Isaiah 64 - The God Who Acts for You Who Wait

Introduction

Let’s open our Bibles this morning to the last few chapters of the book of Isaiah.

We will be looking at a portion of chapter 64 this morning.

In preparation to do that, I’ll read the 12 verses of this chapter to help us understand.

[READ ISAIAH 64]

I draw your attention to the 4th verse of our chapter today:

Isaiah 64:4 “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.”

Consider this morning how different, how unique, the message of the gospel is.

Think about all the so-called gods people have worshiped over time:

In every case, if you want the fake god to ACT, you had to do something, give him something.

The gods of men only work on a “payment first” plan.

People worshiped the baals to have abundance, rain in the right season.

People worshiped Moloch, burning their children, sacrificing infants, for prosperity.

Not unlike the unholy prayers of those today who sacrifice their unborn infants on the same altar of prosperity or control.

The Greek gods were capricious, little more than unreliable men.

And every other god of men required payment while its prophets made empty promises of action.

The best they could conjure was to make its followers strong enough to do the work of that god themselves.

Babylon and Rome, through the might of their armies and the superiority of their organization, conquered great swaths of earth - with no help from the gods they served.

All the things in this world or in our imaginations that capture our worship from God or promise us life are false.

Our God, the only the true God, who reigns above, delivers on His promises.

And what’s more, He does it not because we have made some sort of acceptable payment, some sacrifice He desires;

We see here in Isaiah - He acts for those who WAIT for Him.

Not for those who WORK for Him;

Not for those who PLEASE Him;

Not for those who GIVE Him something.

But for those who WAIT for Him.

What action on your part or mine could possibly have brought you what He has given by His grace through the Son and the Holy Spirit?

What great quest would have brought you one inch closer to Him, one speck more worthy to stand before Him and His holy Majesty?

The REAL God ACTS - and He acts for those who wait upon Him.

And I would suggest there is no gospel LESS ACCEPTABLE to most people in our nation today.

Think about many of the false gospels that have invaded the church:

“If you obey God, He will bless you.”

“If you do what He requires, that is the key to unlocking His blessings for you.”

Whether from the prosperity false teachers,

Or those who would return the church to some form of Old Testament legalism, instituting the judicial and perhaps even the ceremonial aspects of the Law in their complete form.

This new American “gospel” demands that you do things for God,

Warning that God only blesses those who deserve it.

The creed they proclaim is that God helps those who help themselves or God helps those who please Him best..

It used to be the false teaching of the Roman “church” that led men to this form of legalism;

But in our culture of independence and prosperity, covetousness and greed, we are taught from birth to expect that kind of payment from God for our good works.

And we like that kind of power.

We like that WE have control over how much God loves us, how much God blesses us.

We like to think that we can catch God in His promises, forcing His hand to bless us even in our pride and disobedience.

We like to think that He owes us something because He has blessed us thus far.

Or that He will owe us more blessings if only we adopt the full Law of Moses for our own code.

Or become His holy warriors to force others into obedience.

That kind of covetous thinking is proven to be entirely empty when we come to see the confession of the church in verses 6-7 of our passage today:

Isaiah 64:6–7 “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.”

Church, until we can confess our sins to that level, especially the ones that are socially acceptable, we will not understand the truth of the gospel being proclaimed by this prophet.

We have sinned.

We continue in our covetousness to desire the good life of this world.

We want ease.

We think we deserve God’s blessing.

All the while the truth is we do not, will not, and CANNOT deserve God’s blessings.

The common grace He has poured out on us in our lives should never make us forget the wrath we entirely deserve.

In verse 7, there is a variant reading here that highlights something we might miss:

Instead of confessing that God has “made us melt in the hand of our iniquities”, which is bad enough,

I think the way the Septuagint translators say it gives us a clear picture of the judgment of God:

“You have delivered us into the hand of our iniquities.”

The confession here that we must have is this: our iniquities, our willful lawlessness, has become our master, has conquered us, has enslaved us.

And it is only by grace through the LOVE of God for us that we may be saved and freed from our sin.

We are not the ones in control.

We are the ones who need rescue and care.

What does it mean to be delivered into the hand of your iniquities?

It means that the lusts you tolerate become the obsessions that consume you.

The perversions you ponder in secret become the norms of life.

It means that the exaggerations you enjoy become a life that forces you to live up to your boasting.

It means that the grudges you hold become a prison of hatred you cannot escape.

It means that the covetousness you toy with flames up with greed and envy.

Growing up, to be honest: I never saw what was so wrong with covetousness.

Compared to murder and adultery and lying, coveting something in my heart seemed rather tame.

It seemed like what some today call a “victimless crime”.

And the most successful people I knew were driven by an ambition to gain more and more.

But that is EXACTLY why it’s so dangerous, so deadly to our souls, yours and mine.

Because no one sees it for what it is: a poison in our heart toward God.

It makes us agree with the Serpent and say, “Why DID God forbid that fruit?”

And so we begin to consider how we can fit God into our will instead of seeking His glory in His creation.

And this is a sin that is deeply engrained into our hearts by the society that is always dangling that next shiny thing in front of our eyes.

Telling us why we should be discontent with what we have already.

How we can accumulate more for ourselves and for our families.

Loving God

Touching base again to verse 4, I remind you that God’s promises are not for earthly blessing in exchange for our obedience.

That’s a misreading of every promise He made.

All those promises for temporal blessings of Israel come to their fulness in Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:20 “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.”

When God promises blessing, it is in Christ.

When God promises safety, it’s in Christ.

When God promises righteousness, it’s in Christ.

And it’s not because we are made better people;

It’s because we are JOINED with the holy, righteous, and God-Pleasing Son forever.

The best way of illustrating that fact is that Paul himself quotes verse 4 in his first letter to the Corinthian church, but he makes an apostolic edit to it to help the church understand:

Instead of Isaiah 64:4 “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.”

He quotes: 1 Corinthians 2:9 “But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—”

You see what he does there? He has told us that WAITING for God IS LOVING God.

What false god simply demands that his followers JUST love Him?

Those misled pagans would work, bringing great offerings and works and mighty deeds, and all so their false gods MIGHT work THROUGH them.

Our God, the True and Living God, ACTS for those who wait for Him, for those who LOVE Him.

Because our God ACTS.

Because He has PREPARED His works in advance on behalf of His people.

Remember Elijah atop Mt. Carmel:

The priests of Baal screamed and prayed and cut themselves, trying to rouse a god who wasn’t even there.

And Elijah stood, walked toward the altar of sacrifice, and spoke a simple prayer: and God acted.

Those who favor activity and legalism LIKE the appearance of effort that their useless acts have.

But God’s greatest commandment had nothing to do with being the punishers of sin or the defenders of His truth;

God’s greatest commandment, by His own holy testimony, is “Love God!”

Deuteronomy 6:5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

This is the memory verse for Israel’s children.

This is the verse they inscribed on doorposts and wrote into jewelry.

Love God!

Some might object: “But if that’s all there is, what about obedience and holiness?”

“What will keep people in line if they discover that the gospel is about loving God rather than living a good life?”

Without the threats of punishment and judgment, won’t people just go off and do whatever they want?

Actually - yes. That’s exactly what will happen when the true gospel is proclaimed and embraced.

People will do what they want.

The difference, and we see it all through Scripture, is that those who are saved by grace through faith will DESIRE to please and glorify God because they LOVE Him.

Those same commandments which are such a burden around the neck of the legalist are not burdensome at all for the one who is in Christ.

1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”

If you are someone who requires the direst and harshest punishments of the Law to obey, then you are still living under the Law.

But if you find that you joyfully concur with the Law of God, welcoming its examination of you to remove the sin that sticks so closely to our flesh,

You can do this because you LOVE God.

Romans 7:22 “For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,”

Isaiah says in in verse 5: Isaiah 64:5 “You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways.”

It is the immature that require the most direct discipline.

Young and immature children must be told exactly what to do and the consequences for not doing the right thing.

But as a son or daughter grows, and their love for the parent grows, obedience results from that love.

Likewise, the Law instructs believers, like a tutor, teaching us what is pleasing to God.

But as we mature, we find we are constrained by the Love of Christ much more than the threats of the Law.

As we love Him, we WANT to do those things that do not grieve Him.

How Shall We Live?

Dear friend, fellow believer, the message of the gospel is not here to place more burdens on your shoulders.

It’s not to add guilt to you when things in life become difficult or unpleasant, like you are under the punishment of God.

There is NO Condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

But perhaps you worry: what SHOULD I be doing with myself?

What does it look like to love God?

Know first that it’s really difficult if you simply STRIVE to do good things.

All these fruits of the love of God must flow out of that love.

Yes, sometimes, you will need to exercise self-discipline,

But in those times know that it is not the task that’s too great but a failing in your love for God?

Love Him more;

Consider His holiness.

Consider His grace toward you.

Recall your sinful state that He is STILL patient with.

Remember all His works toward His people.

Keep account of the good things He has done for you, the trials He has carried you through.

And learn of Him so that you will LONG to be in His presence.

Remove anything your find, no matter how small, that casts a shadow on that desire.

In verse 5, we see a couple of things to do:

1. Work God’s deeds: Because your God loves and cares for you, acting for you who love Him, you can be generous with everything He has given you.

Has He given you little? Be faithful with that little bit.

Share it like it is the abundance you draw from.

It’s easy to look at what we DON’T have and think, “If I only had a little more, I could be generous.”

If I had more time, I could apply myself better to pray for others in my church.

If I had more time, I could allow myself to consider God’s Word to a greater degree.

If I had more money, I could be truly gracious to others.

Dear friend: God KNOWS what He’s given you.

He knows the mite that represents your final coin.

He knows the last dab of flour and oil that represents the end of your groceries.

Trust Him, and love Him, and be generous to others.

Which leads me to the second thing to do:

2. Be godly in your circumstance.

Be the example of godliness in whatever circumstance you are in.

That’s why the apostle Paul could exhort even slaves to be diligent and trustworthy for their masters.

This isn’t, as some have mis-stated, an endorsement of slavery: read the epistle to Philemon to get over that notion.

The point is that God KNOWS your circumstance, and in your love for Him, you will glorify Him in those very circumstances.

He has placed you into the very situation you are in.

And He is there with you in that situation.

It’s not sinful to accept new opportunities that God, in His grace, might bring to you.

But it’s exceedingly sinful to live in discontentment at where you are.

To consider your life and declare “I deserve more than this.”

3. In verse 8, we find the middle of this truth:

Isaiah 64:8 “But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”

He made us, and He formed us.

He placed us where we will bring Him glory and pleasure.

He is our wonderful Father, who loved us from before the foundation of the world.

Through His Holy Spirit, He is forming us in Christ to be sanctified works of glory in His heavenly temple.

He loves you, if you are His.

And in return, your love flows back to Him.