WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.640 Turn to Isaiah chapter 1. 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:08.560 Isaiah, you'll be hearing quite a lot over the next year. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:11.599 That call to turn to the book of Isaiah. 00:00:11.599 --> 00:00:18.320 So your Bibles may have been falling open to Matthew, but now hopefully they'll start falling open to Isaiah. 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:24.160 If you're using the Pew Bible this morning, you'll find Isaiah chapter 1 on page 600. 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:31.920 We're going to be covering verses 2 through 9 of Isaiah chapter 1 this morning. 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:37.280 Isaiah 1, verses 2 through 9. 00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:40.320 This is what Holy Scripture says. 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:49.200 Listen, heavens, and pay attention, earth, for the Lord has spoken. 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:55.039 I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. 00:00:55.039 --> 00:00:59.039 The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's feeding trough. 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:03.280 But Israel does not know, my people do not understand. 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:11.920 O sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, brood of evildoers, depraved children. 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:14.159 They have abandoned the Lord. 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:17.599 They have despised the Holy One of Israel. 00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:20.000 They have turned their backs on him. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:23.200 Why do you want more beatings? 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:25.760 Why do you keep on rebelling? 00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:30.400 The whole head is hurt, and the whole heart is sick. 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:40.400 From the sole of the foot even to the head, no spot is uninjured, wounds, welts, and festering sores not cleansed, bandaged or soothed with oil. 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:50.159 Your land is desolate, your cities burned down, foreigners devour your fields right in front of you, a desolation, like a place demolished by foreigners. 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:59.599 Daughter Zion is abandoned like a shelter in a vineyard, like a shack in a cucumber field, like a besieged city. 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:07.120 If the Lord of Armies had not left us a few survivors, we would be like Sodom. 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:10.080 We would resemble Gomorrah. 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:16.159 Lord, we're just seeking your help again because we need you. 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:18.479 The Spirit gives life. 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:19.840 We remind ourselves of that. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:25.599 So we're asking that the Spirit would give life even through these words of challenge today. 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:27.599 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:34.479 Great rebellion brings great suffering. 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:38.639 We see that throughout the pages of scripture. 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:44.159 Cain, the very first son, kills his brother Abel. 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:50.639 When the Lord banishes Cain, he says, This punishment is more than I can bear. 00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:57.280 Esau sought a wife among people that didn't know the Lord. 00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:05.039 And the Bible tells us in Genesis that the thing brought great grief to his parents. 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:07.759 Eli's sons rebelled. 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:09.759 They didn't listen to their father. 00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:16.719 And 1 Samuel chapter 2 tells us that it was the Lord's will to put them to death. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:21.759 Saul, the very first king in Israel, rebels against the Lord. 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:29.199 And 1 Samuel 15 tells us that rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft, and the kingdom is ripped away from him. 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:35.199 Great rebellion brings great suffering. 00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:48.479 Even the very first man and woman, Adam and Eve, they turn away from God, and the very ground that Adam is made from is cursed, and he's going to have to work it with thorns and thistles. 00:03:48.479 --> 00:03:59.520 Eve, so who was so wondrously created to be able to bring life from herself, now there's going to be pain in childbearing, she was created and brought from Adam's side. 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:07.039 There's going to be pain in their relationship, and the whole world is plunged into ruin because of their rebellion. 00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:13.599 Proverbs 17, 11 warns us: an evil person desires only rebellion. 00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:16.399 A cruel messenger will be sent against him. 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:21.040 Great rebellion brings great suffering. 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:27.120 As we enter the book of Isaiah, we find rebellious people. 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:28.879 Look at verse 2. 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:34.560 The Lord speaks there and says that he's raised Israel, that nation. 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:49.279 It says they'll be devoured by the sword. 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:56.639 Isaiah chapter 30, verse 1, the prophet there is going to pronounce a woe on rebellious children. 00:04:56.639 --> 00:05:00.240 Great rebellion brings great suffering. 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:06.160 Now I want to give a word of caution before I get into the meat of the message this morning. 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:12.639 Some of you probably already really like the theme of this sermon for someone else. 00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:16.720 You're like, great rebellion brings great suffering. 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:19.759 I don't care if it is the first day of children's Bible lesson. 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:20.879 My kids got to hear this. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:24.240 I'm going to go downstairs, pull them right out, and bring them back up for the sermon. 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:27.439 Great rebellion brings great suffering. 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:30.079 Oh boy, doesn't America need to hear that? 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:32.240 I don't even recognize it anymore. 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:33.839 Something's coming. 00:05:33.839 --> 00:05:37.519 Don't forget the old children's primer. 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:42.079 In Adam's Fall, we sinned all. 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:47.439 This passage should be reaching down into our hearts to each and every one of us. 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:51.439 Great rebellion brings great suffering. 00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:58.240 As we work through that theme from the text today, I've got four words that all begin with the letter R. 00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:01.199 So if that helps you, if you're taking notes, great. 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:09.600 But the words are relationship, rebellion, ruin, and remnant. 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:14.959 I'll say those again: relationship, rebellion, ruin, and remnant. 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:19.120 So we'll start with that first R word, relationship. 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:26.399 The word relationship helps us understand why the rebellion is so great. 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:31.360 The rebellion is great because of the relationship that's despised. 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:32.800 Look again at verse two. 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:42.319 The Lord speaks, I have raised children and brought them up, but they rebelled against me. 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:47.759 God calls the nation of Israel his children. 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:49.839 It's not the first time he's done that. 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:57.360 Back in Exodus chapter 4, he tells uh he tells Moses to go in and tell Pharaoh, let my people go. 00:06:57.360 --> 00:06:59.839 Israel is my firstborn son. 00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:06.319 In Deuteronomy chapter 14, verse 1, Scripture calls Israel sons of the Lord your God. 00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:08.720 Hosea chapter 11, verse 1. 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:11.040 When Israel was a child, I loved him. 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:13.759 Out of Egypt I called my son. 00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:18.959 So the nation of Israel in the Old Testament was God's son. 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:21.920 But who was Israel? 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:27.680 Well, well, they were, with all due respect, they were a nobody. 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:30.959 They weren't a great and powerful nation. 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:40.160 God took Abraham from a land of pagan worshipers, and God brought him out, and God made him his own. 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:54.000 So it's not like, you know, when you go to the pet store and you're going to adopt a dog, and there's all these mangy mutts growling at you, and then you see one dog with this shimmering coat and he's wagging his tail, and you're like, that's the one. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:57.680 Let's that wasn't how it was with Israel. 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:00.160 Deuteronomy 7, verse 6. 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:02.879 You're a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:05.120 The Lord chose you to be his own possession. 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:18.959 He set his heart on you and chose you not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest, but the because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore. 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:23.519 God loved Israel because he loved them. 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:24.959 They were his children. 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:36.559 In Ezekiel 16, there's a picture, it's a graphic picture of an infant abandoned by the side of the road, thrashing around in his own blood, and the Lord comes and cleans him up and takes him home. 00:08:36.559 --> 00:08:39.919 That's the picture of what happened with Israel. 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:48.799 So if we think not only that they're children, but who they're children of, they're children of the Almighty God. 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:52.960 It wasn't Egypt or some bigger nation that adopted them. 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:57.840 This is the God of heaven and earth who made everything in it. 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:00.559 He took them as his own. 00:09:00.559 --> 00:09:08.399 And it's not even just who their father is, God Almighty, it's how he has cared for them. 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:19.279 Again, verse 2 of Isaiah 1, God says, I have raised children and brought them up. 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:39.519 If Elon Musk went to some uh you know troubled orphanage and adopted a child, paid for a full-time nanny, a private school, left him half of his money in his will, say, well, that's that's pretty generous. 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:44.399 God did so much more than that for Israel. 00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:51.039 He didn't just make provision for them, he personally cared for them. 00:09:51.039 --> 00:10:00.399 He was their nursing mother, he was their tutor, he's the one who brought them out of Egypt with mighty outstretched arms. 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:03.360 He's the one that parted the sea when they're in the wilderness. 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:08.320 He's the one who sent manna from heaven and brought water from the rock when they came into Jericho. 00:10:08.320 --> 00:10:10.639 He's the one who put the walls down. 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:16.559 Over and over again, God is so tenderly caring for Israel. 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:26.399 And yet, and yet, it's a meager people and a mighty God. 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:37.039 The relationship is great, and that's what makes the rebellion so great because they despise that relationship. 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:43.360 And that helps us to understand also part of what made Adam and Eve's original sin so serious. 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:46.399 Sometimes we think, oh, well, they took a bite of the fruit. 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:52.799 I mean, okay, it was wrong, but really all this, it's not just that isolated act. 00:10:52.799 --> 00:11:03.279 It's that God had created them perfectly in a perfect environment, perfect inside and out, and they say no and they go their own way. 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:09.679 That brings us to the second, that second R word for today. 00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:14.320 Relationship, and then yes, rebellion. 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:24.320 Verse 2 God has raised these children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:27.519 Rebellion is foolish. 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:29.759 Look at verse number three. 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:31.120 There's a comparison here. 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:37.759 The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's feeding trough, but Israel does not know. 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:39.919 My people do not understand. 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:41.519 You hear the comparison? 00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:50.240 Even dumb brute animals are sensible enough to know who's the one who's feeding us, who's the one who's caring for us, will be responsible to them. 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:55.759 But even dumb brute animals are unlike, in this case, Israel. 00:11:55.759 --> 00:11:59.600 We've got these expressions today still, you dumb ox. 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:03.279 Or there's another word that's a King James word for Mule. 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:06.720 I won't use the word, but you can use your imagination. 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:09.600 But the point is, how could you be so stupid? 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:15.360 Israel, how could you be so foolish in light of all that's been given to you? 00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:17.360 But rebellion is foolish. 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:18.879 Our rebellion is foolish. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:20.159 Sin clouds our minds. 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:23.039 Ephesians 4 says we have futile thoughts. 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:24.960 We're darkened in our understanding. 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:28.399 We have hard hearts that result in ignorance in us. 00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:36.480 God is the wisest and most intelligent being in the universe. 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:42.080 He's also the being who is the most full of goodness. 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:55.679 So it's it's the height of folly for us not to listen to him, for us to think that we somehow know more than God or could act in a way that's better than God, or chart our own course. 00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:59.840 Proverbs 26, verse 11. 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:10.080 As a dog returns to its vomit, so also a fool repeats his foolishness. 00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:14.159 It's always wrong to rebel against God. 00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:20.320 Now, there's other authority figures, they're not all wise and all good. 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:26.799 It's usually wrong to rebel against parents, government bosses. 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:29.120 It usually brings suffering. 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:36.080 There may be times when they try to put themselves in the place of God, and we have to say, like Peter, we have to obey God rather than man. 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:44.080 But this passage is talking about rebellion against God Himself, and rebellion against God Himself is always wrong. 00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:45.120 Full stop. 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:47.919 Romans 1. 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:56.320 We heard from Romans 1 early in the service, but though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:10.799 Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened, claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles. 00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:18.240 Therefore, God delivered them over and the desires of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies were degraded among themselves. 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:26.720 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served what has been created instead of the Creator who is praised forever. 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:39.440 So Israel's sin is in some ways aggravated and unique because of the special opportunities they had, and we'll come back to that. 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:48.399 But it's a picture in some ways of the sin of humanity and the rebellion of all humanity. 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:54.639 It's foolish, and rebellions also here persistent. 00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:57.519 Verse number five of Isaiah one. 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:00.879 Why do you keep on rebelling? 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:06.000 The NIV there reads, why do you persist in rebellion? 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:14.320 Sadly, this is not Israel who's a well-behaved child and they have an off day and they decide to break curfew once. 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:15.919 That's not what's happening. 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:17.519 They rebel and rebel. 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:27.039 This is not like the kid who they're grouchy one day, they're a 12-year-old, they tell their parents, I hate you, I'm running away. 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:32.960 And then two blocks down the road, this was not a good idea. 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:34.879 I'm gonna go back home. 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:41.840 No sooner had Israel received the Sinai covenant than they'd created a golden calf. 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:47.600 How long had they been in the wilderness when they started saying, We like it better back in Egypt? 00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:52.879 They continually adopted the idols of the nations around them. 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:57.759 Moses, in one sense, saw this coming, Deuteronomy 31, 27. 00:15:57.759 --> 00:16:01.600 Moses says, I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. 00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:08.000 If you're rebelling against the Lord now, while I'm still alive, how much more will you rebel after I'm dead? 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:11.200 And he's right, it does get worse and worse. 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:14.480 As the centuries wear on, here's Jeremiah 19:5. 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:22.159 They've built high places to bail on which to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings, something I never commanded or mentioned. 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:24.960 I'd never entertained the thought. 00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:32.320 They've got a long-standing relationship, but there's a long-standing rebellion. 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:38.159 And here in Isaiah 1, the heavens and the earth are called to witness. 00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:51.840 Those are the same witnesses that were back in the covenant in Exodus and Deuteronomy, the covenant at Sinai, those same witnesses were invoked as the nation entered that covenant. 00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:59.200 And now those same witnesses are being invoked because they've broken that covenant time and time and time again. 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:02.879 They rebelled against their creator. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:06.960 Let me pause here and state a truth. 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:11.039 It's not the only truth from this passage, but it is a truth. 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:17.200 Perfect parenting cannot guarantee a good outcome for children. 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:22.960 Perfect parenting cannot guarantee a good outcome for children. 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:33.519 It is true that the Lord often uses the means of faithful parenting to work in the lives of children, but we have to be very careful not to absolutize that principle. 00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:44.880 Some of you have one or more children who are not walking with the Lord, and it's a grief to you, and you can be tempted to just blame yourself over and over and over again. 00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:50.720 Don't forget that the Lord is God and you're not. 00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:53.359 Yes, we could acknowledge our mistakes. 00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:55.519 It can be helpful to even share with other parents. 00:17:55.519 --> 00:18:02.079 We maybe could have done this or that, but we have to leave our children ultimately in the hands of God. 00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:07.839 And there might be other parents here who your children are walking with the Lord. 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:16.640 It could be a temptation for you to look around and say, maybe not out loud, but in your heart, well, of course their children aren't walking with God. 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:20.480 Look at all the things that we did that those parents didn't do. 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:23.119 Are you a better parent than God? 00:18:23.119 --> 00:18:28.960 Because it says here that God raised Israel and brought Israel up, but they rebelled. 00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:34.640 I dare say God was a perfect parent, far more perfect than any of us. 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:41.440 Young parents, uh, aspiring new couples. 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:47.920 It can be easy for you to also look at other parents and criticize. 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:51.680 Of course, their kids are so discouraged, they're nagging them all the time. 00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:57.359 We're gonna be sweet and loving with our children, and they'll respond with sweet and loving obedience. 00:18:57.359 --> 00:19:00.000 Course, their kids are bouncing off the wall. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:02.079 Parents never discipline those kids. 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:07.359 We're gonna discipline consistently, uh patiently, and our kids will see we're doing it for their good. 00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:09.519 And I'll I'll include single people here. 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:12.640 We're probably the best at criticizing parents, I admit it. 00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:15.680 It's one of our spiritual gifts, uh, if I do say so. 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:28.960 Friends, this passage shouldn't be driving us to guilt or to self-righteousness or to accusation, but to prayerfulness. 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:31.440 Lord, have mercy. 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:33.759 Lord, have mercy. 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:43.440 Great rebellion brings great suffering, and we need to make no mistake about it. 00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:47.119 Israel's rebellion is great, it's personal. 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:55.759 Sin isn't merely a misstep or a mistake, it's the transgression of the law of God, it's rebellion. 00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:58.079 Verse 4 brings this out so clearly. 00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:01.519 They've abandoned the Lord and turned their backs on him. 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:05.519 Isaiah calls God the Holy One of Israel. 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:09.119 That's a title that's gonna come up repeatedly throughout this book. 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:16.720 God's the holy one of Israel, but they're such unholy and rebellious people. 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:23.119 There's a tension and a collision point there that we're gonna come back to over and over again in this book. 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:29.279 Relationship, rebellion, and yes, that leads to ruin. 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:32.720 Verse five. 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:43.839 The whole heart is sick. 00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:47.839 This is a suffering that's both outside and inside. 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:51.279 It's going to affect every part of the nation. 00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:54.079 Israel's sin brings consequences. 00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:56.000 You reap what you sow. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:21:03.920 They had so much, they rebelled so highly, and now the ruin they experience is going to be great, and it's going to be painful. 00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:08.960 And we'll see those consequences spilling out in this passage and then throughout the book of Isaiah. 00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:15.759 The suffering we experience doesn't always stem from our own personal sin. 00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:22.240 But normally, our own personal rebellion does bring about suffering. 00:21:22.240 --> 00:21:25.279 And in verse five, God asked them this question. 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:28.400 It sounds like such a rhetorical question. 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:31.279 Why do you want more beatings? 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:35.680 But remember, rebellion is foolish. 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:46.480 And so the ruin that comes, the suffering that comes, is sometimes a lesson that's that's learned, but not really truly learned. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:48.720 Why do you want more beatings? 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:52.799 An earlier season of life, I was a summer camp counselor. 00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:54.079 Some of you know that. 00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:58.000 And um, now we we didn't beat the children. 00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:00.559 So some of you are like, where's this illustration going? 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:01.519 Okay, no. 00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:08.160 But I worked with elementary kids in a summer camp, and there was one boy, I'll call him Tommy, and he had a problem with his anger. 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:10.799 But he was in sixth grade, so he's one of the biggest kids. 00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:22.000 So there was never really an issue with the other kids because he was big, they couldn't do much of anything except sometimes give me this like panic look across the ball field that was like, Tommy's about to blow his top. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:24.720 We need some adult intervention as soon as possible. 00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:30.559 But then the next summer, he's no longer in the elementary camp, he's in the junior high and high school camp. 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:34.079 So now he's not one of the biggest kids, he's one of the smallest kids. 00:22:34.079 --> 00:22:36.799 I think you know where this illustration is going. 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:46.079 I was with a with a group of people that were on staff for a work thing, and I knew some of the staff in this other high school camp. 00:22:46.079 --> 00:22:47.680 I said, How's Tommy doing? 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:50.400 They said, Wow, we had an incident the other day. 00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:52.960 Uh we were playing a game, we look up. 00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:57.759 There's this other kid on top of Tommy straddling him, just punching him repeatedly in the face. 00:22:57.759 --> 00:23:00.400 This is like MMA before there's MMA. 00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:07.279 And they said, We go over, run over, pull the kid off, and Tommy's bawling, and we're like, What's going on? 00:23:07.279 --> 00:23:09.920 And the other kid said, Well, we're just playing dodgeball. 00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:12.000 I threw a ball, hit him for no reason. 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:14.000 He gets upset and comes over and punches me. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:16.400 So I tackled him, started punching him in the face. 00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:18.400 And I said, Well, what? 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:24.880 When his dad came to pick him up later that day and he had to explain the situation to Tommy's dad, what did his dad say? 00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:34.240 I said, Yeah, we were worried about that, but thankfully, you know, when we explained the situation, his dad said, Well, I hope you learned a lesson today. 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:42.559 Now, that's that's suffering from your own foolishness on a small scale. 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:49.200 But Israel's rebellion is on a on a great scale. 00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:57.599 When we sin against God, we're committing cosmic treason, as R. 00:23:57.599 --> 00:23:57.839 C. 00:23:57.839 --> 00:23:59.039 Sproull would say. 00:23:59.039 --> 00:24:10.799 Isaiah 59, verse 2 Your iniquities are separating you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not listen. 00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:18.000 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken lies, your tongues mutter injustice. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:27.759 No one makes claims justly, they trust in empty and worthless words, they conceive trouble and give birth to iniquity. 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:35.119 Here in Isaiah chapter 1, verse 6 says, No spot is uninjured. 00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:41.200 There are wounds and welts and festering sores from head to toe. 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:51.279 Job experienced that kind of suffering because it was God's mysterious will to allow him to experience that degree of suffering. 00:24:51.279 --> 00:25:01.440 Israel as a nation experienced that because of their own rebellion that brought this ruin on them. 00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:07.359 The fool says in his heart, there is no God. 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:11.359 But it always leads to suffering in the end. 00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:22.240 It might start off feeling like freedom, feeling like pleasure, but then you come at a certain point, and wouldn't it be God's mercy if it came in this life rather than the life to come? 00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:28.480 Where you wake up and you're with the hogs and you're looking around saying, Why did I leave my father? 00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:31.839 What have I done? 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:41.039 Our sin doesn't only bring ruin and suffering to ourselves, it affects other people. 00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:46.079 So here, Israel shares in a collective guilt. 00:25:46.079 --> 00:25:58.079 Even though not every single individual Israelite is rebelling to the same exact degree, they share in this collective guilt that's going to be affecting the entire nation. 00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:02.880 So verse 7 reminds us that the whole land is desolate. 00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:04.880 Multiple cities are burned down. 00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:08.799 Assyria's already come in in the north, laid waste to a lot. 00:26:08.799 --> 00:26:21.839 And Judah is left, this tribe in Jerusalem, and it's described here poignantly but heartbreakingly as a shack in a cucumber field. 00:26:21.839 --> 00:26:26.880 And Babylon's going to be coming for Judah and Jerusalem as well. 00:26:26.880 --> 00:26:35.039 Israel's suffering is magnified again because of that special covenant that they had with God. 00:26:35.039 --> 00:26:44.640 Their rebellion is all the more exacerbated because of the relationship and privileges they had. 00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:48.480 There's a comparison here at one point to Sodom and Gomorrah. 00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:53.839 And Sodom and Gomorrah were judged by the Lord righteously. 00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:56.559 They didn't have that special covenant that Israel had. 00:26:56.559 --> 00:27:04.400 So Israel's had more privilege, and yet their ruin is all the more great. 00:27:04.400 --> 00:27:20.799 We don't want to too quickly just equate the nation of Israel and America. 00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:26.640 God didn't come down to Mount Vernon and give George Washington two tablets of stone. 00:27:26.640 --> 00:27:29.759 He did do that with Israel. 00:27:29.759 --> 00:27:34.079 So, yes, Isaiah is going to prophesy against other nations as well. 00:27:34.079 --> 00:27:40.400 It's not irrelevant that we care for our country that we're living in and think about how we want our country to honor God. 00:27:40.400 --> 00:27:41.759 That's not irrelevant. 00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:49.599 But Israel had this special covenant with the Lord, and that's so important because it's going to bring heightened consequences. 00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:54.400 Relationship, rebellion, ruin. 00:27:54.400 --> 00:27:59.279 But there's another word, and that's the word remnant. 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:07.680 If you ask why great rebellion brings such great suffering, it's great rebellion because of the relationship. 00:28:07.680 --> 00:28:12.799 But thankfully, if you ask, is suffering the end of the story? 00:28:12.799 --> 00:28:15.440 Is there only ruin for Israel? 00:28:15.440 --> 00:28:18.640 You've talked about how we're all made in the image of God. 00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:20.799 We all owe God obedience and loyalty. 00:28:20.799 --> 00:28:25.200 Is only what's left for us suffering and ruin? 00:28:25.200 --> 00:28:28.319 No, there's this word remnant. 00:28:28.319 --> 00:28:30.799 Look again at verse number nine. 00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:39.359 If the Lord of armies had not left us a few survivors, we would be like Sodom. 00:28:39.359 --> 00:28:44.400 There's the example, parallel, we would resemble Gomorrah. 00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:49.759 He brought Law and his family out of Sodom and Gomorrah. 00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:51.680 He didn't leave other survivors. 00:28:51.680 --> 00:28:54.880 He let those civilizations become extinct. 00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:59.279 He could have done that with Israel, but he doesn't. 00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:01.759 He leaves survivors. 00:29:01.759 --> 00:29:10.000 Even though, in one sense, they're they're even less deserving of having survivors, he shows off his mercy. 00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:20.880 The remnant, this group that's left amidst all the death and destruction, is a testimony to the mercy of God. 00:29:20.880 --> 00:29:27.920 Is it a coincidence that there's still Jewish people alive today? 00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:30.799 No, it's not a coincidence. 00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:34.880 It's a testimony to the mercy of God. 00:29:34.880 --> 00:29:40.079 God preserves a remnant in order to show off his mercy. 00:29:40.079 --> 00:29:43.200 But there's something else about this remnant. 00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:46.079 And to see this, we need to turn over to Romans chapter 9. 00:29:46.079 --> 00:29:49.920 So please take your Bible and turn to Romans chapter 9. 00:29:49.920 --> 00:29:57.680 All of this suffering and devastation and destruction and ruin. 00:29:57.680 --> 00:30:02.240 But if you come out the other side, that's I can only mean one thing: great mercy. 00:30:02.240 --> 00:30:11.839 And in Romans chapter 9, Paul's going to quote from the passage we just have been looking at here in Isaiah chapter 1. 00:30:11.839 --> 00:30:13.599 And we want to look at that. 00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:18.079 Whenever the Bible quotes itself, we've got to consider that. 00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:20.240 I read some commentaries this week. 00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:21.200 They were helpful. 00:30:21.200 --> 00:30:23.039 They're not inspired. 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:25.920 Paul's inspired in Romans chapter 9. 00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:30.240 So when he quotes the Old Testament, we want to give special care and attention to it. 00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:33.119 Best way to interpret scripture is with Scripture. 00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:36.240 Romans 9, look at verse 29. 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:40.000 Apostle Paul's writing under inspiration of God. 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:49.920 He says, just as Isaiah predicted, if the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have become like Sodom. 00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:53.279 And we would have been made like Gomorrah. 00:30:53.279 --> 00:30:55.920 So he quotes the verse we just read. 00:30:55.920 --> 00:30:58.799 Why is Paul doing that? 00:30:58.799 --> 00:31:05.440 He's helping us understand more deeply this theology of the remnant. 00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:16.480 So in Isaiah 1, Assyria's come in, Babylon's coming in, a lot of people are going to die, there's going to be people taken captive, but God's going to leave survivors. 00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:19.599 There's going to be that physical remnant. 00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:26.400 But Paul is drawing out an additional purpose here in Romans 9. 00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:39.119 He's drawing out the reality that God preserves that physical remnant so that there can be a spiritual believing remnant. 00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:48.799 In Romans, Paul has been celebrating the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ, how he brings salvation to sinful people. 00:31:48.799 --> 00:31:53.839 Chapter 8, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ. 00:31:53.839 --> 00:31:56.880 But then he raises this question that someone might have. 00:31:56.880 --> 00:32:01.920 Seems like they're separated from God. 00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:04.799 What about God's promises to Israel? 00:32:04.799 --> 00:32:06.720 They're still rebelling against him. 00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:10.960 They, by and large, rejected his Messiah. 00:32:10.960 --> 00:32:16.319 And Paul says, but wait, don't think the word of God has failed. 00:32:16.319 --> 00:32:18.720 That's impossible for the word of God to fail. 00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:22.960 You need to understand better the theology of the remnant. 00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:33.279 It's always been God's purpose to preserve a believing remnant within the larger nation that rebels. 00:32:33.279 --> 00:32:39.039 That's what he's drawing out here for us in this section of scripture. 00:32:39.039 --> 00:32:47.119 It was never God's intention to save every single individual Israelite who had ever lived. 00:32:47.119 --> 00:33:00.720 But it was his intention throughout all those years to preserve a remnant, not just a remnant of physical survivors, but a remnant of God-fearing worshipers looking forward to the Messiah. 00:33:00.720 --> 00:33:02.720 Remember what Elijah said? 00:33:02.720 --> 00:33:04.720 Lord, I'm the only one left. 00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:12.079 And the Lord said to Elijah, I've left 7,000 who haven't bowed the knee to Baal. 00:33:12.079 --> 00:33:14.240 Ahab was an Israelite. 00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:19.920 He was not a part of the believing remnant, but there were 7,000 who hadn't bowed the knee to Baal. 00:33:19.920 --> 00:33:26.559 And Paul says, just at that time, as now, there's an election according to this remnant of grace. 00:33:26.559 --> 00:33:34.799 So we have people like our wonderful brother Arnie Epstein, part of the believing remnant. 00:33:34.799 --> 00:33:41.359 You could, you could, I don't know if Arnie's here today, but if you see him, at some point say, Thank you, Arnie, for remind us, God's faithful to his word. 00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:44.720 He's going to be saving Jewish people throughout the ages. 00:33:44.720 --> 00:33:50.000 There's this believing remnant, Paul says, so that God's word is indeed fulfilled. 00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:59.599 And yes, the remnant shows off God's mercy, but the remnant reminds us that it's God's purpose to bring about salvation. 00:33:59.599 --> 00:34:11.920 We need to keep giving the gospel to our Jewish friends, our neighbors, our companions. 00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:18.480 We're thankful that they can be kept alive as people, but we don't want to stop there. 00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:25.519 We want to be like Paul, who said, My heart's desire and prayer for them is that they might be saved. 00:34:25.519 --> 00:34:29.360 You're listening well. 00:34:29.360 --> 00:34:37.840 We're almost at the finish line here, but I want us to see finally how this draws us to Jesus Christ. 00:34:37.840 --> 00:35:00.719 So if you've been tracking with us so far, great suffering, a great rebellion brings great suffering, and you might say, okay, if rebellion brings suffering, if indeed rebellion deserves suffering, then I'm not understanding why there are survivors. 00:35:00.719 --> 00:35:10.800 I could see why God would judge everyone, but there's some survivors and there's some who are not survivors. 00:35:10.800 --> 00:35:13.519 I could understand God is God. 00:35:13.519 --> 00:35:18.480 If he wants to give this person a mansion, this person a medium size, that's his business. 00:35:18.480 --> 00:35:29.119 But it is he just kind of sweeping the rebellion under the rug to be able to look at rebellious people and say, Well, I'll have mercy on you. 00:35:29.119 --> 00:35:31.440 It seems like the rebellion is being minimized. 00:35:31.440 --> 00:35:34.159 How can the Holy One of Israel do that? 00:35:34.159 --> 00:35:38.480 He's not in any way minimizing rebellion. 00:35:38.480 --> 00:35:42.159 He's of purer eyes than to look on wickedness, scripture says. 00:35:42.159 --> 00:35:58.079 But how is it that God can say, not only you're part of my earthly family, nation of Israel, but to Jews and to people from every tribe and tongue and nation, he can say, you're part of my eternal spiritual family. 00:35:58.079 --> 00:36:10.320 The remnant receives salvation because they are united to Jesus Christ, who is the faithful Israelite Son. 00:36:10.320 --> 00:36:12.960 I'll say that again. 00:36:12.960 --> 00:36:23.840 The remnant receives salvation because they're joined, they're united to Jesus, who is the faithful Israelite son. 00:36:23.840 --> 00:36:33.199 Jesus suffered more than anyone has ever suffered, but not because of his own rebellion. 00:36:33.199 --> 00:36:37.440 Our iniquity was laid on him. 00:36:37.440 --> 00:36:44.800 Our rebellion was laid on him, that he might take the suffering and judgment on himself. 00:36:44.800 --> 00:36:53.679 Jesus, of all the children who have never ever lived, Christ never rebelled. 00:36:53.679 --> 00:37:10.239 And God takes the faithfulness of Jesus Christ and credits that to all who are joined to him. 00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:12.800