Isaiah 57-59 • Idolatry, Fasting and the Lord's Salvation

let's open our bibles tonight to the book of isaiah as we continue our study here on wednesday night through the old testament and we are in the 57th chapter of isaiah isaiah chapter 57. this chapter begins with the lord addressing the southern kingdom of judah talking about their spiritual adultery and in the in the conversation that he has here through the prophet isaiah you're going to notice that he speaks of their spiritual adultery using the terminology that would typically apply to physical adultery cheating unfaithfulness and the reason god uses language that speaks of physical adultery when referring to spiritual adultery is because that's the way he perceives it that's the way god perceives spiritual unfaithfulness is is the same way that you and i would perceive physical unfaithfulness and you can imagine you know the the difficulty of that kind of pain and perhaps that helps us for a moment to understand a little bit of the pain that god feels in his heart when his covenant people who are chosen and special and whose land has been set apart the people themselves have been set apart to worship god to know god to love god and then to be a blessing to the whole world turn and begin to have spiritual relations with the pagan deities of their neighbors and it's very much an act of unfaithfulness and that's why god uses language that for you and i brings up difficulty we're uncomfortable with it and i don't mean to talk about unfaithfulness tonight to open up any wounds that anyone might have related to that it's simply important for us to understand how god feels about these kinds of things because i think there's just way too much of a tendency on our part to assume god doesn't feel much of anything because you know he's god and he's all powerful and he can do anything he wants to do and yet i believe the heart of god breaks concerning the unfaithfulness of his people we're going to see some of that tonight but it begins with a couple of interesting verses that i know have been read and interpreted and applied many times out of their context it goes like this the righteous man perishes and no one lays it to heart devout men are taken away while no one understands for the righteous man is taken away from calamity he enters into peace they rest in their beds and that's a euphemism for the grave who walk in their uprightness i want you to stop there for just a moment because these are interesting verses given in their context all right they are referring to the fact that judah is about to suffer swift and very certain judgment from the lord in the form of the babylonian empire coming into their kingdom and conquering them killing many people taking the rest of them captive to their babylonian exile which of course as you know will last for 70 years that's all coming down the pike so god begins to speak here of those among them who are righteous in other words in right standing with god and he interestingly enough says through isaiah that these people are taken away and of course he's referring to taken away in death in this case but they are taken away and yet no one seems to comprehend any possibility a reason as to why it says no one lays it to heart no one stops to think about it but the lord reveals here through isaiah that these individuals are taken away so that they might not suffer the calamity that is upcoming in other words they are taken away to be spared from judgment and that's an interesting concept is it not particularly in light of the fact that many times we read verses like this and we learn a great deal about the heart of god the heart of god so if you're if you were asked the question do you see the heart of god in these two verses i'd we'd have to say yeah i think we do well what do you see as the heart of god expressed in these two verses well so it looks to me as i read these verses as if god is communicating that it is his heart to spare the righteous from the calamity that comes from judgment by removing them from that situation ah that's an interesting thought process is it not particularly in light of the fact that we've been studying on sunday morning for the last several weeks at least through our first and second thessalonian studies about the rapture or the catching away of the church and essentially what that is is god's sparing his righteous saints and we know that our righteousness is through jesus christ imputed to us by his death burial and resurrection but he is going to remove the body of christ from the face of the earth before he pours out his judgment now i know there's a lot of people that disagree with me on that and you might even be some of them and that's okay we're not going to part ways over any disagreement related to the timing of the rapture in relation to the tribulation that's that's okay it's not something we're going to divide over but what i'm telling you is i believe it is consistent with the heart of god i believe it is consistent with what we're seeing right here in isaiah 57 verses 1 and 2. the fact is god expresses his heart here knowing that judgment is coming down the line for the for the kingdom of judah and he says that the righteous are taken away they are removed and in so doing or by so doing the lord spares them they're spared they're taken away from calamity now the lord goes on here in verse 3 to speak about those who are not taken away to be spared of calamity and he says but you now remember we always we want to make note of the word but whenever we see it in the bible because we've just created a contrast we've created a difference we were going this way now we turn around and we're going this way because the word but always introduces that change of thought and and like we're talking to a different audience now and that's exactly what's happening he says but you draw near sons of the sorceress offspring of the adulterer and the loose woman well we know who he's talking about to now don't we he's talking to the unfaithful now the lord is addressing the unfaithful whom are you mocking against whom do you open your mouth wide and stick out your tongue are you not children of transgression the offspring of deceit and of course the word transgression is always important for one one for us to see in the in the word of god because although some people equate it with sin just general sin the word transgression as you know means a willful violation i knew that i wasn't supposed to do that and i did it anyway whereas a sin can very easily be a sin of ignorance i didn't realize it in fact some of you may have even been reading through the bible maybe maybe after you got saved you were reading through the bible and found out something you were doing was a sin and it was like ah i didn't know that i get questions all the time from people is such and such a sin and what they're saying usually is i i'm not sure so what does the bible have to say about this well guess what once i tell them or once i show them the passage now if they do it it's a transgression that's what the way the bible lays it out it's now a transgression because it was done it was done with the full knowledge that this was in fact wrong and a sin verse 5 he says you who burn with lust among the oaks under every green tree and again here's some of that language of sexual activity which sometimes paganism involved sexual immorality he goes on to talk about they who slaughter your children in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks and that is how deranged and awful became the thinking of the jewish people who were chosen by god to understand the preciousness of children as a gift from the lord but have now deteriorated so much that they are actually worshiping molech and they are sacrificing their firstborn to this pagan god literally sacrificing them alive and it's it's horrible it's horrible he talks about more pagan objects of worship saying in verse 6 among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion they they are your lot to them you have poured out a drink offering you have brought a grain offering shall i relent for these notice these drink offering and a grain offering those are elements of the worship of yahweh do you see how they have incorporated them now into their pagan practices it's not that they've just kind of said okay here's what god taught us and now we're going to leave that all behind and go over here and worship like pagans do they brought some of the things elements along and that is often what happens that is often what happens when we try to mix christianity well i'm talking about today in their case it was judaism with paganism but you know christianity's been merged with paganism too and you probably know some of the history behind that there was a point in time when the roman catholic church during the time of the dark ages it was literally in the dark ages or that time frame we call the dark ages the roman catholic church interpreted the kingdom of god to be a physical kingdom they believed that they lived literally physically in the kingdom of god and therefore to enhance and to enlarge the kingdom of god it was their responsibility to bring people into the catholic church not into christ but into the catholic church and so they went around and they had armies the roman catholictors literally had an army and they would conquer nations pagan nations and at the edge of a sword they would basically tell people convert to roman catholicism or die and of course the people they didn't want to die like anyone else so they said well sure we'll convert so they took them out into the ocean they did these mass baptisms and they said okay now you're now you are now roman catholic they never introduced them to christ they never talked about the cross they never talked about what it meant to be born again they just converted people into roman catholicism who were pagans well guess what those pagans did they held on to their paganism they had not been converted truly to christ they had not been born again they had not been renewed so they simply brought their pagan ways into their of course they were now learning roman catholic traditions and practices which they took on they did because they didn't care they figured hey pagans are usually pretty easy to win over to some kind of religious activity especially if if if uh you know losing your life is on the end of that stick you know so they all these things began to get introduced into roman catholicism over the years during the dark ages and it got so bad by the 1500s that when a a young man by the name of martin luther who was a roman catholic priest when he finally got saved by reading the bible and he looked at what roman catholicism had become in his day which was such a powerful departure from what he was reading in the simple word of god he was horrified and he decided he needed to do something to try to put an end to it and the rest is history after he came up with 95 theses which he named which he nailed onto the door of a church in wittenberg and and it's it's referred to as the famous you know 95 theses of martin luther and essentially the reformation began at that point when he said enough enough we've taken christianity and we've merged it with paganism and i'm not throwing stones but there are elements of paganism that remain to this day because martin luther essentially wasn't all that effective at changing frankly the roman catholic church all he did is started a counter movement called protestantism so anyway but this is something we've seen this is historically something we've seen it was happening in israel well southern kingdom of judah god's calling them out on it you've taken your drink offerings and your grain offerings and you've offered them to these pagan deities and so god you know literally asked the question shall i relent for you doing these kinds of things he says in verse 7 on a high and lofty mountain you've set your bed and there you went up to offer sacrifice and again to set their bed it it's it speaks of that spiritual adultery but again many of these pagan practices involved sexual immorality behind the door and the doorpost you have set up your memorial for deserting me you have uncovered your bed you have gone up to it you have made it wide you have made a covenant for yourself with them you have loved their bed you have looked on nakedness again we're seeing the language of physical idolatry applied to spiritual idolatry because that's the way god sees that kind of unfaithfulness to the lord verse 9 you journeyed to the king with oil and multiplied your perfumes you sent your envoys far off and sent down even to sheol you were wearied with the length of your way but you did not say it is hopeless you found new life for your strength and so you were not faint whom did you dread and fear so that you lied and did not remember me did i not or excuse me did not lay it to heart have i not held my peace even for a long time and you do not fear me and you know what this right here the last thing the lord says here through isaiah is one of the most interesting forms of self-deception that we human beings can engage in and that is when i'm engaging in a particular act of sin and god doesn't judge me in the next 24 hours after i commit it or even 24 days or 24 months my assumption is whoa must be okay i mean god didn't god didn't judge me i didn't drop dead i did it i i felt guilty for a while but you know god didn't judge me and so i began to lose my fear of god because i lose my fear of judgment and that's what god is saying here he says i held my peace even for a long time but what was the result did you did you did you fear me no you didn't fear me in fact you became even more brazen in your sin see that's the point of the whole thing and we forget that god's patience and the fact that god doesn't strike someone immediately with judgment is because he is long-suffering and he is gracious and merciful and he wants to give them time to repent but we interpret that time to repent as this long leash that god has given us to go and live the way we want and it's just it's it's literally a kind of self-deception verse 12 he says i will declare your righteousness and your deeds but let me tell you something they're not going to profit you wow when i cry out excuse me when you cry out let your collection of idols deliver you because he knows they're going to cry out because the babylonians are on their way the babylonians will come they will conquer them they will destroy the city they will ruin the temple they will take people captive and the people will cry out and god just basically says hey on that day when you cry out cry out to your idols and see if they do anything for you fact of the matter is he says the wind will carry them all off a breath will take them away now this is interesting because right here in the middle of verse 13 you're going to notice that things are going to change god changes his kind of point of discussion and he says but if you remember there's that word again we just did a change of direction he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain and it shall be said build up build up prepare the way remove every obstruction from my people's way for thus says the one who is high and lifted up who inhabits eternity whose name is holy i dwell in the high and holy place and also with him who is of contrite and lowly spirit to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite these are some of the most beautiful verses you're going to read in the bible right here i just i love this god says you know what i am the god who inhabits eternity i am the god who's high and lifted up but i'm not the god who's out of reach yes i am exalted above all however i also dwell with him who is contrite and of a lowly spirit or if you will a lowly heart to revive such a person to revive isn't that amazing god is far off from those who are proud and arrogant and full of themselves but those who have been emptied of themselves who are humble in heart broken he's right there he's right there by your side he's right there with you oh that's such a wonderful insight verse 16 for i will not contend forever nor will i always be angry for the spirit would grow faint before me and the breath of life that i made because of the iniquity of his unjust gain i was angry i struck him i hid my face and was angry but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart i have seen his ways but i will heal him i will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners creating the fruit of the lips peace peace to the far and to the near says the lord and i will heal him but the wicked are like the tossing sea for it cannot be quiet and its waters toss up mire and dirt there is no peace says my god for the wicked you know we talked about this in one of the services on sunday i might have only done it in one but you know we talked about the fact that the world is searching after peace and they're not finding it of course because peace is only found in the prince of peace and in a relationship with god through jesus christ who has made peace between god and men we can now have peace with god because jesus has made that peace possible and it says here that for the wicked there is no peace they can look and they can look and they can search and they can do whatever they can find to do but they will not find peace and and they might convey to you the idea that they've got it but they don't it's not there it only comes through christ at least to be a lasting peace okay isaiah chapter 58 isaiah 58 is all about fasting true fasting you guys understand fasting right the withholding of food and possibly even drink for a period of time in order to devote oneself to prayer but fasting is often related to sorrow in the scriptures it's often related to sorrow and you need to know that too not always but often in fact when jesus was asked why his disciples didn't fast he said how can they fast while the bridegroom is with them this is not a time to be sorrowful the bridegroom is here he says but the bridegroom will be taken from them and on that day they will fast so there's a connection there to focusing our attention onto the lord getting everything that distracts out of the way and you think well how do how is eating such a distraction well for you and i it's not nearly the distraction that it was for the jews you and i get hungry we go to the fridge or we pull something out of the cupboard put it in a pan or in a bowl put it in the microwave for 60 seconds and we're ready to go well that was not the way they prepared meals in biblical times it was you know you remember when abraham had the the lord and those two angels that came along with him came and dropped in on him and he told his wife go get a goat and slaughter it and then need some bread and bake some bread we're going to make a meal it's like good grief how long did that take have you ever gone over to somebody's house and they they invited you over for dinner and they said hey come on over we're gonna you know come on over at six and have dinner so you go over there and you're kind of planning your day thinking that you're gonna go over there and have dinner at six and then you get over there to find out that they're gonna grill and he hasn't even started it when you get there at six and he's in the middle of talking to you and he doesn't get around to even lighting the grill until 6 45 and then he's got to sit there and go like this with the coals and that takes till about 7 15 and then he puts them and i'm dying i've been i've been timing this thing out all afternoon to eat at six and now it's nine o'clock and we're sitting down to eat well you know we're not used to that we're not used to that whole preparation sort of a thing but you couldn't imagine right when there wasn't the kind of refrigeration and instant food kind of stuff that we have which i'm sure is so good for us but they had to do things the long way can you imagine to to withhold and to say i'm not going to eat that was to free up your day especially if you're a woman your day just got freed up you can go for a walk yeah so fasting was a huge part of coming to god without distraction focusing their attention to him in prayer seeking his face right but remember something fasting often was connected to repentance as well and that's that's huge you'll remember when jonah went to basically give the message of the lord to the city of nineveh the capital of assyria and he told them if you don't repent god's gonna destroy this place and you'll remember that the king ordered everybody to wear sackcloth and to fast and to repent and to turn from their wicked ways and the lord relented you'll remember even though it was a wicked city the lord saw their act of repentance that was connected to fasting anyway let's see what the lord has to say to the to his people related to fasting he says cry aloud do not hold back lift up your voice like a trumpet this is the lord speaking to isaiah declare to my people their transgression there's that word again to the house of jacob their sins and so now he's going to go on to explain kind of the spiritual environment during this this time of rampant sin yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their god they ask of me righteous judgments they delight to draw near to god now stop there for just a minute i need to explain what's going on here god is about to confront them with their duplicity but this kind of surprises us a little bit because it begins by saying the lord telling isaiah hey confront them with their transgressions and sins and so you're kind of like okay we we know what's going on here they are just absolutely going bonkers with all kinds of horri they've left all the understanding of god behind and they're just running after their flesh oh no oh no that's not it at all they have retained a religious element in their lifestyle and now and yet they're continuing to sin and that's what's going on he goes he says they seek me as if they really want to know me they come and say we delight in knowing your ways let's see what else the lord says verse 3 he quotes the people saying why have we fasted and you see it not why have we humbled ourselves and you take no knowledge of it behold the lord now speaks in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure and you oppress all your workers behold you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist fighting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high is such a fa excuse me is such the fast that i choose a day just a day for a person to humble himself is it to bow down his head like a reed and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him will you call this a fast and the day acceptable to the lord do you understand what god is asking he's saying is is that what fasting is to you guys just a day to put on the the garments that are in keeping with fasting and to go through the motions of seeking the lord when in fact your hearts haven't changed there's nothing that's changed about the way you live you're just putting on these religious accoutrements and it's all external god says to them and so god begins to say in verse 6 and this is very important is not this the fast that i choose to loose the bonds of wickedness to undo the straps of the yoke to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke what is he talking about he's talking about repentance he says when you're fasting i want you to turn around and go the other way because fasting and repentance go together so is that not the fasting that i want you to do where you're actually living differently verse 7 is it not to share your bread with the hungry and to bring the homeless poor into your house when you see the naked to cover him and not to hide yourself from your own flesh from your own people then he says shall your light break forth like the dawn and your healing shall spring up speedily your righteousness shall go before you the glory of the lord shall be your rear guard god says if you're honest and you change your life then you shall call and the lord will answer you shall cry and he will say here i am if you take away the yoke from your midst the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday and the lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong and you shall be like a watered garden like a spring of water whose waters do not fail and your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt you shall raise up the foundations of many generations you shall be called the repairer of the breach the restorer of sweet streets to dwell in and if you turn back your foot from the sabbath from doing your pleasure on my holy day and call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the lord honorable if you honor it not going your own ways or seeking your own pleasure or talking idly why was the sabbath so important to god why was the sabbath so important to god for his people to keep it why was it such a big deal why is it that when god attaches all these blessing to the keeping of the sabbath it's because the sabbath is a picture of what you and i are doing right here right now the sabbath was all about resting and it was fulfilled in the person of jesus christ because when we put our faith in his finished work on the cross we are resting in that work we are not working to try to earn our salvation but we are resting by faith in the finished work of jesus so we do keep the sabbath today we keep it not one day but seven days a week in jesus by faith we keep the sabbath but that's why it was such an important element in the worship of israel because it was a picture of how they would one day put their faith in messiah and his finished work to trust in the lord and not to trust in themselves because works are trusting in me faith is trusting in god and so god said to the israelites as this picture of salvation do not work but rest and that was meant to be this beautiful foreshadowing of our faith in jesus christ and that's why it was so huge to the people to god related to the obedience of the people of israel verse 14 says then you shall take delight in the lord 14 i'm sorry then you shall take delight in the lord and i will make you ride on the heights of the earth i will feed you with the heritage of jacob your father for the mouth of the lord has spoken wow true fasting true fasting isaiah chapter 59 the first 15 verses actually it's 15 and a half verses of this chapter are an incredible confession of guilt and as you read through this i want you to think about this certainly within the context of what's going on here as it relates to the southern kingdom of judah but i want you to also think about this i want you to think about these how these first 15 and a half verses apply as a confession concerning the sin of the united states of america because there's something god is going to say through these verses to our hearts and that is that when you turn away from me society unravels it becomes chaotic it becomes lawless it becomes dangerous it becomes wicked and this is a confession of that unraveling which was happening in the southern kingdom of judah which of course brought the judgment of god and which is happening also in our country the united states of america happening all around us and we're even seeing an elevating of that lawlessness in our own time and just recently so as i go through and read these verses think about this as a prayer of confession to god for our own country behold the lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save or his ear dull that it cannot hear but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your god and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear for your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity your lips have spoken lies your tongue mutters wickedness no one enters suit justly no one goes to law honestly they rely on empty pleas they speak lies they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity they hatch otters eggs they weave the spider's web he who eats their eggs dies and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched their webs will not serve as clothing men will not cover themselves with what they make their works are works of iniquity and deeds of violence are in their hands notice did you notice there in those couple of verses where god speaks of the deeds of men as their clothing the deeds of men as their clothing did you catch that and he says he refers to them like spider webs and he says they're not going to cover they're going to cover you what is our clothing what is our clothing are we not clothed with the righteousness of christ are we not clothed in the garments of his righteousness and those garments are not from our works are they they're from his from what he did and they will cover believe you me those will cover are our sins covered are our sins atoned for which is what cover means yes absolutely but you can see how the lord is bringing out this sort of a thing verse 7 their feet run to evil they are swift to shed innocent blood their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity desolation and destruction are in their highways you might remember actually the apostle paul uses that those words in romans to speak of the sinful condition of both jews and gentiles alike under sin the way of peace they do not know and there is no justice in their paths they have made their roads crooked no one who treads on them knows peace therefore justice is far from us and righteousness does not overtake us we hope for light and behold darkness and for brightness but we walk and gloom we grope for the wall like the blind we grope like those who have no eyes we stumble at noon as if it were in the twilight among those in full vigor we are like dead men we all growl like bears we moan and moan like doves we hope for justice but there is none for salvation in that case this word means deliverance but it is far from us for our transgressions are multiplied before you and our sins testify against us for our transgressions are with us and we know our iniquities transgressing and denying the lord and turning back from following our god speaking oppression and revolt conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words so justice is turned back and righteousness stands far away truth has stumbled in the public squares boy isn't that true and uprightness cannot enter truth is lacking and he who departs from evil and that means the person who wants to serve god and walk with god the person who departs from evil makes himself a prey what does that mean that means the person who wants to walk with god and live righteously becomes becomes endangered among the people of this that kind of a society they want to kill them they want to get rid of them that crazy the lord saw it and it displeased him that there was no justice what was going on pure anarchy pure chaos where the man who wants to live a godly life is now in danger of losing his life and it says in the middle of verse 15 the lord saw it and it displeased him that there was no justice he saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no one to intercede then his own arm brought him salvation and his righteousness upheld him and make no mistake about it that is a prophecy of messiah right there in that verse verse 16. he saw that there was no justice and he saw that there was no man to intercede there was nobody to mitigate no one to mediate the the sinfulness of mankind and so what does he do his own arm and the word arm remember what does it mean it always means strength his own arm brought him salvation and his righteousness upheld him there was no righteousness to be found among the sons of men so what happened his own righteousness upheld him look what it goes on to say this is amazing because we're talking about messiah here guys make no mistake this is about the coming of messiah he put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head he put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak according to their deeds so will he repay wrath to his adversaries repayment to his enemies to the coastlands he will render repayment so they shall fear the name of the lord from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun for he will come like a rushing stream which the wind of the lord drives isn't it interesting that the lord speaks of the coming of the lord is a rushing stream like rushing water do you know that of all the elements on the face of the earth nothing is more powerful than rushing water not even wind and wind can do pretty incredible things living kind of growing up as a kid in tornado alley i saw a lot of pretty incredible things that wind did water stronger the power of water is stronger and it says that he will come like a rushing stream so he picks the most powerful element in nature to depict this coming of the lord and i love what it goes on to say in verse 20 and a redeemer will come to zion to those in jacob who turn from transgression and that's called repentance declares the lord so we're specifically speaking here of the coming of this redeemer messiah and then this is amazing he speaks of the result of his coming and as for me this is my covenant with them says the lord my spirit that is upon you and my words that i've put in your mouth shall not depart out of your mouth or out of the mouth of your offspring or out of the mouth of your children's offspring says the lord from this time forth and forevermore wow powerful so we get this beautiful picture of the coming of the redeemer of messiah who who who shares his spirit puts his word upon us and in our mouth and it is passed along from believer to believer to believer and the word of god will never fade or change you

Channel: Calvary Chapel Ontario

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Keywords: Bible, Bible teaching, Thru-the-Bible, verse by verse, Calvary Chapel, Bible study, Christianity, New Testament, Old Testament

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Length: 48min 33sec (2913 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 15 2020