WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:04.240 Sacred Bible and go to Isaiah chapter 65. 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:07.120 Isaiah chapter 65. 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:17.679 There's some passages that hit us immediately. 00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:22.239 Strike out when we're not even ready necessarily to hear. 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:27.519 They don't give us time to gather ourselves or to prepare ourselves, they just simply speak. 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:30.160 And Isaiah 65 is one of those. 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:38.560 It opens with a voice that we're not expecting to hear, and before we decide what to do with it, is decided what to do with us. 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:43.759 Reminds me of a moment in the life of Augustine. 00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:59.439 Augustine tells in his confessions of a story in which he was in a garden in Milan, sitting there, very troubled about the life he was living, restless and unsettled, pacing around in circles, trying to figure everything out. 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:02.479 At that time, he wasn't seeking God. 00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:05.359 He wasn't even sure he wanted to, actually. 00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:15.519 And he's wrestling with himself and wrestling with those things that he can't make sense of that drive his desires and that are pulling him apart. 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:23.519 And right in the middle of that moment in that garden in Milan, he hears something and he can't explain it. 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:29.840 It comes from outside the garden wall, and it's the voice of a child. 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:33.599 And he doesn't recognize the child's voice. 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:37.040 He doesn't even recognize what the child is saying. 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:42.799 Tolaloge. 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:44.000 Tolelog. 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:47.120 Or lege, I should say. 00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:50.239 Take up and read. 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:52.879 What a weird thing to say. 00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:56.239 What a stranger thing for a child to say. 00:01:56.959 --> 00:02:02.079 And what an odd phrase that comes wafting over the wall into that garden of Milan. 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:06.000 The word startled Augustine. 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:09.439 Take up and read? 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:12.560 It doesn't fit anything. 00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:17.039 It didn't fit any child's game that he knew. 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:20.719 It didn't fit any discussion that he might have understood. 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:25.120 It just comes out of nowhere and it lands right in his ears. 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:28.879 What does it mean? 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:30.879 He couldn't tell. 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:32.719 But it shook him. 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:37.599 And there close to him was a copy of Scripture. 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:44.639 And so reluctantly he opens it up. 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:48.319 And he's like, I think I need to take this up and read it. 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:52.639 And he lands on Romans chapter 13. 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:56.479 And right there is his heart. 00:02:57.439 --> 00:03:08.719 All the things he had been wrestling with, all the things that had been disturbing him and disorienting him, are being exposed right in that passage. 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:21.120 And later he described that experience and he said to God, You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:27.759 This is what I think of when I think of Isaiah 65. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:29.680 Take a look at the first two verses. 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:34.719 I was sought by those who did not ask. 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:37.520 I was found by those who did not seek me. 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:44.719 I said, Here I am, here I am to a nation that did not call on my name. 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:54.879 Here's, like I said, a chapter that doesn't wait for us to begin searching, or for us to be spiritually alert or attentive. 00:03:55.680 --> 00:04:04.159 God here is saying that he's speaking into places that are not listening for him, that have grown accustomed to their own patterns. 00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:10.319 And when he speaks, as we'll find out, it's not only comforting, it's also unsettling. 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:18.000 It's going to name things that we wouldn't prefer to have named, and it will shine light in places we'd like to keep dim. 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:25.519 But it also blazes glorious light in places where we would long to see that light be. 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:35.120 So this morning, as we look at this passage, I'd like for us to hear those words tolalege, tolalege, that Augustine hurt. 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:36.319 Take up and read. 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:47.040 And may we not take it up reluctantly like he did at first, but may we take it up with amazement and reception as it speaks to us. 00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:53.120 The first thing I want us to hear, we're going to look at three points, is that God stands ready. 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:55.759 God stands ready. 00:04:56.720 --> 00:05:02.240 Verse 1, again, I was sought by those who did not ask. 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:05.360 I was found by those who did not seek me. 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:12.879 I said, Here I am, here I am to a nation that did not call on my name. 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:26.319 Now, when we step into this verse, we're stepping into God's answer to the prayer that started in chapter 63 and 64, where the people cried out, Where are you? 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:30.000 Why did you let us wander? 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:34.399 Are you ever going to restrain yourself more? 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:38.000 Why are you silent? 00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:49.920 Prayer full of longing and confusion, as we looked at it last week, and this coming out of this deep sense that God is far, far away. 00:05:51.279 --> 00:05:53.600 Life is a mess and it's trouble. 00:05:53.839 --> 00:05:56.079 And where are you, God? 00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:00.800 God doesn't explain his silence. 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:04.399 He actually reveals his presence. 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:08.639 He says, I've always been here. 00:06:09.839 --> 00:06:11.600 I've always been here. 00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:19.920 He gently towards to the people who are asking these questions, who are saying, Why aren't you speaking? 00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:24.319 And he responds and says, I've been calling. 00:06:25.600 --> 00:06:27.199 You just haven't been listening. 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:30.959 To these people who say, Why are you hidden? 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:33.279 And he's saying, I'm right here. 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:35.040 I'm right here. 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:39.680 Isaiah wants us to feel the weight of that. 00:06:41.279 --> 00:06:45.040 God is not responding to people who are seeking him with all his heart. 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:47.839 He's stepping into people's lives when they aren't listening. 00:06:51.120 --> 00:07:06.800 What's so sad about this passage, and we'll see this in a moment, it's talking to people who have become so accustomed to their patterns, so used to their spiritual drift, that they couldn't recognize the Lord even when he did speak to them. 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:09.360 It's sad. 00:07:10.879 --> 00:07:18.959 But what the Lord is telling us in essence here is that he is ready to be found by people who are not ready to be found by him. 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:26.399 It shows something of the generosity of his heart, of his ability to move in grace to those who ignore him. 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:34.399 He's the one who speaks first, he's the one that steps forward first, and he's the one who finds them when they're not even crying out. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:37.439 To reshape their lives. 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:42.079 Now, a lot of us in this room can look back on that, right? 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:50.319 And we can see those moments when God invaded our lives with grace and mercy when we weren't seeking Him. 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:56.000 Life was full, thought it was great. 00:07:56.319 --> 00:08:00.639 Our responsibilities we took care of, our family we loved. 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:09.600 We weren't asking spiritual questions until something unexpected found us. 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:16.720 A conversation, a moment of clarity, a word from a friend. 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:29.839 I was in a bar in Plattsburgh, New York, sitting next to a friend named Chuck, who's still a friend, by the way, who sends me crazy things on Facebook from time to time. 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:36.399 And I look over at him and I'm saying, Chuck, why aren't you drinking tonight? 00:08:36.960 --> 00:08:38.639 I started going to a church. 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:43.360 You could have pushed me over with just a finger. 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:44.879 I'm like, what? 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:48.000 You guys know what that's like. 00:08:48.799 --> 00:09:05.440 All of a sudden, that one single moment, unexpectedly, completely out of the blue, you have no idea what it is, and there it is, that single moment when you're like, God is here. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:24.480 There's others, and I'm grateful that you have this experience, not the kind I had, where you've grown up in church, but sometimes church is just part of the fabric of your life and your routines, and you're not tuned into it at all. 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:31.519 You're going on, and then all of a sudden there's that one sermon that just lands completely differently. 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:34.639 And you're thinking, I'm listening now. 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:44.240 Or that time when a friend reaches out and you realize that it's the extension of God's loving arm when that friend spoke to you. 00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:56.000 Or a passage that you've read and you've ignored a hundred thousand times, and then all of a sudden, there it is, staring at you, and it awakens you. 00:09:56.799 --> 00:09:57.759 What is that? 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:01.519 I was heard by a people who were not seeking me. 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:02.879 That's what that is. 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:15.440 Maybe you're here today and you said the last thing on earth I thought about doing today was going to church, but here you are. 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:27.919 On September 4th, 1983, walking out of my barracks room, and there's Chuck in the hallway saying, You're gonna come to a church with me today? 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:31.279 That was the last place I woke up, I thought about when I woke up. 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:35.200 And I look at him and I say, Well, okay, let me get my clothes on. 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:37.279 And I go to church. 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:38.480 Maybe you're here today. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:44.320 Maybe for the first time in your life, you're listening to God's word. 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:55.360 It's not something you've sought, but now you realize he's got your attention and he wants to say something to you. 00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:04.000 These are the kind of moments Isaiah is describing here, and we'll see how that fleshes out even more as we go forward. 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:30.399 When we look back, we get better understanding and we realize those those are the those are the moments, those are the cross crossroad places of my life that seemed so insignificant at the time, but were absolutely life-changing, that weren't anticipated at all, but brought me into an altering, eternally transforming moment. 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:48.000 And when we look back and see that happening, it should comfort our hearts in the realization that that isn't about how good we've become for God to accept us, but to recognize it's never been about that at all, anyway. 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:55.279 It's been about a God who reaches out in mercy, even to those who aren't asking for it. 00:11:57.120 --> 00:11:58.799 But Isaiah doesn't stop there. 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:01.039 We need to progress through this. 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:11.440 He now turns to people whose voice, his voice is still distant, not because he's silent, but because they've closed their ears to him. 00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:20.480 So not only does he stand ready, but he also stands against, against those who refuse him. 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:25.440 And here we get into a section of this passage that is rather striking. 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:40.399 We've just seen God's hands outstretched, his posture open, his invitation ready, his mercy extended all day long, but they don't want to turn toward it. 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:42.799 They want to keep moving down the wrong direction. 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:50.799 And in these verses that we'll look at, we'll see the indictment and the implication that God provides these people. 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:54.080 We'll begin with the indictment in verse 2. 00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:55.279 Let's take a look at it. 00:12:56.639 --> 00:13:07.120 I spread out my hands all day long to a rebellious people who walk in the path that is not good, following their own thoughts. 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:13.039 For the people of Israel, this was a direct confrontation. 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:30.639 These were people being talked to by their covenant God, who had rescued them, who had given them promises, who had instructed them, who had warned them not to be in the place that they're at. 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:36.639 And he says he's been standing there with outstretched arms. 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:48.559 And they just simply walked by it like they didn't even see his reach, following their own thoughts. 00:13:50.320 --> 00:14:03.120 He said, These are people whose lives are shaped by their own instincts rather than my revelation, whose habits are reflecting the values of the surrounding world rather than the revelation of my person. 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:18.720 Ignoring God, ignoring his counsel, ignoring his invitations, and even ignoring his warnings, building their entire spiritual world in direct contradiction to God. 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:24.159 And the indictment lays that out really clearly. 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:26.000 Take a look at verse 3. 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:46.159 These people continually anger me to my face, sacrificing in gardens, burning incense on bricks, sitting among the graves, spending night in secret places, eating the meat of pigs and putting polluted broth in their bowls. 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:51.519 Wow, the indictment is striking. 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:57.360 Now, these things seem a little odd to us, especially those of us who like bacon. 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:10.960 But there's something about how treacherous these practices are, because every one of them is a direct violation to God's covenant stipulations to them as a special people. 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:18.480 They sacrifice in the gardens, the places God forbade them to make those sacrifices. 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:23.200 They burn incense on bricks, rituals borrowed from pagan idolatry. 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:41.200 They sit among the graves and spend nights in secret places talking about their love of the occult, of trying to get a word of wisdom from the diviners and the soothsayers, eating the meat of pigs and polluting broth in their bowls. 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:48.799 These are not missteps, these are egregious and deliberate violations of God's law. 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:56.320 And Isaiah wants them to see something that's even more sobering than that. 00:15:57.279 --> 00:15:59.279 Take a look at the next verse. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:07.840 They say, Keep to yourself, don't come near me, for I am too holy for you. 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:10.240 Wow. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:17.679 These are people who are living in open rebellion to God's word. 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:25.039 At the very same time, they're claiming a superior holiness to other people. 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:28.799 What a contradiction. 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:36.159 It's deceived self-righteousness wearing the clothes of devotion. 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:42.240 And they think that their practices are legitimate. 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:56.240 They have wandered so far from God and have so closed their ears to hearing Him that they can no longer tell the difference between worship and idolatry. 00:16:56.960 --> 00:17:01.440 They can no longer tell the difference between devotion and rebellion. 00:17:01.759 --> 00:17:07.839 They can no longer tell the difference between the voice of God and the voice of their own desires. 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:15.440 God wants us to feel the weight of that too. 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:23.279 He wants us to see that sin left unchallenged will cause us to drift. 00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:28.799 And that drift will harden and blind as it grows. 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:41.519 And it will harden and blind so much so that we can have a spiritual life that feels sincere and be in direct rebellion against God Himself. 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:45.519 And all the while thinking, wasn't that a great worship experience? 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:55.920 God warns us to listen. 00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:02.960 Paul understood the dynamic of this, and he speaks about it in a developmental way in Romans chapter 10. 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:06.480 He looks at his own people in his generation. 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:20.240 People who had the scriptures, people who had the covenants, people who had the promises, people who had had the reception of the Messiah himself, and he sees in Isaiah 65 the tragedy that Isaiah saw in his generation. 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:29.359 Many of Paul's fellow Jewish people, as he was, were zealous, devout, sincere. 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:34.640 But their sincerity of religion was not submission to God. 00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:37.119 It was actually self-righteousness. 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:42.799 Their devotion wasn't an expression of love and attachment to God. 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:49.920 It was actually denial of Him. 00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:52.319 Their worship was not genuine. 00:18:54.319 --> 00:18:58.640 And Paul in Romans chapter 10 explains the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:02.319 He explains its growth and its development in the world. 00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:10.400 And he talks about whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, for the same Lord is rich over all to Jew and to Gentile. 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:14.400 Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:18.000 And he talks about that message going forth. 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:22.000 And he says, faith comes from what is heard. 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:32.160 Have they not heard? 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:34.799 Yes, they did. 00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:36.799 He says in Romans 10. 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:43.119 The voice has gone out to the whole earth, and the words to the end of the world. 00:19:43.359 --> 00:19:46.640 But I ask again, and Paul brings in that question again. 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:48.480 Did they not understand? 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:58.319 First, Moses said, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation, and I'll make you angry by a nation that lacks understanding. 00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:05.519 And Isaiah says boldly, I was found by those who were not looking for me. 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:09.599 I revealed myself to those who were not asking. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:20.000 But to Israel, he said, All day long have I held out my hands to a disobedient and defiant people. 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:25.920 Paul looks around him and he sees things happening. 00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:32.160 He sees Gentiles, people who are not seeking God, turning to Christ in joy. 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:42.880 And he sees the people who are expecting the Messiah and waiting for him and letting Jesus walk right by them without saying, that's the one. 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:48.960 Who have every advantage but are refusing the gospel. 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:56.079 And so he uses Isaiah 65 and verse 1 and says, Those are the Gentiles. 00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:00.000 I was heard by a people who were not listening. 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:07.759 And he uses verse 2 and says, Those are my fellow countrymen. 00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:15.599 God has been stretching out his hands all day long to them, and they haven't responded. 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:24.799 He's put the voice of his wondrous grace in the Messiah out there, and they have not opened their ears. 00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:29.119 What does Paul say? 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:31.519 What does Isaiah say? 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:40.960 It is possible to be deeply religious and deeply defiant against God at the same time. 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:54.319 You've got your truth, I've got my truth, you've got your way, as long as we're all just sincere. 00:21:54.640 --> 00:21:57.119 Because really it's sincerity that matters. 00:21:57.759 --> 00:21:58.160 Yeah. 00:21:58.319 --> 00:22:01.039 Have you asked God whether that's Right or not? 00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:06.000 Because here he says it isn't right. 00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:11.519 It's actually defiance, not sincerity, that you're practicing in your worship time. 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:17.200 And it's not just an out there problem either. 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:25.920 There are people in churches today who live in patterns of sin just as sensuous and serious as what Isaiah describes here. 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:34.880 Patterns of behavior, while they're singing about the marriage supper of the Lamb, they're doing things that are destroying their own marriages. 00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:43.119 Who are saying, I love the God who cannot lie, but then they're distorting the truth with their neighbor. 00:22:45.359 --> 00:23:02.400 Who are saying, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner, and then they step all over vulnerable people in their business decisions, who violate the holiness of God and yet see themselves as faithful Christians. 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:27.359 Speaking the language of devotion, practicing the rhythms of worship, assuming they're walking with God, people today who are rewriting moral boundaries in order to accommodate their personal desires, reshaping scripture to fit their life choices rather than their choices being fit by what Scripture says. 00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:47.599 Who's saying that the things that they're doing are simply their ability to have freedom or they're just showing their authenticity and using that as a cloak for their disobedience, or speaking of grace and love and peace to defend what they're doing rather than naming it what God says. 00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:49.680 It's destructive and sin. 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:59.359 People who cloak greed or lust or gossip under the veneer of Christian respectability. 00:24:01.039 --> 00:24:06.960 Learn how to appear righteous and yet nurture patterns that contradict everything God says. 00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:15.920 And it's not just in the pews, it's in the pulpit, all over the place. 00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:26.480 Pastors who use their sexual their spiritual authority to manipulate vulnerable women, who frame sexual sin as caring for the shepherd. 00:24:27.359 --> 00:24:29.680 Or we have some special connection. 00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:31.440 God has brought two hearts together. 00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:35.839 How horrible and horrific that is. 00:26:08.799 --> 00:26:12.960 Look, look, look, it's written in front of me, I will not keep silent. 00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:13.920 I will repay. 00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:15.680 I will repay them fully. 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:26.160 For your iniquities and the iniquities of your ancestors together, says the Lord, because they burned incense on the mountains and reproached me on the hills, I will reward them fully for their former deeds. 00:26:26.880 --> 00:26:34.720 So now in verses 11 to 15, God unpacks what that chosen path of rebellion leads to. 00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:37.279 And what is he doing? 00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:52.880 He's using very stark language, very, very startling language to break through the illusion that you can be self-righteous and refuse God and still be blessed. 00:26:54.720 --> 00:27:03.519 To show us that the consequences of turning from God are not just abstracts, they're personal, they're devastating, and they're real. 00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:18.720 And he presses this down on us so that we might be awake, that we might be prompted to repentance, lest we be crushed by the judgment that this speaks about. 00:27:19.519 --> 00:27:23.519 And just look at the verses, verse 12, all the way through 15. 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:33.039 I will destine you for the sword, and all you will kneel down to be slaughtered, because I called and you did not answer. 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:35.119 I spoke and you did not hear. 00:27:35.359 --> 00:27:39.440 You did what was evil in my sight and chose what I did not delight in. 00:27:39.680 --> 00:27:42.000 Therefore, this is what the Lord says. 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:49.519 And then in verse 13, he says, You're going to be hungry, you're going to be thirsty, you're going to be put to shame. 00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:56.240 In verse 14, you're going to cry out with a broken spirit and heart. 00:27:56.960 --> 00:28:03.200 In verse 15, you will leave your name behind as a curse for my chosen ones. 00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:07.039 And then it ends up, the Lord God will kill you. 00:28:11.200 --> 00:28:20.880 All of this to words, to people who are assuming that the direction of their life doesn't matter. 00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:33.279 That God will always be there to bless, that God will always be there to comfort, that God will always be there to affirm, no matter how far they've drifted away. 00:28:36.400 --> 00:28:40.640 Isaiah says those assumptions are deadly. 00:28:42.160 --> 00:28:43.519 That's poison. 00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:54.799 Because a life that continually pushes God away is going to discover that they're not able to find any of the things that they had hoped for. 00:28:55.039 --> 00:29:00.960 Because the ultimate end will be no peace, no joy, no stability, no identity, no life. 00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:01.680 None. 00:29:04.799 --> 00:29:13.039 And that heart that started out refusing God's voice becomes a heart that can't hear God's voice. 00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:21.039 But one day that voice will break through the deafness and silence. 00:29:21.279 --> 00:29:23.759 And it will not be a word of welcome. 00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:26.559 It will be barren and bitter. 00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:32.960 These are hard, hard words. 00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:39.519 But they are the consequences of refusing God that finally lands in ultimate judgment. 00:29:41.119 --> 00:30:05.440 It begins with the slow erosion of the soul, the quiet hardening of the heart, the gradual loss of spiritual appetites, the growing inability to recognize God's voice, and the voice of your own desires, and the call of the people outside begins to speak louder to you than that, and then you eventually end up here. 00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:07.039 Right here. 00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:20.240 Simply to scare, but to awaken. 00:30:24.559 --> 00:30:27.039 To bring us to the end of ourselves. 00:30:28.720 --> 00:30:33.200 For us to say, you know, what am I doing? 00:30:33.599 --> 00:30:35.839 Why am I not listening to him? 00:30:38.319 --> 00:30:40.960 Thankfully, this is not the end of this story here. 00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:47.920 Because we've skipped over a little section and we've entered into a part that we've emphasized only half of. 00:30:48.640 --> 00:30:50.720 It tells something else. 00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:58.640 And it goes back to those first words in verse 1 of this God who says, Here I am. 00:30:59.279 --> 00:31:00.160 Here I am. 00:31:01.680 --> 00:31:15.119 And he shows us here that God not only stands ready to receive, he's ready to reward all those who are his. 00:31:17.759 --> 00:31:18.960 Take a look at verse 8. 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:22.160 And listen to it now. 00:31:23.359 --> 00:31:35.920 The Lord says this as the new wine is formed in a bunch of grapes, and one says, Don't destroy it, for there's some good in it, so will act because of my servants and not destroy them all. 00:31:36.559 --> 00:31:40.559 I will produce descendants from Jacob and heirs to my mountain from Judah. 00:31:40.799 --> 00:31:44.960 My choice ones will possess it, and my servants will dwell there. 00:31:46.960 --> 00:31:55.359 God now turns our attention to his mercy, mercy, that he is going to act even amongst those who are not paying attention to him. 00:31:57.039 --> 00:32:06.640 And he draws an understanding from an imagery in a vineyard about a worker who's about to discard a cluster of grapes because, well, it just looks ruined. 00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:13.440 And someone says to that worker who's about to throw those grapes away, saying, Look, don't destroy those. 00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:15.759 Give them here. 00:32:15.839 --> 00:32:17.200 There's still something good in that. 00:32:19.519 --> 00:32:22.240 And God says that's how He's going to deal with Judah. 00:32:23.119 --> 00:32:26.799 He's not going to utterly crush the people. 00:32:27.680 --> 00:32:32.640 He's not going to leave them utterly left dead in the wasteland. 00:32:34.559 --> 00:32:36.799 He's going to do something there. 00:32:37.440 --> 00:32:50.720 He's going to take people from what looks like a ruined bunch of grapes, and he's going to make sure that they're alive, that some of them are still responsive, that some of them are still capable of bearing fruit. 00:32:51.839 --> 00:32:56.799 And to those, he's going to protect and keep. 00:32:57.680 --> 00:33:06.559 And in verse 9, he talks about bringing forth descendants from Jacob and heirs of my mountains from Judah and his choice ones possessing it. 00:33:07.279 --> 00:33:07.839 What is this? 00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:13.119 This is language of God's promise of his covenant keeping promises. 00:33:13.759 --> 00:33:20.400 And what he's saying here is he's not simply preserving individuals, he's preserving his promise. 00:33:22.160 --> 00:33:27.359 He's safeguarding the line through which his purposes will come to final completion. 00:33:28.480 --> 00:33:56.960 And even though the nation of Judah is bleak and worthy of judgment, even though they have nothing to offer and have not been listening to him for generations, he's going to keep a remnant among them, to keep the line of his promises intact, so that his redemptive plan will continue to move forward. 00:34:03.200 --> 00:34:14.000 Because here we see that this remnant theme is not just a side note in a poetic expression, but it is the theme that carries the story of Israel forward into the New Testament. 00:34:14.960 --> 00:34:18.239 Because God keeps his people alive and preserves them. 00:34:19.119 --> 00:34:23.199 And from those preserved people will come their Messiah. 00:34:24.239 --> 00:34:25.840 And some of them will believe. 00:34:26.880 --> 00:34:36.480 And the remnant that will receive this Redeemer will also be those who will open the doors to the nations that they might believe. 00:34:38.480 --> 00:34:42.639 And this is why Paul reached for Isaiah 65 in Romans chapter 10. 00:34:43.519 --> 00:34:46.320 I was found by those who did not seek me. 00:34:47.440 --> 00:34:53.599 Even among the Jewish people as well as among the Gentile people. 00:34:54.800 --> 00:34:58.000 Because God here is saying he's going to keep his promise. 00:34:59.440 --> 00:35:02.880 He's going to be found by people who aren't thinking about him right now. 00:35:03.519 --> 00:35:11.280 He's going to give mercy that will guard the remnant in order to give mercy to an unseeking world. 00:35:13.760 --> 00:35:18.079 And then he talks about how delightful that's going to be in verses 13 and 14. 00:35:20.320 --> 00:35:22.320 My servants will eat. 00:35:23.199 --> 00:35:25.360 My servants will drink. 00:35:26.239 --> 00:35:28.639 My servants will rejoice. 00:35:29.280 --> 00:35:33.119 My servants will shout for joy from a glad heart. 00:35:34.719 --> 00:35:36.880 Some people are going to do that today during the Super Bowl. 00:35:37.920 --> 00:35:41.599 They're going to eat, they're going to drink, they're going to rejoice, and they're going to shout for joy. 00:35:41.840 --> 00:35:44.079 Especially if you're a Patriots fan, right, Royal? 00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:48.719 She's the only one in the room who's a Patriots fan. 00:35:52.800 --> 00:35:54.880 She's already talking new dynasty. 00:35:57.760 --> 00:35:59.920 Now these are simple images, right? 00:36:00.079 --> 00:36:07.280 And we could put them into the framework as something as really as unimportant in the big sphere of things as a Super Bowl. 00:36:08.239 --> 00:36:10.639 Eating, drinking, rejoicing, shouting. 00:36:10.880 --> 00:36:12.719 We could do that this afternoon. 00:36:13.760 --> 00:36:19.280 But this isn't just because they're simple and familiar words to us, they speak of something far better. 00:36:20.719 --> 00:36:25.039 My servants will eat, my servants will drink, my servants will rejoice, my servants will shout. 00:36:26.239 --> 00:36:27.360 Why are they shouting? 00:36:27.519 --> 00:36:31.679 Why are they eating and drinking in gladness and delight and joy? 00:36:32.159 --> 00:36:33.760 Because their sins are forgiven. 00:36:34.800 --> 00:36:36.960 Because they're restored to God. 00:36:37.519 --> 00:36:39.280 Because they're now His. 00:36:40.719 --> 00:36:42.400 This is not a shallow joy. 00:36:42.480 --> 00:36:47.599 This is a shout of people who deserve judgment, who have been preserved and welcomed. 00:36:49.199 --> 00:36:51.039 And he goes on in verse 15. 00:36:53.519 --> 00:36:59.039 He said, I will give, he will give his servants another name. 00:36:59.440 --> 00:37:00.400 Another name. 00:37:03.599 --> 00:37:07.440 These are people whose identities have now been changed. 00:37:08.559 --> 00:37:13.599 Shaped not by their failures, but by God's faithfulness and his grace. 00:37:15.119 --> 00:37:21.039 Their old name, one that was tied to rebellion, it's not going to define them anymore. 00:37:21.360 --> 00:37:23.119 God's going to give them a new name. 00:37:25.519 --> 00:37:27.199 And he himself will name them. 00:37:28.400 --> 00:37:35.760 And he wants them to know that his relationship to them is not reflective of what they were in the past, but reflective on who he is and his grace. 00:37:36.400 --> 00:37:37.840 This is the new name. 00:37:39.519 --> 00:37:44.239 And Isaiah just drops this in as a seed of thought here. 00:37:44.800 --> 00:37:50.239 But when we get to the New Testament, Jesus talks about having his people and calling them out by name. 00:37:51.119 --> 00:37:55.679 And Paul talks about people being part of a new creation, and all things are new. 00:37:55.840 --> 00:37:57.760 Something's different about all of us. 00:37:58.559 --> 00:38:02.320 And then Peter talks about us being a people for God's possession. 00:38:03.119 --> 00:38:14.960 And then it culminates in the book of Revelation in Revelation 2.17, where Jesus speaks and he says, I will give them a white stone, and on that stone a new name. 00:38:16.320 --> 00:38:25.360 And then in chapter 3 and verse 12, I will write on him the name of my God and my new name. 00:38:33.280 --> 00:38:36.320 And they're going to be identified as his. 00:44:00.239 --> 00:44:01.039 Lord, where are you? 00:44:02.000 --> 00:44:03.440 Why are you silent? 00:44:04.800 --> 00:44:06.239 Remember God's answer. 00:44:07.519 --> 00:44:08.159 Here I am. 00:44:09.519 --> 00:44:10.159 Here I am. 00:44:13.039 --> 00:44:25.920 If he was a God who made his voice be heard in your heart when you weren't seeking him, you don't need to doubt if his ears are toward you now that you're one of his. 00:44:28.079 --> 00:44:30.000 You don't have to cry, where are you? 00:44:32.159 --> 00:44:36.960 You can say, My troubles have so overwhelmed me, I'm not sure I can listen well. 00:44:37.679 --> 00:44:40.400 But you never have to say in truth, where are you? 00:44:41.039 --> 00:44:42.000 Because he's here. 00:44:49.039 --> 00:44:53.280 Certainly he can speak into the places of your weakness and your thirst and your hunger. 00:44:56.079 --> 00:44:59.519 He can speak into your uncertainties. 00:45:00.239 --> 00:45:01.679 He can speak into your pain. 00:45:06.079 --> 00:45:22.960 If you're here this morning and you're and God forbid, one of the ones who's just making a show of being here, I have to warn you the way Isaiah warned, that end is destruction. 00:45:24.559 --> 00:45:28.960 This is no place to be playing games with God or with God's people. 00:45:34.239 --> 00:45:44.880 And if you're here this morning and you're saying, I feel like Augustine sitting in a garden in Milan and hearing the words tolalegay, tolalegay, take up and read. 00:45:45.039 --> 00:45:46.639 I wasn't expecting to hear anything. 00:45:46.800 --> 00:45:50.320 I just showed up because a friend yanked me here, and now I'm listening. 00:45:50.480 --> 00:45:51.280 What's going on? 00:45:52.800 --> 00:45:54.000 Think of it this way. 00:45:56.719 --> 00:45:59.920 This might just seem like another day on your calendar at the moment. 00:46:01.199 --> 00:46:08.159 But maybe in a week or a month or a year, you'll look back and say, that was the day that changed my whole life. 00:46:08.880 --> 00:46:18.960 When God's word broke in, and I finally heard him, and I heard him say, Come unto me and I will give you rest. 00:46:20.239 --> 00:46:25.199 And I finally wanted him to be the one who does. 00:46:27.199 --> 00:46:28.320 Listen to him. 00:46:29.840 --> 00:46:34.239 Listen to him when it's pleasant, listen to him when it's painful. 00:46:35.119 --> 00:46:36.960 Listen to him when it's comfortable. 00:46:37.760 --> 00:46:39.920 Listen to him when it makes you squirm. 00:46:41.199 --> 00:46:43.280 But don't ever close your ears to him. 00:46:44.239 --> 00:46:48.400 Because if you close them now, you may never be able to hear it again. 00:46:49.119 --> 00:46:49.920 Listen to him. 00:46:50.719 --> 00:46:51.360 Let's pray. 00:46:57.360 --> 00:47:03.440 Oh Father, thank you for these words that come to us this morning. 00:47:05.039 --> 00:47:16.719 Words that have been written nearly 3,000 years ago, and yet are as contemporary as today's news. 00:47:18.719 --> 00:47:20.400 And much, much more important. 00:47:21.760 --> 00:47:28.320 Father, thank you that you're a God who is found by those who do not seek. 00:47:29.840 --> 00:47:33.599 And that you say, Here I am, to people who are not calling on you. 00:47:35.519 --> 00:47:42.880 Father, we don't want to be those who are passing by your outstretched arms and to walk in a path that's not good. 00:47:44.159 --> 00:47:47.679 We want to be those who are embraced by those outstretched arms. 00:47:47.760 --> 00:47:48.880 And so, Lord, we come. 00:47:49.760 --> 00:47:53.599 And we say, Lord, help us to hear better, to hear you. 00:47:55.519 --> 00:48:05.920 Father, I pray that what we've heard today will bring, as you design it, comfort to those who need comforting, distress who are too comfortable. 00:48:07.760 --> 00:48:11.599 And Lord, truth to those whose eyes are filled with falsehood. 00:48:12.719 --> 00:48:21.360 But bring security to the troubled, those who are wondering, Father, whether you could ever love them. 00:48:22.639 --> 00:48:43.760 We pray that it will be words that will give their hearts rest, renewal and hope, security and safety, life and vitality, as they find their days anchored in the promises that you grant here, that if they come to you, they will be a part of that new heaven and new earth. 00:48:44.559 --> 00:48:53.360 And they will be part of that experience where the past events come to their end and the newness opens up into everlasting joy. 00:48:54.400 --> 00:48:56.000 Father, cause them to see that. 00:48:56.880 --> 00:48:59.519 The sound of weeping and crying will no longer be heard. 00:49:00.480 --> 00:49:00.960 One day.