There is a Redeemer

Isaiah 59:1-21

Introduction

It’s often said that the Bible is outdated and irrelevant to modern society

Especially the OT

Some may say moral guidelines of Jesus can be helpful

True, there is much of ancient Bible times that is foreign to us

Though appearances & customs change some things don’t

Our text today could be a social commentary on 2026

We’re not going to focus on the social commentary side today

I want to point out the relevance the Bible has even in our modern society

These words are given in circmstances of social injustice

God does care about injustice - His Word & Law given to teach us to live justly

Fact: when a society leaves God it doesn’t become better but objectively worse

We don’t become more good & just by distancing from God we become unjust

READ Isaiah 59:1-21

Isaiah 59:3-8 give us a mirror to look in - as individuals & as a society

Societies without God are characterised by shedding of innocent blood

Lies, cover-ups, selfish hypocrisy

Society is emptied of trust because truth is ignored

Evil is rewarded, violence is celebrated, peace between people is eroded

Isa. 59:15 - Those who do good & right become the hunted

To give away my entire argument at the beginning

Continuing in this way will bring destruction

If we confess, turn from our ways to God, salvation & restoration will come

This is one way that Paul uses this Passage in Romans

Romans 11:25–27 “25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.””

Israel, who is blind & in rebellion to God now (as they were then) will by God’s grace (though not painlessly) be brought to repentance & salvation

Isaiah’s message starts with Israel in squalor but ends by pointing us to God’s redemption & their future glory

Paul loves his nation & prays for their salvation

Romans 10:1 “1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.”

I think his example out to be followed

Prayer for our nation:

Our great & holy God; loving & saving God; Father to all who believe,

We confess that far too often we complain about the state of affairs in Australia and moan about our leaders and those who hold influence in our country. Though our complaints may be right & justified we have failed to truly pray for these circumstances and for these people. We have even often succumbed to the temptation to be divisive and arguentative instead of recognising the results of a nation ignorant of God and seeking the good of our nation that can only come by submitting ourselves to the righteousness of God. May our hearts be softened and our minds & actions turned to seek the good of our nation.

Though we too often fixate in our complaing over our praying, our concerns & complaints aren’t frivolous or empty. Though Australia isn’t as extreme in their rebellion against You as other nations, we clearly live in a society not at all different to what is described in Isaiah. We are guilty of horrendous sin, we have blood on our hands in turning our face away from the oppression of the innocent in our own land and beyond. Wicked, ruthless, self-centred are rewarded at the expense of the downtrodden, those with power push their agendas and increasingly oppress the voices of the righteous. Not just in our governments but in our businesses and schools. Trust is almost entirely absent in our society because we are lied to so often, so openly, so malevolently. Thousands of children are murdered every year in Australia and rather than mourn this we celebrate it. This month our nation, our employers, our schools, our communities will take pride in the most debauched, unnatural & spiritually destructive lifestyles. We are a nation whose feet run to evil.

It is for this nation that we pray. Though horrified & oppressed by it’s evil we don’t pray for it’s destruction and downfall but for it’s salvation and restoration to You. This is why You sent the Son, to save us from all unrighteousness and to purify a people for the glory of your name. In a nation where our leaders and influencers grope in darkness as if they had no eyes give them sight that they might see the brightness of your glory and the freedom of your righteousness so that they may lead us in the ways of righteousness as a nation. We pray for the leaders that are growing in influence as they talk of ways that are more closely aligned with Your ways, may their influence grow but may it not just be to a more moral position, lead them to true godliness. We pray for the Christians who have places in our governments & positions of influence. Enlarge their borders, protect them from the temptations of power and give them courage to stand firm in a place so frought with danger.

We pray for your churches across our country. May every gathering that proclaims a false christ be abandoned & desolate, let all who would lead us to false christ’s and empty religion be silenced so that the true Gospel will sound loudly from every church that truly proclaims the glory of God through the salvation of sinners by Jesus Christ. We pray for our sister churches in the Australian Fellowship of Bible-Believing Churches, may their testimony be strong, their light bright and their influence increased so that people will come to know Jesus as their Saviour. Use us in every part of Australia to bring true, lasting, eternal change to lives that will transform our communities.

We pray for our own church in our part of this nation. May our own hearts mourn our sin and seek You. Let us not just mourn the sin that surrounds us but be broken about the sin within us. We ask that one result of that be a greater sense of urgency in us to make disciples of Jesus. That our first response to the growing unrest in our city would be to show people how to find rest in Jesus Christ. Make us a light on a hill that shines brightly before the people of our community, that they may see our good works and glorify the Father in heaven.

We understand, O God, this is not an easy task and success in Your mission is often not as we expect. The darkness of sin is heavy in Australia and we know Satan works tirelessly to blind and deceive the nations. Increase our faith, give us courage and strength as we cling to your promises. Our labour for you is not in vain so let us not grow weary in doing good, Your Word is powerful and will accomplish it’s purpose as it goes out, so covered in the armour of God, let us take up the sword of the Spirit with confidence and use with perseverance the great weapon of ‘All-prayer’.

Our hearts desire and prayer is that Australia may be saved.

This we ask in the name of the only Saviour, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Isaiah 59:9-15 - Moves from 3rd person (your) & speaking corporately to first person (us, we) & personal

So, there is more to consider here than just the ruin & redemption of societies & nations

What does this speak to us today? It is equally relevant today, not just to our society but to us personally

Having spent a significant amount of time praying for Australia what does our nation need to know? What do we need to know?

Our Sin Separates us from God

Our Sin must be Confessed

Then, Our Salvation Will Come

Our Sin Separates Us from God

Isaiah 59:1-8

It’s Not God’s Fault

Isaiah 59:1-2

God isn’t to blame

More often than not when trouble comes God gets the blame

If God is loving & good why do good people die & bad things happen

If God is God then why would Hitler exist

Gideon made the same claim to God (from Judges lesson 4)

Judges 6:13 “13 Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.””

It’s God’s fault we’re oppressed by Midian

This isn’t a new thought to Isaiah

Problem isn’t that God is too weak to do anything - He’s not the problem

People made same claim to Jesus on the cross

Matthew 27:40 “40 and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.””

Sentiment is: God’s lack of action proves He’s unable to act

God’s apparent lack of action doesn’t mean He is unable to act

God isn’t to blame, We are

Isaiah’s favourite name/title for God is ‘the Holy One’

His separateness / pureness / otherness

We’re regularly shown to not be holy

Rather we live in opposition to God’s holiness

That’s the problem - our iniquity, not God’s inability

Isaiah uses a specific phrase here only used 1 other place in Bible

Genesis 1:6 “6 Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.””

Making a deliberate illustration here

God’s creation originally had waters of earth separated from apparently a canopy of water above

Separated by sky/atmosphere so that they couldn’t come together

Our sin separates us from the holy God like the sky separated the waters

We’re prevented from being near God

It’s Our Fault

Isaiah 59:3-8

Sin ruins us (Isa. 59:3-4)

In these verses Isaiah puts a mirror in front of us

We might argue that it’s not my fault

By showing us ourselves Isaiah gives the evidence it is our fault

Sin is what we see in the mirror

When we connect this with the empty worship spoken of in previous chapters

Hands raised in worship are covered in blood

Lips that sing praises spew forth lies

It’s easy to look outwardly and see this in others, in society

Isaiah’s intent is much more personal

My own actions & words show I’m not without fault

They clearly reveal I’m not holy like God

Sin enslaves us (Isa. 59:5-6)

Really interesting images in these verses

Things that appear good & nourishing (eggs) & even beautiful (web) end up killing us

Eat it or crush it, both bring death

Though the snake may be small it carries the same venom

Spider’s web for clothing is an illustration of how futile & useless sin is

We think we can make beautiful garments from it but it never works

Not only is a spiders web useless for clothing it’s also difficult to get free of

e.g. Remember when you’ve walked into a spider web

Sin consumes us (Isa. 59:7-8)

It becomes what we think about, what we pursue, it defines us

Their thoughts = meditated, careful thinking

Not just passing thoughts but deeply thought over

Being consumed by our sin we waste our lives

Run straight towards destruction

Relationships are ruined

No peace =/= inner peace but relational peace

If your honest with yourself you know this is true

You might try to justify yourself & say but I’m not a murderer or deliberately spreading ‘misinformation online’ or spending all day in the dodgiest places of the internet

Little snake or big snake, the result is the same

Our Sin Must Be Confessed

Isaiah 59:9-15

Mourn Our Sin

Isaiah 59:9-11

Recognise our position

Notice, again, how it moves to 1st person

Possible Isaiah speaking on behalf of nation

Also must see the personal nature of this confession

I am part of the greater problem

Isa. 59:9 - justice is far from us

Isa. 59:11 - salvation is far from us

Sin that separates me from God has put me far from salvation

I am in darkness

Sin is what we see in the mirror

Sin is what leads us into darkness

Sin is the rock the Word of God must pound on to break in pieces

Sin is the root that sends shoots out into every part of my life

Religion can’t cover it

God can’t stand it

We can’t kill it

It’s recognising that helplessness that leads to this lament (gowl, moan)

This is the cry of people who don’t want to pretend any more

Admit our blindness

Admit I am blind to the ways of God, truth & justice

I don’t know where to go, what to do

I can’t even identify what is right, just & good much less differentiate it from what is unjust & evil

I must admit I need help

I need Jesus, the only one who can make the blind to see

Confess Our Sin

Isaiah 59:12-15

Stop trying to hide

We pretend that God can’t see or doesn’t care

Try to justify our ways to ourselves

We aren’t completely ignorant

In fact, Paul uses Isaiah 59 in his case against us as all being sinners (Rom. 3:15-17)

Our hiding is useless

All of our sin is done before God, in His sight

Your hiding is usesless

Agree with God

Part of the power of these verses is that they affirm everything God has said about them

This is what confession & repentance have at their heart - admitting God is right about me

Nothing good comes, no salvation or reconcilliation with God comes until I recognise & admit God is right

Acknowledge the depth of our sin

It’s not just a case about what we do

This is about who we are

It comes from my heart

Our Salvation Will Come

Isaiah 59:15-21

God Will Save

Isaiah 59:15-18

God sees

God sees what’s going on

He sees what’s happening in the world

He sees what’s going on in your life, in your heart

He sees what we think is in the dark

That is a terrifying thought

It’s not ONLY a terrifying thought

It says that God sees & is displeased by the injustice

That is, God cares, it matters to Him that injustice is being done

It matters that lives are being ruined

God saves

What does God see?

Sees the sin, injustic, oppression

Sees our inability to do anything about it

There was no man...no intercessor

God sees that we are trapped by sin

God ‘sees’ that none of us can escape it

What does God do about what He sees?

He acts in salvation

The hand that we said was too short (weak) is from the arm of the one who will reach out to save us

God does what we are unable to do - save us from our sin

Note that salvation comes in result of confession & repentance

He doesn’t save because we earned it

He doesn’t save because we decided we needed it

God sent salvation in Jesus Christ

He came in His righteousness to rescue us out of our unrighteousness

Notice He puts on His armour (yes, it does sound Eph. 6)

He came to make war with our enemies

Yes, probably does have some reference to Canaanites, Babylon, Persia, etc.

Mostly, this is about making war with our great enemy - sin

Looks forward to the complete fulfilment of His salvation and utter destruction of sin

True salvation, eternal life, comes by confessing your sin before God and believing He saves from that sin

God Will Bless

Isaiah 59:19-21

God will judge sin

Reason it matters so much to God, so much to us as God’s people

Sin is a destroyer, it is everything that is opposed to God

It is what separates us from God, puts us at odds with God

To remain separated from God puts us in a place of judgment

God will judge sin

God will bless His people

Jesus has come to save from sin

He will come again to rule in perfection forever

This is His promise

Seal of His promise is the Spirit and His Word

God’s salvation completely obliterates the separation

We are brought near, very presence of God upon us - within us

His Word given to us and the privilege of speaking His Word to the world

Conclusion

Christian

Though not in the same way as before saved

Your sin separates you from Your God (hinders, strains your relationship)

Sin is never to be toyed with, grace never to be presumed upon

You are dead to sin so put sin to death in your life

Remember, too, God hand is not short that He can’t save

Keep living for Him, speaking for Him, believing Him

If you don’t know Jesus as Saviour

Distance you feel from God, questions & uncertainty of life

These are results of our separation from God

Believe what God says about us

Believe what God says He has done about it