10. His watchmen are blind – all of them!
They do not know.
All of them are mute dogs;
they are not able to bark!
delirious, lying around,
loving to sleep.
11. Yet the dogs are violently selfish, they never know satisfaction.
And those shepherds do not know to understand.
All of them have faced toward their own way, each to his profit from his end.
12. “Come, let me get wine and let us get drunk on alcohol,
and tomorrow will be like today, a very large excess!”
57:1. The righteous perished and there was not a man who laid it to heart,
and men of lovingkindness were gathered up without causing understanding.
For it is from the face of evil that the righteous is gathered up.
2. He will go to peace, they will rest upon their beds,
walking his straightforwardness.
3. And as for y’all, draw near,
sons of the fortune-teller,
seed of the adulterer when she played the harlot.
4. Who are you making fun of?
Over whom do you open your mouth wide, do you stick out your tongue?
Is it not y’all who are children of transgression,
seed of liars,
5. those who “get hot” in the oaks – under every green tree,
slaughtering the children in the streambeds under the clefts of the rocks?
6. With the smooth things of the streambed is your portion;
they, they are your rough lot.
Also it was to them you poured out a libation and offered up a grain offering.
Should I be comforted over these things?
7. Upon a high and elevated mountain you placed your bed.
It was also there that you went up to sacrifice a sacrifice.
8. And behind the door and the doorpost you placed your memorial,
for apart from me, you uncovered and you went up.
You enlarged your bed
and got a cut for yourself from them.
You loved their bed; you envisioned a hand.
9. You gazed toward the king with the oil and you made many your perfumes
and you sent your ambassadors unto faraway (places)
and made things as low as the grave.
10. In the extent of your way you became tired.
You did not say, “It is hopeless.”
You found life from your own hand, therefore you did not get sick.
11. And whom did you dread and fear that
you became deceptive and did not remember me?
You did not lay it upon your heart.
Was it not I myself who held peace – and that for an eternity,
yet you do not fear me!
12. I myself will relate your “righteousness,”
and your deeds – even they will not profit you.
13. When you cry out, let your collections deliver you!
A wind will lift – and a breath will carry off – all of them.
But the one who takes refuge in me will possess the land, and he will take over my holy mountain!
Let me start with a story that illustrates Isaiah’s teaching from chapter 57.
Read I Kings 21
· Here we have King Ahab and Queen Jezebel and their civil leaders acting corruptly and greedily.
· In order to get a vineyard, they kill Naboth, a righteous man who wanted to obey God rather than the wicked king.
· And then God pronounces judgment upon Ahab, listing his sins as murder and stealing, expressing His provocation over these offenses, and decreeing that Ahab would be killed like Naboth and that all of Ahab’s descendents would be cut off.
· But the story ends with hope, as Ahab mourns over his sin and finds that God is gracious.
Isaiah’s sermon that we are going to look at beginning at 56:10 follows a very similar pattern. First we see twelve descriptions of the wicked leaders of Judah, then a list of twelve sinful actions of the people, followed by God’s judgment of their sin and the hope of God’s grace.
10. His watchmen are blind – all of them!
They do not know.
All of them are mute dogs;
they are not able to bark!
delirious, lying around,
loving to sleep.
11. Yet the dogs are violently selfish, they never know satisfaction.
And those shepherds do not know to understand.
All of them have faced toward their own way, each to his profit from his end.
12. “Come, let me get wine and let us get drunk on alcohol,
and tomorrow will be like today, a very large excess!”
57:1. The righteous perished and there was not a man who laid it to heart,
and men of lovingkindness were gathered up without causing understanding.
For it is from the face of evil that the righteous is gathered up.
2. He will go to peace, they will rest upon their beds,
walking his straightforwardness.
1. His watchmen are blind – all of them! (v.10.)
a. His = Israel’s – carried over from v.8
b. Leaders are supposed to be watchmen who see dangers ahead of time and warn followers, but these leaders are not able to see.
c. 42:17 “The ones who trust in the idols will be turned backwards and utterly put to shame - those who say to a cast image, ‘You are our god!’ 18. Hear, you deaf, and pay attention, you blind, in order to see.”
d. Jesus called the Pharisees who were supposed to be religious leaders “Blind guides” Mat 23:26 “You blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside… that the outside may become clean also.”
2. Isaiah also calls the leaders “Dogs” in vs. 10-11
a. Dogs have a responsibility to be on the watch for intruders, yet they can be very lazy.
b. Paul picks up on Isaiah’s label when he warned the Philippians about the Jewish leaders who wanted to force circumcision upon Gentiles who believed in Jesus. He said, “Watch out for the dogs, watch out for the evil workmen, watch out for the ones who mutilate 3. For it is we ourselves who are the circumcision who are serving the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh” (Phil 3:2-3)
c. All of us have leadership in some way or another, even if it’s just over a little brother or sister.
i. Don’t be like the leaders of Isaiah’s day and Paul’s day who were not diligent to hear God’s word and apply it accurately.
ii. Instead, be like Habakkuk, who said, “I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; and I will keep watch to see what He [God] will speak to me, and how I may reply when I am reproved.” Then the LORD answered me and said, "Record the vision And inscribe it on tablets…” (2:1-2) God rewarded Habakkuk’s attitude of diligent watchfulness for God’s messages.
3. “All of them are mute; they are not able to bark!” (v.10)
a. Leaders must speak; spiritual leaders must teach God’s word.
b. Failure to do so makes you as useless as a watch dog that doesn’t bark!
c. Leaders must also speak out against sin to warn people.
d. Example of J. Greshem Machen, author of Christianity and Liberalism: he “barked” when he realized the dangers of Liberalism in his church.
4. “delirious” (v.10)
a. Old Jewish scholars translated this “slumbering”
b. Modern Jewish scholars translate this word as “raving”
c. Modern English translations follow the Septuagint with “dreaming”
d. Not only are the leaders unaware to what is actually going on around them, not only are they failing to communicate dangers to their followers, but they are immersed in a dream world with an imaginary set of problems (dare I give global warming as an example?) that do not correspond with reality. They are delirious.
e. Whatever the translation, lexicographers agree that this word is probably a play on words. It’s an unusual word, pronounced “hozeem” but there is another more common word, “chozeem” which means “seers” – in this play on words, the perceptive see-ers have become delirious dreamers.
5. “lying around loving to sleep.” (v.10)
a. lying down is what they love
b. In 57:8, the wicked love their beds
c. but v.6 says that what we should love instead is the name of God!
d. Proverbs 6:9-11 How long will you lie down, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? 10 “A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest”-- 11 Your poverty will come in like a vagabond And your need like an armed man.
e. 1 Thessalonians 5:6-18 so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober... 8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation... 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up one another... 14 We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone... 16 Rejoice always; 17 pray without ceasing; 18 in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
6. “Yet the dogs are violently selfish, they never know satisfaction.” (v.11)
a. This phrase is rendered “greedy” in the AJV and NAS and is found nowhere else in the O.T.
b. Dogs will often eat more than they need and they get fat; they’ll even eat trash that’s no good for them, then they get sick. This is a picture of wickedness. The greedy can never get enough of anything. They always want more!
c. To the righteous, however, God promises satisfaction! (23:18) But that means exercising the self-disicpline of moderation and taking only what is good (55:2) “Listen carefully to me and eat the good, and let your soul delight itself in the richness.”
7. “shepherds do not know to understand.”
a. What caused this inability to understand?
i. Their Sin: 1: 2. …Jehovah has spoken: I have raised children and brought them up. And they, they have rebelled against me. 3. An ox knows his owner and the donkey his master’s barn. Israel does not know; my people do not understand. 4. Oh, nation of sinners, people heavy with iniquity, seed of evildoers, children of destroyers; they have forgotten Jehovah, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backwards.
ii. God’s Judgment: 44: 18. They do not know, and they do not understand, for He has covered their eyes from seeing, their hearts from considering. 19. He does not turn unto his heart, and there is no knowledge and no understanding to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire, and I even baked bread over its coals; I will roast meat and eat. And I shall make its remainder into an abomination; I will worship toward a wooden product!”
b. So how can we understand?
i. By receiving Jesus as our king: 32:1 Look, a king will reign for righteousness... 3 Then the eyes of the seers will not be plastered and hearers’ ears will pay attention, 4 and the heart of the hasty will understand to know…
ii. 43:10. Y’all are my witnesses, declared Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen, in order that you may know and believe in me and understand that I am He… 12. I myself explained and saved and caused to hear…
8. “All of them have faced toward their own way,” (v.11)
a. Ezekiel 34:2-10 …Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? 3 You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock. 4 Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them… 7 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD… surely because My flock has become a prey, My flock has even become food for all the beasts of the field for lack of a shepherd… Behold, I am against the shepherds, and … will deliver My flock from their mouth…
b. 53:6. All we like the flock have strayed, each has faced toward his own way. But Jehovah interposed in Him the iniquity of us all.
9. “each to his profit from his end.” (v.11)
a. Ends with the phrase literally “from his end” variously rendered “from his quarter” (KJV), “one and all” (ESV), “to the last” (NAS) “throughout his border” (Del.) “to the limit” (Young) and even omitted by the NIV. Possibly this is an allusion to the wording of Genesis 19:4 where the people of Sodom are said to have gathered using the same phrase to sodomize the angel guests of Lot and his family.
b. This kind of greedy taking advantage of others is sin which must be rejected. The one who dwells with God is (33:15) “The one who walks righteously and who speaks straight, who rejects profit from oppression, who shakes his hands against holding the bribe…”
10. “Let’s get drunk on alcohol” (12.)
a. This
was characteristic of the leaders; they were drunks.
28:7 …Priest and prophet reel with alcohol; they are swallowed from the
wine…
b. Their party in v.12 is a counterfeit to the wine flight that God offers in 55: 1. Hey, all who thirst, step-forward to the waters - and the ones who have no silver. Step-forward, buy, and eat, and step-forward, buy wine and milk without silver and without price!
c. The satisfying water, wine and milk is the spirit and word of God. In it’s own way, it too is intoxicating. Have you ever done some Bible reading and gotten insanely excited at how wonderful God’s word is and how meaningful it is to you? Forget Coca-Cola; You’ve been enjoying the real thing!
11. “tomorrow will be like today, a very large excess!” (v.12)
a. 22:13b "To eat and to drink, for tomorrow we die!"
b. Uniformitarianism (tomorrow will be just like today) is a deadly worldview. Things haven’t always been the same; God has intervened with judgment, especially in the time of Noah, and He will intervene again in the final judgment.
c. 2 Peter 3:3-7 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." 5 For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, 6 through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. 7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
d. God’s people believe that God intervenes in history to punish sin, so they seek to be right with God through knowing Jesus: 2 Peter 3:17-18 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men… 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ...
12. The righteous perished and there was not a man who laid it to heart (57:1)
a. As Steven, the first Christian martyr, said in Acts 7:52 "Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become”
b. Unrighteous leaders will kill righteous people. But there is hope even for such murders if they will repent!
c. James 5:1-11 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you... 5 You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you. 7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord… behold, the Judge is standing right at the door. 10 As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.
– change to 2nd person plural @ v.3 “And as for y’all draw near”
1. “Sons of the fortune-teller,” (v.3)
a. The fortune-teller is also called a sorceress or conjurer, a soothsayer. The root word has to do with clouds, so she may have been someone people would go to in order to conjure up some rain for their crops.
b. The phrase “sons/children of” could be taken either literally (as in that’s really what their moms did) or figuratively (as in this is the type of character they were).
c. They were not going to God with their problems, they were going to witchdoctors for help.
d. Let us not be children like that! Let us go first in prayer to God before we think of going for help to attorneys or doctors or consultants or counselors or repair-men, or you-name-it!
2. “Seed of the adulterer when she played the harlot.” (v.3)
a. This is the same word for adultery found in the 10 commandments
b. However,
it is used of both physical adultery and the spiritual adultery
of idolatry, as Jeremiah 3:8-9 bears out:
"And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her
away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not
fear; but she went and was a harlot also. Because of the lightness of her
harlotry, she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.” The
stones and sticks of course being idols.
c. Just as we are not to mix in marital relationships with more than one member of the opposite sex, so we are not to mix in other religions with Christianity. Both are called idolatry.
3. Mocking God and His people “Who are you making fun of? Over whom do you open your mouth wide, do you stick out your tongue?” (v.4)
a. When you have a good laugh you open your mouth wide, and when you want to make fun of someone you might stick your tongue out at them.
b. Usually the word is translated “delight” but without any other English word to let the reader know it should have a negative connotation, it is rendered make fun/mock/jest/make sport.
c. Isaiah has already told us what we should positively delight in, using this same verb:
i. 55:2.b “Listen carefully to me and eat the good, and let your soul delight itself in the richness… listen and let your soul live, and let me cut an everlasting covenant for y’all…”
ii. Isaiah 58:14 Then you will take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth…
iii. Psalm 37:3-4 Trust in the LORD and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
4. “Children of transgression/rebellion” (v.4)
a. Transgression means to “step over the line.” God has set boundaries for our behavior, summarized in the 10 commandments, and when we don’t obey those boundaries and step over the line and disobey our parents or tell a lie or wished we had something that was not ours, we’ve stepped over the line and become transgressors and rebels.
b. Thank God that He has made a way in Jesus to restore transgressors! 53:5. “He was being pierced from our rebellion - beaten from our iniquity. Chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes there is healing for us.”
5. “Seed of liars”, (v.4)
a. 9:14. So Jehovah will cause to be cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and plant in one day. 15. The old and the honorable man is the head, and the prophet who causes lies to be taught is the tail. 16. Those who guide this people have been causing them to go astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.
b. 28:15 for y’all said, “We have cut a covenant with death and with Sheol we have made an agreement, so that the overwhelming scourge will pass over; it will not get to us. For we have placed a lie for our refuge, and we are covered through deception.”
c. 59:1-3 Behold, the LORD'S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. 2 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… Your lips have spoken falsehood, Your tongue mutters wickedness.
6. “Slaughtering the children in the streambeds under the clefts of the rocks” (v.5)
a. Faithless
Jews sacrificed children to the pagan god Molech in the valley of
Hinnom
and also to Baal in high places such as the cliffs.
b. We wouldn’t do such a thing today, would we?
i. I personally know a woman who has had her newborn children sacrificed in Satanic rituals.
ii. Perhaps that sounds far-fetched, but the 1.5 million unborn children slaughtered each year in American abortion clinics is not far-fetched.
7. “Also it was to them you poured out a libation and offered up a grain offering.” (v6)
a. In these streambeds were smooth stones which pagans built up as altars. They would then pour offerings of wine and other things over the tops of those stones as offerings to pagan Gods.
b. 65:11-12 "But you who forsake the LORD, Who forget My holy mountain, Who set a table for Fortune, And who fill cups with mixed wine for Destiny, 12 I will destine you for the sword, And all of you will bow down to the slaughter. Because I called, but you did not answer; I spoke, but you did not hear. And you did evil in My sight And chose that in which I did not delight."
c. Psalm 16:4-5 The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied; I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood, nor will I take their names upon my lips. 5 The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You support my lot.
8. “And behind the door and the doorpost you placed your memorial,” (v.8)
a. The doorpost was a place where the defining covenants of the household were posted.
i. The blood of the Passover lamb was put on the doorpost signifying a covenant in which the death of the lamb of God would preserve the life of that house from death. (Ex. 12, Ezek. 45:19)
ii. A slave, if he chose to enter into a lifelong relationship with a master would seal that covenant relationship by having his ear pierced against the doorpost. The spot of blood left on the post would be a reminder for the rest of his life that a covenant relationship had been sealed there.
iii. The law of Moses was to be put on the doorpost (Deut. 6:9, 11:20)
iv. Wisdom stands by the doorpost in Prov. 8:34, calling for listeners. She has built her house with seven posts (9:1) – possibly the seven covenants with Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and the New Covenant??
v. Illustration: at the door to my parents house is a little plaque with Joshua 24:15 etched upon it, “As for me and y house, we will serve the Lord!”
b. Instead of God’s covenant upon their doorposts, the faithless Israelites put the covenantal memorials of other gods.
c. The way we decorate our house is a way of reinforcing what we want to remember. What is the defining covenant of your house? How do you keep it fresh on your mind? Here are some ideas: The word “rememberance/memorial” is used in the O.T. to refer to
i. A place for worship (Josh 4:7 – memorial of crossing Jordan)
ii. A holiday (Ex 12:14, Lev. 23:24 – Passover)
iii. A history book (Ex. 17:14)
iv. Special clothes or jewelry (Ex. 28:12&29, 39:7-ephod, breastplate)
v. Special gifts (Ex. 30:16, Num 31:54)
9. Sexual Immorality:
a. “those who ‘get hot’ in the oaks – under every green tree” (v.5)
i. Sexually immoral pagan rituals were often held amidst a stand of oak or terebinth trees when they were in full leaf.
ii.
Isaiah has already mentioned this in 1:28, and
the practice is also mentioned under a king contemporary to Isaiah:
2Ki 16:2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he
reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the
sight of the LORD his God, as his father
David had done. 3 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and
even made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the
nations whom the LORD had driven out from before the sons of Israel. 4
He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places and on the hills and
under every green tree… 17:9-11 The sons of Israel did things secretly which
were not right against the LORD their
God. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from
watchtower to fortified city. 10 They set for themselves sacred pillars
and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, 11 and there
they burned incense on all the high places… and they did evil things provoking
the LORD.
iii. A doctor I know who works at a clinic at Southern Illinois University once told me, “You would be amazed at the number of diseases I treat which are a result of sexual promiscuity on campus.”
iv. The unrighteous allowed themselves to burn with lust, but lust is a sin, and it is an avoidable sin. You are not a helpless victim of lust; it is not inevitable that you will be always captured by it. Don’t buy the world’s lie that it’s normal and permissible. You can win against it.
b. “Upon a high and elevated mountain you placed your bed.” (v.7)
i.
In. v.7, “bed” and “sacrifice” are parallel. “Bed” can refer to
an altar as well as to a place you sleep, since there are many similarities
between adultery and idolatry.
Ezekiel 23:37 "For they have committed adultery, and blood
is on their hands. Thus they have committed adultery with their idols
and even caused their sons, whom they bore to Me, to pass through the fire to
them as food.
ii. We tent to put the thing we worship in the highest place. Instead of God and His righteousness, they put idolatry and adultery. What does God want up there on the mountain in the highest place?
1. The proclamation of the Gospel (40:9)
2. and His blessings (30:25)
c. “for apart from me, you uncovered and you went up.” (v.8)
i. I believe that the word “uncovered” does not refer to the bed but rather to the person.
ii. Uncovering yourself is an early step in the process of consummating a marriage. A lot of women don’t realize this and they uncover their bodies or wear revealing clothing for the sake of fashion. However, God designed the marriage process to begin with the man showing exclusive attention to the woman in making a marriage covenant, and only then should she uncover herself for him. This leads to consummation in the marriage bed, but that’s not all; God designed these steps to lead into the birth of a child and the birth of a child into the raising of that child to know Him, and on to the proliferation of grandchildren. It is a chain that was designed to be in that certain sequence and no other order, and designed to have every link with no link missing.
iii. Likewise, our covenant relationship with God involves His choosing us, the uncovering of Himself in revelation and the uncovering of ourselves in confession of sin, and that leads to union with Christ which results in evangelism and discipleship of others!
d. “You enlarged your bed and got a cut for yourself from them.” (v.8)
i. When I got married, I exchanged a twin bed for a queen-sized bed in anticipation of a covenantal partnership. On occasion we’ve managed to squeeze a number of kids into that queen-size bed too!
ii. God had commanded His people in 54:2 to enlarge their tents in order to prepare for the Gentiles to be joined to God. Instead God’s people enlarged their beds for unholy unions.
e. “You loved their bed; you envisioned a hand.” (v.8)
i. The end of v. 8 has many interpretations:
1. literally “hand”
2. a euphemism for male parts (most Eng. translations)
3. a beckoning hand (Slotki)
4. a place or location (most Jewish commentators - according to Delitzsch)
5. a hand in marriage or a helping hand (my preference)
ii. Israel was so warped in their understanding of love that instead of loving one husband, they loved many beds!
iii. But don’t we do the same thing spiritually, running after so many things that promise to make us feel good?
iv. Instead, God wants us to love Him and His name (56:6) and also His people (66:10). The previous use of the word “looked” was in 48:6, where the people were exhorted to look to God’s ways.
10. “You gazed toward the king with the oil and you made many your perfumes and you sent your ambassadors unto faraway (places) and made things as low as the grave.” (v.9)
a. Nowhere else in the Bible is this word translated “journeyed/went.” The standard meaning of the word is “looked with a desire to have.”
b. Israel was “coquetting for power” (as Delitzsch put it) by trying to seduce kings.
c. She had sent envoys to Ethiopia in 18:2 and to Assyria in 2 Kings 16:17 to form political alliances apart from trusting God for deliverance.
d. 5:14. Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opened the mouth wide beyond measure, and her glory will go down and her multitude and her noise and the one who exults in her.
e. What do you long for? Israel longed for liasons with foreign kings. As Christians, our longing should be for our King Jesus to return so you can be with Him!
11. Humanism: (v.10)
a. “In… your way...”
i. 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and a man of iniquity his thoughts, and let him turn to Jehovah and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will be great to pardon. 8. For y’all’s thoughts are not my thoughts, and my way is not y’all’s way, declares Jehovah.
b. You did not say, “It is hopeless.”
i. Jeremiah 2:20 "For long ago I broke your yoke And tore off your bonds; But you said, 'I will not serve!' For on every high hill And under every green tree You have lain down as a harlot… 25 "Keep your feet from being unshod And your throat from thirst; But you said, 'It is hopeless! No! For I have loved strangers, And after them I will walk.'
c. “You found life from your own hand (renewed strength), therefore you did not get sick.” (10.)
i. Sin and error can keep us endlessly busy trying to find peace in the wrong directions.
ii. Sin and error can inspire a certain amount of energy and excitement; don’t be fooled, it only drives you deeper into trouble!
iii. Life and strength didn’t come from your hand, it came from God!
iv. Don’t deceive yourself thinking, “I’ll be all right,” if you haven’t surrendered to Jesus” (Frank Barker)
12. And whom did you dread and fear that you became deceptive and did not remember me? You did not lay it upon your heart… yet you do not fear me! (v.11)
a. What causes you to feel anxiety, dread, worry, fear? That could be an idol.
b. Psalms 78:35-38 And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their Redeemer. 36 But they deceived Him with their mouth And lied to Him with their tongue. 37 For their heart was not steadfast toward Him, Nor were they faithful in His covenant. 38 But He, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them; And often He restrained His anger And did not arouse all His wrath.
c. The Israelites had not feared God because God had been quiet for a long time. But, just because He has been quiet and delayed punishment doesn’t mean it’ o.k. to sin more!
d. How do we “lay it to heart?”
i. Remember God
ii. Confess sin rather than trying to lie and cover it up.
iii. They feared bits of wood and stone, they feared people, and even evil spirits, but what are these things compared to God?? Let us fear God, remember Him, and meditate upon Him so that the other things will no longer make us afraid or tell lies!
1. The call:
a. “Draw near” (v.3) – to listen
b. “I myself will relate your ‘righteousness,’” (v.12a) – God will be the judge who decides what is righteous and what it not.
2. The verdict:
a. “your deeds – even they will not profit you.” (v.12b)
i. 1: 31.And the strong will become straw, and his work will become a spark, and both of them will burn together, and there will not be an extinguisher.
ii. God will reveal that their deeds are sham-righteousness. They are filthy rags (64:6)
b. “When you cry out, let your collections deliver you! A wind will lift – and a breath will carry off – all of them.” (v.13a)
i. My boys love to collect things. They have a collection of bottle caps, a collection of stamps, a collection of coins, even a collection of empty Kleenex boxes and empty toilet paper rolls!
ii. 41:29. Behold, they are all a delusion; their works are nothing; their metal images are empty wind.
iii. God delivers (38:6; 50:2); idols don’t (44:17-20, 47:14)
3. The Justification:
a. “Was it not I myself who held peace – and that for an eternity, yet you do not fear me!” (v.11) – They’ve had plenty of time to respond; He has been plenty patient.
b. “Should I be comforted over these things?” (v.6) No I have a right to be upset, just as any husband would have a right to be upset over his wife living with other men!
4. The
Sentence:
“With the smooth things of the streambed is your portion; they, they are
your rough lot.” (v.6)
a. You made your bed, now lie in it.
b. There’s a play on words contrasting the “smooth” stones with the “lot” which has a root meaning of “rough.” The lot was a stone which was used like dice.
c. Children who should have been their portion were slaughtered and had their lifeblood poured out in those valleys.
d. Maybe in modern terms you could say, “In the abortion clinic, in the porn ship is your portion. Should God be any less offended that you paid good money for your fling?”
e. By their actions, they chose stones for their inheritance instead of God!
i. Psalm 16:5 The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You support my lot.
ii. Psalm 142:5 O LORD… You are my refuge, My portion in the land of the living.
5. The Way Out:
a. “But the one who takes refuge in me will possess the land, and he will take over my holy mountain!” (v.13b)
i. 14:32b …Jehovah has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of His people find refuge.
ii. Isa 60:21 "Then all your people will be righteous; They will possess the land forever, The branch of My planting, The work of My hands, That I may be glorified.
iii. Matthew 5:5 "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
b. For it is from the face of evil that the righteous is gathered up. 2. He will go to peace, they will rest upon their beds, walking his straightforwardness.
i. Psalm 4:3-8 know that the LORD has set apart the godly man for Himself; The LORD hears when I call to Him. 4 Tremble, and do not sin; Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. 5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And trust in the LORD. 6 Many are saying, "Who will show us any good?" Lift up the light of Your countenance upon us, O LORD! 7 You have put gladness in my heart, More than when their grain and new wine abound. 8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For You alone, O LORD, make me to dwell in safety.
ii. Psalm 149:3-5 …Let them sing praises to Him with timbrel and lyre. 4 For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation. 5 Let the godly ones exult in glory; Let them sing for joy on their beds.
iii. There’s rest in life and there’s rest in death:
iv. At first blush it seems a tragedy for righteous Naboth to have been murdered by Jezebel’s henchmen, but really, it was a blessing for Naboth to go to heaven and be lifted out of a terrible situation living next door to Israel’s most wicked king! Suddenly he knew peace like he’d never known on earth!
v. Paul wrote in Philippians 1:23 that “to be with Christ is much better”
vi. Calvin: “It frequently happens that God takes good men out of this world when He intends to punish severely the iniquities of the ungodly, for the Lord, having a peculiar regard for His own people takes compassion upon them… and yet this is not an invariable rule, for righteous men are frequently involved along with the reprobate in temporal punishments.”
vii. Illustration of Ollie Gilbert from funeral preparation letter to Frank Barker and Ken Wilson. Are you ready to Go?
A) If you have done any of the evil things listed among the sins of the leaders or of the people, it is right and fitting for you to be shaking in your boots.
B) No one is righteous, we have all transgressed God’s law and deserve to be left in our filth without hope.
C) How do we get that righteousness so that we can find peace and inherit heaven?
1. Not earned righteousness, but imputed and responsive righteousness.
2. “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6)
3. When we take refuge in God, placing out trust in Him to save us from our sins and forgive us through the salvation He worked out for us in Jesus on the cross, we are called “righteous”
4. As God’s righteous people, we respond in straightforward obedience to God’s commands in His word, turning away from all the sins listed above – the selfishness, the adultery, the blasphemy, the lying, the lust, the reliance on human strength, the idolatry.
5. This is the way out of the horrors of Covenant unfaithfulness.
Nate Wilson’s website – Isaiah Sermon Expositions
Christ the Redeemer Church website - Sermons