"Let Us Reason Together"

Pastoral Prayer:

“What we know not, teach us. What we are not, make us. What we have not, give us.” ~An Old Anglican Prayer (Alistair Begg)

Scripture Reading:

Isaiah 1:1-20

Rebellion Instead of Faithfulness

AMG Bible Illustrations Mere Obedience?

Mere Obedience?

Travellers among the Alps say they come to have a peculiar feeling, unlike any other, for their Alpine guide. Not a feeling of companionship, fellowship, or friendship alone, but a combination of all three. This feeling, they say, is produced by their obedience to the guide’s commands, and the men who have guided them through the Alps always seems to them different from other men. Our Guide once said, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love.” Simple obedience will produce in us a feeling of confidence in Jesus Christ that all the religious zeal and fervor in the world could not produce without obedience. Obedience is the key that unlocks the door into the dwelling of the indwelling Christ.

Last week we heard about King Hezekiah and the lineage that led him to a point of decision, whether to continue in the rubbish of life, or turn to the renewal possible only through the power of the Living God. Dr. Spivey made it clearer than spring water; God is all sufficient for His children, no plan “b.”

Isaiah is called to minister during the reign of the last four kings of Judah. Isaiah presents a case on YHWH’s behalf to the Kings and the people of the remaining kingdom on account of their faithlessness. God is not fooled, He is not appeased by mere show of personal piety or national religiosity.

You will recall the notes from last week, the kingdom of Judah practiced syncretism, idolatry, and all sorts of evil worship practices to honor other gods and not the Living God alone. We exacted that in order to enjoy the blessedness of a joyful life every man and woman is called to place God as their one and only hope. The last four kings were ministered by a man sent by YHWH to call their attention to the impending judgement and the call to repentance.

The first question we must answer is “What can we glean from the text as God deals with the Southern Kingdom?”

The Timeless Foe—Sin & Its Repercussions

The Church eternal—The Bride of Christ—is in a battle that leads to the culmination of a spiritual war in Christ’s victory through the cross and the empty tomb. The sore reality for some among us, and throughout the world, is that the enemy is not what is first seen. The men and women raging battle against the Gospel and the Church are only hostages to a debased mind. The Apostle Paul provides us a picture of how sin corrupts humanity and leads to enslavement to a merciless and heartless master.

Romans 1:28–32 ESV

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Isaiah presents the case against the sinful rulers, their sinful families, and the result in their worthless worship practices. The enemy at the gate is not the couple living outside of marriage, the young man or young woman living out their lustful desires, the rich or poor man desiring more wealth this world offers, the men and women pretending to be the opposite gender or living out the fantasy of degenerate sexual practices. No dear ones, the men and women I am describing to you, much like in Isaiah’s time are hostages to The World, Satan, and the Flesh.

Ephesians 2:1–3 ESV

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Sin, not man, is our timeless enemy; Satan, who accuses us, is our enemy; Satan who is defeated by the power of the cross and the empty tomb near Jerusalem is the one seeking to destroy those that God created, and even more so those that are called by His name by the power of the Holy Spirit—Those that call Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior.

How does sin afflict those within the church? How does it afflict His children?

God the Father is The Righteous Judge

God speaks directly to those who were called to live under the covenant made with the Hebrew people, through Moses. The manner of the covenant is summarized in the phrase, “And I will be their God, and they will be my people.” God calls the people from Abraham’s line to be a nation that would rejoice in Him and enjoy the benefits of faithful obedience to God’s rule over them. The story we read about in the Old Testament is that the people God calls as His are rebellious and obstinate. The call to faithful obedience is replaced by facile and shallow practices that fall short of God’s glory and majesty.

The people in the time of the Prophet Isaiah are falling into a trap of outward ritualism. Rituals that are filled with regal and pompous affair. On the other hand you have people who not only sacrifice to the Living God, but make sacrifices to other gods and in some cases partake of unthinkable rituals to appease foreign gods—such as infant sacrifice, and in cult prostitution, in other cases. Isaiah makes the point, as God’s mouthpiece, that superficial ritualism has no place before Him. God does not regard the actions of men just because they follow a simple rhythm in worship.

The other trap that the people of Judah fall into is that of religiosity. It goes beyond the practices associated with the Living God, or any idol. The problem here is that the people and the rulers over the kingdom of Judah believed they could practice faith and be in good standing with YHWH. Here the issue is that YHWH worship was not enough, as seen in the texts we are reading on a daily basis. The people stray away for lack of devotion and set their ears and minds on the religious influences from outside. Babylonian, Assyrian, Philistine, Moabite, Edomite, and Egyptian worship infiltrate the Kingdom of Judah and faithfulness is replaced by the compromise of other beliefs and the traditions that sit empty upon the hearts of men and women.

How does this impact the reader today?

Will You Come Back to Reason?

The prophet Isaiah compels the people chosen by YHWH to remain faithful and to avoid pragmatism and moralism. On the one hand the people are called to avoid following simply because it is the easiest option with less resistance from those around them. On the other hand, the people are called to find that taking the right course of action without the transformation of the heart results in emptiness and self-deception that sounds something like, “I am good enough,” or “This is well enough.”

Isaiah calls the people back to the choice that God gave the people regarding His covenant. We read in Deuteronomy 30:19

Deuteronomy 30:19 ESV

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,

Again we see that the original hearers of this proclamation are given a choice to follow their own ways, or to surrender to the ways of YHWH and to seek that which YHWH alone has purposed for His children. We are being called to the faithfulness and righteousness that is found in God. The prophet reminds us that salvation is of God alone and that we are not capable of receiving it by any other avenue in this life. Dear one, YHWH is making it clear that part of His reasoning with us is that our “good works,” moral stances, political affiliations, personal piety, zealous religiosity, or selfish judgement over others are all incapable of making us deserving of eternal life.

See what God declares through the prophet in Isaiah 1:16-20. God does not desire anything other than faithful obedience and transformed lives. This sounds exceedingly familiar to Jesus’s encounter with the teacher of the law. Paraphrasing, “Teacher, what commandment is the most important?” Jesus responds, “Love God, first; then love others as you love yourself.” The totality of obedience is summarized in the expression of a transformed heart. Why is that the case, you may wonder. That is because without the work of God in our lives we have no way of expressing these changes without resulting in selfish pride.

That is why Isaiah proclaims in verses 18-20 that we must be cleansed and then we are able to see the reason of living a life that glorifies God. Earlier this year we studied Psalm 51:7 which includes the following phrase:

Psalm 51:7 NASB95

Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Why is God harking back to the people of Judah and to us the concept that we must be cleansed and made new?

What & Why—A Call to Action

YHWH is calling the hearers back into the covenant relationship that He initiated with Abraham and with Moses. The perfect God of the universe, by His perfect existence desires to glorify His name by keeping the covenant made with the people of Israel.

For the Church from the 1st century, even today, the call is to remember who is the sovereign over our universe, our lives, our destiny. We are not our own possession, but we belong to God.

Are you living in rebellion to God? Come, repent and confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Be made new!

Are you living in a complaisant life trusting your own ability and goodness? Repent and walk with the master from today on.

Are you confronted with a world that would choke the Gospel out of you? lean on Jesus Christ, who is the sure and strong anchor of our faith.

I invite you to present yourself before God, right where you are and surrender to His Lordship today.

Is YHWH calling you by name today? Come and celebrate your new birth.

Does your heart ache? Is your mind overwhelmed? Leave your burden at His feet.

Are you searching for a family of faith that will encourage you as a disciple? Come and join God’s people in this congregation.

As you are, surrender to the Holy Spirit’s guidance to you.

Benediction