All Are Welcome | Isaiah 56 | Gary Hamrick

if you'll take your Bibles and turn with me to Isaiah chapter 56 we don't have too many Bibles but if you happen to see an usher near you who happens to have one you can raise your hand if you need one and then turn to Isaiah 56 with me if you take a church Bible its page 525 in those church Bibles Isaiah chapter 56 if you're new to Cornerstone we just go straight through God's Word from cover to cover we've been lingering here in Isaiah for the past several weeks has 66 chapters so we're almost to the end but for today we're gonna be looking here at chapter 56 let's first pause and pray Lord you're so good to us and we just thank you that you love us that you first loved us that you pursue us Lord we just are grateful that you would love us even in our unlovely state that the righteous Jesus died for us the unrighteous to bring us to God that we might have fellowship and relationship with you so thank you for that Lord use your word now in our lives as we've studied together to challenge us and encourage us Lord speak to our hearts give us ears to hear and a heart to receive that we would Lord just walk in step with what your spirit is saying to us through the pages of your word and I thank you for all those who are here and those who are watching online today we just give you all praise glory and honor it's in Jesus name we pray and everybody said amen well in the 1937 classic little rascals Spanky conducts a private meeting for all the guys in the neighborhood in the neighborhood after news that the McGillicuddy girl did not invite any of them to her party and so he stands up in front of all of his friends and in response to this rejection by the McGillicuddy girl he suggests that the guys form a new club called the he-man woman haters Club and he gets cheers from all of his prepubescent male friends and they elect alfalfa as their first president and I do happen to believe that the 1937 classic is better than the 1994 remake but that's for another story well what was innocent among eight and nine year old boys in a 1937 comedy is not so innocent among God's people when they see themselves as part of an exclusive club made up of self-righteous people and the fact is that that's been a problem all through history when you look at scripture and isaiah addresses a version of it in his own day here in chapter 56 the jewish people saw themselves as an exclusive club that belonged to God which foreigners and outcasts were not invited to and in a similar way you're gonna see as we read some of this chapter that the foreigners and the outcasts saw themselves as too unworthy to be accepted by God anyway and so God comes along through Isaiah to confront and to correct this thinking and so he's basically going to challenge those and warn those who feel exclusive and he's going to welcome those who feel excluded and this is this is the background to what we're gonna read here because in a nutshell what God is going to say to the people of Isaiah's day and is still the same that he would say to our day all are welcome and we can't have this exclusive club mentality because God excludes no one but salvation is a free gift to all who would believe in receive so to those who are exclusive God warns and to those who feel excluded God welcomes that's the background to our story here let's look at chapter 56 I'll read verses 1 through 8 this is what the Lord says maintain justice and do what is right for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed blessed is the man who does this the man who holds it fast who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it and keeps his hand from doing any evil let no foreigner who has bound himself to the Lord say the Lord will surely exclude me from his people and let not any unit complain I am only a dry tree for this is what the Lord says to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbath's who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off and foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to serve him to love the name of the Lord and to worship Him all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations the sovereign Lord declares he who gathers the Exiles of Israel I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered now by the way some of your Bibles new King James in ESV there in that last verse instead of saying exiles it says outcasts and so Isaiah is addressing here foreigners eunuchs and outcasts basically all those who feel excluded God wants to welcome all but there's also here this implied rebuke of those among the Jewish people who felt like they were a part of this exclusive club and nobody else was allowed in now it is true those of you who know your Old Testament law it is true that foreigners and eunuchs in particular were excluded on on certain ceremonial grounds from performing certain duties in the temple but they were never to be excluded from the eternal promises of God the second thing that is also true is that in terms of this exclusive club mentality the Jewish people were and are God's chosen people and there is a truth to that that is revealed in Scripture both old and new Testament for example in Deuteronomy 7 verse 6 you don't need to turn there I'm going to rattle off a few verses deuteronomy 7:6 God says to the Jewish people for you are a people holy to the Lord your God the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people his treasured possession and also in Deuteronomy 14 - for you or a people holy to the Lord your God and out of all the peoples on the face of the earth the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession and that theme is repeated in Deuteronomy 26 18 in exodus 19:5 in Psalm 135 verse 4 and even in the New Testament Paul who was a Jew and riding on behalf of his own people he writes in Romans 9 3 - 5 he says for the sake of my brothers those of my own race the people of Israel and he makes this list of their privileged role that they play in human history says well there's is the adoption of sons there's the divine glory the covenants the receiving of the law the temple worship and the promises and then he adds there in Romans 9:5 there's our the patriarchs and from them is trace the human ancestry of Christ who is God overall forever praised amen now that last part is key to understanding what does it mean that the Jews are the chosen people because in this list that Paul makes here he says no doubt my own people excuse me writing as a Jew himself we have some privileged roles that we played in the course of God's providential design in human history the covenants the temple worship the promises but the key to understanding it is this when he adds and the patriarchs through whom is traced that the the human lineage of Christ Jesus who is God forever praised amen you see the Jewish people were not chosen in the sense of belonging to an exclusive club that solely had relationship with God and the Jews only but they were and are the chosen people of God in the sense that God chose them as a vehicle that through this race of people a messiah would be born from this race of people to bring salvation to all races of people so in that sense that's why the Jews were and are God's chosen people selected for a very important purpose really the the ultimate birth of Messiah from this race that didn't previously exist until God raised it up through the seed of Abraham for the benefit of all people so here's the back story to that where did the Jewish people come from they didn't exist until God determined providentially that he would tap Abraham who was Abram at the time living in Iraq between the Tigris and Euphrates tap Abram on the shoulders say I'm selecting you and Abram was just a Gentile pagan worshiper he worshipped pagan gods and for whatever reason God saw within Abram something worth calling him in this role as this great patriarch of the Jewish people and so God selects him there were no Jews before this and God calls Abram I want you to leave your country I want you to leave your people I want you to leave your gods I want you to go to the land that I'm showing you and there you will worship me the true God and Abraham believes and Abraham by faith and he leaves and he ends up going and traveling to what is today Israel and there he lives and there he worships the true God and God changes his name from Abram which means exalted father to Avraham to Abraham meaning the father of a multitude of people because God says to him in Genesis 22 17 I'm going to bless you and you're gonna be the father of a great nation and your descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore and Genesis 22:18 he says and through you all nations will be blessed and what God was saying was he was pronouncing prophetically that through eventually the line of Abraham would come the Semitic race that eventually would lead to the birth of Messiah that God in flesh would enter the human race and Jesus Christ would come to be the savior for all who would believe in receive so in that sense of course the Jewish race chosen people very special to God was and are God's chosen people but for the purpose of the ultimate Messiah being revealed to the whole world not so that they can just be this exclusive club that solely belongs to God and no one else now unfortunately that's what went to the heads of many of the Jews they understood their history they understood okay Abraham is called in the Jewish race and God speaking to them and then the patriarchs and then Moses and then the law and so we are these privileged special people okay but all of that went to their heads such that they began to have this exclusive club mentality kind of you know the he-man Gentiles haters club right and so unfortunately that's what happens in in history and and that became pervasive even into the New Testament church even in the early days of the New Testament church predominantly for the first ten years or so after Christ rose from the dead for the first ten years or so the the church was exclusively made up of Jews who believed in Jesus Yeshua's Messiah you don't see the first Gentile convert until Acts chapter 10 and I'll talk about that in a moment but what happened is that the Jewish people began to think that they were a select privileged people and if you had any hope as a non Jew the only way you were gonna get to God was to become Jewish a proselyte or a convert to Judaism so in Galatians in Paul's letter to the church at Galatia he addresses this he says none of this isn't true you just have to have faith in Jesus you don't have to go through Judaism the the revelation of Messiah came through Judaism but now it's all about Jesus it's all about coming to faith in Jesus it's not being a part of a select little little you know exclusive club and so in Galatians chapter 2 Paul would say this we who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners he puts it in quotes know that a man is not justified by observing the law but by faith in Jesus Christ and then he goes on in in Galatians chapter 3 and he addresses Abraham as the great patriarch and he says take Abraham for example he said it was all about if it's all about obeying the law then Abraham had no hope because Abraham was about six hundred years before the law was even given so he says what was the key for Abraham the key was faith he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness it's always been about faith but you see in New Testament time there were these groups of Jews called the Judaizers who came along and said okay we believe it's Jesus we get it he's Messiah died for our sins rose from the dead but it's a it's Jesus plus it's Jesus plus the Jewish rituals it's Jesus plus circumcision it's Jesus plus all the Jewish feasts and Paul comes on and goes no no no no listen Judaism played an important role in bringing Messiah to the whole world but it's you don't have to go through all of that system you don't have to join the club to get to God you have to have faith in Jesus and then you were accepted into his family and so Paul would write in Galatians 38 and 9 he says the scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and announce the gospel in advance to Abraham all nations will be blessed through you Paul quotes in Galatians 3 from from Genesis 22:18 and so Paul says so those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham the man of faith but you see this this prejudice and this exclusive kind of Club mentality even even among some of the Giants of the faith the Apostle Peter the Apostle Peter for example he struggled with this I mean as a Jew he was proud of his Jewish heritage which is fine but traditionally that pride would lead to prejudice and and so he even had a problem with Gentiles in regards to how they got saved and we know this because it's revealed to us in Acts chapter 10 and I'll just summarize this story in Acts chapter 10 so what we have in acts 10 is Peter who is hanging out in this port city along the Mediterranean called Joppa and it's a it's a beautiful town still today I've been there a few times and the Bible says that he's up on the roof of a home because the roof was usually an extension of a house in those days and he and he goes up to the roof of the house to pray but it says in acts 10 as he starts to pray he gets hungry anybody relate to that when you start to pray your mind starts wandering to everything I got to pay bills I'm really hungry do we have turkey or ham and the refrigerator and so you know you go through all of this so so Peters getting hungry and so it says that he fell into a trance so it's something between like low blood sugar and a nap you know and he's you know what I'm talking about you've been in that like hazy kind of Andes and the NIV uses the word trance he falls into a trance and God gives them a vision now God's going to give them a vision to address to confront this prejudice in Peters heart and in the vision the vision is of this sheet this bed sheet being lowered down from heaven by the four corners of the sheet and inside the sheet the Bible says are all kinds of unclean animals non kosher animals and it doesn't specifically say what but we know the list in the Bible so it probably included you know ham and and Ravens or unclean bird and rabbits or unclean animals and and so you know he's got here comes this vision all these different things and it was not kosher to eat these things and in the vision God says to Peter get up kill and eat these things now that was not kosher for him as a Jew I can't eat unclean animals by the way I was a little while ago having lunch with a man that I've become friends with who's a Jewish rabbi Orthodox Jewish rabbi does not believe or accept Jesus as Messiah I'm working on him but he but he pastors a church in Washington DC and he I were having lunch together and so I'm gently kind of he actually came here to snuck into church one time and told me later so I don't know if he happens to be here but but you know so I'm just kind of gently prodding him about things and and he does the same to me and I said why because we're eating lunch together and he ordered a strict kosher meal and I said now tell me tell me why do you eat kosher and he looked at me and he said you know what I have no idea anyway to carry over some things we do tradition you know tradition anyway that one's sing the whole play but you can thank me later but anyway Peter Peter is told by God get up and eat these things and he takes pride in his Jewish heritage and in Acts chapter 10 14 and 15 he says surely not I replied Peter he says I have never eaten anything impure unclean nothing nothing non kosher come across my lips and the voice spoke to him a second time do not call anything impure that God has made clean now what is God doing in this vision what God is doing is trying to get Peter to realize for a long time you've been looking at certain people as unclean just like you look at certain foods is unclean I just want you to know that whatever I determine this clean is clean stop looking at those dirty Gentiles as dirty Gentiles cuz I'd died for them to to make a long story short God tells Peter I want you to go to the house of Cornelius this Gentile Roman centurion and I want you to go share the gospel with him and so Peter goes and a whole bunch of details I'm leaving out but the end of the story is that when when Peter goes gives Cornelius and his family the good news of Jesus Christ died on cross rose again that Cornelius and his whole household belief now under normal circumstances Peter would never have even gone into the home of the Gentile I'm a part of an exclusive club you guys have to come through us we don't really associate with you but see God is stretching and helping him to realize this this guy I died for two everybody is equally unclean and only God makes us clean so go ahead and I want you to share the good news he goes into the house of Cornelius they believe the message they get saved and then Peter says something in acts 10 34 and 35 that is important to this whole story and he says this I now realize that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear god and do what is right and he comes to this personal epiphany and he realizes these barriers between people man I I have felt like I'm part of an exclusive club and I have felt like certain people are excluded from even getting into this club and he says I now realize I'm gonna put the verse on the screen for you I want us to say it all out loud and together just say this with me out loud I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear Him and do what is right and isn't this in part what Isaiah is saying here 700 years before Peter in Isaiah 56 verse 7 the latter part of verse 7 where God says for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations this is about all people nobody should feel like they belong to an exclusive club and neither should anybody feel excluded God is saying I died for all that all might be saved as many as believed in him to them that received him God gave the right to become sons and daughters of his this is this is an all open invitation now not everybody will respond to it but this is an all open invitation and we need to be searching our own hearts because you know those kind of little subtle prejudices or this little a kind of exclusive mindset that you know will we're kind of the church or we're Christians or we're or we're this or were that and we can develop this kind of clubhouse mentality like the little rascals only in a in a in a bad a sinful way not just a you know a 1937 comedy when we need to ask ourselves you know do we have an exclusive prejudicial view of what the church should look like do you think that the church should only be made up of people who look like you because God doesn't now let me just say this as part of as part of going through this text here I think it's a dangerous thing sometimes the pastor's do when they use the pulpit just for the purpose of driving home some point some pet peeve almost like they use the Bible like a weapon to just kind of you know beat up the flock a little bit about something and and it happens I've heard it happen from time to time you know what I'm talking about I'll give you an example it's like is like so some pastor hears about a bunch of of gossip going on in the church during the week and so you come Sunday and he's got a sermon on fire on the topic of gossip and the sermon is entitled I hope your tongue falls out you know that kind of a thing or or here's a bunch of people we're getting drunk during the week and so that next Sunday he's gonna hammer hard on all the verses about drunkenness and the sermon is entitled I hope your liver withers you know and that kind of a thing and so that's it that's a dangerous thing to kind of be targeting you know I mean that that dog will bark every single Sunday if you just want to follow one issue after another after another and then just tailor your sermons to just kind of be driving home a point I think there's danger in that one that one of the built-in beauties of doing what we do here at Cornerstone of going straight through the Bible just we're just going cover to cover is that you know I don't I don't have to address little things along the way all of God's Word is going to address all of it and at some point if you're here long enough you're gonna hear every single issue addressed and it'll hit you as it comes up and it hits me as it comes up too but every once in a while every once in a while it just so happens that you come to the tacks that we're just going chapter by chapter theme by theme and it and it happens to a line with some matter at hand that can serve to be a teaching moment for us because something happened last Sunday that I want to mention now I'm gonna mention this and now and I want to preface my remarks by first saying this I shared this story in the first service and someone came up to one of our pastors and said I think this has to do with my family and let me explain the extenuating circumstances and when we heard out the the the situation we came to the conclusion we don't think that this is their story because the details didn't line up so I don't know whose story this is and it really doesn't matter because I don't know who this applies to I have no idea but it's a good teaching moment for all of us okay so I get this email during the week and this person made an observation I won't say the person's name I'm reading it without their permission but I thought it was an important email that we received and so I want to share this with you so this person writes we got this on Monday of this past week he says I just want to pass along an observation that my wife and I and presumably quite a number of individuals behind us made during Sunday's 10:00 a.m. service just in case something is said later we were sitting in the front row of one of the back sections of the sanctuary so this occurred directly in front of us there was a slightly elderly couple Caucasian sitting in the back row of one of the lower left sections and there were three open seats to their left service was full and open seats were minimal at one point after worship when all were seated three individuals two women and a man of african-american descent came in and sat in the three seats to the left of the elderly couple within seconds the couple got out of their seats and moved to two empty seats along the floor between the lower and upper sections both my wife and I noticed what had happened and the two african-american women were obviously confused as they kept looking to see where the two individuals had moved to there very well may have been legitimate circumstances as to why the couple changed seats this person writes but the appearance to my wife and I and presumably quite a few people behind us was not good now I appreciate this person sending the email and the fact of the matter is this is not the only person that I heard this from I also was made aware of this by by someone else who observed the situation and let me just say this I do hope I do hope that there were extenuating circumstances and let's just believe the best and say that there were but for the purpose of all of us learning as a matter of sensitivity for the purpose of all of us let's just say that they got up and moved because some people of a different race sat down next to them I won't go so far as to say that couple isn't welcome here because the fact of the matter is they need Jesus and they need to hear this sermon so they need to be here but I will go so far as to say that if indeed it happened because it was a racial issue that kind of prejudice will not be tolerated here ever [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear Him and do what is right and so should we the elders fall down at the feet of Jesus in the book of Revelation in revelation 5:9 and they sing a song and part of the song is you were slain and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation heaven in gonna look just like you it's gonna look like all of us together so let's start practicing heaven now [Applause] [Music] again I hope it was just an innocent thing and I don't know who would apply soon it doesn't even matter because it's a good learning point for all of us this is not an exclusive club and no one is to be excluded and we have to guard our own hearts again you know Peter had had issues with it too and it's not the only time it creeps up with Peter ten years later in Galatians chapter 2 Peters hanging out with some Gentiles eaton pulled pork barbecue okay that party doesn't say in the Bible but he's hanging out with Gentiles and some of his Jewish friends come in the room and Peter gets up and moves away from the Gentiles like you don't even know him and Paul says I opposed him to his face because he was clearly in the wrong so this this thing can sneak up on any of us and we have to be really careful that we understand the heart of God that there's no exclusive club and no one is excluded that God sent His Son Jesus to die for all because God loves all and as many as received him and believed on his name he gave the right to become children of God and we need to share the heart of our Father as it relates to every single one of us well there's more to this story I don't want to end on that because the other half of this story is now this is not just a warning to those who feel exclusive with God this is also a welcome to those who feel excluded from God so in the last couple of minutes I just want to focus on that if you go back here to your text in Isaiah 56 forgive me but I'm gonna read again verses three through eight because it this is an appeal to those who feel excluded and as I read this I want to appeal to some of you that maybe perhaps feel excluded to where you for a long time or a short time for whatever amount of time feel like God can't really accept you and that God doesn't really love you I want you to read this and I want you to put yourself in the story and I want you to hear the heart of God for you Isaiah 56 verse three let no foreigner and by that word foreigner just simply means any non Jew let no foreigner who was bound himself to the Lord say the Lord will surely exclude me from his people and let not any unit complain I am only a dry tree for this is what the Lord says to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbath's who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant to them I will give within my temple and its walls on memorial and a name better than sons and daughters I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off and foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to serve him to love the name of the Lord and to worship Him all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar for my house would be called a House of Prayer for All Nations the Sovereign Lord declares he who gathers the exiles some translations outcasts of Israel I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered do you hear with me what he says here to the foreigner and to the eunuch into the outcast for those who the phrase that he uses here who bind themselves to the Lord okay in other words those who have relationship with in New Testament terms we'd say for those who have you know surrendered their lives to Jesus he basically says foreigner eunuch outcast whoever comes to me surrenders your life to me I'm gonna welcome you and give you a name better than sons and daughters he says I'm gonna bring you to my holy mountain and give you my joy in my house and god appeals to the people who felt excluded who felt estranged who felt distant from God and he says my arms are open wide my arms are open wide you ever felt like this excluded like you like God can't possibly accept you God can't possibly love you and some of you even now I can hear in your head you're probably saying things like pastor do you have no idea you have no idea what I've done this can't possibly accept me can't possibly love me listen I don't know what you've done and I don't need to know what you've done but I what I do know is that Jesus Christ died for all sins no matter what you've done and that he opens his arms to receive as many as would receive him and believe in his name do you think that Jesus died to make good people better he didn't die to make good people better he died to make bad people sinful people people with messed up lives he died to make all of us new creatures in Christ that's what he did you don't have to clean yourself up and then hopefully God will accept you you come with your sinful lives and all the baggage of the past and you say Lord this is who I am thank you for dying for me and thank you for receiving me and the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians 5:17 to 18 therefore if anyone is in Christ he's a new creation the old is gone behold the new has come and all this from God who has reconciled us to himself through Christ because the Bible says in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God all of us the next verse though says and are justified freely by the grace that comes through the redemption of Jesus Christ so don't worry if you feel like I feel unworthy I don't feel good enough the fact is were all done for thee and none of us is good enough but that's the good news because a good God died for those who weren't good enough and paid the price with his own blood and welcomes all who would believe and receive I saw one time on the side of a plumber's van the slogan of this plumbing company and it said this there is no job too deep too dark or too dirty for us and I thought to myself what a great illustration of God's motto with us none of us are too deep dark or dirty for the Lord because he died for all that all might receive him as Lord and Savior no exclusive club and no one feeling excluded Jesus died for all that all might believe and receive amen let's pray together Lord we thank you for your word Lord for this reminder to us through the pages of Isaiah first I pray that none of us would feel like they're part of this exclusive club where no one else is invited forgive us Lord if there's any prejudice or exclusivity in our own hearts that have caused us to shut ourselves off from other people to misjudge them or to prejudge them give us Lord your heart and forgive us of any prejudice that we might see others as you see others as you see us loved loved that you so loved the world that you gave your only Son to dine across that whosoever believes shall not perish but have everlasting life and I pray also Lord for those who have felt excluded maybe because they feel like that their sin is too great or their past is too dark that you could ever possibly accept them or love them or welcome them I pray in Jesus name Lord that they would come to that place of realizing your great love for us the invitation is for all who would believe and receive that you stand ready to welcome every person who feels estranged or distant from you either something just mentally in our own heads or by virtue of our own sin that has separated us from you thank you that you love us so much you died for us I'm gonna pause on my prayer and I'm just gonna offer you to receive Christ and to draw near to him today and just to ask Jesus to come into your heart if you don't know him as your Savior don't be afraid to draw near to him he has drawn near to us by dying on a cross that he might purchase us that he might cleanse us that he might make us righteous in him and so I invite you if you don't know Christ today just come to him just right where you're seated you can just pray a prayer and just invite him into your heart that's where it begins you can just say this you can just say Lord Jesus forgive me of my sins I draw near to you Lord because I believe that you love me it's hard sometimes for me to imagine that you would love someone like me but you do and you died for me so cleanse my heart and come into my life I come to you today just broken and humble thank you for receiving me and accepting me and loving me I surrender my life to your lordship in Jesus name in Jesus name we pray

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

Views: 6,173

Rating: 4.8909092 out of 5

Keywords: Cornerstone Chapel, prejudice, Calvary Chapel, Exclusive, Gary Hamrick, excluded, favoritism

Id: iCW2RWOQ8Aw

Length: 40min 18sec (2418 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 16 2019