Sermon Tone Analysis

“We are told in the history of India, that Mahmoud — who conquered a great portion of India hundreds of years ago destroyed all the idols in every town to which he came.

In time he laid siege to the great city of Guzurat.

Forcing for himself an entrance into the costliest shrine of the Brahmins, there rose before him the figure of a gigantic idol, fifteen feet high.

He instantly ordered it to be destroyed.

The Brahmins of the temple prostrated themselves at his feet, and said: ‘Great Mahmoud, spare our god, for the fortunes of this city depend upon him.’

“But Mahmoud, after a moment's pause, said he would rather be known as the breaker than the seller of idols, and struck the image with his battle-axe.

His soldiers followed, and in an instant the idol was broken to pieces.

It proved to be hollow, and had been used as a receptacle for thousands of precious gems, which, as the image was shattered, fell at the conqueror's feet.

“Such an idol is self, who pleads and promises that ‘if we will but let it stand, it has pleasures, gifts and treasures to enrich us at command.’

This hateful idol will spend years in intriguing to escape from the hand of God.

Not in listening to its pleadings, however, but in delivering the idol over to utter destruction, shall we find our true wealth and pleasure, for jewels of priceless worth await those who have learned the secret of losing their life for Christ's sake that they may find it.”

J. Gregory Mantle, Beyond Humiliation: The Way of the Cross

We are living through a pandemic.

Not Covid-19.

A pandemic of narcissism, hyper-individualism, self-absorption, pride.

Call it what you will, you could call it self-worship.

The idol of self grows over time.

It begins in childhood for everyone with a desire to make my own choices.

It lies to me, that I can take care of myself.

That I should store up treasure for myself.

But this idol grows more demanding over time.

It eventually demands treasure for myself at the expense of others.

It demands the service of others.

It is a root sin that leads me into all other kinds of sin.

If I indulge the idol self, I will end up even sacrificing my own flesh and blood.

What does a society in which everyone worships the idol of self?

Injustice grows and eventually becomes so natural and commonplace that it can become the law of the land.

What happens in that society when the redeemed people of God have fallen for the same lie and have mixed their worship of God with the sin of idolatry?

Is there any hope?

Today, as we read the prophet Isaiah, we will see the progressive nature of self-worship.

We will see the wrath of God grow as this sin grows, which will leave us hopeless.

In our passage today, Isaiah preaches a four stanza poem of warning, wickedness, wrath, and woe.

Each stanza ends with the refrain,

“For all this His anger has not turned away, and His hand is stretched out still.”

But this poem will also lead us to Christ, where our hope is found.

Jesus has born the wrath of God for sin, and when we hope in Christ, we can be free of anxiety, and in a society in which everyone is running to gather more for self, we can be free to be generous.

9:8-12 - Warning: Stop Planning Your Life.

Listen.

9:8-12 - The nation of Israel, called Jacob in this passage, is living in troubled times.

Their world is falling apart.

The nations they have relied on, and the gods they worship, aren’t helping.

And now the Assyrian Empire is growing more powerful and threatening from the north.

When the world is falling apart, God might be trying to get your attention.

Isaiah says

Isaiah 9:8 (ESV)

The Lord has sent a word against Jacob, and it will fall on Israel;

We feel the weight of the burdens of this world.

We feel like the world might be falling down all around us during times of war, famine, distress, disease.

Do we feel the weight of the word of God during times like these?

God has some words of correction and instruction for Israel.

There is something He wants them to know.

Isaiah 9:9 (ESV)

and all the people will know, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:

But notice in this verse, it’s hard to hear what your dad is trying to say when you’re doing all the talking.

The people can’t know the word of the Lord because they are saying their own thing, in pride and arrogance of heart.

God has so much He wants us to know.

The idol of self feeds on pride and arrogance.

You don’t need God if you can come up with your own plan.

The pride and arrogance of Israel saw the world falling down around them, and instead of turning back to the Lord to listen, they came up with their own plan.

They would “build back better” (verse 11).

Isaiah warns the people, your plan, in the end, will backfire.

And it did.

Their plan to ally with Rezin, King of Syria, fell apart when Assyria showed up and it was every man for himself (verse 12).

What if Israel had heeded this warning and given up their plans to listen to God? We’ll never know because they fed the idol with pride.

[Where does the word of the Lord warn us?

Our church?

Where do we worship the idol of self?

Where have we made plans in our pride?

Is there anywhere our arrogance has blinded us to God’s plans?]

Isaiah 9:12 (ESV)

For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.

This is Isaiah’s version of , “…but wait, there’s more!”

If you think you’ve seen the extent of God’s wrath for idolatry, you haven’t seen anything yet.

The next stanza of Isaiah’s poem begins with,

Isaiah 9:13 (ESV)

The people did not turn to him who struck them, nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.

When the people would not turn to Him, their sin progresses to the next level.

In verse 13-17, we see

9:13-17 - Wickedness: When Your Nation is Godless, Don’t Follow the Leaders

9:13-17 - We were created to worship.

It is innate for us to follow a leader.

We were made to worship God and walk in righteousness according to His word.

When we give in to the sin of pride and choose to worship self instead, sin progresses by looking to leaders who will not lead us in righteousness, which is hard, but will tell what will make us more comfortable.

God lets Israel have what they want.

He gives them godless, evil leaders.

The “elder and honored man”, verse 15, are judges and princes, government leaders.

The prophet is the religious leader who should be speaking for God.

Government and religion are institutions ordained by God to guide a people into justice, righteousness, faithfulness, and steadfast love.

But what happens to a people whose guides in both spheres are being consumed by their own self-worship?

We follow our leaders...

Isaiah 9:16 (ESV)

for those who guide this people have been leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.

Isaiah says these guides have misguided the people “astray”, down wandering paths into godlessness and evil, to the degree that He has even lost compassion for the orphan and the widow.

This is a big deal.

Even these people closest to God’s heart have been swallowed up in sin.

The character of our leaders matters.

We have seen one leader after another wander into disaster through abusive power, corrupt morals, and wicked godlessness.

And that’s just in the church.

Let alone our governmental, educational, and financial leaders.

What happens when both our civic and our spiritual leaders are leading us astray?