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The Ministry – part 1
Titus 1:1-4 (1)
January 26, 2025

This morning was the “Birds-Eye” view of Titus
So I hope you’ve got a good idea about the concept of this book.

It is Paul’s encouragement
To a trusted ministry partner and child in the faith
To approach the churches of Crete and to set them in order.

1. He was charged with straightening out their leadership.
2. He was to encourage everyone to live lives that adorned the gospel.

Titus was supposed to make missionaries out of all of them.

AND THAT IS A GOOD MESSAGE FOR US TO STUDY.

Well TONIGHT let’s get into the text of the book.

These first 4 verses are obviously the INTRODUCTION to the book.
• They are Paul’s greeting to Titus.
• But there is plenty to dissect and to learn here.

The main instruction we gain here is Paul’s insight into the ministry.

HE OUTLINES HIS MINISTRY
And in so doing he is challenging Titus to follow his lead.

So let’s begin with some questions.
• What is a minister of the gospel?
• What is a ministry?
• What is the purpose of a ministry?
• What is the goal of your ministry?
• Why do we partake in ministry?

If we are going to be missionaries, even here in Spur,
We must begin with a basic understanding that
We all have a ministry that we will either fulfill or neglect.

So let’s look at Paul and perhaps we’ll gain some understanding
Into our own calling and ministry from the Lord.

We’re going to break this opening segment into 6 points.

#1 HIS CREDENTIALS
Titus 1:1a

“Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ,”

These are not uncommon titles to us, they are used by Paul often,
But it is important to remember what they mean.

We are aware of “Paul”
• He was formerly referred to as “Saul of Tarus”
• He was a highly educated Jew
• He was a “Pharisee” from the “tribe of Benjamin”
• He was zealous to eradicate the church

But Jesus confronted him and saved him on the Damascus road
Saul went from the church’s greatest enemy to her greatest advocate.

• He began to be referred by his Greek name which is Paul
• He was God’s chosen minister to the Gentiles.

By now, Paul is near the end of his earthly ministry.
Titus is the second to last book he wrote (2 Timothy)

At this point in his ministry he has accomplished many things.
• He was a church-planter
• He was a preacher
• He was a missionary
• He was a prisoner
• He was an evangelist
• He was a healer
• He was a church growth strategist
• He was a great theologian

And the list of all of Paul’s accomplishments and positions
Could go on and on.

And yet he did not refer to himself by his accomplishments.
He called himself a “bond-servant”

• He wasn’t the kind of man who cared if you saw the PhD behind his name.
• He wasn’t the kind of guy who cared if you recognized his credentials.
• He wasn’t the kind of guy who name dropped or sought fame.

He had in fact said:
Romans 15:18 “For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed,”

He was just a servant fulfilling his role in the kingdom of God.

Paul saw himself as a “bond-servant”

In the Greek it is the word DOULOS
It literally means “slave”

It has its roots in the Old Testament:
Exodus 21:5-6 “But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’ then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.”

According to the Law you were allowed to purchase a slave and he could serve you for 6 years, but on the 7th year you had to set him free.

There was however one exception.
• The slave could willfully choose to stay in your service in which case he was considered to be a “bond-slave” or a “bond-servant”
• He was a willing slave of his master.

And that is how Paul loves to identify himself.
Nothing flashy, nothing self-affirming…
I am just one of God’s slaves.

THE INTERESTING THING HERE
Is that every other time Paul calls himself a “bond-servant” he says he is a “bond-servant of Jesus Christ”, but here he calls himself “a-bond-servant of God”

And this may be splitting hairs a little,
But it is interesting because of other men in Scripture
Who referred to themselves as God’s bond-servant.

Moses and Joshua were both referred to as servants of God,
But the most popular use of the term was for the Old Testament prophets.

Amos 3:7 “Surely the Lord GOD does nothing Unless He reveals His secret counsel To His servants the prophets.”

Jeremiah 7:25 “Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets, daily rising early and sending them.”

If you will remember the people that Titus was going to have the most trouble with were actually going to be the Jews.

Titus 1:10 “For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,”

So from the outset Paul is setting himself apart as a prophet of God.
Like Amos and Jeremiah and the other Old Testament prophets
Paul speaks of himself as one who speaks the words of God.

PAUL IS ESTABLISHING HIS AUTHORITY TO A JEWISH AUDIENCE.

This would also be true not only in a Jewish sense,
But also from the perspective of the church.

For the second title Paul refers to is: “and an apostle of Jesus Christ”

And “apostle” was very simply one who was sent on a special mission.

BUT IN THE CHURCH it carries an even more important designation
Than just anyone who was sent or commissioned.

The apostles in the church
• Were those who had been eye-witnesses of the resurrected Christ,
• Were those endowed with His authority specifically to write the words of God.

Like the prophets of the O.T., the apostles in the New Testament
Had God’s authority because they spoke God’s words.

1 Thessalonians 2:6 “nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority.”

They had apostolic power through miraculous gifts,
This was for the purpose of lending credibility to their preaching.

Paul was “an apostle of Jesus Christ”.

SO AGAIN THE ISSUE IS AUTHORITY

It didn’t matter if Titus was addressing members of the circumcision
Or if he was about to address members of the Gentile church;
The instruction Paul had given him came with authority.

THIS IS IMPORTANT FOR US
In order to be a minister of the gospel,
Whatever your ministry may be you need something.

You need credentials.
You need authority.

• Why should people listen to you?
• Why should people follow your counsel?
• Why should people care what you know?
• Why should people do what you say?

They shouldn’t if all you have is your worldly education
Or worldly experience or worldly logic.
But that is not how we approach the lost world around us.

We approach this world as men and women with the authority of God.

Not like Paul did.
We don’t claim to be prophets or apostles.

But we approach the world like Titus did,
With the words of God’s prophet and apostle.

1 Peter 4:7-11 “The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Those are our credentials for ministry aren’t they?
• We serve with the strength of God.
• We speak the words of God.

When you go out into the streets of Spur, these people know you.
• Some of them went to school with you.
• Some of them were better in school than you.
• Some of them were smarter, better athletes, even more moral than you.

Some of them have been more successful than you.
Why should they listen to you?

Because you are not speaking your words
You are speaking the words of God.

Our authority comes from this fact that we present to them
The words which God gave through His prophets and apostles.

This is why later Paul can tell Titus:
Titus 2:15 “These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”

• Titus wasn’t a prophet.
• Titus wasn’t an apostle.

But he had the words of one and therefore he had the authority of one.

Paul’s credentials matter because we stand on those credentials.
We stand on God’s authority that flowed through Paul
Into the letters God inspired him to write.

Sometimes the reason we fail in ministry
Is because we forget where our right to speak comes from.

You see the effects of churches who forget this.
• We see these all-out searches for cultural relevance
• We see people trying to find common ways to identify with people
• We see the church trying to identify and meet “felt needs”
• We see the church seeking to appeal to the interests of sinners

There is the constant desire to present ourselves to sinners
And sort of earn our right to talk to them.

But church you have the words of God.

Those words are what the world most needs to hear,
But they are also the words that world is obligated to hear.

The world doesn’t get to decide whether or not
They want to hear the words of their Creator.

They are in fact judged by Him if they refuse to listen.

Our objective is simply to proclaim what God has said
And when the words come from the Bible
We have every right to say them.

THE BIBLE HAS THE RIGHT
To be proclaimed in every setting and in every arena.

There is not a board room, break room, class room, locker room,
Or any other room where the Bible does not have the right to speak.

The Bible has full security clearance to go anywhere it wants
And speak to whomever it wants about anything it wants.

Those are the credentials we carry in the Bible.

Paul listed his credentials and Titus would stand upon them.
So do we.

His Credentials
#2 HIS CALLING
Titus 1:1b-2a

“for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life”

Here we want to know what is the purpose of his prophetic and apostolic ministry?

We are asking Paul what is his objective?
What is his goal?
What is the end game he is after?

So he has flashed his credentials, he enters the room to speak, what is he hoping to accomplish?

By association when we take the words of the apostle into the world and preach them, what are we hoping to accomplish?

That is what we are focusing on here.

And here Paul lists 3 things that he seeks to accomplish.

EVANGELISM
EDIFICATION
ENCOURAGEMENT

You see here Paul sort of simultaneously fulfilling 3 roles all at the same time every time he preaches.

Every time he speaks the words of God he is serving as an evangelist, he is seeking to see the lost saved.

At the same time when he speaks the words of God he is serving in the capacity of a teacher who is seeking to rightly divide the truth and lead men to godliness.

And still at the same time when he speaks the words of God is functioning the role of a pastor who is seeking to encourage God’s people regarding the hope of eternal life.

And incidentally this happens often.

I am aware of that tonight.
I’m preaching the same sermon to everyone in the room.

It may lead to the salvation of one who is lost.
It may lead to the sanctification of one who is saved.
It may lead to the satisfaction of one who needs hope and encouragement.

The same words accomplishing different things in different people.

And you understand that when you go out into the world you are doing the same.

So much of the time when we speak to someone we don’t really know where they are.

They could be lost and need to hear the gospel.
They could be saved but needing to be corrected and sanctified.
They could be saved but discouraged and needing hope.

And very rarely do you know which when you strike up a conversation.
But our ministry is uniquely designed to accomplish all three.

So let’s look at what Paul says here about his ministry objective.
Let’s examine his calling a little bit.

1) EVANGELISM

Paul says He is “a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God”

That’s an interesting way to put it, and it is proof that Paul was a Calvinist before Calvin was ever born.

Paul understood the sovereignty of God.
Paul understood sovereign election.

Paul doesn’t say that he was out to reach all sinners and save them, he says specifically who he is seeking to save and that “those chosen of God”

What do you mean?

Well listen to:
Ephesians 1:3-6 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”

Paul says that believers were those whom “He chose…before the foundation of the world”

When we look at the Great Tribulation in the book of the Revelation we read about:
Revelation 13:7-8 “It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.”

The only people rejecting the power, influence, and intimidation of the Anti-Christ is not those with a strong enough will or the most resolve, it will be those whom God chose to save.

And incidentally John says that God chose them “from the foundation of the world”

God knows who are His.
He knows who He chose to save.

And I know it is popular, and somewhat soothing to the corrupt human mind, to say, “But didn’t God choose everyone?”

Well if He had, everyone would be saved.
But no, He did not.

Matthew 22:14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

God, in His sovereign prerogative, and for His eternal glory, chose before the foundation of the world who He would save.

No man deserved salvation.
Apart from God’s choosing, no man would choose salvation.
If God had not chosen men then no man would be saved.
For there is none who seeks for God.

God is not in heaven restricting men from coming to Him.
God is not at work to keep the un-chosen away.
The fact is that “whosever will may come”
The problem is that God gave mankind the offer and no man would come.

It is God however, who in an act of sovereign grace, chose to redeem some anyway.

2 Thessalonians 2:13 “But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, “because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.”

1 Peter 1:1-2 “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.”

1 Peter 2:9 “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;”

Believers today are referred to as those who have been chosen by God.

No, He did not redeem us against our will and drag us kicking and screaming into heaven, He changes our will through the process of regeneration so that we desire to be saved.

This is all bound up in the sovereign prerogative and grace of God.

No man seeks for God.
No man is good, not even one.
And no man, of his own free will ever choose to be saved.
In fact, no man of his own free will ever responds to the offer of salvation.

But God, being rich in mercy, choose to save some, regenerates them, grants them faith, and calls them to salvation.

And this is where the ministry of Paul comes in.

What is the means by which God regenerates sinners?
What is the means by which God grants faith to a lost man?
What is the means by which God calls out those whom He has chosen?

Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

Those whom God has chosen remain in a state of lostness and enmity with God until the gospel is spoken to them and God uses that gospel to regenerate their soul, grant them faith, and call them to repentance and salvation.

It is the gospel which awakens the dead.
It is the word of God which calls out the chosen.

Now, we preach the words of God to all men because we don’t have any idea who the chosen are and who they are not.

And we preach the gospel repeatedly to all men because just because a man rejected it today does not mean he is not chosen and might believe it tomorrow.

And we preach the gospel to all men because it is always a valid offer.

But we know that the only men who will ever respond to the preaching of the gospel are those who have been chosen by God before the foundation of the world.

And Paul knew this too.
2 Timothy 2:10 “For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.”

Paul’s ministry was for the sake of those whom God had chosen.

And you see this even in the book of Acts.

Remember Pentecost?
Acts 2:38-39 “Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

Who is it for?
“as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

Acts 13:46-48 “Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. “For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I HAVE PLACED YOU AS A LIGHT FOR THE GENTILES, THAT YOU MAY BRING SALVATION TO THE END OF THE EARTH.’ ” When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.”

Who believed?
“as many has had been appointed to eternal life believed.”

Or consider Paul’s ministry to Corinth, this is great…
Acts 18:9-11 “And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.” And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.”

Those people in Corinth were not saved yet, that is why Paul had to stay.
But through his ministry they would be. And God promised to protect him until they all came home.

So do you understand Paul’s ministry here?
Do you understand his calling?
Do you understand the purpose?

God had given him the authority to speak the words of God “for the faith of those chosen of God”

And as we said, that authority would be the same authority that Titus would stand on.

This is the authority we stand on.

We also go into Spur and the places we live and work and go to school and we proclaim the words of God.

And we do it because this is how God calls out those whom He has chosen.

We don’t get discouraged when our gospel is rejected.
We know that some seed lands on hard soil, some on rocky soil, and some among the weeds.

We know that if our gospel is veiled it is veiled to those who are perishing because the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving.

We aren’t worried if it is rejected because we know that awakening a soul from death is not our job, that is a God-sized job.

We simply perform our commissioned duty to proclaim the words of God because when God does bring home the chosen it will be through the proclamation of those words.

And Paul said, that is the objective; that is the calling.

When I was a kid we had one of those wonderful Murray push mowers.
It was the special kind that you had to pull somewhere between 7 and 462 times to start it.

And my dad would send me out to mow.
But I didn’t say, “Dad it won’t do any good, that mower won’t start.”

Because inevitably my dad could go out there and start that thing, and typically he would just say, “Yes it will, go mow the yard.”

I also didn’t just go pull it once and then say, “I knew it, this thing will never start.”
Because experience had taught that eventually it would.

I also didn’t quit pulling on the rope and try to figure out another way to start it because there was no other way. When it would start it would start because I pulled that rope.

Now, evangelism is a little like that.

You don’t tell God no one will get saved by preaching the gospel because experience has said that they will, and what is more God can save them whenever He wants.

You also don’t just tell them once and then give up if they don’t believe the first time they hear it.

And you also don’t quit preaching the gospel in favor of another tactic because there is no other tactic.

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Romans 10:13-15 “for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.” 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? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!”

When they come, and they will come, they will come through the proclamation of the gospel.

We are on a mission from God to call His children home.
And when you are out looking for someone who has a lost child you don’t just call their name once.

And you don’t give up just because it is hard.

You keep going and you keep calling until that child hears and comes home.

Why do you do ministry Paul?
“for the faith of those chosen of God.”

Why are you in Crete Titus?
“for the faith of those chosen of God.”

Why are you in Spur church?
“for the faith of those chosen of God.”

Don’t lose sight of that.

Paul was here for evangelism

2) EDIFICATION

Paul was “a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for…the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,”

It is true that part of our ministry in this world is evangelism.
We are seeking out the lost and calling them home, but it does not stop there.

You know the Great Commission:
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.”

It wasn’t just about reaching the lost.

The command is to “make disciples”
Now certainly “baptizing” them is part of that, but so is “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you”

When Christ saved you, did He just leave you alone after that?

No, of course not.

Ephesians 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”

Yes Christ “gave Himself up” but He also “cleansed her”

Remember the upper room?
John 13:8 “Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”

It is not just about calling out the chosen it is also about the sanctification of the chosen.

Titus was surely on Crete that he might call out those who were lost, but he was also there so that he might further the sanctification process of those who are saved.

I have always loved what Paul said to the Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 11:2 “For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.”

Paul looked at himself like a best man who was responsible for delivering the bride to the groom and he was passionate about her being as clean and beautiful and pure as Christ deserved.

So listen to what he wrote to the churches:

Colossians 1:9-10 “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;”

Ephesians 1:18-19a “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”

To the Ephesians elders Paul said:
Acts 20:31 “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.”

The goal was not only to find the lost children of God but then to wash them off and clean them up.

He desired to bring “the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness”

That is the goal isn’t it?
Not just for men to be justified, but also for them to be sanctified.

When my dad told me to go and mow the yard, starting the mower was only the first part of the goal.

What was the next step?
I had to push that mower until it finished doing its job.

That’s a good metaphor for sanctification isn’t it?
After we get people started down the path of salvation sometimes we have to push them a little too.

Hebrews 10:24 “and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,”

This is the purpose of teachers and teaching in the church.
Ephesians 4:11-13 “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

It’s a knowledge based thing here.

Apostles revealed the word
Prophets proclaim the word
Evangelists spread the word
Pastors apply the word
Teachers explain the word

But all of them work for one common goal and that is that we might “all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

That means that not only are you called to take the word out as an evangelist to Spur, but you are also called to then fulfill the role of a teacher to those who are saved.

Really?
I’m supposed to be a teacher? Yes!
But I can’t be a teacher.

The Bible has an answer for that:
Hebrews 5:11-14 “Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”

I don’t think the excuse of not being able to teach is one that you want to take with you when you stand before God.

I’m not saying you have to lecture at a seminary or even stand in our pulpit, but are there not new believers in our church that need instruction?

Are there not children and teenagers who could learn the word of God from you?

That is the ministry.

We teach the words of God to those whom God has redeemed and we do so that they may be conformed into the image of Christ.

We so it so that they may be moved toward “godliness”.

There is more to say here, but we are out of time, we’ll pick up with it again next Sunday.

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A Bird’s Eye View of Titus
Titus 2:11-15
January 26, 2025

THIS MORNING
• We are beginning our new book study,
• At the same time we are beginning our annual “Mission’s Month”, though granted we’re starting a bit late so that we could finish Isaiah.

So we’ll get started on our missions emphasis now, and in all honesty it may last a while since Titus is really a missions emphasis kind of book.

This is one of the main reasons why we are starting Titus now.

One of the main purposes and messages of the book of Titus
Is that the church must work to have a more effective witness.

Titus 3:14 “Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.”

That is one of the main themes of this pastoral epistle.

You are aware of the concept.
Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

THE CALL FOR US IS
Not only to constantly, faithfully, and accurately preach the gospel,
But also to live lives that are consistent with the promises of the gospel.

It’s like the old German Philosopher Heinrich Heine said:
“Show me your redeemed life and I might be inclined to believe in your Redeemer”

We are certainly aware of THE PROBLEM that he revealed.

When the lives of those who claim to have been saved
Do not differ from those who are not,
It casts great skepticism upon the work of Christ.

Paul told the Jews:
Romans 2:21-24 “you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,” just as it is written.”

THAT IS A PROBLEM.

And it was certainly a problem for the churches on the island of Crete, where Titus was serving.

Paul pointed out:
Titus 1:10-11 “For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain.”

Titus 1:16 “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.”

There were professing Christians on Crete whose lives had not been changed and it caused great problems for the witness of the church.

Sadly enough, the root of the PROBLEM was PASTORAL.

They had men in the pulpit preaching but there were not helping anyone.

• Paul called them “rebellious men”
• He called them “empty talkers”
• He called them “deceivers”

And he said “they must be silenced”

They were men who talked the talk, but did not walk the walk
And they were “upsetting whole families”

In short they were wrecking the church.

Jews from the Island of Crete were represented on the day of Pentecost.

Acts 2:11 “Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.”

• No doubt some of those saved at Pentecost were Jews from Crete.
• And it is likely they went home and began to preach Jesus.

THE PROBLEM WAS THAT
Either due to a lack of sound doctrine or a lack of genuine conversion
The gospel that was being proclaimed in Crete
Was a self-serving carnal gospel and it did more harm than good.

When the behavior of the one preaching the gospel
Does not testify to the effectiveness of the gospel
Then the preacher does more harm than good.

The simple fact is, Christ changes lives.
• He sets men free from sin.
• He sanctifies them entirely.
• He gives them a Spirit of obedience and love for God.

And this salvation should be evident in everyone who professes Christ,
From those in the pulpit to those in the pew.

And this is why you see Paul continually make a repetitive point throughout the book.

Let me show you:
(2:7) “in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified,”

(2:12) “instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,”

(2:14) “who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

(3:1) “Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed,”

(3:8) “This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men.”

(3:14) “Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.”

Get the point?
Paul understood that preaching the gospel to a lost and dying world
Will be completely undermined if it is not accompanied by good deeds.

Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

But such practical obedience was LACKING ON CRETE.
It was a place not known for its virtue.

Look at what Paul said about them:
Titus 1:12-13 “One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith,”

I think that helps the picture become a little clearer even.
1. You have an Island of carnal men full of lying, laziness, and gluttony.
2. On this island you have a church that preaches a message of salvation,
3. But who doesn’t live any different than those it preaches to.

THAT IS A PROBLEM.
Paul left Titus in Crete to fix that problem.

Titus 1:5 “For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you,”

• Titus had to put things in order.
• Titus had to clean up the leadership of the church.
• Titus had to change the church’s thinking.
• Titus had to teach them of the importance of good works.

We are calling our study of Titus: “Adorning the Gospel”

THAT IS WHAT GOOD WORKS DO.
Our good works demonstrate the power and beauty of the gospel
To truly redeem.

Those good works are essential to support the gospel we preach.

So Paul would tell Titus how YOUNG WOMEN should act:
Titus 2:5 “to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.”

Paul understood that
• A young woman can proclaim the gospel to her friend, or her children,
• But if her lifestyle does not support what she preaches
• Then God’s word will be “dishonored”.

Paul would tell Titus that YOUNG MEN need to live righteously too:
Titus 2:8 “sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.”

In the same way,
• If a young man preaches the gospel to the lost,
• But he has a filthy mouth
• He’ll only give the enemy ground to discredit everything he says.

Paul even spoke about SLAVES and their behavior:
Titus 2:10 “not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.”

In the same manner,
• A slave may proclaim the gospel to other slaves or even his master,
• But if he is a thief
• He will discredit the gospel he preaches.
• Rather Paul told him to show “all good faith that [he] will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.”

THE POINT IS CLEAR.

So what we have here in Titus is a VERY PRACTICAL LETTER.

There is doctrine to be sure, but this letter is primarily application.

It calls God’s people to live godly lives
So that the gospel they proclaim will be adorned and not discredited.

And Paul gets specific in his application.
• In chapter 1 he talks to elders.
• In chapter 2 he talks to old men, old women, young women, young men, & slaves.
• In chapter 3 he talks to citizens of the kingdom.

He lays out criteria and expectations of godliness for all of these groups
And in every one of them it is so that the gospel they proclaim
Will be adorned and not blasphemed.

THAT IS PRACTICAL MISSIONS STUFF.
That is practical evangelistic stuff.

So as we kick of “Missions Month”
We’re going to study the book of Titus
So that God may encourage us and challenge us
To make our “walk” match our “talk”.

But that is only one of the reasons we are going to study Titus.

There is another reason.
Titus is one of 3 “Pastoral Epistles” in the New Testament.

Along with 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus is a book written by Paul to a pastor
In order to outline how the church should function.

We read it a moment ago, but:
Titus 1:5 “For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you,”

Titus had many jobs to do in Crete, but none was bigger
Than setting the leadership in order among the churches.

Leadership matters in the church.
• Bad leadership…
• Unqualified leadership…
• Worldly leadership…
• These things affect the church and hurt the church’s mission.

Titus was charged with addressing the leadership
Of all the churches on Crete.

Paul outlines for him the qualifications for the elders of the churches.

This is something WE NEED TO STUDY in our congregation.

It is no secret that the men who have served our church for years as deacons are getting a little older.

I am certainly not desiring to push them aside, as I greatly value them and their years of service and leadership in the church.

• But it has been mentioned on more than one occasion
• And by more than a few people
• That as they get older we may need to ordain some additional men into the roles of leadership.

So we need to take a look at the roles of such men.
• We need to take a look at the duty of such men.
• We need to take a look at the qualifications of such men.

We’ll probably venture beyond Titus even a little and examine
1 Timothy and 1 Peter as well, but it is something we need to study.

We already have a handful of men in the church who for the past year have been studying in regard to leadership.

• That doesn’t mean they will all be in leadership roles.
• It doesn’t mean they are all qualified for all roles.
• But they are studying.

But the church needs to know too what is required of a leader.
The church needs to know God’s model for leadership.
The church needs to know the qualifications of a leader.

So that the church will rightly select those who do lead.

That makes Titus a great study and a timely one for us.

And there is still another reason why we are going to study Titus. BACK ON THE MISSIONS THEME. (Africa)

Last summer Zech and I were fortunate to go to Kenya and to participate in a pastoral training conference with 6 men from Tanzania and Kenya.

These are pastors in their rural areas
• Who have no training and no education and very few resources.
• They are hungry for someone to come and teach them
• And help them to lead their congregations properly.

I want to go and go and go and go.
I am eager to host more trainings for more pastors at Brackenhurst
And I am eager to visit their churches in their villages.

So I find the information given here to be of the utmost importance.

Paul is writing to Titus on HOW TO “set in order” the churches
And HOW TO straighten out the leadership crisis there.

I can’t think of a more relevant study for me
As I hope to go to them and encourage them to do the same thing.

So I think this study is going to be VERY IMPORTANT
And VERY TIMELY for us on a number of levels.

I want to encourage you at the outset to begin reading Titus over and over.
• It is only 3 chapters, you can read the whole book in less than 10 minutes.

I would encourage you to saturate yourself with it for a while so that we will have a great time studying all that God would teach us here.

Let’s give a little bit of the backstory here.

WHO IS TITUS?

We don’t know where Titus came from (except that he was Greek),
Nor do we have a record of his conversion.

Since Paul calls him (4) “my true child in a common faith”
Paul likely personally led Titus to the Lord and discipled him closely.

And we know that Titus was very important to Paul

Titus first shows up for us in the book of Galatians.
• If you will remember Paul had been appointed as the apostle to the Gentiles and he was witnessing Gentile conversion

• The Judaizers tried to ambush his ministry by declaring that all of these new Gentile converts had to be circumcised.

• The controversy resulted in the Jerusalem council which we read about in Acts 15.

In Galatians 2 as Paul instructs the Galatians about the dangers of legalism he references the issue at hand and Titus’ name emerges.

Galatians 2:1-5 “Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. It was because of a revelation that I went up; and I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain. But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage. But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.”

You may also remember that in Galatians 2
• Paul tells the story of Peter’s inconsistency when the Judaizers arrived,
• How he formerly ate with the Gentiles,
• But when those men arrived Peter pulled away and started separating himself from the Gentile believers.

To that end Paul also wrote:
Galatians 2:13 “The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.”

THE POINT I am making is simply this.
The controversy regarding Gentile conversion
Was a massive issue in the early church.

There were many Jewish believers
• Who had a very difficult time getting past their prejudices
There were many Gentiles
• Who succumbed to the legalistic error of coming under the Law through circumcision.

There was a time when it felt like
• There was really only 1 man who stood for the truth of the gospel and that was Paul.

He was a relentless warrior for the truth.
He fought for the purity of the gospel.
He fought for justification by faith alone.
HE WOULD NOT YIELD.

And in Galatians chapter 2 we find that he had 1 ally.

While at times even men like Peter and Barnabas
Stumbled in the controversy
Paul had one man who stood with him without wavering.

He wrote, “But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.”

Titus stood strong, and we imagine that he must have been quite an encouragement to Paul in his defense of the gospel.

Titus also shows up in another famous fight for Paul.

When you’ve read the book of 2 Corinthians you know that it is one of the most personal and vulnerable letters Paul ever wrote.
• He was under attack.
• He was under false accusation personally,
• Even his gospel and apostolic credentials were being questioned.

It must have been a very difficult time in the life of the apostle.

In fact, Paul even refers to the battle as a “thorn in the flesh”
Which he asked God to remove 3 times and God told him, “No”.

But once again we find that in the lowest points and in the most difficult ministries there was one man whom Paul leaned on, and that was Titus.

In fact, it was Titus who carried the letter of 2 Corinthians to them.
2 Corinthians 8:16-17 “But thanks be to God who puts the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of Titus. For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest, he has gone to you of his own accord.”

And it is clear in the letter that Paul leaned heavily upon this faithful brother.
2 Corinthians 8:23 “As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; as for our brethren, they are messengers of the churches, a glory to Christ.”

Titus was also responsible for collecting the offering from the Corinthians that would be delivered to the saints in Jerusalem.
2 Corinthians 8:6 “So we urged Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he would also complete in you this gracious work as well.”

Obviously Titus had to have been a trustworthy man.

Clearly Titus was a man upon whom Paul greatly depended and needed.
2 Corinthians 2:12-13 “Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me in the Lord, I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I went on to Macedonia.”

And here we find that Paul has taken him to this island called Crete and has left him there with a difficult mission.

Titus 1:5 “For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you,”

• In 1:13 he is told to “reprove them severely”
• In 2:1 he is told to “speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine”
• In 2:15 Paul says, “these things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”
• In 3:1 he is told to “Remind them to be subject to rulers…”
• In 3:8 Paul says “concerning these things I want you to speak confidently…”
• In 3:9 he is told to “avoid foolish controversies”
• In 3:10 he is told to “Reject a factious man…”

Clearly he is on a difficult mission.

The island of Crete is in the middle of the Mediterranean sea.
It is directly south of Greece and south west of Turkey.

And as already noted it is an island of
(12) “liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons”

AND THAT IS THE MINISTRY.

Stay there, set things in order, clean up the leadership structure,
Preach the truth, and put those churches back on the right track.

Paul assigned this difficult mission
To one of his most reliable and dearest ministry partners.
A faithful man who has proven himself through thick and thin.

That is the “birds-eye” view of the book of Titus.

It is certainly my prayer that as we study
• We will be convicted regarding both our leadership and our mission.
• That we will grab the encouragement of Paul and apply it in our own lives.

But before we get into the exposition of the text of Titus,
In the few moments we have left this morning,
I just want to encourage you as to the application of this book in our lives.

We don’t live in Crete, we live in Spur.

I don’t know that I would make some pointed statement about Spur
Like Paul did about Crete.

I’m not sure I would say something as direct as “Spur people are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

Though I’m sure that Spur, like every town,
Has its fair share of those things.

But I would make this point.
Never lose sight of the mission field that is right under your nose and right across the street.

Look, I love foreign missions as much as the next guy.
• It would be a complete fallacy for me to say that I don’t enjoy going to Africa,
• I absolutely love it
• I hope God continues to open the door for me to participate there.

But I also know regarding Africa we are talking about 2 weeks a year.

The other 50 weeks are spent right here in west Texas.

Any time we talk about missions
It is common for your mind to jump to some location thousands of miles away, but that is NOT the encouragement we find in Titus.

If anything Titus teaches us that
OUR MISSION IS THE PLACE WHERE GOD HAS PLANTED US.

It is a calling for the church
• To put itself in order so that it can reach the people right outside its walls.

It is a calling for the leaders of the church
• To preach with boldness and passion, not just inside the church, but outside of it.

It is a calling for the members of the church
• To purify their lives and start living the gospel they proclaim.

And it is a calling for us
• To do that for the sake of those we live with and work with and socialize with every single day.

AND YET WE KNOW THAT
“home” is often times the most difficult mission field.

After all, we know these people.
And they know us.

We know their blunders, their mistakes, and their sin.
And they know ours.

The cost for evangelism at home
Is a different kind of cost than a foreign mission field,
But in many ways it is far more costly.

It is true there are unknown dangers in foreign fields.
• There are certain anxieties associated with foreign governments and foreign customs.
• There are certain difficulties with language barriers and financial costs.
• Those things make foreign missions certainly costly and difficult.

But there are ways in which home missions
Are perhaps even more costly.

If you fly to Africa and offend a village,
• Provided you leave safely,
• You are talking about an offended people halfway around the world
• Who have no impact on your daily life.

But if you offend the people of Spur
You are talking about the people you live around every day.

Being made an outcast in Africa is one thing,
Being made an outcast in Spur is much more costly.

It is easy to go across the world
• And be bold about the sin of a church or the sin of a culture.
• And tell a man to stop sleeping with another man’s wife.
• And confront a woman for gossip or bitterness.

The social cost for such a confrontation is relatively low.

But if you do those things at home,
You will be pay that cost daily for the rest of your life,
Or as long as you live here.

WHAT IS MORE.

It is easy to go and confront the sin of a people whom you don’t live with.
• It is easy to be on your best behavior for 2 weeks while you are in their presence.
• Anyone can be a model example of godliness for 2 weeks on a mission trip.

But if you call out the sin of those you live among,
You will have to avoid that same sin in your life every day.

Godliness can be temporary on the mission field,
But if you are going to be a witness at home
Godliness must be permanent.

A slip up and a stumble into sin can wreck years of ministry.
GODLINESS MUST BE PERMANENT.

You are going to have to consistently practice what you preach forever.

There is a difficulty and cost to missions at home
That exceeds those abroad.

BUT…
• This is where God has planted you.
• This is where God has placed you.

Acts 17:26 “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,”

You were sovereignly determined by God
• To be alive in 2025
• And to live in Spur, Texas or Matador or Afton or Dickens or White River Lake, or wherever you live.

Do you think that God determined that
With no thought to you being a light in the darkness here?

CHURCH, THIS IS OUR MISSION FIELD.
• Matador is our mission field.
• Afton is our mission field.
• Dickens is our mission field.
• Spur is our mission field.
• Girard is our mission field.
• Gilpin is our mission field.
• Jayton is our mission field.
• White River Lake is our mission field.

God placed us here.
This is our Crete.

And it doesn’t matter
If the people of our region are “always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons”.

It doesn’t matter
If they are hypocritical believers, sexually immoral, drunkards, and users of foul language.

It doesn’t matter
If they are bitter, angry, unforgiving, petty, idolatrous, or apathetic about the things of God.

This place and these people need to be reached with the gospel.

And in order to reach them God placed His church here.

Matthew 5:13-16 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

And that is the message of the book of Titus.

Titus 2:11-15 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”

So there is the opening exhortation as begin our study of Titus.

In Spur, TX “the grace of God has appeared”
He is offering “salvation to all men”

And in order for us to be faithful witnesses of that salvation
• God is “instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires”
• He is instructing us “to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present
age”
• He is commanding us to look “for the blessed hope and the appearing of
the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus”
• We are to remember that He “gave Himself for us to redeem us from every
lawless deed”
• We are to remember that His goal is to “purify for Himself a people for His
own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

And just as Titus was to do that on Crete, we are to do that in Spur.

God inspired this letter and preserved in Scripture
So that we would hear these words, be exhorted by them,
Reproved by them and that we would not disregard them.

Are you willing to be a missionary to Spur?
• Are you willing to be used of God to shine His light where you live?
• Are you willing to be sanctified by God so that you are of use?
• Are you willing to be devoted to godly living and a bold proclamation of the gospel?

That is what it will take for us
To be faithful missionaries in our mission field.

This book will help us get our minds right to do it well.

As you study it
I would just ask you
• To apply it’s commands to your personal life
• And to pray that God would use you to save the lost here for His glory.

Titus 3:8 “This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men.”

download here

Restoring True Worship – part 6
Isaiah 66:1-24 (18-24)
January 19, 2025

Tonight we bring our study of the book of Isaiah to a close.

You will remember that Isaiah’s name means “The LORD is Salvation”

The theme of his ministry
Is to point Israel away from their idols and false hopes of salvation
And to lead them to their Savior.

And yet at the same time we must note that
THE PURPOSE IN ALL OF THIS IS NOT
Simply so that Israel can enjoy salvation.

THE REASON God is saving them
THE REASON Isaiah wants them to look to God as their Savior
IS SO THAT GOD ALONE IS GLORIFIED AS SAVIOR.

This is the purpose is that
When every rival is eliminated and every rebel is destroyed
That all the earth will look to God as their only Savior
And will glorify Him accordingly.

THAT IS THE AIM.

And what a journey we have been on to get here.

The book of Isaiah began with a lack of worship.

Isaiah 1:1-4 “The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem, which he saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD speaks, “Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me. “An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master’s manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand.” Alas, sinful nation, People weighed down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the LORD, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from Him.”

That was the dilemma of Isaiah’s ministry.
• God’s people not worshiping Him nor honoring Him as He deserves.

BUT TONIGHT WE COME TO THE END
And we see that though His people fail to worship Him properly today,
There is coming a day when they will.

(23) “And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the LORD.”

It is a far cry from where we are today, but this is where we are headed.

Paul told us:
Philippians 2:9-11 “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

And certainly when we take a look at the end, we see it playing out.

Revelation 11:15-18 “Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, “We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. “And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

It’s all coming back to Jesus.
God alone will be glorified in that day.

Isaiah and the other prophets could see that day from a distance.

Habakkuk 2:14 “For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea.”

Psalms 22:27 “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, And all the families of the nations will worship before You.”

Isaiah 11:9 “They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.”

Zechariah 14:9 “And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.”

And through eyes of faith, we see it too.
Revelation 21:22-27 “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

One day all of creation will worship God as He deserves.
God is restoring true worship to Himself.

We have been examining that process here in the final chapter of Isaiah.

We saw what God will do.

#1 HYPOCRISY WILL BE REJECTED
Isaiah 66:1-6

God will not tolerate hypocrisy.
God will not tolerate phony religion.
He promised to reject it and punish those who participate in it.

And the nation of Israel has been “Exhibit A” for that punishment.

Not only did Jesus routinely condemn their religious labors,
But in A.D. 70 God burned down His own temple for the second time.

Their hypocritical worship and was rejected and destroyed.

Israel, as a nation, was broken off and rejected before God.

God tolerated their faulty worship as long as He was willing, but no more.

#2 ISRAEL WILL BE REBORN
Isaiah 66:7-13

God rejected Israel, but we know that His rejection is not permanent.
• Scripture speaks repeatedly of God’s promise to restore His people to Himself.

And the means through which God will do that is tribulation.
The event we specifically know as “The Great Tribulation”.

Isaiah 66 likened it to a woman in great labor.
• You don’t get deliverance without pain coming first, but when the pain does come you know that deliverance is right on its heals.

So it will be for Israel.
• It is the time of Jacob’s distress or Jacob’s trouble.
• It is Daniel’s 70th week.
• And God will use it to draw Israel back to Himself.

The purpose is that they might worship Him and enjoy Him forever.

It is all part of God’s process to restore true worship.

#3 IDOLATERS WILL BE REMOVED
Isaiah 66:15-17

We saw this one this morning.

After Israel repents and returns during the time of the tribulation
Then Christ will return to usher in His millennial reign.

And His return will mean death for those who worship idols.

• We saw God’s great fury.
• We saw God’s great anger.
• We read about the fire.
• We read about the whirlwind.
• We read about the sword.

We know that blood will flow through the streets in that day.
Christ will put an end to all idol worship in that day.

It is part of God’s plan to restore true worship.

And after all of those events have taken place…

WE FINALLY COME TO THE MOMENT
THIS EARTH HAS BEEN WAITING FOR.

Romans 8:18-23 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”

• We wait for redemption.
• We wait for the curse to be removed.
• We wait for worship to be restored.

This is the day we inwardly groan for every time we face the trials and hardships of this sin cursed earth.

We join with creation in groaning for the day King Jesus returns
To rule on this earth and restore everything to the way it is intended to be.

And here Isaiah shows us that day.

#4 WORSHIP WILL BE RESTORED
Isaiah 66:18-24

A simple reading simply shows us that
ALL THE WORLD FINDS HER TRUE PURPOSE AND FOCUS.

TODAY we see a world that is only interested in love of the world and the passing pleasures of sin.

But once Christ judges that world,
We’ll get this world they way it was supposed to be.

AND TONIGHT, as we conclude our study of Isaiah
Let’s take a look at that coming day.

I want to break this final text down into 4 points.
4 things we’ll see when this world and true worship is restored.

1) CAPTIVATED SURVIVORS (18-19)

(18-19) “For I know their works and their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory. “I will set a sign among them and will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations.”

The opening line of verse 18 should probably be a part of verse 17.

Where God says that idolators “will come to an end together,” declares the LORD. For I know their works and their thoughts;”

That first line is clearly a reference to the judgment
That is coming on the idolators of this world.

THE FOCUS IN verse 18 is of a new time and a new era.

“The time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory.”

There will be a new captivating and chief attraction in the world.
And it will be the glory of God.

People today speak of “A Bucket List”
It is all the things they want to see and do before they die.

And certainly this world contains some marvelous elements that God has created.
• I wish everyone could stand at the base of one of those Giant Sequoias.
• I wish everyone could walk the rim of the Grand Canyon.
• I wish everyone would feel the spray of Victoria Falls.

But in this day there is no need for a bucket
Because the list only has 1 item.

“Go see the glory of the LORD!”

Everything else will pale in comparison.

(19) “I will set a sign among them and will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations.”

You have here the survivors of the tribulation.
And they immediately become messengers of the King.

• Their mission is to go to the nations.
• Their mission is to travel the globe.
• And their purpose is to “declare My glory among the nations.”

So that all men will come.

Earlier in the chapter
We saw God’s displeasure because the world was worshiping idols.
• God spoke with disdain about those who “eat swine’s flesh, detestable
things and mice”
• God spoke with disdain who “slay a man” or “break a dog’s neck” or “offer
swine’s blood” or “blesses an idol”

BUT NOT ON THIS DAY.
On this day true worship will be restored.

Men will no longer be captivated
By the carnal or sinful or sensual things of this life.
Men will be captivated by Christ.

Christ alone will be the chief attraction.

And He will be the attraction ALL OVER THE WORLD.
NO MORE REGIONAL RELIGIONS.
• No more Buddhists in China.
• No more Hindus in India.
• No more Muslims in Iraq.

The whole world will seek the glory of Christ.

Psalms 66:1-4 “Shout joyfully to God, all the earth; Sing the glory of His name; Make His praise glorious. Say to God, “How awesome are Your works! Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will give feigned obedience to You. “All the earth will worship You, And will sing praises to You; They will sing praises to Your name.”

Psalms 86:8-10 “There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord, Nor are there any works like Yours. All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, And they shall glorify Your name. For You are great and do wondrous deeds; You alone are God.”

Revelation 7:9-10 “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

That is the day that is coming.

The world will be filled with captivated survivors.
Christ alone is all they will want to see.

2) CARRIED SONS (20)

(20) “Then they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering to the LORD, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the LORD, “just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.”

We’ve read this promise several times in several places.

Zechariah 8:20-23 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘It will yet be that peoples will come, even the inhabitants of many cities. ‘The inhabitants of one will go to another, saying, “Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts; I will also go.” ‘So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the LORD.’ “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’”

That day is coming.

But it is more than just needing a tour guide.

Here we read about them bringing back the scattered people of Israel and Isaiah makes a comparison.

He says “They shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering to the LORD” and “Just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.”

That’s interesting.
Isaiah compares the nations bringing back the Jews to Jews bringing a grain offering to God.

What does that mean?

The grain offering is spelled out in detail in Leviticus 2 and you can read all about it.

It was certainly an offering of thanksgiving to God.
Certainly all offerings hold a place of worship before God.

But what is interesting about the grain offering is its title.

The Hebrew word is MIN-KHAW

And that doesn’t necessarily mean anything, until we see some of the other places the word is used.

For example:
Judges 3:15 “But when the sons of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. And the sons of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab.”

There you see the same word MIN-KHAW
But it is translated as “tribute”.

It was a tribute taken by Israel’s judge Ehud to Eglon king of Moab.

And perhaps that gives you a better understanding of the comparison Isaiah is making.

The nations will be bringing tribute to God.
And the best offering they can think to bring Him to demonstrate His glory and majesty is His own children.

So the children of Israel will be gathered up and brought back to God “on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules and on camels” just so that they will have something with them that God desires.

Today the world persecutes Israel.
Today the world persecutes the church.

But one day that will stop.
One day the world will no longer hate God, they will seek to honor Him as God!

You see captivated survivors
You see carried sons

3) CONTINUAL SABBATHS (21-23)

(21-23) “I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites,” says the LORD. “For just as the new heavens and the new earth Which I make will endure before Me,” declares the LORD, “So your offspring and your name will endure. “And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the LORD.”

The first thing we notice comes in verse 21 with a reinstatement of some of the returned Israelites as “priests and for Levites”

It is interesting and often times a point of controversy when it is discussed.

It represents perhaps the most confusing segment of Scripture in the entire Bible.

I’m referring to Ezekiel 40-48

We certainly don’t have time to work through all of that.

I can give you a quick outline if you want it.

Ezekiel 40:1-43:12
Ezekiel measures the city and deals with the people.

It’s all about getting the people ready for the return of God to dwell among them.

Ezekiel 43:13-44:31
Ezekiel measures the altar and deals with the priests.

It’s all about revealing the type of priest that will be acceptable to serve God when He returns.

Ezekiel 45
Ezekiel measures the land and deals with the princes

It’s all about how the leaders of the land must prioritize the spiritual walk of the people.

And everything in the end of Ezekiel seems to be making sense until you come to chapter 46.

And in chapter 46 we read about: THE SIN OFFERING
And everyone loses their mind because obviously the blood of lambs and goats cannot take away sin.
Obviously Christ alone and His sacrifice is exalted.

And so people don’t know what to do with the reordination of priests or Levites or the offering of sin offerings or guilt offerings or burnt offerings or peace offerings.

But it’s not that hard to understand.

We also perform sacrifices today that we partake of.
We call it the Lord’s Supper.

Now, we are well aware that the grape juice and the cracker have no atoning power at all.
They are symbols to help us remember the sacrifice of Christ.

In the millennium they will apparently offering sacrifices for the same reason.
Not as an atoning work, but to remember the great sacrifice of Christ.

And that is what Isaiah references here.

And this time Israel will never fail and they will never defect.

God says, (22) “For just as the new heavens and the new earth Which I make will endure before Me,” declares the LORD, “So your offspring and your name will endure.”

Israel repeated defected and fell away.
But never again.

They will come back and they will stay.
Their worship will be true not hypocritical.
God will accept them and it will last.

That day of true worship is coming.

And here is what it will look like.
(23) “And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the LORD.”

Think about the world as it is today.

If you were Jewish you were told to rest on the Sabbath, but the other six days you could labor and in effect live your life.

Jews would bring a burnt offering on the “new moon” as a tribute to God.

And that is sort of the model even today.
Man takes six days for himself and the other is called “The Lord’s Day”

But let’s be honest, even that is a bit of a stretch.

We might more accurately call it the Lord’s half-day.
Or really the Lord’s hour and a half.

But maybe that is even too much.
Maybe it should be called the sporadic and random Lord’s hour.

The point is that in our day today men are busy serving themselves and doing the things that they want.

For most in the world worship to God is a nuisance and we even see churches seeking to schedule around their activities.

If people are too busy for Sunday night then we’ll just cancel it.

You get the point, the major focus of our world today is not worship.
Worship is something that gets tacked on if we’re not too busy.

But that sort of false worship will one day be eradicated.

There is coming a day of true worship and the time commitment will be reversed.

Man will not just worship on the new moon they will worship “from new moon to new moon”.
Man will not just worship on the Sabbath, they will worship “from sabbath to sabbath”.

God gets it all!

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.”

There you have it!
It is the continual worship of God.

What else could be more important?
What else could be more interesting?

This will be the goal.

“All mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the LORD.”

And you remember that the word “bow down” is the Hebrew word SHA-KHAW which is the word Abraham used.

Genesis 22:5 “Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”

We’re going to go bow down to the LORD.
We’re going to bow our wills to God.

And that is what will happen 24/7/365 in the end.

There will be no end to the worship that will occur.

Captivated Survivors
Carried Sons
Continual Sabbaths

4) CORPORATE SANCTITY (24)

(24) “Then they will go forth and look On the corpses of the men Who have transgressed against Me. For their worm will not die And their fire will not be quenched; And they will be an abhorrence to all mankind.”

Well that is certainly an interesting verse.

Men will come to worship Christ and then “go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me.”

I doubt you saw that one coming.

But first think back to all those Imprecatory prayers that are offered throughout the Scriptures.

Psalms 10:15 “Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer, Seek out his wickedness until You find none.”

Psalms 58:10 “The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; He will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.”

Psalms 59:12-13 “On account of the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, Let them even be caught in their pride, And on account of curses and lies which they utter. Destroy them in wrath, destroy them that they may be no more; That men may know that God rules in Jacob To the ends of the earth. Selah.”

You remember them.

Or even the ones we read in the New Testament:
Revelation 6:9-10 “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

Or:
Revelation 19:1-4 “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!”

Throughout the ages the true worshipers have grieved in their soul over hypocrisy and idolatry.

They have longed for the day when God rids this world of those false systems of worship.

And on this day it has happened and they rejoice.

And just to make sure we understand the severity of what they see.

You recognize that Isaiah says “their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched”.

Jesus quoted that:
Mark 9:47-48 “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.”

The word for “hell” Jesus used there is GEHENNA

Listen to:
Jeremiah 19:6 “therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the valley of Slaughter.”

The “valley of Ben-hinnom” (the place Jesus called Gehenna) was the city dump.

It is filled with refuse and fire and maggots.
Jeremiah saw it as the place where the slain would be thrown.
Jesus used it as a comparison to hell.

And Isaiah here speaks of it as the place where survivors will go as idolators and hypocrites are judged.

What does this mean?

We are speaking of a new land and a new day where no longer is hypocrisy and idolatry smiled upon.

The people of that kingdom will remember idolators like Jews remember Nazi prison guards.

It will be atrocious
It will be abominable
The whole world will agree with their judgments.

In that day, your mind will be liberated from the carnal desires of the flesh.
You will no longer be torn to love the things which God hates.

You will see Christ.
You will be like Christ.
You will think like Christ.

And you will totally agree with the judgments that fall upon the wicked in that day.

That day will be a day of worship, not regret or remorse over the fate of the wicked.

This is where we are headed!

A day where God is the chief attraction!
A day where tribute to God is the chief ambition!
A day where worship is the chief activity!
A day where rebellion is the chief abhorrence!

Worship will be restored!

John 4:23-24 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

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Restoring True Worship – part 5
Isaiah 66:1-24 (14-17)
January 19, 2025

I want us to begin our time together this morning
With you turning to that familiar passage in Romans 1.

TURN TO: ROMANS 1:18-25

The passage of course begins with the statement,
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against…”

That statement alone
Ought to cause all of creation to sit up and pay attention.
Anything that angers God should be of tremendous concern to us.

You don’t know of anything that has anywhere close to God’s power
And therefore His anger should be of intense interest.

And first on the list of things that anger God is: IDOLATRY

FIRST STATED in verse 21, “although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks…”

The issue, as we have been discussing here in Isaiah, is BAD WORSHIP.
It is a failure to worship the true God in the right way.

The problem is EXPRESSED MORE FULLY (23) “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.”

They traded a relationship with the true incorruptible God of the universe for a relationship with a graven image.

God has consigned them to temporal punishment to this very day.

(24-25) “Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

Paul is there talking about idolatry.
• It is a reproach on the living God to suppress His truth and to fail to give Him
the honor He deserves.
• It is infuriating to God as He then sees the glory He deserves given to
something far less worthy.
• And it results in even a temporal punishment for those who participate in it.

I have told you before about the “Ostrich Footed People” of Zimbabwe and how their idolatry led to incest and their incest led to a mutation that gives them deformed feet that many cannot even walk on.

But our culture is no different.
The way we see the human body dishonored in our culture
Is just as prevalent.

A culture that worships self and appearance as an idol.
• Whether we are talking about the humiliation of sexual immorality and
exploitation
• Or the degradation of the body through drugs
• Or even the mutilation of the body with the current fad of extreme piercings
and tattoos and the like
• Or even the physical mutilation occurring in seeking to transition to another
gender.

God is not to be mocked.
He punishes idolatry.

And that is bad enough…

But what we are discussing in Isaiah
Is not God’s punishment of idolatry,
But rather God’s total eradication of it.

TODAY,
• God punishes idolaters.
• They bear His wrath.

THERE IS COMING A DAY
When God will totally eradicate them.

Today God patiently allows even idolaters to live.
But one day God’s patience with idolaters will expire.

Revelation 14:9-10 “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.”

Revelation 21:8 “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Revelation 22:14-15 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”

Those who practice idolatry, and who never repent of their sin,
Will spend eternity in torment under the eternal wrath of God.

Idolatry is no small sin.

Certainly the OLD TESTAMENT bears this out.

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

God stated it from the beginning.

Think of the multitude of run-ins God had with idols and idol worshipers.

• We think of the children of Israel dabbling with the Moabites in the wilderness and attending their pagan feasts, and Scripture says God sent a plague that killed 23,000 of them in one day.

• We think of Elijah on Mt. Carmel who ordered the slaughter of the 450 prophets of Baal.

• We think of the idolatry that ultimately led God to abandon His temple and send Israel into exile in Babylon for 70 years.

Ezekiel 8:16-18 “Then He brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east; and they were prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun. He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they have committed here, that they have filled the land with violence and provoked Me repeatedly? For behold, they are putting the twig to their nose. “Therefore, I indeed will deal in wrath. My eye will have no pity nor will I spare; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to them.”

EVEN STUDYING ISAIAH,
He has given us warning after warning regarding the danger and foolishness of idolatry.
• Lamenting the stupidity of comparing God to some graven image
• Or bowing down to some block of wood.

It is a foolish decision to worship idols.

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians
He confronted their propensity to dabble in idolatry by visiting idols temples and participating in their feasts.

1 Corinthians 10:21-22 “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?”

There is a good question:
“We are not stranger than He, are we?”

Do you really want to go to war with God?

THE WARNINGS in the New Testament then are clear and concise.

1 Corinthians 10:14 “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”

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

You just don’t want to mess with that which God hates.
• He hates idolatry.
• He punishes idolatry.
• One day He will eradicate idolatry

Because He will restore true worship in this world.

And that is what we are talking about here in Isaiah 66.
• It is God’s plan for reinstituting true worship throughout the world.

We’ve already seen the first two legs of the plan.

#1 HYPOCRISY WILL BE REJECTED
Isaiah 66:1-6

God won’t accept empty hypocritical religion.
He will expose it and He will punish it.

We even read the account last Sunday morning of God destroying Israel’s temple because the worship there was so offensive to Him.

#2 ISRAEL WILL BE REBORN
Isaiah 66:7-13

For true worship to occur,
You need a God who is worthy of worship
And you need a people committed to worshipping Him.

Israel was not, but God will transform them and cause them to be.

We know that because of their hypocrisy Israel was broken off.
But we also know that God will save them and graft them back in.

And last Sunday night we SAW THE MEANS
Through which God will accomplish that return…TRIBULATION

God compared the restoration of the nation to a woman in labor,
Who gives birth, and then rejoices in her newborn child.

So it will be with Israel.
• They will go through tribulation, such as the world has never known.
• They will be delivered by God in the midst of it.
• They will then be comforted by God in His presence forever.

God will use the pain of tribulation
To remove Israel’s idols and crush her hypocrisy.

By the time God is finished Israel will be a nation of true worshipers.

Those are the first two steps in God’s plan.
This morning we look at the third

#3 IDOLATRY WILL BE REMOVED
Isaiah 66:14-17

The timeline here is clear as well.
1. Israel was rejected in her hypocrisy.
2. Israel will be reborn by the grace of God to true worship.
3. And then the day of the Lord will come in the return of Christ to punish idolaters and to dwell among His people.

That is what we see here.

As sort of a transition verse we read verse 14
“Then you will see this, and your heart will be glad, And your bones will flourish like the new grass; And the hand of the LORD will be made known to His servants, But He will be indignant toward His enemies.”

Israel will be restored.
Israel will rejoice.
Israel will be comforted.
But that comfort will NOT be universal to the entire world.

There are some who will not know an ounce of joy or comfort.

Such is the reality of the Second Coming.
• For us it is salvation, for the wicked it is damnation.
• For us it is eternal joy, for the wicked it is eternal suffering.
• For us it is anticipated, for the wicked it is dreaded.

True worshipers hasten the day,
But false worshipers hope it never comes.
But it is coming.

I just want us to make some observations in the text this morning
As we think about the day when idolatry is eradicated.

1) GOD’S ATTITUDE TOWARD IDOLATERS

(14) “He will be indignant”
(15) “To render His anger with fury”

“indignant” comes from a Hebrew word that means “to foam at the mouth”.
• It speaks of disdain and even verbal reproach.

Psalms 7:11-12 “God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day. If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready.”

“anger” is also the word for “nostril” or “nose”
• It is used of anger as in a flaring of the nostrils in anger.

Exodus 15:8 “At the blast of Your nostrils the waters were piled up, The flowing waters stood up like a heap; The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.”

“fury” comes from a root word that means “heat”
• You see it translated, “fury”, “rage”, “anger”
• It is even translated as “venom” like that of a snake that burns the leg.

Isaiah is painting quite a mental picture of God here
As He relates to idolatry.

Perhaps in our day we would just say, “HE IS HOT!”
• His nostrils are flared…
• He’s foaming at the mouth…
• He is hot!

This is what idolatry provokes in God.
• He is NOT indifferent towards it.
• He is NOT amused by it.
• He is NOT simply frustrated.
• He is angry!

IF YOU WANT TO ANGER GOD.
If you want to make Him nostril flaring, mouth foaming, red-faced angry about something then just give His glory to an idol.

Let me read it again:
1 Corinthians 10:21-22 “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?”

While men today
• Do fail to honor God as God.
• Do exchange His glory for an image.
• Do think they are getting away with it.

They do not understand how angry God is about it.
This is NOT ok with Him.

Deuteronomy 16:22 “You shall not set up for yourself a sacred pillar which the LORD your God hates.”

In fact, if you find out someone worshiped idols:
Deuteronomy 17:5 “then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil deed to your gates, that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them to death.”

Think of Phineas who, when God’s people intermarried with the Moabites and God sent the plague among them.

You had that one guy who brought the Moabite woman right into his tent and
Phineas took a spear and stabbed them both through to the ground.

Do you remember God’s response to Phineas’ act of judgment?
• He stopped the plague
• He credited righteousness to Phineas
• He appointed Phineas a priest perpetually

God hates idolatry.
God is angry at idolatry.

Isaiah 48:11 “For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.”

That is God’s attitude toward idolaters.

2) GOD’S ANGER EXPRESSED

(15) “For behold, the LORD will come in fire…”
(15) “And His rebuke with flames of fire.”
(16) “For the LORD will execute judgment by fire…”

There is a common thought there.
God will come with fires of judgment on idolatry.

Twice God burned His own temple down
Because of their hypocritical worship,
Do you really think He will spare the temple of the idol?

Do you really think He will spare those who worship those idols?

He is NOT an “all bark, but no bite” kind of God.
He doesn’t just sit over in the corner stewing in anger.

When God is angry, He expresses His anger
By pouring out His wrath on those who angered Him.

We read it about idolaters earlier:
Revelation 14:9-10 “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.”

Peter said:
2 Peter 3:10 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.”

God will not endure idolatry forever.
God will not suppress His fury forever.
God will turn His anger lose and pour out that fury in fire.

But fire isn’t the only thing He uses.

(15) “His chariots like the whirlwind…”

As if fire wasn’t enough, how about a fire tornado!

Just ask Job what it’s like when God approaches you from a whirlwind.

I can promise your transmission
Will automatically go into reverse.

Isaiah 29:6 “From the LORD of hosts you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.”

Jeremiah 4:11-13 “In that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A scorching wind from the bare heights in the wilderness in the direction of the daughter of My people—not to winnow and not to cleanse, a wind too strong for this—will come at My command; now I will also pronounce judgments against them. “Behold, he goes up like clouds, And his chariots like the whirlwind; His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!”

God’s fury is not just idly silent,
It is expressed in a rage of fire and destructive wind.

He will unload all His wrath on the head of those who worship idols.

And still that is not all.

(16) “And by His sword on all flesh,”

Here is God, riding a chariot amidst a tornado of fire
His nostrils are flared, He is foaming at the mouth
He is filled with rage and He is swinging His sword violently.

Does that paint the picture for you?

Revelation 19:11-16 “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

IT’S THE SAME PICTURE ISN’T IT?

It is the expression of God’s anger
On those who have failed to worship Him as He deserves.

God’s wrath is A MEASURABLE ACTION.

When we talk about God’s anger toward idolatry,
Do not allow His current patience with idolaters to lull you to sleep.

God is not passive when it comes to idolatry, He is active!
HE POURS OUT HIS WRATH.

• Have you read the book of Joshua and the conquest?
• Have you read of the destruction God decreed upon the pagan peoples of the land of Canaan.

When I was in seminary many years ago,
I had an Old Testament seminary professor ask us the question: “Was God ethical to command the annihilation of those tribes during the conquest?”

I almost shuttered in my seat
At the thought of even pondering such a question.

• We are the creation, He is the Creator.
• He is sovereign, we are dirt.
• He is holy and powerful and glorious.
• We are fallen and weak and rebellious.

And would we really dare to sit in judgment of Him to question His ethics?

Well the answer is that God is absolutely just and ethical
And right and good and true for His command to annihilate idolatry

The creatures of Canaan universally and totally broke rule number 1.
1. Which is to worship their Creator
2. And not give credit to their existence to some man-made deity.

It angered God and God actively ordered their annihilation.
That conquest under Joshua was but A PRE-CURSOR
To the one that will one day cover the entire globe.

God isn’t just angry at idolatry, He expresses that anger.

3) GOD’S ENEMY REVEALED

That is to say, WHO is He angry at?

(14) “indignant toward His enemies”
(17) “Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go to the gardens, Following one in the center, Who eat swine’s flesh, detestable things and mice…”

God isn’t random in His judgments.
His wrath has a specific target.

He will pour out His wrath on those whom He calls “His enemies”

There is such a thing…

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

“For or against” Jesus said.
There is no neutral position.

Well who are “His enemies”?

Here it is those
• Who go through religious ceremonies of sanctification (initiation)
• So that they can attend a pagan place of worship with their peers,
• And do that which God decreed to be unclean and detestable.

I think the book of Leviticus will help us here more than any other.
TURN TO: LEVITICUS 11

Leviticus 11 is where dietary restrictions are laid out.

Now, before we get into these, I do want to make sure you understand that in Jesus Christ, all foods have been declared clean.

Mark 7:19 “because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.)”

It is nothing but a legalistic heresy
That still holds a dietary restriction over someone’s head.

Colossians 2:16-23 “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”

1 Timothy 4:1-5 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.”

In Christ there is freedom and no more dietary restriction.
It is important you understand that before we look at Leviticus 11.

But here in Leviticus 11 we have the dietary restrictions.

And we see some verses of importance to the text we study here.

Verse 7 is of importance: “and the pig, for though it divides the hoof, thus making a split hoof, it does not chew cud, it is unclean to you.”

• God said that “swine’s flesh” is off limits.

Verse 29 should be seen, “Now these are to you the unclean among the swarming things which swarm on the earth: the mole, and the mouse, and the great lizard in its kinds,”

• So there we see that you can’t eat “detestable things and mice”

And there are many more such commands in the chapter.

But for the significance of the command:
READ VERSES 43-45

THE KEY is God’s statement, “For I am the LORD our God…”

It is God’s call for His people to be separate from the world.
If these commands don’t have any logical reasoning behind them,
Then that is kind of the point.

They are “because I said so” commands.

God is set apart from the nations as the God of Israel
So He orders His people to be set apart from the nations as well
As the people of God.

You be Mine and I will be yours.
That is the idea.

And we find out those who refuse to be His
Are regarded by Him as enemies and He will destroy them.

SO WE LEARN THAT God’s anger is felt and poured out
Upon those who refuse to bow in humble submission to Him.

• Instead of obedience they choose worldliness.
• Instead of worship they follow their own flesh.
• They are not interested in being set apart as holy to God.

NOW, those dietary restrictions may be removed in Christ,
But God’s command for our sanctification is not.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. “Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord. “AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.”

1 Peter 4:1-5 “Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”

There is still a call for you and I to be separate from the world.
We are still called to show our devotion to Christ by the sin we avoid.

YOU CAN EAT BACON,
But you can’t talk like the world, walk like the world, love like the world, etc.

James 4:4 “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

1 John 2:15 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

Jesus said:
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

Do you see the point?

We find out here that God is angry.
We find out that God is active in His judgment.

And here we find out who the recipients of that anger are.
• They are those whom He regards as enemies.
• They are those who are regarded as idolaters.

AND LET ME BE VERY CLEAR IN THIS STATEMENT:

God will pour it His wrath on idolatry and on idolaters
And there is no idolatry bigger today than love for this world.

• Men who will not forsake this world for Christ.
• Men who love the pleasures and treasures and comforts of this world more
than Christ.
• Men who love the entertainments, advertisements, and opportunities of this
world more than Christ.

In our culture love of the world is idol #1
And God will pour out His wrath on all those who participate in it.

God’s attitude toward idolaters
God’s anger expressed
God’s enemy revealed

4) GOD’S JUDGMENT FINISHED

(16) “And those slain by the LORD will be many”
(17) “[Idolaters] will come to an end altogether”

That word “many” is an important word.

Matthew 7:13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.”

Matthew 7:22 “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?’”

Matthew 24:10 “At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.”

Luke 13:23-24 “And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”

It is not the many who are being saved,
It is the many who are being judged.
It is the few who are being saved.

You cannot walk with the crowd and be pleasing to God.
Innertubes will float you right to hell.
You must swim upstream.

The “many” are headed in the wrong direction,
And none of them will escape.

God promises they “will come to an end altogether.”

Exodus 22:20 “He who sacrifices to any god, other than to the LORD alone, shall be utterly destroyed.”

ALL IDOLATERS WILL BE DESTROYED.

THIS IS GOD’S PLAN FOR RESTORING TRUE WORSHIP IN THE WORLD.

He will reject all forms of hypocritical worship,
• This was seen when He rejected Israel and destroyed their temple.

He will then cause the nation of Israel to be reborn.
• Their tribulation will be the means of purifying them to become true worshipers.

He will then return to pour out His wrath
• On all those who fail to worship Him and give their worship to false gods.

THAT IS THE PLAN.

FOR US, we must simply determine which team we’re going to be on.

You can’t play for both.
You can’t love this world and its idols and Christ.

Matthew 16:24-27 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”

CHRIST WILL DESTROY IDOLATERS.

Jude 14-15 “It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

This earth is due a cleansing and Christ will cleanse it.

He will return with the sword and will slay those
Who fail to worship Him properly
Or who give the worship He deserves to some other recipient.

And His sword will be active.
We know that the blood will run through the streets up to the horses bridle for the distance of 100 miles.

Then all those He slays will be raised to life after His 1,000 year reign
And will be thrown into the lake of fire for all eternity.

You do not want to be an enemy of Christ.
Be a worshiper of Christ.

Worship of Christ is where this world is headed.
1. Cleanse yourself of hypocrisy.
2. Cleanse yourself of idolatry.
3. Commit to worship Christ and Christ alone.

John 4:23-24 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

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Restoring True Worship – part 4
Isaiah 66:1-24 (7-13)
January 12, 2025

This morning we completed that first point of the chapter.

#1 HYPOCRISY WILL BE REJECTED
Isaiah 66:1-6

We saw how displeased God is when the actions don’t match the heart.
• He rejected the hypocritical worship of Israel.
• He destroyed their temple.
• And He broke them off as a rejected people.

But the chapter is not only about the worship God rejects.
This chapter is about restoring true worship.

And so tonight we move to the second point of the chapter.

#2 ISRAEL WILL BE REBORN
Isaiah 66:7-13

Here we read about the nation of Israel being reborn.

And at first glance we ask:
What does this have to do with restoring worship?

For true worship to occur:
1. You need a God who is worthy of worship…(check)
2. And you need people to worship Him

ISRAEL WAS BROKEN OFF,
But here God speaks of the day they come back to Him.

We know that is promised.
• We’ve read those promises a number of times.
• We’ve read Zechariah 12 and how they will look on Him whom they pierced.
• We’ve read Romans 11 and how all Israel will be saved.
• We know God is bringing Israel back to Himself.

What we are learning here is that
God is bringing them home for the purpose of worship.

In verses 7-13 we study THE RETURN,
Later on in the chapter (20-24) we see THE REASON.

Isaiah 66:20-24 “Then they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering to the LORD, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the LORD, “just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD. “I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites,” says the LORD. “For just as the new heavens and the new earth Which I make will endure before Me,” declares the LORD, “So your offspring and your name will endure. “And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the LORD. “Then they will go forth and look On the corpses of the men Who have transgressed against Me. For their worm will not die And their fire will not be quenched; And they will be an abhorrence to all mankind.”

They are coming back
And they are coming back for the purpose of worship.
In fact, they are coming back to lead in worship.

BUT BEFORE THAT CAN HAPPEN THEY MUST BE REVIVED.

Somehow these phony worshipers
Must be transformed into true worshipers.

And the question we want to deal with tonight is:
How does that happen?
• What is the process by which God transforms phony worshipers into true worshipers?

And the answer: TRIBULATION
• Regarding Israel we might even say, “The Great Tribulation”

What you clearly noticed as we read through the verses
Is that this point is given by way of a METAPHOR.

God compares His work on the nation
To a woman in labor, giving birth, and then enjoying her child.

SCRIPTURE LIKES THIS ANALOGY

Jesus described the tribulation in terms of a woman in labor.
Matthew 24:8 “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.

Paul described the horror of judgment to a woman in labor:
1 Thessalonians 5:3 “While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.”

When Jesus was announcing about His coming death and following resurrection to the disciples He used the analogy:
John 16:20-22 “Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. “Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. “Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.”

AND HERE Isaiah uses it to describe the Great Tribulation of Israel
Which will lead to her being revived as the nation of God.

Incidentally, Jeremiah saw exactly the same thing.

Jeremiah 30:6-7 “‘Ask now, and see If a male can give birth. Why do I see every man With his hands on his loins, as a woman in childbirth? And why have all faces turned pale? ‘Alas! for that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s distress, But he will be saved from it.”

So the analogy
Is a woman in labor, giving birth, and then the joy that comes from having a child.

The meaning
The persecution of Israel, leading to their faith in Christ and deliverance, and the joy that will follow.

But let’s work our way through this text
And see how God brings these people home.

There are 3 points God is making to the nation.

We might also say that
God’s methods here for the nation of Israel…
• Are the same methods God uses to move us from a state of hypocrisy to true worship as well.

1) PAIN PRECEDES DELIVERANCE (7-8a)

(7-8a) “Before she travailed, she brought forth; Before her pain came, she gave birth to a boy. “Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once?”

The segment begins with what will be identified as
A RIDICULOUS STATEMENT.

The ridiculous statement is this:
(7) “Before she travailed, she brought forth; Before her pain came, she gave birth to a boy.”

Now for a moment FORGET that this is a metaphor for the nation of Israel
And let’s just treat the statement at face value.

Many of you ladies in here
Have been through the process of delivering a child.

Can any of you say that verse 7 was the experience that you had?

How many of you ladies can say, “You know I got pregnant and never had a single labor pain. I never felt a thing, and then all of a sudden I had this baby.”

NONE OF YOU.

In fact, I would imagine that if a woman came in here tonight and said that was her experience you’d either call her a liar or want to know kind of drugs she was taking.

It is a bizarre, even a ridiculous statement.

And that is the point being made in verse 8
(8) “Who ever heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things?”

The obvious answer is: NO ONE
You’ve never heard of a woman getting pregnant
And delivering a child with no pain whatsoever.

God promised that pain was going to be part of the process
Way back in the garden,

And the Bible loves to use that analogy as the chief among all pains.

When Scripture wants to reference the greatest pain imaginable
It talks about a woman in labor.
(A close second is when a man gets a cold)

THE POINT: No one ever heard of a woman giving birth without pain.

Now, swap the analogy back to the nation of Israel
And notice the next question here in verse 8: “Can a nation be brought forth all at once?”

I THINK GOD’S POINT MAKES SENSE.

It is certainly natural for parents to anticipate the birth of a child,
But everyone knows that before the birth there will first be pain.

SO do you think the nation of Israel can be reborn without a little pain?
• Do you think she’s just going to “all at once” wake up and turn to Christ
without any suffering at all?

And again the obvious answer is: NO

If you know anything about the history of Israel
You know that she never turned to God apart from a little pain.

God read the book of Judges.
• That ongoing cycle of 1rebellion, 2oppression,3repentance, 4deliverance.
• It happens over and over and over.

BUT YOU NEVER SEE STEP 2 OMITTED.
You NEVER SEE Israel go straight from rebellion to repentance
Without oppression.

It is always the Moabites or the Philistines or some other foreign nation that brings suffering to the nation that pushes them back to God.

Think even of the Exile.
• It took 70 years in Babylon to cause Israel to seek God.

Jeremiah even said that would be the case:
Jeremiah 29:10-14 “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. ‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’”

Tribulation is God’s way of producing true worshipers.

Think even of the prophet Isaiah.
• He didn’t just wake up and decide to worship God in spirit and truth.
• He had to be crushed to his core and scared out of his mind.

God had to approach him in glory and expose his unclean lips
And convince him that he was undone
Before he would become a true worshiper.

And unfortunately many of us have that same story.

We didn’t just wake up one morning
And volunteer to leave our sin and become devoted to God.

Instead God brought discipline into our lives
That loosened our grip on the world and caused us to cling to Him.

Many stories of the greatest revivals in history
Are preceded by times of great peril and tribulation
Because that is the means God uses to produce true worship.

AND THAT IS HIS POINT HERE.

We understand this event as The Great Tribulation.

I know we can have the debate
• About whether we believe the rapture occurs before the tribulation, during the tribulation, or after the tribulation.
• That is to wonder whether the church will be in the tribulation or not.
• And Scripture just isn’t clear enough for anyone to be dogmatic about it.

But here is one thing I do know.
The Tribulation is about the salvation of Israel.

We read already in Jeremiah 30
How it is called “The time of Jacob’s distress”

It is also referred prophetically as “Daniel’s 70th Week”

Listen to Daniel 9
Daniel 9:24 “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.”

Literally there is seventy – sevens (490 years)
• This is the divine countdown timer for God to accomplish His full purposes in the nation of Israel.

And Daniel revealed 6 purposes God is going to accomplish.
1. “to finish transgression”
2. “to make an end of sin”
3. “to make atonement for iniquity”
4. “to bring in everlasting righteousness”
5. “to seal up vision and prophecy”
6. “to anoint the most holy place”

God said it would take 490 years (seventy sevens) for that to occur.

Daniel went on to break down that time period a little more.
Daniel 9:25-26 “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. “Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.

So Daniel says there will be
• “seven weeks” or seven sevens (49 years)
• and “sixty-two weeks” or sixty-two sevens (434 years)
• TOTAL: 483 years.

You’re going to have a decree to rebuild Jerusalem
And then 483 years later the Messiah will be cut off.

And that is exactly what happened.

But it left one last 7 in the prophetic countdown.

In Christ’s coming we saw the first 3 of God’s purposes fulfilled:
1. “to finish transgression”
2. “to make an end of sin” (judgment)
3. “to make atonement for iniquity”

All of those things were fulfilled in Christ’s coming
And His atoning death on the cross.

But have not yet seen for the nation of Israel the final 3
4. “to bring in everlasting righteousness”
5. “to seal up vision and prophecy”
6. “to anoint the most holy place”

We are waiting for those and they will occur in Daniel’s 70th Week.

Daniel 9:27 “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

The prince who is to come is the Anti-Christ.
• He will come and deceive Israel
• At the 3 ½ year mark will come the abomination of desolation
• And following that event will come the great tribulation.

What is the purpose of God allowing such a tribulation?
To draw Israel back to Himself.

This is why during the tribulation
John saw 144,000 evangelists,
• But if you notice, they are all Jewish.
• They come from the tribes of Israel.

This is why there are two evangelistic witnesses,
• But they have the same powers as Moses and Elijah.

That entire time period is about Israel and her salvation.

TURN TO: MATTHEW 24:15-31

That is all part of God’s plan to fulfill the promises
He made to the Fathers and to save the nation of Israel.

It would be nice if we could just mail a letter to Israel and tell them that Jesus is the Christ and they would say, “Oh, ok” and trust in Him.

BUT YOU DON’T GET DELIVERY BEFORE PAIN.
Pain precedes deliverance.

But there is a second point God makes.

2) DELIVERANCE DOES COME (8b-9)

(8b-9) “As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons. “Shall I bring to the point of birth and not give delivery?” says the LORD. “Or shall I who gives delivery shut the womb?” says your God.”

Israel does not get deliverance before pain,
BUT she also doesn’t have to wait long once the pain starts for deliverance to come.

When women share their stories of being in labor
It is true that it can last for hours.

• Some women are in labor for nearly 24 hours, but still it is just hours.
• You don’t hear of women being in labor for weeks or months or years.

Once that pain starts you know that delivery is near.

Luke 21:20-28 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. “Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled. “Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people; and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. “Then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN A CLOUD with power and great glory. “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

And that is God’s point here.
“As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons.”

That is the point of the intense labor.
It is going to be like nothing the world has ever seen.
• Jesus told us in that Matthew passage we read that unless those days were
cut short no one would survive.

It is going to be that intense.
• Why? To get Israel to come back.

AND IT WILL BE SO INTENSE SHE WON’T WAIT LONG.

You never hear of a woman in labor saying,
“Not yet, don’t deliver yet, I want to endure this for a while.”

The pain is too intense, they are ready to deliver.
And so will Israel be.

Pain precedes deliverance, BUT deliverance is coming.

In fact God asks in verse 9
(9) “Shall I bring to the point of birth and not give delivery?” says the LORD. “Or shall I who gives delivery shut the womb?” says your God.”

What does that mean?
It means the entire purpose and process is God’s doing.
• He brought the pain
• He’ll bring the delivery

He is the God “who gives delivery”
That is another way of saying that He is the God who saves.

That is the exact purpose.
That is the exact point.

He doesn’t bring suffering or tribulation for no purpose.
He doesn’t bring hardship just because.

AND HE DOES NOT WASTE TRIBULATION.

I’VE ALWAYS FOUND IT INTERESTING
That when God speaks about the tribulation,
HE DOESN’T DO IT VAGUELY.

He talks about the tribulation in an exact number of days.

Daniel 12:11-12 “From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. “How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days!”

Revelation 11:3 “And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”

Revelation 12:6 “Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.”

God knows exactly what it will take to bring Israel to deliverance.
• He will not give one day more or one day less.
• He is precise in His purposes.

And if He brings to the pain of labor,
Then He will certainly bring the deliverance.

ISRAEL IS COMING BACK TO HIM.
Pain precedes deliverance, but deliverance does come.

Let that be an encouragement even to you who suffer now.

Let that be an encouragement
Even to you who are in a severe time of sanctification.

I’ve always loved 1 Peter 5 in this regard.

1 Peter 5:10 “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”

Peter talks about the suffering of believers
And that it will occur “for a little while”

But Peter’s main focus here is on “After”

That is what James said wasn’t it?
James 5:10-11 “As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.”

(Put that Peter text back up)

Well that is what Peter is concerned with… “After you have suffered”

And Peter says that
• “the God of all grace”
• You know, the One “who called you to His eternal glory in Christ”
• That is the God who gives deliverance.
• He “will Himself” (not delegate it out)

“perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

You’re going to like these words:

“perfect” – (KAT-AR-TEED-ZO)
• “to mend” or “repair”
• It is the word used of the disciples “mending their nets” by the sea.

“confirm” – (STAY-REED-ZO)
• “to support” or “prop”
• It’s what Peter was called to do after he returned from his defection, “strengthen the brethren”

“strengthen” – (STHAY-NA-O)
• It means to strength, especially of the soul

“establish” – (THA-MAY-LAY-AH-O)
• It means to “to lay the foundation” as to set in concrete.

The suffering God allows in life
Is not permanent and it is not pointless.

It is calculated and perfect
For the purpose of producing true worshipers.

He does not bring into labor pains without bringing deliverance.
1. He will Himself pick you up and sew you back together.
2. He will prop you up
3. He will strengthen you to stand on your own
4. He will then set you on a firm foundation to never waiver again.

Romans 8:28-31 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”

God promises this for those whom He has chosen.
He will make true worshipers out of us all.

AND HERE He is doing it for Israel whom He has chosen.

Pain precedes deliverance, but deliverance does come.

3) JOY FOLLOWS DELIVERANCE (10-13)

(10-13) “Be joyful with Jerusalem and rejoice for her, all you who love her; Be exceedingly glad with her, all you who mourn over her, That you may nurse and be satisfied with her comforting breasts, That you may suck and be delighted with her bountiful bosom.” For thus says the LORD, “Behold, I extend peace to her like a river, And the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; And you will be nursed, you will be carried on the hip and fondled on the knees. “As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; And you will be comforted in Jerusalem.”

Have you ever been around the birth of a baby?

Apart from the salvation of a sinner,
I don’t know of a more joyful thing on earth than this.

IMMEDIATELY
• THIS WOMAN who was in such extreme pain will break into tears of joy when they hand that child to her.

• THE FATHER will leap with pride and joy over the child that is born.

• THE GRANDMOTHER who has been right under foot the entire time with anticipation will beam with joy when she gets to hold that grandbaby for the first time.

• THE GRANDFATHER will make the dumbest sounds and weirdest faces just to entertain the newborn child.

• THE ROOM will immediately turn from tears and screams to joy and laughter and great celebration.

• And that celebration will continue as people take turns holding the baby and bouncing the baby.

• The MOTHER will enjoy hours upon hours of intimacy as the baby rests in her arms and even as she feeds the child and cares for it.

We’ve got a video after Zek was born of him getting a bath
Carrie soaps that kid up and rinses him off no less than like 7 times.

I don’t know if Zek was liking it, but Carrie was having the time of her life.

That is what is being described here.

(10) “Be joyful with Jerusalem and rejoice for her, all you who lover her; Be exceedingly glad with her, all you who mourn over her”

Were you concerned about her when she was in labor?
Well rejoice with her now!

She is described like a newborn child delighted in its mother
And a mother delighted in the newborn child.

God says, (12) “Behold, I extend peace to her like a river, And the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream.”

He says, (13) “As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; And you will be comforted in Jerusalem.”

The pain is over.
The deliverance has come.
And joy has come with it.

And you understand THE SIGNIFICANCE of the picture.

Up in verses 3-4
We had people who had no real love for God.
• What they really wanted was to lock Him away in a temple to keep Him from interfering with their lives.
• They just wanted to bring Him a little token sacrifice to keep Him appeased while they went out and did their own thing.

We had a God with no joy in His people.
• Who had no desire to accept what they offered,
• In fact He rejected it and was poised to punish them for it.

IT WAS A DISASTER.

BUT NOW,
• YOU HAVE A PEOPLE who love God and desire to be near Him continually like a baby and with its mother.

• YOU HAVE A GOD who delights in comforting and caring for the nation like a mother with her child.

IT IS THE JOY OF DELIVERANCE.

THIS MORNING
When we looked at God’s punishment of their hypocrisy
We talked about THE JEALOUSY OF GOD.

But here can we talk about the LOYALTY OF GOD?

That God would go to whatever length necessary
To bring His children to the place of this great joy.

He was unwilling to leave Israel
• In a state of hypocrisy where they didn’t love Him
• And He was frustrated with them.

That is no kind of relationship.
God wanted more, God had promised more.

And here God, in His great CHECED
Does whatever it takes to bring His children
To a place of true deliverance and unending joy.

That day is coming for Israel.
• Tribulation will come first, but joy will come soon after.
• God will restore the worship of the nation.

And when He does it will be real worship; deep worship; abiding worship.
Similar to the relationship felt between a newborn and its mother.

Full of love and joy and comfort and peace.

AT THE SAME TIME
We encourage our own hearts in the midst of our sufferings.

Though we are not in some great tribulation like the world has never seen,
You may very well be in the greatest tribulation of your life.

And we have the same assurances that Isaiah gave Israel
BECAUSE WE SERVE THE SAME GOD.

He is making a true worshiper out of you.
AFTER PAIN COMES DELIVERANCE AND THEN JOY.

Hope in that.

John 4:23-24 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”