Clear the Way!

Man to Man  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  35:22
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It is, and always has been our behavior, our sin that has separated us from God. The Lord says, “Call!”, say “Here is your God!”, “Lift up your voice like a trumpet”, “I will heal him; and I will lead him”. The Lord asks one thing, “turn away from transgression”. There is a God kind of life. There is a way for us to find peace and it begins as we “remove from among you the yoke, the finger-pointing and evil speech ... offer your soul to the hungry”. He says to “Clear the way!”

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Clear the Way!

Eric Ross 6-8 minutes
It is, and always has been our behavior, our sin that has separated us from God.
The Lord says, “Call!”, say “Here is your God!”, “Lift up your voice like a trumpet”, “I will heal him; and I will lead him”.
The Lord asks one thing, “turn away from transgression”.
There is a God kind of life. There is a way for us to find peace and it begins as we “remove from among you the yoke, the finger-pointing and evil speech … offer your soul to the hungry”.
He says to “Clear the way!”

Part 1: Turn From Transgression

Isaiah says “Clear the Way!”

Isaiah 57:14–21 This message from
Isaiah 57:14 LEB
14 And one shall say, “Build up, build up! Clear the way! Remove the obstacles from the way of my people!”
“echos” (Barry, J. D., et al, 2016) this message in Isaiah which says
Isaiah 40:3 LEB
3 A voice is calling in the wilderness, “Clear the way of Yahweh! Make a highway smooth in the desert for our God!
and then goes on to say in
Isaiah 40:6 LEB
6 A voice is saying, “Call!” And he said, “What shall I call?” All humankind are grass, and all his loyalty is like the flowers of the field.
with an answer in
Isaiah 40:9–10 LEB
9 Get yourself up to a high mountain, Zion, bringer of good news! Lift up your voice with strength, Jerusalem, bringer of good news! Lift it up; you must not fear! Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10 Look! The Lord Yahweh comes with strength, and his arm rules for him. Look! His reward is with him, and his recompense in his presence.
“Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
“Look! The Lord Yahweh comes with strength, and his arm rules for him”.
“Look! His reward is with him, and his recompense in his presence”.
God himself is removing the obstacles, God himself is bringing the power to overcome them.

John the Baptist says “Make straight the way”

This is fulfilled in John the Baptist as recorded in each of the gospels. It says in
John 1:23 LEB
23 He said, “I am ‘the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’ just as Isaiah the prophet said.”
It is not the Lord’s heart though, to bring condemnation, his desire is in
Isaiah 57:18–19 LEB
18 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; and I will lead him and give him and his mourners comfort as a recompense, 19 creating fruit of lips. Peace, peace to the far and near,” says Yahweh, “and I will heal him.
But there are those, the wicked, and of them in
Isaiah 57:21 LEB
21 There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
Our part is to turn to the Lord and seek after him.

Joshua said Choose Yourselves Today Whom You Want to Serve

As Joshua, now in his last years, admonishes the people of Israel, he say to them twice, remove the foreign Gods. He says “revere Yahweh” and “remove the gods” in
Joshua 24:14 LEB
14 “So now, revere Yahweh and serve him in sincerity and faithfulness; remove the gods that your ancestors served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve Yahweh.
but this is no demand. They are not required to serve Yahweh, they are free to choose and as Joshua declares his allegiance to Yahweh, he presents them with that choice in
Joshua 24:15 LEB
15 But if it is bad in your eyes to serve Yahweh, choose for yourselves today whom you want to serve, whether it is the gods that your ancestors served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve Yahweh.”
and the people all respond that they will not forsake Yahweh in Joshua 23:16. Then Joshua challenges them saying “you cannot serve Yahweh” in Joshua 23:17. Joshua must have seen the people turning away already and he issues a strong caution in
Joshua 24:20 LEB
20 If you forsake Yahweh and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster to you; he will destroy you after he has done good to you.”
but the people respond that they will not forsake him in
Joshua 24:21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, we will serve Yahweh.”
so Joshua says to them again “remove the foreign gods” in
Joshua 24:23 LEB
23 He said, “Remove the foreign gods that are in your midst, and incline your hearts to Yahweh the God of Israel.”
Some believe that serving God is a passive act that only requires that they stop doing evil, but it is much more than that, it is an active proposition that requires doing good. Living for God means loving God, inclining your heart to him, listening to his voice and following his ways, not just for a moment in time, but for all of your life.

Part 2: Lift Up Your Voice Like a Trumpet

Isaiah 58:1–14

Declare Their Rebellion and Sins

Isaiah 58:1 LEB
1 “Call with the throat; you must not keep back! lift up your voice like a trumpet, and declare to my people their rebellion, and to the house of Jacob their sins.
The Lord tells Isaiah to “declare to my people their rebellion … they seek me day by day … they (his people) desire the closeness of God”

We Fast, And You Do Not See

Isaiah 58:1-14
but they say in Isaiah 58:3 ‘Why do we fast, and you do not see it? We humiliate our soul, and you do not notice it?’ and the Lord answers with two issues. He says:
Look! You find delight on the day of your fast, and you oppress all your workers!
Look! You fast to quarrel and strife, and to strike with a wicked fist
Here in Isaiah, the Lord is speaking to those that claim His name and claim to live for the Lord, and don’t in
Isaiah 58:2 LEB
2 Yet they seek me day by day, and they desire the knowledge of my ways like a nation that practiced righteousness, and had not forsaken the judgment of its God; they ask me for righteous judgments, they desire the closeness of God.
These people are fasting to get God to do what they want, to make their voice heard so their will is done. As it says in
Isaiah 58:4 LEB
4 Look! You fast to quarrel and strife, and to strike with a wicked fist. You shall not fast as you do today, to make your voice heard on the height.

The True Fast

There is a different purpose for fasting, it is not for self abuse and “humiliation”. Fasting is not so God will hear your voice, he hears you. Instead, fasting is in
Isaiah 58:6–7 LEB
6 Is this not the fast I choose: to release the bonds of injustice, to untie the ropes of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and tear every yoke to pieces? 7 Is it not to break your bread for the hungry? You must bring home the poor, the homeless. When you see the naked, you must cover him, and you must not hide yourself from your relatives.
to release the bonds of injustice
to untie the ropes of the yoke
to let the oppressed go free
to tear every yoke to pieces
And you do this when you
… break your bread for the hungry
… bring home the poor
… cover (the naked)
Also in
Isaiah 58:9–10 LEB
9 Then you shall call, and Yahweh himself will answer. You shall cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am!’ If you remove from among you the yoke, the finger-pointing and evil speech, 10 if you offer your soul to the hungry, and you satisfy the appetite of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness, and your darkness will be like noon.
This fast, the true fast, is not anything about making yourself heard so that you can get what you need or want from the Lord. The true fast is about expressing righteousness and justice. Or, as Jesus said in
Mark 12:30–31 LEB
30 And you shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart and from your whole soul and from your whole mind and from your whole strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
There is a truth that fasting quiets the voice of our flesh and helps us become more in tune with God’s spirit. Jesus fasted for forty days in the wilderness in
Matthew 4:1–2 LEB
1 Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil, 2 and after he had fasted forty days and forty nights, then he was hungry.
This fast was after being baptised with the Holy Spirit and before he began his ministry.
Jesus also taught people in
Matthew 6:17–18 LEB
17 But when you are fasting, put olive oil on your head and wash your face 18 so that you will not be seen by people as fasting, but to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
And in the early church, we know they gathered to pray and fast as in
Acts 13:2 LEB
2 And while they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart now for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
So, there is a fast to the Lord, a fast where we prepare ourselves for the work of the ministry.

There is no Justice

Isaiah 59:1–11
Isaiah 59:1–4 LEB
1 Look! The hand of Yahweh is not too short to save, and his ear is not too dull to hear. 2 Rather, your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, from hearing. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies, your tongue speaks wickedness. 4 There is nobody who pleads with justice, and there is nobody who judges with honesty. They rely on nothing and speak vanity. They conceive trouble and beget iniquity;
It isn’t that the Lord cannot save in Isaiah 59:1, it is that in Isaiah 59:2 “your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God”. This is the bleak and simple truth in Isaiah 59:3 “your hands are defiled with blood” and in Isaiah 59:4 “There is nobody who pleads with justice”. Or as it says in
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
Which leaves us separated from God in
Isaiah 59:9 LEB
9 Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We wait for light, but look! there is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.

Part 3: A Redeemer Will Come to Zion

Isaiah 59:12–21 The world is lost because “truth is missing” but even worse than that, anyone that would stand for the truth (“turn aside from evil”) is attacked (“plundered”) in
Isaiah 59:14–15 LEB
14 And justice is pushed back, and righteousness stands afar; for truth stumbles in the public square, and straightforwardness is unable to enter, 15 and truth is missing, and he who turns aside from evil is plundered. And Yahweh saw, and it was displeasing in his eyes that there was no justice
But in Isaiah 59:16 “so his arm came to assist him” and in Isaiah 59:20 “And a redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn away from transgression,” declares Yahweh.
The Lord makes a promise to those that will “turn away from transgression” even though they know they will be “plundered”. Some versions say they make themselves “a prey”, “They (people of the world) have distanced themselves so far from the truth that they openly combat those who turn away from perversity and choose the good”.2
But here is God’s promise, the beginning of life with God’s blessing that grows and progresses through Isaiah 60-61 in
Isaiah 59:21 LEB
21 “And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says Yahweh: my spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have placed in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of your children’s children,” says Yahweh, “from now on and forever.”

The Glory of Yahweh (the Lord) Has Risen on You

Isaiah 60:1–11

Keep Yourselves in the Love of God

Jude 17-23
Jude 18–19 LEB
18 for they said to you, “In the end time there will be scoffers following according to their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly, not having the Spirit.
There will be those that only cause divisions. They seek their own way as it says in
Jude 16 LEB
16 These people are grumblers, discontented, proceeding according to their desires, and their mouths speaking pompous words, showing partiality to gain an advantage.
For us as Christians, there is a simple way forward, it is the power of the Holy Spirit in
Jude 20–21 LEB
20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
by this power we keep ourselves in the right place with God and prepare ourselves for the great commission which here in James is described in two actions
Jude 22 LEB
22 And have mercy on those who doubt,

The vb. ἐλεεῖν (ἐλεᾶν) in the sense of have pity, be sorry for, help (out of pity), be merciful is found in the Synoptics in narrative, where it signifies the coming of the divine mercy into the world of human misery (Mark 5:19), esp. in the imv. ἐλέησον (Mark 10:47, 48 par. Matt 20:30f./ Luke 18:38f.; Matt 9:27

Mark 10:46-48 - blind Bartimaeus called out to Jesus “have mercy on me”, it was a cry for help.
and of others who are bound up in sin, and maybe not even aware, in
Jude 23 LEB
23 and save others by snatching them from the fire, and have mercy on others with fear, hating even the tunic stained by the flesh.

Notes

Study Verses

Isaiah 57:14–21 Clear the Way!
Isaiah 58:1–14 Lift Up Your Voice Like a Trumpet
Isaiah 59:12–21 A Redeemer Will Come to Zion
Joshua 22:30–34 When They Heard the Words
Joshua 23:1–7 Observe Carefully All That is Written
Joshua 24:14–24 Choose Yourselves Today Whom You Want to Serve
Jude 17-22 Keep Yourselves in the Love of God

Full Scripture Reading

Isaiah 57:14–21 LEB
14 And one shall say, “Build up, build up! Clear the way! Remove the obstacles from the way of my people!” 15 For thus says the high and lofty one who resides forever, and whose name is holy: “I reside in a high and holy place, and with the contrite and humble of spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. 16 For I will not attack forever, and I will not be angry forever, for the spirit will grow faint before me, and the breaths that I myself I have made. 17 I was angry because of his sin of gain, and I struck him; I hid and I was angry, but he walked apostate, in the ways of his heart. 18 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; and I will lead him and give him and his mourners comfort as a recompense, 19 creating fruit of lips. Peace, peace to the far and near,” says Yahweh, “and I will heal him. 20 But the wicked are like the churning sea, that is not able to keep quiet, and its waters toss up mire and mud. 21 There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
Isaiah 58:1–14 LEB
1 “Call with the throat; you must not keep back! lift up your voice like a trumpet, and declare to my people their rebellion, and to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me day by day, and they desire the knowledge of my ways like a nation that practiced righteousness, and had not forsaken the judgment of its God; they ask me for righteous judgments, they desire the closeness of God. 3 ‘Why do we fast, and you do not see it? We humiliate our soul, and you do not notice it?’ Look! You find delight on the day of your fast, and you oppress all your workers! 4 Look! You fast to quarrel and strife, and to strike with a wicked fist. You shall not fast as you do today, to make your voice heard on the height. 5 Is the fast I choose like this, a day for humankind to humiliate himself? To bow his head like a reed, and make his bed on sackcloth and ashes; you call this a fast and a day of pleasure to Yahweh? 6 Is this not the fast I choose: to release the bonds of injustice, to untie the ropes of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and tear every yoke to pieces? 7 Is it not to break your bread for the hungry? You must bring home the poor, the homeless. When you see the naked, you must cover him, and you must not hide yourself from your relatives. 8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall grow quickly. And your salvation shall go before you; the glory of Yahweh will be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and Yahweh himself will answer. You shall cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am!’ If you remove from among you the yoke, the finger-pointing and evil speech, 10 if you offer your soul to the hungry, and you satisfy the appetite of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness, and your darkness will be like noon. 11 And Yahweh will lead you continually, and satisfy your soul in a barren land, and he will strengthen your bones, and you shall be like a well-watered garden, and like a spring of water whose water does not fail. 12 And they shall rebuild ancient ruins from you; you shall erect the foundations of many generations, and you shall be called the bricklayer of the breach, the restorer of paths to live in. 13 If you hold your foot back from the Sabbath, from doing your affairs on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a pleasure, the holy day of Yahweh honorable, if you honor him more than doing your ways, than finding your affairs and speaking a word, 14 then you shall take your pleasure in Yahweh, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth, and I will feed you the heritage of Jacob your ancestor, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”
Isaiah 59:1–21 LEB
1 Look! The hand of Yahweh is not too short to save, and his ear is not too dull to hear. 2 Rather, your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, from hearing. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies, your tongue speaks wickedness. 4 There is nobody who pleads with justice, and there is nobody who judges with honesty. They rely on nothing and speak vanity. They conceive trouble and beget iniquity; 5 they hatch viper eggs, and they weave a spider web. One who eats their eggs dies, and that which is pressed is hatched as a serpent. 6 Their webs cannot become clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands. 7 Their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; devastation and destruction are in their highways. 8 They do not know the way of peace, and there is no justice in their firm paths. They have made their paths crooked for themselves; everyone who walks in it knows no peace. 9 Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We wait for light, but look! there is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. 10 We grope like the blind along a wall, and we grope as without eyes. We stumble at noon as in the twilight; among the strong we are like the dead. 11 We all groan like bears, and we coo mutteringly like doves. We wait for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us. 12 For our transgressions are numerous before you, and our sins testify against us. Indeed, our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities: 13 transgressing and denying Yahweh, and turning away from following our God; speaking oppression and falsehood, conceiving and uttering words of deception from the heart. 14 And justice is pushed back, and righteousness stands afar; for truth stumbles in the public square, and straightforwardness is unable to enter, 15 and truth is missing, and he who turns aside from evil is plundered. And Yahweh saw, and it was displeasing in his eyes that there was no justice 16 And he saw that there was no man, and he was appalled that there was no one who intercedes, so his arm came to assist him, and his righteousness was what sustained him. 17 And he put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head, and he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and he wrapped himself in zeal as in a robe. 18 According to deeds, so he will repay; wrath to his enemies, requital to those who are his enemies. He will repay requital to the coastlands. 19 So they shall fear the name of Yahweh from the west, and his glory from the sunrise, for he will come like a narrow stream; the wind of Yahweh drives it on. 20 “And a redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn away from transgression,” declares Yahweh. 21 “And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says Yahweh: my spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have placed in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of your children’s children,” says Yahweh, “from now on and forever.”
Isaiah 60:1–11 LEB
1 “Arise, shine! For your light has come, and the glory of Yahweh has risen on you. 2 For look! darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples, but Yahweh will rise on you, and his glory will appear over you. 3 And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the bright light of your sunrise. 4 Lift up your eyes all around and see! All of them gather; they come to you. Your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be looked after on the hip. 5 Then you shall see and you shall be radiant; and your heart shall tremble and open itself wide, because the abundance of the sea shall fall upon you; the wealth of the nations shall come to you. 6 A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young male camels of Midian and Ephah. All those from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and frankincense, and they shall proclaim the praise of Yahweh. 7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you; the rams of Nebaioth shall serve you. They shall present a sacrifice for favor on my altar, and I will glorify my honorable house. 8 Who are these? They fly like a cloud, and like doves to their coops. 9 Because the coastlands wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish are first to bring your children from afar, their silver and gold with them, for the name of Yahweh your God, and for the holy one of Israel, because he has glorified you. 10 And foreigners shall build your walls, and their kings shall serve you, for in my anger I struck you, but in my favor I have taken pity on you. 11 And your gates shall continually be open, day and night they shall not be shut, to bring you the wealth of nations, and their kings shall be led.
Joshua 24:14–33 LEB
14 “So now, revere Yahweh and serve him in sincerity and faithfulness; remove the gods that your ancestors served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve Yahweh. 15 But if it is bad in your eyes to serve Yahweh, choose for yourselves today whom you want to serve, whether it is the gods that your ancestors served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve Yahweh.” 16 And the people answered and said, “Far be it from us that we would forsake Yahweh to serve other gods, 17 for Yahweh our God brought us and our ancestors from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery, and did these great signs before our eyes. He protected us along the entire way that we went, and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. 18 And Yahweh drove out all the people before us, the Amorites who live in the land. We will serve Yahweh, for he is our God.” 19 But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve Yahweh, for he is a holy and jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20 If you forsake Yahweh and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster to you; he will destroy you after he has done good to you.” 21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, we will serve Yahweh.” 22 And Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves to serve Yahweh.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” 23 He said, “Remove the foreign gods that are in your midst, and incline your hearts to Yahweh the God of Israel.” 24 And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve Yahweh our God, and we will listen to his voice.” 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people on that day, and he established for them a statute and a judgment at Shechem. 26 Then Joshua wrote these words in a scroll of the law of God, and he took a large stone and set it up there under a large tree, which is at the shrine of Yahweh. 27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Look, this stone will be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of Yahweh that he spoke with us. It will be as a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God.” 28 Then Joshua sent the people away to their inheritance. 29 After these things Joshua son of Nun servant of Yahweh died; he was one hundred and ten years old. 30 They buried him in the territory of his inheritance, at Timnath-Serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 31 Israel served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who lived long after Joshua, and who had known all the work that Yahweh did for Israel. 32 The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought out from Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in a piece of land that Jacob had bought from the children of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for one hundred pieces of money; it became an inheritance for the descendants of Joseph. 33 And Eleazar son of Aaron died; and they buried him in Gibeah in the hill country of Ephraim, which had been given to his son Phinehas.

References

1. Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Is 57:14). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.2. Elliott, M. W. (Ed.). (2007). Isaiah 40–66 (p. 223). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
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