The Truth about the Human Condition | Isaiah 64 | Gary Hamrick

alright Isaiah chapter 64 if you have your place there now in your Bible so I'm gonna read all of it it's only 12 verses this is what it says verse 1 on that oh that you would rend the heavens Isaiah says and come down this is a prayer to the Lord that the mountains would tremble before you as when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you for when you did awesome things that we did not expect you came down in the mountains trembled before you and since ancient times no one has heard no ear is perceived no eye has seen any God besides you who acts on behalf of those who wait for him you come to the help of those who gladly do right you who remember your ways but when we continue to sin against them you were angry how then can we be saved all of us have become like one it was unclean and our righteous acts are like filthy rags we all shrivel up like a leaf and like the wind our sins sweep us away no one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you for you have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins yet Oh Lord you are our Father we are the clay you are the Potter we are all the work of your hand do not be angry beyond measure o Lord do not remember our sins forever o look upon us we pray for we are all your people your sacred cities have become a desert even Zhai in a desert Jerusalem a desolation our holy and glorious temple where our fathers praised you has been burned with fire and all that we treasured lies in ruins and after all this O Lord will you hold yourself back will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure let's pause there once again let's just pray for our Bible study today Lord as we open up Isaiah 60 for now we pray that you would use this chapter to minister hearts we commit this to your Lord we want you to be glorified in our worship and in the studying of your word now do your good work in our hearts we pray in Jesus name and everybody said amen the heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart the Bible in general and this chapter in particular challenges conventional wisdom about the human condition and if we don't properly understand the human condition then we will never really see our desperate need for a savior so I'm going to share with you at the beginning of our Bible study three myths about the human heart that are popular in modern thinking now I call them myths because even though they are popularly held beliefs they conflict with God's assessment of humanity now if if you at least are here this morning and would say that you believe in God if you are at least here believing that much that you believe in the existence of God maybe you have it sorted out everything about the Bible about Jesus but at least if you're here today saying I do believe that God exists then you have to also believe that he knows better than you and I do and if you do truly believe that he exists and therefore he's bigger and greater and knows more and is smarter than you and I then I hope that each person here is willing to acknowledge that God is smarter than I am God is smarter than I am 1st Corinthians 3:18 Paul warns don't be deceived into thinking that you are wise by the standards of this age and in the next verse first Corinthians 3:19 it says for the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight in other words man on his best day trying to be the smartest he can be doesn't even come close to the wisdom of God and so when I say three myths that we're going to talk about it's because though these are popular conventional ideas they are in conflict with the Word of God and God is smarter and wiser so we need to understand that the conventional thinking is really the wise and man's eyes foolishness in the eyes of God so three myths first about the human condition and here's myth number one man is basically good man is basically good it's a myth melody Beatty author of the bestseller codependent no more it's a book that she wrote more than 30 years ago says that quote we suffer from that vague but penetrating affliction called low self-worth and she suggests that we stop torturing ourselves and try to raise our view of ourselves and so how do we do that well she says in her book quote right now we can give ourselves a big emotional and mental hug we are okay it's wonderful to be who we are our thoughts are okay our feelings are appropriate we're right where we're supposed to be today this moment there is nothing wrong with us there is nothing fundamentally wrong with us end quote and this is the kind of thing a lot of people believe you know I was reading her quote and I was thinking our thoughts are okay not mine our feelings are appropriate not mine there's nothing wrong with us there's a lot wrong with me there is nothing fundamentally wrong with us she says there in her book and quote now Beatty by her own testimony says that she began drinking at age 11 and was a drop down drunk alcoholic by age 12 and so she writes this book as a self-help because she's writing out of personal pain and she's trying to coach people and coach herself out of a bad mindset concerning self her answer is not bad self in need of a savior but good self in need of a pep talk and this is the pervasive thinking of our society that what we need is a good dose of self esteem that there's nothing fundamentally wrong with us nothing fundamentally wrong with the human race just some who went off the rails and went the way of evil Osama bin Laden Hitler Genghis Khan Idi Amin and of course anyone who has wronged you right those are all the ones who have gone the way of evil but otherwise that man is basically good this is the myth that our culture believes but this is not what the Bible teaches now clearly there are some people who are more destructive and their behavior more brutal in their behavior more unrestrained in their wickedness but the Bible describes all of humanity as being sinful all of us in Romans 3:10 the Bible says there is none righteous no not one a couple verses later Romans 3:12 it says there is no one who does good not even one David would write his own story in Psalm 51 verse 5 when he would say surely I was sinful from birth from the time I was conceived in my mother's womb he understands sin nature is something were born with sin nature's something we act upon Paul would write in Romans 7 verse 18 he was said I know that in me that is in my flesh in my sinful nature there dwells no good thing mankind is fundamentally flawed and sinful from birth and unless you understand that and you will never receive the remedy for that and instead what you will tend to do is what the world tends to do who believes myth number one is that you will constantly be trying to improve your condition that cannot be improved upon by human effort which leads to myth number two that man can improve his condition through good deeds and I'm gonna I'm gonna tread out here into an area where angels fear fear to tread but I think this is a an important thing that needs to be said concerning some of the dynamics of our culture these days because it's a very trendy thing in our culture right now to try to improve oneself and others through social justice and particularly among Millennials they thrive on the idea of the more I do to better other people the better I am as a person I'm talking about social justice issues like you know clean water initiatives and sex trafficking and AIDS relief and eradicating world hunger now let me be clear as I tread into this area that social justice can be a very good thing where we see oppression and suffering and mistreatment of others it should motivate us to do something to help them in fact Isaiah opens up the Book of Isaiah with a strong exhortation to God's people to make sure that you take care of people who were oppressed or mistreated Isaiah chapter 1 verse 17 he says learn to do right seek justice encourage the oppressed defend the cause of the fatherless plead the case of the widow so the Bible exhorts us to relieve human suffering when we can where we can what I'm talking about is how oftentimes the motivation for social causes at least among non-christians is often an attempt to feel better about one sinful condition by doing good for others this is how it often works in other words without God in the equation just talking purely from the standpoint of just you know taking up a cause and and doing something good without God in the equation some people are subconsciously trying to assuage the guilt of their own sinful condition by engaging in social causes which will in the process of course help others which is a good thing but which of the process will also give this false sense of intrinsic good to those who are doing the helping and they will believe the idea that quote I'm a morally good person because I'm doing morally good things there's actually a term for this it's called moralistic therapeutic deism we can write it down moralistic therapeutic deism it was a term that was first coined by sociologists Christian Smith and Melinda Lundqvist Denton who wrote a book in 2005 entitled soul-searching the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers and it's the idea this moralistic therapeutic deism it's the idea that it's therapeutic to do good moral things and that it actually becomes a form of religion deism to help oneself feel better about one's own immoral condition everybody get the idea it's like if I do something morally good it helps to compensate for my immoral condition which isn't really true but it gives us that false sense of that feeling and the authors say the sociologist mentioned in this book the authors say that the system is quote moralistic because it quote is about inculcating a moralistic approach to life it teaches that central to living a good and happy life is being a good moral person now again I want to emphasize here that all those causes can be wonderful and if those causes are done in the name of Jesus for the purpose of providing immediate leaf relief and eternal Hope through the gospel of Jesus Christ then that's the perfect marriage the idea of helping others in the cause of social justice if it's married with the gospel of Jesus Christ then it's the perfect combination because now you're not only giving something temporary relief from their suffering but you're also giving them eternal hope through the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and absent the reality of the gospel then social causes give temporary relief but not eternal significance to those being helped and those who are doing the helping then believe this deception that by being such a morally good person and and engaging in all these wonderfully morally good causes I am a morally good person that isn't true and it's a deception of our culture I'm all about giving the cup of cold water in Jesus name I'm all about that but the question is is the gospel tied to causes of social justice we cannot improve our social can our sinful condition no matter what good that we do because our sinful condition is an underlying issue that cannot be improved upon by human effort no matter how good the intention and no matter how wonderful the immediate result our problem is the human heart and that cannot be improved upon by human effort we are tainted and stained and sinful from birth and if we don't recognize this sinful condition and we just try to placate our sinful condition and we try to do all these other good things to try to make ourselves feel moral we deceive ourselves man is not basically good and men cannot improve his sinful condition through good works you know years ago I was looking up at my house you know and it's it's a beautiful thing to be a homeowner but it can also be kind of a burdensome thing from time to time you have to do repair work so I'm looking up at the gutters of my house and the gutters are starting to hang off and and and the boards the soffits underneath that the gutters are connected to we're all we're all rotten so I decided I could either you know get up there pull all the gutters off start painting you know remove all the rotten wood or I can I can call somebody and have them wrapped in vinyl sad this guy come out and he's all um strain we can wrap we can wrap all that in vinyl I said well you know a lot of it's rotten that's all right once we wrap it you'll never know and it won't disintegrate any further I just saw well that's kind of like the human heart isn't it you know I'm rotten to the core but just go ahead and wrap me up look make me look good but it doesn't really change the interior condition though still rotten that's why Jesus said in Matthew 23 28 on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you were full of hypocrisy and wickedness number three the third myth that our culture believes is that God grades on the curve some people think that it's about a ranking system with God that as long as I'm not as bad as the next guy I'll get a good grade with God there's some people actually think that they will get to heaven based on how they do compared to others it's it's only about being just a step ahead about it you know beyond other people that's the kind of stuff that some people have it's like the old joke I'm sure many of you heard before about the two guys who were hiking in the woods and they came upon a bear and so as soon as I saw the bear he started running for their lives well one of the hikers decided to stop real quick change changing shoes get rid of the hiking boots put on his running shoes and his friend said to him what in the world are you doing you can't outrun a bear he says I don't need to outrun a bear I just need to be able to outrun you I mean that that's kind of the idea it's like well you know I hey all I need to do is be better a little bit better than you and then I'm good to go you know you might suffer a horrible fate but as long as I can outpace you so long as I'm a little bit better than you that I'm good to go but the standard is not how you measure up against other people the standard is how you measure up against Christ and we all fall woefully short you know white sheep in a pasture can look beautiful against a green field but you add snow on that green field and now all the sudden white sheep against the backdrop of snow look dirty you you might look pretty good in a crowd of people you know as far as like how you are as a person but when Jesus is the backdrop we all look a little dirty Romans 3:23 says for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God every single one of us do not measure up to the perfect standard of God so these are some myths that people believe about the human condition now let's take a look at how God assesses humanity if you have your Bible still open there - Isaiah 64 look at verse 6 with me because in verse 6 Isaiah really this is God speaking through Isaiah makes for comparisons about the human condition to other things these are four similes because he's going to use the word like four times right here in verse 6 he says all of us have become like one who is unclean and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags we all shrivel up like a leaf and like the wind our sins sweep over us so he's going to give us four truths about our condition this is important ok at first when we go through this list you're gonna feel really depressed like thanks pastor Debbie Downer they you know I I really like coming too but but hold on because there's a beautiful response to all of this but we need to listen you know have you ever been to a doctor's office and you didn't like to hear the diagnosis but you knew that if the diagnosis is given to me truthfully and honestly then there might be a remedy for my cure and we don't like to hear the diagnosis we wish we'd never hear the diagnosis but in order to get the proper cure the proper remedy we have to properly evaluate the condition and so Isaiah is going to help us to understand the human condition our culture and our world paints a very different picture but it's not reality and if you really want the cure you have to understand the reality and here's the assessment from God four different truths number one he says we are like one who is unclean that's the first comparison now cert in the Old Testament certain animals certain actions and certain conditions were considered unclean in Old Testament times meaning that they were not accepted by God because of a designation or a defect for example certain animals were considered unclean like pigs were considered unclean certain actions like touching a dead person in the Old Testament was considered unclean for a living person don't touch a dead person and certain people certain illnesses like leprosy made a person in the Old Testament unclean in fact if you had leprosy you had to announce yourself by shouting unclean unclean wherever you went so that other people could take fair warning and not be contaminated with your uncleanness so we see that in Scripture and so when Isaiah says hey we're all like one who was unclean whether he's talking about unclean animals or unclean actions or unclean you know illnesses the idea here is that our sinful condition makes us unworthy and unpresentable to God we're like outcasts we're like outcasts where our condition makes us unworthy and unpresentable number two he compares us to filthy rags and he says specifically our righteous acts are like filthy rags now I often poke fun at the message Bible because it's a terrible translation it's not even translation it's a paraphrase and so I often make fun actually looked at what the message Bible had to say about this particular term filthy rags and the message Bible said that our righteous acts are like grease-stained rat all right so I still dislike the message Bible because that makes it sound like you worked on your car you know and so you just wiped your hands a little bit listen that is not what this verse means it's more graphic than that in fact it is so graphic this comparison filthy rags it is so graphic that in the nineteenth century the great preacher of the 1800s Charles Haddon Spurgeon would say this quote the expression filthy rags in the Hebrew is one which we could not with propriety explain in the present assembly is in the 1800s but he said this the full meaning of the comparison is not meant for the human ear end quote that's what Spurgeon said he said this is so graphic I'm not even going to say it in my congregation but you know it listen we're the 21st century now sodding a problem telling you but the fact is that it was meant for the human ear because God put it in his word and he doesn't want us to avoid it he wants to understand exactly what it means and the original Hebrew here is telling us that our best efforts and our best intentions and our right acts are like menstrual cloths that's how this first translates our rightness our righteousness in comparison to God's perfectness and holiness our righteousness is like menstrual cloths that's what the Hebrew means here how do you like that description God sees the human heart as filthy number three he says in the third comparison we are like a shriveled leaf now of course a green leaf is a picture of something flourishing and vibrant but a shriveled leaf is something that is decaying and dying sin doesn't make us flourish sin is a terminal illness that we are all dying from the New King James in the ESV says we fade like a leaf and indeed we do sin takes a toll until finally number four our sins sweep us away like the wind meaning that we have little power against temptation our sins carry us along like the wind until eventually it sweeps us away and we are no more that's why in Romans 6:23 it says the wages of sin is death death is the result because of our sinful condition but the rest of Romans 6:23 is the beauty but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord so then the question becomes if we dismantle the myths of our culture and if we accept the truths of how God assesses the human condition and since the human condition is sinful and since no amount of good efforts can compensate for that in light of all of these isaiah asks a question that is an important question right in the middle of this chapter and it's the latter part of verse 5 and I'll just put it up on the screens how then can we be saved I mean if the reality is that the human heart is wicked and sinful that no amount of good efforts can compensate for that how then can we be saved which implies we need a Savior so God did for us what we cannot do for ourselves Isaiah begins this chapter I want you to notice with me in your Bibles verse 1 he begins this chapter by saying in verse 1 oh that you would rend the heavens and come down that's exactly what God did for us 700 years after Isaiah would write this God would come from heaven earth in the form of Jesus Christ taking on flesh becoming like us to die for us he came to save us because we cannot save ourselves twice in Isaiah chapter 59 and chapter 63 twice God says my own arm worked salvation for me because he knows that we are incapable of saving ourselves so God says I will work salvation on your behalf for my own namesake my own arm will work salvation the single act of Jesus Christ dying on a cross for our sins satisfied the wrath of God that was directed to us because of our sinful condition the punishment that we deserved everybody get this the punishment that we deserved was placed on Jesus so that by believing in him and having faith in what he did for us by dying in our place by taking the punishment intended for us on himself we might be saved through faith in his finished work not because we deserve it not because we can earn it not because we can do anything to gain the greater grace of God that what he's already determined by his own initiative to bestow upon us he is a gracious loving father in heaven who saw the human condition and realized we are pitiful we are sinful we are wicked so I will send my only son to dine across to redeemed wicked people for the righteousness of God do I hear an amen in the house of God today that's what God has done for us and that's why Isaiah in verse 8 take a quick glimpse we get wheat we got to close up here in verse eight that's why he calls God our Father because he says there in verse eight yet oh Lord you are our Father and we are the clay and you were the Potter we are all the work of your hand and he uses this term about God because like a loving father who would rescue a helpless child so our Father in Heaven rescued us from sin and death and we are like clay because we are helpless we are lifeless until God comes along as the Potter and breathes life into us and make something beautiful out of our lives loving us forgiving us and saving us the heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart but the solution to the human heart is to surrender your life to the lordship of Jesus Christ who loved you and died for every sinful thought and action you've ever had and in Revelation 21 verse 5 Jesus says behold I make all things new including you and me are you happy about that are you thankful in Jesus name Amen let's pray together Lord as we consider this chapter and as we consider all the different myths that are out there in our world that try to make the human condition better than it really is I pray Lord that we would not be deceived by the myths but we would understand and accept the truth of how you assess the human condition that were sinners incapable of improving our condition by ourselves we are helpless we are like clay but you are the Potter and you can mold us and you can fashion us and you can bring something beautiful out of sinful lives you forgive us you died for us you love us you want to make things new in our lives Lord but until we're willing to humble ourselves and acknowledge our own sinful condition to stop playing games and stop trying to convince ourselves that were actually a pretty decent person there's none righteous no not one we've all sinned and fallen short of your glory we've all missed the mark all of us and until we recognize that then we can never really receive your grace your love your forgiveness we can never really embrace you as our savior until we see our need I pray today Lord there would be men and women and young people who would see their need for you right here right now that maybe have never seen it before but they would be willing to deny the myths and accept the truth and recognize that in our sinful condition we can't save ourselves but you died on a cross two thousand years because you loved us and if we would just surrender our life to you and ask you to forgive us of our sins you will come into our lives you will take over our lives and you will cleanse us and wash us pure before you I'm just gonna pause in my prayer with your head still bowed and just invite you to receive Christ as your Savior maybe you've tried to improve your condition all your life you keep trying to do good things good things good things and that's Noble and that's that's wonderful it's probably been very helpful to other people but it cannot change the human heart we need a heart change your sinful condition in my sinful condition cannot be improved upon by ourselves we need a Savior and Jesus died on a cross for our sins and the Bible says that the punishment intended for me because of my sins was placed on Jesus every wicked thing I've ever thought or done was placed on Jesus same goes for you and that by faith if we would just believe in what Christ did in a cross and receive him as our Savior the Bible says we can have our sins forgiven we can go to heaven when we die we can have a new heart and a new life so if you want that today I'm gonna pray a prayer I'm gonna go slowly enough so you can pray with me and I just want I just want to invite you to pray this prayer with me and ask him to come into your heart and forgive you of your sins it's not a shameful thing to recognize that you're just like the rest of humanity but it is a deceptive thing to think that you're good to go without Jesus open your heart to him today and invite him in as your Lord and Savior you can pray this prayer right where you're seated I'm gonna go slowly the whisper this prayer after me you can just invite him into your heart today you can just say Lord Jesus I acknowledge my sinful condition there are things I've done there are things I've said there are things I thought that are sinful and I can't save myself I need a Savior and I believe today Jesus that you are the savior of the world who died and across two thousand years ago for me and for all of humanity who would believe and receive so today I open my heart to you Jesus and I receive you as my Lord and Savior I invite you into my life I surrender to your lordship and I ask you to cleanse me and save me and give me a new heart and a new life in Jesus Christ in your name I pray and everybody said amen and amen you

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

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Keywords: Calvary Chapel, Heart, sin, social justice, good, Cornerstone Chapel, Gary Hamrick

Id: aRDwR-b7vnY

Length: 35min 23sec (2123 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 16 2019