Isaiah 30:1-18 - Living Without Faith

1 “Ah, stubborn children,” declares the Lord, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; 2 who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! 3 Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation. 4 For though his officials are at Zoan and his envoys reach Hanes, 5 everyone comes to shame through a people that cannot profit them, that brings neither help nor profit, but shame and disgrace.” 6 An oracle on the beasts of the Negeb. Through a land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the adder and the flying fiery serpent, they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people that cannot profit them. 7 Egypt’s help is worthless and empty; therefore I have called her “Rahab who sits still.” 8 And now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever. 9 For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord; 10 who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions, 11 leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.” 12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them, 13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant; 14 and its breaking is like that of a potter’s vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shard is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.” 15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling, 16 and you said, “No! We will flee upon horses”; therefore you shall flee away; and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”; therefore your pursuers shall be swift. 17 A thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill. 18 Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.

Target Date: Sunday, 8 September 2024

Word Study/ Translation Notes:

1 – stubborn –

If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, 20 and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. – Deuteronomy 21:18-21

Thoughts on the Passage:

1 – Is the term “stubborn children” indicative that God considers them His children or simply that they are acting like ill-behaved children? Is there affection in this reprimand?

1 – “Carry out a plan, but not Mine…” – disobedient and headstrong, trusting in their own wisdom and those who support their sinful opinions.

They do what is right in their own eyes.

They are repeating Rehoboam’s folly.

1 – “Carry out a plan…work a work…” – they were weaving an intricate web – fragile and complicated – that will not secure them.

1 – “add sin to sin” – Ahaz had brought, through the same folly, Assyria to help in his war against Israel and Syria. Now Judah seeks another ally to oppose an uncontrollable Assyria.

At that time King Ahaz sent to the king of Assyria for help. 17 For the Edomites had again invaded and defeated Judah and carried away captives. 18 And the Philistines had made raids on the cities in the Shephelah and the Negeb of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages. And they settled there. 19 For the Lord humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had made Judah act sinfully and had been very unfaithful to the Lord. 20 So Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. 21 For Ahaz took a portion from the house of the Lord and the house of the king and of the princes, and gave tribute to the king of Assyria, but it did not help him. - 2 Chronicles 28:16-21

2 – Their folly is not that they failed to seek God’s PERMISSION – they failed to seek His DIRECTION.

What was their sin really? How would they have predicted the miraculous deliverance the Lord was going to effect against the Assyrian invasion?

Was there a prophet who had called them, on a national level, to trust God in this matter? Is there something in the Law that would have shown them the right way?

2 – Their faith in God to deliver them had failed.

True faith is NOT faith that we will succeed with God’s support; if we think that way, there is nothing wrong with going to Egypt and trusting their salvation.

Our faith must abide in God alone through Jesus Christ alone. If we act, we act by His way and His means; if we do not act, we do so BECAUSE that proceeds from faith.

Cowardice is not faith, but neither is precipitous action.

We may act, and do so completely by faith.

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. – 2 Corinthians 5:6-7

We may refrain from acting and do so completely in faith.

We may refrain calling out every niggling sin we see from a brother or sister. We pray to their Master and ours to add to His sanctification of them while we keep our mouths shut and our judgments to ourself.

So is it a sufficient thing to declare those things we lust and strive for are for God’s glory?

That we will use a larger house for God’s glory?

Are you using where you live NOW for His glory?

That we will use the promotion you crave for God’s glory?

How have you used where you are for His glory?

That we will use our fame and success for God’s glory?

Will you? Or will you simply raise your finger in the end zone while you soak up the praise of men?

God doesn’t NEED your success – He demands your faith.

In far too many cases, we are not worshipping God, relying in faith on Him alone. We Americans, in particular, worship SUCCESS in God’s name – and it isn’t the same thing.

We are merely the workers, the sowers of seed or preparers of the ground. We are faithful when we do THOSE things well, in the way God commands us to. The results are not OURS – they belong to God.

We work the best we can with the tools and in the way He has given us. It is a humbling responsibility to know we are NOT allowed to claim a part of the final result; our reward is that we were a part God used in bringing that result.

We are taught in this world that greater efficiencies, workarounds, and shortcuts might bring the result we seek faster and with less effort. But that is the voice of the devil who will be happy to tell us, “I will give you all the nations…on my terms.”

As good Americans, we will quote that we are “superconquerors” in Christ. But that is far from the context – we do NOT fight against flesh and blood, or even philosophies or ideologies or governments;

We fight a spiritual war in heavenly places – with spiritual weapons empowered by God through faith.

in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:37-39

the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ - 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

God doesn’t need your testimony or endorsement for His glory – He is self-sufficient.

The praise of men, particularly those outside His kingdom, are just the cries that come from under the footstool of His Son’s feet – they enrich Him nothing.

Often when people claim they are trying to get people to glorify God, they are really seeking glory for themselves, perhaps through their church association.

What pride do we have as a Baptist or a Calvinist when someone says something good about our tribe? We glow when we feel their praise of our theological opinion.

But God is not glorified in it.

Many a pagan historian will tout the Protestants as a key reason for the emergence of the United States on the world stage as a great power.

But there is no glory to God there as the Sovereign of the earth. There is only a hollow acknowledgement of the success of a philosophy.

When we repeat the claims or try to recapture those times, it leads people AWAY from God’s glory and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

What benefit for a fallen man is a superior philosophy he will never apprehend?

This means, necessarily, that there is NO redeeming truth in Christian Nationalism. Its BEST possible benefit is to make the hellish parts of this world less hot;

And in doing so, it gives people a false hope that robs them of the true Hope that can save them.

This feeds merely the lusting for the leeks and onions in slavery rather than the hopeful contentment in the kingdom of God.

To keep people bound in his kingdom, the enemy, the strong man, will give them trinkets they craved and occasional ease from their pain so they will not want to endure the desert that lies between them and the land of promise.

2 – “refuge” and “shelter” – the very things that God has promised to be, but they are seeking these things in Egypt.

3 – Even the support they sought from Egypt was from a rotting a corrupted source. Egypt’s best days were long passed; she was now in decline and decay.

Judah was sending to them because of their reputation, not their ability.

When we seek the things of this world, we seek them for the same reasons and with the same grievous result.

The things of earth cannot meet the need of anything but our flesh, and that is done only by adding to our own corruption and shame.

4 – Though the extent of Egypt’s land was great, it was empty – a promise broken from the start.

6-7 – We are taken to the eyes of the predators of the flesh in the wild lands – lions and snakes. They see more value in the donkeys and camels than in the gold and treasure they carry, Every step of this great caravan is vanity.

7 – Rahab who sits still – Rahab was a mythic sea monster, a great power of the sea. Egypt HAD might – but now the great monster sits still.

She is unable to move due to decay, age, or fatness. Unable to rouse herself to terror or defense.

God calls her this – He has, in His sovereignty, called her TO this.

She may growl, but has no will or ability to move.

Judah truly has no hope in the world but God’s mercy.

Egypt’s reputation may be great, and her voice may make some shake, but there is no strength in her that will aid Judah.

Can a nation repent as a nation? Could Judah be saved if Hezekiah bowed the knee to God in trust? He is, after all, remembered as a good king.

What would “national repentance” look like?

It is the penetration of the gospel thoroughly into the hearts of the people.

The king may lead, but it is the faith of the people that would preserve the nation.

But if their faith is only to AVOID calamity, it would be useless – tarnished and spotted.

When God brings calamity, it is His call to come to Him through faith in Jesus Christ REGARDLESS of what happens.

He doesn’t bring calamity as a negotiating tactic.

He brings calamity as a warning – so nothing worse may happen.

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” – John 5:14

His calamity is an offer of His mercy, the proof of His provision.

Your discomfort is to dislodge you from Sodom.

If you do not trust God to declare “No matter what You do with my nation or family, I will follow You”, you haven’t really come to Him.

You have sought an earthly truce, but God offers only a surrender that will save you.

Though he slay me, I will hope in him - Job 13:15

8 – Write it – when God sent a prophet to preach, his spoken words offered repentance.

Jonah, who didn’t even make an offer of repentance, saw the preaching of God’s judgment have the effect of repentance in Nineveh.

But when something in Scripture is WRITTEN, inscribed, it was not going to change.

The Law did not change.

Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. - Proverbs 3:3

“Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against you. – Deuteronomy 31:26

The Ten Commandments never change.

Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” – Exodus 24:7-8

The written judgments of God didn’t change.

Even when there is no prophet, the written word endures as a testimony against sin.

The “jot and tittle” are God’s guarantee.

For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. – Matthew 5:18

Those who are saved are guaranteed their names are “written in the Book of Life.”

Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. - Philippians 4:3

We also see the scroll of God’s judgment in the book of Revelation.

“The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart - Jeremiah 17:1

These things are written down so they will survive the calamity – to bear witness to the truth of God’s declaration.

He will not turn from His written judgments.

15 – Returning = repentance; in Rest, there is trust.

Quietness – a trust that endures through terrifying trials.

The contrast is in running around, rushing hither and yon, to make great preparation and hedges AGAINST God.

It is worry, anxiety over things around us – the very things that Fox and CNN peddle.

16 – We will flee – They thought that even if they believe in God, they needed a plan B. We think we need to save ourselves if He DOESN’T come through on His promises.

It is faith ALONE that God requires.

Faith that doubts – like the surf of the sea.

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. – James 1:6-8

It is a bastard of faith that hedges its bets – faith that trusts God for eternity, but not for now. that knows we will be sinless and perfect in the next world, but will use sinful or disgraceful means in this world.

It is faith that believes, but doesn’t trust enough to live God’s way.

Faith that picks up the world’s tools and weapons to force God’s ends.

18 – God’s promise – He is not blind to injustice; His repayment will be terrible and wrathful.

And for the moment, you exist in His longsuffering mercy so that you may come to Him forever by His grace.

Do not, in this world, seek too quickly His justice, for who could stand if it was poured out?

We live by His mercy and come to Him through His grace.

Applications:

For the Christian:

2 – When do we err in using the wisdom God has given, and when does He expect us to use that wisdom? How are we to know the difference?

Whatever is not from faith is sin: Romans 14:23

Sermon Text:

I heard one pastor of a fairly large congregation speaking recently, and he was describing the attitude of several of their preaching staff as they were preaching through the Old Testament prophets.

They have several teaching pastors who share the preaching duties, and they had all gotten together to discuss the final push through the prophets.

And he said that many of these preachers would be happy to leave this series behind because there was just so much judgment week after week.

I am not passing any judgment on them for feeling that way; I think anyone reading straight through Isaiah is refreshed by the little oases of gospel scattered in among the terrifying promises of God’s sovereign, holy judgment on His people and on the nations.

And in our passage today, we see the people of Judah were weary of these prophets as well:

V. 10 – They say to the seers, “Do not see…

V. 10 – They say to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions

V. 11 – leave the way, turn aside from the path

Don’t be such a straight arrow, so narrow about what God commands.

V. 11 – let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.

And in this passage, we find again that the sin of Judah doesn’t find its obvious root in the Ten Commandments.

They are not indicted for murder or theft or perversion.

Their sin is a lack of faith in God.

And that sin is far graver than most people, even church people, in our day realize.

We know faith is important. After all, the writer of Hebrews spends a very long chapter detailing the saving faith of the Old Testament saints.

And Paul, in refuting the heresy of the Galatians that would elevate the Law’s role in salvation, points to the promise to Abraham, received in faith, that predated the Law.

Because, as Hebrews 11:6 tells us:

without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

It is this very spark, the necessity of faith, that set alight the Protestant Reformation 500 years ago, led by a man who read this:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” – Romans 1:16-17

The righteous shall live by faith.

This isn’t even a new idea to the New Testament – Paul quotes it from the prophet Habakkuk.

From the very beginning with Adam to the very last person who God will save from mankind, every single one of them, without exception, was and is saved by grace through faith.

But not just the characteristic of “faith”, like it is some sort of personality trait.

There will be a lot of people who have a great deal of faith that will stand condemned before the throne of God.

Those who have faith in themselves.

Those who have faith in scientific theories that work to explain a universe without our Holy Creator.

Those who have faith in false gods, idols, and philosophies.

And, ironically, those who have faith in their own atheism.

Even faith in the Law of God, that description of God’s holy nature and His commands to perfection – even faith in that will not save.

Because it is not how much faith you have, but WHO your faith is IN.

And all those who will EVER BE saved, from the beginning to the end of time, are saved through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

For those of old, it was the promise of the Messiah; for everyone since His Incarnation, when the Word became flesh, it is faith in the known person, Jesus Christ, and in His completed work.

But in our passage today, we see a people living without faith in God.

They are a people who are too modern, too realistic, to think that the God they cannot see is able to deliver them from their trouble.

They believe what they see with their own eyes.

They trust what they can understand or weave together.

They have no time for Bible stories or rules about holiness – there is an invading army coming toward Jerusalem.

God may have parted the Red Sea for their ancestors, but that was a long time ago.

The world has moved on.

Politics have gotten real.

What use is a God who commands holiness and goodness in the face of an enemy that is ruthless and evil?

The great stones of the temple seem to be better used as a fortress than as a house of worship to God.

How in the world will WORSHIP and DEVOTION save them?

How does their being good stop the steamroller that is the Assyrian army?

Brothers and sisters, the Jews of that day were not the last to ask these questions.

All over the world, believers are tempted by the same faithless thoughts today.

And we fall to them more often than we either admit or even know.

So God, in His providence, has given us this chapter of Isaiah to demonstrate those deeds of our faithless flesh when we might find ourselves living outside of faith.

These deeds are the FRUIT of living outside faith.

The first faithless deed is that we live by our own wisdom.

We operate by our knowledge of the world, regardless of whether it violates God’s Law or, even worse, proceeds from something other than faith.

We carry out a plan – but not His.

We look, and for some reason other than faithful love to God, we choose a path that compromises with the world.

We are REALLY good at that.

Because at our heart, particularly as Americans, we often value success above all things.

It would not overstate our devotion to it, I think, to say we worship SUCCESS.

We fear failure, often, more than we fear God.

Is the cry of your heart – “Please, God. Don’t let me FAIL!”? And especially not in front of people.

And does our eye turn toward someone who is struggling, overcome by the enemy of our soul, and think they must be a wretched servant of God.

Our hearts cry out: God’s servants DON’T FAIL!

And so when the enemy comes and makes an offer: “I will give all these things to you, if only your compromise a tiny bit. Not publicly – just between us.”

In those times, when we value success greater than faithfulness to God, we bow our knee.

The believer who is struggling to make ends meet – who takes just a little from someone else. They have every intention to pay it back.

The person who feels unloved – so they turn on the computer and look at models who are posed to make them feel loved.

The church that thinks they have a material need – so they borrow money from a bank to pay for it.

All of these things will send us to Egypt, seeking the protection this world can offer.

We make an alliance – but not of His Spirit.

We will band together with a strong unbeliever so long as we feel like our beliefs are supported.

Business partners, spouses, or political candidates – we will accept unbelievers and become yoked with them.

And in those arrangements, there is no place for God’s Spirit.

The second faithless deed follows quickly on to the first: we make our own security in the power of this world.

In a relationship – we become the dictator.

In politics, we get close to the winner.

That is, for a fact, the reason Assyria was even IN Judah in the first place:

King Ahaz had INVITED them in to help him battle against Edom, Israel, Philistia, and Syria.

[2 Chronicles 28:16-21]

That is what sin does – when we allow it in, even invite it in, it will conquer more and more of our heart.

And just like the powers of the earth were useless to stop the Assyrian horde, so are the techniques of the flesh insufficient to stop the cancerous growth of sin that we have given admission to our heart.

Judah was going to Egypt for help because she had a reputation.

But that reputation was old, worn out.

V. 7 – God says “I have called her Rahab who sits still.”

Rahab was a mythical terrible sea monster who devoured entire peoples;

That was Egypt’s reputation.

But she is really “Rahab who sits still”.

The is too old, feeble, or fat to move from where she sits.

Her voice may be scary, and her reputation powerful, but she is pathetic.

That is the truth of every world power. Anything we might trust in this world is hollow and insufficient to be our shelter or our refuge.

It should tell us a lot that those are the same things God PROMISES to be for His people – shelter and refuge.

And how does He tell us we will be saved?

V. 15 - For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

Returning – that is repentance.

Rest – that is quiet trust – faith.

The same thing we see people called to in the gospel everywhere – repent and believe.

The third faithless deed we find in v. 16: To help God out or hedge your bet on Him.

You said, “No! We will flee upon horses”

The reason they were saying that is they were setting up a plan B in case God didn’t save them.

“We will pray and ask God to do what He has already promised, but we will prepare in case He doesn’t do it.”

He had ALREADY called them to faith, already assured them of His protection, but they wanted to be sure if He didn’t come through, they would have a way to escape.

That is what James calls “a double-minded man”:

let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. – James 1:6-8

Do you do that? Ask God for something that you KNOW is in His will – and then try to help Him out?

Abraham did. God had promised a son through Sarah, but Abraham, although he had great faith, failed in this, and has a son, Ishmael, with Sarah’s slave, Hagar.

Moses did. When God told him to SPEAK to the stone for water to flow, he struck the stone with his staff. Hitting the stone worked last time, but this time his act was declared by God to fatally faithless.

Faith is hard. We don’t see God, and we have been taught all our lives to trust our senses.

So when something is REALLY important to us, we do everything we can to make sure we get it.

We do whatever we need to to win and not fail.

Believer, please hear this: God has not called you to success, but to faithful service.

Some prepare the ground, and never see the full growth.

Some sow the seed, and never taste of the increase.

Some water the plants, but have no control of the weather that has more impact.

God causes the growth; He causes the increase.

And the humbling thing is that we are not in the least responsible for the amount produced – only for our faithful service.

The victory, and the glory for it, belongs to our Lord, Jesus Christ, who has accomplished all the necessary work of your salvation.

All your obedience now, all your faithfulness now, is the RESULT of your salvation, not a contributor to it.

The final faithless deed we find in verse 17: A thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill.

That final faithless deed is FEAR.

When we live outside of faith in Christ, we live in a great deal of fear.

Just this week, we have seen almost mindless hysteria over a few people purported to be from Haiti who have moved into our area.

When there is no faith in God, a thousand may flee at the THREAT of one; five will drive you all out.

This is not Judah fleeing the Assyrian horde – it is them preparing to flee at the threat from a SINGLE Assyrian they may see.

What do your fears drive you to?

Where has your faith been so damaged that you cannot even face the threat from something in this world?

Cowardice is indeed a sin because it is a failure of love toward another, but the cowardice here is the fruit of a lack of faith.

If you do not trust God to hold and keep you, there is nothing in your heart to protect you from the terrors of this fallen world.

[Psalm 91:1-8]

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? - 1 John 5:4-5