Edge of Isaiah (1)

INVITATION —Ou worship is meant for more than Sunday! Focus on the words said, sung and prayed even more. So that our worship becomes how we live…everyday!

(S1) — Driving along…what do you do?

Slow Curve — Dead end — Bridge out — Detour

Signs like these are meant to…warn us of incoming danger. Keep us out of trouble! So we can have the best and safest journey possible.

Isaiah’s prophesy comes at a time when the people of Judah find themselves in trouble — Headed to a disastrous end, unless they heeded the warning signs, the word of God.

(S2) — Summer Series — ‘Prophet Margins’ — A journey with those who spoke God’s word to a people who he had raised up out of captivity, to be examples of what it meant to live their lives in worship to Yaweh. Worship was always meant for more than just one day.

Hosea (Israel) — Isaiah (Judah) — brought words of indictment on a sinful people. God’s word was, meant to awaken them to their need to change direction in their lives.

May God speak to us as well… so we can live safe and abundant lives for Jesus everyday.

PRAY

(S3) —

Perry Mason — The cases of a master criminal defense attorney, handling the most difficult of cases in the aid of the innocent.

Isaiah’s vision — Court room scene — Judge — Prosecutor – Defense attorney — The defendant — Guilty or innocent?

The first of three indictments is handed down — REBELLION (Hosea/Isaiah)

Isaiah 1:5 “Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted.”

The evidence is very strong against them.

Isaiah 1:10 (NIV)

10 Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

Comparing them to two cities destroyed because of their insidious ways and refusal to listen to God. The outcome is not promising...

(S4) — Pause…prophets words...take us to the edge…challenge to hear

1. The importance of Judah’s DELIVERANCE — Line of Judah — Messiah

2. God’s desire for their SALVATION — Love — Relationship

Judgment was always the last response — There was always a way out

1 Corinthians 10:13 “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

3. How God would save them — Repent/Obedience — JESUS

They only needed to 10 Hear the word of the lord...

Isaiah (Yaweh saves) — Duration — Vision — God’s voice

Are we guilty or innocent? Do we need to hear the word of the Lord? Have we ever rebelled or turned away from God’s salvation? His word is still for us today...

(S5) — The second charge brought in Isaiah’s vision, our focus for today, is specifically around their worship and what it had become.

Isaiah 1:11 (NIV)

“The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

They worship was insincere. They were showing up and doing all the right stuff...but for all the wrong reasons...Their worship had become only about one day and what made them look good on the outside, while on the inside nothing had changed.

(S6) — Just because your showing up, doesn’t mean your going up!

Church members who had never met Jesus

They were showing up, but their worship was having no impact on how they were living the other days of the week.

Is your worship about more than Sunday?

When you worship, does what you hear, sing, read and speak make a difference in who you are the rest of the week?

God desires our worship…but more importantly he desires our salvation — That makes worship more than about Sunday!

(S7) —Three ways their worship was only about one day...

Isaiah 1:12 (NIV)

12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?

Trample on — The sacredness of worship had lost its meaning — Holy experience — Presence of God

Ezekiel 34:19 “Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?”

(S8) — Their WORSHIP was UNWORTHY!

It had become empty, ritualistic, critical of how things were being done…It had become about their own selfish desires? Their worship had no value to God or the people around them. They didn’t add to the body for the benefit of the whole...

Ephesians 4:16 “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

Our worship is meant for God, it should be worthy, and be a benefit of those around us.

Carolyn raising her hands...

We all have those Sundays…don’t feel it…pastor doesn’t hit a home run…Our worship should not be a reflection of how we feel —

“It’s a reflection of what we know to be true and what God has promised in his Word. J.D. Greer

Does your worship seem unworthy at times?

Worthy worship is when we open our hearts to the living word of God...

(S9) —

Isaiah 1:13–14 (NIV)

13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings...!

Vain — False — Outside they looked good, but inside they were hurting and carrying the burdens of the world. Their sinful ways may have been hidden… but to God their lives were an open book.

1 Corinthians 4:5 “Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart.”

(S10) —

Their WORSHIP was EMPTY

“It was phony, empty, ritualistic,” because it did not reflect or influence their life every other day of the week.”

It’s easy to come here and look good — But whats more important is what’s really going on, on the inside, that we haven’t yet allowed God to change.

John 4:23-24 “A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.””

Does your worship seem empty at times? True and meaningful worship is when we are honest with God about what needs to change, so that our worship is more than about one day.

(S11) — This is when the court scene get graphic and real…

Isaiah 1:15 (NIV)

When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!

Blood could mean that some of their sins were horrific…I believe it points more to how they were treating others — How their sinful lives were influencing others.

(S12) — Israel’s influence of sin over Judah

Their WORSHIP was stained with GUILT

Ever had a stain you could not get out? It’s always there as a reminder...

SIN…anything that separates us from God — leaves deep stains and can keep us from true worship and from change that effect how we live...

True worship happens when we lay our guilt at the feet of Jesus

1 John 1:9 “9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

(S13) — How were they to overcome the verdict handed down?

Isaiah 1:16–17 (NIV)

16 Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. 17 Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.

Washing was seen as a way of purification — making one right with God. And for those would would STOP…and LEARN to do right…Next week…fruit filled vine

Isaiah I (Chapters 1–35) (King James Version) (A. The Lord’s Indictment of His People, 1:1–31) “Surprisingly, despite the people’s hollow and hypocritical worship, God made the astounding offer of full pardon. The people could be spiritually cleansed from their sin .”

(S14) — Grace was given.

Isaiah 1:18 (NIV)

18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

They were guilty — None of us is innocent here — Yet by God’s grace we only have to receive it and respond — Jesus only the blood he spilled can make is clean again...

How are we to know worthy, true, guilt-free meaningful worship that is about more than one day?

(S15) —

LISTEN to the word of God — It’s truth and warning signs, so that we can turn from what leads us away from a relationship with God.

LEARN what it means to have your heart changed on the inside so that your live will be like worship on the outside

DO what is right…let the fruit of your worship grow in you...

God’s desire for our salvation for worthy, true and guilt-free worship that is more than about one day

What is needed is not just a change of direction, but of the heart.

“The circumcision of the heart is a radical change, an inner transformation, where by faith we receive humility, faith, hope, and love.” Kevin Watson — J.W. sermon, 1733, ‘The Circumcision of the Heart”

Is your worship more than about one day? Jesus is the way to set us free to worship everyday