type: Sermon Manuscript\

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Take your Bibles with me and turn to Isaiah chapter 1. Last week we looked at an introduction to this book of Isaiah. We talked about the times that Isaiah was living in and the ministry that God gave him. Tonight we're going to get into chapter 1, which is really almost like a preface to the book.

As you're turning to chapter 1, I want you to consider a hypothetical with me.

In the business world you have something called annual reviews. Annual reviews start with a self-assessment. You start by writing a summary of how you thought you did this year.

Then your manager reads your self-assessment and gives his assessment of how you did this year.

Now I want you to picture this: you're the manager of somebody and they're terrible. They are on the verge of getting fired because they're just not doing their job very well. They're causing problems in the office and they're not getting their work done. When they do get their work done, it isn't up to your quality standards. They are not taking instruction very well and you're frustrated with this employee.

But then you read their self-assessment and you're like, "Are we talking about the same person?" In their self-assessment they talk about how great an employee they are, how they are beloved by everybody in the office, and how they're not just getting all their work done amazingly but also doing other people's work as well.

And you look at your assessment of this person and you look at their assessment of themselves and it doesn't match at all.

One of the hardest things to do is to help people who are self-deluded. To help people who are delusional and think they're okay, who think they don't need help.

It's very hard to offer a cure to people that don't think they're sick. You can't coach people who already think they're God's gift to the team.

And what those people need is somebody to break through their self-delusion. What they need is to see themselves as they really are.

Now in our passage today God is giving Judah a wake-up call. He is showing them how He sees them. And it isn’t pretty.

But it’s a much worse form of self-delusion than the annual review I talked about.

Look at Isaiah 1:2

[2] Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
Isaiah 1:2 (KJV)

What you see in Isaiah 1 is worse because the scene is different: in chapter 1 God is taking Judah to court - the heavens are the jury, and He is the prosecutor and the judge. Judah is the one on trial.

It’s worse because Judah isn’t guilty of being a bad employee, they are guilty of being continually rebellious to God, of being idolatrous and having blood on their hands.

And it’s worse because God isn’t planning on firing or demoting Judah. He’s not talking about a bad review. He’s talking about a judgment they will not survive as they are—either they take the washing He offers, or He purges them with fire.

So chapter one is God's case against Judah. In verses 2-20 God gives His honest assessment of his people. Then in verses 21-31 God gives His plan for fixing them.

We will read the whole chapter, but we are going to read it piece by piece as we go through it.

Let’s pray and we’ll get into the message.

{Pray}

We're going to start tonight by looking at...

1. God’s case against his people (2-20)

There are accusations that God the prosecutor makes against Judah in this chapter.

The first is

A. They are stupid and stubborn (2-4)

Look at verses 2-5 with me:

[2] Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
[3] The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
[4] Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
[5] Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
Isaiah 1:2-5 (KJV)

In Deuteronomy 21, God gave a very unusual instruction to His people. He said that if a father and mother have a son who is really bad—who refuses to listen to them, who is a glutton and a drunkard and a rebel—they can bring him before the elders, make their case, and the elders may choose to stone him.

I don't imagine that happened very often because that had to be a heart-rending thing to do. A last resort kind of thing to do.

In our text tonight God is bringing his rebellious son named Judah before the elders of the heavens and letting them know how bad Judah has been. He's letting the world know how rebellious Judah has been.

He's saying dumb animals like oxen and donkeys respect their owner but God's people do not. They don't even know who their owner is. They don't even know what home looks like. They are a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity. They are just bad.

And nothing God has done has made any difference. He's punished them. He's chastised them and they revolt more and more.

Here's the problem and this is the second thing...

B. They don't realize how bad they are.

Look at verses 5-9:

[5] Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
[6] From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
[7] Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
[8] And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
[9] Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Isaiah 1:5-9 (KJV)

God's assessment of them is that they are completely and totally sick, sick from the bottom of their feet to the top of their head. They've got wounds and bruises all over them and they don't know about it. They don't care. They're not doing anything to help themselves.

Imagine a man who has a terrible car wreck. He has sores all over him. He’s clearly not okay. But when he gets checked out he says, “I’m fine,” and refuses to go to the hospital. He gets sicker and sicker, his wounds get infected—but he just will not go. That’s Judah. They think they are fine—but they are beaten half to death and they need attention.

He switches the metaphor. He says their country is desolate. Their country is being invaded and destroyed and they are acting like everything is okay.

Probably the strongest thing that God says about them is that they're like Sodom and Gomorrah. If it wasn't for the small remnant the Lord of hosts left, God would have already dealt with them like He dealt with Sodom and Gomorrah.

When the Jews looked at themselves they saw a great city. When God took an honest look at them He saw a little ramshackle garden shack in a field of cucumbers.

But the problem is they don't see it. They don't understand that they're bad. They're sick and they think they're healthy. They're wicked and they think they're righteous. They're destitute and they think they're doing all right.

C. They don't realize how pointless their religion is.

And a big part of this is their religion. Look at verses 10-15.

[10] Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
[11] To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
[12] When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
[13] Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
[14] Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
[15] And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
Isaiah 1:10-15 (KJV)

Here's the thing that Judah didn't see: they thought they were righteous. They thought they were doing everything right.

• They were going to the temple.
• They were keeping religious feasts.
• They were offering bulls, lambs, and goats.
  God said, "No, you are Sodom and Gomorrah. I'm not approving of any of this stuff you're doing! All of your temple appointments, who told you to come? It's vain! It's an abomination to me! I don't want to have anything to do with it! Get it out of here! It's making me sick! Your religious meetings, your temple attendance, and your offerings are all making me sick! You raise your hands to pray to me. I don't even want to look at you because your hands are full of blood."

Notice this. They weren't atheists. They weren't people that had completely discarded God and His Word. They were doing what the word of God said. The temple was the right temple. The offerings came from the Bible. These religious feasts were prescribed in the law.

But their heart was far from God and God saw right through it.

Church, do you know it's possible to be very religious, even in the right religion, and be wicked as can be? It's possible to have a heart full of hate, to treat people like dirt all the time, and then come into church and sing "Amazing Grace."

You know you can fool everybody in your church but you can't fool God and no amount of external religion is going to make it real when it's fake.

D. The Offer

So God is bringing his complaints, his accusations against Judah but before he gives a verdict he offers a plea deal.

Often in a courtroom a case doesn't go all the way to the jury and all the way to the verdict. It gets dealt with early via a settlement. The prosecutor will say, "Do this and this and we'll settle. Do this and we won’t give you the full judgment.”

The court doesn’t have to do that. They can prosecute anyone to the full extent of the law. But often they will show leniency if someone is contrite and admits what they have done.

God’s plea offer is much more than that to Judah. Look at verses 16-20.

[16] Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
[17] Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
[18] Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
[19] If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
[20] But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Isaiah 1:16-20 (KJV)

God doesn't want to destroy Judah. They're His people. He wants them to repent. He wants them to see how they really are. He wants them to be clean. He wants them to live holy lives.

God offers them complete forgiveness if they come and repent and change their ways. If they refuse to do that, then the sword is coming. That's the plea deal and if they refuse it, they are going to face God’s wrath and judgment.

When you read the prophets, like Isaiah, and they're talking about the terrible things that are coming down the pike, I want you to understand that those warnings are also an opportunity for the people they're preaching to. God's desire is not that Judah will be destroyed. God's desire for Judah is that they come to him in repentance and be changed. But that's never going to happen if they don't see themselves as they really are.

Church, can I talk to you for a second? Do you know what we need? We need conviction. We need God's Holy Spirit to stick His finger into our heart and show us, with rare clarity, the dirt, the selfishness, and the wickedness that's really there.

Without that Holy Spirit conviction we can go on being deluded. We can miss God's offer of grace.

I would hate for people to come to church week in and week out, hear the sermon, and leave with their main takeaway being, "Hey we're alright. We're doing pretty good. We're on the right path." No, God's Word is a mirror that shows us what we really are. It reveals us next to God's holiness and it's supposed to bring conviction. Without that conviction, without that Holy Ghost mirror, we can go on and on and on and not realize that God is sick of the very things we think endear us to Him.

So the first thing we looked at is God's case against his people. The second part of this chapter lays out:

2. God’s plan for His people (21-31)

Let’s just go ahead and read that whole section:

[21] How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
[22] Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:
[23] Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
[24] Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies:
[25] And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:
[26] And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.
[27] Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.
[28] And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
[29] For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.
[30] For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.
[31] And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.
Isaiah 1:21-31 (KJV)

In the last 10 verses of this chapter God is basically saying, "I will have a holy people one way or another." You have become wicked. You have become idolatrous. You are not representing me. You can either accept my plea of mercy and grace and cleansing or I will clean you myself.

We know that's exactly what God did. By the time of Isaiah's ministry, Judah was in its fourth quarter. God dealt with the problem by bringing in the Babylonians, taking them captive, and purifying them in the fire of His judgment.

But God's plan was to have a holy city one way or another, that is the introductory message of this book and it is a message that will be continued throughout the book of Isaiah.

Conclusion - How does this apply to us?

So as we conclude, I want to ask, “How does this apply to us?” What can we take from Isaiah 1? This isn’t just a documentary on how bad Judah was. God has something for us here.

Do not go on in self-delusion.

Stop using your own review. Judah’s self-assessment was the temple calendar. Ours is, “I was here, I sang, I’m not like the world.” Verse 3 is the test: do you know him, or do you only know the building? If the Holy Spirit is putting his finger on something, do not talk yourself out of it on the parking lot. You can fool this room. You cannot fool him. If your private life and your Sunday life would surprise each other, you are in Isaiah 1.

Accept God’s plea for cleansing before the judgment comes.

This is not “feel sorry.” Verses 16–17 are the plea: wash, put it away, cease, learn to do well — seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Scarlet can be snow. That is not a small thing. But it is not a bath you take while the blood stays on your hands. Name one thing to put away and one person to do right by. Take the offer while it is still an offer.

Understand that God will have a pure people, whether through grace or through discipline.

He is not asking permission to have a faithful city. “I will have a holy people one way or another.” If we take the wash, that is mercy. If we will not, he still turns his hand on his own and redeems Zion with judgment. Do not read a hard year, a rebuke, or a loss of cover as “God is done with us.” It may be dross coming off. And do not read an easy year as approval. The remnant in verse 9 is hope: he would rather leave a people than leave the dross.

So come. See yourself as he sees you. Take the washing. Don’t wait for the fire.