Isaiah Lesson 34

The Prayer for Guidance and the Hope of Isaiah 26

Welcome, everybody. John, would you open us in a word of prayer?

Father, we do want to come before you with hearts in anticipation, seeking your truth, relying on the power of your Holy Spirit, and rejoicing in the fact that we can even come in gratitude. The prophet Isaiah, looking ahead with visions and insights, speaking about the strong city, salvation, and recognizing that your sovereign will is going to be victorious.

We can look back and understand and see and celebrate, rejoice in the blood shed on the cross and how you have had victory. So now, this morning, as we open your word, as Pastor Jeff takes us into Isaiah chapter 26, we ask for your guidance, in Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. Amen.

Devolution, the Founding Era, and Spiritual Decline in America

So the high point for humanity with regard to mental acuity, ability, is the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve were created in the image of God, they were without any genetic flaw. When sin entered into the world, because of that sin, we see all kinds of genetic abnormalities, and these things then multiply.

So what we have had since the Garden of Eden is not evolution, but devolution, or devolution. Mankind has been devolving from the high point in the Garden of Eden. That's a discouraging thought, isn't it?

That means we should expect more autoimmune diseases, worse teeth. I always tell the story about my kid's dentist, and he goes on and on about how, because of evolution, look how every kid needs braces nowadays.

It wasn't like that growing up. It's because of evolution. I said, well, if teeth are getting worse, wouldn't that mean devolution? And he's always surprised when I say that, like we hadn't had this conversation 10 times already.

I'm sorry if you're listening online. But no, the point is, devolution is actually the case. We see things getting worse and worse. I would argue, this is my theory about the United States of America.

We follow the same pattern as humanity. The high point of the United States of America was 1776. In 1776, now I know, for people who are listening online, they'll say, well, the only thing that can be said about 1776 is that the founders were okay with slavery.

So therefore, there could only be upward progress from there. But that ignores a great deal of US history and understanding that it was not the founding fathers that instituted slavery. In fact, their principles of freedom are what overcame slavery, which was ubiquitous throughout the world.

And a number of things could be said about that particular issue. But my point is really threefold. Number one, the theology of 1776, of the average American, was very God-centered. This is a response to the first great awakening.

The teachings of Jonathan Edwards and Samuel Davies and George Whitefield, up and down the coast, had brought about a revival. And the Presbyterians and the Black Coat Regiment led the revolution out of religious fervor for the principles of the founding of this country.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These things came from a God-centered theology that inalienable rights are given by God, not bestowed on people by government as a God. You see, if you have a high view of God, government is only an instrument in his hands.

It isn't the God that you serve. So the high view of God is the first thing that you see in 1776. A sovereign God is over all things, and that's why the nation is born. Number two, you have a much more moral people.

Morality is a very strong concern to the puritanical mind. People examined their hearts. Now, that doesn't mean that there wasn't a great deal of sin because sinners are always going to sin, but the value in American culture was very moral.

People would duel for honor. Now, I don't recommend dueling, but, and in fact, some of the founding fathers died that way in duels, but honor was so important because morality was so important. So you have a very moral, God-centered people.

So this is descriptive of how the nation was. What else could be said about the nation in 1776,.

Would you guys say?

President Andrew Jackson was the seventh president and said, the Bible is the bedrock on which this republic was founded.

I knew Rich would get it. That was my third one. Biblical knowledge, the primer for a first grade student in the public schools included memorizing 26 Bible verses, public school, and that's where this A to Z Bible memory came from, which I taught my kids when they were in about first grade.

We did an A to Z Bible memory. That was part of public school education. The Westminster Shorter Catechism would be something that an average kid could answer. Now, if you ask, what is the chief end of man?

There are very few Christian adults that would say, to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. There was a higher level of biblical knowledge than what we have today. So from that high point of biblical knowledge, of moral concern, and of God-centered theology, we saw then a slow devolution away from that point.

So by the 1960s, when you have the sexual revolution, that is not coming out of nowhere. That's been a long train of movement away from God-centeredness. The second great awakening in some senses was an awakening because there were people returning to the word of God, but it was also a very man-centered revival.

Charles Finney did not believe in substitutionary atonement. Charles Finney was very man-centered in his thinking, and he was the primary leader of that revival. And what you see is a drifting away from the high point of biblical fidelity and God-centeredness and morality to the point of the sexual revolution in the 60s.

And then from there, for the last 60 years, we've only seen an accelerating devolution in this country. So what would my expectation be moving forward? I am a premillennialist. We are before the millennium.

And before we get to the millennium, the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth, there is going to be a seven-year tribulation, a time of suffering on earth unlike anything the world has seen before, and the world has seen some horrifying times.

This is very distressing. And before the tribulation comes, there will be birth pangs of its coming, signs of its coming. The restraint of man will be gradually lifted until finally at the rapture, the Holy Spirit will be withdrawn from his present ministry.

The church will be taken up to heaven, and that's why we see unrestrained evil during these seven years of tribulation on earth. I'm trying to paint a very bleak picture of what's coming.

You're doing a good job.

Thanks, thanks.

I want to emphasize that dark days will come. And then to say, even though I have a 10-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, and I'm still not, I got gray in my beard, but I still have several, many decades left to live, I hope.

How would I describe my disposition towards the coming distress? Peace like a river.

No fear.

Why?

Well, for one, I know that the church is going up. The rapture of the church before the seven years of tribulation on the earth. And even the birth pangs that we endure are not unlike the suffering that Christians have endured for all time.

Christians have always been called not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him. And the promise is, lo, I am with you always,.

Even to the ends of the earth.

No matter what challenge that we face, when we have Christ, we are to live fearlessly and have perfect peace. So today, where are we in the book of Isaiah? The first 12 chapters are a unit, one to 11 expressing much judgment, but also hopes of a coming Messiah, virgin born, a kingdom of peace, the prince of peace, a son given, the government upon his shoulders, eventually the lion laying down next to the lamb.

All of these promises of Isaiah one to 11 are good promises mixed with much judgment, like the vineyard that didn't bear fruit.

God will judge that vineyard.

We saw all that.

And then in the 12th chapter of Isaiah,.

You have the celebratory song. How can the author, Isaiah, celebrate even though there's judgment coming? Because God is still on his throne.

Peace like a river.

And then you have from chapters 13 through 23, the judgment on the nations. There will be an Assyrian onslaught against the world. It will start in the east and they will crush Babylon, which they did.

And then they will move west and destroy every country in their train. Moab, all of the coastal cities of Tyre, all the way down to Egypt, which will try to make a pact. The land of Ethiopia will try to make a pact with Tyre.

Wherever they go, they will destroy and they will come right up to the neck of Jerusalem. Very bleak description. But if you think that's not bad enough, after you get those localized judgments in the 24th chapter of Isaiah, you get a picture of something worse.

A worldwide judgment, the tribulation. It is a future day of judgment. In chapter 24, verse one, the Lord will empty the earth. This is no longer localized. This is a worldwide, earth-shaking, seven-year period of desolation.

So chapter four could be very depressing, but what did we see last week as John taught us from chapter 25? We saw that subsequent to the seven-year period of tribulation, we have a 1 ,000-year reign of peace on earth.

A glorious picture of the coming millennium. So even though we know that these dark days will come, we know the rock, the fortress that will protect us through it, and then ultimately, in the end, we win.

Amen.

In the end, we see the final chapters of the Bible and we know that we win. So what is 26 about? Well, 26 is this idea that the kingdom of peace, the millennium, is not something that we have to wait for in order to enjoy that peace.

You can enter into that peace even now. That peace is available to all of those who, by revelation, believe in the coming king, who see the big picture of God's word. We can look at the circumstances of this world and be distressed that America has been devolving from biblical fidelity.

When you look at the things that this country now considers normal, since Obergefell in 2015, it's mind-blowing. It is something that the founders of this country would not even have considered, and yet now, it's normal.

Until the year 2016, there were no documented cases, this is according to PragerU, no documented cases of girls believing that they were boys trapped inside a girl's body. Now, there was some of that in the other direction.

Often between maybe ages six, seven years old, little boys would often put on dresses and feel like maybe I'm the wrong gender. This gender dysphoria was not that uncommon, but 99 of those cases would resolve by adolescence.

It was some developmental struggle that little boys had had, but there was no such thing among girls. Why has that become so prevalent today?

Social condition.

It's social media, it's what's happening in the culture around these girls, teaching them to think about things that would not naturally occur to them. It is a morally bankrupt society that would put such a perverse thought in the mind of a little girl.

She would not think that she's a boy trapped inside a girl's body. What a horrifying thought that would be. And yet, this pathetic culture, hateful, mean, intolerant culture would plant ideas like that into little girls' minds.

And it's distressing for Christians to see that because we love people. We love little girls and we want them to prosper and flourish and be who God made them to be. We care about them. And we see the world, this onslaught against them.

So in the circumstantial view, as we look at the world around us, we would throw up our hands, we would despair, and we would probably give up. But Isaiah 26, John, will you read the first four chapters?

According to Isaiah 6, 26, we can have peace like a river, even in the midst of these circumstances because of who God is and the peace that he lends us, which is a token or a first fruit of the coming millennial reign.

26, one to four.

In that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city. He sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks. Open the gates that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts you.

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

Perfect Peace, the Strong City, and the Everlasting Rock

Okay, in that day, what day were we referring to? Contextually, we are foreseeing the millennial reign of the King of Kings. This is the millennial reign of Christ, and this song will be sung during the millennium.

Think about that.

We will be singing a Bible chapter that we're studying now for 1 ,000 years in the coming kingdom. How beautiful. Literally, in the land of Judah. Judah, which now rejects God, sadly, they reject their Messiah, they reject the King, misses this, but there's coming a day for 1 ,000 years, they will be singing this in the land.

However, we can enjoy the fruits of this now. The revelation is given to us and to our children forever that we may do the words of this law. We can sing this now. John, you wanna lead us in? No, I'm just kidding.

We have a strong city. We'll study it, we won't sing it. He sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks. Open the gates that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. We don't see it now, but we can enjoy this next verse.

I would say underline it, star it, memorize it. Isaiah 26 .3. Rich, read this for us.

Isaiah 26 .3. He will keep him in perfect peace. His mind is stayed on thee, for he trusts in thee.

Okay, very important verse. God grants perfect peace to those whose minds are stayed on him.

Why?

Because he trusts in you, in God. This is a beautiful promise. I wrote down a couple more in your notes. Psalm 119 .165. Kristin, would you mind reading that for us? Great peace have those who love your law.

Nothing can make them stumble. What a promise, great peace. This is our portion, peace is our portion.

Beautiful.

Neva, would you mind reading Philippians 4 .4 -7?

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Okay, so now we have some New Testament imperative that teaches us how to live in this peace, right? Well, we're fallen, we're flesh, we're not yet glorified, so we're prone to stumble in the area of our peace like we would in any other area of the fruit of the spirit.

So sometimes we're not gonna feel the peace that belongs to us in our inheritance. Thanks be to God, we have instruction of what to do. By prayer and supplication, it says. With thanksgiving, you get alone with God and you begin to praise Him.

And you thank Him for every blessing that He has bestowed on you, for His faithfulness in the past. And as you pray and remember these things, what's the promise attached to that?

Keep Him in perfect peace.

What does it say in Philippians 4 .7 though, Rich?

Philippians 4 .7, we'll guard your minds in Christ Jesus.

Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses understanding. That means this is more than manufactured by your own brain. You can't just make it happen. This actually passes that. It's a supernatural peace promised to us that as we truly pray, it might not come right away.

Maybe it'd be days of struggle and sometimes we get in ruts. But as we pray and we give thanks, He supernaturally guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus with His peace that surrounds us. John, I'm gonna turn to you for a minute.

Verse four says, trust in the Lord forever for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. This morning you came in and as you do every Wednesday, you open the Word and you say, look at this verse. And you sent me to Psalm 27 .1 and share from Psalm 71 .3 what you shared with me this morning.

Not knowing where we were going here. This is just how the Lord's been leading you in your devotion.

Just a little bit of context because this has been a tough week for me. Various things that have occurred. It just seems like it's been a difficult week in my mind, peace of mind. And I ended up being in Psalm 71 this week, verse three.

Be to me a rock of refuge to which I may continually come. It had three things. One is that in life I need a place of safety. And the second one that God is the only reliable refuge. And the third is that He's always there and always ready.

Drove me to Psalm 27 .1. The Lord is my light and salvation. Whom shall I fear?

Beautiful.

In the Psalms, I believe that phrase, rock, that God is our rock is repeated dozens of times. He is our rock. And we named our church plant, the rock. And cornerstone is a rock.

Why?

He is the fortress that we run into and we're safe. He is the salvation that we stand upon. The rock on which we stand. On Christ, the solid rock, I stand. All other ground shouldn't stand. When the rains come and beat against that house, if it's built on the rock, it stands.

If it's built on sand, it falls and blows away. See, this is the promise that we're seeing here. Verse four, trust in the Lord forever. For the Lord God is an everlasting rock. Nothing to fear. With all the shifting sand of this culture,.

We're built on rock.

Whom have we to fear? So verses five and six, John.

For he has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust. The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.

Okay, so present appearances of the unrighteous prospering will be reversed. You picture the strong cities of this earth. And it looks to me that the more centralized mankind becomes, the more mankind gathers like Babel to build a name for itself, the more sin multiplies in that place.

So one of the founding fathers said, "'Close to the sod and God.'". When you're out in the country and what you see is the beauty of creation, you think about God. When you're in the man-made city, you think about man.

And in the most wicked cities of this earth, New York City, Los Angeles, Manila, Buenos Aires, New Orleans, you see a multiplication of human depravity as people are upon one another, there is the influence of humanity one against another.

So you see more and more wickedness.

In the places of cities.

Built up, but they see it as grandeur. Look at these towers that we've built.

One trade center, look at Liberty, just the glory of New York City.

Washington DC, the splendor of all the buildings. But one of the most wicked places on earth, sadly, many of the leaders today.

And there's righteous warriors.

Who are battling against that. But notice, what does our text say in five and six?

He humbles the inhabitants of the height.

The lofty city, he lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust. The rich man of Lazarus, Luke 16. The rich man had everything in this life. But when God required of him his life, everything you saw from this earth was suddenly reversed.

Lazarus, the beggar, the dogs licked his wounds. Now he is exalted and comforted in Abraham's bosom. But the rich man, who cared nothing about God, is now affixed by a great chasm that cannot be crossed, separated from God for all eternity in a flame of fire.

The great reversal.

Drop of water.

Yeah.

But Abraham said, child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things. And Lazarus and like man are bad things. But now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. Do you see the reversal?

This is the reversal spoken of in Isaiah 26, five and six. It appears that the wicked prosper. So clearly we should have no peace, right?

Let's keep reading.

Verses seven to nine, John.

The path of the righteous is level. You make level the way of the righteous. In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you, your name. And remembrance are the desire of our soul. My soul yearns for you in the night.

My spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

Okay.

What this does not mean is that the Christian, who's walking with God on the straight and narrow path, will face no obstacles. In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.

The person who desires to do the will of God.

Will be persecuted.

So in verse seven, when it says, the path of the righteous is level, it doesn't mean that there won't be obstacles and hills to climb and difficult things along this road. But what it does mean is that when we're walking in obedience, we avoid the unnecessary discipline that comes to the wicked.

In other words, there are different kinds of suffering in this world. There are righteous sufferings that often come because you do right. So Job was the most righteous man on earth, and yet God caused him to suffer almost more than anybody who had ever lived, probably more at that point, until Christ comes, of whom Job is a type.

In this world, there will be struggles, but there is a kind of wound that is self-inflicted. Sin has consequences. Blessed is the man who does not walk.

In the way of the wicked,.

Or stand in the seat of the mockers, or sit amongst the scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. Everything he does, or on his word, he meditates day and night, everything he does prospers.

Not so the wicked. They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment or sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

There is a kind of suffering that comes because of sin. The person who continually injects heroin into his arm will suffer terrible consequences in this life. It's a self-inflicted wound. The person who is lazy will find himself in poverty.

The person who dishonors authorities that God has put in place will rail against every hierarchical structure in the world and beat their head against the wall because God made those structures. They'll curse the police and wind up in jail.

They'll bomb a building. I saw a sad story of some teenagers that got swept up in the BLM movement last summer, and they threw a firebomb into a police car. And now they're facing a couple dozen years in prison.

Their life was ruined by that decision, but it was their folly that put them there. You see, there is a level path of obedience. And very often the sufferings of this life are disciplined from God. Hebrews chapter 12 forms of discipline.

If you will just walk the straight and narrow, you will avoid much needless suffering.

That's the idea here.

The path of the righteous is level. Doesn't mean you won't suffer, but when you do, it's for a different reason. God is bringing you through that. And if he needs to correct you, that discipline is for the Christian as well.

There will be times you'll be corrected. It's a lot better to not sin in the first place than to suffer the consequence of discipline and the pain that goes with that. It sure is a lot easier to just walk in obedience rather than having to be corrected.

So walking, living by the book. This is the level path. And this is the person who's yearning for the Lord at night. He's calling on God. He has a desire for God and learns righteousness. Verses 10 through 11, contrasting again now, there's like a back and forth going here.

You have the righteous in seven to nine and then 10 to 11, the wicked.

If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness, he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the Lord. Oh Lord, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see it.

Let them see your zeal for your people and be ashamed. Let the fire of your adversaries consume them.

What if there's a CEO of a company who hears all of this diversity, equity, inclusion nonsense and says, you know, well, whatever. I'm gonna push it on my company because I know how important it is to a few people.

You know, this 3 activist group that wants everybody else to do what they do. And so appeasing them, what will be the end result of appeasement of the wicked?

Corruption of the organization.

The corruption of the organization. What if Iran is planning to bomb Israel into the sea and a president sends pallets of money to appease the mullahs, not to do it. What is the end result of appeasement?

We're gonna fix it, don't you?

What happens if you pay the ransom to the spyware against the colonial pipeline? If you pay $5 million to get your pipeline back?

Well, only for visually to them.

You fuel their fire.

You fuel the fire.

It was always the policy of the European countries when their ships were sailing across the Barbary coast to pay the sultans and the leaders of the Algiers and all of the pirates of Morocco, the Barbary coast.

But Thomas Jefferson eventually, having seen it with his own eyes, said, no, we'll fight first, enough is enough. And it was America that understood liberty and stopped appeasing the pirates. And we fought a war called the Barbary Wars.

We would no longer appease wickedness. And so American ships then were able to prosper because they didn't have this constant leak on the economy. It's part of American greatness that we didn't appease.

But now we live in a day when appeasement is favored. Look at verse 10 again. If favor is shown to the wicked, what happens when you prosper the wicked? He does not learn righteousness. Isn't that amazing that the Bible speaks to these things?

The founding principles of our country vis-a-vis the ways of the world. This would only corrupt the land. In the land of uprightness, he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the Lord. Verses 12 through 15, please.

Justification by Faith and Christ's Finished Work

Oh Lord, you will ordain peace for us for you have indeed done for us all our works. Oh Lord our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone will we bring to remembrance. They are dead, they will not live.

They are shades, they will not arise. To that end you have visited them with destruction and wiped out all remembrance of them. But you have increased the nation, oh Lord. You have increased the nation.

You are glorified. You have enlarged all the borders of the land.

As the enemy is collapsing in and the borders from the northern territory, the east, the west, the south are shrinking down to Jerusalem in a stranglehold from the Assyrians, Isaiah is seeing the future.

He's seeing God's final victory. Now, verse 12 is crucial for us because the main idea I'm trying to communicate is that we can have peace even in the midst of a corrupt land, right? Verse three said, you keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on you.

Because he trusts in you. Here's the people that trust in the Lord, okay? So that's the ones who gain this peace by faith, trust is a synonym for faith, confidence in God. You're given this peace, okay?

Now, what is, I don't wanna use too many big words,.

What is the basis?

I was gonna say the ontological basis. What is the underlying basis upon which God is just to give peace to those who have faith in him? Look at verse 12. Oh Lord, you will ordain peace for us. Now notice, there is a reason why this peace is given to us now.

Even though we're not yet in the millennium,.

What is that reason?

Part B, John, could you read that again?

For you have indeed done for us all our works.

That's pure gospel. John, totally, would you read for us Romans 5 .1?

What was that?

You have done all our works, is that by Christ in us?

Yeah, that's where I'm gonna go in a minute. But yeah, read Romans 5 .1, I'm gonna connect that to the work of Christ.

Romans 5 .1, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The doctrine of justification by faith. The one who trusts in the Lord is promised this peace, right? Romans 5 .1 says, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, John, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The gospel is summarized in Isaiah 26, verse 12. You have indeed done for us all our works. God can look on John to totally and grant him complete peace, holding no judgment against him, because all the work necessary for John to be counted righteous was accomplished by God himself.

Christ Jesus lived the perfect life that I should have lived, but didn't. His active obedience, his righteousness, his positive righteousness by obeying the law, and his passive obedience in laying down to be my substitute sacrifice, all of that work was done by him.

Rising from the dead, he then justifies those who put faith in Christ. This is the imputation of righteousness. God's righteous work in Christ is imputed to the one who trusts in Christ. And so God is just, because he did punish sin in Christ.

He's just to count you as righteous, because Christ's righteousness is credited to you. God did it all, and it's foretold here in verse 12. You have indeed done for us all our works. Even before Christ came and accomplished that work, it was God who was the salvation of Israel.

They were never faithful in total, but by faith, believing in their God, following Yahweh, he was accomplishing their salvation. He was their rock that they ran into. In type, they would run and drink from the rock in the wilderness.

In faith, drinking from this stream, they didn't know that rock was Christ, and that water was the living water of the Holy Spirit.

In type.

But they looked in faith, and they believed as much revelation as they had been given at that time. So it's God who had been doing all the work.

Beautiful.

So that's the ground. That's the reason why you and I have peace with God. Even now, the millennium's coming, but Romans 5 .1 says, therefore, since we have been justified, it's a finished transaction.

Our faith is credited to us as righteousness.

Why?

Because according to Romans 5 .1, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. According to Isaiah 26, verse 12, you have indeed done for us all our works.

He's done it all.

And so trusting in him results in peace with God. So 16 through 19, John.