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Good evening, if you would open
up to the book of Isaiah. We're gonna read Isaiah 1, 1
together before we begin. Isaiah 1, 1. This is God's word. The vision
of Isaiah, the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem
in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of
Judah. Let's pray together. Oh, Heavenly Father, we come
before you as a people who are in awe and often surprised by
your providence. What can we say other than the
fact that you surprise us by the things that you have done
in our lives and the things that you even haven't done? It's surprising that you would
redeem a people for yourself, a sinful and broken and depraved
people, but you've done that, and it's surprising to us. And
in fact, it's even more surprising how you've done it, by coming
for us and shedding your precious blood on our behalf, so that
it might not be by works or by our merit, but by your own merit,
by your own glory, by your own goodness, that you've even granted
us grace and faith And because we have faith in you, we have
favor. So may we trust not in our own power or the power that
this world has to offer, but may we trust in your power. Teach
us what it means to be your servants. Lord Jesus, it's in your name
we pray. Amen. Foreign armies. will be knocking
at our children's and grandchildren's doors. All of the institutions that
we presently know will become undone. Family life, reputation,
family wealth, reputation, all of it will be gone, completely
undone. Homes will be burned, cities
will be destroyed, Even the families that we hold so dearly will be
torn apart. This will happen not in our generation, but in
our children and grandchildren's generation. Powers so strong
that they could come in this room right this instant and put
us all in prison and carry us away to a foreign land will be
around in this generation. What will become of God's people? What will become of our children
and our grandchildren? Will they be plagued by hopelessness
and despair? How will they answer these deep
questions? Does God still love us and how do we relate to God? Does God still love us and how
do we relate to God? Brothers and sisters, while I
can't say definitively that this is our imminent future, this
was the imminent future in Isaiah's day. This is the message that
God gave to Isaiah to speak to the people of Judah. He was speaking
to a people who were desperately sick in their souls, who were
far from God, and who were on the brink of destruction. Isaiah
was looking through the corridors of time because God had given
him a vision, and what he saw was tremendous disaster for Judah. Now this is significant, not
only because it's destruction, but in particular because of
one promise. One promise made 1,000 years
before this prophecy that Isaiah was giving to the people of Judah,
and that promise was to Abraham. God promised Abraham, and he
said, you will be my treasured possession, and I will make your
descendants as the sand of the seashore look into the sky. As
the stars are in the sky, so will your descendants be. And
these people held on to this promise for 1,000 years. But
now they were on the brink of destruction, utter ruin and destruction. If the people did not repent,
God's chosen city, God's chosen people, Judah and Jerusalem would
experience hostile takeover by Babylon. God's chosen people
would be raided, families would be separated, people would be
murdered in the streets. The promise of Abraham would
fade into a glimmer in the Judeans' mind as they faded into hopelessness. God's promise to Abraham a thousand
years ago would become very small. Babylon would be looming large
in their minds. If the people didn't change,
they would be taken away into exile. This is what Isaiah is
about, but there's something peculiar going on in the book
of Isaiah. Something surprising, and it's actually supposed to
be surprising. It's not just surprising to us
because we live 2,000 years, 3,000 years separated from this
prophecy, but it was supposed to be surprising to the people
in Isaiah's day. And here's the surprising nature
of Isaiah. It's that God is speaking through Isaiah not to change
hearts, not to turn them back to God, but to harden them. God is speaking through Isaiah
to harden the people so that they might go into exile. We need to look at Isaiah six
with me, Isaiah six. This is Isaiah's commission,
Isaiah's commission. What is this all about? Why does
God speak through Isaiah not to turn but to harden? And here
it is, here's the big idea we're gonna see. Brothers and sisters,
it's not because God does not love His people. It's not because
God does not keep His promises. It's not because God somehow
forgot who He was and forgot who His people were. It's because
God intends to refine, refine His servants. And in refining
His servants, He makes them holy servants. God refines His servants
to be holy servants. Let's look how this is Isaiah's
commission. It's surprising. Isaiah 6, 9
through 13. Isaiah 6, 6. Isaiah says, here
I am, and then in verse 9, God says, go and say to this people,
this is the message that God is giving to Isaiah. Keep on
hearing, but do not understand. Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.
Make the hearts of this people dull and their ears heavy and
blind with their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear
with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn. and
be healed. And Isaiah asks, then I said,
how long, O Lord? How long? Isaiah is asking the
question, how long am I to preach this message of doom and destruction? And here's God's reply. God says,
until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without
people, and the land is a desolate waste, and the Lord removes people
far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the
land. God is speaking through the prophet
Isaiah, not to turn the people to God, but to harden them, so
that they might be refined. God refines his servants in order
to be holy servants, but why? But why would God do this? Why
would God seem to forsake the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob? Why would God forget Mount Sinai
speaking to the people of Israel? Why would it seem that God has
forgotten David, the man after his own heart? Why would it seem
that God would forget all of those men, all of those promises,
and forsake his people at this moment in time? It's because
God refines his servants to be holy servants. And in Isaiah,
God refines his servants. How? Through judgment. God refines his people through
judgment in order that the holy servant, the remnant, the holy
seed might come about. Let's continue reading in Isaiah
6.13. Here's the reason. And though
a tenth remain in it, It will be burned again like a terebinth
or an oak whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed
is its stump." God refines his servants to be holy servants. And we see this all throughout
the book of Isaiah. Cycle after cycle after cycle
after cycle. If we were going to sum up the
book of Isaiah in one word, it would be this word, servant.
Servant. And if we're going to bring it
out into a sentence, I'd put it this way. God refines his
servants to be holy servants. You could add in a host of other
adjectives as well. Because God is holy, because
God is glorious, because God deserves all praise and honor
and glory. But what we see time and time
and time again in the book of Isaiah, is that God is refining
His servants to be holy servants. And we see five examples. There
are more, but we see five in particular. And here are the
five examples we're going to look at. Isaiah, Ahaz, Israel,
Hezekiah, and Messiah. Let's look at these. We'll see
five servant examples in Isaiah. Isaiah, Ahaz, Israel, Hezekiah,
and Messiah. Isaiah. Now that we're in Isaiah
6, I just want you to look at Isaiah 6-1. Isaiah 6-1. We're going to walk through this
very quickly because this is an overview. I really wrestled whether
I should do this chronologically, if I should do it exegetically,
or if I should make it a survey, but then I just decided I would
pick up a theme, the main theme of the book, and then when you
read it next time, perhaps it will help you structure the book.
And I would love to talk with you about it afterwards as well,
but here's the big idea. God refines His servants to be
holy servants. Isaiah is our example we're looking
at. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting
upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe
filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim,
each had six wings. And the two he covered his feet,
and the two he flew. And one called to one another,
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is
full of his glory. And the foundations of the threshold
shook at the voice of him who called. And the house was filled
with smoke. And I said, Woe is me. For I
am lost, for I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst
of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew
to him, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with the
tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with
it and said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt
is taken away and your sin is atoned for. Here we see the call
and commission of Isaiah, and it's interesting here that Isaiah,
we see his present reality as a servant, and what is that before
he meets the living God? Oftentimes we actually see this
as Isaiah's conversion moment, that he sees God, that he's undone,
his heart is changed, and God atones for his sin in this moment
in time. But what is Isaiah? What kind of servant is Isaiah
before his lips are touched with the coal? He gives us a description. He says of himself, woe is me,
I am lost. I'm a man of unclean lips and
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. But what immediately
takes place? God refines his servant to be
a holy servant. Verse 6, The burning coal is
the refinement that takes place for Isaiah that turns him into, that makes him
into, what God intends him to be. We see the contrast between who
Isaiah was before he was refined by God and who Isaiah was after
he was refined by God. He goes from potential servant
of God to holy servant of God. And this is a picture of the
cycle that we see over and over and over in the book of Isaiah.
This is a picture of what God is doing with the very nation
of Judah. When God brings the judgment
upon Judah in Babylon, what is he doing? He's bringing refinement,
just like he does with Isaiah in bringing the coal and touching
his lip. It has nothing to do with Isaiah. It has nothing to do with his
good works, but it has everything to do with God's refining work. This is the first example. The
second example that we see is Ahaz. Ahaz. Turn over to chapter
7, verse 1. Ahaz, the king, So we see Uzziah,
he has passed away. Now Ahaz is reigning after Uzziah's
son, Jotham. So Uzziah, Jotham, and now Ahaz. What happens here in this situation? Well, if you read the Chronicles
and Kings, we know that Ahaz is an absolutely terrible king. Absolutely terrible. But in this
particular scenario, what's happening is that Israel and Judah are
already divided into the southern ten nations and Judah and Benjamin
in the south. Or, yeah, southern and north.
I'm sorry, northern and southern. So they're divided. Israel and
Judah and Benjamin. They're already divided. So what
is happening here is that Israel has made an alliance with a neighboring
nation called Syria. And they're going to Judah and
they're trying to wage war against Judah. And even if you read the
other accounts, what's really taking place here is they're
trying to build an alliance with Judah so that they might fight
Assyria together. And what happens? Ahaz goes to
Isaiah. And what does Isaiah say? He
says, have nothing to do with Assyria. Don't be afraid of Israel
and Syria, and build an alliance with Assyria, because that will
come back to bite you in the end. But what does Ahaz do? He completely disregards Isaiah
and the Word of God, and to use a modern idiom, he makes a deal
with the devil. Ahaz makes a deal with Assyria,
which ultimately ends up negatively for Israel because Assyria turns
on them, turns on Judah later on. But what do we see happening? After Ahaz disobeys God, Isaiah
goes to him and he gives him this prophecy that one day Assyria
will turn on them. One day the waters of Assyria
will flow over the other nations and come up to the people of
Judah's necks, is what he says. But who does he bring with him?
God gives him an act, a sign act. God says, Isaiah, have a
son. And what is his name going to
be? Chapter 8, verse 1. And what does that mean? A remnant shall remain. A remnant
shall remain." This is a sign act against the people of Judah,
which says, look, because of your constant disobedience, you
will go into exile, but guess what? There will be refining
that takes place in exile. A remnant shall remain. A remnant shall remain. So even
through a wicked king like Ahaz, God is working to demonstrate
that he's bringing refining to his servant, Judah. This is the
second example that we see. There's a third one that we see,
and this is with Israel. Israel in general. This is a
cycle throughout the book of Isaiah. If you turn over to Isaiah
48, we'll see a very clear passage about this refining that's taking
place throughout the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 48, verses 9 through
11. God speaks through Isaiah. For
my name's sake, I defer my anger. For the sake of my praise, I
restrain it for you. For I may not cut you off. Behold,
I have refined you, but not as silver. I have tried you in the
furnace of affliction for my own sake. For my own sake, I
do it. For how should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another. Time and time and time and time
again in the book of Isaiah what we see is Judah is making political
alliances with all of the other nations around them. And what
does that demonstrate about their trust in God? Isaiah would say,
you don't actually trust God, you trust the political powers
around you. You trust the political armies
and forces to play around you. Like Egypt, or Syria, or Babylon,
or Israel, or Tyre, and Sidon. All of these nations, Moab, they're
all mentioned as political players in the ancient Near Eastern world
in Isaiah's day as people that Judah should not trust in. But
what have they done? They have constantly and continually
scorned God by saying, we will not trust you, God. We will trust
the powers at play that are surrounding us. And what does God say in
the midst of this? He says, I will not share my
glory with another. So what does God choose to do?
He chooses to refine them in the furnace of affliction. This
is another cycle, another sign that what God is doing is he's
taking his servant. He's taking his servant and he's
refining them to be his holy servant. This is the cycle in
the book of Isaiah. God takes his servant and he
refines him to be his holy servant. Because what Israel was did not
compute with what Israel could be and should be. This is what
the prophecies are looking forward to is after the exile, God will
restore his people. After the exile, God will bring
peace. After the exile, God will be their God and they will trust
him. God will refine the people. That is number three. Number four is Hezekiah. The
fourth example is Hezekiah. Why don't you turn over to Isaiah
36. Isaiah 36. In the 14th year of the King
Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all
the fortified cities of Judah and took them. And the king of
Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to the king Hezekiah at Jerusalem
with a great army, and he stood by the conduit of the upper pool
on the highway of the washer's field. And there he came out
came out to him Eliakim, the son of Hilika, who was over the
household, and Shebna, the secretary, and Joah, the son of Asa, who
was the recorder. Now what happens here in verse
4 is, And what does he continue to
say in verse 5? that you have rebelled against
me. Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of
a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on
it, such as Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who trust in him.
But if you say to me, we trust in the Lord our God, it is not
he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying
to Judah and to Jerusalem, you shall worship before this altar,
come now, Make a wager with my master, the king of Assyria.
I will give to you 2,000 horses, and if you are able on your part
to set riders on them, how then can you repulse a single captain
among the least of my master's servants when you trust in Egypt
for chariots or for horsemen? Moreover, it is without the Lord
that I have come up against this land to destroy it. The Lord
said to me, go up against this land and destroy it. What's happening
here is Assyria is coming against Judah and saying, you've trusted
in Egypt. You've done wrong. And he continues
and says, now put your trust in Assyria. And he says, I even
come in the name of God. I come in the name of the Lord.
And what does Hezekiah do? Hezekiah seeks Isaiah's help. And what does Isaiah say? He
says, have nothing to do with Assyria. Have nothing to do with
Assyria. Do not make an alliance with
Assyria. And what does Hezekiah do? He
listens. He trusts God. Where Ahaz, his
father, failed and didn't trust God, Hezekiah actually trusts
God. He doesn't make an alliance with
Assyria. So God blesses him. But Hezekiah,
Later, in verse 38, becomes sick. God again heals him. And in 39,
we see the refinement taking place again of God's servant.
In chapter 39, what happens is, at that time, Babylon, king of
Babylon, sent an envoy with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for
he had heard that he had been sick and had recovered. And Hezekiah
welcomed them gladly and showed them the treasure house, the
silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil, his whole
armory, all that was found in his storehouses. What becomes
of this? Isaiah comes to Hezekiah and
he says, what have you done? What did you show Babylon? And
he says, I've showed them everything we have. I've showed them the
treasure trove. I've showed them the glories
and the beauties of the temple. I've showed them everything that
there is to show. And Isaiah says, this will lead to exile. Babylon is going to be carrying
all of that treasure you just showed them to their nation.
Do not trust in the nations. And Hezekiah ends chapter 39
by saying these words. The word of the Lord that you
have spoken is good. This is what Hezekiah thought. there will be peace and security
in my days. Chapter 40 jumps ahead just over
130 years to people who are in exile. And what does it say? Comfort, comfort, comfort, my
people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and
cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received the Lord's hand double for all her sins. God has refined his people. And he refined them through judgment. Hezekiah was the fourth example,
but we see another example. And this is our final example
of a servant who was refined to be a holy servant in Isaiah.
Why don't you turn over to Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61.1 says, And we need
to look at this word anointed. Anointed here in chapter 61 verse
1 is the Hebrew word Messiah. Messiah. That's where we get
our word Messiah. In the New Testament in Greek
it's Christ or anointed one. This figure of the anointed one
is all throughout the book of Isaiah. In other chapters he's
referred to as the servant. Why don't you turn to chapter
Isaiah 52 verses 13 through 53. 52, 13. Again, this anointed one, this
Messiah, this Christ, this mysterious figure throughout the book of
Isaiah, this servant of God, is referred to here as God's
servant. Look at Isaiah 52, 13. Behold,
my servant shall act wisely, shall be high and lifted up,
shall be exalted. And many were astonished at you.
His appearance was so marred beyond human semblance, for his
form was beyond that of the children of mankind. So shall he sprinkle
many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths
because of him. For that which has not been told to them, they
see. And that which has not been heard, they understand. Who has
believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of
the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before us like
a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground, He had no
form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that
we should desire him. He was despised and rejected
by man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. As of
one, for men hid their faces. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows,
yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.
Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with
his wounds we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. We have all turned, every one,
to his own way. And the Lord has laid upon him
the iniquity of us all." This servant, this suffering servant,
is the Messiah in the book of Isaiah. And what we see in Isaiah is
that this Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53, this Messiah in Isaiah
61 has many names. The Holy Seed in Isaiah 6. This is the Suffering Servant.
Wonderful Counselor. Mighty God. Prince of Peace. Emmanuel. God with us, the remnant,
the rock, the stone of stumbling, is the Messiah, the suffering
servant in Isaiah. What the people were looking
for, what they were longing for after they were carried out into
exile, and then God refined them and restored them and brought
them back into their land. That's what we read about in
Ezra and Nehemiah. They were looking for this Messiah. They
were looking for him. But they didn't see him. Things
weren't what they anticipated, weren't what they expected, and
the cycle of rebellion for Israel continued, and it continued,
and it continued, even after they restored the temple. But
who comes onto the scene? And who documents that this is
the Messiah? In the New Testament, what do
we see? We see Jesus being born of the Virgin, and the New Testament
author saying, look, This, this is Emmanuel. You know, all of
the other servants that were refined, all of the other kings
and leaders, all of the other Messiah figures, all of the other
nations that we thought had power, They are nothing in comparison
with this Messiah. This is Emmanuel. This is God
with us. This is the remnant. This is
the holy seed. This is Israel in the flesh. This is God with us. And Jesus
comes onto the scene as a fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, as
a continuation of Isaiah's prophecy so much that what does Jesus
say? Jesus says, my ministry is the
exact same ministry that Isaiah had. In Matthew 13 verse 14,
Jesus says, indeed, in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah
is fulfilled. that says, You will indeed hear
but never understand. You will indeed see but never
perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and their ears
they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed. Lest they
should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand
with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them. Jesus fulfills
the prophecies in Isaiah. Jesus is the Messiah. He is the
suffering servant, and he is the servant who was refined so
that God might have holy servants unto himself for his own glory.
Think about it this way. While God was refining the people
in order to make them holy servants, in order to bring about the Messiah,
Jesus Christ, through exile, through judgment, what does God
do to Jesus? He punishes Jesus. He refines
Jesus through the furnace of affliction, not because of Jesus,
not because Jesus did anything wrong, but why? For us. He was bruised. He was punished. He was chastised and crushed
for our iniquities. The Lord has laid on him the
iniquity of us all. Jesus, the suffering servant,
the Messiah, is the one who is refined. He's the servant who's
refined so that we might be holy servants for the service of God. And this is what the entire book
of Isaiah is about. And there are many things that
lead to application for us even this evening. Some things that
we should be considering is, Are we okay with the fact that
this life, that this world is not our home? That our hope is
not in some earthly kingdom? That the worldly powers at play,
however great America might be, however wonderful freedom might
be, however great the Declaration of Independence might be, those
things do not hold our salvation. They do not hold water to carry
our salvation. Are we okay Are we okay with
that? Are we okay with the fact that
our hope is hidden in Christ on high? That He is our secure
anchor? That no matter what might happen
to this country or the world or our own bodies or our families,
we know that we have a surety, a secure anchor in heaven who
is Christ. That's why the Apostle Paul can
say, we are seated with Christ on high. It's no longer I who
live, but Christ who lives in me. I've been buried with Christ
through baptism. Now I've been raised with him.
So what does this mean for us? It means peace. It means certainty
and assurance. It means that this life is not
our home. It means that the love of Christ
for us cannot be taken away. So Romans 8 really comes into
play. Can anything separate us from
the love of God and Christ? Famine. Bills. Depression. Death. Loss of loved ones. Social decay? Political decay? Can any of these
things separate us from the love of God and Christ Jesus? The
answer is absolutely not. So what are our lives characterized
by? They're characterized by an imitation
of the suffering servant who was refined so that we might
be God's holy servants. Let's pray together. Heavenly
Father, we praise you and thank you. Lord Jesus, we thank you.
It's amazing what you've done for us. You've shed your precious
blood. You were refined through the
furnace of affliction so that we might be your holy servants.
We thank you for this, in Jesus' name, amen.
The Prophets: Isaiah
Series The Prophets
| Sermon ID | 9323240174282 |
| Duration | 34:34 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Isaiah |
| Language | English |
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