Isaiah Lesson 4

I want to say good afternoon officially because it's now 12 o 'clock and we will start. I appreciate everybody being here this morning. I'm going to embarrass my friends Bob and Neva. They came all the way from Ocean City, New Jersey.

Actually, they came from Collingswood, but welcome. Isaiah chapter one. God willing, we're going to get through chapter one today. Chapter one has an amount of information that sets the foundation for the nation of Israel.

The Indictment Against Judah’s Empty Worship

Now we're talking about the nation of Judah. It has not shown respect to God. In fact, last week we were in chapter one verses 10 to 15. I want to just highlight a couple of the proclamations that God had to make against the nation, starting out in verse 10 of chapter one.

He takes this people who would have understood themselves to be the chosen people of God, to be the people that received his law, to be the people that had the promises, had all of the sacrifices, had the priests.

Instead of calling them my children or my chosen ones, he calls them Sodom and Gomorrah. We talked about the severe indictment that that would have meant against the people. He goes then on to explain what the problem is.

In verse 11, he says, what is the multitude of these sacrifices? If you go back into their history, as they were in the wilderness and as they were receiving the instructions from God, these are the sacrifices that they were told to do.

The problem was they were doing it without any heart. That was all a ritual. It was all external. He says, what is this? Then he says in verse 13, you know what, just stop. Don't bring me any more of your vain offerings, because what they were doing was promoting themselves.

What they were doing was perhaps trying to look good, be good, but they weren't good because their heart wasn't there. Eventually, he says, even when you pray, even when you spread your hands out, I'm not going to listen.

We had some discussion last week. We were looking at scripture last week where God actually said, I've spoken to you and you haven't listened to me. John Detoli had a really good observation. He says, now if you want to talk to me, write back at you.

Their attitude towards wasn't there to the point where their prayers weren't even going to be listened to. Then he closes off that section in verse 15 by saying, you are a people whose hands are full of blood.

I want to use that as a transition to our talk this morning. I think that there are two ways to look at that concept, that your hands are full of blood. One of them is the sacrifices that you have been performing.

These bulls, these lambs that you have been slaughtering at the altar, they've done nothing more than coat your hands. They haven't come to me because there's no sweet aroma to them. They're not offerings, they're slaughterings.

The reality that just because you do things doesn't mean that they're pleasing to God. They, in fact, be indictments against you. So, their hands are full of blood. But the other way to look at it, and as we get now into this next section, is that they, in fact, are positionally unclean.

They may be ceremonially unclean. As a people filled with sin, as a people who don't turn to God, they are in that way unclean. And we can get that as we get into the next, because he's going to say, wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, cease from doing evil, and turn to do good.

So, I think both are legitimate applications. But what he's going to do after this section in 10 to 15, it's almost a courtroom scene and the indictments are laid down. Now he's going to give them, what can we do about this?

We'll look at that in the next several verses. But then again, he's going to turn towards the end of this chapter, and he's going to revisit his dissatisfaction with the city of Jerusalem, and eventually mention that the city is under trial.

That will lead us then into the book as we go forward. So, I'm going to ask Pastor Jeff, would you give us a prayer,.

Please? Father, open our eyes to see wonderful things in your word. Lord, we have hidden your word in our hearts that we might not sin against you. Lord, your word is a light into our path and a lamp into our feet.

Lord, we need your word and we ask right now that it would minister to our hearts and change us from the inside out. We love you and praise you and ask for this blessing.

In Jesus' name. Amen. We're not going to actually read all of the verses on my sheet. We'll talk to bunches of them, but Ralph, I'm going to ask if you'd have Jeremiah 3 ready. And Bob, if you get my drift here on the page, you see there's a Proverbs 28 passage, if you'd have that ready.

Genesis 31, a little bit further down, Neva, Gus, if you would have Ezekiel 36 ready. Jeff, you're my Isaiah person, you already knew that. Why don't you give us 16 to 18 for starters?

Okay. Isaiah chapter 1, verses 16 to 18. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good. Seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.

We're going to fill in some.

Blanks so that we're on the same page. We're seeing what's actually written here. It's a good thing to actually get into it, find out the words. Wash yourselves and make yourselves what? Clean. All right.

And then you're going to cease to do and learn to do. All right. You guys are on a roll here. You should be seeking after, thank you. And you should be correcting oppression. And then we're going to bring justice to the fatherless and we're going to plead the widow's cause.

It's a whole change of approach, of attitude. He's got a whole series of things to talk to them about. But at the very beginning, he says, wash yourself and make yourself clean. What is the behavioral root issue that he wants from the nation, from his people?

Say again. They've turned to iniquity. And so what does he want from them? He wants holiness. He wants repentance. Thank you. These words are actually in the imperative mode. There are observations when scripture turns to the imperative mode.

What are some of the realities when it's the imperative mode in scripture? Okay. It's a command. Great answer. And what's the implication of it being a command? And that's a command in the imperative.

Be ye holy. Thank you. It's expected that we obey. Do you pick up on the importance of that? There is action. There is responsibility on the part of the people to actually step up and do what this imperative has.

He's going to say, wash yourself and make yourself clean. Why are those so important to God? Thank you. God's character is holy. He wants them to represent him. Keep going. What's the opposite of accepting this obligation to wash yourself and make yourself clean?

What happens if you don't wash yourself and you don't make yourself clean? I come home from an afternoon on the baseball field and it's been hot. And Sandy really wants me to take a shower. Hey, I'm clean.

I'm unacceptable. These are the right answers. There is something that's residual. Wash those calls away from you. Louise is going, I know exactly what he's talking about. Jeremiah three. You got that Ralph?

Jeremiah three, 12 and 13. Go proclaim this message.

Towards the north. Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord. I will frown on you no longer for I am merciful, declares the Lord. I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt. You have rebelled against the Lord your God.

You have scattered your favors to the foreign gods under every spreading tree and have not obeyed me, declares the Lord.

Summarize what that's telling me, if you could. Sure. He's saying because they were.

Faithless, he is telling them that he will forgive them if they break their ship.

That's very well said. The reality is Israel sins. That's the reality. There's no way around it. I was talking with Pastor Jeff before you all came here. Right now, God has me reading this passage and studying this passage in Isaiah.

Sunday, I'll have the chance to take the pulpit. I'm talking out of Joshua 7. My quiet times are in the Psalms, verses 37 to 38. The common theme behind all of these is sin. It's like, all right, God, why are you giving me this?

The reality is that I am a guilty sinner. We all are a guilty sinner. It can be very easy to go into these passages and seeing the extent to which Israel has gone and turned away and to say, why are they doing that?

When the real question could be, why am I doing the same? He says, in what Ralph just said, some of the thoughts, return, O faithless. Return means you were and turn away from that back towards, turn away from the faithlessness, turn towards him.

He says, I am a gracious God. If you do that, acknowledge your iniquity before me. Our relationship will be restored. He is telling them cease from doing evil, learn to do good. I found that turn of a phrase to be somewhat odd.

Learn to do good. I mean, haven't they had God all of this time? What do they have to learn? Thank you. Don't they already know his ways? They've gotten somewhere along the line. That's really well said.

That's a great passage. I'm glad you bring that up. See, what we need to do is unlearn the habits, the tendencies, the extensive, but we've been willing to totally sacrifice, and we need to relearn. I would almost have used the word relearn to do good.

Hopefully in their heritage, there has been teaching. Maybe by now there hasn't, but you're absolutely right. We need to be seeking as the creation that he's made. Proverbs 28. When sin is in our life, according to what Bob just read, there are two approaches that we take when sin is in our life.

What are they? Thank you. There's actually another word in that passage. Start that verse again, if you would. Conceals the sin. It's bad enough to embrace them and to do them, but the implication of concealing the sin introduces the thought that, okay, you actually know it's not right, but you're willing to hold on to it.

The only way you can hold on to it is by concealing it. Oh, by the way, a little tease. We're going to be talking about Achan on Sunday. We know what he did with the booty he took out of Jericho. That's a little tease for Sunday.

Ezra 10 is going to tell the people, confess your sins, turn away from these evil wives. While it's the evil wives, it's representative of all of these things that they've done. Now we get down to the end of this passage that Jeff read, and we're told to seek justice, correct oppression.

We're told to bring justice to the fatherless and to plead the widow's cause. Why are those important enough to be listed in this section? What do they represent? Grace. That's a good answer. You are being given a direction to act in this way, to act showing grace to those who need grace.

What is the implication of you being able to do those actions? Because Christ lives in you. Thank you. That is excellent. James 2 .17 is going to say, faith without works is dead. If I want your heart, by the way, that's what God is always saying, I want your heart.

But this heart should be changing who you are into what I want you to be. So much so that the grace is given out and you're doing these things for the other people, the external evidence of what change I need you to have inside.

Thank you. They're always here. The use of these terms, these are the needs, the social needs, these are the fatherless. We are supposed to have a heart. By the way, that heart can be exhibited by those without Christ for a time.

It really can. And it is. But we as believers, with the Holy Spirit living, how much more so should this be our nature and what we do? Verse 18, give me that please. Is it 18? Yes. Yes.

Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

There's a little word in there that caught me off guard because I'm thinking, come let us reason together. If you hear the phrase, come let us reason together, what images come to your mind? Ah, equals.

Discussion. Point and counterpoint. That's not what's there. If you look below where I have my question, I have a little bit of jots and tittles there. It's a Hebrew word there. The root of the word in reason there is yaka.

Come let us reason together. Genesis 31. I think, Neva, I think I gave that to you. Where she's reading is, Jacob is in the land attempting to bring a wife home. Laban, the father of Rachel and Leah. And Laban keeps changing the game field on him.

And once again, this has happened. And so Jacob is arguing, pleading the case. And at the end of it, he said, God has seen my affliction and his judgment is rendered. That's yaka. That's yaka. If you go to 2 Samuel 7, there's a discussion about when iniquity is committed, I will correct him.

That's yaka. In its root, yaka is more of an indication of hearing God's proclamation, not presenting mine. And the word reason here can lead you to meeting with an equal, presenting both sides of the argument.

And that's not what it really means. Let's hear the reason. Let's hear the reason from God is really what it's saying. Job 13, he talks about, I desired to argue with God. And we know that that's not where Job is.

Job is all about hearing God, hearing God's truth so that it can have impact. That's what's going on here in his passage in Isaiah. Let us reason together. Let's hear God's reason together. Though your sins are red as scarlet, they shall become like wool.

What is true about sin when it's in your life? Yeah, I'm sorry. It's ugly. Thank you. It's a stain. John, excellent. It's a stain. Your sins are red as scarlet. These sins that are in your life are staining you.

They're anathema. They're ugly. But the very fact that you're sinning stains your life. It spreads across your life. Thank you. It's a nice grace. That's an excellent, excellent point. I'll do this again.

I'll try to do it very briefly. If I had a glass in front of me, some of you have heard me do this before. If I had a glass in front of me and somewhere from here below was water, and I asked you, how full is that glass?

What would you say? You guys know this because I already told you. How full is that glass? The answer is full. On the top is air, on the bottom is liquid. The metaphor would be, this top part represents the Holy Spirit acting in my life, and this part in the bottom with the liquid represents those things that I'm not willing to let go of.

So you drink some of the water and there's more room for the Holy Spirit. You confess your sins. You cannot compartmentalize sin. Sin in your life is not stowed away in one little aspect of your life.

It is like scarlet. It is a stain and it impacts you. But here's the beauty of what this passage says. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. There is a solution. The promise that's given is a resolution of this stain, of this stigma that's in you.

Cleansing, Repentance, and the Promise of White as Snow

Ezekiel 36. Gus, do you have that? Please. There is so much power in that passage that Gus just read. There's so much power in this little transition here in Isaiah where the court has met, the indictments are there, and the people are found guilty.

I'm found guilty. Then there's the proclamation that you're as Sodom and Gomorrah, that you're evil, you're in need of cleansing. But then there's this promise that there is a way. There is a way for those sins to be turned white as snow.

The question is, how can that happen? How can my sins be turned white as snow? So this is a Sunday school class. Whenever there's a question in Sunday school class, what's the best answer? Jesus. God.

Absolutely. How can my sins be made white as snow, God? The blood of Jesus. By the way, there are not enough sacrifices that you can make to cleanse the stain of sin. In fact, if that's all you're doing, the Lord is going to say, I've had enough of your vain offerings.

I've had enough of it. But there is a way. But there is a way. Now, knowing that there is a way, give me verses 19 and 20, please.

If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

What are the options? What are the consequences? There's two options, two outcomes. Absolutely. This is binary. If you understand binary, it's this or this. There's no middle road. There's no saying, I'll get around to it.

I'm okay. I'm better than the other guy. Relative righteousness. There is none of that. And if you get into scripture, it is very clear. And it is willing and you're obedient. I've got blessings for you.

But if you are not, it's just going to be cursings. That's just the way it is. And that passage ends up with, for the Lord has spoken. And I love it when you see that little passage, that little phrase at the end of a teaching, at the end of something, for the Lord has spoken.

This is powerful stuff. This is reality. Now he's going to turn back to Jerusalem and he's got some tough things to say about the city. He's not done with them yet. 21 to 23, please. Leviticus 17. Rich, if you want to get that ready, please.

Ezekiel 22. Dave, Louise, you got Proverbs 25. Maya, we'll see if we have time for all of these. Judges 5. John, the totally. And Bob, if you would get Ezekiel 21. We'll see if we have.

Time for all of these or not, but give me 21 to 23, please. Isaiah 1, 21 to 23. How the faithful city has become a whore. She who was full of justice, righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water.

Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless and the widow's cause does not come to them. We're going to start out with the city.

Itself, and he calls the city initially the faithful city, but then he says they've become what? A whore. Now, earlier on, he talked about the people being Sodom, Gomorrah, and now he uses the phrase whore.

Leviticus 17. Rich, you've got that? Please. In scripture, very, very often, I don't know if it's completely, but the idea of playing the harlot, when you're talking in scripture, talks about succumbing to the temptation of idolatry in one form or another.

If you're in Leviticus 20, he says he opposes those who turn to mediums, playing the harlot. Isaiah 1, the prophet is told, go take a wife of harlotry. The city has gone to idolatry. While so many of the indictments against the people, being Sodom, Gomorrah, being unfaithful, having a bad heart, there's a very strong focus on here when he calls them harlots.

What's that focus? What have they actually gone down into? Idolatry. It's, idolatry is a tough one because we do it now. It can be as silly as idolizing a football team, and that's your religion. It can be as significant as idolizing your position in power in your work or idolizing your prowess as an athlete.

There are things that, but I don't think anybody wakes up one day from having solid faith and a solid understanding and says, I think I'm going to become an idolater today. It does. You start losing your faith.

You don't notice. You can become numb. You can even become numb to things that should, would have been abhorrent to you. I will confess, Sandy and I watch TV once in a while. Probably that's enough of a confession right there.

We've noticed that one of the channels that we've watched is Lifetime. Over the years, Lifetime has been a safe channel to watch. They're starting to advertise the coming Christmas season and the new Christmas shows that are out there, which have always been a source of enjoyment to watch them.

Are they scripturally based? No, but they're enjoyable. Except that Lifetime is now, in every single one of their commercials, having a boy-on-boy. Well, in their case, it's always a boy-on-boy. They actually come out and they say, in the time of Christmas, we celebrate boy meets girl.

We celebrate boy meets boy. The intent there is to slowly get you numb to the abhorrence of sin and to allow things to creep in. Nancy mentioned that idolatry comes by very slowly, very subtly. The adversary is going to not shock you.

He's going to bring you there. Give me some thoughts. It's a great point.

Well, we've removed God from the schools. We've changed history. We've tried to alter facts, to play to a narrative that is, quite frankly, in my opinion, the antithesis of the foundation of this country.

We're saying that on a daily basis.

Unfortunately, there are far too many pulpits that don't preach the solid truth of what scripture has. They preach to what could be called the least common denominator. I don't want to offend anybody.

If they're sitting in the pews, this is a good thing. They're hearing the word tickling the ears. He's going to go on and he's going to say, the faithful city has become a whore. You've replaced justice and righteous by murderers.

He then says that your silver and your wine, I'll fill it in for you, your silver and your wine have become dross and dilution. How has the city changed? Your wine, your silver have become diluted and have become dross.

What has happened to the city? You're reading my notes.

But as you keep dropping this black ink into that water, soon that water becomes like the black ink. And that's how the city envelops our life, that we don't purify ourselves.

Great point, a great point. If you were to take that glass of water and you were to put a tincture of black ink in it and it would separate, there's nothing you can do to undo that. And that's a great picture of what it is.

If your life has become diluted or has become contaminated, what's the only way that that can be resolved? Okay, Sunday school question, what's the only way that could be resolved? Jesus, God, you need to rely on him.

Psalm 119 is going to equate dross with wickedness. I'm sorry, Ezekiel, I'll just talk to it. Psalm 2218, it's going to proclaim that your dross has just come before me. Proverbs 25, who's got that? Louise, please.

To become a vessel worthy of him, to become a vessel of use for him, to become a people, a city, their dross has to be removed. Now, in reality, if we go into here, we did say back in here that there were imperatives, but I'm also saying that it's God.

There is a role that we have to play in submitting to the righteousness, the sovereignty, and the cleansing hand of God. But if we choose to turn away from that, the sovereignty, the cleansing hand of God, your sin is there.

Your sin is there. You need to turn to God to make this happen, but you can't just sit back and wait for it to happen. This is something that's indicated that we need to do. He's going to talk about the princes have become rebels, enablers of thieves.

Thank you for that. I'm going to place this in different avenue venues, if you would. The leaders of the city, perhaps our politicians, our kings, or whatever, but you can also place that into a church setting.

I don't think it's too far of a stretch to say that those who are the leaders in a spiritual realm, if they go astray, what happens when the leaders go astray? Those who are in a position of authority, there's a certain level of responsibility and accountability that goes with it.

I know Jeff would say the same thing as I do. If ever something that's coming out of a lesson or something just doesn't feel right, we want to hear from you because we're accountable to rightly proclaim the Word of God.

Judges 5, again, I apologize. I'm just going to talk to it. I recognize the time. The judges are established by God, and their position is established by God, and they're expected to act righteously in the way they do.

If you looked at these two verses, you're talking about a judge who acts righteously is immediately followed by a song of praise, worship, and adoration, and right relationship with God. There's a cause and effect.

The righteousness leads to a right relationship with God. But Ezekiel 21 is going to talk about the time of rebellion against the Lord, what happens when the princes and the judges are acting evilly. He is talking up here about the city of Jerusalem, and he is talking about the fact that they have become a whore.

They succumbed now to idolatry. He's talking about the fact that their silver is now contaminated by dross. It's no longer pure. Their wine has become diluted, and the power and the strength of that wine to be what it is is now diminished because of the presence of sin.

The princes have even become enablers of those who are doing wrong. So there is no justice. There's no help for those. Nancy?

Jerusalem was chosen by God.

Jerusalem is in the Old Testament. It is the site of the temple. It is the site of worship. In fact, the Northern Kingdom was given some rebuke because they chose to set up their own sites of worship.

Instead of following the prescription of God, you are to come here to worship. Jeff, I'm going to start this. I'm going to let you finish this, if you would, because I know this is the strength of yours.

The new covenant in my blood, Israel has not gone away. Israel is still under the covenantal promise and always will be. But at this point in time, John 15, the branch has actually had pruning and regrafting.

The Gentiles are now part of God's presence here on earth. Jerusalem has a promise of a future. Do you want to talk to this?

Yes. God's promises are never void. He still holds to those promises. If you read Zechariah 14, you see that when Christ returns, He sets His foot on the Mount of Olives and He sets up camp there. Then a little bit later in that same chapter, verse 14, I think it is, He's King not only of Jerusalem, but of the whole world.

That's a good point. For the people, we're now going to see the conclusion of the trial. 24 to 31 is a long passage. Go ahead and read it, please.

Therefore, the Lord declares, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel, ah, I will get relief from my enemies and avenge myself on my foes.

Stop right there. You had to almost take a breath. God is saying, I've had enough. I'm going to get relief on my enemies. I'm going to take vengeance on my foes. Who's He talking about? Who would the people in Israel think He was talking about?

I'm sorry? Well, okay. We're talking about the Jews. They've been under siege. They now have the Assyrians. We have all this going on, and we have God saying, all right, I've had enough. I am going to get relief from my enemies, and I am going to avenge myself of my foes.

Who do the people think are the enemies of God? Probably so. Probably so. It can't be me. It's got to be somebody else. Yes. Yes. Huh? Go, God. Thank you. Yeah, that's a good. Now go ahead and continue.

I will turn my hand against you. Oops. All right, keep going. And will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy. And I will restore your judges as at the first and your counselors as at the beginning.

Afterward, you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed by justice and those in her who repent by righteousness. But rebels and sinners shall be broken together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.

For they shall be ashamed of the oaks that you desired, and you shall blush for the gardens that you have chosen. For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers and like a garden without water. And the strong shall become tender and his work a spark, and both of them shall burn together with none to quench them.

The Coming Purification and Restoration of Zion

There is a pivot in this, and it's in.

The last half of verse 26. I'm going to get my vengeance on my foes. I've had enough of it. I'm going to, by the way, turn my hand against you, O Jerusalem. And then at the end of 26, it says, afterward, you shall be called the city of righteousness and the faithful.

This is after Christ. So my question is, when does this come fulfilled? It's a good question. What do you guys think? Is it being fulfilled as we speak? Yes, we are. Yes, we are. This is a promise that cannot be fulfilled until the Lord returns and sets his foot on the Mount of Olives, which, by the way, that's where he left from.

Why are you looking up into the heavens? This same Lord, he will return in the same way that he is coming right back down to the Mount of Olives. And at that point in time, he will establish his kingdom.

And at that time, the city will be called the righteous and the faithful city once again. All right, I've got one minute beyond. There are concerns. There's been a trial, but there are promises. And we're going to continue on as we go into Isaiah.

I'm going to turn the camera off. We're going to stay, we're just going to turn the camera off. We can stay and talk and bring up conversation, whatever's on your mind.