ISAIAH 1:1-20 GOD OFFERS MERCY TO REBELLIOUS PEOPLE2016 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Isaiah 1:1-20 God Offers Mercy To Rebellious People

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 2016.

Well, this morning we're in Isaiah chapter 1 because we began reading through the book of Isaiah as we continue to read through the Bible in three years. And so we'll be looking at Isaiah chapter 1, introducing the book a little bit, and introducing really a whole section of

the Old Testament that we'll be covering for the rest of the year, and that is the prophetic books. We have the prophets that God sent forth and the record of what they spoke and their ministry to Israel and Judah and the surrounding nations. And so we'll be looking at these kinds of things for the next several months as we continue to work our way through the Bible in three years.

This is one of those sections of the scriptures that sometimes people get bogged down a little bit in or get troubled by as you work your way through the prophets. Some people get kind of confused about the nature of God, the character of God, and many times there develops in us this kind of difference in our mind that isn't really there, but we begin to think of like the God of the Old Testament and then the God of the New Testament.

because there's so much judgment announced in the prophetic books. And so it kind of tends to give us the impression that God's like angry, that God's like, you know, just looking for an excuse, an opportunity to smack people down because of their sin. And it's a wrong impression that we get. It's a correct recording of, you know, God's word and what he was doing. But

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the words that we're looking at here at this moment. And I would present it to you this way. I would ask for you to just put on your critical thinking cap for a moment and evaluate a statement with me. Here's the statement that I'd like you to evaluate. See if it rings true in your heart. See if it's accurate in your understanding of God. Here's the statement. God is never more merciful than when he announces judgment.

Now, I would ask you to evaluate that a little bit because it might sound a little bit strange as you first think about it, as you first hear it. But God is never more merciful than when he announces judgment. You see, what we need to understand about when God announces judgment and the judgment that we read about, the proclamations of judgment in the prophets, is that every time God announces that judgment is coming,

It's an invitation for people to repent. And you can look at a very clear example of that in the prophet Jonah. Remember, God called Jonah to go to Nineveh to announce judgment. The message God gave him wasn't even a message of, you know, come to repentance or anything like that. It was just judgment is coming. But Jonah ran the other direction instead of going to Nineveh. Now, Jonah wanted judgment.

Nineveh to be judged. He wanted Nineveh to be destroyed. But when God gave him the opportunity to go announce that, he didn't go. Why? Well, he tells the Lord why he ran the other direction. At the end of the book, he says, I knew you're gracious and merciful. And if they turn from their sin, I knew you wouldn't judge them. And so that's why I ran the other way, because I wanted them to experience the judgment. I didn't want them to have opportunity to repent. He didn't like these guys that he was sent to in Nineveh. He wanted them to be destroyed because

But God was much more merciful and gracious than Jonah was because God wanted to give them an opportunity to repent. And so he sent a messenger to announce judgment. And every time you see the announcements of judgment in the Bible, understand and recognize that it's God giving an invitation to repent. And so God is never more merciful than

than when he announces judgment because he's giving that invitation to repent. Also understand that when God announces judgment, the judgment is already deserved.

So when God announces judgment, in this case in Isaiah, to the nation of Judah, it's not like, hey guys, you're almost going too far. You know, like you could be deserving of judgment if you keep going this direction. When God announces judgment, they're already deserving of the judgment. And God could just wipe them out without a warning, without an announcement, and it would be just and fair and right. But instead of just doing that, he announces the judgment, he withholds, he holds back the

the judgment that they deserve in order to give them space and opportunity to turn and get right and be delivered from the judgment that they deserve. That's really where we get our understanding of the word mercy from. The idea of mercy is the withholding of judgment that is deserved.

And so when God announces judgment, sometimes we get bogged down in it. We get kind of like, oh man, it's like so like, you know, just not pleasant to read. Judgment, judgment, you know, God's going to bring judgment. And we think, oh, it's not fun to read. But when you read it in the light of the scriptures, in light of God's character and nature, you understand God is declaring those things so that people have the opportunity to repent. You know, sometimes when tragedies happen in the world around us today, we

There are those who kind of speak up and say, it's God's judgment, you know, and they're almost like happy about, you know, the calamity that happened, and they're just saying, you know, it's God's judgment. That's not a reflection of God's heart. God is never happy about judgment. He doesn't get excited about it. He doesn't smile when he does it. It doesn't like bring him a little bit of glimmer of joy. He judges because he's just, and he must, but his desire is

His preference is that people would turn and receive the mercy and grace that he extends to us. God is never more merciful than when he announces judgment. And so as we look at this passage this morning, I've titled the message, God Offers Mercy to Rebellious People. As we look at the book of Isaiah, this is what it is. It's God offering mercy to his people who are in rebellion against him.

And he's sending Isaiah to bring forth this offer of mercy, this declaration that you can turn and be cleansed and be right with God. You don't have to experience the judgment that you receive.

Well, we have a little introduction to Isaiah in verse 1. It says, Here we have the introduction, kind of a little bit of context into the ministry of Isaiah.

He ministered to the nation of Judah and specifically the city of Jerusalem during this certain time period. And we looked at this a little bit last week, but just a quick refresher. Here's a timeline of the nation of Israel. And it started off well under King Saul and then David and Solomon. Under King Solomon, the nation was brought to the height of its glory. The greatest days of the nation of Israel were there under King David and King Solomon.

But then the nation was split. After King Solomon's son took the throne, the nation was split. And from there on out, it was really a downward spiral.

The northern kingdom kept the name Israel, and they were rebelling against God from the get-go, worshiping false gods and chasing after other things. The southern kingdom had some good kings and some bad kings, but overall, as a nation, it also was in rebellion against God, and so they kind of took a little bit longer to experience the full judgment because there was revivals that would take place here and there, but the

trajectory of the nation was downward as they continued. Even when they had good kings, the people continued to rebel against God and pursue things that were not of God. And so Isaiah comes along about 200 years after the kingdom has split. Now that's important to understand because essentially here Isaiah is ministering to a people that has been rebelling against God for 200 years.

So when God, you know, sends Isaiah, he comes on the scene and announces judgment. Understand this isn't like,

You know, you messed up one time and then boom, you know, God's bringing down the hammer. No, for 200 years as a people, you've been running from God and ignoring God and refusing to follow God. There's other prophets who've gone before Isaiah to call the people to repentance and they didn't respond. And now Isaiah is the next and there'll be people that God sends after Isaiah to call the people to repentance because he's merciful and gracious and

And so it's not just out of the blue, it's not just one mistake and then here's the hammer, but it's just that 200 years into it, they're not responding. And so God brings severe messages in these declarations, these pronouncements of judgment. Now you can read through some of the history there if you'd like to in the book of 2 Kings as well as 2 Chronicles to get a sense for what was happening in the nation during those times.

As we look at these accounts here in the prophets, and we often talk about this, there's some parallels that you can see because the nation of Judah and the nation of Israel started off well, started off in a place that was good, that was God honoring, and then it went downward and farther and farther away from God.

And as we, you know, are celebrating this weekend and tomorrow, the Independence Day and the freedom that we have here, it's hard not to make the connections and see the parallels that our nation also started off in a similar way and has continued to be further and further and run away from the things of God. And so we'll see that as well as we work our way through the prophets and see those parallels. Now this morning, though, as we look at these things,

This isn't just a declaration against all those other people out in the nation somewhere else, but I would really ask you to let the Lord evaluate your heart. As we talk about God offering mercy to rebellious people, understand that you and I very easily fall into that category. Maybe some of you are here and you're in a state of rebellion. I don't know. But there are times also where we fall into rebellion often.

without really knowing it and recognizing it. And it might not be a full-out rebellion in our lives, but there's areas of our lives that need to be surrendered to God. And so it's important for us to understand these things and that we would turn to God and be set free from those rebellions against him. So there's four points that we'll look at as we allow the Lord to evaluate our hearts this morning. The first one is found in verses two through four. And here's the first point.

rebellious people provoke God to anger. What you need to know about rebellion and why rebellion is, you know, to be discouraged and ran from is when we rebel against God, it stirs up the wrath of God. It provokes God to anger. Here's what the Lord says in verse two, "'Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, "'for the Lord has spoken.'

I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. Here, God calls all creation as witnesses against his people. He calls out to the heavens. He calls out to the earth, and he says, hey guys, look at this. Pay attention. Look at what my people have done and how they have rebelled against me. He says, I've nourished and brought up children, and

As he calls creation, you know, as witnesses against his people, he says, consider that I have nourished this nation as my own children. I've done so much for them. And you could go back to when God first called Abraham and gave him the promise that he would become a great nation in his descendants.

You could go back to Egypt and see how God delivered them and brought them out with a mighty hand from the nation of Egypt. And then how God provided for them in the wilderness and then brought them into the promised land and then provided them the judges and then King David and Solomon. You could look at all the abundant blessings and wealth that God had been giving to them and the provision and the protection that he had offered for them.

The countless times he had worked miraculously on their behalf, God truly had nurtured and brought up his people, the nation of Israel. And yet with all that God has done for them, he calls to our attention, to the attention of all creation, and yet they have rebelled against me. Even though God has done all of that, they have rebelled against me. They've turned against me even after I've done so much for them.

Now, again, we can look at these things and we can think, you know, for the nation of Judah, the nation of Israel, you know, how foolish they were. But let's not be too quick because we are not really any different. Again, our nation, we can see the parallels. It's in the same position, how God nurtured and cared. And yet we, as a nation, we have rebelled against God, but then also ourselves individually. I think it wouldn't be difficult for all of us to be able to relate to this and recognize that.

Yeah, I've rebelled against God. Even when God has done so much for me, I've rebelled against him. God uses the illustration here of children and how I've nurtured you and taken care of you and kept you in my arms, and yet you have pushed yourselves away and you've run away from me. He goes on now to give another illustration, and that is that of an animal. In verse 3, he says, the ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib.

but Israel does not know, my people do not consider. Here God compares them to, well, what are referred to as dumb animals. You know, some animals are very intelligent and they can solve problems and open jars and, you know, escape from traps and all that kind of stuff. But oxen and donkeys are not in that intelligent animal group. They're part of the dumb animals group. And

But God is saying here, dumb animals are smarter than my people because the ox knows its owner. The ox recognizes, hey, this is my master. He's the one who feeds me. He's the one who tells me what to do. And sometimes I don't like doing what he wants me to do, but I know my master's voice. I know I belong to him. The ox knows its owner and the donkey knows its master's crib. Now there's some gangster rap joke that fits in there somewhere.

My white brain couldn't come up with it though, so you'll have to do that on your own. But the donkey knows where its home is. It knows where it lays down. It knows where it belongs. The ox and the donkey know these things about their master, about their owner, and yet people so often refuse to recognize God as their master and to recognize God as their owner. God is your creator. He owns you. He has full rights over your life.

and everything about it. But we fight against that. And that's what God's recognizing here. Dumb animals recognize their master and submit to their master and know where their master's at. They submit to that. But my people, they fight against that. Verse four, alas, sinful nation.

Notice the first word there in verse 4. It says, Here God is expressing his heart.

alas, is a term of sorrow. He's lamenting. He's woeful. He's saying, oh man, I wish it wasn't this way. Again, as we begin to talk about judgment, you need to understand God never delights in judgment or punishment or the consequences of sin. He wishes it was different.

He wants them to come to repentance. He says, alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity. Now, if you would have asked the nation of Judah, and in fact, you kind of have that opportunity as you read through 1 and 2 Kings and the books of Chronicles and some of the prophets, you see the people declare things like, you know, we're not that bad. If you would have just, you know, picked some random person in Jerusalem and say, hey, you know, Isaiah's saying all these kinds of things and

You know, what do you think about that? It's likely the person would have said, oh, you know, he's been saying that kind of stuff for a few years, but you know, we're not that bad. It's not a big deal. Their perspective on their situation was radically different than God's perspective on their situation. And it's very easy for us to fall into that same mentality and think, ah, you know, it's not that bad. I still have, you know, control. I can stop anytime I want when we're involved in things that we know are not of the Lord. They would have said that.

Just like we are quick to say that. But here's what God says about them. They're laden with iniquity. That word laden, it means that they have this heavy burden, that it's overflowing, that there's this abundance that's laid upon them. They don't have, you know, a little struggle that they kind of, you know, they're wrestling with. They're laden. Their iniquity, their sin is abounding. It's laid upon them to a great degree.

That's the condition of the nation of Judah. But they would have said, oh, you know, we're not that bad. They were deceived. Their hearts were darkened. They didn't understand the depths of their sin. If you would have asked them, they might have said, you know, oh yeah, people are mostly good. You know, the nation of Judah is mostly good. They have a little bit of, you know, issues here and there, but mostly they're pretty good. They just got some struggles in certain areas. It's so easy for us to have that same mentality specifically regarding our own lives.

I like what Charles Spurgeon had to say about this. He said, your deepest sense of your sinfulness does not come up to the truth concerning your real condition. Now that takes a little bit of moments to process. I mean, think about what he's saying here. Your deepest sense of your sinfulness. You know, there are those times where suddenly like our eyes are opened. Have you ever had those occasions where all of a sudden you're

You were just fine a few moments ago, but then all of a sudden you're just like horrified as you have this revelation over what you've done or why you've done certain things as God just like shows you your heart for a moment and you're like, what have I been doing and what was I thinking and how could I get to this place? I hope you've had that kind of situation because that's when the Lord's working and you give you opportunity to repent. But even in those moments where you're just absolutely horrified, where you're just like,

overwhelmed at how sinful your heart is, Spurgeon says, your deepest sense of your sinfulness, that moment of revelation, that doesn't come close to the reality that's present. You're way more sinful than you recognize, than you realize. You're laden with iniquity. That's our condition. That's our sinful nature. We deserve God's wrath. We deserve God's judgment. Our lives, our hearts are abundant in

with sin apart from Christ. That's our natural condition. And so God's perspective was radically different. These people are laden with iniquity where they would have said, I think we're just okay. I mean, it's pretty good. Not too bad. But God says in verse four, they've forsaken the Lord. They have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel. They have turned away backward. They've provoked to anger the

They've been provoking God, you know, kind of stirring up the wrath of God in their rebellion against God, all the while thinking, we're pretty good. We're not too bad. We're fine. God says, no, you don't understand. You're laden with iniquity. And in your insistence on rebelling against me, you've provoked to anger. You've stirred up the wrath of God. And judgment will be brought because you deserve the wrath of God.

Now again, sometimes there's this distinction that's made in people's minds and it's not an accurate distinction, but it is there. It's common that what you have in the Old Testament, you know, God angry and, you know, wrathful and there's this judgment of sin. And then in the New Testament, you have grace and love and mercy and just all those good things. But as we work our way through this, I want you to understand there's no difference. God is the same in the Old Testament as he is in the New Testament. He hasn't changed. He hasn't changed.

And rebellion against God still stirs up and provokes the wrath of God. And when we make those decisions to live in a way that's rebellious to God, we bring upon ourselves the wrath of God. This is what Paul says in Romans 2, verse 5.

Pulling it from the New Testament so that we can understand this is the same God. In verse two, I'm sorry, verse five of Romans two, he says, in accordance with the hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. He says, according to your impenitent heart, that is, you're not repentant

Your heart is hard. You're insisting on rebelling against me. And so what you're doing is you're treasuring up wrath. Here's what you need to know about disobeying God. Whenever you pursue a life of disobedience to God, you store up wrath for yourself. Rebellious people provoke God to anger. If that's not an encouragement to not pursue that path, then I don't know what is. But there's more to come. As we look at verses five through nine, here we have point number two.

and that is that rebellious people are not well. Those who are in rebellion against God are not doing well. They're not healthy. Now, this is important to understand because rebellious people will usually insist they're fine. I don't know if you've experienced that, but I've experienced it plenty of times, many times.

in my own life, and then also in ministering to others, that those times of rebellion where people say, no, I'm fine. No, I understand your concern, and thank you for being concerned, but I'm fine. You don't, me and God are good. We don't got anything to worry about. You don't got anything to worry about. It's, everything's fine. Listen, don't believe it.

Rebellious people are not well. People who are living in sin are miserable. And if it's you who is living in sin, understand you need to take care to not be deceived. There might be some moments of pleasure, but that fades quickly to just absolute misery. And understand if you're miserable because of your sin, it only gets worse from there.

And sometimes we kind of convince ourselves, you know, I just got to push through. This is a little rough patch here. And if I just push through, things will get better. When you're in rebellion, when you're disregarding God's word, when you're living in a way that's against the things that God has said, it only gets worse. It's not going to get any better for you as you continue down that path of ignoring what God has said. Rebellious people are not well. Look what God says in verse 5.

God says, why should you be stricken again? Notice that word again. God has already been dealing with his people. Again, they've been in rebellion for a season now, for a long time.

And God has brought judgment upon them, not a total destruction of them entirely, but he's allowed enemies to come against them. He's allowed things to happen. He's brought measured judgments against them.

to open their eyes, to call to their attention, their rebellion, and give them opportunity to repent. And so they've been stricken already, but he says, why should you be stricken again? In other words, you don't have to continue to experience those penalties, those consequences. Why would you let yourself continue in that? But then notice what he says. He says, you will revolt more and more. So God's desire is that they would turn and not be stricken again, but he also recognizes that

You're insisting on your way and you're going to revolt more and more. You're going to rebel more and more. God is not happy about this because he sees what it's doing to them. He says the whole head is sick and the whole heart faints. This is affecting every part of you. Your mind is completely affected by your rebellion against God. Your heart is weighed down. You're completely affected by your sin against God.

It's not good. It's not healthy. You're not well. You don't have peace. You don't have joy. You don't have all that God wants to give you. It's not just that you don't get, you know, the abundant blessings that God wants to pour out in your heart. It's not just you're lacking out on some good things, but the condition of your heart is very bad. The condition of your mind, it's darkened. You're so confused. You're so lost when you are rebelling against God.

You're turned around. You're mixed up. You don't understand what's really going on. In verse 6, he says, Here, God gives us some visuals. You've been beat up. Again, he said, why should you be stricken again? Judgment has already come to some degree, and

You've been bruised. You've been beaten. You've got open wounds and sores, and they haven't been attended to, and you're not healing. You're not getting any better. This is the condition of those who disregard the Word of God. Rebellious people are not well. You've been beat up. You're not healing. You're not getting any better. That doesn't happen. You're not going to get better on your own. You're not going to heal. Your mind, your heart's not going to heal. And when you sin against God, when you choose to go down that path of sin, you're not going to get better.

it affects you completely. He says, from the sole of your foot, even to the head, your whole life is affected, is brought to destruction, is tore up, beat up. Again, God is lamenting this. He's not happy about this. He's not rejoicing and saying, oh, it's so great. You know, you're all beat up. I love it. No, he's saying, you're in such a miserable condition. Why would you continue that? You're not getting any better. Why would you continue that?

He goes on in verse 7. He says, He looks at the nation. He says, guys, look at what's going on. Your country is desolate and your cities are burned with fire. He says, look, all that's left is you have a little hut and

in a little cucumber garden. That's all that's left of your nation. Now, God is not speaking literally here. There was more to the nation than just a little hut in a garden at that point. But when you compare where they once were to where they were at that time, you could understand the picture that God is painting is very accurate. When you look at the glory that the nation of Israel had under Solomon,

where there was abundant peace, there was abundant wealth, where silver was so common it was like stones in Jerusalem. They were just overflowing with abundance. But now they're desolate. The nation is divided. They've lost territory. Cities have been burned. They've lost battles. They've lost lives. There's hardly any left. Their sin and rebellion against God has destroyed their country.

We learn a little bit about this in 2 Chronicles 28, verse 19, where it records for us, The Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz, king of Israel, for he had encouraged moral decline in Judah and had been continually unfaithful to the Lord. The Lord brought Judah low. They were at the heights of glory. They were the, you know, the nation of the world, really, the world-renowned nation under the reign of David and Solomon. But now they're

just a few cities gathered together trying to hold on. It says the Lord brought them low because of the moral decline and because they had been continually unfaithful to the Lord. Again, it's that rebellion against God that has brought them to this place of desolation and destruction. This is the results of rebellion. When you're entertaining sin in your mind, this is not the picture that you think about, right?

When we're entertaining sin in our minds and making those decisions and choices, we're thinking about what we might enjoy, the lights, the shining, the glimmer, you know, the beautiful things that we imagine. It's a fantasy in our own mind. And you get through that curtain of, you know, this glimmering, you know, shiny, wow, this is going to be great for me. And on the other side of that is open wounds and bruises and desolation and lowliness. This is the condition of those people.

who disregard God. This is the condition of those who rebel against God. Now, I want to throw in a little bit of a side note here at this point, just to give us a little word of precaution, and that is, don't make the mistake of Job's friends. As you think about this whole picture and all the destruction that's happening, here's what Job's friends did in their situation as they watched kind of all this unfold in Job's life, and they said, well, certainly there must be some sin, because look, this is what God does to those who rebel against him.

But here's what you need to understand. We covered it in Job. We covered it in Psalms also. Just because someone is experiencing these kinds of circumstances doesn't mean there's rebellion against God. And that's the mistake that Job's friends made. They saw the circumstances and came to the conclusion there must be sin. There must be rebellion. But that's not the case. That being said...

more for evaluating our own hearts, when we are experiencing destruction and these kinds of things, there should be a check. It's reasonable for there to be a check in our hearts and say, is there some rebellion in my life? Is there some sin that maybe I've deceived myself and I don't even kind of really recognize that I'm engaged in rebellion against God, but Lord, are you calling my attention to this because you're allowing these things to get me to wake up and to recognize that something is going on?

We need to be careful not to look on someone else's life and say, well, there must be hidden sin. But when these things happen, understand this is the result of sin. So it might be happening in someone's life and they're not in rebellion, but someone who's in rebellion will definitely experience these things. And that's why it can be confusing in our minds sometimes. But we need to be careful not to jump to those conclusions with other people because

But with our own hearts, we should be willing and free and quickly run to the Lord. Lord, is there something out of line as I see these things taking place in my life? Because this is the result of rebellion. And understand, if you're choosing a life of rebellion, if you're choosing to go down the path of ignoring what God says and ignoring God's word, this will be the end result. That's guaranteed.

In verse 9, he goes on to say, unless the Lord of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom. We would have been made like Gomorrah. They're in a desolate place. Their wounds are open. They're soured. They're festering. They're not doing well. They're not getting any better. And here, God points out, unless he had been merciful, he's brought a measure of judgment, but he hasn't brought the full judgment that they deserve yet.

If he brought the full judgment that they deserved, they would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah. That's from Genesis chapter 18 and 19, where the city of Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were so wicked and rebellious against God that God rained down fire and brimstone and wiped out the cities entirely, completely. Nobody was left. And God's pointing out here, Judah deserved that. So much so he's going to start in the next verse, he's going to call them. He's going to refer to them as Sodom and Gomorrah.

They were in a similar position. They deserved that kind of destruction and judgment. But God has been merciful and has left a very small remnant. They were a mighty nation, but now there's just a few that are left. They've been greatly reduced. And it's only by God's mercy that they've not been destroyed completely because that's the result of rebellion. Rebellious people are not well. Anybody who's living in sin and tells you, oh no, I'm good. Me and God, we're fine. Don't believe it.

Don't believe it. They're not fine. They're miserable. And it's only going to get worse. And when you think, hey, I'm fine, even though I'm practicing these things or engaged in these things, and it seems like it's working out okay, understand that illusion will be removed at some point, and you'll realize how terrible things have become as you have rebelled against God. If you're living in sin, don't be deceived. Those momentary pleasures will fade quickly to misery, and it's only downhill from there. It doesn't get better.

When you refuse to follow God, it doesn't get any better. This is the best it's going to be. It's only going to get worse and worse and worse as you continue to refuse God. Well, moving on to point number three. Now, I know the title says God offers mercy to rebellious people, and you might be going, now, where is the mercy? I mean, come on. We're going to get there. But we got one more judgment stuff to deal with here in verses 10 through 15. Point number three, rebellious people offer futile sacrifices.

So here are these rebellious people. But the thing to understand about the nation of Judah is that although they were rebellious, they knew what God wanted, they knew what God said, and they did exactly the opposite. At the same time, they continued to be very religious. They were rebellious, but religious. Verse 10. "'Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. "'Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah. "'To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me?' "'Says the Lord.'

Again, he refers to them as Sodom and Gomorrah because, well, they have been in rebellion against God and they deserve judgment. And he says, hey, listen up. Hear the word of the Lord. Hear what God says. Now, what does God say? He says, what is the purpose of your sacrifices? Why are you offering sacrifices?

He asked the people. They were rebellious, but the interesting thing about it is they continued to practice the sacrifices, the feasts, the religious rituals that God had established in his law. It's very similar to how we can be today. We're often convinced that God will overlook or forgive our sinfulness because of our religious works.

But I want to make sure that's abundantly clear. That's not true. Listen, that's never been the case. Religious works have never been able to provide forgiveness. Never, never, never, never. Don't get confused as you look at the law of God and think, well, they, you know, did these sacrifices and,

God makes it clear here. He'll go on to say, I don't delight in the blood of bulls or lambs or goats. It wasn't about the sacrifices. It was always about the heart from the very beginning. God never forgives anybody because of a sacrifice they make. Even if you sacrifice your life for somebody else, that doesn't grant you any forgiveness as far as God is concerned. You can give the greatest sacrifice and give up your life for somebody else, but it won't cleanse you. It won't forgive you.

It won't make up for the sin that you have done. God never overlooks sin because of a financial gift. So if you gave really generously as the offering was passed around today, thinking, yeah, because I was really bad this week and so I kind of got to make up for it. Talk to Dave after service. You'll get your money back because it's not going to forgive you.

It's not going to help you in your standing with God to give or to do some great sacrifice. God never accepts a person because they're so diligent to read the Bible. Well, yeah, I had these issues. I had these things. I had this rebellion. I had these, and man, I got to try to like make up for it. We kind of have that tendency. Well, some people do. Some people don't care. But you know, like sometimes when you're late to meet with somebody, you're like,

And then you're meeting with them again. You're like, okay, I got to make sure that I'm early, kind of make up for last time when I was late. You know, kind of have that built in, you know, we try to like make up for, compensate for failures or wrongs that we've done. You offend somebody and you kind of go out of your way, try to make up for what you've done. And sometimes we take that same approach to God. And we know we've sinned. We know we've fallen short. And so we try to make up, we try to compensate for those failures that we've had.

for those times that we've sinned, for those decisions that we've made. But God here is saying, look, you can't do that. Your sacrifices don't accomplish that. I don't delight in the blood of bulls, God says. It was never about that. It's always been about the heart. God would rather you not bring any offerings or sacrifices or read the Bible or come to church if it's not out of a repentant heart that desires to walk with him. If you're using any of those things to try to just like

make up for the fact that you're living in rebellion against God, it doesn't work. It doesn't improve your standing. It doesn't help you. In fact, God hates it. In verse 12, he says, when you come to appear before me, who has required this from your hand to trample my courts?

Bring no more futile sacrifices. Incense is an abomination to me. The new moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of the assemblies. I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Notice that combination. Here's what's frustrating God. The iniquity and the sacred meeting. Now, they were practicing things that God had told them to practice in his word. They were practicing the law on the outside anyways, but their hearts were far from God.

And that's what God is addressing here. Even though I commanded you to do those things, I can't tolerate you living in sin and still trying to pretend like everything's okay by practicing these outward things. You could think about it this way. There's not much point in going to the doctor if you're going to keep on drinking poison. Doctor, I'm sick. I don't feel well. But you continue to drink the poison. Well, you're not going to get any better.

What's the point of going to the doctor if you're insisting on killing yourself with the poison? In the same way, they're insisting on sinning against God, but still going to the doctor, doing all the outward stuff. But their hearts are far from God. It's hypocrisy, and God hates that.

And it's so easy for us to fall into that similar type of thing where we're justifying our sins and convincing ourselves, well, yes, I have all these things. I have this going on, but I have, you know, these reasons for it. And we think, I'll just go to church and that'll help kind of make up for what I'm doing.

This hypocrisy makes a mockery of God in his word. He hates it. Verse 14, he says, your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hates. They are a trouble to me. I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Now when you're in trouble and you're calling out to me, I'm not going to hear because you're doing so in hypocrisy.

You're calling out to me, but you're not allowing me to change your heart. You're not listening to me. You want my help, but you won't submit to me. God hates that. He won't stand for that. To know the truth and live in sin and then come pretending that everything is okay, that's an abomination to God. He doesn't want your offerings and sacrifices if they're not an act of worship. He hates hypocrisy. He hates when you give without meaning it. He wants your heart.

He wants it to be genuine and real for you. Rebellious people offer futile sacrifices. It's good to give to God and we need to give to God, but we need to give to God from a state of obedience to God, submission to God. Now, I know this is heavy stuff, but God is serious about sin. He's serious about how he's worshiped. Again, God hasn't changed. He is still the same today as he was as he was sharing these things through the prophet Isaiah.

You cannot expect to be heard by God when you're living in rebellion against him. No matter how much you pray, no matter how much you cry, no matter how many good deeds you do, what God wants is your heart, not your religious duties. Well, finally, we get to the mercy in verses 16 through 18. Here we have point number four. Repentance cleanses rebellious people. If we stopped at the previous verses, we would think that there's no hope for rebellious people or sinful people because...

They've provoked God to anger. They're not well. They're not getting any better. And no matter what they do, they can't change their status. They can't change their standing before God. So that would seem that it's hopeless. But here God gives mercy. He gives the opportunity. There is the opportunity to change your status before God, to change your standing before God. But it's not by offering sacrifices and continuing in sin.

To change your status and your standing before God, he says in verse 16 through 18, wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil.

Learn to do good, seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Here's what God says. You can be clean. It's not impossible. You're not beyond reach, but you cannot be clean by being religious.

So important for us to grasp hold of this truth because so many times we try to make up for, compensate for what we've done by doing religious things. Matthew Henry, the commentator, puts it this way. When sinners are under the judgments of God, they will more easily be brought to fly to their devotions than to forsake their sins and reform their lives. We start experiencing some difficulty. We know we're in sin. We know things are not right. And we go, oh yeah, I got to get back to reading the Bible.

You know, Jerry's been telling us, read the Bible in three years. And so, okay, yeah, I got to get back into the schedule. And I fell out of that. And so, and we'll quickly run to reading the Bible or attending church or serving in some capacity or doing something. Rather than address the sin issue that's in our hearts, rather than repent of our sin, we run to do stuff. That was the condition of the nation of Judah. And God says, look, I'm not looking for you to go do stuff.

I'm looking for you to repent, to change your heart. He says, wash yourselves and make yourselves clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Stop practicing sin. God says, you can be clean. You can be washed. Here's what you need to do. Stop choosing to sin. And then verse 17, learn to do good. So here we get a good picture of repentance. Repentance is a 180 degree turn.

It's not just the stop of sin. So you're going this direction, you're choosing to sin, and you stop going that direction. You stop that sin. That's not repentance yet. Repentance then is when you turn around and then learn to do good. And so you replace those actions, you replace those behaviors with good behaviors, with godly behaviors. Instead of pursuing sin, you're pursuing righteousness and godliness. You're pursuing a walk with God.

And so that's what he says to do. You want to be clean? You can. Stop practicing sin and learn to do good. I think it's also interesting here by the wording that he chooses to use, cease to do evil. That's immediate. Stop. But then learn to do good gives us an indication there's a little bit of a process there. You don't always know what to do good right away. You have to learn to do good. It's going to be, you know, some things that you learn, that you develop, that you grow in as you start doing what's good.

But stop right now. So, you know, there's no like weaning yourself off of sin. Well, I'm going to just, you know, fornicate one less time a week for the next six weeks. And then we'll try two times, you know, the next, you know. No, no, no. Stop. Cut sin out. Stop choosing to sin and start learning how to do life the way that God wants you to do life. And notice the things that God is asking his people are not like crazy, outlandish, ridiculous things.

All right, you can be clean. What you need to do is 4,000 push-ups every day, and I'll forgive you. That's not what God says. He doesn't give them something crazy. He says, learn to do good. What does he list? Seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, and plead for the widow. Now, who would dispute any of those things? Those are good things. God's requests are not unreasonable. He's not throwing some great huge burden on you and saying, you know, well, if you can, you know, defeat this giant, you're

then you can be forgiven. If you can conquer this castle, then you can be forgiven. He's saying, stop choosing to sin and start figuring out how to do what I want and how to walk with me. That's what God wants. He wants your heart. So he says, come now, let us reason together. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they're red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Let's reason. Let's talk about this, God says. It doesn't make sense.

for you to stay in your sinful condition when you can receive forgiveness and be cleansed no matter how bad you are, no matter how bad you've been, even if your sins are like crimson, you can be white as snow. God offers complete and total cleansing from sin, total forgiveness from sin. We spend way too much time trying to make up for our sin. You can't be religious enough to compensate for your sinfulness.

Even as believers, we get into this trap where we're trying to make up for what we've done. You can't give enough in the offering to make up for your sin. You can't read your Bible enough. You can't do enough good things. God doesn't ask you to make up for your sin. He asks you to turn from your sin. Cease from doing evil. Stop it and learn to do good. And God says, even though you're like crimson, even though your sins, they're bad. I know they're bad.

In fact, they're worse than you realize. They're worse than you recognize. But no matter how dark and ugly your life is, your past is, your decisions are, you can be white as snow. He doesn't ask you to sacrifice for sin because he has sacrificed for sin in sending Jesus Christ to be crucified on the cross for you and for me. And we're going to end our time together this morning by partaking of communion and remembering what Christ has done for us upon the cross.

That we no longer have to offer a sacrifice. And that's not just going through the motion of offering an animal. But that is, we don't offer, we don't do religious things. We don't do good works to receive God's favor and forgiveness. We receive God's favor and forgiveness by faith in Jesus Christ. By receiving, by turning from sin, and by walking with Jesus. By faith in Jesus Christ, we learn to do good.

And so this morning, as we have this opportunity to partake of communion, I want to encourage you and challenge you to allow God to check your heart. Are you rebellious? And maybe there's some of you who are. Maybe you're not outright, you know, full-on rebellious, but maybe God's speaking to you about a certain area of your heart and saying, you know, this really needs to be dealt with. You've allowed this for way too long. You're not getting any better. You're not well. You're provoking my wrath.

And you can't make up for it with any kind of religious duties. Stop it. Let's turn from sin. Let's turn from those things as God reveals them to our hearts and receive the grace and the forgiveness that God offers to us by faith in Jesus Christ. And so as you partake of communion this morning, I would ask that you would allow that to be a real statement of your heart that you are ceasing from sin and that you are learning to do good by faith in Jesus Christ. And listen,

Don't partake of communion just as a religious duty, thinking it'll improve your favor with God and things will be better. If you're not gonna turn from your sin, if you're not gonna cease to do evil, don't partake. Paul warns against that in 1 Corinthians. He says, look, don't partake in an unworthy manner. You're just bringing judgment to yourself. You add judgment to yourself when you go through the motions, pretend like everything's okay, but your heart isn't right and you don't really wanna get right with God. Don't partake if that's you.

But if you want to be right with God, if you want to walk with God and receive that cleansing that he offers, then I would encourage you to partake. Do business with God. Cease from doing evil and learn to do good by receiving what Christ has done for you. The worship team, you guys can come up and they're going to lead us in a song. As they do, the ushers are going to pass out the bread and the cup. And as they pass out the bread and the cup, you are free to partake at any time. At the end of the song, they'll give you a chance to partake if you haven't already. But

But you take this time with the Lord, just you and the Lord. You know where your heart's at. You know what God's been speaking to you and what he's revealing to you. And you do business with God and spend this time with him and allow him to show you those things that need to be shown. Allow him to break through deception if there's some deception there where you've been thinking, I'm okay, I'm fine. Turn from sin. Stop it. Let this be a day.

Will you turn your heart over to the Lord once again as you receive what he's done for you upon the cross? Let's worship the Lord together. 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.