Desiring Heaven – Part 1
Isaiah 26:7 – 27:13 (26:7-11)
September 17, 2023
For the last few services
• We have been in the segment where Isaiah looks past the regional judgments of his day
• We’ve looked on to the global judgment which will one day come upon the whole world.
He introduced it in chapter 24 saying:
Isaiah 24:1 “Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants.”
He went on to speak of God’s global judgment on the earth
Because of the sin which humanity has “polluted” it.
In chapter 25 He began to introduce us to the heaven that awaits the saints.
• We learned some wonderful truths about this place,
• In particular things like no death or veil or tears or reproach.
But what was clear to us from Isaiah’s perspective is that
The thing that intrigued Isaiah the most about heaven
Is that there will be NO SINNERS OR SIN there.
Isaiah would talk to us a little about the glorious of heaven
And then on cue he would return to remind us that
The proud or the wicked won’t enter.
Heaven is only for the righteous.
• It is for those who have been justified by the saving work of Jesus.
• It is for those who are by faith clothed in the righteous works of Jesus.
• It is for those who have been by faith atoned for through Jesus death.
• It is for those who are being sanctified by God’s Spirit.
HEAVEN IS FOR THE RIGHTEOUS.
THAT IS THE THEME THAT SEEMS TO PUSH ISAIAH
As he brings this segment to a close.
Chapter 26:7 – 27:13 is the FINAL THOUGHT OF ISAIAH on this segment regarding heaven and we might explain it like this.
We have here a prophet to a sinful nation
Contemplating how to get from here to heaven.
That is to consider, What it will take to get these sinful people
To leave their sin and seek God for forgiveness and salvation?
Only Isaiah is not confused as to how this will happen. – He knows.
First of all he knows the value of righteousness.
(7) “The way of the righteous is smooth; O Upright One, make the path of the righteous level.”
That first line is somewhat difficult to handle.
“The way of the righteous is smooth;”
Many have read that and pointed out that
• Jesus and the apostles both suffered for their righteousness
• They were clear that all who lived righteously would be persecuted.
No one is under the delusion that righteous living will lead you to smooth sailing. Not even Isaiah thought that.
SO WHAT DOES HE MEAN?
Isaiah is speaking of the coming judgment and the heaven that follows.
On the day of judgment
• The wicked will suffer under the punishing hand of God,
• But the way of the righteous will be smooth.
Isaiah knows that God will judge men justly.
Speaking of the RIGHTEOUS MAN, David wrote:
Psalms 1:3 “He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.”
Isaiah has even referenced this.
• You may remember as he spoke of the coming glory way back in chapter 11 he said this:
Isaiah 11:15-16 “And the LORD will utterly destroy The tongue of the Sea of Egypt; And He will wave His hand over the River With His scorching wind; And He will strike it into seven streams And make men walk over dry-shod. And there will be a highway from Assyria For the remnant of His people who will be left, Just as there was for Israel In the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt.”
• Isaiah spoke of a highway that the redeemed would walk in that day.
• But that’s not the last time he will reference that highway.
Isaiah 35:8 “A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it.”
HOPEFULLY YOU GET THE IDEA.
Isaiah understands that in the end, on the day of judgment,
It will be far better to be on that narrow road of righteousness
Than on that wide road of sin.
“The way of the righteous is smooth”
Isaiah knows that.
SECONDLY, he also knows who makes it smooth.
He says, “O Upright One, make the path of the righteous level.”
He knows that it is God who does the saving and the restoring and the rewarding.
• It is God who makes righteous.
• It is God who justified.
• It is God who rewards.
So very simply in verse 7 you have Isaiah stating that
It is far better to be on the path of righteousness than wickedness
And that God is the One who can put you on that path.
But that is NOT ALL Isaiah knows.
He also knows how God often puts men on that path of righteousness.
And the answer is: DISCIPLINE
Just look at verse 9, “At night my soul longs for You, Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently; For when the earth experiences Your judgments The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.”
Isaiah is clear what it is that teaches people the value of righteousness
And it is the judgment of God.
It is God’s judgment…
It is God’s discipline…
That so often causes us to seek Him
And thus obtain the righteousness which only He can grant.
That is the UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLE
That Isaiah is working off of for this final segment.
1. He has seen heaven.
2. He has seen that the wicked don’t enter.
3. He has looked around at his people and seen that they are wicked.
4. He has pondered what it will take to cause them to seek righteousness.
And he has determined that the answer is the discipline of the LORD.
And that is THE POINT HE’S GOING TO MAKE
For the rest of chapter 26 and throughout chapter 27.
And just to make sure you see the big picture,
Skip to the end and see the end that Isaiah is working toward.
Look at 27:12-13, “In that day the LORD will start His threshing from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt, and you will be gathered up one by one, O sons of Israel. It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.”
This what Isaiah is working toward.
(Furthermore it is what he desires for his people: aka – “Desiring Heaven”)
He is laying out what it will take to move this currently sinful nation
Into the type of nation that will turn and flock to the LORD
And thus dwell and forever worship Him in His heavenly kingdom.
So the DISCUSSION we’re going to be having over the next few sermons
Is the role of discipline or judgment in the life of God’s people
And the end result that it is meant to have.
AND THIS MORNING I really just want to set the stage for that discussion.
In studying these verses
I am convinced of two things Isaiah whole-heartedly believed.
I am going to give you these two statements
And I want you just to ponder them and see if you believe them too.
1) SIN IS WORSE THAN SUFFERING
That is to say,
That if given the choice I’d rather have suffering in my life than sin.
Or we might say, “If suffering is what is required to eradicate sin then I’ll gladly take suffering.”
Now think on that for a second.
I know we can go theological here and talk about basic realities.
• I know we can point out that sin will send you to hell but suffering won’t.
• I know we can point out that sin will keep you out of heaven, but suffering won’t.
But it is when we move from the theological to the applicable
That we begin to cringe and shutter a little.
That if you or I were to be presented with A PROPOSAL this morning on a piece of paper.
• That on the paper there were two boxes.
• One box represented our favorite sin.
• The other box represented some form of suffering.
And you were told to pick one this morning,
Which one would you pick?
You’re going to see that Isaiah would pick suffering.
• In fact, he’s going to ask God to bring suffering to that it might eradicate the sin of the nation.
I wonder if we would agree with him?
Now, the second statement is very much linked to the first.
This is also something Isaiah clearly believes.
2) DISCIPLINE IS BETTER THAN APATHY
That is to say, we are better off with a God who disciplines our sin than we would be if God just turned a blind eye and let it go.
And again we are up against that same dilemma.
The reality is that most of us (I’m included in the “us” there)
Would prefer comfort and no punishment,
Even if it meant that sin remained in our life.
• Most of us would AGREE that sin is bad…
• Most of us would AGREE that sin brings judgment…
• Most of us would AGREE that sin should be eradicated…
But if the means of eradicating that sin is suffering
Most of us would likely say, “No thinks, I’ll just keep my sin.”
I wonder if we really agree with Isaiah:
1. Sin is worse than suffering
2. Discipline is better than apathy
But I do want to remind you this morning that
SCRIPTURE WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREES WITH ISAIAH.
I want us to look at a couple of passages that you are likely familiar with,
At least I hope you are because we have studied them here together.
First I want you to
TURN TO: ECCLESIASTES 7:1-14
I’m not going to give you the whole sermon here again,
But I want you to recognize the perception of Solomon here.
Every statement seems backward and wrong to people of the world,
But they perfectly walk in line with what Isaiah will be talking about.
(1-4) – There Solomon says that Mourning is better than pleasure.
In fact he says
• In verse 1 that it’s better to go to a funeral than a birthday party
• In verse 2 that a funeral is also better than a feast.
And if you were to go out and survey 100 people in the world,
Perhaps even in the church;
Which is better a funeral or a birthday party?
I’m pretty sure you’d get 100% saying the birthday party.
Why would Solomon say such a thing?
(2b) “Because that is the end of every man, and the living takes it to heart.”
Solomon says it’s better to go to a funeral because
• That is where every man is headed
• And while you won’t get much perspective at a birthday party or a feast,
• You can get all kinds of perspective at a funeral.
So much so that Solomon concludes in verse 4 that “The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, while the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure.”
But Solomon isn’t done.
(5-6) – There Solomon says that a rebuke is better than a tribute.
In other words,
• If you have the opportunity to go somewhere were they will sing your praises
• Or to go somewhere were they will rebuke your mistakes
You are better off to go to the rebuke.
Why?
Well no one ever got better listening to people sing their praises.
No one ever repented listening to how good they were.
You get his point don’t you.
And Solomon still continues.
(8) – Solomon says there that patience is better than instant gratification.
It is better for you to have to wait for the fulfillment of something
Than it is for you to just get what you want immediately.
Solomon will compare two men.
• One man would use bribes or manipulation to force what he wants through,
• The other man who would patiently wait on God to accomplish His purposes.
And again that doesn’t seem to fit our agenda.
And Solomon still isn’t finished.
(13-14) – Solomon says that faith is better than sight.
He says that sometimes we have the day of prosperity and sometimes the day of adversity and we must learn that God made them both.
Sometimes we go through times of MOURNING
Sometimes we go through times of REBUKE
Sometimes we go through periods of FRUSTRATION
And we just want through it as fast as we can.
Solomon says instead of trying to force your way to the end of it,
It is better that you walk by faith and see that God is working in it.
And if we’ll stop and ponder what he says you know that he’s right.
• It does man far more good to consider death than life.
• It does man far more good to get rebuked than praised.
• It does man far more good to develop patience than always get what he wants.
• It does man far more good to have trusted God instead of fast forwarding to the
end.
We know that’s true, but our human nature doesn’t like to hear it.
Now go back to those two statements I told you that Isaiah is going to teach you.
1. Sin is worse than suffering.
2. Discipline is better than apathy.
You see the same point there don’t you.
Let’s listen to another author on the subject.
TURN TO: HEBREWS 12:4-11
• And there is another passage that begins to hit really close to home.
• The writer of Hebrews wants us to consider our perspective on receiving God’s discipline.
He actually quotes Solomon in verse 5 and recounts that typically when we face God’s discipline we are hit with two great temptations.
1) We tend to “regard lightly the discipline of the LORD”
• That means we are prone not to seek out what God is doing in our life.
• We just want it gone, we just want it fixed,
• We don’t spend time pondering what God might be doing in our life.
2) We tend to “faint when you are reproved”
• Meaning, we want to just give up and quit.
• We get mad at God and we check out of the journey.
And Solomon told us not to do either.
Rather we are to consider God’s discipline as an expression of His love.
(6) “For those whom the LORD loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.”
That was from Solomon again.
You can almost hear that same Ecclesiastes sermon coming through can’t you?
Well the writer of Hebrews expounds on it to remind you that
Discipline is better than a father who is apathetic toward your sin.
(5-11) – You’re familiar with it.
• God disciplines us “for our good”.
• God disciplines us “so that we might share in His holiness”.
• Discipline “yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
So again, which is better?
Is it better for a boy to never receive discipline from his father or for his father to bring punishment for his sin?
You know the answer to that.
If you don’t, just go volunteer to substitute up at the school and you’ll learn in about 5 minutes how important it is for fathers to discipline their kids.
But again you see the point don’t you?
1. Sin is worse than suffering.
2. Discipline is better than apathy.
And if it requires suffering or discipline
To remove our sin and to produce righteousness in us,
Then that is certainly what we should choose.
Does that make sense?
Listen to PETER discuss this.
1 Peter 4:1-2 “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.”
Suffering has a powerful way of causing you to let go of sin.
Listen to PAUL
Philippians 3:10-11 “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
Paul actually sought after the same suffering as Jesus endured that he might share in his righteousness.
SO YOU SEE IT.
1. Sin is worse than suffering.
2. Discipline is better than apathy.
Now listen to what JESUS said on the subject.
Matthew 18:7-9 “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. “If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.”
Obviously Jesus is speaking in hyperbole there.
• For one, just because you pluck out your eye, that doesn’t mean you won’t sin anymore, since sin comes from the heart.
But Jesus is making a very real point.
• If gouging out your eye could remove your sin, then you should do it.
• If cutting off your hand could remove your sin, then you should do it.
You say, “But that would be painful!”
• Yes it would.
You say, “But that would leave me crippled or handicapped”
• That’s also true.
And we tend to see pain or being handicapped
as a worse consequence than what sin will do to us.
So we often think the statement of Jesus to be absurd.
WELL LET ME ASK YOU; Do you think Jesus really believed that?
• Do you think Jesus really believed that if you could remove your sin by gouging out your eye then you should do it?
• Do you think Jesus really believed that if you could remove your sin by cutting off your hand then you should do it?
I can give you an emphatic answer on that statement.
HE ABSOLUTELY DID.
How do I know?
Because of what He put Himself through on the cross in order to free you from your sin.
He absolutely believed that sin was worse than suffering.
And I know that because He chose suffering in order to save you from the effects of your sin.
He absolutely believed that discipline was better than apathy.
And I know that because He chose to receive the punishment of God in order to make you a child of God.
SCRIPTURE IS CLEAR THAT
Sin is worse than suffering and discipline is better than apathy.
I know that’s sort of a LONG INTRODUCTION to this point of Isaiah,
I just want to make sure that before we head into this passage
That you understand where Isaiah is coming from.
1. He is a prophet who lives among sinful people.
2. He is absolutely committed to seeing those people enter the kingdom of heaven.
3. He is grieved at the thought that they might not.
4. He knows that God will forgive and justify sinners if they humble themselves and seek Him.
5. And He knows that God often uses suffering to cause them to do that.
That is a prophet that is demonstrating THE HEART OF GOD.
THAT WAS THE VERY HEART OF CHRIST.
Years ago when I was very young and my sister was just a baby,
My mom got saved.
(She had thought she was as a child, but she really got saved as a young mom).
The problem was that my dad was not yet saved (he also baptized as a child).
• It became apparent to here as she watched his fruit.
• He had no love for the word
• He had no love for the church
• He loved the world and wanted more of it
My mom could see that my dad needed to be saved
But he was a strong personality
And she wasn’t sure how that was going to happen.
So she began to pray that if God needed to make her sick or even one of us kids sick in order to bring my dad to repentance that He would do it.
That’s serious isn’t it?
That’s really believing in the necessity of salvation isn’t it?
That’s really believing that sin is worse than suffering isn’t it?
No, God did not make my mom sick or either of us kids,
• But He did cause my dad to get laid off from his job
• And put them in a financial crisis
• Until my dad would let go of his sin and seek Christ.
• And it’s the best thing that ever happened to my family.
Suffering was absolutely better than sin.
Discipline was absolutely better than an apathetic heavenly Father.
WELL, WITH THAT UNDERSTANDING,
Let’s go to work on Isaiah’s final point here in this segment
• As he contemplates what it will take to get these sinful Israelites into God’s kingdom.
In short Isaiah wants heaven for them so badly
That he will actually pray for suffering
If that is what it takes to produce it.
And as we start,
• I wonder how badly we want revival in our church?
• I wonder how badly we want revival in our nation?
• I wonder how badly we desire heaven for those we know and love?
There are 4 major points to this segment, we’ll start looking at them this morning.
#1 ISAIAH’S PETITION
Isaiah 26:7-11
We already discussed verse 7 a moment ago,
• How Isaiah recognized that it will all end better for the righteous
• So he asked God to begin the work to make His people righteous.
That is actually the request.
• God make us righteous.
• God put us on that narrow path that leads to life.
• God put us on a course that ends in heaven.
And then Isaiah begins to discuss how that happens.
He discusses what that path looks like.
And the first thing you see is that
Isaiah recognizes that throughout Israel’s history it has been judgment (not prosperity) that has caused Israel to seek God.
I know we often pray for prosperity,
But prosperity doesn’t do much for leading men to Christ.
And Isaiah admits that.
(8-9) “Indeed, while following the way of Your judgments, O LORD, We have waited for You eagerly; Your name, even Your memory, is the desire of our souls. At night my soul longs for You, Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently; For when the earth experiences Your judgments The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.”
Do you see what a seeker Isaiah had become?
Do you see how focused he was on God?
What he describes is what we would love to see in everyone we know.
What he describes is what we would love to see in our nation.
Wouldn’t we love to see:
• People who “have waited for God eagerly”?
• People who can say, “Your name, even Your memory, is the desire of our souls.”?
• A nation that says, “my soul longs for You”?
• A church were every member honestly says, “my spirit within me seeks You diligently;”?
WE WOULD LOVE THAT.
Well that’s where Isaiah is.
So how did he get there?
(9b) “For when the earth experiences Your judgments The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.”
What was Isaiah’s secret to his desire to seek God?
• He had walked through the discipline of God.
As a child, when your parents put you in a position of pain to correct your attitude or behavior, can you now see the benefit of it?
Can you see the benefit it had on your own children when you disciplined them?
It’s not pleasant, but it is good.
THINK ABOUT OUR NATION.
I didn’t do it very well, but my goal throughout August was to thank God for the heat. (No one hates heat more than me)
• I have tried to thank God for the drought.
• I’m thinking that perhaps it is time to thank God for inflation.
For one thing I know for sure, that even though our nation is suffering a little right now, it is apparently not suffering enough.
Would I be willing to endure more hardship if that is what it took to bring our nation to repentance?
THAT IS WHAT ISAIAH IS DEALING WITH.
And notice what he says next.
He sees that being apathetic toward sin never helps anyone.
(10) “Though the wicked is shown favor, He does not learn righteousness; He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness, And does not perceive the majesty of the LORD.”
I know,
• We all want to receive mercy.
• None of us want to be treated as we deserve.
• I get it.
But Isaiah says there is a problem that occurs
When sinners never receive the punishment that is due their sin.
The problem is that they never learn to correct their behavior.
Ecclesiastes 8:11 “Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.”
You know that’s true.
So does Isaiah.
God has thus far just let the wicked enjoy prosperity
And it hasn’t helped anyone.
(11) “O LORD, Your hand is lifted up yet they do not see it. They see Your zeal for the people and are put to shame; Indeed, fire will devour Your enemies.”
Isaiah speaks here of how God has disciplined His own people.
• That is what “Your hand is lifted up” refers to.
It refers to the times God disciplined His own children for their good.
The wicked have seen that, but they learn nothing from it.
It is to their shame that they cannot see that
By not being disciplined they are actually being fitted for judgment.
Isaiah says, “Indeed, fire will devour Your enemies.”
AND THERE THE CONTRAST COULDN’T BE MORE REAL.
WHICH IS BETTER?
• To receive the discipline of the LORD; His outstretched hand; His punishment and thus have our behavior corrected so that we begin to seek Him…
• Or, is it better for God to just let us get away with our sin so that one day, covered in our iniquity that we never repented of, God devoured us in the fury of His wrath…
WHICH IS BETTER?
You know the answer.
Now, we are going to stop here
And we’ll go forward with more of the message tonight.
The 50 cent seminary word is HAMARTIOLOGY
It is THE DOCTRINE OF SIN.
See, what we’re doing here is working on your doctrine of sin;
Your hamartiology.
We’re making sure we all view sin correctly.
Isaiah already knows we hate suffering.
What he’s trying to do is teach us to hate sin even more.
It is so easy in our day to day life
To view things like suffering as really bad and sin as only a little bad.
Think about it.
• Are you more grieved when you find out someone got cancer or when you find out they are living in sin?
• Are you more prone to pray that God would heal a person’s sickness or their greed or immorality or bitterness or whatever?
See, even in the church we form a distorted doctrine of sin.
We have conditioned ourselves to think it’s not really that bad.
But that is not the doctrine of the Bible.
The Bible, and the faithful prophets throughout
Invited suffering if it would remove sin.
Sin is the problem, and we have got to hate it.
I’m not telling you that you should love pain or suffering or hardship.
We weep and grieve over such conditions.
What I am saying is that you shouldn’t avoid or hate anything
As much as you avoid and hate sin.
• We have got to strive against it.
• We have got to pray against it.
• We have got to call men from it.
FOR SIN SENDS MEN TO HELL.
Solomon, Isaiah, the writer of Hebrews, Peter, Paul,
They all invited suffering if it would cleanse from sin.
THEY DESIRED HEAVEN.
This morning
• We simply ask God to help us get our mind right regarding sin and to see it correctly.
• We ask God to cleanse us and make us committed to seeing it eradicated in our lives, in our church, and in our land.
Isaiah believes that suffering will eradicate sin
Since he believes that sin is worse than suffering
He is petitioning God to bring suffering and eradicate it.
That is a gospel perspective.
That is a heart that desires heaven.
Matthew 18:8-9 “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. “If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.”
