WWUTT 2149 Repentant to God from the Heart (Isaiah 58:1-14)

A person who loves God will desire His righteous judgments.

They find pleasure in the nearness of God, so that they may repent of their sin and do what delights the

Lord when we understand the text. This is

When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature

New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.

Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Isaiah, last week we were in chapter 57, and we heard about how

God will draw near to Himself not only His people Israel, but even people from among the nations

He will redeem. He will create praise on their lips. He will give peace to him who is far and to him who is near, but there is no peace for the wicked.

That's the way we ended that chapter. Here we come into chapter 58, and God is going to confront the hypocrites.

So those who say they love God, those who say that they desire the nearness of God and want to see

His judgments, but how do they truly behave? Have they turned from their wickedness and loved righteousness?

Or do they say one thing and then do another? So as we've had this warning at the end of chapter 57, there is no peace for the wicked.

So God is going to call those who say they love righteousness to turn from their wicked ways.

Here we are in Isaiah 58. I'm going to begin by reading all 14 verses out of the

Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. Call out from your throat, do not hold back.

Raise your voice like a trumpet and declare to my people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.

Yet they seek me day by day and find pleasure in knowing my ways.

As a nation that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the judgment of God, they ask me for righteous judgments.

They find pleasure in the nearness of God. Why have we fasted and you do not see?

Why have we afflicted our souls and you do not know? Behold on the day of your fast, you find your desire and oppress all your workers.

Behold you fast for contention and quarreling and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.

Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to afflict himself?

Is it for bowing one's head like a reed and for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed?

Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to Yahweh? Is this not the fast which

I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to release the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke?

Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the afflicted homeless into the house when you see the naked, you cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Then your light will break out like the dawn, and your recovery will speedily spring forth, and your righteousness will go before you.

The glory of Yahweh will be your rear guard. Then you will call and Yahweh will answer.

You will cry, and He will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, and if you offer your soul to the hungry and satisfy the soul of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness, and your thick darkness will become like midday.

And Yahweh will continually guide you, and satisfy your soul in scorched places, and fortify your bones, and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

Those from among you will rebuild the ancient waste places. You will raise up the foundations of past generation upon generation, and you will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the paths for one to inhabit."

Now, I'm going to stop there for now. That was the first 12 verses. We've got two more to go. I'll save that for the very end, verses 13 and 14.

But the way that this chapter breaks up, we first have verses 1 and 2, where God says that My people love the nearness of God, and they do not forsake the judgment of their

God. So as God is going to speak to them then, in verses 3 through 12, if they are truly

His people and they desire the nearness of God, then they will delight in having their transgressions pointed out to them so that they may repent of them and genuinely worship

God from the heart with a genuine fast. Not a fast that is just the outward appearance of fasting, but genuinely from the heart.

They desire God and desire to help and love one another.

Then finally, what we're going to see in verses 13 and 14, if once again, these people that have drawn near to God delight in His nearness, then they will also delight in His day, in keeping the

Sabbath, that day of rest, so that they may abstain from those things that the flesh or the world may desire and express how much they love the things that God desires.

That's how we'll conclude there, looking at those last two verses. So let's come once again to verses 1 and 2, where the

Lord says, Yahweh speaking here, call out from your throat, do not hold back, raise your voice like a trumpet, and declare to my people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.

Once again, if these are people that truly desire the righteousness of God, then showing them their sinfulness and what it is that they have done, they will be convicted of heart and they will desire to repent of those sins and do what

God has declared as righteous. And when we hear the gospel, this is an important step in sharing the gospel with somebody, showing a person their sinfulness and that what they deserve for their sin is death.

They deserve to be destroyed. As Romans 6 .23 says, all have sinned, well, no,

I'm quoting Romans 3 .23, 6 .23 for the wages of sin is death. There we go. And the rest of that verse, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our

Lord. And so we come to understand our sin. And of course,

Romans 3 .23, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and that what we deserve for our sin is death.

And so hearing this, if the heart is convicted and desires to know

God, then the gospel will be good news because then through the gospel, we hear there's salvation for our sins.

There is one who paid the price for us, and that is Jesus Christ, the righteous one. So first of all, we hear about our sin and need for a savior.

Verse two, they seek me day by day and find pleasure in knowing my ways as a nation that has done righteousness and is not forsaken the judgments of their

God. They ask me for righteous judgments. They find pleasure in the nearness of God.

So this is the setup. If this if these are the people that have been drawn near, as God had talked about back in chapter 57, whether they are from the house of Israel or those that will that God will gather from the nations, though he says the house of Jacob, right, he says that in verse one, declare to my people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.

But my people would be, as said in chapter 57, those who are far and those who are near those who are far, the

Gentiles, those who are near are the Jews. And these are the ones that God is drawn near to himself.

Romans 1 16. I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe to the

Jew first and also to the Greek, to the Gentile. So here it's being said that that God's people are from among the nations as well as from the people of Israel.

Now, if they are a nation that desire the righteousness of God, they want to be near God.

They find pleasure in his nearness. Then they will listen when God points out to them their transgressions according to his law, that they have broken his law so that they may repent of those things and desire to do the right thing.

That which God has said is right. Not showing on the outside these works of righteousness, but then from the heart they're still far from God, but they genuinely from the heart love

God and desire to worship him the way that he has said he is to be worshiped.

So verse three, why have we fasted and you do not see? Why have we afflicted our souls and you do not know?

So this is as if the cry is going out from God's people. We fasted like we've said that we're sorry, but it still feels like you don't see.

We have afflicted ourselves and yet we don't feel like yet you've forgiven us of our transgressions.

That's essentially the call of the people that's being said here. And so God points out to them that your apology, so to speak, your repentance is not genuine.

You've done these things externally. You've done a fast, but it's not been from your heart.

It just looks like you're fasting, but you've not really put away from yourself those things that you truly need to put away from yourself.

And that's not food. It's the fasting is not just so you would feel hunger pains.

Fasting is to remind you of those appetites that you should be giving up that you may fully desire

God and be satisfied in him. So that's what God is pointing out to them.

Yes, you fasted, but it's not the kind of fast that I would expect from you. Now fasting is not really laid out in the law of God.

Fasting was something that one would do by their own freewill offering to God. There weren't laws laid down for you must fast.

It must be here and it must be done like this, except for around the day of atonement or something to that effect.

But, but generally fasting was a person that one decided to do as an act of worship on their own.

Now, again, when we get to the end of chapter 58 here, we do have something said about a command that is given in the law, and that's the keeping of the

Sabbath. So if you truly love God, you will keep his law from your heart, not just doing these things externally, but from your heart, you desire what

God desires. And through fasting, that should be teaching you to desire me.

But is it showing, are you demonstrating a consistency in your life with regard to your fast?

So we continue on here. The rest of verse three, behold, on the day of your fast, you find your desire and oppress all your workers.

So you say that you're fasting for me, that you want my attention. You're afflicting yourself so that you show your humility before God.

But are you really all that humble when you turn around and you oppress your brethren? Verse four, behold, you fast for contention and quarreling and to strike with a wicked fist.

You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high. What seems to be demonstrated here is that when you fast, it just makes you grumpy and you strive with one another.

So it's not hunger pains that cause you to yearn for God. It's, it's hunger pains that just make you miserable and you're, and you're lashing out at each other instead of lifting your voice on high, which is, which is what should happen.

You feel these pains, you are afflicting yourself. And so you would lift your voice up unto

God, but that's not what's taking place when you fast. So why would God pay attention to this fast?

Verse five, is it a fast like this, which I choose a day for a man to afflict himself?

Is it for bowing one's head like a reed and for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed?

Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to Yahweh?

So this is saying the, the fast that God expects from you is one that shows genuine humility and you humble yourself before God.

And even before your brethren, is that, is that what's happening among you? Are you showing that kind of humility?

Are you fasting the way that I would expect you to fast? Or are you just doing it externally and thinking that that's sufficient as long as other people see

I'm fasting? You know, this is what the Pharisees did. They would make their faces look miserable and they would cover themselves in sackcloth and ashes, but it would just be external.

There wasn't anything from the heart that genuinely desired God. That's what God is doing here, getting to the heart of the matter.

So verse six, is this not the fast, which I choose to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to release the bands of the yoke and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke.

In other words, your fasting should cause you to feel miserable over your sin and you would abandon your sinfulness.

You would cut the bonds of wickedness that you were formerly in.

Don't do that anymore. Desire the righteousness of God. Verse seven, is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the afflicted homeless into the house?

When you see the naked, you cover him and not to hide yourself from your own flesh.

So if you're abstaining from your bread, afflicting yourself before God, then take that bread, give it to the hungry.

If you're afflicting yourself, go to those who are afflicted, the homeless, and bring them into your house.

Now this is certainly supposed to play out in a literal way. If you desire justice, the righteousness of God, then show it in the way that you love one another.

But spiritually also, remember what is our bread spiritually? Our bread is the word of God or knowing

Christ himself, who is the bread that has come down from heaven. So sharing bread with the hungry would mean that we take the gospel to them.

We share Christ with others. Bringing the afflicted homeless into the house means going to those who are not a people and telling them that they can become a people in Jesus Christ.

Always thinking of the phrasing that's used in 1 Peter 2, 9 and in Titus 3, 3.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people, according to Peter. And in Titus 3, once we were hated by others and hating one another, but now through Christ we've become the people of God.

So there's a literal sense to this and also a spiritual sense. We should be sharing the good news of Christ with others.

And that is even greater than giving someone physical bread. And when we share the gospel with them, the oppressed go free and breaks every yoke.

They're no longer under the yoke of slavery either when they put their faith in Christ in whom we have freedom.

Verse 8, then your light will break out like the dawn and your recovery will speedily bring forth and your righteousness will go before you.

The glory of Yahweh will be your rear guard. So in this, you will be demonstrating that your worship is genuine.

It's not just something you're doing externally, hoping that God would notice you. But from the heart you do these things, you help those who are afflicted.

You even bring them into freedom through the sharing of the gospel. Your light will break out like the dawn.

As Jesus said in Matthew 5, let your light shine before men so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven.

Verse 9, then you will call and Yahweh will answer. You will cry and he will say, here

I am. If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, verse 10, and if you offer your soul to the hungry and satisfy the soul of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your thick darkness will become like midday.

Now this isn't necessarily if you do this, then I will do this. But it's by showing your good works that you show that God is truly with you, that his light is within you, that your darkness becomes like midday.

The darkness becomes light. So you are letting your light shine before men. You are, you're no longer pointing the finger and speaking wickedness.

You've put those things away and have desired the righteousness of Christ, which shines forth from you.

Verse 11 and Yahweh will continually guide you and satisfy your soul in scorched places and fortify your bones and you will be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

We will be refreshed. I think there's very practical application to that. We will not feel weighed down, worried, stressed by the concerns of sin.

We will be freed from those chains and that affliction. And then likewise, we have an understanding that what we are living for in this life goes beyond this life.

As we're seeing the world around us that's wasting away and even our own bodies we can't depend on from one day to the next.

But seeing that we have a hope in Christ and the promise of life forevermore with him in glory refreshes our bones.

It gives strength to us even in our present day that we may endure looking toward that day when we will be with our

Lord in glory. Verse 12 those from among you will rebuild the ancient waste places.

You will raise up the foundations of past generation upon generation and you will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the paths for one to inhabit.

So making the waste places level, we've heard that previously in the book of Isaiah, those things that have become a desolation and had become a wasteland because of sin and the judgment of God that had come upon those who had done wickedly.

Those who desire righteousness, as we read previously, will become like a watered garden and a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

So it brings restoration to those places that had previously been laid waste because of sin.

It repairs those things and righteousness flourishes and shines forth.

So in the lives of those people who their lives had been tattered, had been destroyed, they were depressed and weighed down and sorrowful and feeling as nothing.

When the gospel comes in, suddenly they are enlivened.

It's like they are given new life because indeed the person who was dead has been brought to life in Jesus Christ.

And you who has brought this good news to them, you yourself have refreshed your own bones by turning from your sin to the righteousness of Christ and bringing this to others.

You will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the paths for one to inhabit.

And now finally, we get to this last part where God ties this into the

Sabbath, which is a law that has been written down for his people to keep.

Verse 13, if because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own desire on my holy day and call the

Sabbath a delight, the holy day of Yahweh honorable and honor it by not doing your own ways, by not finding your own desire and speaking your own word.

That's verse 13. Then you will take delight in Yahweh and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth and I will feed you with the inheritance of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.

So again, what the Lord is pointing out here is that if you desire the nearness of God, then you'll desire his day.

And on that day that he has set apart for you to rest, for you to have rest, you are reminded to turn from your sin that you've been set free from the bonds of sin and have been brought into a place of promise, our promised land, who is

Christ and the promised land that he promises us, which is that eternity in glory with him.

And you have, you have come to rest in that Christ is your Sabbath rest.

But you also remember that there is a day that has been set aside that we may give honor to the

Lord, that we may turn from our own desires and desire him. Then you will take delight in Yahweh.

And I truly believe there is still a day for us upon which we are supposed to rest, that we are to not go after worldly pursuits, but we are to delight in, in the things of God, going to church, spending time with brothers and sisters in the

Lord and refreshing one another in the promises of God that have been given to us in the gospel. There's a day that's been set aside for us to do those things.

And we would delight in that day. If our desire is for the things of God, we would even delight in that day, putting aside our worldly things, our own fleshly desires and desire the way of Christ.

If we are truly in Christ, shouldn't we be desiring him every day that you would want to live your life fully unto the

Lord? As said in Romans 12, 1, in view of God's mercies, present your bodies as living sacrifices unto the

Lord, holy and acceptable to him. And this is your spiritual act of worship.

Genuine worship that comes from the heart, not doing it on the outside to impress other people or thinking that if I do this, that or the other,

I will earn the attention of God. He loves you by his mercy, by his grace.

He shows you his affection. And if you know that you are in the grace of God, show it in the way that you live.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we have been shown here through this word. And I pray that we would be a people willing to be convicted over our sin, that we may do that which is right, that which delights our

God, turning away from wickedness and loving righteousness. Help us to be obedient to you and to be obedient from the heart.

Not just a matter of doing it on the outside, thinking that we earn something if we do it this way, but knowing we do not deserve the grace of God.

That's why it's grace. You've shown it to us anyway. And so now filled with your love, may we show the grace of God to others.

And it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. This has been

When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt

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