ISAIAH 572008 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Isaiah 57

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2008. This evening, though, we're in Isaiah chapter 57. And here in Isaiah chapter 57, the Lord is speaking. He's speaking to us.

Well, to you and I this evening, he's speaking directly to our hearts and challenging, just as he was, he was challenging the people of Israel in that day, really where their hearts were and who their God was. And he extends that challenge to us this evening. And so I want to encourage you to be open to what the Lord has to say. As God speaks directly to Israel this evening, God is speaking directly to us.

And what does he have to say? Well, we start here in Isaiah chapter 57, verse 1. It says, Verse 2,

Here is, God starts out speaking in Isaiah chapter 57.

It's really a continuation. God has been speaking to Israel for some time here in the book of Isaiah and challenging them in regards to their idolatries and their continual persistence and running from God and fleeing from God and not following God, not obeying God, not walking with God. And he continues to challenge them and call them back to right relationship with God.

And here as he starts out in chapter 57, what we're seeing really is what happens in a corrupt society. Israel had become a corrupt society because of their rejection of God as God, because they rebelled against God morally and in all other ways, they had become corrupt. They were in full out rebellion against God.

And what happens in a society when a society becomes corrupt in that way is there in verse 1, the righteous perishes and no man takes it to heart. Merciful men are taken away and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from evil.

What happens then in a corrupt society is that the righteous perish and it doesn't bother anyone. It doesn't bother anyone that the righteous are dying off, that the righteous are being eliminated or becoming less and less. In fact, they begin to rejoice. The society that is corrupt rejoices when the righteous die off and are out of the way because now the corrupt society can continue on in its corruption and can pursue the

The things that they've been wanting to pursue, but those who are righteous have gotten in the way. And as I start out this evening, in my mind at least, there's so many parallels for you and I as Christians today in the United States of America. Because we are living in a society that is growing more and more corrupt. And there's great moral corruption that is going on. Tragic moral corruption.

And God has placed us in this world, in this nation, in this community as salt and light to preserve, to give opportunity for the gospel. But there will come a time that the righteous will be taken from this place. We look for the rapture of the church. We look forward to it.

But understand that this society will not be so much devastated at the disappearance of Christians. Our society would love to get rid of Christians so that they could go on with and not struggle with all of the things that they want to accomplish. Consider, for example, the person Lot. If you remember in Genesis chapter 19, Lot...

He had moved into the area of Sodom and Gomorrah after spending much time with Abraham and they needed to split up because they had both been blessed too greatly and they were having some difficulties. And so Lot goes into the area of Sodom and Gomorrah. Well then, as you know the story, Sodom and Gomorrah is a corrupt society and it's a society that is about to be judged by God.

And God sends two angels to Sodom and Gomorrah to pull out Lot and his family so that they will be preserved whenever judgment is brought upon those cities. And as those two angels are there, you know how it happens. The city comes out and they beat on the doors and they say, hey, you know, let us have those two guys. We want to know them sexually. We want to commit sexual immorality with them.

And Lot is there trying to intercede, trying to stand in the gap, saying, no, don't do this. It's not right. And there in Genesis chapter 19, verse 9, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah say of Lot, they say, hey, this one came to stay here and he keeps acting as a judge. He keeps trying to stand in the way. He keeps trying to prevent the things that we want to do.

They, as a corrupt society, were wishing that he was out of the way. They were glad when he's taken out of the way so that they can continue on in the things that they desire to do in their rebellion against God. And it's quite clear that many in our society will be glad when the Christians are gone. And here's what God is saying. The righteous perishes and no man takes it to heart. Because there's kind of a subtle difficulty here in that the righteous perishes...

But for the righteous, it's not a bad thing. He goes on to say there in verse 2, He shall enter into peace. They shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness. When the righteous perishes, when the righteous are put to death, when the righteous are gone,

It's not a tragedy to the righteous because the righteous go on into peace. We, as Christians, when we die, we go on into the presence of God. If we are raptured in the near future, we will be taken up and caught up into the presence of God. It's a thing of peace for us. It's something that's wonderful and something to look forward to. But there in that corrupt society, no one considers that.

When the rapture takes place and the Christians are gone, no one will consider. Look at the end of verse 1. He says,

God takes out his righteous before he brings on his judgment. And there in a corrupt society, the people don't consider. They don't take notice that the righteous are lesser and lesser. They don't take notice that there's fewer and fewer. They don't take notice and they don't consider that perhaps God is taking the righteous out of the way so that he can bring his judgment upon them. Now, it's no big deal for the righteous. Again, they shall enter into peace.

But for those who are corrupt, he goes on in verse 3 to address them. He says, But come here, you sons of the sorceress, you offspring of the adulterer and the harlot.

whom do you ridicule? Against whom do you make a wide mouth and stick out the tongue? Are you not children of transgression, offspring of falsehood, inflaming yourselves with gods under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks? Here as we go on, God now addresses these wicked people, this corrupt society. And he says, come here. You know, when

You know you're in trouble when the authority says, come here. Come here. And now he begins to address them and he says, you sons of the sorceress, you offspring of the adulterer and the harlot. And he begins to speak with this language of adultery and harlotry. He speaks of their idolatry, their worship of idols, their worship of other gods as adultery.

It's an immorality, a spiritual adultery, in that they are to be committed to God, just as a husband and wife are to be committed to one another, 100%, forsaking all others, and yet they have committed spiritual adultery because they have, instead of being completely focused on and worshipping God, they are worshipping these other gods. And so God often speaks of idolatry as adultery.

It's spiritual adultery that is taking place, although many of the idols that they worshipped and the way that they worshipped those idols did involve sexually immoral practices. But here God speaks to these people who are involved in this sin, who are in rebellion to Him, and He says, Whom do you ridicule?

Who is it that you're mocking? Who is it that you are making fun of? That you make a wide mouth and stick out the tongue? Everybody make a wide mouth and stick out... No, I'm just kidding. Who is it that you're doing that to? The wicked are mocking the righteous. They're ridiculing the righteous. And God says, come here. I want to have a word with you. You're mocking the righteous. You're making fun of and making faces at...

But he says, you are children of transgression. You are children of transgression. You're inflaming yourselves. You're impassioned with these gods under every green tree. You're pursuing all of these false gods. Even he goes on to say, slaying the children in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks. And he's not speaking symbolically here. There was a literal practice that they would do in worshiping the god of Molech.

They would offer their children as sacrifices, slaying their children there in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks. And so there's these people who are wicked. They're in rebellion against God. They're worshipping all these false idols. And as they do, they're mocking and making fun of the righteous. They're mocking and ridiculing those who would seek after God, those who would follow God.

And they're not taking notice. They're not considering. As God is removing the righteous, they have not taken into consideration that perhaps judgment is about to come. That perhaps they're about to experience God's judgment in their lives. Going on in verse 6 through 10, God continues to address them. He says, "...among the smooth stones of the stream is your portion."

Verse 2.

Here is God continues to speak to them. He's describing for them this long chain of

of idols that they've worshipped. This long chain of things that they have pursued. Saying you've pursued idolatry. You've chased after it. And you've served all of these different idols in various locations, in various ways. And many of them, as I said, did involve idolatry.

Acts of sexual immorality. And so there's this language of seeing their bed or seeing their nudity and loving their bed, uncovering themselves. And there was these practices that were going on that were completely wicked.

They worshipped in this way and that way. And God says, should I receive comfort in these as you're offering these sacrifices to all these different gods all over the place? Should I receive comfort in these? Is this something that should appease me or please me as you've been chasing after all these other gods? And he comments there at verse 10, upon their own heart. He says, look, you've wearied yourself in the length of your way. You and I know how it is.

When we try to fill our lives with things that are not of God, they do not satisfy us. And there's this perpetual chase that goes on. And that's what was going on with these people of Israel. They had a bunch of idols that they were involved in worshipping. But understanding my own heart, I would share with you, they didn't wake up one morning and say, let's find 25 idols that we could worship today.

No. I'm sure how it happened is that, well, they began to pursue one. One seemed kind of interesting. It seemed like maybe that would help them in a certain way. Maybe there was some need that they had. And the way that the idols usually worked was, you know, the god was a god of a particular environment. And so they would have to go to a particular location to worship that particular god.

And following that God, and so they would seek after that, and then they would find out as they're worshipping this other God, in addition to the worship of the real God, there in the temple in Jerusalem. They still went through the rituals and the religion that they had learned there at the temple, then they would go and practice their other religion there with the idols. And they came to discover, well, this isn't really satisfying either.

So let's add on to that instead of just these two religions. Well, let's add on to that and let's try this other idol. And this one begins to look enticing. And so they go and chase after this other thing. And they begin to worship that God. And it's satisfying for a little bit. But then after time goes on, you know how it is. And it's not very satisfying anymore. There's another need that's not being met. And so then they go, well, let's chase after this other idol. And they have all of these

different idols and all these various locations, all this complicated worship that they're trying to do to fulfill their needs and satisfy themselves and they've wearied themselves in the length of their way because it's so hard. How do you worship 25 gods all at the same time? Is there enough time in the day to do that? How do you worship all these gods and do all these things to meet all these needs in the same way?

We chase after all these things and I got to watch my TV shows and work the extra hours and spend time with the kids and spend time with the wife and worship God and go to church and how do I do all of these things to satisfy myself? How do I chase after all these things that I desire and we weary ourselves in the length of our way chasing after one then finding we're not satisfied then chasing after another finding we're not satisfied.

And God says of them, He says, "Yet you did not say there is no hope." You didn't learn your lesson. Even though you've wearied yourself and you've chased after these idols and found that you're not satisfied, you haven't given up. You haven't said there's no hope. You're convinced that if you just find the right thing, you'll be able to satisfy yourself. If you find the right combination of things, the right combination of idols,

you'll be able to stand and you'll have everything that you want. You're convinced that just around the corner, that promotion, that relationship, that thing that you're pursuing, that's going to satisfy you. You're convinced. You haven't given up. You haven't said, "There is no hope." You haven't surrendered to the Lord, God is saying. You haven't surrendered to Me. And therefore, you weren't grieved because you're convinced. It's just around the corner.

This corrupt society involved in all of this idolatry, chasing all of these different things, continues to pursue, still not satisfied. They're wearied. Their way is long. Days are difficult. Life is hard because they're trying to keep up all these things and pursue all these things to satisfy themselves. But they refuse to surrender to the Lord and recognize that His way is the way that really will bring fulfillment.

and really will satisfy them. Going on to verse 11. God says, And of whom have you been afraid or feared, that you have lied and not remembered me, nor taken it to your heart? Is it not because I have held my peace from of old, that you do not fear me? I will declare your righteousness and your works, for they will not profit you. When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you,

Here God says to them, Who is it that you've been afraid of? Who is it that you have feared? He's asking them really, Who is your God? He says, Who's been so important in your life that you have lied and not remembered me?

What is it that's so important in your life that you've forgotten me? That you've turned from me? That you've rejected me as God? Who is it? What is it in your life that has caused this? He asked the question, Is it not because I have held my peace from of old that you do not fear me? Here's a great mistake that we can have, that we can make. God is patient with us. Never be careful not to

Interpret God's patience as his approval of sin in your life. He says, look, is it not because I've held my peace from of old? I didn't judge you immediately for sin. I didn't judge you immediately when you turned your back on me. I haven't judged you immediately. Is that why you have not feared me? It's quite a dilemma, isn't it? Because if God judges us immediately, well, there's no chance for us to return and to repent.

God's patience, 2 Peter 3, 9 tells us, He's patient because He desires for all men to repent. And so God allows us time. He gives us patience. But the patience is not so that we can say, well, great, life is still good. I can get away with these things and continue on. Seems like everything's going okay. I can continue on in life and

dabble in this area of sin and dabble in this area that God has instructed me not to, but it doesn't seem to have any adverse effects in my life. Things are still going well. I haven't experienced God's discipline or judgment and

well, maybe it's okay. Maybe God just must understand who I am. And I am different than everybody else. And it's more difficult for me than everyone else. And that's why God understands and knows that it's okay. And He allows me to do these things. And you know, God and I have an understanding in this. That's a great danger. Don't be deceived. God cannot be mocked. God cannot be mocked. Galatians 6, 7, and 8 tells us,

If you sow to the flesh, you'll reap corruption. If you sow to the Spirit, you'll reap everlasting life. God is patient with us to give us opportunity to turn, to repent, to come back to Him. But this people, the Israelites, much like you and I, they took God's patience and decided, well, we don't need to fear God then. Because He didn't act. He didn't judge us. He didn't bring correction immediately upon us. God goes on in verse 12 to say, I will declare your righteousness.

God tells them, look, you don't have to tell me your righteous deeds. I'll tell you your righteous deeds. I'll tell you your good works. I'll proclaim them. They won't help you, God says. See, they're pursuing wickedness. They're offering their children to the God of Molech. They're involved in sexual immorality. They're involved in these different types of idols and idolatry and pursuing the lusts and the cravings of their heart and their flesh. But at the same time, they're religious and they're doing good works.

And they're giving to the poor. And they're doing all of the outward things that they're supposed to do as good Jewish people. And God says, I'll declare your righteousness. I'll declare your works. Because they won't profit you. And you know why. We'll find out later in the book of Isaiah, chapter 64, verse 6. What is our righteousness like? Filthy rags. Filthy rags. God says, I'll declare your righteousness because they're not going to profit you.

You're trusting in all of this religion and all these outward things, all the while you've abandoned God. And so God says in verse 13, when you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you. This statement here should cause us just to stop and consider. This is a scary statement right here. God says, when you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you.

See, here we find the freedom of choice that God gives to us. He gives us the freedom of choice to worship Him in the way that He has called us to and commanded us to, or to disregard Him and pursue whatever it is that we desire to pursue. He gives us the choice. We have the freedom. But the part we must understand is that God understands, not understands, God honors our choice. And so if you choose...

To turn from God and chase after these idols, God says, okay, I honor your choice. Now when you come to your trouble, now when you come to your difficulty, now when you're facing the repercussions and consequences of the lifestyle you've chosen, let your idols deliver you. In the same way for us today as Christians, God gives us a choice. He gives us a choice to follow Him, to keep His word, to walk with Him. He gives us a choice and He honors our choice.

And so you're playing with this God and that God. You're involved in this area and that area. And you come upon a crisis and God says, let your gods save you. Let your gods pull you out and deliver you. There comes a point where God says, you've chosen your gods. You didn't choose me. So it's not my responsibility to save you. Let those things that you've been worshiping save you. Let them deliver you.

I was listening to Pastor Chuck and the message he recently shared on a Sunday morning. He said something along the lines of, it's tragic when people do not listen and respond to God. When people don't hear God and respond to His message, when they don't respond to the gospel, it's tragic. But it's a far greater tragedy. It's far worse when God will not listen or respond to those people. It's sad when people don't respond.

but it's even sadder. When they've come to the point when they've worshipped other gods, when they've devoted themselves so that God says, let those gods save you. Let them deliver you. Again, going back to verse 11, he says, is it because I've held my peace that you do not fear me? God wants to make sure that we are not deceived. He wants to make sure this evening that we do not get confused, that we don't think that we can live a double life and somehow God will...

Work it out in the end. That we can think we can pursue these things and be involved in these things that He's called us not to be involved in. And yet somehow at the end He's going to, well, He's just going to act as if it never happened. No, there's a reality to the life that He's called us to live. And there's a reality to the consequences of not living that life. Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked.

Whoever sows to the flesh will reap corruption, and whoever sows to the Spirit will reap everlasting life. At the end of verse 13, God says, But he who puts his trust in me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain. So here's our choice. We can worship false gods. We can chase after and pursue the things that are not of God. We can live our lives in ways that are clearly contradictory to the Word of God.

Or we can put our trust in God. And as you put your trust in God, His promise is you shall possess the land. You're not going to be blown away. You'll have help. You'll inherit my holy mountain. For us as Christians, as we put our trust in God, we are given the promise of everlasting life. Though we may die, yet he shall live, Jesus said, he who believes in me. There's great promises we have when we put our trust in God, as we seek God, as we follow Him.

And so the choice is ours. He gives us the choice. And the important thing for us to consider this evening is, it's not too late to make a choice. It's not too late to make a choice. Right now is the time to make the choice. God desires for us to make the choice, to seek Him and to follow Him, to surrender to Him completely. And He has wonderful ways.

purposes and plans for those who will make the choice to put their trust in him. Going on in verse 14, he says, And one shall say, Heap it up, heap it up, prepare the way, take the stumbling block out of the way of my people. For thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with him who has a contrite and humble spirit.

to revive the spirit of the humble and revive the heart of the contrite ones. For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry, for the spirit would fail before me and the souls which I have made. I'll stop there for a moment. So as he goes on in verse 14, he switches directions a little bit.

He's been speaking to those involved in idolatry, those rebelling against Him. Who are you mocking? Who are you making fun of? You're involved in all of these things and you're doing this and you do not consider that the righteous is vanishing from among you because my judgment is soon to come. And yet for the one who trusts in me, God says, for the one who will choose me, He says, one will say, heap it up, heap it up. What does that mean? He's talking about

preparing the way. To heap it up and prepare the way is the idea of building up a raised road. A road that is above obstacles. A road that is prepared, that's ready to be taken. That's why he says, take out the stumbling block out of the way of my people. God wants to build us a road over the stumbling blocks.

He wants to take us out of the pit, out of the miry clay. He says, those who trust in me, for them one will say, heap it up. They're going to build the road above those things. For here's what the high and lofty one, look at these characteristics of God. The high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. What does he say? God says, I dwell on high, in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit.

So here's what God's saying. God's saying, I'm high and lifted up, but I'm not unreachable. I'm high and lifted up, and you're in all kinds of trouble. You're in a mess, but you don't have to stay there. I want to prepare the way of your life. I want to build a road in your life. I dwell here, He says, with Him who has a contrite and humble spirit. God dwells with the contrite and the humble. This word contrite means humble.

Literally, to be crushed, to be like dust. God dwells with the crushed, with those who are broken. The humble are those who are low or the lowly. In contrast, we could think of those who are haughty or those who are hard-hearted. Those are not the ones that God dwells with. God dwells with the contrite. It's the contrite. It's the contrite heart that God will not despise.

that he's pleased with, the broken and the contrite in heart. He says, I dwell with the contrite and the humble. I prepare the way for them and I dwell with them. And he goes on to say, I revive the spirit of the humble and revive the heart of the contrite ones. Those to whom he said, you've wearied yourselves in your way.

You've been chasing after. You're worn out. You're tired. I revive those who will turn to me, who put their trust in me, who humble themselves and are contrite, who are broken, not hard-hearted, but moldable, shapeable, receptive, surrendered, broken before God. God does chasten us. Look at verse 16. For I will not contend forever. He does contend. He says, for I will, nor will I always be angry. He says,

He does get angry. He does deal with sin in our lives. He does deal with rebellion in our hearts. But it's not for forever. It's not complete. He says, otherwise the spirit would fail before me and the souls which I have made. If God did not relent from his anger, we would perish. There would be no hope for us. Our spirit, our soul would fail. But God says, I won't contend forever. So how do we get out of? How do we...

preserve ourselves under the discipline and chastening of God, we receive it. As He brings the chastening, we receive it. We receive correction. We receive instruction. We be broken before Him. See, God is dealing with the corrupt society, but He's not saying, that's it. There's no hope for you. There's no chance for you. He's speaking to us this evening, and we fall short as people before God. We fall short and

We blow it. We mess up. We backslide. We turn away from God. And God brings discipline in our lives. It's an opportunity to be broken, to be humble, to receive correction, to turn back to Him so that He can prepare the way for us, that He can build us roads over those obstacles, those insurmountable things in our lives. God says, I can prepare a way for you. I have a way. I have a plan.

But it's not found, if you want to be satisfied, it's not found in your own plans, your own ways, your own ideas and chasing after these things that you think will satisfy you. No, the key is you need to be broken and you need to be humble. It's opposite of what we would think. It's opposite of what is natural to us. And that's why it is very difficult for us. But if you want to dwell with God, He makes it very clear. He makes it pretty easy.

If you want to dwell with God, if you want relationship with God, He says, I dwell with those who are contrite, with those who are humble. As we go on in verse 17 through 19, God goes on to explain that He's going to heal the backslider. Verse 17, For the iniquity of His covetousness, I was angry and struck Him. I hid and was angry, and He went on backsliding in the way of His heart.

Does that sound like a verse that applies anytime in your life? I know it does in my life. God says, for the iniquity of his covetousness, I was angry and struck him. He brought discipline. He chastens those that he loves. And as he brought chastening, very many times, what do we do? We go on backsliding in the way of his heart. We go on backsliding in our own ways. But then he goes on in verse 18, I have seen his ways and will heal him.

I will also lead him and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips. Peace. Peace to him who is far off and to him who is near, says the Lord. And I will heal him. Here's what God says. No matter how far you run, I will heal. He says, I've seen his ways. Now he's not talking about...

What he said he would proclaim before, he's not talking about righteousness and good deeds and good works. That's not the ways that he has seen. No, the ones he heals, he's seen in them a broken and a contrite heart, the humble spirit, those who have turned and repented, the time of chastening, even during the affliction that God brings, that God allows. God says it's not for forever. This is not the end. This is an opportunity.

For you to turn. It's an opportunity for you to be broken. It's an opportunity for me to bring healing. God says, I will heal him. I will also lead him and restore comforts to him in his mourners. It's a message of comfort. It's a message of hope. It's a God saying, look, yeah, it's been rough. Yeah, I've brought affliction upon you. Yes, I've disciplined you sharply.

Not to eliminate you. Not to wipe you off the face of the earth. But to give you an opportunity to turn that I may heal you and lead you and restore comforts to you. To bring you into peace. To him who is afar off and to him who is near. So you've been running for a long time. God says, I've done this so that you can bring peace. And if you've only been running for a little bit, if you've only been rebelling against God for a short while, God says...

It's not too soon. Repent, turn, relent. I desire to bring you peace, to lead you, to heal you, and restore comforts to you. In contrast, we have the wicked in verse 20. But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. Verse 21. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. God says, I've seen his ways. He became humble. He...

He was broken before me. I will heal him. I will lead them. I will restore comforts. But not to the wicked. Not to the wicked. Those who are like the troubled sea and it cannot rest. God says there is no peace for the wicked. There is no peace for the wicked. The wicked are used here in contrast to those who are not contrite and not humble. See, all of us sinned.

Even the righteous that we're talking about here in the nation of Israel, the righteous that were being taken out of the way, out of the land, yeah, they sinned. They rebelled against God. They blew it. They messed up. But the difference between the righteous and the wicked is not perfection. It's the heart. The wicked are not contrite. They're not humble. They're not repentant. Instead, they're in a state of rebellion against God. They refuse God.

to be obedient. They refuse to be corrected, to receive the instruction, to put into practice what God has said. They refuse to let go of those things that God has told them to get rid of in their life. And for them, God says there is no peace. This evening, God is speaking very clearly. He's challenging those who are pursuing idolatry. He's challenging them and saying, look, you don't consider. You're not looking around. You're not

Looking at and understanding the times and recognizing that my return is right at the door. You're not understanding. You're not taking heed. You're not watching as Jesus commanded us to watch, to be ready. God is speaking very clearly. He's saying, look, those who are pursuing idols, those who are pursuing other gods, those who God has been removed from His proper position in your life,

We talk about idolatry a lot in the book of Isaiah. I often refer to idolatry takes place in us, not in the same way. We don't bow down and worship images as they did in those days, but it still happens in our hearts. Anything that takes the place, the priority, the passion that belongs to God becomes an idol. God says, look, you will not have peace unless

I know you've convinced yourself that you're working all those hours because you have to get out of debt, because you have to do this, you have to do that. But your work has become your God. And you've taken the priority, the passion, the position that belongs to me and given it to your employer. Or he says, look, that relationship has taken my place. And you've become so consumed with that that you, you're not paying attention to me. And you've forgotten to worship me.

You can fill in the blanks. There's a million things. We consume ourselves with ourselves. We consume ourselves with greed, with lust, with anger, with things of the world, materialistic goals, with thirst for power. We chase after these things. We give them the place of God. And maybe it's not one thing, but maybe like the nation of Israel, maybe it's a collection of things, a collection of idols.

God says, look, it's not too late. Even if right now you're experiencing the discipline and chastening of God for the worship of those other gods, for chasing after those things that are not of Him, God says it's not too late. Have a humble and broken spirit. Turn to Me. I want to prepare your way. I want to lead you and comfort you and restore you. There's no peace for the wicked. If you continue down that, you will never have peace. You will not be satisfied. You will never be fulfilled.

but if you'll turn to me if you'll humble yourself if you'll be broken before me god says i want to prepare your way i dwell in the high and holy place with him who has a contrite and humble spirit the worship teams that come up now and lead us in some worship and i want to encourage you as they do let's dwell with god in in the high and holy place let's be humble and broken before the lord

If God's been speaking to you about things in your life, now's the time. Respond. Take heed. Take action. Turn from those things or start doing those things that He has called you to do. Let's take this time to just confess our hearts to the Lord, to allow Him to be our God, to worship Him. And the wonderful thing is we have the opportunity, the privilege of dwelling with Him in the high and holy place.

entering into His presence, experiencing relationship with Him, not on the basis of our works, those are filthy rags, but on the basis of what He has done for us. And so let's respond to Him. Whatever God's speaking to your heart about, let's just take this time to dwell with God, to spend time with Him, worshiping Him, and surrendering ourselves completely to Him as King of kings and Lord of lords. Amen?

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.