WEBVTT 00:00:01.080 --> 00:00:06.753 Let's take our Bible and go over to the book of Isaiah, chapter 29, chapter 29. 00:00:06.753 --> 00:00:19.533 This week has been an interesting week for me, as I'm preparing messages for our adult Bible fellowship class on wisdom literature and going through another chapter of the book of Isaiah. 00:00:19.533 --> 00:00:38.170 It's kind of converged some thinking in my mind about the necessity of wisdom, but also wisdom as it relates to the character of God, and it brought me back to my earlier days as a dad, where I often prayed to be the kind of dad I should be to my two sons. 00:00:38.170 --> 00:00:44.289 Now my two sons are both mature and married now and I still need wisdom dealing with them at that age. 00:00:44.289 --> 00:00:49.369 But when they were younger, that was really something on the front of my thinking. 00:00:49.369 --> 00:01:03.832 I knew that as their father, I was the chief person responsible for helping them understand who God was, and I wanted everything that I said about him to also be reflective in what they saw in me. 00:01:03.832 --> 00:01:08.701 And so I wanted God's character to be developing, my character. 00:01:08.701 --> 00:01:15.974 I wanted to be sensitive to who he was so that they might be more aware of who God is. 00:01:15.974 --> 00:01:32.721 And, of course, in those times when I didn't do that, I wanted them to recognize that I, very quickly was going to bring myself to the Lord and to them, even as small children, and ask for forgiveness and talk to them about how I wanted to relate to the Lord. 00:01:32.721 --> 00:01:39.962 So verses that talked about God's character meant a lot to me, and still do Like Exodus 34,. 00:01:39.962 --> 00:01:53.510 The Lord is compassionate and a gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving sin, rebellion and iniquity. 00:01:53.510 --> 00:01:55.516 Psalm 103. 00:01:55.516 --> 00:01:58.466 He revealed his ways to Moses. 00:01:58.466 --> 00:02:02.847 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love. 00:02:02.847 --> 00:02:05.825 He will not always accuse us or be angry forever. 00:02:05.825 --> 00:02:10.600 He's not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our iniquities. 00:02:10.600 --> 00:02:17.521 As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. 00:02:18.644 --> 00:02:22.390 I wanted that the Lord's character to shape my character. 00:02:22.390 --> 00:02:23.592 I wanted his character to shape my character. 00:02:23.592 --> 00:02:34.581 I wanted his character to shape my conduct, and I wanted to be the kind of dad who was, like the Lord, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, committed to faithful love. 00:02:34.581 --> 00:02:50.068 And so when I dealt with the boys as they were, I wanted to be merciful when they were childish, I wanted to be patient when they were foolish, and I wanted to be just and equitable when they were wrong and did wrong. 00:02:50.068 --> 00:03:00.274 I wanted them to know that I took their behavior seriously, but they didn't have to perform to be loved, and that's a delicate balance. 00:03:00.274 --> 00:03:11.442 I wanted to be able to bring into them an understanding of who God is and, as we've been going through the book of Isaiah, that has been something I've thought about time and time and time again. 00:03:12.403 --> 00:03:28.704 We're often faced with chapters and episodes of judgment and mercy juxtaposed against each other back and forth many, many times here, and I've had to stop and think about those moments as they relate to who God is and the people that he was writing originally to. 00:03:28.704 --> 00:04:09.209 And behind all of those acts of judgment that are prescribed and prophesied, I have to remember that they're not just God's rashful actions against immediately coming down on a people, but they're based upon years, decades, centuries of unbelief and wrong behavior and ignoring God's will and word, and that for not only moments, but for years and years and years, god has patiently withheld his judgment. 00:04:09.209 --> 00:04:30.488 He's continued to show his mercy and his patience and his long suffering, but also behind the promises that are laid out in the book of Isaiah that he gives, where he talks about exalting folks and giving them rest and peace, that behind all of that are people that don't deserve any of that. 00:04:30.488 --> 00:04:45.891 Behind that are people who are ornery and wicked and deceitful, who are worshiping other gods and not him, and yet he holds out promises of hope and life to them. 00:04:45.891 --> 00:04:52.709 And when we come to Isaiah, chapter 29, we're going to find another one of these episodes. 00:04:52.709 --> 00:04:58.524 It's a blend of judgment and hope, and behind it all is the character of God. 00:04:58.524 --> 00:05:21.267 He's speaking out of his mercies and out of his grace and out of his long suffering and out of his patience when he issues the judgment, and he's speaking out of his holiness and out of his perfections of character when he offers hope to the sinful. 00:05:21.267 --> 00:05:35.382 It's a remarkable chapter, and so as we move through this chapter, I don't want us to just understand it and to know it better, but to understand God better as we go through it. 00:05:36.726 --> 00:05:39.617 So the first eight verses we're going to break it down into three sections. 00:05:39.617 --> 00:05:43.629 The first eight verses talk about the affliction of Ariel. 00:05:43.629 --> 00:05:49.107 And you take a look at verse one and two, you'll see this word which we're not accustomed to seeing. 00:05:49.107 --> 00:05:51.593 We'll talk about it in just a moment. 00:05:51.593 --> 00:06:00.062 Woe to Ariel, ariel, the city where David encamped so obviously Jerusalem Continue year after year in the festivals. 00:06:00.062 --> 00:06:01.766 Let the festivals recur. 00:06:01.766 --> 00:06:10.464 I will oppress Ariel and there will be mourning and crying and she will be like to me, like an Ariel. 00:06:10.464 --> 00:06:16.062 And here Isaiah is called to prophesy a time of great distress for the city of Jerusalem. 00:06:16.062 --> 00:06:21.880 He offers a lament again, just like he did last week and we talked about that. 00:06:21.880 --> 00:06:28.353 A lament because of the dire consequences of Judah's unwillingness to believe and trust God. 00:06:28.353 --> 00:06:34.312 Whoa, whoa to Ariel, ariel. 00:06:35.300 --> 00:06:40.913 And in verses 7 and 8, we understand what that impending judgment looks like. 00:06:40.913 --> 00:06:49.401 And twice we have a phrase repeated the many nations who go to battle against Mount Zion. 00:06:49.401 --> 00:06:50.603 You can see that in verse 7. 00:06:50.603 --> 00:06:52.427 You can see that in verse 8. 00:06:52.427 --> 00:07:10.528 So here is Jerusalem, a walled city, and despite all of its fortifications, jerusalem is going to be humbled to the dust and despair and its voice is going to be so cut down that it'll be nothing more than a whisper among all the sounds of the earth. 00:07:10.528 --> 00:07:16.408 And verse three details for us that it will come by way of a siege. 00:07:16.408 --> 00:07:35.894 They'll be surrounded by this enemy who will cut off their supply lines and hold up against them so much that their resources inside the walls drain away and they either starve, die of thirst or surrender. 00:07:35.894 --> 00:07:43.730 Now, this would have been very, very puzzling news to the people of Jerusalem. 00:07:43.730 --> 00:07:49.605 This Ariel, very, very puzzling news to the people of Jerusalem. 00:07:49.605 --> 00:07:52.053 This Ariel, and that word that's repeated here in verse one twice of course verse two is there. 00:07:52.053 --> 00:08:04.307 It's also in verse seven gives us a clue as to why they would have thought this would have been quite puzzling to hear a pronouncement of judgment against Jerusalem. 00:08:05.550 --> 00:08:14.353 Now, the word Ariel can mean one of two things it can mean lion of God or it can mean an altar hearth. 00:08:14.353 --> 00:08:24.728 You know, when you start a fire, you put coals in the hearth or a log on the fire, you put it into a place where the fire sits, that's the hearth. 00:08:24.728 --> 00:08:42.881 And this phrase, even though it's a little ambiguous in Hebrew, a lot of scholars look at it and say this is the altar hearth and it's pointing to that place where the sacrifices were burned in the temple complex. 00:08:42.881 --> 00:08:45.605 In fact, it's even used that way in Ezekiel 43. 00:08:45.605 --> 00:08:48.448 The altar hearth is seven feet high. 00:08:48.448 --> 00:08:50.751 Four horns project upward from the hearth. 00:08:50.751 --> 00:08:54.235 The hearth is square, 21 feet long by 21 feet wide. 00:08:54.235 --> 00:09:02.801 And here it is. 00:09:02.821 --> 00:09:07.211 God is reducing the whole of the city of Jerusalem down to this one spot inside the temple where the fire burns the sacrifices. 00:09:07.211 --> 00:09:27.696 And God is saying he will bring distress, he will bring mourning, he will bring lamenting to Jerusalem and he will make the city like the altar hearth, like the place where God's wrath is satisfied in the burning. 00:09:27.696 --> 00:09:33.427 So no wonder this is a lamenting woe. 00:09:33.427 --> 00:09:35.873 It's quite a dramatic picture, right? 00:09:35.873 --> 00:09:52.245 God's place where he meets sinful people is going to be burned up in judgment, that the very hearth will be itself on fire. 00:09:54.489 --> 00:10:01.831 And the people of Jerusalem, hearing this message, their immediate response would have been something like this how could this happen? 00:10:01.831 --> 00:10:07.552 How in the world would God allow such a thing to happen here? 00:10:07.552 --> 00:10:20.927 You see, the people at the time thought that the temple kept them safe, that because God's worship was in Jerusalem, god would protect Jerusalem. 00:10:20.927 --> 00:10:24.735 They thought of the temple and they thought of the sacrificial system. 00:10:24.735 --> 00:10:29.571 And they thought of the sacrificial system and they thought of the city, a lot like we might think of home. 00:10:29.571 --> 00:10:38.062 When we played the game of tag when we were little, you know how somebody who was it had to run around and chase you and if they tagged you, you became it. 00:10:38.062 --> 00:10:45.889 But there was a place you could run to called home, and once you got there you could yell out safe. 00:10:45.889 --> 00:10:49.744 And the person who was it had to go find somebody else to tag. 00:10:49.744 --> 00:10:56.945 Well, this is exactly how they thought about Jerusalem and living in Jerusalem. 00:10:56.945 --> 00:11:01.813 They believe that God would not allow this place to be destroyed. 00:11:01.813 --> 00:11:13.969 He wouldn't allow it to be destroyed because the temple was there, because the altar was there, because that's where worship happened, and if they were in Jerusalem, they were safe. 00:11:18.142 --> 00:11:20.590 But here's Isaiah saying something completely different. 00:11:20.590 --> 00:11:34.827 He's predicting, instead of Zion being protected, god is going to besiege Zion, and God wants this to be very, very clear of what's happening. 00:11:34.827 --> 00:11:36.471 Take a look at verse three. 00:11:36.471 --> 00:11:41.267 I will encamp in a circle around you. 00:11:41.267 --> 00:11:44.094 I will besiege you with earth ramps. 00:11:44.094 --> 00:11:47.663 I will set up my siege tower against you. 00:11:47.663 --> 00:11:58.173 Now, if they were to look out their windows in Jerusalem, they were going to see the Assyrians and they were going to see the army and they were going to see a mass of soldiers there. 00:11:58.173 --> 00:12:03.289 But God wants them to know who's actually behind it all. 00:12:03.289 --> 00:12:05.443 But God wants them to know who's actually behind it all. 00:12:05.443 --> 00:12:18.312 I will encamp against you, I will besiege you, I will raise siege works against you. 00:12:22.811 --> 00:12:32.298 Isaiah doesn't even bother mentioning the Assyrians, because he wants them to know that God is the one bringing this. 00:12:32.298 --> 00:12:39.980 This isn't just about Assyria thinking well, they're the big bully on the block and they can go around to these smaller nations and just take what they want from them. 00:12:39.980 --> 00:12:42.909 God himself is immediately involved in this. 00:12:42.909 --> 00:12:46.846 Now just think about that. 00:12:46.846 --> 00:13:09.548 What a shock to the soul it must have been for the people of Jerusalem to think about the temple and the altar and Jerusalem as their safe zone and then to find out God is actually going to come against that, that he's actually going to destroy that. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:39.892 And this imagery here is meant to sort of wipe away this false sense of security that they had, this misplaced confidence that they were undefeatable because God had a temple complex in the middle of their city, and how important it is for us to know where our security actually lies and not to think falsely or wrongly about what keeps us safe. 00:13:39.892 --> 00:13:52.075 You see, the only refuge that they could find was in god himself, not in these things. 00:13:52.075 --> 00:14:06.647 It wasn't about going to the temple and grabbing a lamb and offering a sacrifice and having making sure that the priest maintained the sacrificial worship system and that they were a part of that. 00:14:06.647 --> 00:14:17.788 And if they just kept performing and performing, and performing, god would put this sort of barrier or shield of judgment so they wouldn't be ever attacked. 00:14:17.788 --> 00:14:31.304 And then they could just forget God and keep on doing what was something they did the week before no God, and keep on doing what was something they did the week before no. 00:14:31.325 --> 00:14:33.528 The only refuge from God's holy wrath is actually by going to God himself. 00:14:33.528 --> 00:14:39.442 And boy, that is exactly the opposite of how we think. 00:14:39.442 --> 00:14:58.081 Ever since Adam and Eve ate in disobedience and ran and hid themselves and covered themselves with fig leaves, we've been running from God every time we sin and we think boy, I'm safe now, I've denied he's existed. 00:14:58.081 --> 00:15:02.668 I'm safe now, I'm a very worshiping person. 00:15:02.668 --> 00:15:07.255 I'm safe now, I take care of my family better than my neighbor. 00:15:07.255 --> 00:15:13.551 None of those things are going to be safeguards in the presence of Almighty God. 00:15:13.551 --> 00:15:15.173 Not a one of them. 00:15:15.173 --> 00:15:29.570 The only place you can find security is to listen to the voice of God, like Adam and Eve should have listened to God once they sinned and said what have we done wrong? 00:15:29.570 --> 00:15:31.785 Why are we hiding? 00:15:31.785 --> 00:15:36.812 Why don't we run to the place where only mercy can be found? 00:15:36.812 --> 00:15:49.568 The scriptures tell us that if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 00:15:49.568 --> 00:15:53.370 The answer is not to ignore God. 00:15:53.370 --> 00:15:55.946 The answer is to go to God. 00:15:59.397 --> 00:16:01.183 Now, here this passage moves on. 00:16:01.183 --> 00:16:18.703 Not only does it speak about this announcement against Ariel and the affliction that they're going to have, but it also begins to move into another section, in verses 9 to 16, of a pronouncement against the arrogant. 00:16:18.703 --> 00:16:20.427 The pronouncement against the arrogant. 00:16:20.427 --> 00:16:32.043 Now, verses 5 and 8, 5 to 8, give us a little interesting insight of what's going to happen later in the chapter Talking about the scattering of the enemies. 00:16:32.043 --> 00:16:45.523 And we'll talk about that more when we get to chapters 36 and 37 of the book of Isaiah, because the Assyrians who besieged the people are actually struck down in a moment, but we'll save that for a later moment. 00:16:45.523 --> 00:16:50.767 But look at verses 9 to 16, this announcement to the arrogant. 00:16:54.576 --> 00:17:03.785 Isaiah was told when he started his ministry in Isaiah, chapter 6, that he was going to have a difficult time, that he was going to have a ministry that wasn't going to be flourishing. 00:17:03.785 --> 00:17:08.007 He was not going to be the Charles Spurgeon of his day and have the largest church in the world. 00:17:08.007 --> 00:17:11.243 He was actually going to preach and empty it out. 00:17:11.243 --> 00:17:15.983 What a fun thing that must have been. 00:17:15.983 --> 00:17:23.422 And so Isaiah, hearing this, says how long do I have to do this? 00:17:24.963 --> 00:17:38.198 In Isaiah, chapter six, and the Lord said go, say to these people keep listening but do not understand, keep looking but do not perceive. 00:17:38.198 --> 00:17:44.305 And he realized that his ministry was going to be up against a people who refused to hear it. 00:17:44.305 --> 00:17:57.815 But he had to keep on speaking God's revelation, god's truth, no matter what, whether they listened to it, whether they liked it, whether they endured it or not. 00:17:57.815 --> 00:18:06.980 And as he ministered, he came more and more to realize that this was true People were not going to listen to him. 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:16.962 In the crisis of 701 bc, king hezekiah was surrounded by people that were telling him look, just make an alliance with egypt, we'll be safe from the assyrians. 00:18:16.962 --> 00:18:26.800 And isaiah is saying stop, stop your political maneuvering and just get on your knees and pray to Almighty God and he will take care of you. 00:18:26.800 --> 00:18:34.664 But they wouldn't listen to that and they kept on going and they kept on refusing Him. 00:18:34.664 --> 00:18:46.241 And so in verse 9, it says this Stop and be astonished, blind yourselves and be blind. 00:18:46.241 --> 00:18:49.320 They're drunk, but not with wine. 00:18:49.320 --> 00:18:53.842 They stagger, but not with beer, for the Lord has poured out on you an overwhelming urge to sleep. 00:18:53.842 --> 00:19:07.203 He has shut your eyes, the prophets, and covered your heads, the seers, and what we're given here in these first few verses of this section, are just symptoms of a deeper problem. 00:19:07.203 --> 00:19:17.321 Instead of having the insight of God's revelation given to them, they're blind to spiritual truth. 00:19:17.321 --> 00:19:37.242 Instead of living a life of integrity and focus in the middle of difficult times, they stagger around with instability, as though they were drunk, instead of being alert and able to discern life precisely with an insight that comes from above. 00:19:37.242 --> 00:19:49.526 Well, it was like they were sleeping, inattentive and unaware of what's around them, not really fully appreciating the danger that they're in. 00:19:49.526 --> 00:19:57.345 But these are just symptoms and they're not symptoms that came upon them. 00:19:57.345 --> 00:20:02.925 Like we might go to the doctor one day and be told with a shock that we have a disease. 00:20:02.925 --> 00:20:16.335 These are self-inflicted wounds and the scriptures here tell us exactly where all of that comes from. 00:20:16.335 --> 00:20:23.214 Let's keep reading. 00:20:23.214 --> 00:20:25.936 The entire vision will be like the words of a sealed document, verse 11. 00:20:25.936 --> 00:20:30.824 It is given to one who can read and he asks to read it and he'll say I can't read it because it's sealed. 00:20:30.824 --> 00:20:40.607 And if the document is given to one who cannot read, he's asked to read it and he'll say I can't read. 00:20:48.095 --> 00:20:57.369 One of the reasons why they're in such a place of spiritual blindness and inattentiveness and instability is because they're completely spiritually indifferent and willfully ignorant to the things of God. 00:20:57.369 --> 00:21:07.662 Their lack of spiritual perception is because they've repeatedly refused to hear God's word and there's an effect of that. 00:21:07.662 --> 00:21:24.169 It's left them with the inability to understand what they're actually dealing with and they go plundering along in the darkness with the kind of confidence that they should never have had. 00:21:24.169 --> 00:21:31.250 You see, they refused time and time again to hear what Isaiah preached. 00:21:31.250 --> 00:21:36.484 They refused time and time and again to hear what any of the prophets said In chapter 28,. 00:21:36.484 --> 00:21:41.384 We looked at that and what they said about Isaiah that he spoke, baby, talk to them. 00:21:41.384 --> 00:21:55.728 He gave them simplistic things when they were sophisticated people and should have been sort of honored to be the kind of cultured people that they were and not listening to some plain spoken prophet, just talk to them, matter-of-factly. 00:21:55.728 --> 00:22:03.526 And that he was just a talking head just going wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah and they tuned him out. 00:22:03.526 --> 00:22:09.673 Head just going wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah and they tuned him out. 00:22:14.954 --> 00:22:16.838 Jeremiah later talked about the same people in his day and he was upset about it. 00:22:16.838 --> 00:22:18.663 Jeremiah was very clear about how discouraged this made him. 00:22:18.663 --> 00:22:21.308 He said you've deceived me, lord. 00:22:21.308 --> 00:22:28.461 You seized me and prevailed, and I've become a laughingstock in my time. 00:22:28.461 --> 00:22:30.287 Jeremiah 20. 00:22:30.287 --> 00:22:46.042 Everyone ridicules me, for whenever I speak, whenever I cry out, whenever I proclaim violence and destruction, the word of God has become my disgrace and my derision. 00:22:46.042 --> 00:22:54.065 Wow, now, as discouraged as Jeremiah was. 00:22:54.065 --> 00:23:04.046 What discouraged him was not that he had to speak God's word, but that he had to stand alone in his generation when he did. 00:23:04.046 --> 00:23:10.086 And nobody, nobody said great message, jeremiah. 00:23:10.086 --> 00:23:15.246 Nobody said I'm taking that one home and spending more time with it. 00:23:15.246 --> 00:23:19.084 Everybody said get this guy out of here. 00:23:19.084 --> 00:23:24.500 And this is the picture of these people. 00:23:25.762 --> 00:23:36.601 In verses 11 and 12, we're introduced to two folks a person who can read and a person who can't, and not trying to say anything about their intelligence, but everything about their indifference. 00:23:36.601 --> 00:23:44.644 The literate man, the man who can read, is given a scroll and he says well, I can't read that. 00:23:44.644 --> 00:23:46.028 It's sealed. 00:23:46.028 --> 00:23:51.165 Well, break the seal and read it, couldn't be bothered. 00:23:51.165 --> 00:23:58.259 And then takes the scroll to someone who doesn't read and he says I can't read it. 00:23:58.259 --> 00:24:06.086 Well, could you take it to somebody who does and have them read it to you Doesn't care. 00:24:06.086 --> 00:24:12.426 No effort in spiritual dimension whatsoever. 00:24:15.195 --> 00:24:17.884 Isaiah was to them just a person in the way. 00:24:17.884 --> 00:24:26.924 Every time he spoke God's word, they mocked his message, they belittled all of his reproofs, they scorned his advice, they ignored him. 00:24:26.924 --> 00:24:28.982 They wanted to shut him down and shut him out. 00:24:28.982 --> 00:24:43.221 The reality was is Isaiah was that guy in the middle of the road, in front of a bridge that's been washed out, and he's waving at the cars coming 60 miles an hour straight at him and saying stop, stop, stop. 00:24:43.221 --> 00:24:44.480 The bridge is out. 00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:51.506 And they just keep buzzing by him, saying what was that guy's problem as they plunge into the rushing river of God's judgment. 00:24:57.355 --> 00:25:02.595 Not only that, but in verse 13, they're full of hypocritical, self-made worship. 00:25:02.595 --> 00:25:06.801 They're full of hypocritical, self-made worship. 00:25:06.801 --> 00:25:07.383 The people said. 00:25:07.383 --> 00:25:20.338 These people approach me with their speeches to honor me with lip service, yet their hearts are far from me and human rules direct their worship of me. 00:25:20.338 --> 00:25:29.208 The people in Jerusalem are mimicking all the pagan religions around them where certain human activities have to be performed. 00:25:29.208 --> 00:25:46.555 And if those activities are performed in a certain way, then it connects you with the unseen world and God will respond as expected. 00:25:47.497 --> 00:26:05.324 And we saw this a lot when Micah and I were on the island with Kevin and when we went there there were witch doctors there telling people to do certain things, like you had to eat the blood of a turtle, or you had to hang this thing on your porch, or even you had to put a bush in your yard. 00:26:05.324 --> 00:26:13.496 And we would go around the village and there were all these bushes that had variegated leaves of red and green and they looked pretty. 00:26:13.496 --> 00:26:25.528 I thought they were there for decoration and I found out later that the witch doctor was selling them and that the witch doctor was telling them if you put this bush in your yard, it'll scare the spirits away and you won't have any problem. 00:26:25.528 --> 00:26:30.566 I thought that's a pretty weak spirit if he's scared of a bush. 00:26:30.566 --> 00:26:42.582 They also talked about not building your house at the very front point of a road, so you had to sort of put it to the side. 00:26:42.582 --> 00:26:44.316 Now there's a little bit of safety there. 00:26:44.316 --> 00:26:57.259 If a person's not driving correctly, they'll just keep on going through your yard instead of your front living room, but they would talk about that, or they would talk about keeping your doors open front and back. 00:26:57.259 --> 00:27:02.196 So if the Spirit wanted to come in your front door, he'd just keep on moving and go right out the back door. 00:27:02.196 --> 00:27:04.782 You'd be like what was that? 00:27:04.782 --> 00:27:07.828 Well, yeah, good thing I had the doors open. 00:27:07.828 --> 00:27:19.469 And in all of that there's a common thing the attitude of the worshiper doesn't matter. 00:27:19.469 --> 00:27:23.178 It doesn't matter a bit. 00:27:23.178 --> 00:27:30.523 So long as you do the prescribed thing, the prescribed way, then everything's okay. 00:27:35.336 --> 00:27:58.644 There was a man this is three years ago in the paper in Phoenix a priest who, when he was baptizing the children, said I, or we rather, instead of I, and he should have been representing the Lord, so it was said, instead of representing the community. 00:27:58.644 --> 00:28:11.887 And the paper said that they disavowed thousands of this priest's baptism because he misused one personal pronoun. 00:28:11.887 --> 00:28:26.146 It's that idea that you have to do the right things, the right way, in order to get the right response from God. 00:28:26.146 --> 00:28:28.803 Otherwise there's no effect. 00:28:28.803 --> 00:28:41.204 Let me just say this God cannot be manipulated, god cannot be used like that. 00:28:43.396 --> 00:28:45.544 God forgives by his grace alone. 00:28:45.544 --> 00:28:54.487 Not because we said the formula right, not because we did the right things in the prescribed manner. 00:28:54.487 --> 00:29:05.385 In fact, psalm 51 says you do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it. 00:29:05.385 --> 00:29:07.942 You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 00:29:07.942 --> 00:29:18.403 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart that, oh God, you will not despise. 00:29:18.403 --> 00:29:22.615 You see, the heart matters for everything. 00:29:22.615 --> 00:29:28.271 You see the heart matters for everything. 00:29:29.414 --> 00:29:48.394 And after the resurrection, when the gospel went out, and the gospel went to Jew and Gentile, that whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, it fell upon deaf ears because people were trying to establish their own righteousness by their deeds. 00:29:48.394 --> 00:30:03.886 And the Apostle Paul, looking at folks who are trying to establish a right reckoning with God simply by their external behavior, in Romans, chapter 11 said to them he said well, if it's by works, then it ceases to be by grace. 00:30:03.886 --> 00:30:16.905 And he said, as it is written, god gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear to this day. 00:30:16.905 --> 00:30:19.684 And he quotes this section of scripture. 00:30:19.684 --> 00:30:31.057 You see, this passage is important and yes, it speaks about pagans who are thinking that sort of. 00:30:31.057 --> 00:30:34.967 In some heartless, programmatic way they might be able to manipulate the spirit world. 00:30:34.967 --> 00:30:41.488 But it also speaks to those who think that by some deeds that they might obtain righteousness. 00:30:41.488 --> 00:30:49.886 But let's bring a little bit home here so that we're not just happy and glad that other people are getting targeted by this passage. 00:30:52.796 --> 00:30:55.163 How often are we tempted to fall into that same idea? 00:30:55.163 --> 00:30:59.222 I prayed and I prayed and I prayed and I prayed and I prayed. 00:30:59.222 --> 00:31:00.646 Why didn't God heal my child? 00:31:00.646 --> 00:31:02.998 What did you think? 00:31:02.998 --> 00:31:05.945 That God was counting how many prayers you did? 00:31:05.945 --> 00:31:10.125 And once you hit the threshold, then boom, he was going to heal your child. 00:31:10.125 --> 00:31:15.786 Well, I've gone to church every Sunday for months. 00:31:15.786 --> 00:31:18.223 Why didn't I get that good job that I wanted? 00:31:18.223 --> 00:31:22.994 I've read the Bible every day for weeks. 00:31:22.994 --> 00:31:24.160 I've prayed for weeks. 00:31:24.160 --> 00:31:25.601 Why am I still depressed? 00:31:25.601 --> 00:31:29.546 Is it really just a matter of transactional working? 00:31:29.546 --> 00:31:32.001 You do this, god does that. 00:31:32.001 --> 00:31:45.202 Worship is not to be some mechanism for manipulating God, because it's not like it shows us. 00:31:45.202 --> 00:32:06.906 We don't want God in our life, we want God to do something for us, and that's why they kept on doing the things that they thought was best Self-made worship, not only hypocritical and empty and heartless, but contrived. 00:32:09.335 --> 00:32:14.845 And Jesus applies this passage directly to the Pharisees in Mark, chapter 7. 00:32:14.845 --> 00:32:22.403 When they looked at Jesus and they were saying why do they eat their food with unwashing hands? 00:32:22.403 --> 00:32:26.630 You know they didn't go through the prescribed ceremonial cleansings before they ate. 00:32:26.630 --> 00:32:34.182 And Jesus looks at these very religious people and boy were they very exact. 00:32:34.182 --> 00:32:36.635 They were very technical, you know. 00:32:36.635 --> 00:32:47.038 They had this thing that needed to be done the ceremonial washing and they understood it very, very well and they were very particular in how it ought to be done. 00:32:47.038 --> 00:32:53.882 And they were discerning and critical and watching to see if people were following the prescribed efforts. 00:32:53.882 --> 00:33:00.507 And they even had some sense of courageousness about them to actually confront the issue and not just walk away from it. 00:33:00.507 --> 00:33:16.864 And they would speak with great reverence about the traditions of the fathers Very religious, very exacting, very precise, very, very committed to what they considered to be the way it should be done. 00:33:16.864 --> 00:33:22.118 What was Jesus' reply to them? 00:33:22.118 --> 00:33:24.105 Well, well, I'll talk to the guys. 00:33:24.105 --> 00:33:25.662 Maybe they'll wash hands a little better. 00:33:29.979 --> 00:33:33.482 Why do you transgress the commandment of God by your traditions? 00:33:33.482 --> 00:33:42.773 And then he followed it with these words Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites. 00:33:42.773 --> 00:33:49.012 As it is written, the people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 00:33:49.012 --> 00:33:58.557 They worship me in vain, teaching his doctrines, human commands, abandoning the command of God because you hold on to human traditions. 00:33:58.557 --> 00:34:04.814 You see, we understand something about the character of God here. 00:34:04.814 --> 00:34:13.135 We would be offended if somebody thought that relating to us was simply performative, wouldn't we? 00:34:13.135 --> 00:34:31.650 How much more a holy God who's made us in his own image, would do so, using the worship of God as a mechanism, having no sense of understanding about the heat of God's anger or even the warmth of his love. 00:34:31.650 --> 00:34:39.876 Don't tremble or rejoice in his presence, just going through the motions, because that's what has to be done. 00:34:42.806 --> 00:34:51.297 The Bible tells us to be careful because there is a form of godliness that doesn't have the power of God attached to it. 00:34:51.297 --> 00:35:01.976 It even tells us that people will look at us narrowly and they will put demands upon us and they'll say don't handle, don't taste, don't touch. 00:35:01.976 --> 00:35:04.347 Paul said to them. 00:35:04.347 --> 00:35:07.275 He said these are just human commands and teachings. 00:35:07.275 --> 00:35:28.157 Now they may have a reputation of wisdom by promoting self-made religion, false humility, severe treatment of the body, but they're of no value for curbing self-indulgence. 00:35:28.157 --> 00:35:29.085 Why? 00:35:29.085 --> 00:35:30.472 Because it doesn't touch the heart. 00:35:30.472 --> 00:35:43.438 Be careful of people who are very religious because their religion is orthodox, beautiful and empty. 00:35:48.286 --> 00:35:52.835 Isaiah later says one person slaughters an ox, another kills a person. 00:35:52.835 --> 00:35:56.309 One person sacrifices a lamb, another one breaks a dog's neck. 00:35:56.309 --> 00:35:59.704 One person offers a grain offering, another one offers pig's blood. 00:35:59.704 --> 00:36:02.730 One person offers incense, another praises an idol, another one offers pig's blood, one person offers incense, another praises an idol. 00:36:02.730 --> 00:36:07.956 All these have chosen their ways and delight in doing them. 00:36:07.956 --> 00:36:21.717 He said they do what I do not delight in, and he's equating the actions of worship with murder, with animal cruelty. 00:36:21.717 --> 00:36:27.373 That's how God looks at self-righteousness. 00:36:27.373 --> 00:36:31.472 It's no different than murder itself. 00:36:31.472 --> 00:36:44.974 Again, the blindness, the deafness, the instability, the deadness of heart, these are all symptoms of what we see in these verses. 00:36:45.724 --> 00:36:51.797 And there's one more where he talks about, in verses 15 to 16. 00:36:51.797 --> 00:36:56.835 Woe to those who go to great lengths to hide their plans from the Lord. 00:36:56.835 --> 00:37:01.996 They do their works in the dark and say who sees us, who knows us? 00:37:01.996 --> 00:37:08.400 You've turned things around as if the potter were the same as the clay. 00:37:08.400 --> 00:37:12.610 How can that which is made say to its maker well, he didn't make me. 00:37:12.610 --> 00:37:16.286 How can that which is formed say about the one who formed it? 00:37:16.286 --> 00:37:18.492 He doesn't understand what he's doing. 00:37:21.780 --> 00:37:32.130 Hezekiah and his counselors were wondering if perhaps an alliance with Egypt might be the best way to go, and they were keeping that sort of table talk quiet for a while. 00:37:32.130 --> 00:37:37.079 The nation may not have understood it, but God saw them doing it. 00:37:37.079 --> 00:37:45.731 He saw what they were after he saw what they really trusted and those plans that they were preparing in secret. 00:37:45.731 --> 00:37:56.577 God knew every one of them and these people had forgotten that they're really just creatures and God is the creator. 00:37:56.577 --> 00:38:05.338 And he warns us that we can't hide ourselves from God, we can't run away from him. 00:38:05.338 --> 00:38:15.492 It was like my little boys when they were young, thinking by simply putting their hands over their eyes and they couldn't see me, that somehow I couldn't see them. 00:38:15.492 --> 00:38:18.798 Right, and it's so cute then. 00:38:18.798 --> 00:38:33.192 But, boy, when you're a grown man, putting your hands over your eyes and saying God can't see me, it's really kind of silly the arrogance behind that. 00:38:33.192 --> 00:38:43.427 And boy, have we been doing that, adam and Eve hiding from God, acting as though, if they hid behind the fig leaves, that God wouldn't see what they had done. 00:38:43.427 --> 00:38:49.018 He saw what they did, he finds us, he knows us. 00:38:49.018 --> 00:38:55.998 He knows when we're disobedient, he knows when we're proud and, wonderfully, also knows when we're fearful. 00:38:55.998 --> 00:38:57.865 He knows us. 00:38:57.865 --> 00:39:03.458 Now, foolish for us not to go to him, who sees it all anyway. 00:39:03.458 --> 00:39:07.331 Why not come to him? 00:39:07.331 --> 00:39:11.333 Why not run to him in the middle of those moments? 00:39:11.333 --> 00:39:19.989 What's keeping you from going back to God In the Garden of Eden? 00:39:20.009 --> 00:39:25.291 Eden, the Lord came to see Adam and Eve after they had sinned, and you know what? 00:39:25.291 --> 00:39:30.773 The first words that he said to them was Adam, where are you? 00:39:30.773 --> 00:39:32.911 Well, it wasn't that. 00:39:32.911 --> 00:39:37.853 They found the best hiding place in the garden, and God was like boy, I just can't, where are they? 00:39:37.853 --> 00:39:38.556 I can't find them. 00:39:38.556 --> 00:39:40.289 God was saying boy, I just can't, where are they? 00:39:40.289 --> 00:39:40.650 I can't find them. 00:39:40.650 --> 00:39:51.016 God was saying that for them Because they were hiding and he wanted it to speak to their heart, to their conscience. 00:39:51.016 --> 00:39:53.990 Where am I? 00:39:53.990 --> 00:39:56.331 Yeah, where am I? 00:39:56.331 --> 00:39:59.291 Why did I get myself here? 00:39:59.291 --> 00:40:03.255 Let me go back to the one who's asking about me. 00:40:03.255 --> 00:40:08.391 God is making that same call to us today. 00:40:08.391 --> 00:40:13.282 Where are you in relationship to God? 00:40:13.282 --> 00:40:15.387 Are you still trying to hide? 00:40:15.387 --> 00:40:17.471 Are you still trying to ignore him? 00:40:17.471 --> 00:40:20.476 Are you still trying to think you're smarter than he is? 00:40:20.476 --> 00:40:27.905 Are you still trying to say he doesn't understand what he's doing? 00:40:27.905 --> 00:40:32.963 Where are you? 00:40:32.963 --> 00:40:34.025 Now? 00:40:34.025 --> 00:40:35.985 Let's go to the last passage, verses 17 to 24. 00:40:36.465 --> 00:40:47.588 These assurances of redemption Isn't it true that in just a little while, lebanon will become an orchard, and an orchard will seem like a forest? 00:40:47.588 --> 00:40:52.588 On that day, the deaf will hear the words of a document and, out of a deep darkness. 00:40:52.588 --> 00:41:01.056 The eyes of the blind will see, the humble will have joy, joy after joy in the Lord, and the poor people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. 00:41:01.056 --> 00:41:07.554 For the ruthless one will vanish, the scorner disappear and all who lie in wait with evil intent will be killed. 00:41:07.554 --> 00:41:17.293 And those who, with their speech, accuse a person of wrongdoing, who set a trap for the one mediating at the city gate and without cause, deprive the righteous of justice. 00:41:17.293 --> 00:41:20.197 Therefore, the Lord who redeemed Abraham says this about the righteous of justice. 00:41:20.197 --> 00:41:22.913 Therefore, the Lord who redeemed Abraham says this about the house of Jacob. 00:41:22.913 --> 00:41:36.672 Jacob will no longer be ashamed and his face will no longer be pale, for when he sees his children, the work of his hands within his nation, they will honor my name, they will honor the Holy One of Jacob and stand in awe of the God of Israel. 00:41:36.672 --> 00:41:39.974 Those who are confused will gain understanding. 00:41:39.974 --> 00:41:46.108 Those who grumble will accept instruction. 00:41:46.108 --> 00:41:56.657 We've got affliction upon Ariel, we got the announcements of judgment upon the arrogant, and here we got assurances of redemption. 00:41:56.657 --> 00:42:00.590 And this goes right back to the character of God. 00:42:00.610 --> 00:42:11.143 Think in all, in light of all that we've just looked at in the front part of this passage, that this chapter would end this way. 00:42:11.143 --> 00:42:16.864 It just doesn't make sense in the way we do math. 00:42:16.864 --> 00:42:19.614 Evil plus evil plus evil plus evil plus evil equals judgment. 00:42:19.614 --> 00:42:22.545 And here we got mercy flying in it. 00:42:22.545 --> 00:42:24.012 Just where did that come from? 00:42:24.012 --> 00:42:25.952 That's not in the front half of the equation. 00:42:25.952 --> 00:42:27.771 How could it be in the second half of the equation? 00:42:27.771 --> 00:42:37.577 Well, because it was all over the front half of the equation, actually In forbearance, in patience, in long-suffering, in warnings, in pleadings. 00:42:39.166 --> 00:42:46.346 But here is something greater yet God acting to redeem, to actually save. 00:42:46.346 --> 00:42:51.016 To take the grumbler and make them willing to listen. 00:42:51.016 --> 00:42:56.168 To take those who are confused and give them understanding. 00:42:56.168 --> 00:43:11.538 To take the vain, empty-hearted worshiper and make him delight in the Lord, to make the one who is ashamed of God rejoicing God. 00:43:11.538 --> 00:43:15.672 There's a time when the land will be fruitful. 00:43:15.784 --> 00:43:23.556 And he talks about the leaders, the cedars of Lebanon, those tall, massive trees which were emblematic of their pride. 00:43:23.556 --> 00:43:26.211 And he said they're going to get cut down. 00:43:26.211 --> 00:43:30.335 He's going to turn that forest into an empty space. 00:43:30.335 --> 00:43:37.936 But that empty space will then produce an orchard, and that orchard will be so plenteous it'll be as if it were a forest. 00:43:37.936 --> 00:43:47.168 The work of redemption isn't just to knock you down, it's to make you flourish, and that's what this passage talks about. 00:43:47.971 --> 00:44:18.333 That God will work a work of full deliverance to the undeserving person who comes to him, that the people who were spiritually blind and deaf, and staggering and dull, who were filled with self-willed worship and hypocritical hearts, the ones who scorned his messages, to those he's going to work such a work that their life will be characteristic of everything opposite of what it once was. 00:44:18.333 --> 00:44:21.117 There'll be a fruitful garden, There'll be a mighty forest, they'll rejoice in God, everything opposite of what it once was. 00:44:21.117 --> 00:44:32.632 There'll be a fruitful garden, there'll be a mighty forest, they'll rejoice in God, they will hear and listen and they will love God and not just use him. 00:44:32.632 --> 00:44:38.231 This is all covenantal language and Abraham's brought in here. 00:44:38.231 --> 00:44:40.036 And if you read the prophets Abraham showing up, that's a ding. 00:44:40.036 --> 00:44:47.496 You read the prophets Abraham showing up, that's a ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding moment, because Abraham doesn't get used very often in the prophets. 00:44:47.496 --> 00:44:49.331 And here he is. 00:44:49.331 --> 00:44:52.172 This is covenant language. 00:44:52.304 --> 00:44:57.353 God is going to be faithful to his promises, to be gracious to the undeserving. 00:44:57.353 --> 00:45:04.773 And, yes, he's talking here to the nation of Israel and saying there's a hope for you, there's a hope for you in me. 00:45:04.773 --> 00:45:42.059 But he's extending beyond that, because the promise to Abraham wasn't just for his physical generation, it was for all peoples, and that this promise of hope extends to those of us who had never been in the physical lineage of Abraham, where we too were filled with hypocritical worship and dullness of mind and heart, that we too might be able to enter into these moments when we have turned life upside down and made God stand in the box of our own self-derived judgments. 00:45:42.059 --> 00:45:45.208 God's going to make everything right. 00:45:45.208 --> 00:45:50.806 He's going to put the world back in its place, where it belongs. 00:45:50.806 --> 00:45:55.775 He's going to fix every wrong and make every right flourish. 00:45:55.775 --> 00:46:03.648 Instead of stubbornness and willfulness and hardheadednessness, there's going to be, for us, understanding and teachability. 00:46:03.648 --> 00:46:15.751 This is why paul, in ephesians 5, he said you were once darkness, but now you are light in the lord. 00:46:15.751 --> 00:46:16.693 That's how different you are. 00:46:16.693 --> 00:46:18.155 That's how different you are. 00:46:18.155 --> 00:46:20.739 That's how different God has made you. 00:46:23.947 --> 00:46:44.539 Will you continue on in the way you're going or will you heed the words and listen and come to the one whose character is, yes, merciful and generous and kind and long-suffering and patient? 00:46:44.539 --> 00:46:52.532 But he will by no means excuse the guilty, unless you come to him. 00:46:52.532 --> 00:46:58.510 Unless you come to him, and if you call upon the name of the Lord. 00:46:58.510 --> 00:47:01.097 The scriptures say you shall be saved. 00:47:01.097 --> 00:47:03.269 Let's pray together. 00:47:06.985 --> 00:47:16.594 Father, we thank you for this message, written so many years ago and yet as if it was in today's paper, that speak to the condition of our human hearts. 00:47:16.594 --> 00:47:24.710 The Lord, we find that the things that were addressed there reside too much within us, but we thank you. 00:47:24.710 --> 00:47:42.474 That's what said about you, and these things is also not just a historical document, but you're a God who is alive and you can make those who are dead in trespasses and sins alive too, and that you can change our lives in a moment. 00:47:42.474 --> 00:47:48.994 We who were once ruthless and oppressors can now become true sons and daughters of you. 00:47:48.994 --> 00:47:57.974 We who were once filled with the joy of hypocritical and empty hearted worship could now find genuine spiritual life and joy and vitality. 00:47:57.974 --> 00:48:13.193 We who carried on in spiritual blindness, you can make to see your purposes and plans, because you can change who we are and you can change everything about us. 00:48:13.193 --> 00:48:21.936 So, father, may we hear and listen and come, and we ask this in Christ's name, amen.