How arrogant!
• How prideful!
• How infuriating to God!

(25a) “On this account the anger of the LORD has burned against His people, And He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down. And the mountains quaked, and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets.”

You can see it.
GOD IS ANGRY.

“the anger of the LORD has burned”
“He has stretched out His hand”

He has “struck them down”
“their corpses lay like refuse”

How serious is it to God for one to spurn His word?
How serious is it to God for one to reject what He has to say?

GOD KILLS MEN FOR DISOBEDIENCE.

TURN TO: MATTHEW 21:28-42

That passage starts with a parable about obedience.
• And you can sense the obvious frustration of Jesus for those who find any
excuse not to obey.
• They just won’t listen to God’s word.

And then Jesus chased that point with another parable
• And you certainly see how relative this is to our study of Isaiah 5.

And we would do well to revisit
The end of what Jesus had to say on this subject.

(40-41) ““Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”

“bring those wretches to a wretched end”

Like what?
Strike them down and lay their corpses like refuse in the streets.

DO YOU SEE THE FURY OF GOD?
He is so angry at His people for neglecting His word that He is killing them and letting their dead bodies rot in the middle of the street.

THAT IS SEVERE ANGER.

But then look at this shocking statement at the end of verse 25:
“For all this His anger is not spent, But His hand is still stretched out.”

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
• Even after killing them, God’s wrath is not yet satisfied.
• Even after letting their bodies decompose in the middle of the road, He is still not yet finished punishing them.

Well my goodness, what more can He do than that?

The writer of Hebrews says:
Hebrews 9:27 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,”

Jesus told us:
Matthew 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

THERE IS PLENTY MORE THAT GOD CAN DO BESIDES DEATH.

And look at this:
DEATH DOESN’T SATISFY GOD’S WRATH
ON THE SIN OF DISOBEDIENCE.

DO YOU SEE THAT?

If you spend your life ignoring the word of God
You may think that once God kills you
that you are square with the house…WRONG!

God’s “anger is not spent”
God’s “hand is still stretched out”

Death is for a split second but judgment never ends.

Mark 9:43-48 “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED. “If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED. “If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.”

Revelation 14:9-11 “Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

• Death doesn’t bring God’s fury on disobedience to an end.
• The words we read in Revelation are “forever and ever”

And we see a picture of that here.
For the death of God’s people does not end His fury.

(26-30) “He will also lift up a standard to the distant nation, And will whistle for it from the ends of the earth; And behold, it will come with speed swiftly. No one in it is weary or stumbles, None slumbers or sleeps; Nor is the belt at its waist undone, Nor its sandal strap broken. Its arrows are sharp and all its bows are bent; The hoofs of its horses seem like flint and its chariot wheels like a whirlwind. Its roaring is like a lioness, and it roars like young lions; It growls as it seizes the prey And carries it off with no one to deliver it. And it will growl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress; Even the light is darkened by its clouds.”

• Here God is seen as holding up a sign and waiving it to a “distant nation”
• He is seen as whistling for it to come.

And just take a moment and recognize
Some of the aspects of this nation that He calls for.

THEIR SPEED
“And behold, it will come with speed swiftly”

THEIR STABILITY
“No one in it is weary or stumbles”

THEIR ALERTNESS
“None slumbers or sleeps”

THEIR FREEDOM
“Nor is the belt at its waist undone”

THEIR READINESS
“Nor its sandal strap broken.”

THEIR LETHALITY
“Its arrows are sharp and all its bows are bent; the hoofs of its horses seem like flint and its chariot wheels like a whirlwind”

THEIR EAGERNESS
“Its roaring is like a lioness, and it roars like young lions; it growls as it seizes the prey”

THEIR SUCCESS
“And carries it off with none to deliver it.”

THEIR DREAD
“And it will growl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress; even the light is darkened by the clouds.”

This is an invincible opponent.
• For the northern kingdom this opponent will be Assyria.
• For the southern kingdom this opponent will be Babylon.

In the end times we read:
Revelation 9:1-7 “Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them. The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.”

And we are just REMINDED AGAIN OF THE POINT being made here.
• Insubordination is a serious offense to God.
• He takes it personal when His people fail to obey His word.
• It brings out fury in Him.
• And even death is not enough to satisfy His wrath on those who ignore Him.

And just for a moment there now stop and ponder again
The wonder of what JESUS ACCOMPLISHED ON THE CROSS.

Isaiah is going to spend plenty of chapters
Outlining the terrible sin of the people of God.

But he will eventually come to a passage where we read about one
• Who is “crushed for our iniquities”
• And how “the chastening of God fell upon Him”

And we realize that on the cross Jesus did more than just die.
He bore the full fury of the wrath of God.

That fury which we cannot satisfy by spending an eternity in hell,
Jesus satisfied in a few hours on the cross.

HE BORE IT ALL!
That is remarkable.

But do not minimize how angry God is
At those who ignore His word in favor of their own.

HE DESTROYS THE FRUITLESS VINEYARD.

SO LET’S WRAP UP THIS 3rd SERMON OF ISAIAH NOW

God wants fruit from your life.
• That fruit is righteousness and justice.

To obtain that fruit
• He selected you,
• Plowed the ground,
• Planted you
• And has watered.

The seed which produces fruit in your life is His word.

Jesus said:
John 15:7-8 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”

AND THE QUESTION IS:
WHAT AM I DOING WITH THE WORD OF GOD?

BUT LISTEN:
It’s NOT just what am I doing with the written word?
It is ALSO what am I doing with the Incarnate word?

Remember fruit comes from abiding in the vine.
Jesus is the true vine.

SO WHAT AM I DOING WITH THE WORD?

If you’ll remember this was the reason Jesus confronted 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.”

DO YOU SEE THE SAME ISSUE?
• A vineyard that produces no fruit has no value.
• When you quit abiding in Christ, your lose your fruit and your purpose.

SO WE MUST EXAMINE HOW WE HANDLE THE WORD
(both the written word and the Incarnate word)

Do I seek it or do I ignore it because I want the things of the world?
Woe to that person.

Do I run to it or am I more interested in the world’s entertainment?
Woe to that person.

Do I fear it and tremble before it or do I mock it and say God won’t do it?
Woe to that person.

Do I honor it and let it be the standard of my life, or do I replace it with my own standard of good and evil?
Woe to that person.

Do I submit to it and seek it out or do I instead follow my own logic an wisdom?
Woe to that person.

Do I stand upon it, or do I compromise it so that I might get ahead in the world and rub shoulders with the powerful?
Woe to that person.

THOSE ARE ALL WORTHLESS GRAPES

WE MUST ABIDE IN HIM.

He is the INCARNATE WORD
And it is not ok to ignore Him, reject Him, replace Him,
Or compromise on Him.

We must seek and submit to Him if we are to ever be a fruitful vineyard.

It is time to let go of the world and its hold on our lives.
It is time to let go of the world’s wisdom, logic, thinking, treasures, etc.

We seek Christ, the incarnate word
So that we might be the fruitful vineyard God desires.

For what use does God have with a vineyard that won’t produce fruit?

download here

The Fate of The Worthless Vineyard – Part 1
Isaiah 5:13-17; 24-30 (13-17)
April 2, 2023

As you know we have been for the last few weeks in Isaiah’s 3rd sermon.
If is located in chapter 5 and it is a sermon regarding the fruitlessness of Israel.

We’ve seen the first two points of Isaiah’s sermon.
#1 THE SONG OF THE VINEYARD
Isaiah 5:1-7

#2 THE SIN OF THE NATION
Isaiah 5:8-12, 18-23

This morning we come to the third point.
I told you there were four, but this week
I decided to put the rest all under the same heading.

So this morning and tonight we will look at the final point in Isaiah’s 3rd sermon.

#3 THE SOLUTION OF GOD
Isaiah 5:13-17; 24-30

To introduce this final point better I would remind you again
Of that initial song or parable which Isaiah gave to start the sermon.

He told of the vineyard which had been given every opportunity to succeed but which still only yielded worthless grapes.

And as a result of this fruitless vineyard
We saw that the vineyard owner made a decision.

Isaiah 5:5-6 “So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground. “I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, But briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it.”

The decision was to destroy the vineyard.
And as we have said multiple times, it makes perfect sense.

• Why would you keep protecting a vineyard that won’t produce grapes?
• Why would you keep hoeing a vineyard that won’t produce grapes?
• Why would you keep watering a vineyard that won’t produce grapes?

And the answer is: YOU WOULDN’T

And we’ve seen plenty of other parables even in the New Testament
Which teach the same reality.

The writer of Hebrews spelled it out for us specifically when he said:
Hebrews 6:7-8 “For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.”

If it won’t yield fruit, it quits being blessed and ends up being burned.

Well, welcome to the final point of Isaiah’s sermon.
• We know what the worthless vineyard deserves,
• Here we find what the worthless vineyard will receive.

And as we have said, the word of the day is: EXILE

To see the justification for such a decision:
TURN TO: DEUTERONOMY 28:45-57

In Deuteronomy 28
• We find the specific blessings which God would give for Israel’s obedience,
• And the specific curses which God would give for Israel’s disobedience.

And one of the consequences God outlined for disobedience
Would be exile.

(READ IT)

Now, I realize that the words we read there are shocking,
Even what we might call “gross”.

But those circumstances are what God promises
To bring upon His people if they fail to obey Him.

Those circumstances are what God promises to bring upon His people
If they fail to produce the fruit of righteousness and justice.

Well in Isaiah’s day we find that this has been the case.
Instead of obeying God, they have walked in sin.

We even spent 2 weeks outlining those sins.
WE WERE LOOKING AT THEIR WORTHLESS GRAPES
Greed – Sensuality – Indifference – Depravity – Pride – Corruption

And now God is about to fulfill His promise of exile.
He is about to lay waste His vineyard.

And here we see exactly what that will look like.

To help us comprehend it a little easier,
We are going to break this final point down a little further.

There are three points will make and they are also easy to identify
Because they all start with the word “therefore” (13,14, 24)

These are God’s responses to the sins
We have been talking about the past couple of weeks.

1) THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF EXILE (13)

“Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge; And their honorable men are famished, And their multitude is parched with thirst.”

And there is the announcement.
“My people go into exile”

It is coming.
• God is going to uproot them from their land
• And send them as slaves and prisoners into a foreign land.
• He is going to remove the vine from the vineyard because it was worthless.

But even as Isaiah announces their coming judgment
He is also very quick to remind them WHY.

Here he says:
“My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge”

That is a statement that is certainly worth pondering.

We might have expected him to say
• They went into exile for their lack of faith
• Or for their lack of obedience
• Or for the abundance of their sin
• Or something like that.

But when Isaiah first announces that exile is coming the reason given is “their lack of knowledge”.

WHY?

Look back up at verses 11-12:
“Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink, Who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them! Their banquets are accompanied by lyre and harp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine; But they do not pay attention to the deeds of the LORD, Nor do they consider the work of His hands.”

Do you remember that woe?
We called it SENSUALITY.

Certainly drunkenness is mentioned but what we’re seeing is ESCAPISM.
It is people who are quick to seek out worldly entertainment
And slow to seek out the LORD.

When they get free time they aren’t seeking worship, they are seeking a party.
Their priority is the world’s entertainment, not communion with God.

Isaiah specifically says, “they do not pay attention to the deeds of the LORD, Nor do they consider the work of His hands.”

And then we read:
(13) “Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge;”

Do you see how the two work together?
A failure to seek God ultimately brought about exile.

We talked about the importance of abiding with Jesus.
We talked about the importance of seeking His word.
We talk about the importance of the knowledge of God.

This passage emphasizes
Just how important the knowledge of God really is.

Luke 11:52 “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”

Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”

There is a link between knowledge and salvation.

• This should make sense, since Romans 10 teaches that it is the knowledge of the gospel that teaches one to call upon the Lord. Asking, “How will they call upon Him whom they have not heard?”

• Jesus rebuked the lawyers for taking “away the key of knowledge” and as a result they hindered people from entering heaven.

• Hosea laid the ignorance of the people at the feet of the priests who had “rejected knowledge” and as a result led their people to destruction.

But when Isaiah speaks of a lack of knowledge,
He doesn’t lay the blame on a preacher or a lawyer or a priest,
He lays the blame on the sensuality of the people.

It is their own sensuality and laziness
That has caused them to be ignorant.

Certainly a preacher or a spiritual leader who fails to rightly divide the word of God will bear judgment.
Certainly a preacher or a spiritual leader who teaches what is false will answer to God and bear a stricter judgment.

But don’t suppose that you who own a Bible and fail to read it
Will be given a pass on your ignorance of divine things
Just because you had a bad preacher.

• Do we not own a Bible?
• Has Christ not given us the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth?

Then how do we defend our spiritual ignorance?
How do we defend our limited understanding of divine things?

THERE IS NO DEFENSE.
Lack of knowledge is a catalyst for judgment.

• You need to know God.
• You need to know the truth of God.
• You need to know the words of God.

Listen to Paul tell Timothy how important it is for God’s people to know God’s word:
1 Timothy 4:13-16 “Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.”

Paul told Timothy to literally saturate his people with the word of God for this will “ensure salvation…for those who hear you.”

Do you see the connection?

TURN TO: LUKE 11:27-36

Everything Jesus has to say here
Revolves around a person’s willingness to listen to God’s word
And thus gain knowledge of Him.

IT STARTS WITH A CORRECTION.
(27-28) – certainly that verse should put an end to Mary worship, but more than that Jesus definitively states that the path to blessing is the knowledge of God’s truth and obedience to it.

(29-32) – Jesus actually confronts the laziness of His generation who would rather seek a sign than submit to God’s revealed word. These people are actually worse than Nineveh because they reject the knowledge of God.

(33-36) – This is the passage I really want you to see.

It is somewhat cryptic sounding, but it’s really not that hard to grasp.
Jesus has just condemned the crowds
Because they are unwilling to accept the truth
That is readily available to them.

And then He gives this illustration about the light and a lamp.

He says that “The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness.”

If you answer a few questions, it will make this statement clear.

1) What is Jesus talking about illuminating?
“your body”

Jesus is saying, that at the end of the day
Your body will either be full of light or full of darkness.

So we are not talking about the light that you shine,
We are talking about the light that you receive.

DO YOU SEE THAT?

2) What dictates whether or not light gets into your body?
“the eye is the lamp of your body”

• So if your eye is letting light through, then light gets in.
• If your eye is not letting light through, then there is only darkness.

So in this analogy,
You are NOT the light, and you are NOT the shiner of light.

WHO IS? Jesus
And Jesus has shone the light.

(33) “No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.”

Jesus has put the light (the truth) right in front of you.
• He has spelled it out for you.
• He has given you ample access to the knowledge of God.

And your eye has either accepted it or rejected it.
• You have either looked up on it,
• Or you have closed your eye to it.

And if you have accepted the truth then your whole body is illumined,
But if you are rejecting the truth, or closing your eye to it,
Then even what you think is light is actually darkness.

It is a WARNING about listening to the truth.
It is a WARNING about accepting the knowledge of God.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD MATTERS!

Charles Spurgeon once said, “There is enough dust on some of your bibles to write ‘damnation’ on the cover with your finger.”

Here Isaiah’s people were too preoccupied with the world
To pick up their Bible and gain the knowledge of God.

With their ignorance came disobedience.
And with their disobedience comes EXILE.

“Therefore my people go into exile for their lack of knowledge; And their honorable men are famished, And their multitude is parched with thirst.”

You can read that last half either spiritually or physically.
• If spiritually it is a reference to their spiritual starvation because of their unwillingness to ponder the things of God.
• If physically it is a picture of the suffering of their exile.

Perhaps Isaiah had both in mind.

It is ironic however that these people, who up in verse 8 were so greedy for the things of the world now find themselves with absolutely nothing.

When you fail to value the knowledge of God
The only result is darkness.

Stop and ask yourself if it is important to you to gain the knowledge of God?
• Is it important to you to read God’s word?
• Is it important to you to study it?
• Is it important to you to comprehend it?

People go into exile for their lack of knowledge.

That’s the announcement of exile
2) THE NECESSITY OF EXILE (14-17)

Here is that second “therefore”

“Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure;”

This quite the mental image.
Have you ever seen a snake swallow something bigger than it is?

It doesn’t actually dislocate its jaws like some have suggested, but it has special tendons that join its jaws that allow it to sort of stretch open and enlarge to swallow large objects.

That is the picture we see here.
“Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure;”

“Sheol” here is NOT hell necessarily.
It is simply the place of the dead.

And that is the ANNOUNCEMENT that
Death is enlarging to make room for the new crowd that is coming.

It brings back memories of when the ground opened up and swallowed Korah and all his sons for their rebellion against Moses (Num 17:1)

“And Jerusalem’s splendor, her multitude, her din of revelry and the jubilant within her descend into it.”

These people who once were so enamored with their entertainment and their drinking parties and all at once death swallows it all up.

It is the picture of Sodom who was eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage and then suddenly the fire of the LORD fell upon them and in a moment everything was gone.

Israel has been seeking the world’s entertainment
And in a moment God ends it all.

IT IS SUDDEN, IT IS FINAL.
Death just swallows them up
And all their worldly living is immediately over.

AND WHAT IS GOD’S PURPOSE IN DOING THIS?
• Why is God sending them into exile and famishing their honorable men?
• Why is God sending them into exile and parching the multitude with thirst?
• Why is God sending death to swallow up them and all their luxurious living?

And the first answer:
(15) “So the common man will be humbled and the man of importance abased, The eyes of the proud also will be abased.”

Why is the judgment necessary?
TO TEACH HUMILITY

• It doesn’t matter if you are an important man or a common man.
• Every man must learn humility.

We’ve read it before, we’ll read it again:
“God is opposed to the proud”

Psalms 18:27 “For You save an afflicted people, But haughty eyes You abase.”

Psalms 138:6 “For though the LORD is exalted, Yet He regards the lowly, But the haughty He knows from afar.”

Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.”

Proverbs 18:12 “Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, But humility goes before honor.”

Man in his pride does not get to stand before God.
God is opposed to such arrogance.

Jesus taught us that only those who are “poor in spirit”
Will inherit the kingdom of heaven.

It would be nice if men naturally humbled themselves before God.
It would be nice if man was self-aware and realized his lowly state.

But far too often man is totally unwilling to humble himself before God.

We already saw that
• They were “wise in their own eyes” and “clever in their own sight”
• They ignored God’s righteous standard willfully calling what was good “evil” and what was evil “good”.

THEY WERE AN ARROGANT PEOPLE.

And just as we learn from Nebuchadnezzar:
God is “able to humble those who walk in pride.”

THAT IS WHAT WE SEE HERE.
Exile and death is God’s chosen method
For teaching humility to a wayward people
Who will not listen to Him.

AND THIS SHOULD SINK INTO OUR EARS.
What will you have to endure before you learn humility?

Israel’s stubbornness is legendary.

TURN TO: ISAIAH 28:22-29

It is a farming illustration.
• You don’t plow the ground forever…
• You don’t crush dill with a threshing sledge…
• You have to crush bread grain, but you don’t thresh it forever…

What is the point?
• Don’t be a tuff nut to crack.
• How hard will you make God beat you before you humble yourself before Him?
• Will you have to eat grass like a cow for 7 years?

Israel was headed to exile and death to learn it.

TURN TO: ISAIAH 30:15-17
• Just argue with the LORD why don’t you?
• How is that going to end?

WHY IS EXILE NECESSARY?
Because the people wouldn’t learn humility from preaching.

They wouldn’t respond to the spoken word of God
So now they must receive the stretched-out hand of the LORD.

But that’s not the only reason that the exile is necessary.
(16) “But the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment, And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.”

TO GLORIFY GOD
This would be a shocking verse to many in our culture today.
• So many men suppose that the only way God glorifies Himself is by showing
love and mercy to sinners.
• They suppose that God only receives glory from salvation.

And on this assumption they believe that God then will save all men
And show mercy to all regardless of their rebellion.

But Isaiah tells you that salvation isn’t the only way God exalts Himself.
“the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment”

There is more than one way for God to be glorified in your life.

He can be glorified in a vineyard that produces fruit.
John 15:8 “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”

But He can also be glorified in judging you.

His holiness shines forth in His impartial judgment of men
And He is exalted for such impartial justice.

Do you remember the Revelation after God pours out His bowls of wrath upon the earth?

Revelation 19:1-6 “After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER.” And a second time they said, “Hallelujah! HER SMOKE RISES UP FOREVER AND EVER.” And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” And a voice came from the throne, saying, “Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.” Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.”

Or we read:
Revelation 15:3-4 “And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.”

Since they mentioned it, do you remember “the song of Moses”?

It was the song Moses sang when saw the waters of the Red Sea collapse on the Egyptian army and he saw their dead bodies wash up on shore.

Exodus 15:1-7 “Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the LORD, and said, “I will sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted; The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea. “The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will extol Him. “The LORD is a warrior; The LORD is His name. “Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; And the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea. “The deeps cover them; They went down into the depths like a stone. “Your right hand, O LORD, is majestic in power, Your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy. “And in the greatness of Your excellence You overthrow those who rise up against You; You send forth Your burning anger, and it consumes them as chaff.”

God is exalted in judgment.

Here we have men
Who would not exalt God through their righteous living
Nor give Him the fruit that He demanded
So God has chosen to exalt Himself through their judgment.

“the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.”

If God does not judge sinners then we could question His holiness.
But He will “show Himself holy” on the day when He judges.

Have you thought about the ways in which God can glorify Himself in your life?

• Is God able through you to put on display His awesome ability to produce
righteousness in one who was once a sinner?

• Is God able to boast of His saving and sanctifying power in your life?

• Is God able to be exalted for what He is accomplishing in you?

Or is God left only to be exalted for treating you as your sin deserves?

Unfortunately for Israel it was the final option.
Regardless of God’s intervention and preservation of that vineyard,
They simply would not produce fruit.

So God exalts Himself through the destruction of the vineyard.

Exile and Death are coming and they are necessary.
• Necessary to teach humility
• Necessary to glorify God

And necessary TO DEMONSTRATE JUSTICE.

(17) “Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, And strangers will eat in the waste places of the wealthy.”

What is that?
• That’s the righteous remnant.
• This is that small group that did repent and who did seek to produce fruit.

We read the parable of the wheat and the tares:
Matthew 13:41-43 “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

And that is what we are seeing here.
• Certainly this nation filled with pride and coveting and indifference and all their other sins were an offense to God.
• Certainly He was grieved by their lack of fruit.

But it’s not just God who is grieved at such a sinful culture.
IT IS ALSO THE RIGHTEOUS.
(And God shows justice to His righteous remnant)

We read of Lot
2 Peter 2:7-8 “and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),”

We think of the grief Noah, the preacher of righteousness, must have felt surrounded by men who only longed for sin.

And certainly this was true in Israel.

Ezekiel 34:17-22 “As for you, My flock, thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Behold, I will judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats. ‘Is it too slight a thing for you that you should feed in the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pastures? Or that you should drink of the clear waters, that you must foul the rest with your feet? ‘As for My flock, they must eat what you tread down with your feet and drink what you foul with your feet!’ ” Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them, “Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. “Because you push with side and with shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns until you have scattered them abroad, therefore, I will deliver My flock, and they will no longer be a prey; and I will judge between one sheep and another.”

Exile was also God’s way of delivering His righteous remnant
From the oppression of the ruthless that they lived among.

God doesn’t sweep away the righteous with the wicked.
He uses the destruction of the wicked to deliver the righteous.

The righteous are encouraged:
Psalms 49:10-12 “For he sees that even wise men die; The stupid and the senseless alike perish And leave their wealth to others. Their inner thought is that their houses are forever And their dwelling places to all generations; They have called their lands after their own names. But man in his pomp will not endure; He is like the beasts that perish.”

Psalms 49:16-20 “Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich, When the glory of his house is increased; For when he dies he will carry nothing away; His glory will not descend after him. Though while he lives he congratulates himself— And though men praise you when you do well for yourself— He shall go to the generation of his fathers; They will never see the light. Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, Is like the beasts that perish.”

God will rid the land of the wicked that the righteous may prosper
And experience the blessing of God.

“Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, And strangers will eat in the waste places of the wealthy.”

God will honor and preserve those who honor and serve Him.

BUT YOU SEE AGAIN WHY EXILE IS NECESSARY.

IT WOULD BE NICE
• If men would simply take advantage of their access to God’s word.
• If men would simply listen to the command to humble themselves and obey it.

But Israel would not.
• They refused to seek the knowledge of the Lord.
• They refused to run to His word.

As a result of their ignorance and their sin abounded
And their fruit was worthless.

The solution of God was to kick them out of the vineyard
And give it to those who would produce the fruit of it.

Now, there’s more to learn still about God’s response to the sin of Israel,
But at the very least this morning can we remind ourselves of the importance of seeking the word of God and obeying it?

• Can we remind ourselves of the necessity of producing fruit?
• Can we remind ourselves of the importance of righteousness and justice?

God is not messing around.
• He kicked His people out of the land for their lack of obedience
• The American church is naïve if they think God all of a sudden quit caring about righteousness.

SEEK THE WORD OF GOD.
SEEK THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD.

• Stop trying to acquire the world.
• Stop seeking to gratify the flesh at the expense of the knowledge of God.
• Stop being indifferent to God’s commands.
• Stop ignoring what God says is good and evil.
• Stop trusting your own wisdom and logic over His.
• Stop compromising God’s truth to get ahead in the world.

That is fruitless living and you can see how God responds to it.

He sends death and exile
That He might humble men, exalt Himself,
And bring justice to the righteous remnant.