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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.”

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Restoring True Worship – part 3
Isaiah 66:1-24 (5-6)
January 12, 2025

We are now in the final chapter of the book of Isaiah.

We have been on a journey, especially since chapter 50, in which we have been talking about God’s plan to restore the nation of Israel to Himself.

• God made promises to the Fathers that are absolutely irrevocable.
• Though Israel is lost today due to her rejection of Christ,
• There is coming a day in which God will open their eyes and bring them home.
• Isaiah 50-66 discuss how God will do that.

We won’t walk back through all of that,
But what you are most recently familiar with is that
In chapter 64 we saw Israel’s repentance.

It is the equivalent of when Zechariah says “they will look on Him whom they have pierced…”

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

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

It was a picture of Israel’s coming humility, confession, and submission to God.

The chapter concluded with
Israel asking whether God will save them after all of their rebellion.

Chapter 65 showed us God’s response
• And it was a resounding “YES!”
• Saving sinners is what God does. (Even sinner who don’t deserve it)
• He will save those who seek Him, but reject those who do not.

The reason is because in the end, God alone will be worshiped.

Isaiah 65:16a “Because he who is blessed in the earth Will be blessed by the God of truth; And he who swears in the earth Will swear by the God of truth;”

In other words, in the kingdom, and in heaven, no one who is there is going to give credit or glory to anyone but the true God of heaven.

God will save sinners and He will be worshiped by them.

So we have learned that God will restore Israel to Himself
And the reason is worship.

And that is how the book of Isaiah concludes.

We have titled this 66th chapter: “RESTORING TRUE WORSHIP”

We started looking at it last week, and we want to pick up with it this morning.
How God will restore true worship in this world.

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

I know last Sunday I concluded this first point at verse 4,
But I’ve changed my mind and am extending it to verse 6.

The chapter starts with a revelation of the grandeur and glory of God.

“Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool”

• We learn something of the size of God. “earth…footstool”
• We learn something of the authority of God. “throne”
• We learn something of the exclusivity of God. “My”

If you are trying to dumb God down into something
You can control or contain you are in for a rude awakening.

Which is why God asked:
“Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?”

One of the reasons that Israel loved the temple so much,
• Was NOT because it provided a reference point of worship for God,
• But rather because it provided a way to contain God and compartmentalize
or separate Him from everyday life.

Jeremiah specifically confronted this sin in Jeremiah 7 when he spoke of people who go out during the week and commit all kinds of sins and then clean up their game before they come to the temple on the Sabbath.

As though God were cut off from everyday life
And was only aware of the things which occurred in the temple.

But, God is far too big for you to force into your expectations of life.
You don’t get to compartmentalize God.
He is Lord of all, He sees all, He knows all.

Trying to play some game of worship with Him will not work.

There is only one form of worship that is acceptable to God
And that is true worship.

(2b) “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.”

• God accepts the lowly and poor.
• God accepts the weak and broken.
• God accepts those who tremble in the face of their judgment.

When that broken beggar cries for mercy and bows his heart to God;
GOD ACCEPTS THAT KIND OF WORSHIP.

But the arrogant man He rejects.
Luke 18:9-14 “And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

And that is what Isaiah revealed.

(3a) “But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog’s neck; He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine’s blood; He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol.”

A person who is engaged in even the most dedicated religious ceremony
Is no more acceptable to God than a murderous pagan
If his heart is not right before God.

Not only will God reject such worship, He will PUNISH it.

(3b-4) “As they have chosen their own ways, And their soul delights in their abominations, So I will choose their punishments And will bring on them what they dread. Because I called, but no one answered; I spoke, but they did not listen. And they did evil in My sight And chose that in which I did not delight.”

Isn’t that remarkable?

To know that
• You could come here this morning and go through all the motions and outward expressions of worship and God might reject as no more valuable than if you had gone to the bar?

• But beyond that to learn that not only might God reject it, but He might actually punish you for coming here?

The point is, we are not messing around here.
Worship matters to God.

GOD REJECTS HYPOCRITICAL WORSHIP.

Listen to Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount:
Matthew 6:1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

• Then Jesus warned about their hypocritical giving, their hypocritical praying, and their hypocritical fasting.
• Jesus saying in all 3 cases, “they have their reward in full”

They better not be expecting any big reward from God,
He is not impressed.

Or the infamous Matthew 7
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

Those were very religious people
• But they were not pleasing to God,
• They were also punished for their failure to worship correctly.

Listen to Jesus address the most religious among them:
Matthew 23:23-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

There was just nothing pleasing about their worship.
God rejected it, and God promised to punish it.

• Jesus actually repeating the phrase, “Woe to you…”
• God is not indifferent about hypocrisy.
• He rejects it and He punishes it.

BUT THE ULTIMATE INDICATOR
Of God’s displeasure and rejection of hypocritical worship
Came when God rejected the Jewish people.

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

God rejected their hypocritical worship
And God punished them by breaking them off.

• Today we read that God has blinded them.
• Today we read that a veil lies over their eyes when the gospel is proclaimed.

THE MESSAGE TO US THEN IS CLEAR:
Do not cling to a form of worship which God will reject.
Seek the worship which God accepts.

BUT THERE IS ALSO AN ENCOURAGEMENT
TO THOSE WHO SEEK TO DO IT CORRECTLY.

I can’t help but think about the end of the book of Hebrews.

Where the writer is encouraging his readers
• To leave the old Jewish system behind
• Not to mourn when they get kicked out of the synagogue.

Hebrews 13:9-16 “Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come. Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”

HIS INSTRUCTION IS SO IMPORTANT.

Don’t get caught up in all the ceremonial sacrifices of the Jewish religion.
• Those things can’t really strengthen the heart, run to grace instead.

And don’t worry about being cut off from the altar,
• He says, “we have an altar from which [they] have no right to eat”
• Our altar is the cross where Christ was crucified.
• Our sacrifice is Christ.
• We figuratively eat His flesh and drink His blood.
• He is the bread which came down out of heaven.

While their worship is not acceptable to God, ours is.

The writer tells us to run to Jesus, offer up praise to God,
Give thanks to His name, do good and share.

And then he says, “with such sacrifices God is pleased.”

So there is an encouragement found for the true worshiper.

THAT IS ISAIAH’S POINT HERE TOO
• (1-4) – A Warning to the Hypocrite
• (5-6) – An encouragement to the true worshiper

(5-6) “Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at His word: “Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for My name’s sake, Have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy.’ But they will be put to shame. “A voice of uproar from the city, a voice from the temple, The voice of the LORD who is rendering recompense to His enemies.”

We notice the focused audience here.
“you who tremble at His word”

Based on the fact that
• In verse 2 God says He accepts the one who “trembles at My word”,
• We know that God is now addressing the true worshipers.

And we notice that
As true worshipers they have faced backlash.

God says, “Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for My name’s sake”

These are people who are hated by their contemporaries
And they are hated for one reason.
They are true worshipers.

They hate them “for My name’s sake”.

In the context of the New Testament,
This would have been the Jewish remnant who actually believed in Christ.

Do you remember what Jesus taught His disciples?
Matthew 10:21-23 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. “But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.”

Remember the night before He was crucified?
John 15:18-23 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. “He who hates Me hates My Father also.”

There Jesus spoke of the hatred that comes FROM THE WORLD.
• These are sinners who hate Jesus because He exposes sin.
• And Jesus said that the people that hate Jesus will hate them too.

But we sort of expect that from the world.
It is not surprising to us when the sinner ingulfed in sin hates our message.

But if you will remember,
Jesus taught that it wouldn’t only be the sinner who hated His followers.

John 16:1-4 “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. “These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. “But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.”

THERE IS A SHOCKING REALITY TO MANY PEOPLE.
If you follow Jesus you might be hated among the religious crowd.

There will be people who will think they are serving God by hating you.

That those who truly worship God
Will always be hated by those who worship Him hypocritically.

Do you remember Abraham’s boys?
Ishmael and Isaac

Do you remember how Ishmael mocked Isaac and Sarah demanded that he be sent away?

Galatians 4:28-29 “And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also.”

There are those who love legalism.
There are those who are working for their salvation.
And they hate those who are saved by grace apart from works.

When we say that we have been saved by grace without works
It makes the works of the legalist look foolish and useless
And they hate it.

• They are not willing to fess up to the futility of their efforts.
• They demand glory for what they have done.
• And they persecute those who threaten that glory.

Do you remember the man born blind in John 9
Whom Jesus healed and saved by grace alone?

The Pharisees hated him for that.
John 9:31-34 “We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. “Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. “If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” So they put him out.”

Organized religion has always persecuted true worshipers.
Even the Israelites who escaped Egypt
Were several times convinced to turn on Moses.

HYPOCRITICAL RELIGION HATES THE TRUE BELIEVER.

Perhaps some of you have felt that at times in your life.
Perhaps you have felt the disdain
Of those who do not want their religion questioned.

Well those are the types of people God here addresses in verse 5.

“Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at His word: “Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for My name’s sake, Have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy.’”

What does that mean?
• These hypocrites actually say, “Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy”?
• If they were hypocrites why did they want the Lord to be glorified?

They didn’t.
THIS IS SARCASM.

Imagine being a true worshiper
Who enters a congregation of false worshipers.
• You love God, you seek to honor God, you seek to worship God.
• But you enter a congregation of people who only want to go through the
motions.

But you begin to speak about the glory of God.
• You begin to speak about what God desires.
• You begin to speak about what God wants.
• You begin to challenge their phony worship.

And one them runs up to you and says, “Well why don’t you just glorify God then, if that’s what you want to do?”

“Go ahead and glorify God, but leave us out of it.”
We don’t want any part of your extreme devotion.

And they call you
• A Bible thumper
• Or a Jesus Freak
• Or a Fundamentalist
• Or a Zealot
• Or a Radical
• Or a Fanatic.

I heard someone say once, “Do you know the definition of a Christian fanatic?”
“It’s anyone who loves Jesus more than you do.”

WELL THAT IS WHAT’S HAPPENING HERE.
These hypocrites were happy in their empty ceremonial religion.
They weren’t interested in a religion that affected their daily living.

And when you come in truly worshiping God
And seeking to honor God with your whole life, they get offended.

And maybe you wondered if you were the problem?
Maybe there is something wrong with me
That I want to fear God and worship Christ all the time?

And God here says, “Nope!”
• You’re the one doing it right
• I’m going to deal with those hypocrites who hate you and persecute you.

God says, “they will be put to shame.”
I will EXPOSE and PUNISH them.

(6) “A voice of uproar from the city, a voice from the temple, The voice of the LORD who is rendering recompense to His enemies.”

God says you’re going to hear it.
• You’re going to hear an “uproar from the city”
• You’re going to hear “a voice from the temple”

And what you will be hearing is
Me “rendering recompense to [My] enemies.”

WOW!
• Did that happen?
• Did God actually do that?

In A.D. 70 the Roman emperor Titus
Sacked Jerusalem and the temple was burned.

There is only one eye-witness account of that day that has survived.
It was written by the Jewish historian Josephus.

“…the Jews let out a shout of dismay that matched the tragedy.”

[READ: Josephus’ Account]

And 750 years before that event Isaiah wrote:
(6) “A voice of uproar from the city, a voice from the temple, The voice of the LORD who is rending recompense to His enemies.”

Can we acknowledge yet that God is a jealous God?
• Can we acknowledge that true worship matters to Him?
• Can we acknowledge that He is offended by hypocrisy?

He is a great God and He demands great worship.
He rendered recompense on that temple and those who worshiped in it.

Just a few years earlier…
• When Jesus entered that city amidst a parade that cried “Hosanna!”,
• Jesus stopped and overlooked the city.

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

Jesus knew what was coming.

So did Isaiah…
They wanted to build Him a house to contain Him.
• God said no house could hold Him.

They wanted a place to offer sacrifices.
• God said their empty sacrifices could not please Him.

They mocked those who insisted on true worship.
• God said they would be put to shame for their arrogance.

AND GOD BURNED THEIR TEMPLE TO THE GROUND.

Hypocritical religion will be rejected.
And those who engage in it will be put to shame.

But for you who are humble and contrite of spirit
And who tremble at God’s word…

You will be accepted.
God will vindicate your worship.
God will draw you into fellowship with Him.

SO WHAT DO WE TAKE FROM THIS FIRST POINT?
We’ve spent 3 services talking about this.

What do we do with this truth?

Worship God in Spirit and in Truth.
• Don’t play games with Him.
• Don’t try to fool Him with superficial religion.
• Don’t try to contain Him to just one part of your life.
• Don’t assume you can do a few religious deeds to keep Him appeased while you live in sin.

Give God all that you have.
• Bow your will to Him.
• Confess Him as Lord.

• Humble yourself before Him and confess to Him your sin.
• Be broken in spirit as you beg Him for His mercy.
• Tremble at His holiness and fear His righteous judgment.

He does not want your religion, He wants your heart.

Mark 12:28-34 “One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ “The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe said to Him, “Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM; AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE’S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.”

THAT’S IT ISN’T IT?
The biggest, the greatest, the foremost.
LOVE GOD

And nothing less than that will be accepted.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.”

Don’t try to give God less than He deserves.

AND IF YOU ARE A TRUE WORSHIPER:
DON’T FRET THE HOSTILITY THAT COMES FROM THOSE WHO AREN’T.

You may be mocked today,
But God promises you will get the last laugh.

When Paul wrote to the Colossians
He wrote to people who were being attacked
• By the religious legalists of their day
• Because they weren’t involved in all the nonsensical religious ceremonies.

Paul wrote:
Colossians 2:23 “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.”

Paul said, “I know they look good on the outside, but don’t let them discourage you.”

He went on to say:
Colossians 3:1-4 “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”

The Lord knows who are His.
He knows who His true worshipers are.

You keep striving to please Christ,
Because one day when all the hypocrisy is destroyed
You will have Christ and they will have nothing.

Be faithful church.
Be a true worshiper of Christ.
HYPOCRISY WILL BE REJECTED.

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.”
“…the Jews let out a shout of dismay that matched the tragedy.”

Our only first-hand account of the Roman assault on the Temple comes from the Jewish historian Josephus Flavius. Josephus was a former leader of the Jewish Revolt who had surrendered to the Romans and had won favor from Vespasian. In gratitude, Josephus took on Vespasian’s family name – Flavius – as his own. We join his account as the Romans fight their way into the inner sanctum of the Temple:

“…the rebels shortly after attacked the Romans again, and a clash followed between the guards of the sanctuary and the troops who were putting out the fire inside the inner court; the latter routed the Jews and followed in hot pursuit right up to the Temple itself. Then one of the soldiers, without awaiting any orders and with no dread of so momentous a deed, but urged on by some supernatural force, snatched a blazing piece of wood and, climbing on another soldier’s back, hurled the flaming brand through a low golden window that gave access, on the north side, to the rooms that surrounded the sanctuary. As the flames shot up, the Jews let out a shout of dismay that matched the tragedy; they flocked to the rescue, with no thought of sparing their lives or husbanding their strength; for the sacred structure that they had constantly guarded with such devotion was vanishing before their very eyes.

…No exhortation or threat could now restrain the impetuosity of the legions; for passion was in supreme command. Crowded together around the entrances, many were trampled down by their companions; others, stumbling on the smoldering and smoked-filled ruins of the porticoes, died as miserably as the defeated. As they drew closer to the Temple, they pretended not even to hear Caesar’s orders, but urged the men in front to throw in more firebrands. The rebels were powerless to help; carnage and flight spread throughout.

Most of the slain were peaceful citizens, weak and unarmed, and they were butchered where they were caught. The heap of corpses mounted higher and higher about the altar; a stream of blood flowed down the Temple’s steps, and the bodies of those slain at the top slipped to the bottom.

When Caesar failed to restrain the fury of his frenzied soldiers, and the fire could not be checked, he entered the building with his generals and looked at the holy place of the sanctuary and all its furnishings, which exceeded by far the accounts current in foreign lands and fully justified their splendid repute in our own.

As the flames had not yet penetrated to the inner sanctum, but were consuming the chambers that surrounded the sanctuary, Titus assumed correctly that there was still time to save the structure; he ran out and by personal appeals he endeavored to persuade his men to put out the fire, instructing Liberalius, a centurion of his bodyguard of lancers, to club any of the men who disobeyed his orders. But their respect for Caesar and their fear of the centurion’s staff who was trying to check them were overpowered by their rage, their detestation of the Jews, and an utterly uncontrolled lust for battle.

Most of them were spurred on, moreover, by the expectation of loot, convinced that the interior was full of money and dazzled by observing that everything around them was made of gold. But they were forestalled by one of those who had entered into the building, and who, when Caesar dashed out to restrain the troops, pushed a firebrand, in the darkness, into the hinges of the gate Then, when the flames suddenly shot up from the interior, Caesar and his generals withdrew, and no one was left to prevent those outside from kindling the blaze. Thus, in defiance of Caesar’s wishes, the Temple was set on fire.

While the Temple was ablaze, the attackers plundered it, and countless people who were caught by them were slaughtered. There was no pity for age and no regard was accorded rank; children and old men, laymen and priests, alike were butchered; every class was pursued and crushed in the grip of war, whether they cried out for mercy or offered resistance.

Through the roar of the flames streaming far and wide, the groans of the falling victims were heard; such was the height of the hill and the magnitude of the blazing pile that the entire city seemed to be ablaze; and the noise – nothing more deafening and frightening could be imagined.

There were the war cries of the Roman legions as they swept onwards en masse, the yells of the rebels encircled by fire and sword, the panic of the people who, cut off above, fled into the arms of the enemy, and their shrieks as they met their fate. The cries on the hill blended with those of the multitudes in the city below; and now many people who were exhausted and tongue-tied as a result of hunger, when they beheld the Temple on fire, found strength once more to lament and wail. Peraea and the surrounding hills, added their echoes to the deafening din. But more horrifying than the din were the sufferings.

The Temple Mount, everywhere enveloped in flames, seemed to be boiling over from its base; yet the blood seemed more abundant than the flames and the numbers of the slain greater than those of the slayers. The soldiers climbed over heaps of bodies as they chased the fugitives.”

References:
Josephus’ account appears in: Cornfield, Gaalya ed., Josephus, The Jewish War (1982); Duruy, Victor, History of Rome vol. V (1883).

How To Cite This Article:
“The Romans Destroy the Temple at Jerusalem, 70 AD,” EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2005).

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Restoring True Worship – part 2
Isaiah 66:1-24 (1-4)
January 5, 2025

Tonight we want to jump back in to our study on worship as we look at Isaiah 66.

We are calling the chapter “Restoring True Worship” since that is what is occurring here.

The chapter begins with God’s disdain for hypocritical worship in verse 1-4.
We see God’s future judgment of idolatry in verses 15-17.
And we see the world return to true worship in verses 23-24.

And this morning we really just introduced the topic of worship.

I would remind you that true worship is a bending of the will to God.
It is manifested in obedience.
It is shown when we obey God over and above any other influence.

Sometimes worship is expressed as people bowing their head or raising their hands, but in reality those are only meant to be outward expressions of inward realities.

To bow the head but not the heart is unacceptable to God.
And we saw many Old Testament prophets this morning that revealed that very thing to us.

So tonight let’s begin looking at our text and God’s announcement of His plan to restore true worship in the world.

We will divide the text into 4 main points.

#1 HYPOCRISY WILL BE REJECTED
Isaiah 66:1-4

It is obvious that God is here about to expose hypocritical religion.

He makes the statement in verse 3, “But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog’s neck; He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine’s blood; He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol.”

The comparison obviously throughout verse 3 is that hypocritical religion is as offensive to God as pagan religion.

A Jewish man, following the prescription of Leviticus, offering an ox to God may not be any more pleasing to God than a man who commits murder.

A Jewish man, offering to God a lamb as a sacrifice, may not be any more pleasing to God than one who offers a dog with a broken neck on the altar.

A Jewish man, offering a grain offering to God might not be any more pleasing than one who pours swine’s blood on God’s altar.

A Jewish man, burning incense to God might not be any more pleasing than one who praises a false god.

And that may be shocking to you.
After all, we are all tempted to think that there is some value in our liturgical traditions.

I mean surely going to church is better before God than going to the bar right?

Surely God is more pleased with me when I put money in the offering plate than if I had gone gambling at the casino isn’t He?

And the answer God will give, is a resounding “NO!”

The revelation here is that neither are pleasing to God.

It is the consistent calling of God to get His people to understand that the LORD looks at the heart.

Proverbs 21:27 “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination, How much more when he brings it with evil intent!”

And just take a moment and recall to your mind all of those passages we read this morning from the prophets where God specifically said that He hated their sacrifices.

We have got to get this through our heads.
God does not desire some outward form of worship.

The religious works we typically associate as pleasing to God…
Church attendance
Prayer
Giving to the offering
Singing
Bible reading

If those things are merely outward and not a reflection of a worshiping heart then they are no more pleasing to God than the immoral living of the pagan.

And I realize that sounds shocking because we put so much emphasis on the value of our works, but it is true.

Clearly in these verses God is outlining His disdain for hypocritical worship.

He even goes so far as to say that He will punish it.

(3b-4) “As they have chosen their own ways, And their soul delights in their abominations, So I will choose their punishments And will bring on them what they dread. Because I called, but no one answered; I spoke, but they did not listen. And they did evil in My sight And chose that in which I did not delight.”

God simply says that since they did what they wanted instead of what I wanted, then I will do what I want with them.

I will punish them.

Why?
“Because I called, but no one answered;”
“I spoke, but they did not listen.”

They brought their ox, but they ignored My word.
They brought their sheep, but they disobeyed My command.
They burned incense, but they rejected My call.

You don’t get to disregard the authority of God and still get credit for having worshiped.

It is not pleasing to God just to go through the outward routines of religion if the heart is not right before Him.

We see that over and over in Scripture.

But here, in the opening verses of chapter 66 we see that even though God addresses things like their sacrifices, there is one issue that He is focusing on more than any other.

Namely that these people want to build God a house of worship.

You see it in the second half of verse 1.
“Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?”

I think this is so relevant to our day, and so fitting even to the current state of Israel.

How many Jews today would delight in the rebuilding of a temple to God?
How many would think they were doing God a real favor by rebuilding His temple?

And it is as though God speaks to them even today as He questions the purpose of it all.

You want to build Me a house so I can rest?
You want to build Me a temple so you can offering sacrifices?
You want to build Me a temple to burn incense?

Seriously?

As if God would be pleased with the sacrifices.
As if God would be pleased with the incense.

And here is the key to understanding this.

God doesn’t see the temple as a place to worship Him, God sees the temple they want to build as a place to contain and control Him.

Men love temples because it is a way to contain and compartmentalize God.

Remember Jeremiah’s day?
Jeremiah 7:8-11 “Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail. “Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—that you may do all these abominations? “Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the LORD.”

See they just wanted a place to put God.
They didn’t want Him at the work place on Monday.
They didn’t want Him at the basketball gym on Tuesday.
They didn’t want Him at the bar on Friday.

So let’s build God a temple that will contain Him and that way we can get all cleaned up before we go before Him.

It is absolutely an abominable way of thinking!

God is not interested.

And let’s see why.

As we talk about worship, certainly some portion of our focus must be on the God who deserves the worship.

And that is how verse 1 begins.

To look at this really helps us understand how pitiful our legalistic worship is.

Look at the statement of God about Himself.

“Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.”

Let’s think on that for a moment.

I think our first and most obvious observation would have to be in regard to THE SIZE OF GOD.

Suppose today I told you of a giant.
Like you read in those Fairy Tale books.

And I told you of a giant so big that he sits over there on the hill overlooking Swenson park, and he props his feet up on our church.

This entire building would be nothing more than an ottoman to him.
Imagine the size of such a creature.
We would say, “He is huge!”
We would certainly tremble in fear of such a man.
He would terrify us, and we would feel powerless to deal with him.

And that understanding pales in comparison to what God reveals about Himself.

“Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.”

That is unfathomable to us.
How big is God that the entire planet is nothing more than a footstool to Him?

Isaiah gave us a picture earlier:
Isaiah 40:12 “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance And the hills in a pair of scales?”

Can you imagine such a One?
He is huge!

Jeremiah 23:24 “Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?” declares the LORD. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD.”

Job 11:7-11 “Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty? “They are high as the heavens, what can you do? Deeper than Sheol, what can you know? “Its measure is longer than the earth And broader than the sea. “If He passes by or shuts up, Or calls an assembly, who can restrain Him?”

We are simply talking about a God who is huge!
He is utterly terrifying!
He is absolutely uncontainable!

And it is your plan to build a temple to put Him in?

Even Solomon knew better than that:
1 Kings 8:27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built!”

Paul told the Athenians:
Acts 17:24-25 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;”

What a consistent mistake of humanity to think that they can somehow contain God.

As though you can build Him some kind of a temple, and then keep Him locked in there where He is unaware of what you do in the world, but always available whenever you need a favor.

All you have to do is provide God some nice little house and then bring Him an ox ever so often and He’ll be ready to do whatever you want.

It is utter nonsense.
God cannot be kept in a box.
God cannot be contained.

He is omnipresent, and nothing is hidden from His sight.

But that is not all the statement brings to mind.

We certainly key in on the word “throne” and thereby understand His authority.

“Heaven is My throne” God says.

This enormous God of the universe doesn’t just dwell in it, He reigns over it.

Deuteronomy 4:39 “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.”

Deuteronomy 10:14 “Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it.”

1 Chronicles 29:11-12 “Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. “Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone.”

Psalms 24:1 “The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it.”

Psalms 89:11 “The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all it contains, You have founded them.”

We are talking about the One who reigns over it all.
He is sovereign over all creation.

He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good.
He sends rain on the just and the unjust.
It is He who causes the deer to calve.
It is He who feeds the lions.

Nothing occurs outside of His sovereign prerogative.
He reigns over it all.

And your plan is to put Him inside the temple and reduce His rule to only what occurs at church?

Is it your plan to reduce God’s reign to only what happens in religious circles, while you control the rest of your destiny?

Your plan is really to put God in a box and limit the sphere of His authority.

Not hardly!

God reigns over it all.
He is in charge of it all.

And certainly we understand the significance of the word “My” in that statement.

“Heaven is MY throne and the earth is MY footstool.”

It teaches us not to presume upon those things as though they belonged to us.

You may remember what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 5:33-35 “Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.’ “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING.”

God not only reigns over all of it, He owns all of it.
It is His.

We are the guests here, not Him.
We are the tenants, not Him.

And therefore it is God who allows us to dwell upon it, not us who allow God to dwell with us.

Exodus 19:5 “‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine;”

And the opening point here from God is simple:
DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO IT IS YOU ARE ADDRESSING?

Isaiah certainly figured it out back in Isaiah 6

Isaiah 6:5 “Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

Peter figured it out that day on the shore:
Luke 5:8 “But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!”

John was reminded of it on the Island of Patmos:
Revelation 1:17 “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man.”

We think of those present at Mt. Sinai
Exodus 20:18-19 “All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.”

But these people are going to build God a house.

They have no idea who they are dealing with.

It is absurd to think that we could build God a little temple here on earth by which we will contain Him, restrict Him, and keep Him at our beck and call.

God Himself resists such foolishness.

And based on the revelation of Himself He asks:
“Where then is a house you could build for Me?”

Where do you think you are going to put Me?

But it’s more even than just sticking God in a house to contain Him.

God understands their purpose and their motive.

He asks:
“And where is the place that I may rest?”

There it is!
You understand the reference to “rest” right?

Genesis 2:1-3 “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”

Rest denotes a state of God being fully satisfied.
The work was finished.
There was nothing left to do.

And God rested.

For us it carries foreshadows of atonement.
For it is Christ who said, “It is finished!” and “sat down at the right hand of the majesty on High”

To denote rest for God denotes the satisfaction of His holiness.
It is the appeasement of His wrath.

It is the propitiation which only occurs in Christ, for “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”

And God here addresses a people who have the strangest idea.

They are going to build this house (in which God won’t fit)
They’re going to offer it to God (as though He doesn’t own all things)
They’re going to give Him this small realm of authority (as though He is not sovereign over all)
And they’re going to bring Him an ox or a sheep to settle Him down so He can be at rest there.

Think about that.

The omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient God.
The God who reigns in perfect holiness.

And your plan to satisfy Him and appease Him and to put Him to rest is to build a temple, and bring a goat to it so that He will be able to rest?

That is the plan?

As we saw this morning, the prophets continually noted the absurdity of such a plan.

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

Psalms 50:7-12 “Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you; I am God, your God. “I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, And your burnt offerings are continually before Me. “I shall take no young bull out of your house Nor male goats out of your folds. “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains.”

God later saying:
Psalms 50:13-15 “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls Or drink the blood of male goats? “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High; Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”

Paul reminding the Athenians:
Acts 17:25 “nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;”

There is nothing God could want that He can’t supply.

(2) “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the LORD.”

He doesn’t need you building Him a house and bringing Him a sheep to calm Him down.

He is not some pagan deity that can be so easily contained or appeased.

He is the holy God of the universe and such a plan is stupid.

God has said what He will accept.

(2b) “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.”

God wants worship…true worship.
God wants the one who bows the will to Him.

He is not interested in a house…
He is not interested in a goat…
He is not interested in incense…
He is not interested in a song…

HE WANTS YOUR HEART.

And if you bring Him everything else, but not that, He will not be pleased.

(3-4) “But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog’s neck; He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine’s blood; He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol. As they have chosen their own ways, And their soul delights in their abominations, So I will choose their punishments And will bring on them what they dread. Because I called, but no one answered; I spoke, but they did not listen. And they did evil in My sight And chose that in which I did not delight.”

You see His point don’t you?

He is not some gullible God who can be so easily tricked by our phony worship display.

He is not some giddy school girl who will believe you love Him just because you sang those words out of a hymnal.

He is Lord of Heaven and Earth and He knows those whose heart is fully His.

He will not accept some surface-level worship.
He wants the heart.
He wants the bending of the will.

Hypocritical worship will be rejected.

And what will be accepted?
“But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.”

That’s certainly worth examining.

“humble” is the Hebrew word AWNI
It means “poor; lowly; wretched”

In the New Testament Jesus described it as being “poor in spirit” or spiritually bankrupt.

It is a keen awareness that I have nothing to bring.
It is a keen awareness that I have nothing God wants.

I am fallen and wretched and poor and miserable and blind and naked.
I have corrupted everything I have ever touched.
I would be nothing but a blemish in God’s courts.

It is the heart of that tax collector “standing some distance away, unwilling to lift his eyes to heaven, saying, ‘God be merciful to me the sinner.’”

That is the person God is willing to accept.

He also mentions one who is:
“contrite of spirit”

“contrite” is the Hebrew word MAW-KEN
It means “crippled, afflicted, broken”

Remember Saul’s son Mephibosheth?
2 Samuel 9:3 “The king said, “Is there not yet anyone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?” And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is crippled in both feet.”

This is the man who has nothing to offer and no means of bringing it even if he did.

If God were to attack, this man couldn’t appease God or escape Him.
He is helpless and hopeless.

His body is broken…
His sheep is smelly…
His incense is rotten…
His money is gone…

He has nothing of value to offer God and he knows it.

And God will look to that person.

He also mentions one who:
“trembles at My word”

“trembles” is KHA-RADE

Ezra 9:4 “Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening offering.”

Ezra 10:3 “So now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.”

It is a holy fear.

That filthy beggar with nothing to offer and no way to escape understands the danger he is in before a holy God.

And this is the one to whom God will look.

God delights in mercy, but only when you really know you need it.
God delights in grace, but only when you are aware of how valuable it is.
God delights in compassion, but only when you know you don’t deserve it.

But when you are poor and broken and trembling, God is pleased to save.

God will not be deceived.
He will not accept less than your total submission to Him.

Mark 12:28-34 “One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ “The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe said to Him, “Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM; AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE’S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.”

Do you understand that?
Do you understand the type of worship God accepts and the type He rejects?

How about if I ask you about your humility?
Do you know that you have nothing to offer?

How about if I ask you about your weakness?
Do you know that you cannot escape the presence of God?

How about if I ask you about your trembling?

Do you tremble before God?
Do you fear Him?

Look, there is a warning here, and one which we see even in the New Testament.

The warning is that you be careful that your worship of Him does not replace humility, weakness, and trembling with some sort of complacent religious ceremony.

Listen to the writer of Hebrews:
Hebrews 3:7-12 “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS, WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me, AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS. “THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’; AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, ‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.’ ” Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”

How did those people in the wilderness fall away from God?
They didn’t leave the wilderness…
They didn’t quit going through the motions of religion…

They tried God and tested God and refused to fear God.
They did their own thing and tried to relegate God to some corner of their lives.

They withheld their heart from Him.
They refused to bend their will to Him.
God saw that as apostasy and it made all their other religion useless in His eyes.

The writer of Hebrews goes on:
Hebrews 3:16-19 “For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.”

These were people whom God delivered out of Egypt.
These were people whom God fed in the wilderness.
And yet God was so angry at their lack of humility and contrition and trembling that He refused to let them enter the land of promise.

Do you see the warning there?

Here it is:
Hebrews 4:1-2 “Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.”

There is the warning!
You need to heed the good news of God.
You need to believe the good news of God.
You need to obey the good news of God.
You need to tremble before Him and submit to Him.

And do not think that you can substitute a little church attendance on the weekends for that kind of devotion.

God rejects it.

In fact the book of Hebrews is filled with those types of warnings:

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

Or again:
Hebrews 12:25 “See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.”

You see the danger don’t you.

And let me show it to you with Israel.
They insisted on giving God ritual instead of true humility.
They rejected God’s Christ in favor of their own religion.

And what did God do?
He REJECTED their worship.
In fact, He rejected them.

Israel was broken off.

And it was Stephen who told them why.

Listen to this:
Acts 7:47-53 “But it was Solomon who built a house for Him. “However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says: ‘HEAVEN IS MY THRONE, AND EARTH IS THE FOOTSTOOL OF MY FEET; WHAT KIND OF HOUSE WILL YOU BUILD FOR ME?’ says the Lord, ‘OR WHAT PLACE IS THERE FOR MY REPOSE? ‘WAS IT NOT MY HAND WHICH MADE ALL THESE THINGS?’ “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. “Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”

Did you hear what Stephen quoted to them just before he exposed their futile worship?

He quoted Isaiah 66:1-2.
He told them that God rejected their worship and He rejected them for giving it.

Learn lesson #1 about worship.

HYPOCRISY WILL BE REJECTED

If you are playing games with God.
If you are going through the motions thinking no one sees.
If you are living for yourself 6 days a week and then coming here on Sunday and thinking you’ve done a good thing.
If you have everyone fooled.

You don’t have God fooled.
He is not some puny, pathetic, short-sighted idol that you can cram in a temple and keep Him in the dark.

And He will not be mocked!

Your only hope is to humble yourself before Him, to confess your weakness, to tremble at His presence as you submit yourself to Him and beg for His mercy.

John 4:23 “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.”

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Restoring True Worship – part 1
Isaiah 66:1-24
January 5, 2025

This morning we come to the end, the final chapter of the book of Isaiah.

MY INITIAL PLAN was to try to wrap this up by Christmas, and then by New Years so we could have “Missions Month” in January, but there is just no value in speeding through something.

We’re going to be a couple more weeks finishing up Isaiah and then we’ll jump into Missions Month and our focus on that great mandate.

But first…Isaiah 66.

I have titled the message of this chapter, “Restoring True Worship”.
If you read the chapter, you will see that this is precisely what is occurring.

We begin in the first 4 verses with God lamenting hypocritical worship.
• He isn’t looking for temple builders…
• He isn’t looking for ox killers…
• He isn’t looking for incense burners…
• He is looking for people who fear and obey Him.

(2b-3a) “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. “But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog’s neck; He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine’s blood; He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol.”

Incidentally, there is a bit of a parallel here,
For the way Isaiah begins this final chapter
Is indeed the same way Isaiah began the entire book.

We all remember back to Isaiah 1 where we saw that “State of the Union” address and where God exposed and rebuked the hypocritical worship of the people.

Isaiah 1:11-15 “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”

That was the problem wasn’t it?
• Their worship was bad.
• Their worship was unacceptable.

Isaiah started his ministry preaching about it,
And here in this final chapter he brings it up again.

But this chapter doesn’t end with bad worship,
This chapter ENDS with true worship.

(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.”

So you could say that in some ways
This chapter follows the theme of the entire ministry of Isaiah.

It is a confrontation of bad worship, and the revelation of
How God is going to bring about true worship.

And, even though I had planned to perhaps be finished with Isaiah by now,
What a glorious way to BEGIN THE NEW YEAR…talking about worship.

Is there anything you do that is more important than that?
I promise you there is not.

For even the mundane things of life that you undertake;
Things like working or cooking or mowing or cleaning
Or even raising kids or loving your spouse…

All of those things are to be done in a spirit and attitude of worship.

Colossians 3:23-24 “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”

EVERYTHING IS WORSHIP.

The question of the chapter, and the question we are going to be addressing as we look at Isaiah 66 IS NOT whether or not you worship God.

The question we are going to be asking is:
Is the worship I bring to God acceptable to Him?

Do I bring true worship or do I bring false worship?
Do I bring acceptable worship or do I bring unacceptable worship?

And lest we think this to be a small issue,
I could make the case that this issue of true worship is the one consistent message
That finds it’s way into the ministry of every Old Testament prophet.

WORSHIP IS THE CONSTANT THEME OF SCRIPTURE.

And I just want to first of all, make that point to you.
(We may not even make it into Isaiah 66 this morning,
I really just want to set this thing up for you.)

So let me ask you, where does worship first show up in the Bible?

It first shows up in the garden and it is bad.
You have Adam and Eve
Choosing to gratify their own flesh instead of obeying God.

We call that idolatry.
• They served themselves over and above the living God.
• They listened to the snake instead of to God.

Where do you see worship next?
With their sons Cain and Abel.
• Abel brings an acceptable offering because he brings it in faith;
• Cain brings an unacceptable offering because he brings it through works.
• God regards the worship of Abel
• God rejects the worship of Cain.

And true worship becomes one of the rarest occurrences on earth.
By ch 6 there is only one worshiper on earth and his name is Noah.

BUT WORSHIP IS THE THEME,
Eventually leading us to a man named Abram.

Now, the first time the English word “worship” occurs in the Bible is Genesis 22.

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.”

• Abraham is referring to the coming sacrifice of his son Isaac to God.
• Abraham is giving that which he loves most to God in obedience and he refers to it as an act of worship.

“worship” there is the Hebrew word SHA-KHAW
It means “to bow down; to prostrate oneself”

Even though Gen. 22:5 is the first time the word is translated “worship”
It is NOT the first time SHA-KHAW is used.

We first see it:
Genesis 18:2 “When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth,”

And again:
Genesis 19:1 “Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.”

Both of those passages speak of the angelic messengers who visited Abram before going into Sodom, residing with Lot, and eventually destroying the city.

In Genesis 18:1 Abram bowed HIS BODY,
In Genesis 22 Abram bowed HIS WILL
And that is why chapter 22 calls it “worship”.

And this is THE STANDARD expected by God
From all those whom He has created.

• Men were created that they might bend their wills in worship to God.
• Men were created that they might submit their lives to the sovereign authority
of the God of the universe.

That, in its purest form, is worship.

IT IS WHEN YOU SUBMIT YOUR WILL TO GOD.

You put your thoughts and desires and dreams and wants
On the back burner and you submit yourself
To God’s thoughts and God’s desires and God’s wants.

THAT IS WORSHIP.

And you should know that GOD DESIRES TRUE WORSHIP from His people.
• Do you remember the conversation Jesus had with “The woman at the well”?

John 4:19-24 “The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. “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.”

God seeks for Himself people who will be true worshipers.
• They will worship in “spirit” identifying their desire and attitude.
• They will worship in “truth” identifying their obedience and submission.

God desires a people who desire to obey Him.
God desires a people who love to submit to Him.

Now this would be a good time, I suppose, to tell you that
WE CAN BREAK WORSHIP DOWN INTO 3 TYPES.

And perhaps this will help you understand it a little better,
Even as we evaluate the worship that we are personally prone to bring to God.

The first would obviously be: TRUE WORSHIP

That is when people delight in submitting to God.
• More than prostrating their body to God (though that might be included),
• They actually prostrate their will to God.

Their outward bowing is merely symbolic of their inward submission.
• They deny themselves.
• They put aside their flesh.
• They submit to Christ and confess Him as Lord.
• They obey God.

THAT IS TRUE WORSHIP.

And I do want to give you a practical example of this.

The John 4 passage with the woman at the well is perhaps the most famous passage on worship since Jesus uses the word 10 times.

But I think the most detailed passage on worship is Romans 12.

TURN TO: ROMANS 12:1-2

Romans 12:1 represents the response segment of the book of Romans.

The first 11 chapters are theology.
• Paul gives us both the explanation and the application of the gospel.
• We learn all about God’s gracious salvation through Jesus Christ.

When we get to Romans 12
• Paul addresses our response,
• You will notice in the very first verse that the appropriate response is…WORSHIP

(12:1) “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

And again notice the submissive element there involved.
It is us, in gratitude, submitting our bodies in holy obedience to God.

And Paul, just as we saw in the Old Testament saints, calls this worship.

But Paul doesn’t stop there.
He spends the rest of chapter 12 and all of chapter 13
Showing you what true worship looks like.

We can’t hit it in detail, though we aren’t that far from it on Wednesday nights, if you’ll start coming then.

READ VERSE 2:
Paul tells you to stop listening to the world and start listening to God.
• He tells you to let God’s word renew your mind.
• He tells you to listen to and obey God
• And prove to the world that God’s will is best.

THAT IS WORSHIP.
When you turn your back on worldly ideologies
In favor of obedience to God.

When wives, who live in a feminist culture,
Determine to submit to their husbands because God’s word tells them to, that is worship.

When children, who live in a rebellious culture,
Determine to obey their parents because God’s word tells them to, that is worship.

When husbands, who live in a selfish culture,
Determine to love their wives sacrificially because God’s word tells them to, that is worship.

YOU SEE THE POINT?
Worship is not just you walking into a sanctuary
And physically bowing your head,
It is you bowing your will to the revealed will of God.

It is a commitment to learn God’s word and obey it in the world.

But Paul is far from finished.

READ VERSES 3-8:
• Obviously there is a ton of detail that could be addressed here,
• But the main theme is that you use the gifts God has given you for His glory.

Don’t be arrogant
• Don’t suppose that your abilities make you better than someone else.

• Why are you fast?
• Why are you tall?
• Why can you speak well?
• Did you do something to make that happen? No, those were gifts from God.

See them as such and humble yourself,
And use them for God’s glory to the best of your ability.

Are you a servant, then serve!
Are you a teacher, then teach!
Are you a giver, then give!

SEE THE POINT?
Do what God created you and equipped you to do,
And do it to the best of your ability and for His glory.

THAT IS WORSHIP OF GOD.
It is a recognition of His grace in your life
And a decision to honor Him through the exercise of it.

And Paul is still not finished by a long shot.

I’m just going to read to you verses 12:9-13:7

Here you will find over 30 direct commands from God.

• Nothing is said here about bowing your head…
• Nothing is said here about raising your hands…
• Nothing is said here about singing in harmony…

But everything that is said here requires a heart of worship to fulfill it.

You want to know what true worship will look like in your life?
THIS IS IT

READ 12:9-13:7

Did you see all those commands?
They are commands that fly right against your natural fleshly nature.

• Your flesh doesn’t want to hate evil and cling to good.
• Your flesh doesn’t want to be devoted in brotherly love.
• Your flesh doesn’t want to persevere in tribulation.
• Your flesh doesn’t want to refrain from paying back evil.
• Your flesh doesn’t want to pay taxes.

In order to do those things you will have to bend your will to God’s will.
THAT IS WORSHIP.

And then perhaps the highest calling of all from God.

READ 13:8-10

What else could be called worship but a fulfillment of the Law?
• Paul tells you to sacrifice yourself for the good of your brother.
• Paul tells you to do no wrong to your brother.

And we learn that loving your brother is to worship God.
WHY? Because God told you to do it.

Now does that make sense?
Do you understand a little better what true worship is?

It is a prostrating your will to the revealed will of God.
• It is submission to God.
• That is true worship.

UNFORTUNATELY what becomes the norm in Israel is NOT true worship.

See, there are two other types of worship in Scripture
That are not true worship and that are not acceptable to God.

The second type of worship we see in the bible is IDOLATRY

What is idolatry?
It is to give worship to the wrong god.
• It may be done in the right way or the wrong way,
• But the problem is that it is given to the wrong recipient.

So if true worship is to submit to the commands of God
Then idolatry is to submit your will to another false god.

• This could be one of the named ones in Scripture like Baal or Molech,
• Or it could be to worship yourself as god and let your flesh have full control.

That is idolatry and unfortunately Israel’s history is littered with it.
It is actually what caused them to be removed from the Promised Land.

And we are not void of it either.

For example:
Colossians 3:5 “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.”

Do you see the correlation to what we saw in Romans 12?
There Paul told us to present our bodies to God.

Here Paul tells us not to present our bodies to “immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed” because to that would be idolatry.

It would be to submit ourselves to the flesh as god.
It would be to do what we want instead of what God wants.

THAT IS IDOLATRY AND IT IS FALSE WORSHIP.
It is to attribute ultimate authority
To that which does not deserve authority.

So you understand what idolatry is, and I don’t want to spend a ton of time on that.

I want us to talk about the third type of worship, and that which is also unacceptable to God: HYPOCRISY

And I bring it up, because that is the type of false worship
Which God addresses at the beginning of Isaiah 66.

(1-4) “Thus says the LORD, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the LORD. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. “But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog’s neck; He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine’s blood; He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol. As they have chosen their own ways, And their soul delights in their abominations, So I will choose their punishments And will bring on them what they dread. Because I called, but no one answered; I spoke, but they did not listen. And they did evil in My sight And chose that in which I did not delight.”

We’re going to get more into it tonight…

But just a quick scan will reveal to you
That even though the people here are sacrificing oxen and lambs and bringing grain and burning incense that GOD IS NOT PLEASED.

God desires true worship and this is not it.

WHAT IS HYPOCRISY?
It is to worship the right God in the wrong way.

• All you have to do is ask Uzzah who touched the ark and God struck him dead.
• Ask Nadab and Abihu who offered strange fire and God consumed them.
• Ask Ananias and Saphira who lied to the Holy Spirit and God struck them dead.
• Ask the Pharisees who received the scathing rebuke from Jesus in Matthew 23

Hypocrisy is to worship the true God in the wrong way
And unfortunately Israel’s history is saturated with it.

Throughout her history Israel was notorious for trying to pull the wool over God’s eyes; they constantly tried to hoodwink Him.

What do you mean?

Well, they decided that instead of submitting their wills in obedience to God, they would try something else.

They would put on a big ceremonial display
And tell God they were going to obey Him,
But then go out and do their own thing instead.

Psalms 78:34-37 “When He killed them, then they sought Him, And returned and searched diligently for God; And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their Redeemer. But they deceived Him with their mouth And lied to Him with their tongue. For their heart was not steadfast toward Him, Nor were they faithful in His covenant.”

Instead of truly loving and serving and bowing their will to God,
They would try to substitute that for a flamboyant ceremony instead.

They would in effect say, “We won’t do what God says, but we will put on a big display in front of Him of how important He is to us.”

However, God saw right through it and He never accepted it.
And it becomes perhaps the most addressed issue in the Old Testament.

And I want to take you on a little journey this morning
As we introduce worship.

Let’s take a walk through the Bible this morning
And see how frequently God addresses hypocrisy.

TURN TO: PSALMS 50:7-15

God is clear there isn’t He?
• I’m not here to talk about sacrificial animals.
• I don’t need another goat from you.

What does God want?
(14-15) – I want you to be grateful, I want you to be obedient, I want you to trust Me.

David seemed to understand this:
TURN TO: PSALMS 51:16-17

The infamous Psalm after David had his affair with Bathsheba.
• David knew better than to bring God a goat.
• God wanted a broken heart.

TURN TO: PROVERBS 28:9 and let’s see what Solomon had to say.

If you aren’t going to obey God,
God isn’t interested in your fabulous prayer life.

That is like a Pharisee reciting long prayers on the street corner
And God is not interested.

TURN TO: ISAIAH 1:10-17

We already read this one earlier this morning, but again God is not concerned with the big-time worship service.

What does God want?
• Stop doing evil and start doing good!
• Sound like Romans 12?

TURN TO: JEREMIAH 7:1-11

Do you see how displeased God is with church attendance if the rest of the week is filled with things He hates?

Look down: VERSES 21-26
• God didn’t care about the sacrifices,
• God wanted obedience.
• God wanted them to stop oppressing their neighbor and to stop shedding
innocent blood.

TURN TO: EZEKIEL 14:1-3

There were some of the elders who came to ask Ezekiel a question
• God said He wasn’t taking questions from them because they had idols in their hearts.

He wasn’t interested in their presence before Him
If their heart was somewhere else.

TURN TO: HOSEA 6:6
• You see clearly what God wants.

TURN TO: JOEL 2:12-13

What a statement, “rend your heart and not your garment”
• I don’t care if you tear your clothes, I want you to tear your heart!

TURN TO: AMOS 5:21-24

There it is again.
• Not interested in your worship service, I want you to love your neighbor.

TURN TO: JONAH 4:10-11

God wasn’t interested in Jonah’s personal vendetta,
• God wanted compassion from Jonah.

THAT IS WORSHIP.

TURN TO: MICAH 6:6-8

What does God want from you?
• He wants justice and kindness and humility.
• It is not about the outward worship!

TURN TO: ZEPHANIAH 1:4-6

You have idolatry, pluralism, backsliddennes, self-righteousness.
• God is going to judge all of it.
• God doesn’t want phony worship.

TURN TO: MALACHI 1:6-11

God wanted honor, they gave Him dishonor.
• He wasn’t interested.

DO YOU SEE THE POINT?

David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea,
Joel, Amos, Jonah, Micah, Zephaniah, Malachi…

AND THEY WERE ALL SAYING THE SAME THING!
ISRAEL NEVER GOT IT RIGHT.

They were a nation filled with bad worship.
• Sometimes they worshiped the wrong gods.
• Sometimes they worshiped the right God in the wrong way.
• And God would not accept it.

HE DOES NOT WANT some showy party.
HE DOES NOT WANT men who say things and do not do them.

He wants those who bow their wills to Him, that is worship.

Listen to Jesus here:
Matthew 21:28-32 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ “And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. “The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. “Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. “For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.”

IS IT GETTING CLEAR?

We are going to start this new year off in Isaiah 66 talking about worship.

For what we learn here is that
One of the things God will do in the end
Is to restore true worship to this world.

He will reject hypocrisy.
He will destroy idolatry.

And by the end of this thing
The entire world will be coming to bow at His feet.

Look at it again.
(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.”

And do you want to guess what the world will be doing?
“will come to bow down” SHA-KHAW

They are coming to submit in body and soul to the LORD.

THAT IS THE CALL CHURCH.
• Submit your will to God.
• Bow your soul to Him.

• Don’t just rend your garments, rend your heart.
• Don’t just bow your head, bow your will.
• Don’t just raise your hands, raise your life.
• Don’t just sing, submit.

Tonight we’ll start looking at this passage in more detail,
But I hope you are interested in being a true worshiper of God.

John 4:23 “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.”