ISAIAH 58-592008 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Isaiah 58-59

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.

Isaiah 58

some weeks it's great rejoicing. He's looking at the millennium. He's looking at Jesus Christ and what he's done for us. And then, you know, the next week it'll be tremendous rebuke, you know, very stern, very harsh warnings, very serious things that he's dealing with. And tonight, well, we continue our journey. We continue the things with the things that God is saying. And he's

He's dealing with an issue perhaps maybe you've heard of and maybe you've come across before. Here in Isaiah 58 and we'll be going into 59 as well, God is dealing with His people or those who claim to be His and yet in reality are not.

Maybe you've heard the saying, maybe you've been told by someone, you know, I don't really care for church because of all of those hypocrites. And so if you hypocrites could just get up and leave right now, that'd be good. No, I'm just kidding.

It's a perspective that people have. I don't like to go to church because there's a lot of hypocrites there. And I think we would, if we were honest, we would have to say, yes, there are a lot of us hypocrites here. And we do have two faces sometimes. But, you know, here in Isaiah 58, God is dealing with this issue. His people have become not just a little bit wishy-washy, but they've become completely hypocritical, completely hypocritical.

against God and yet on the outside outwardly and religiously trying to appear that they are right with God we pick it up here in Isaiah chapter 58 verse 1 it says cry aloud this is God speaking to Isaiah cry aloud spare not lift up your voice like a trumpet tell my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins verse 2 yet they seek me daily and

Here as we start out in chapter 58, God is speaking to Isaiah. And he says to Isaiah to cry aloud.

to spare not or to not hold back. He wants Isaiah to boldly, openly, and clearly proclaim to the people their transgression. God says, tell my people their transgression.

boldly, openly proclaim the sin that they're involved in and what is going on in their lives. And we've seen Isaiah do this throughout the chapters. He's been very bold and open in proclaiming the sin of the people. So there's this great sin that's going on. They've been involved in idolatry. That's one of the issues we've dealt with over and over again. They're worshiping other gods.

They've been involved in rebellion and running from God and running from the commands of God, running from the things of God. They've been disobedient, just completely turning away from God. And Isaiah's been dealing with these things. God's been dealing with the people throughout the book of Isaiah. And so he's telling Isaiah to proclaim those things, to proclaim to them their sin. And yet, verse 2, here's the hypocritical part. In verse 2 he says, "...yet they seek me daily."

And so you have a people who are in outright rebellion against God. They're running from God. They're disobedient. They're involved in idolatry and worshiping other gods. And yet, they seek God daily, he says. And they delight to know my ways. They delight to know my ways. Can you imagine this happening? Can you imagine this taking place? They delight to know the things of God. And yet, at the same time in their life,

They are rebelling against God. Their lives are contrary to what God has commanded them to be like. They're living in opposition to the word and the work of God. He says, they delight to know my ways as a nation that did righteousness. So in the same way that a nation that was righteous would delight to know the ways of God and seek God on a daily basis, the people of God, the nation of Judah, who Isaiah is ministering to at this time,

They were carrying on just as if they were a righteous nation when it came to the things of God. They would still go to the temple. They would still read the word of God. They would still participate in the rituals and the sacrifices just as if they had not forsaken God. Just as if they were a people of righteousness.

He ends verse 2 saying, they take delight in approaching God. And although this may be hard for us to imagine, in reality, it's very easy for us to practice. This hypocrisy that takes place, this duplicity that goes on within our hearts.

Where in our life, we're living however we want to. We're doing the things that we please, and he'll be addressing more and more of those things as we go on. But living our lives the way that we want, the way that we choose, without much regard for the things of God, and yet still...

Coming to church, getting to know God, reading the Bible, being involved in religious activities and church activities and events, and even maybe sharing the truth or sharing the gospel with others around us. And yet another part of our life is just filled with our own selves and in complete rebellion against God. And so here God is assessing the situation and he says, this is what's going on.

He can see through what perhaps the people could not of that day. If you walked into Jerusalem in those days, you might not be able to know what was really going on. You might look around and say, everything looks pretty good. They seem to be doing well. They're doing what's right. They're walking with God. They're doing the sacrifices. They're worshiping at the temple. They're learning about Him. Everything looks good on the outside. But God says there's some major problems there.

And so he tells them to boldly, openly proclaim their sin and their transgression so that they cannot hide behind this facade that they have put up. But instead, they need to be confronted with their sin, confronted with their iniquity,

that they might be able to turn and repent and get right with God. They delight in being religious as if they were obedient. And I would encourage you, this is something God wants to convict us of in our lives. Those areas that we disregard Him and put ourselves first.

And yet, on the outside, outwardly, in front of everyone else, when we come to church, we put on our Christian smile, we put on our Christian clothes and our Christian face and our Christian vocabulary. We have all the appearances of a right relationship with God, just as if we were righteous. And yet, behind the scenes, at the workplace...

There where nobody else is looking or where the Christian friends are not around, there's a whole different set of values and activities that we participate in. So these people, they seek God daily and yet they are living in transgression and sin.

Now in verse 3 we go on, and these people now, the nation of Judah, are asking a question. Verse 3 says, Why have we fasted, they say, and you have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and you take no notice? In fact, the day of your fasts,

I'm sorry, in fact, in the day of your fast, you find pleasure, God responds, and exploits all your labors. Verse 4, indeed, you fast for strife and debate and strike with the fist of wickedness. You do not fast as you do this day to make your voice, I'm sorry, you will not fast as you do this day to make your voice heard on high. Verse 5, God asks, is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul?

Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? Here the people of God now ask, why has God not seen our fasting? In the midst of their situation, in the context of what they're going through, they're asking God, how come this is happening to us? In the midst of the threats of

of the Assyrian army coming against them in the midst of great losses and defeats in battle. Although God had promised that Jerusalem would not be conquered by the Assyrian empire, pretty much the rest of Judah was. They experienced severe losses during that time. Great destruction had taken place and coming down the line was going to be the destruction of Babylon that would level Jerusalem and take them away captive.

And so they're in the midst of these military threats. They're in the midst of crisis. Their crops, their economics, their trading, all of that is in jeopardy. Their whole lives have been shattered and rocked because of this Assyrian invasion. And so in attempts to try to help Assyria,

their lives, get back on track, help add some foundation back to their lives, help, you know, surround themselves with security. They've been fasting. But nothing seems to be happening. Nothing seems to be working. They're still in the same situation that they have been in. And so they ask, why is it that God has not seen our fasting? Look at us. We've been so faithful and diligent to fast.

so much and yet we're still in the same predicament. We're still in the same situation. And so God responds, "In the day of your fast you find pleasure and exploit all your laborers." God says, "Your fasting is not really fasting." You say you're afflicting your souls and it's them trying to get God to take notice.

But then God responds there at the end of verse 3 and then verse 4 and verse 5. He says, look, you're fasting. It's not what I've asked for. It's not what I've required. It's not what I've desired. That's why he asked the question in verse 5. Is it a fast that I've chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is this what I'm asking of you guys? God asked the people of Judah. Have I asked you to fast, to bow down your head and spread out the sackcloth and ashes?

Now, fasting is a whole subject that we won't really get into tonight, but fasting is good. It is an important part of the Christian walk. It is an important part of our relationship with God. But these people were not, well, they were not keeping the fast that God desired. They were seeking to kind of strong-arm God to meet their needs and do their will by fasting.

It's kind of like, if you remember the guy in history named Gandhi, he was a

And he would fast, right? That's what he's very well known for. He would fast for the people's rights. He would fast to try to stop violence and try to stop conflicts. And he was pretty effective. And there were several major fasts that he did in his life. And it caused the world to take notice because he would not eat until this certain thing that he desired was accomplished. The government recognized his request or request.

whatever particular thing he was fasting for that time. And so he would fast in order to force the government to pay attention and recognize and grant his request. Or he would fast to get the people to stop doing what they were doing. And this is the way that the people of God, the nation of Judah, were trying to use a fast. They're trying to say, look, we're fasting, we're afflicting ourselves,

So now God, you have to pay attention and fix this mess that we are in and take care of these things. They fasted religiously in order to try to get God to hear them.

And yet at the same time, they were persisting in injustice and iniquity and their own desires. God says, in the day of your fast, you find pleasure and exploit all your labor. So you're fasting, but you're still requiring all your laborers to work. You're exploiting them. You're not doing what's right and just and true. Your fast has nothing to do with the fast that I desire, God says.

And so he goes on to describe the fast that he has chosen in verse 6. He says,

God says, here's the fast that I choose. Here's the fast that I desire. Stop living in sin. Loose the bonds of wickedness. Undo the heavy burdens. Break the yokes. All of the injustice that you're involved in. The way that you're exploiting and taking advantage of people. Stop it. Knock it off. Fast from doing what's wrong, He says. Fast from withholding things.

Instead, share with those who are hungry. Take care of the poor and those who are in need. Cover the naked person. Do not hide yourself from those who are your brethren, your own flesh and blood. God says, this is the fast that I have chosen to loose the bonds of wickedness. All of us know what it's like to have areas of our lives that we know are not in compliance with God's word.

All of us know what it's like to have areas of our lives that we know God would not want us to be involved in those things. The challenge then, sometimes it's brought to light and we didn't understand, we didn't realize before, I can't believe I was living this way, we're surprised by it. Sometimes it's entered into knowingly. But the challenge then is now we're confronted with the truth, we're confronted with the Word. Now what are we going to do? And very often, as normal people,

we have the choice, the decision, whether or not to obey, to deal, to turn, to repent from that sin, or another choice that we can make, not a good choice, but we can make it, we often do, much like the nation of Judah, we choose, okay, I really like this area of my life. I don't want to change this area. That's going to be difficult. That's going to be hard.

So instead of dealing with this sin and changing and repenting and turning from it, here's what I'll do. I'll compensate for it over on this side and I'll be a little bit extra religious. And so we try to even out our lives because we don't want to deal with our sin by, well, I really need to get more involved in this.

This or that. I really need to spend more time in the Word. I really need to spend some time fasting. Maybe you even use that specific thing. And so instead of really dealing with sin, we just try to be more religious. And that is not appealing to God at all. Here's the fast that God has chosen. You want to be religious? You want to fast? Then loose the bonds of wickedness. Turn from sin. Repent. Get right with God.

Start living according to His Word. In Micah chapter 6 verse 8, a scripture we're probably familiar with, Micah says, He has shown you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. This is what God desires. Obedience is better than sacrifice. He desires for us to turn and repent, to not live in hypocrisy, but to deal with those areas, to repent and turn from them,

So that we walk humbly with our God. Not to try to cover over those things with more religious activities. So that we have the outward facade of being good Christians and yet behind the scenes we're involved in great wickedness. God says this is the fast that I desire.

And then he goes on to describe what will take place for those who participate in his fast, for those who choose to fast the way that he has called us to. Verse 8 says, Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall break forth speedily, and your righteousness shall be before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

Here in verse 8 and then going on to verse 9, we'll get to that in just a minute, but we have just the hints, the highlights, the beginning of what God will do. He says, look, if you will participate in the fast that I have chosen, if you'll loose the bonds of wickedness, your light's going to break forth like morning. There's going to become a brilliance to your life. There's going to become this light that breaks forth and there's also going to be healing.

Now the people of Judah were looking at their lives, they're looking at their nation, and they're saying, it's dark, it's gloomy, there's no hope, we can't see what's going on, we don't know what's going to happen ahead of us. It's like great darkness. We're broken, we're wounded, we need healing. God says, the way to accomplish that is the fast that I have chosen. Not to pretend to be religious and have the outward appearance, but to turn from sin, and then your light will break forth.

Then light will come into your life. Then healing shall bring forth speedily. God says, I'll do a rapid healing work in your life, in your nation. Righteousness will go before you and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. You're going to be protected now. There's wonderful benefits to the fast that God has chosen. Going on to verse 9. Then you shall call and the Lord will answer. You shall cry and He will say, Here I am.

Now we're often familiar, we're often reminded of the story of Samuel in the Old Testament. There God calls him and he runs to, I'm sorry, he calls to Samuel, yeah, and he runs to Eli and he says, here I am. And Eli says, I didn't call you, go back. And that happens a few times and then Eli realizes, hey, that's the Lord. And so he tells him next time, next time you hear that, just say, here I am, Lord. Your servant listens.

And so God speaks to Samuel again and Samuel says, Here I am, Lord, your servant listens. And we're often reminded about the importance of saying, Here I am, Lord, being open to what God is saying. But check this out. He says, Then you shall call, the Lord will answer. You'll cry and he'll say, Here I am. Reversing it. How would you like for you to cry out and for God to say, Here I am. I'm right here. He says, This is a result of the fasts

Going on in verse 9, he says, Verse 11, Do you want to be guided? Do you need some guidance in your life? And satisfy your soul in droughts. Do you need to be satisfied? And is there a drought? Do you need to be satisfied?

Verse 12. Here God is speaking to the nation of Judah and saying, look guys,

Here's what I desire. He's been sending prophets. Isaiah, he's going to be sending some more. Jeremiah, we'll get into this a little bit later. Calling out for the people to turn back to God. There's great threats around them. There's the promise of judgment if they don't repent. But there's also the promise of blessing if they do.

And so he's speaking to the nation of Judah and he says, look guys, I will guide you. I'll satisfy you. I'll strengthen you. I'll provide for you. I'll refresh you. I'll restore you. And those waste places that have been overrun and conquered, they'll be renewed once again. You'll be like waters that don't fail. You'll never lack in resources. He's promising all of these wonderful things to the nation of Judah.

And in the same way, He promises these things to us as well. And please, don't misunderstand. I'm not saying that the typical faith movement teaching that if you're right with God, then you'll always be healthy, wealthy, and wise, and everything will go well, and you'll never have problems. No. But He will take care of you. And He'll carry you through the storm. And He'll provide for you. And He'll protect you. And He'll guide you. And He'll satisfy you. And He'll strengthen you. And He'll fill you with the living water.

There's great advantages. There's great results. Incredible results. See, the principle is true throughout the scripture. And you can't escape this. And that's what this Isaiah 58 and 59 is all about. You reap what you sow. You reap what you sow. And these people, the nation of Judah, they were reaping what they had sown. They were facing destruction. They were in great peril because...

Well, they had sown destruction. They had sown transgression and sinful activity, rebellion against God. And guess what? Romans 6.23, the wages of sin is death. It brings destruction. Rebellion against God brings destruction and you reap what you sow. And so you can't keep practicing this and still be religious over here to try to compensate for it because although you may get away with it for a while...

Everybody else may not know anything better for a while. Eventually that harvest is going to come in. And you and I, we will reap what we have sown. Just as you sow seeds, and the seeds that you have sown bear forth, bring fruit, they grow. There's a harvest that's brought forth. We reap what we sow. Now, if we sow to the Spirit, Galatians 6, 7, 8 tells us we reap everlasting life.

so do the Spirit, and we have these wonderful promises. God's guidance, Him satisfying us, strengthening us, refreshing us, filling us, renewing us. There's wonderful promises, but they're not attained by being religious, by covering over and trying to hide our sinful activities by fasting or any other activity to try to compensate for our areas of rebellion. No, they're

attained these results. God pours these things into our lives as we choose the fast that He has chosen, which is to loose the bonds of wickedness. Going on in verse 13 and 14, He says, "...if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord, honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure."

Here God continues on in verse 13 and 14 to challenge his people. And he says,

God's command to His people was that they keep the Sabbath day holy. But these people had not obeyed that command. They had not kept His command. Look what He says there at the end of verse 13. Picking it up kind of right in the middle. It says, "...and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways." Honoring God instead of doing your own ways. "...if you will honor Me on the Sabbath instead of doing your own ways."

Then going on, he says, nor finding your own pleasure. If you will seek me and seek my pleasure instead of seeking your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, God says. If you will speak my words instead of speaking your own words. There's a great principle here. He says, look, if you will empty yourself of you, if you will, instead of filling your life with your own ways and for your own pleasure and your own words...

If you'll fill your life with my ways and my pleasure and my words, then verse 14, you shall delight yourself in the Lord. You shall delight yourself in the Lord. If you empty yourself of your ways, of your words, of your pleasures, you will delight yourself in the Lord. He will fill you. If you're full of your own ways and your own words and your own pleasures, there's no room. There's no room in your life. He can't fill you. He won't be your delight.

You ever wonder, man, I know these wonderful things about God, but why is it I don't really delight in Him? Why is it that I just, I lose the passion and I lose the fervency and why do I, why do I fall out of love with God? And why is it always this roller coaster? I would challenge you, consider your ways and your words and your pleasures. Is your life filled with all of you? And you've got your ways and your plans, the things that you figured out and how you can do it.

And you know the answers. And you know what you want and you're out to get it. There's no room for God to fill you, for Him to be your delight. But if you will empty yourself, instead of your words, if you will fill your life with His words and fill your life with what pleases Him and His ways, if you will honor Him, then you will delight yourself in the Lord, He says, and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken. He says, look, if you will empty yourself...

Then you'll delight in Me and I will fill you and I'll meet your needs and I'll take care of all those things. It's just like the scripture we all know, Matthew 6:33, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and everything else will be added unto you." Seek first the kingdom of God, His ways, His pleasures, His words and those things will be added unto you. Or, I think it's Psalm 37:4, somewhere thereabouts, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He'll give to you the desires of your hearts."

Yeah, empty yourself so that you delight in the Lord. Fill your life with the things of God and He'll meet all your needs and He'll give to you the desires of your heart. Wonderful promises that God has given as He's addressing these people. But remember who He's addressing. This nation of Judah. Wonderful access to God with the temple right there. And yet, instead of participating in a real relationship with God...

They're trying to do their own thing on this side and still be religious on this side and try to pretend like everything's okay. God has wonderful things in store for those who will walk with Him in obedience. Will you be obedient? Going on in chapter 59, we begin to deal with really the problem that was happening in the hearts of the people and why they were in the situation they were in. Chapter 59 verse 1 says,

Here we have these wonderful promises of God. If you will choose the fast that He has chosen, if you will honor Him, if you will empty yourself of your ways and pleasures and words...

He'll take care of you. He'll meet your needs. And He'll provide for you. He'll protect you. He'll guide you. He'll lead you. Wonderful promises we have here. Then going on in chapter 59, you could imagine the people saying, how come we're in this situation? Why are these things happening to us? What's going on? God says, look, my hand is not shortened that it cannot save. Salvation is not beyond my grasp. What you need is not just out of my reach. Nor is my ear heavy.

God says, I can hear you. I'm not deaf. It's not that you have to fast for seven days and afflict your soul. Well, that didn't work, so maybe I need to fast for ten days and afflict my soul. That's still... Maybe twelve days. God says, look, it's not that you haven't got my attention yet. It's kind of like the prophets of Baal. Remember on Mount Carmel with Elijah and he...

challenges them and whichever God answers by fire. And so the prophets of Baal are crying out to their God and they're cutting themselves and trying to do all these drastic things to get their God's attention. What happens when Elijah's turn comes around? He simply prays. Why? Because God's ear is not heavy. It's not hard for him to hear.

It's not that we have to afflict ourselves and cut ourselves and beat ourselves up and torture ourselves and have all these sacrifices and put ourselves all through these things so that God can hear us. No, His ear is not heavy that it cannot hear. But here's the problem. Verse 2, But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. He will not hear. He chooses not to hear.

Because your sin has separated you from your God. Here we have these wonderful promises. Guys, if you will, choose the fast that God has chosen. If you'll empty yourself and fill yourself with Him, He'll take care of you. He'll provide for you. But if you wonder, why is God not hearing me? Understand, your iniquities have separated you from your God. See, the choice is ours.

And we cannot participate in iniquity over here and have our little pet things and pursue a lifestyle of sin and then on the other side try to be religious and cover over those things because our lifestyle of sin separates us from God. Hides His face from us. And that is why...

We need to repent. Going on in verses 3 through 5, he further describes their situation, which is, well, it's quite scary to think that we're capable of this. He says,

Here he goes on to describe everyone is all defiled. Their hands are defiled with blood. They're a murderous people. They're a bloody people.

Their tongue speaks perversity. They don't call out for justice. They don't cry out for justice or seek and plead for the truth. They're not looking for righteousness. Instead, they hatch viper's eggs. The things that they produce are poisonous and venomous. They weave spider's webs, laying out traps and snares. Going on, verse 6.

Verse 7,

Here he's describing these people, the nation of Judah. And I think there should be a little bit of concern as many of these things very well could be applied to our own nation. And he says they're all defiled. They're workers of iniquity. They run to evil. They shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil. Their path is that of destruction. They destroy people's lives. They destroy things around them.

And he concludes there at the end of verse 8, whoever takes that way shall not know peace. Again, we will reap what we sow. And so we cannot participate in this lifestyle of sin and have peace and have the blessings and favor, the wonderful promises that God has given to those who walk with him. We can't compensate for those things by being religious or

Being very active in this or that or being faithful and reading or sharing. It comes down to how are we going to live our lives? The lifestyle that we live is what God is dealing with here. Verses 9 through 11 now, he begins to describe the result. What happens when a society, when a people is living this way in rebellion against God? Verse 9, Therefore justice is far from us, nor does righteousness overtake us. We look for light, but there is darkness.

I wonder if that describes your office. Darkness and groping around and growling like bears and sadness. Does it describe our nation? I think of great blindness, man.

$700 billion, we're going to bail it out. And then a week later, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Our plan is flawed. We need to do it this way. And next week it'll be some other plan. There's great blindness. Nobody knows what to do. What's going to really solve our problems? How are we going to fix this? For our own lives.

Same thing takes place. The result of living and reaping the consequences of sin is blindness and darkness, sadness. That's what comes. That's the life that we have brought upon ourselves. Verse 12, For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them.

What are they? Verse 13. And transgressing and lying against the Lord and departing from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. Justice is turned back and righteousness stands afar off for truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter. So truth fails and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Here the people recognize we know what our transgressions are.

We know what our iniquities are. We sin against God. We lie before Him. We departed from Him. We speak oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lies. We don't pursue justice, what's right. I think verse 15 is pretty interesting as well. So truth fails and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. If you stop doing evil, now you're prey. Now everybody else turns on you and against you. The results of a society that chews on

to rebel against God are devastating. The results of an individual who chooses to rebel against God are devastating. And so God brings forth this case and He comes to the point now that He's not going to allow it to continue. He needs to step into the scene and do something about it. And we see that in verse 16.

He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore, his own arm brought salvation for him and his own righteousness. It sustained him. Verse 17. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a cloak.

The nation of Judah is just completely destroyed.

There's only a few left. There's only a remnant left, a small amount. And there in verse 16 it says that he saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore, his own arm brought salvation. God looks down upon his nation, upon his people, those who are called by his name, and he wonders, why is nobody standing in the gap? We could consider David. David, as king of Israel,

brought the people back to the worship of God. There was a few other kings throughout Judas' history who brought back revival and it was not, for the most part, to the extent of the revival that took place under David's reign. It often says they did a revival but they still had these other things and they didn't deal with these other issues. There was areas that were left untouched.

And so God's looking on His people and He's wondering, why is there no one who will intercede and bring them back into right relationship with me and lead them back and restore this people? See, God wants to use someone. He wants to pour Himself through someone. He wants to use us. And He looks at our world. He looks at our workplace. He looks at our family. He says, why is there no man? Why is there no one who will go in and bring justice and righteousness and peace

Share the truth and proclaim the iniquity to be bold and share the things that need to be shared. Now, he looks at the nation and he says, why is there no man? But there is no man. And although he would desire, he would prefer to use someone, he's going to get his work accomplished with or without us. And so his own arm brought salvation. His own arm begins to do the work. And so he puts on the righteousness as a breastplate, the helmet of salvation, the

and the garments of vengeance for clothing. God's going to make things right. You won't pursue justice, I'll bring justice. It's kind of like my dad used to tell me, if you don't want to discipline yourself, I will discipline you. This is what's happening. God is bringing justice. And that's why Babylon is going to come down several years after Isaiah, because the people will not turn, they will not repent, they won't stop their iniquity. And so God brings judgment upon them. He deals with them and

Babylon conquers them and takes them away captive. At the same time, God is dealing with the coastlands and the nations around them. Verse 19, So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west. God wants His name proclaimed through us. He's called us to be the light of the world. But if we won't do it,

If we want to continue to try to live our hypocritical lives and continue in these areas, but try to compensate for them instead of really repenting and turning to God, emptying ourselves and filling ourselves with Him, if we won't do it, God will accomplish His work. Whether it's through us being the light and Him pouring His blessings into us, or whether it's His judgment being brought because we refused to turn and repent, the Lord will bring justice.

The Lord will bring justice. He will do the work with or without us so that He will be glorified. Verse 20 and 21, we finished off. It says, The Redeemer will come to Zion and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, says the Lord. Verse 21, As for me, says the Lord, this is my covenant with them. My Spirit who is upon you and my words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants' descendants.

says the Lord from this time and forevermore. We know ultimately this is going to take place in the nation of Judah at the time of the return of Jesus Christ when he establishes his thousand year reign of Christ here upon the earth. But we also know that these things apply to us today. Look at verse 20 again. The Redeemer will come to Zion and to those who turn from transgression. The Redeemer comes to those who turn from transgression. Those who turn from sin.

This is what God desires. And God's covenant with those who turn from sin is, hey, I'm going to work in you. My spirit is upon you. My words I've put in your mouth are not going to depart. I'm going to do. This is exactly what we were talking about in Hebrews on Sunday in chapter 8 where God says, I'm going to do the work from the inside out. I'm going to transform you. I'll do the work in you, God says. But you need to turn from sin. You need to repent. You need to let go.

And you can't do that without God's strength, but you need to do it. The Redeemer comes to those who turn from sin. And so this morning, or this evening, the worship team is going to come back up and lead us in some worship. And during this first song, I really want to challenge you. Let's take care of business. Are there areas of your life that you know you need to deal with, and you know they need to be taken care of, and you know they have to be addressed?

You can't cover over them by being religious. You can't make up for them by reading more or praying more or sharing more or going more to church. You can't make up for them by fasting and afflicting yourself and trying to get God's attention and force your way because you've been so religious. Here's what you need to do. You need to turn. You need to repent. We live today with the wonderful blessing of the new covenant, the second covenant. The covenant that was...

established in the blood of Jesus Christ, the covenant of grace by which we have access to God. And if there's issues that you've been dealing with and there's areas that you need to deal with and need to address, understand we are not talking about, well, you've been bad and so now you need to earn your way. Now you need to make up for it so that you can have a right relationship with God. No, you do reap what you sow. Your life will demonstrate the

consequences of the choices you've made, good or bad. But access to God is an element of grace. And so as they lead us in worship, because of what Jesus Christ has done for us, I challenge you, I call you, come into the presence of God. Worship Him. Take those issues that you have and lay them down before Him. Cast your cares upon Him because He cares for you.

Today still blessings come with obedience and destruction comes with disobedience. But you can come to God not on the basis of what you've done, but on the basis of His completed work upon the cross. And 1 John 1.9 tells us, if we confess our sins, excuse me, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And this is what God wants to happen here tonight.

He wants us to confess, to agree with Him, to agree with Him, to finally face those issues, to deal with those things, and allow Him to work in us. And He'll forgive us and He'll cleanse us. He'll give us a new opportunity to walk with Him in obedience so that we can experience the full blessings that He has for us. Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commands." Yes, it's all about grace. We can come to God on the basis of Jesus Christ and His grace.

But don't kid yourself thinking I'm okay. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commands. How are you keeping his commands? Don't water down the conviction. Face it. Confess it. Agree with God about those things. Turn from them. Lay them down at his feet and ask him to do a work in you.

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.