Why God Blesses Not His People
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· 438 viewsReasons Why God does not bless His people
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Introduction
Time of Testimony:
Today I want to preach a message on “Why God Blesses Not His People,” since the Lords blessing is the very heartbeat by which every Christian lives, I pray this message blesses and encourages you. Our topic will be children of Israel and how their sin prevented the blessings of the LORD from being applied to their lives. May you, as well as I, take the truths in this passage of scripture and apply them to our lives, to more faithfully live for Christ, and more urgently flee from sin, so that we may please the LORD, and consequently escape the effects sin has on the believers life, as we will see in this message.
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness.
No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
They hatch adders’ eggs; they weave the spider’s web; he who eats their eggs dies, and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched.
Their webs will not serve as clothing; men will not cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands.
Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways.
The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace.
Isaiah 59:1-8
I. The Lord’s Ability (vs. 1)
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
In life when there seems not to be the blessing of God, we tend to blame God for our troubles.
We tend to doubt His love for us.
We call Him unfair.
We say in anger, “Why God, why.”
Israel was the same way.
They were not receiving the blessings of God, they thought, and they wanted to blame God for the lack of blessing.
But the prophet is clear to the nations that it was not the Lord who is lacking in ability.
The Lord is able to see, to hear and to save.
He is not the problem.
Why, when I came, was there no man; why, when I called, was there no one to answer? Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst.
By the Lords hand the seas were dried.
By the Lords hand He made rivers into a desert.
So, the Lord was not lacking in ability to save at all.
By His very rebuke seas were dried and rivers were made to deserts.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
Isaiah 58:9
Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.
Isaiah 65:24
These passages speak very clear to the Lords ability.
He can hear.
He can save.
In fact the Lord is anxious to answer you.
The Bible says before you even call, He answers.
While we are even yet speaking, He is working on our behalf.
The Lord is willing and wanting to help His people.
He is ready to say the blessed words “Here am I.”
He is wanting to extend His arm to grab hold of His people.
He is wanting to uphold us by His right hand.
If His people would but cry out to Him, He swoop to their rescue.
This is the LORD, God.
The maker of the universe.
The Sovereign Controller of everything.
He is capable of caring for His people.
So why were the Israelites not receiving Gods blessing?
There sin created a barrier between them and God.
Just like our sin does us.
romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
This brings us to our second point.
II. The Laity Iniquity.(vs. 5-6)
So what were these sins that created a barrier between God and the Israelites?
They hatch adders’ eggs; they weave the spider’s web; he who eats their eggs dies, and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched.
Isaiah 59:5
It is one thing that they were delighting in their sinful passions.
They took joy in ensnaring others in their sinful passions.
By weaving their webs of iniquity they would trap even those slim ones wanting to do right.
What a wicked thing.
Just as a spider web has beauty.
The people of Israel would make sin look beautiful to others.
By playing on peoples natural, fleshy want for sin they would deceive others.
Make them think that this sin would somehow be satisfying.
And once trapped in their webs.
They would find that the only thing this sin lead to was separation from God and death.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23
Here is another one.
Their webs will not serve as clothing; men will not cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands.
This passage shows the evil and selfish motives behind any works they did.
Just as spider webs can’t serve as clothing.
So were the woks of Israel, useless.
They had no Godward heart with anything they did.
They tried to make everything look good on the outside.
But inside they were as as spiderweb clothing.
There works would not suffice.
They were not accepted in the sight of God.
Charles Spurgeon talks on this matter of right motives.
Saying, when we do anything for the LORD.
May our motives be laying the crown given us by that action at the LORDS feet.
And may our cry be “not I, but the grace of God.”
But their motives were prideful, wicked, completely opposite from God honoring.
So by these things we see just how deep the Israelites were in their sins.
Right would you be to ask the question
Anti-God in their actions.
Yet still they had the gull to ask “Why God.”
So just what was the result of their sins.
This takes us to our next point.
III. The Lines Instability.(vs.7-8)
Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways.
,
The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace.
These passages speaks on the utter depravity of Israel.
They were swift to shed the blood of the innocent.
Th
Their thoughts were ones of iniquity.
Their paths were ones of destruction.
So because of the sin in their lives they knew not peace.
There was no justice or leading of God in their paths.
So because of these actions their paths were crooked and unstable.
And anyone who tread on these paths knew no peace.
They knew no leading of God in their lives.
Completely tossed to and fro by anything, they were completely unstable.
This is true of our nation.
America is slowing becoming a Godless nation.
Completely trying to be independent from God.
And as a result, they are entirely unstable.
Paul tells of how what was true of Israel, is true of all mankind.
Paul
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
Romans 3
Paul by reiterating Isaiahs words in the New Testament shows that what was true of Israel, is true today.
Just like Israel, as soon as we, Gods people, try to walk apart from God, we are left with an unstable path.
What was true than, still remains the same today.
We as believers need to wholly and completely rely on Christ, and Christ alone.
May we never live a life of sin than expect God to still bless us.
The Bible speaks of how we need to present our bodies as holy and acceptable vessels.
May we as believers strive daily to live a God honoring life.
May we have the attitude of love and service to Christ, because He first loved and served us.
May we walk the narrow road and not the broad road.
For on that road lies instability, sin, and death.
May we run the Holy Race until we reach the finish line.
Where there our blessed reward will be hearing our Master say, Well done, thy good and faithful servant.
As well, the eternally bliss of constant fellowship with our Saviour, will be our boast.
Also, just as our daily walk as believers is sheerly of grace, likewise our salvation is sheerly of grace.
The passage later goes on to tell of how the people of Israel were uselessly working toward their Salvation.
We grope for the wall like the blind; we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among those in full vigor we are like dead men.
We all growl like bears; we moan and moan like doves; we hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.
Isaiah 59
These men of their ownselves were trying to escape their deprived state.
This of course to no avail.
Seeking out their own salvation, but unsuccessfully.
WHY!
For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities:
transgressing, and denying the Lord, and turning back from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.
Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.
Isaiah 59:
The prophet answers this frustration.
Though outside rituals of the people might have been proper.
The sin still remaining in the heart of the people created a barrier between GOD and His people.
They could have worked with all their might, as they did.
But without the presence of Christ, it was all for nought.
The Lord seeing the helpless state of His people.
And in knowing of their useless works.
He graciously sends His Suffering Servant.
The only one able to bring Salvation to His people.
Isaiah 59
Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.
He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him.
Graciously and lovingly the LORD, through His Suffering Servant brought salvation to His people.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
The Lord took the salvation of His people on His own hands.
So, not only is our daily preservation and life by His grace.
Most importantly is the fact that we even have life to begin with, by His grace.
Later on in the passage we are told of how the redeemed of the Lord are to now fear Him.
So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of the Lord drives.
Because of this gracious salvation of Christ, Israel, and we, the Lords redeemed, are to know fear and honor Him.
Live our lives for Him.
Until the Glorious day that, as promised later on this passage the Redeemer will come and rescue His chosen bride.
The passage also tells us in that because this was an everlasting covenant we, by Gods grace are to daily walk, not by our strength, but Christs’ ,in service to our Master, until that glorious day till our Redeemer comes.