The State Of The Union – Part 3
Isaiah 1:1-31 (10-17)
February 12, 2023
This morning we continued in our look at Isaiah’s inaugural sermon, and one of the benefits of coming right back to it tonight is that we don’t need much recap.
Hopefully it is fresh on your mind.
It is God’s “State of the Union” address to Israel
And He desires to speak about 3 things.
REBELLION – RELIGION – REDEMPTION
Thus far we have heard God speak about REBELLION
• Sons He raised who have revolted against Him.
• Namely they have abandoned Him.
• This is a recipe for disaster which Isaiah announced.
Now, if you are Israel, your knee-jerk reaction
To such information is likely to try and blow it off.
AFTER ALL, we haven’t abandoned God.
• We come to His temple weekly.
• We participate in all the feasts.
• We give all the sacrifices.
Surely God is talking about those people
Who don’t sacrifice or who don’t attend.
But us, we’re fine.
• “We thank God that we are not like other people. We fast twice a week,
we pay tithes of all that we get.”
• “We tithe mint and dill and cumin”
We’re fine before the Lord.
It’s as though God says, “I thought you might say that”
So now He moves to His SECOND MAJOR POINT
In this State of the Union address.
We’ve seen Rebellion – Now let’s talk about:
#2 RELIGION
Isaiah 1:10-17
Having seen the FACTS OF THEIR REBELLION,
Let’s now look at the FUTILITY OF THEIR RELIGION.
One of the things that you really OUGHT TO ASK YOURSELF
As you perform religious duties is: WHAT IS IT ACCOMPLISHING?
Why do you do it?
What is the goal?
We have here some of the most religious people who ever lived
And we are about to find out that it was all for not.
1. They were committed to a lifestyle of certain activities
2. They thought these activities to be the means by which they pleased God
3. And here we find out that God doesn’t even like them.
As God speaks of religion here it is easiest to break this section down
Into what we might call:
UNACCEPTABLE RELIGION & ACCEPTABLE RELIGION
And this is information worth knowing.
Let’s look first at their UNACCEPTABLE RELIGION
It really should have been an eye-opening experience
When God looks at their religion and immediately refers to them
As “Sodom” and “Gomorrah”
(10) “Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the instruction of our God, You people of Gomorrah.”
• That is the nickname which He has chosen to give to Judah and Jerusalem.
• This sinful nation is no different before Him than those evil cities.
And before we object and hold up our giving statement from the previous year as proof we’re not like them, GOD HAS A STATEMENT.
(11) “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD.”
Just an observation.
• We are not talking about “part-time people” here.
• Their sacrifices were “multiplied”
• They gave more than once.
But the bone-chilling question is: “What [is that] to Me?”
Or in our vernacular – “What do I care?”
Or perhaps – “Whoopteedo”
All that you do may be impressive to some, but it’s not impressive to Me.
• We think of those Pharisees and Chief priests blowing a trumpet when they gave so that they would be noticed by men.
• We think of them praying on the street corners or offering long elaborate prayers to demonstrate their great piety.
• We think of them looking so miserable as they fasted to demonstrate their devotion to God.
It must have really impressed a lot of people, but not God.
And that is what we see here.
He says: “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats.”
Just use your brain here for a second.
What exactly is it that these people were bringing to God?
“fat” and “blood”
Valentines day is coming up guys, maybe to show your bride how much you really love her you can give her a bucket of fat mixed with blood.
Though don’t be surprised if the night doesn’t go as well as you’d hope.
God’s response was:
• “I have had enough…”
• “I take no pleasure…”
NOW THE OBVIOUS QUESTION IS:
If God doesn’t want it, then why did He command it?
• It’s not like we came up with the sacrificial system.
• These sacrificial recipes we follow are those which we received from the LORD.
• Moses went up on Sinai and God told him what we are to bring.
So why did God tell us to bring what He doesn’t want?
Obviously the fat and the blood were symbolic before God.
The “fat” was
• The visceral fat and that which the priests didn’t eat, it was a sort of tithe to God
of the animal.
• God could have required the entire animal, but in mercy He only required the
fat and allowed the priests to eat the rest.
The “blood” was
• A picture of the life of the animal because sin required death.
God accepted the fat instead of the whole thing.
God accepted the blood of bulls instead of your blood.
It’s NOT that He was just hankering for fat and blood,
IT WAS MERCY to accept that on your behalf.
And now these people think they are doing God some favor by bringing it.
THEY’VE GOT IT ALL WRONG!
Peggy told me many times about how when her mother would cook chicken Francis always got the neck. Now she may have convinced her family that the neck is what she wanted and she may have even grown to like it, but no one wants the neck.
She did that out of love for her family.
But what do you think Francis wanted most from her family?
• She wanted Godly children who served the Lord,
• I promise she didn’t want a box of frozen chicken necks for Christmas.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?
God showed mercy to Israel by accepting the fat and the blood,
But it’s not as though that’s just what He loved.
There’s no joy in the chicken neck.
It was NEVER about the actual offering.
Psalms 50:9-13 “I shall take no young bull out of your house Nor male goats out of your folds. “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains. “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls Or drink the blood of male goats?”
Instead God would go on:
Psalms 50:14-15 “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High; Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”
We remember David in his great penitential prayer in Psalms 51
Psalms 51:16-17 “For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”
Micah was pretty spot on when he asked:
Micah 6:6-8 “With what shall I come to the LORD And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, With yearling calves? Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?”
But the most important picture we get regarding a sacrifice to God
COMES TO US IN THE PERSON OF JESUS.
Hebrews 10 first says:
Hebrews 10:1-4 “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
But then the writer goes on to make the stronger point:
Hebrews 10:5-7 “Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME; IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE. “THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.’”
God has always been about the heart.
So if you bring Him an offering but not your heart
It accomplishes nothing.
Several years ago Matt Redman wrote a song that typified this understanding. It’s called “The Heart of Worship”
“When the music fades and All is stripped away And I simply come, Longin’ just to bring Something that’s of worth That will bless Your heart. I’ll bring You more than a song, For a song in itself Is not what You have required. You search much deeper within Through the ways things appear You’re looking into my heart”
But Israel thought they were acceptable
Because despite their idolatry
They were bringing God plenty of goats, sheep, and calves.
God’s question is: “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?”
What am I supposed to do with another chicken neck?
NOT ONLY THAT:
(12) “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts?”
What revealing terminology.
• God DOESN’T call it “going to worship”
• God DOESN’T call it “going to church”
God calls it a “trampling of My courts”
It’s like a person who spends several hours a week maintaining his lawn
• And one day a bunch of people trample all over it.
It’s like a woman who spends hours cleaning her floors
• And then a group of people track in all over it.
I think of nights at the Little League field
• Where you go and mow the field and drag the field and wet the field and chalk the field
• Only to have a bunch of T-ballers come out there and dig holes with their cleats and make sand castles in the base paths.
God doesn’t speak as One who is receiving any satisfaction or enjoyment at all from what is going on.
The clearest picture we have of this is in the New Testament
When Jesus clears out the temple.
He DOESN’T walk in and say, “Oh, it just blesses My heart to see all these people here in God’s temple.”
On the contrary, He drives them all out with a whip
Because what they were doing there was totally unpleasing to God.
Or do you remember this scene?
Matthew 3:5-7 “Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
John would have made quite a greeter wouldn’t he?
• The Pharisees walk up and John says, “What are you doing here?”
That is exactly what God is asking these Jews, especially in Jerusalem.
• Do you think you’ve done Me some favor by coming?
• Do you think I’m just a lonely old Deity who needs visitors?
• Who told you to come?
AND HE’S STILL NOT DONE:
(13-14) “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.”
Did you catch God’s terminology here?
• “worthless offerings”
• “abomination”
• “I cannot endure”
• “I hate”
• “a burden”
• “I am weary”
THAT IS STRONG LANGUAGE.
“Bring your worthless offerings no longer”
They aren’t accomplishing what you think they are accomplishing
And I am commanding you to stop bringing them.
I don’t want your bucket of fat and blood.
Your “incense is an abomination to me”
• We hear that word “abomination” come up from time to time
• But most of the time it is reserved for the sin of homosexuality.
• But here God uses that word to describe the offering of His people.
AND THEN GOD TALKS ABOUT
• Their “solemn assembly”
• Which He says “I cannot endure”
It’s as though God says,
“I can’t even sit through an entire service. I have to get up and leave.”
AND DO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT
“your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts”?
• “I hate” them.
• “They have become a burden to Me”
• “I am weary of bearing them.”
It doesn’t say much for them about their church services.
• I hate it when you have church.
• I hate it when you all get together.
• I hate it when you come here.
• I hate what you bring.
• I hate how you bring it.
• It’s the vilest sin imaginable to Me.
I’ve often wondered how Jesus kept from throwing up
During the Triumphal Entry.
These people who in just a few days would be yelling “Crucify Him!”
Are here crying “Hosannah!”
It must have been totally nauseating.
It was so phony.
One thing that is abundantly clear is that
As God looks at their religious ceremonies as a whole
He has no regard for them.
IN FACT, HE HATES THEM.
We almost always think of church services and religious activity
As that which God probably likes
But here we are faced with the reality that this is not always true.
There were times when God’s people gathered
For the purpose of worshiping God and for bringing sacrifices
AND HE ABSOLUTELY HATED IT.
It was just UNACCEPTABLE
And it did NOT have the DESIRED EFFECT.
(15) “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen.”
That is another way of saying that
You will receive absolutely NO BENEFIT for what you are doing.
Your gifts and your offerings and your songs and your attendance
Won’t help you in the least.
I don’t care if you pray all night, I’m not going to listen.
It is totally unacceptable and ineffective religion.
BUT WHY?
Why does God hate it so much?
“Your hands are covered with blood.”
What does that mean?
• Well the simplest application would be that they were violent murderers.
• That’s the purest definition of “hands…covered with blood”
BUT obviously it’s not like the went out and struck down a man and got his blood on their hands and then went into church without washing.
No, it’s symbolic here.
It speaks of one who has failed
To rightly consider or care for his neighbor.
Consider a prophet with bloody hands:
Ezekiel 3:17-18 “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me. “When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.”
There God actually holds the prophet guilty of murder.
• Why? He didn’t kill the man.
• No, but he had the power to save him and did not do it.
What about the Pharisees of the New Testament?
Luke 20:46-47 “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”
• It is said that they “devour widows’ houses”.
• It is corruption and theft and taking advantage of the less fortunate.
Consider what James said to the rich:
James 5:1-6 “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.”
When James says “You have condemned and put to death the righteous man”
Does James mean that they actually sat as judges and executioners in a court of law?
NO
Then how did they condemn and execute them?
• By failing to pay them their wages and thus they starved to death or couldn’t afford medical treatment.
• By living luxuriously and failing to see the plight of the poor man and withholding from him that which you could have given.
YOU KILLED HIM.
You killed him with malnutrition and starvation and abandonment,
BUT YOU KILLED HIM.
• We read that story of the rich man and of the beggar Lazarus who every day laid at his gates.
• The blood of Lazarus was on that man’s hands for he chose to hoard his wealth instead of saving the poor man’s life.
Jeremiah 2:34-35 “Also on your skirts is found The lifeblood of the innocent poor; You did not find them breaking in. But in spite of all these things, Yet you said, ‘I am innocent; Surely His anger is turned away from me.’ Behold, I will enter into judgment with you Because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’”
Do you understand that from God’s perspective?
Do you understand now why John the Baptist said:
Luke 3:10-14 “And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what shall we do?” And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.” And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.” Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”
Does it make sense to you that God has in fact made you your brother’s keeper?
Do you see that when He equips one to care for another but that one refuses to care that God holds that person responsible?
Luke 12:41-46 “Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?” And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. “Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. “But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers.”
You see what God meant when He said
“Your hands are covered with blood.”
Do you understand then why God hated their religious gatherings?
• You are totally disregarding all that I have asked of you.
• You cheat and steal and use your greed to commit murder
• And then bring Me some offering so that I might be pleased
Why don’t you break into your neighbors house, kill his wife and children, steal his television and then bring Me one of his T-shirts as an offering.
That is how God sees it.
Jeremiah 7:9-11 “Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—that you may do all these abominations? “Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the LORD.”
Listen to Jesus in the New Testament:
Matthew 15:1-9 “Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? “For God said, ‘HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,’ and, ‘HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.’ “But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. ‘BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.’”
You condemn your parents to death because you refuse to care for them in their time of need under the pretense that you are bringing what would save them to Me?
I don’t want your pathetic offering from your bloody hands.
God speaks of it over and over and over and over.
Later in Isaiah He will say:
Isaiah 58:6-7 “Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free And break every yoke? “Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?”
YOU SEE THE POINT THEN.
You live your life loving the world
And neglecting what matters to God
And then come here like you love God with your offering.
GOD IS SICK OF IT!
This religion that you think is so beneficial to you
Isn’t helping you in the least.
IT IS UNACCEPTABLE RELIGION.
But God would not stop there.
He will also speak of ACCEPTABLE RELIGION
(16-17) “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.”
This shouldn’t be a foreign concept to you.
Have you ever read the book of James?
James 1:27 “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”
You really want to bring God something He wants?
Quit acting like the world
And take care of those who can’t care for themselves.
Later James will say:
James 2:15-16 “If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?”
And the point is: WHAT ARE YOU REALLY BRINGING GOD?
Bringing an offering with sin-soaked hands
Is hardly that which He desires.
So before you come and bring your offerings to God,
WHAT DOES GOD DESIRE?
Well:
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight.”
They didn’t have literal bloody hands
And He’s not talking about a literal bath here.
• Are your hands covered with blood because you withheld the truth from someone?
• Are your hands covered with blood because you withheld wages from someone?
• Are your hands covered with blood because you cheated someone in a business deal?
• Are your hands covered in blood because you hoarded what you have instead of sharing it?
WELL FIX THAT!
What did Jesus say?
Matthew 5:23-24 “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.”
And that is God’s point here:
“Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”
If you want God to be pleased with the offerings you bring
Then you’re going to have to offer God the religion He desires.
Our world cares nothing about “justice”
• Our world is typified by that unrighteous judge who doesn’t fear God and
doesn’t respect man.
God’s people have to care about “justice”
Our world actually applauds those who are “ruthless”
• Our world sees ambition and cunning and conniving as good things.
That word “ruthless” is KHAW-MOTSE in the Hebrew
It speaks of a violent man, or as a man who has bloody hands.
Do you see that corrupt man
Who is rich because he neglected the poor and cheated his employees?
DO YOU BUDDY UP WITH HIM OR REPROVE HIM?
James 2:1-4 “My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?”
God’s people have to “reprove the ruthless”
Our world doesn’t care about “the orphan” or “the widow”
• What that really means here is the destitute who have no advocate.
• In Bible times widows and orphans were forced into poverty because their means of provision was gone.
It was God’s people who were called to care for those
The world wished to throw away.
Who stands in for the helpless?
Who stands up for the defenseless?
This is what God wants.
Amos 5:14-15 “Seek good and not evil, that you may live; And thus may the LORD God of hosts be with you, Just as you have said! Hate evil, love good, And establish justice in the gate! Perhaps the LORD God of hosts May be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
Amos 5:21-24 “I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. “But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
And there are many more passages we could turn to
But I think you’re getting it.
We have people here who are considered as rebels
Because they have abandoned God.
They think their religion will save them,
But God wants them to understand that their religion has no merit before Him, in fact He hates it.
This is His State of the Union address to His people.
Israel is a nation of rebels.
He is angry.
Their religion is worthless.
Their destruction is coming.
It is a pretty gloomy speech.
But REDEMPTION is possible as we will see next time.
Tonight we just leave contemplating the depth of our worship
And the genuineness of our religion.
Are we bringing God what God desires?
Or do we just expect Him to be happy with a chicken neck?
Zechariah 8:8-14 “Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah saying, “Thus has the LORD of hosts said, ‘Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’ “But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing. “They made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the LORD of hosts. “And just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen,” says the LORD of hosts; “but I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is desolated behind them so that no one went back and forth, for they made the pleasant land desolate.”
