Hero Israel, this is part two. If you were not here last week, you can certainly go to our website and listen to the message. We will sort of begin there, but we're not gonna spend a lot of time in what we've already talked about, but each week we get to go through this entire book. Lord willing, we're gonna go through at least the first book, that is the first 39 chapters, and we're just making our way through the first chapter here. I want us to read, in particular, beginning in chapter one, verse 10, and I'm reading this morning from the Legacy Study Bible. I'm doing this on purpose. We're not changing particular Bibles, but this has some good reflections and interpretations of words that I think will be helpful as we walk through this. I recently got a copy of it, and I've kind of fallen in love with it a little bit. And so I will read from that today. And not only that, the print is much easier for me to read. So I'm being a little bit pragmatic here, I'll be honest with you, okay? But, hear the words. This is God's word. Isaiah chapter one, beginning in verse 10. Hear the word of Yahweh. You rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah. What are your multiplied sacrifices to me, says Yahweh? I've had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle, and in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats, I take no pleasure. When you come to appear before me, who requires of you this trampling of my courts? Bring your worthless offerings no longer. Incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath, the calling of convocation. I cannot endure wickedness and the solemn assembly. My soul hates your new moon festivals and your appointed times. They have become a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my face from you. Indeed, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves. Purify yourselves. Remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Reprove the ruthless. Execute justice for the orphan. Plead for the widow. Come now. Let us reason together, says Yahweh. Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. If you are willing and obey, you will eat the best of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you will be eaten by the sword, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken." How the faithful cities become a harlot. She who was full of justice, righteousness once lodged in her, but now murderers. Your silver has become dross. Your drink diluted with water. Your rulers are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and pursues rewards. They do not execute justice for the orphan, nor does the widow's plea come before them. Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, the mighty one of Israel declares, ah, I will be comforted concerning my adversaries. I will avenge myself on my enemies. I will also turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and will remove all your alloy. Then I will have your judges return as at the first and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterwards, you will be called the city of righteousness a faithful town. Zion will be redeemed with justice. and her repentant ones with righteousness. But transgressors and sinners will be broken together, and those who forsake Yahweh will come to an end. For you will be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you will be humiliated because of the gardens you have chosen. For you will be like an oak whose leaf withers away, or as a garden that has no water, and the strong drink will become tender, or the strong man will become tender. His work also a spark, Thus they shall both burn together and there will be none to quench them. This is the reading of God's word. May we hear it well this morning. There's a Spanish story from the 14th century that is retold by the famous Hans Christian Andersen that tells the tale of an emperor who was obsessed with fancy new clothes and spent lavishly on them. And one day two con men posing as weavers offered to supply him with magnificent clothes that would be visible only to those who are incompetent or ignorant. And the gullible emperor hired them. So they set up looms and pretended to go to work. And many of the emperor's officials and the emperor himself would go to inspect the looms and they pretended to go to work there and they would see those looms and see that those looms were empty. But they continued to believe and pretend otherwise to avoid being thought of as a fool or ignorant. And finally the weavers reported that the emperor's suit was finished and they mimed dressing him and he set off in a procession before the whole city. The townsfolk went along with the pretense and with great discomfort but did not want to appear inept or foolish or stupid. And so they went along with it. until a little child blurted out that the emperor was wearing no clothes at all. Then the people realized, however, that they were fooled. And somewhat startled, the emperor continued the procession, walking more proudly than ever. Some of you know that story well. And it seems like a silly story, and perhaps even a plausible, not even plausible in real life. Something like that could never happen. But the reality is, it's also very plausible. When people believe the lies of their own heart, and think that sin can somehow be hidden, and as long as you look good on the outside, we don't actually have to worry about what God truly says about our sin. And this is Isaiah's point in our first chapter. For now, over three centuries, the people of God touted themselves as very special people, with a special God, with a special history, and it was all about themselves, their glory, their tradition, their notability in the earth and surrounding kingdoms. And yet, in God's sight, it was very troubling. So God sends to them a prophet, a little child, as it were, to point out what should have been very obvious to Israel. But instead, Israel said that it wasn't true. So they, like the emperor, strutted around with a chip on their shoulders that they were God's chosen people and no one was going to tell them anything different. Except God does tell them something different. And this time it's through the prophet Isaiah. And the entire first chapters lays out in bold colors Israel's sin and their nakedness is exposed. And Israel was a rebellious nation. And that created then an environment of corruption. And that corruption showed itself out in their worship. And like all dominoes that continues to fall over, it brings about and it brought about a very special social decay over time. In our text today, God calls Israel to hear the word of the Lord. You see that in verse two. But you also see it again in verse 10. Hear the word of Yahweh. And God implores them to give ear Hear it. And God's plan of redemption, it's his work of redemption are central in this prophecy. And Isaiah, which means God saves, is a constant reminder to all of Israel and to us today that their hope is found in Jesus Christ alone. And so as we walk through this text, may we too hear God's word and not miss a single word. Now last week, we learned the first point of this text in verses two through nine, that God's people were a rebellious nation. We heard charges from God the judge. These charges were very clear. I have raised you as my own son, but you have violated the covenant. He said, even oxen and donkeys know their master, but you don't know and you don't understand. Instead, you are laden with iniquity. We read about this last week. You are a seed of evildoers. You are a generation after generation of people of rebellion and corruption. But the real charge, the massive charge that oversaw all the other charges was that they had forsaken God and they spurned the Holy One of Israel. And they would stand there and listen to these words and shake their head in disbelief. and the consequences of their sin was all around them and they were blind to it. They had been stricken, we learned last week, excuse me, and Israel to the north lay desolate and overcome with strangers who would burn and besiege their great city. But we saw last week a glimmer of hope, a remnant that was saved in Yahweh. or else they would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah, completely wiped out. But God is kind, and he saves for himself a remnant of people, really for the Son of God to come out of that remnant. And we will learn of God's sweet salvation as our chapter unfolds and as our book unfolds, but God here is now working his plans to bring a redeemer. And so now we see the second part of this, and we see God's people practiced corrupt worship. We see this in verses 10 through 20. Hear the word of Yahweh, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah. When we come to verse 10, who is God now speaking to? I mean, look at this. Who is he talking to? Well, he's talking to the rulers of Sodom and the people of Gomorrah. And perhaps you would hear a sigh in the congregation as Isaiah was preaching this to them, and they're saying, well, who on earth is he talking to? Who are these people of Sodom and Gomorrah? We're not Sodom. I mean, God says we're the people of Gomorrah. Zion, we're God's people. We're from that special city, Jerusalem. We're from the holy city, the city of the Most High. But Isaiah says to them, that's not what God says. He's just contrasted Sodom and Gomorrah and you. And in that, he spared you and not them. But now he's saying Sodom and Gomorrah have gotten into your DNA as the people of God. And you are in many ways Sodom and Gomorrah, both your leaders and your people. And God uses the most aberrant names imaginable, the most despicable and deplorable names that were available, and he applies them to his own people. And this is the solemn thing about this whole section today. In verse 10, Isaiah is thinking especially of their own relationship with Yahweh and their worship of him and obedience to him. For years now there's been this what some people call worship wars. I don't know if you're familiar with this, but some churches fight for a more traditional form of worship, and others fight for a more contemporary form of worship. The traditional people accuse the contemporary people of being superficial, and the contemporary people accuse the traditional people of being irrelevant. You've heard some of the arguments. And one writer writes this, and I think this is really important for us to note. Isaiah points the way out of our wars, as it were, into God's peace by helping us think in God's categories. His categories are not traditional versus contemporary worship, but more profoundly acceptable versus unacceptable worship. And he has told us what kind of worship that he accepts. And he says in Psalm 51 verse 17, the sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit. It's a God-given humility. And acceptable worship is sweetened with the spirit of repentance. And Israel's worship of God over time became corrupt because of their failure to pay God's word attention to and repent. So God speaks directly to their worship of God. And notice several things about it. Notice, first of all, God despises religious hypocrisy. And we see this in verses 10 through 15. Look at verse 11. What are your multiplied sacrifices to me, says Yahweh? I've had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle, and in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats, I take no pleasure. In John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, we meet a man that was named formalist. And Bunyan describes this man as someone that has lost all but the shell of religion. He is hot indeed, for his form, and no marvel for that is, Bunyan says, is all he has to contend with. But his form being without power and spirit of godliness will leave him in his sins. Nay, he stands now in them in the sight of God as one of many that will seek to enter in and shall not be able. And Bunyan goes on to assume that this man is unregenerate, And there's reason enough to think so. He says formalist is not without some fervency, but the object of his heart is merely his forms, his traditions, his rituals. And he is passionate about the husks or scaffolding of religion, but not about God himself. You see, if one has correct forms or doctrine, they think, it is enough. If one's church attendance is consistent, he is good to go. So he thinks, as Isaiah speaks, it's like a mirror revealing what is going on with God's people. And Isaiah speaks very bluntly to them. And so what we see in verses 10 through 12 is it's a parade of hypocritical religion. And he begins by stating that God is speaking to the leaders or the rulers of Sodom as well as the people. And it's like saying from top to bottom, from the very top of the people to the bottom of the people, you are hypocritical in your worship. And notice the list of correct worship materials that they use. Sacrifices, burnt offerings of rams, A well-fed beast, the fat of the well-fed beast, the blood of bulls, the lambs or goats. From every viewpoint, they had it correct. And so when God says this to them, there could be some pushback and go like, God, we're doing what you tell us to do. We're simply walking through and doing exactly what you've told us to do. And God says, I've had enough. Why? Because it's true formalism. Look at it in verse 12. And when you come to appear before me. This idea of to come appear before me refers to their personal attendance to the tabernacle in Exodus chapter 23 verse 17, or the temple. And it's truly what worship should be. But it isn't for bonus points with God. We should come before him. But God is dealing with why you come before him. They're not coming for true worship, but for ritual liturgy. And God calls this the trampling of my courts. It's all a facade. It's all just the noise of feet shuffling on the pavement, as it were. It is no longer a real encounter with God. It's them fulfilling their duty. They're quick to point out when other people aren't fulfilling their duty, but we're fulfilling our duty. And so it's something that God hates, this parade of hypocritical religion. But notice secondly in verses 13 through 15, God hates heartless worship. God probes down to root issues with them. Notice verse 13. Bring your worthless or vain offerings no longer. Incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath, the calling of convocation. I can't endure wickedness and the solemn assembly. God's probing in verse 13, vain or worthless offerings, offerings of nothing, offerings with really no substance, no heart connection of the sin that necessitates the offerings with the need of repentance, which is the purpose for the offering. You see, ritual and liturgy had replaced repentance and faith. So this formalism made them blind. and death. They had the form of godliness, but denied the true faith, as Paul talks about in 2 Timothy 3.5. And the tragedy is, they thought they were right with God. They thought they were his people. They were wrong, they were heartless, but faithfully doing it. Verse 15, you make many prayers, but I will not listen. The wording God uses is very telling. He uses this idea, it's an abomination. I cannot endure it. My soul hates. I will hide my eyes. I will not listen. And your hands are full of blood. Godless formalism kills. And everything they were doing was by the book, though. But here's the thing. The further people get away from relationship with God, very often the more attention they give to what they do in their public worship. So they try cranking up the stuff that they do for God. They crank up the ceremony. They do more, more singing, more praying. They try to compensate for their unbelief and their disobedience by making it more, more. Whether it's more ornate or more enthusiastic or more liturgical or more dynamic or more relevant or more whatever it may be, it's just we're doing more. But they were not confessing sin. and turning from godlessness. So it was heartless worship. And you see God confronting them. And he despises this religious hypocrisy. But notice secondly, God pleads with them. God is always God. Verses 16 through 20. Wash yourselves. Purify yourselves. Remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. God really isn't interested in our outward appearance of worship. Let me say that again. God really isn't interested in our outward appearance of worship. The standard God consistently points to is their hearts. The prophet Samuel learned this lesson when he was asked to find a king to replace Saul. In 1 Samuel 16, seven, he says, for the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. So we see God peering into their hearts now, and he pours out grace and mercy. Notice God's plea in verses 16 through 17. His plea is not to do more of the same. You can't change anything if you continue to do the same thing over and over and over. Here, God reminds just how high the stakes are. His holy perfections are the lines to gain. Wash yourselves. Purify yourself. Stop violating God's law. Give your heart to God. It's a call to live a righteous, morally pure life, one that is filled with compassion for the poor, the needy, the oppressed, and the widow. And notice it's not just your own sin, but it's the consequence, the residual effect of your own sin. Clean it up, he says. Humble yourself, go back to make things right. The question should be first and foremost on our minds is how can one do this? Can? We do this. If God is commanding it, can we do this? That's God's plea, though. Clean it up. Holiness is the key. But notice, secondly, God's call. Can you see that in verse 18? He gives three imperatives here. Come, reason, and repent. While it is a wise thing to note and disdain the disdain that God has and the hatred that God has for sinners, what is even more amazing to behold is the willingness for this holy God to save sinners. This is one of the chief texts giving us all his grace and this call to filthy, evil, and corrupt people to come, reason, and repent. Three very important imperatives. So the idea of come literally means to move toward, draw near, because you see, sin has driven humanity away from the presence of God. And so in many ways, he is calling his police, come back to me. But it is the offended one who's extending the hand of mercy. And he's saying, look, I want you to come back to me. Come to me. Move toward me. One writer writes this, at its essential nature, sin is unreasonable. It's irrational. It's insane. It produces corruption and misery. It results in estrangement from God and enslavement to ever-increasing wickedness. He goes on to say it stores up an ever-increasing wrath on judgment day. Sin is the ultimate tyrant seeking to destroy our very lives. And yet it is God who says, come, come to me. But then notice reason. Reason is this idea of understanding or concluding based on what is true. It's what we would call seeing. Sin blinds, and so God says, open your eyes and see what is true. And once you see it, Repent, turn from it. See your sin and turn from it. How simple this seems, but grace is always hard for rebels to understand. Why? Because their view of God is too small. And God sends this very sweet invitation to come hear him, to come see him, and to come repent from your sin. God is constantly extending that. I hear from time to time people say, I don't know, I can't believe in a God who would send people to hell, and I'm going like, you don't understand this God then. He extends this invitation. And then notice verse 19. Notice this kind of a turn of events in verse 19. If you're willing and obey, you will eat the best of the land. This is God's promise. Forgiveness and cleansing. Sin leaves the deepest of stains. With sin so dark, so life-altering, it takes the creator himself to undo such damage. And at the very point when judgment is expected, grace intervenes. This is how God works. Forgiveness from God is the transformation of the heart that takes the rebellious and makes them obedient, and the gracious change from within can be detected by their appetites. And they will eat. of the best, the rich goodness that God provides. We are here today singing the hymns because God has transformed our hearts and has given us life and we get to eat some of the best bits of truth because we hear it from God's word. And he says, if you obey, you will eat. The truth is, like us, Israel can't clean themselves. And so there's another hint of a Redeemer, the only one who can cleanse, the only one who can bring life. There's just a hint of this. It will happen. And then notice verse 20, God's warning. May we hear this. But if you refuse and rebel, you will be eaten by the sword. for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken this. Here's another if-then statement. Very similar to what he says in verse 19. If, then you will. These if-then statements help us see this contrast with sin so dark, so life-altering. Once again, it takes the Creator to step in And if you will continue to rebel and refuse God's grace, then the result will be a brutal and total destruction. And notice God's exclamation point. The mouth of Yahweh has spoken this. This isn't just Isaiah speaking this. This is God himself giving to them a warning. My friend, every time a warning is given, it is a thing of grace. It is a thing of mercy that God would extend to people like us, hearts filled with our own rebellion, and he would say, listen to me, hear it, because the same voice who brought about total creation speaks again, and it must be heeded to listen to God's voice. So there was this corrupt worship going on. And just like all sin, there are consequences. And so we see as if it were three dominoes that fall over in chapter one. God comes and begs and pleads with these folks, and here's the last domino, I would say, in verses 21 through 31. God's people are desperate need of righteousness. And this is one of Isaiah's often repeated themes. Man needs righteousness. So notice first of all in verses 21 through 23, the way of injustice, how the faithful city has become a harlot. She who was full of justice, righteous once lodged in her and now murderers. Your silver has become dross. You drink diluted with water. Your rulers are rebels, companion to thieves. And what you read is this total injustice for God's kindness and mercy dumped on these people. And where the previous verses hint at the individual consequences of sin, living in rebellion against God, there seems to be a turning in God's message. There's now an even larger picture of a social collapse that always accompanies sin and corruption. There's a measurable societal collapse because of your sin and rebellion over a long period of time. What was once a faithful city is now a plain of the harlot. God changes metaphor from the parent-child relationship now to the husband-and-wife relationship, the more intimate relationship that should exist between Israel and God. And these verses are arranged in poetry form and they are in the form of a lament. It's as if God is crying and weeping in front of them. And it has a sinister effect. She was at once a people full of justice and now murder or a devaluing of life is the effect of sin. Oh my friend, are we not seeing this in our world today? One of the first big things that you can see in a culture that resists God's word is this diminishing of life. These verses are arranged in such a way that it underscores this. People always get left out when the corporate bunch goes after symbolism over substance. You see this even in our own world this week. where our country just left North Carolina and all the damage it's done, just kind of left it. You guys, go on your own. Oh, we'll come in eventually, but go on your own. And you just see this, and this is the way it is, and you can see it in churches where there's this failure to love God and love God's people because of this inordinate view of God himself. And rulers who would rule by justice and righteousness are now consumed with bribes, thefts, simply pursuing gifts, but notice they have no room for caring for people. Humanity needs righteousness. It's desperate for perfect justice, but there isn't any perfect justice in humanity's grasp. Righteousness and justice elude sinners, and we sin because we are sinners, and it's true individually, but it's also true corporately as well. We all need a Redeemer. This is Isaiah's point. We're in total need of perfection. We need Jesus. So there's this way of injustice, and then he talks about the way of righteousness in verses 24 through 30. He says this, therefore, The Lord, Yahweh of hosts, the mighty one of Israel declares, ah, I will be confronted concerning my adversaries and I will avenge myself on my enemies. I will also turn my hand against you and will smelt away your drosses with lye and will remove all your alloy. Then I will have your judges return as at the first and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterwards you will be called the city of righteousness, the faithful town. Oh, there's such beautiful words here. It's inescapable to Isaiah how God's holy city, Jerusalem, could be so characterized by murder, thievery, and bribes. But now, how does God feel about this? Well, you look at verse 24, halfway through the verse, he says, I will get relief from my enemies and avenge myself on my foes. He's referring there to his own people, calling them enemies. And he would turn his hand on them. That means he would discipline them by sending foreign armies to overtake them and destroy them, avenging himself on his foes. But notice alongside the judgment, notice the note of mercy in these verses. Look carefully at this. God wouldn't wipe them out altogether. Instead of just eliminating them, he is speaking of cleansing them. Six times in verses 24 through 26, God says, I will, I will. In verse 25, he would smelt away your dross with lye. Think of industrial strength cleaning agents to remove the deep stains of sin and God scrubbing the sins and he would remove them. God removes all your alloy. Alloy is this impurities in a metal that comes through a refining fire. Pure metal would come out as a result and in this way God's people would somehow be tested to the point that he says afterwards, catch this, what was once a city of harlots will now be called the city of righteousness. God does a good job of cleaning, doesn't he? The faithful city will be tested. It will be tried, it will be purified. And here is Isaiah's future picture of the messianic age. Isaiah, through the Holy Spirit, sees a time when God would gloriously transform his people. Righteousness will again be their identity. The unfaithful harlot would one day become the faithful wife, cleansed without spot or blemish. So alongside of God's judgment on the one hand, there was this renewal and restoration. My friend, understand God never tires of showing mercy to his children. We ought to smile very big with that. And ultimately in verse 27, notice, Zion will be redeemed by justice. And those in her who repent will be redeemed by righteousness. Verse 28, but God, but rebels and sinners shall be broken together and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed. For they shall be ashamed of the oaks that they desired. And they will blush for the gardens that they have chosen. God had chosen Israel, but Israel had chosen oak trees and gardens instead. And these oak trees and gardens are symbols of Canaanite religion, idolatry. They were pagan fertility cults. And this gives a bit of clarity for the Romans chapter one culture who prized the creation over the creator. This is something that's been going on for a long time. It's a common thread in scripture, but it's a literal thing where people literally worship the creation. But it is also metaphorical sense where man honors and worships their own laws, their own IQ, their own logic, their own reasoning, and refuse to understand the ways of God. But notice what God says would happen to their idols. If they persisted in their rebellion, their oak trees would wither, and their gardens would have no water. We understand that, don't we? We all saw our grass turn to crispy, burnt pieces of weeds during the summer, didn't we? And withered trees. I had two trees die in my backyard, two evergreens. We understand what this means, and God says it'll wither. It will come from within, because there's no life in there. All that they had given of themselves to would go up in smoke, but if they repented, they would be redeemed That word means that they'd be bought back by God. Not that God would casually sweep their sins under the carpet. Not that he would just forget and give them a free pass. This is a redemption that occurs with justice and righteousness at great price. God would rescue his people and yet somehow God would remain just. How does that happen? Well he doesn't yet clarify. But see, verse 31, see the way of the strong man. Here's a stunning and telling fact of what is to come. We're not told who this strong man is at this point. Could be a caricature of people. Self-righteous people feel themselves to be strong. We will learn of his end, though. Who is this strong man? Well, we'll learn of his end. We find out about this. He will become as tinder. Do you see that in verse 31? And the strong man will become tinder. His work also a spark. Thus they shall both burn together and there will be none to quench them. Oh, my friend, what God has given to us here, I think, is a beautiful picture of what's going to happen at the end. It's a frightening picture. This strong man, his work, and he himself will both burn. We can go all the way to the end of Scripture to begin to put the pieces together. Listen to this text from Revelation 20, verse 10. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone. and where the beast and the false prophet are also. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. This is what will happen to those who rebel and not repent. We don't see it how yet, but God's word promises salvation for those who believe. We will see this also at the end in Revelation 21 seven. He who overcomes will inherit these things and I will be his God and he will be my son. So the question is how can this be? How can God extend forgiveness to sin-filled people and yet still be just? only if somebody else pays the price. You see, the price of redemption is unattainable by sinful humanity. And we will learn soon that perfect redemption was accomplished on our behalf through the cross of Jesus Christ, God's own son. Isaiah would later speak of one who was pierced for our transgression, one who was crushed for our iniquities. And Isaiah stands forward with the vision of a prophet to the day when God will satisfy his own justice by sending his own son into the world to save us just as the Bible says in the great book of Titus. Our great Savior and God, the Lord Jesus Christ, gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession. So what does that mean for us today? I think there's some three things that I want us to learn. First of all, there are really only two kinds of people in our world. rebels and redeemed. There are rebels and those who are redeemed. That's the picture we're gonna see from now until the end of Isaiah. Two kinds of folks. People who hear, people who don't. People who submit and people who rebel. You see this over and over and over. But notice secondly, No righteous works or righteous worship can bring you to God. Understand that. No righteous works or righteous worship can bring you to God. The stakes are high. Full and complete righteousness is required from God. And it's clear, you and I do not have perfect, full righteousness. We are desperate. when it comes to that. See our desperate position. And then thirdly, righteousness is only given to sinners through faith in Christ, the Son of God. If you try to set your sin apart from you, you try to live your life as if God's holiness doesn't matter, then you will not be transformed by the work of Christ. Because God exposes our sin, God exposes our nakedness for the purpose of giving us his righteousness. And may we not be those who insist that we are clothed like the emperor when we have attached our own works to us. May we hear God's gracious warning today. There is a Redeemer, Jesus Christ the righteous. Trust him, repent, turn from your sin, place your faith into his perfect work on your behalf. Will you pray with me this morning? Great Father, what a terrifying picture Isaiah brings to us this morning. What a picture of great trepidation for those who would not hear. And Father, the truth is, if we're honest, the history of the world plays this out. Israel, during the time of Isaiah, will be completely decimated. But there will be a remnant. There will be a group that you will carry off into Babylon. We already know this. We've studied through the book of Daniel. We've already seen this. But you have designed this plan for your glory. And it's all designed to demonstrate itself through the faithfulness of your promise that there will be one who will come who will be the Lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world. Our righteousness comes from outside of us. It's an alien righteousness that comes from Christ's perfect work in us and through us. So Father, today, those that would be here today who are in the category of the rebellious ones, may the Spirit of God show them their need of Jesus, their need of righteousness. And may they, in fact, turn from their own godless living and their own Christless attempt to go at life. And may they place their confidence, their faith into Christ alone. And then, Lord, for that one who's here today is born again, but that grace has only brought to them salvation. Their hearts are still battling sin. Father, would you give them great encouragement that there will be a day when they will be part of that city called righteous. But it will be because of the perfect work of Christ. And may our love for Jesus grow. May our desire for his grace continue to feed our souls with all the great portions of God's loving kindness. And may we rest our souls, our weary hearts on him today. Father, be our God. And may we in turn be people of great gratitude that we would thank God for his son, Jesus Christ, and for the righteousness that comes through him. Thank you, God, for the word. Let us hear it today, we pray in Christ's name, amen.