When Righetousness Departs
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Intro
Intro
How are you going in your faithfulness to the LORD?
Perhaps you are early days as a Christian, and growing like crazy all the time, that’s great!
But the reality for many of us is that we have been Christian for years and the early holiness gains we had seem like a distant memory.
You may find yourself stuck in a loop where, if anyone asks you you will happily tell them that you are a Christian, “yes I’m saved by Jesus. Yes I’m going to receive great blessings from God”
Yet, If we were to look at your life, the way your prioritize your time, the way you spend your money, and the way that you feed those sinful habits we might well wonder if you really belong to God at all. You say “I’m a child of God” but your life is not reflecting that, but you know you turned to the Lord, but where’s the fruit?.
Maybe you’ve had a moment of realization when you look at the life you’re living and you say “Am I a Christian at all? Where’s the evidence?”
Our passage today is a bit like that. It’s a moment where God speaks to his people way back in the day and he basically says “I thought you were my people. Where’s the righteousness gone?” “You say you’re serving me, but your actions tell a different story”
He gives a run down of a bunch of bad stuff that was going on in their country and it leaves us wondering “Is there any hope for the people when Righteousness departs?”
Is there any hope for us when righteousness goes missing our lives?
Is there any hope for us when righteousness goes missing our nation?
Is there any hope for us when righteousness goes missing the church?
Introducing Isaiah
Introducing Isaiah
Predicts many things about the future, including the rise and fall of kingdoms, Judah’s Exile, and very specific details about a mystery man who would turn out to be Jesus Christ.
Because of specific prophecies that were fulfilled, it leads later people to suggest that someone wrote these prophecies after the real events and then “back dated” the writing to claim it was from before. We have no credible reason to believe that Isaiah was written later in time, or that someone appended additional chapters to Isaiah as the years went by.
OT Prophecy. This style of literature includes
Assessment of how things are today
Revelation of God’s judgment against various people because of their actions
Visions
Predictions about future events
Promises of future deliverance, and that God will keep his promises, even if his people will not.
We see all of these features in Isaiah.
The first verse of the book introduces us to the man himself, and his era of history:
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Son of Amos - this is like a last name in the ancient world.
At this stage in history the 12 tribes of Israel were not one nation anymore, the two souther tribes Benjamin & Judah formed a nation called Judah, the northern 10 tribes formed a nation called Israel, just to confuse you.
Prophesied through the reign of 4 kings of Judah (plus a little bit more).
So when is this? Before the coming of Jesus Christ, about 740 BC to at least 681 BC.
Isaiah doesn’t tell us much much about his own life, but there are a few spots where there are stories about him. Mostly though, the focus is on what God has to say through Isaiah. In that sense he is a good preacher; his own personality takes a back seat and God’s word is center stage.
Understanding Isaiah, and it’s application to us
In biblical interpretation, you always start with what the text means to the original hearers.
God’s word is timeless and powerful in every age, but understanding it starts with understanding what it meant to the first hearers. God was speaking to Israel & Judah through Isaiah, in a specific historical context. So we need to figuratively put ourselves in their shoes to understand what God was saying.
But, we don’t stop there, because God’s word is not just individual messages to different people, but it is part of a unified whole. And what God said through Isaiah integrates with everything else unfolding through the pages of Scripture
When you’re reading Old Testament passages, the most important question to ask is: “How does this connect to Jesus?” All of the Bible is ultimately about Jesus, and so as we read Isaiah we will be looking to see how these oracles point to Jesus the Son of God.
Only after we see how Jesus fits in the picture can we truly understand what God is saying to us here in 2024 through Isaiah.
Thankfully for us, Isaiah is so chocked full of messianic prophecy that some people have nicknamed this book the “5th Gospel”. Getting to Jesus is often very easy, but it won’t be obvious every week, sometimes there will be a bit of work to do.
This week, is an easy week - the Gospel is clearly prophesied twice.
So lets dive in and see the gospel shine forth hundreds of years before Jesus came.
Lets dive in and see, what happens when righteousness has departed?
Sick in the Head
Sick in the Head
v1-9
The first 6 chapters of the book are something of an introduction to everything that follows. It gives us a foretaste of what’s to come and ends with the commissioning of Isaiah.
The “rest” of the book is a massive chunk of prophecy; 66 chapters long and dense. And we waste no time with any more preliminaries, Isaiah cuts straight to the chase in verse 2:
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”
Here is the nub of the problem for God’s People of this day. They are like children who rebel against their parents, or like domestic animals who don’t know their owner or their home.
Many of you own chickens, now do you have to go and show your chickens where their coop is every night? No! They know where to go, and every evening they return there.
Many of us will have seen those videos of someone returning home after a long deployment and seeing what reaction their dog has. Despite the fact that the are just a dog, they remember and they know the voice of their master and their joy is obvious.
But things were so bad in Israel and Judah it’s as if they didn’t remember the Lord their God, the one who delivered them from slavery in Egypt, the one who led them through the wilderness, the one who gave them the promised land of blessing flowing with milk and honey, the one who delivered them time and again from their enemies like Moab, Philistia, Assyria.
They forgot their place of safety, they forgot their masters voice and they wandered off into sin and rebellion. And because the wandered away from God, they also wandered away from truth and knowledge. Of course they didn’t understand, they left understanding behind.
They are estranged from God.
They have become a people full of sin, and corruption. Down in v5 God basically describes them as sick in the head, but it doesn’t stop there, their whole body is sick!
Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil.
As a people the Israelites are sick to the core, as if they had a head injury, they were weak, they had a bunch of open wounds and sores and not only that, they hadn’t bothered to dress the wounds. Basically their open wounds are left that way by choice.
This is a bad situation. It’s not healthy, and in fact their demise looks imminent.
When you look around Judah in that day, you could see the effects of their sickness setting in. Rebellion from God has real consequences and so the blessing that they had enjoyed from God is declining.
Their nation should be secure, it should be flourishing, it should be glorious, but instead:
Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence foreigners devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners. And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.
They are devoid of life, they are invaded, they are oppressed, they are under siege.
Apply
This is the results when a people wander from God. It is bad enough when there are people and nations who have never know God to rebel against him and reject his rule. But here we have a people who have a long term history with God, wandering off into vanity.
Here we have a people embracing sickness and desolation. They have wandered from God, and they are turning to the downfall of their people and nation.
Brothers & sisters this is what happens to us.
Our nation is not Israel and has not entered a covenant at Sinai, Australia is not the chosen people of God, but we are a nation that has known God historically speaking.
We have turned our backs on him, and we have become estranged from God.
While we live off the blessings that God has provided, if we look at our trajectory we see that where we’re going as a nation is the opposite way to God.
If I only eat ice-cream and lollies, I may still be able to function just fine for some time, but eventually my bad decisions are going to catch up with me and my health will decline sharply. But in the moment in all looks good, nothing wrong with me, I’ve been doing it for days and I’m fine! Never felt more alive!
You can’t keep doing what is unhealthy for you and pretend that it’s not going to hurt you very badly in the long run.
The decline of Judah was a direct result of walking away from God, now they were sick to the core. If we walk away from God, we can expect the same.
But there are a few key areas where this decline was very evident in Israel. You can see it in:
Fake Worship & False Justice
Fake Worship & False Justice
v10-17
These two elements are key markers of our spiritual health. If they are corrupted or distorted, it is a symptom that points to a problem underneath.
God puts his finger on that for Israel, starting with their inauthentic worship:
Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.
God speaks to them as if they were Sodom & Gomorrah. Two cities destroyed because of their brazen wickedness. Of a particular note were their efforts to engage in homosexual gang rape. They were two cities that deserved to be destroyed with fire from heaven, and they stand as a warning to all who would rebel against God like that.
By calling Judah by their name God was basically saying you’re as bad as they were, which is not a good sign.
God commanded these sacrifices here, as well as the festivals and sabbaths mentioned later, but because of the way that the people were doing it, God basically says I’d rather you just didn’t do it at all instead of doing it in such an evil way.
They were offering the offerings, like God asked, but they were doing it out of obligation, out of ritual, out of external religiosity, not because they were actually worshiping God, honouring him and seeking him.
Imagine if you invited me to your house for dinner, and i came but the whole time it was obvious that I didn’t really want to be there, I wasn't interested in you and it was a big inconvenience to me. That’s what it was like for Judah - God invited them to come and meet with him, to fellowship with them, to have peace and joy and yet, god knows the heart. He knew they were putting on a face while their hearts were far from him.
Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.
Call to repent, turn around!
Washing & Blessing
Washing & Blessing
v18-20
“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Righteousness Departs & God’s Vengance
Righteousness Departs & God’s Vengance
v21-26
How the faithful city has become a whore, she who was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.
Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow’s cause does not come to them.
Therefore the Lord declares, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: “Ah, I will get relief from my enemies and avenge myself on my foes. I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy.
Redeemed by Justice
Redeemed by Justice
v27-31
Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness. But rebels and sinners shall be broken together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
For they shall be ashamed of the oaks that you desired; and you shall blush for the gardens that you have chosen.
So What?
So What?