I'm going to take my title from the 11th verse that we read together today in Isaiah 58, using the last portion of the verse for the title, like a watered garden and like a spring of water. Now in this chapter in our study of Isaiah, God speaking through the prophet is going to first diagnose the bad health of Israel. Then he's going to give a prescription for good health. He's going to use fasting and the Sabbath to represent the bad health of worship in Israel. That's why he focuses on fasting and at the end on the Sabbath day. These two things are taken for the whole ball of wax, so to speak, as a problem with Israel's worship for which God is going to point to to say, here are the symptoms. Then when we follow the good health plan of our God as He prescribes not to earn anything from God. resting in Him, then we become...what?...like a watered garden and like a spring of water rather than like a dry garden. You may have experienced that already this summer. A dry garden is one where there is no water, one where the water is not coming down from heaven to water it, one in which there is no fruit But the fruit is drying up, shriveling up and becoming barren. So rather than a dry garden, a water garden. But then like a spring of water which is a flowing brook, a fountain like it's coming down from the mountain from which you can drink from rather than a puddle of water. Nobody drinks from because in a puddle of water you have stagnant brackish water full of pollutants, full of bacteria, full of insects and a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Nobody but animals drink from puddles of water. Humans in that day would drink from springs, fresh flowing waters from the mountain that were rapid and moving giving life. And so there's the two images, there's the result of God's health care plan that he says in verse 8, then shall your light break forth as the morning and your health shall spring forth speedily. But then notice another result in verse 12, they that be of thee shall build the old waste places, speaking of Jerusalem, thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, that's future, and you should be called the repairer of the breach, a gap. Now there were gaps in the wall of Jerusalem because God's judgment brought the gaps, brought the breach and destroyed it. This people had the opportunity, the remnant that will return, to have such a kind of help in the community called Israel that it bridges the generation gap, not divides it. Isn't it sad in our day in Christianity? Some people's idea of worship is a furthering the gap between, let's say, the old and the young, or the kind of worship style or worship mentality. When everything in the scripture says that we ought to be bridging it, for future generations. So the focus here in this chapter about worship pointed out in fasting and Sabbath is really not about worship style at all, but it is about standing in the gap with the young and the old, bringing together, not with a kind of taste for a worship style, but a taste for God and his word. And young and old together should be together on that point. Now I recognize there are some generational differences and gaps in our taste. You know, when you get to be 70 or 80 years old, even now at my age, I prefer the automobile that has the soft seat. You know, the red color and the fast car is just not my thing anymore. Well, that's an okay difference. Or maybe foods, when you get older, your body just can't take certain foods and you don't get very adventurous. But when you're young, it's just, you try anything. And so there's some generational gaps and taste bud differences that are okay. When it comes to worship, we should be drawn together. And we together as a church can be the repairer of the breach, standing in the gap for generations to come. That's all of us together in Christianity. And so that's what this chapter is about. So first, let's look at the diagnosis. If we want the good health of God that he's prescribing here, we must hear the physician's voice. Now you may think, well that's not so challenging, I like to go to the doctor and hear what he says. But in this case, it's not the physician's voice directly, it's the physician's assistant. Verse 1, cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins. So the doctor sends the physician's assistants, and sometimes that can be rather irritating, right? I mean, you're there to talk to the doctor, and here he sends this college student, and maybe you get a little bit upset about that, and say, you know, I paid the money to talk to the physician. Well, sometimes we're like that way in Christianity. You might hear a man say, now, I'll obey God, I'm just not gonna obey men. I just wanna hear what men say. I don't wanna hear what the church says. Well, if you don't hear Isaiah, friend, you don't hear God. Because Isaiah was commissioned to say exactly what the doctor prescribed. And so he comes into the doctor's room and said, this is what God says. And so reject the man with the message, reject the God. who gave the message to the man, or the people, or the church, or one another. Now Jesus gave a stern warning to people that would reject the apostles, the New Testament kind of prophet, although they were apostles and not prophets like the Old Testament. In Mark chapter 6, Jesus said this when he sent the twelve out two by two. He said, when you go into a city and you seek the peace thereof, if you abide there, the peace is there, stay there. But if they don't receive you, or hear you, shake the dust off your feet for a testimony against them. I tell you verily, it shall be more tolerable in the day of judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than for that city." And let me translate that with modern current events. It shall be more tolerable for a nightclub called Pulse in the day of judgment, for a city called Huntsville, if they reject the gospel of God through His messengers. Now God's not saying He's not going to judge Sodom and Gomorrah, He will, but there's a greater judgment for those who've heard the gospel and rejected for those who have not heard it. That should be a warning for the believer, a healthy warning for good health that God sends under Shepard's physician's assistance and he speaks through them as long as they're sticking with the prescription that God has given. Now Isaiah and Jeremiah often contrasted themselves as Paul did with the false physician assistants. So we have God's word to check. What we say to one another, what churches say, what men say. And so even in the church today we're called to exhort one another. So it even requires that we listen to each other when it's based on a thus sayeth the Lord. So there's no place to say I'm just not going to listen to that man, I'm not going to submit to that church. God wants us in the fear of the Lord to submit to one another by hearing one another. only as a thus saith the Lord." And so that is the prophet's commission. The physician assistant comes into Israel, and now this is his task. This is what he's supposed to say. First of all, his work is to show my people their transgression and their sin. Now what a job is that? You know, it's hard enough, I suppose, for a doctor if he's got to tell a patient some bad news, but what if every time he met the patient, it's always bad news? Well, that's the way it was for Isaiah. In his period of prophesying, he had some good things to say for generations to come, but he had to tell the current generation their transgression and their sins. And not only that, the way he had to do it, cry aloud, means to open the throat. It's not a whisper coming from the chest when you take a deep breath and, Let it out. I don't take that to mean he's screaming, but Isaiah, be bold and tell the truth to the people. Tell them their transgressions and their sins. This is his work. Look at the frequency. How many times do you have to say the same thing? Spare not, refrain not. like a refrain in the songs we just sang. You ever had one of those 10 verse songs? You're thinking, where have I sung this chorus? It's again and again and again and again and again. 10 times in a 10 verse song, you sing the chorus or the refrain. Isaiah, do not refrain, say the chorus again and again and again and again. What's the chorus? Their transgressions and their sins. That's kind of tough to take sometimes, isn't it? Well, it was very tough for Israel because there was a serious problem called transgression and sin. God told Isaiah, say it again and again and again and again. Don't stop. Don't refrain. But now, notice his sound. Cry aloud, don't stop, and lift up your voice like a trumpet. Now that's really got to help matters, right? I mean, who likes to have a trumpet blown in your ear? Imagine going to the doctor, waiting in the room, the physician assistant comes in and says, well, the doctor, he's the kind of person just knows everything. He can see right through you. And he's already written out the prescription, here it is. And he says, just a minute. He reaches in the cabinet and grabs a battery-powered megaphone and clicks it on. You say, excuse me, what are you doing? Well, he said to sound like a trumpet. And so this is the best thing I can do. I'm just gonna cry loud, full volume. I'm about to tell you the problem with your health. Now, the word for trumpet is shofar. So what God is saying here is not just this loud outburst of noise like a trumpet sounding in your ear. The shofar was used in Old Testament Israel to make a clear, precise sound. In fact, the root word is incision, cutting. No, the prophet's not to cut the people and you're not to cut yourselves. You're to be cut with the word of God. If you want healing, it's not through cutting of the prophet with his words of harshness and sounding like a trumpet. It's through the healing of the word of God. And that's what Isaiah was bringing. Listen to Hebrews 4.12. For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Piercing, cutting, even to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and as a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. You want to know what's in your heart? You want to know what's really down deep? Let the word of God pierce you. That's hard, you know, just being cut up with the sword. No, it's a good kind of cut. It's like the surgeon that says, I got to do surgery. I hate to tell you, I got to do surgery. Now you want a man that knows how to make exactly the precise cut, how wide, how deep, in order to extract the disease and bring about healing. See, that's the diagnosis from God, and the only way to receive the diagnosis was to receive the prophet's message, which was not his own message, but was God's. That was the problem with Israel, with Isaiah and Jeremiah and the minor prophets. God sent them, how often? Rising up morning and evening, just every day, saying the same message. Now you can hear the prophet say, can I say something else today, Lord? No, you stay with this message until they repent. Cry aloud, don't refrain, lift up your voice like a trumpet because if the trumpet make an uncertain sound, who shall prepare for the battle? The shofar had a sound for the battle, a sound for mourning, a sound for the feast, a sound for the holy days, and so this is not just sounding a blast on a trumpet. Isaiah was to be precise. in letting them know exactly the transgressions and the sins that God wanted them to know in order that they could receive it and be brought to a kind of health like the light breaking forth and the health springing forth speedily. Who wouldn't want that right? Physical health. Who does not seek physicians out to get that kind of healing? But alas, as Israel, we often are not seeking the kind of diagnosis, the kind of healing that God is after. It's going to be to our ultimate good. But what about his success? Think about the prophet Isaiah for a moment. I mean, surely he must have been a man of great success. Zero conversions. I mean, who listened to him? Nobody. Nobody. So is the prophet's success based on the outcome or faithfulness to God? Oh, let us be careful, beloved. We stick with the Word of God and leave the outcomes to God and be faithful to the Word of God. Now, it was an outcome, but it was long after Isaiah died. Sometimes we want immediate fruit, but sometimes it's long, some 150 years, and then after the return back to Jerusalem, the people bore the fruit of this message. A long waiting period. Imagine being a salesman with no sales, a doctor with no healing, a mechanic with no repair jobs that actually work, or a prophet who sends a message and nobody responds. Isaiah chapter six, the commission and call of Isaiah. God says, whom shall we send and who shall go for us? Isaiah says, here am I, send me. God says, okay. Go tell the people, hear ye, but don't understand. See ye, but don't perceive. Do you see, do you hear what God is saying? No. I don't get it. I don't see it. I don't want it. God told Isaiah the lack of success he would meet with, but a success, a remnant far after his death. Isaiah continued to give the trumpet of God, the diagnosis of God, because he loved the King of Israel, God Himself. But what about his attitude? How does a man who's in this role, and perhaps you find yourself in this role sometimes, and exhorting and admonishing and trying to restore the health of a fellow Christian, How do you keep the right attitude so that you don't get kind of arrogant about it? You know, these pitiful people, these people, these idolatrous people. Now we know that Isaiah, although a sinner, did not reach the level of idolatry that the people did. He wasn't worshiping the false gods and bowing down to them with the groves on the hillside. How then did he main an attitude of humility? in giving the message. Isaiah chapter 6 again, his commission and call. When he saw the Lord high and lifted up and his train filled the temple, cherubims were crying out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. The doorposts shook and quaked at the presence of this vision of God. And what did Isaiah say? Woe is me, for I am undone, and I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Isaiah wasn't just saying, you people of unclean lips, he says, I am a man of unclean lips. I am undone in the presence of the King, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. As we keep our spiritual sight on the King, which is part of the healing process, for sin, as long as he stays and keeps his eyes on the king, his attitude of humility and brokenness before God remains. Which means what? Isaiah genuinely loves these people. That's why he's so eager to tell them. He wants them to experience the healing of God. How many times have you felt that from the messenger? You just think he's opposing you, you just think he's against you. Have you thought the very fact that he's bringing the message is indicative of his great love for the king and love for your spiritual health? Even if it's like a trumpet, doesn't spare not, has to cry aloud? What will we point to? How could this people, this remnant that was restored in the future, look back at the life of Isaiah and say, you know, brothers, oh, how he loved us. We didn't know it, how he loved us. What could they put their finger on? Well, James 5.10 tells us about Isaiah and all the prophets. Take my brethren the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Malachi, Haggai, Zechariah, Zephaniah, all of them. Take my brethren the prophets who have spoken unto you the word of the Lord." That's what he did. How does that tell us? He loved us. As an example of suffering affliction and endurance. He didn't quit. Love doesn't quit, beloved. Love hopeth all things, believeth all things, endureth all things. When love quits, love is inverted on self and becomes a selfish kind of love. When love quits the community called Israel, it's selfish. When love quits the community called church, it's selfish, unless there's biblical warrant to do so. How do we know Isaiah loved these people? Because four historical traditions, not Bible, tell us he was cut in half for the prophecy he gave. I'm not about to do that for those people. Oh yes he was. Because he had seen the king and he loved the people of the king. And if you love King Jesus and you love his body, you love his people, beloved God still loves his church, do you? You poke your finger in the eye of God when you attack his church and he's not pleased. But yeah, we're imperfect. We got a lot of sin to wrestle with. But Isaiah loved the God of glory because he loved the people of God and therefore he suffered affliction. affliction and he endured. Paul would give testimony to Timothy of the validity of his ministry against false prophets in a similar way when he would say, as Janice and Jamboree, 2 Timothy chapter 3, these are the magicians that confronted Moses who imitated the four miracles, I believe it was four. Paul says, you remember those two guys in the Old Testament time called Israel? They resisted the truth, men of corrupt minds, men that are reprobate concerning faith." That just means they don't have it. He said, their folly shall proceed no further and it shall be manifest to all in a short time. But you, Timothy, have known fully my purpose, my manner of life. My faith, my love, my long-suffering, my patience, and the persecutions I endured at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, which persecutions I endured because the Lord delivered me out of them all. Timothy, how do you know that Paul loves you and they don't? Because after four miracles, the magicians stopped. But after much opposition, after much forsaking of Paul. He just kept going. Why? Love for Christ and love for the people of God. Oh beloved, may we receive the diagnosis of God in such a way that it produces in us a love for God, a water garden that then produces springs of water that goes out to people even when they drink and say, I don't like that stuff. Keep going. Why? because of who Jesus is, not because of who I am or you are. That's what we need in mothers and fathers today and disciples of Christ. When the people you're trying to disciple and teach are just not going well, you keep going because God does everything well and we need him, don't we? So here's the diagnosis as it relates to the message and Isaiah, As hard as it may have been, as challenging as the persecution he received, and Jeremiah and the other prophets, I mean, they killed them from Abel all the way to the last prophet of the Old Testament order of the books of the Bible, which I think was 2 Chronicles. Zechariah killed that...just kill them all! When they get their hands on them, kill them. Why would anybody kill the doctor who's bringing them health? Because they don't like the health care plan. They hate it. All right, let's look at the second part of the diagnosis. We'll call this, we've got to look at the x-rays. You know, at some point a doctor, we're going to have to do x-rays here. So let's look at verse 2, because it's not clear that there's bad health here at all. Verse 2, Yet, which means cry out their transgressions, cry out about their sins. Yet, they, Israel, seek me daily. They delight to know my ways as a nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinance of their God. They ask of me the ordinances of justice. They take delight in approaching God. And in verse three, they're even fasting. All right, so they've got all the external signs of good health. Now imagine the physician's assistant having an interview with Israel about their health. As any doctor would, start asking questions. The first question would be, do you exercise regularly, like daily? They seek me daily. Routinely. Oh yeah, we seek God daily. This is routinely. We do this all the time. We are regular in our exercise. So the doctor... Okay, let's check that one off. That one's good. All right, second question. But do you view health as a way of life? Just a way of life? We delight to know God's ways. It's lifestyle. Health is lifestyle for us. We're not like these people that just, you know, on a specific day, they just eat. It's life for us. It's lifestyle. We delight to know God's ways. Here's the next question. or the observation. Boy, you seem to be doing everything right then, as a nation that did righteousness. Verse 2, what's he saying? First two questions are good? Are you leading off anything in your health care plan? I mean, you're forsaking anything and not doing it. Forsook not the ordinance of their God. We are on schedule routinely with the sacrifices and burnt offerings. We even bought a Fitbit. And amazingly, it tells us how well we're doing. You know, the step thing. I know how many steps, I know how many times I've sacrificed. We are on target with not forsaking. I mean, we've got all kinds of acts that tell us, look, it's time for sacrifice. Get to the temple and do the sacrifice. Check. This is a hard diagnosis. OK, here's another question. Are you really committed to a whole health approach, an approach to good health? We delight in approaching to God. We're so committed to health. We delight in approaching to God. We're committed to this. Check that off, man. Imagine the problem with this doctor. He said, how about we diagnose this? I said, OK, I got one more suggestion here. You know, sometimes one of those total cleanses can really help jumpstart the system if you just cleanse yourself. We have fasted and it's doing no good. We have afflicted our souls, which is an expression in the Old Testament of fasting. We have done a cleanse, a total body cleansing and all that stuff and we are getting nowhere. You see, Israel is starting to sense something is wrong. So now they're turning to fasting. Come on, guys. I don't know if it's a sacrifice or whether our health is not good, so we need to turn to fasting. Now the doctor says, OK, we're going to have to do a few x-rays. Because on the surface, I mean, everything is looking perfect. So he comes back to the office and puts the x-rays on the lighted screen. He says, there it is. No, no, it's not a spot on your lungs. It's not a spot under the roof of your heart. It's the whole heart is sick. Isaiah chapter 1. The whole heart is staying from the head to the toe. There's a problem with it, with the heart. And it reads like this, Behold, the day of your fast you find punishment. Here it is. And you're thinking, I still don't get it. I mean, I hear what you're saying, doctor, but what do you mean in the day of my fast I find pleasure? Who finds pleasure in abstaining from food? The plague ever fasted. Hunger pain in the belly? Your body's crying out, look, if you don't send some food down here quick, I'm going to send a message to the brain, you're going to have a headache, and there's going to be problems, you're going to be weak, you're going to feel faint, you're going to start shaking. And that's what happens if you don't drink water and eat food. So how is the diagnosis? Look, the problem is you're getting a real kick out of fasting. You're finally on this pleasure of fasting. Four observations about this diagnosis that will tell us what the X-rays reveal. One is that the word find means to come forth. Two, it's speaking of motivation. In other words, you're fasting to obtain pleasure. It doesn't mean they're finding pleasure in abstaining from food. That's the first observation. Because if you're finding, you're seeking. Some translations just say you're seeking pleasure. No, they're not enjoying abstaining from food. They're not enjoying the cleanse, if you've ever had a cleanse. Maybe in the future, but I've heard that they just not enjoy it. So they're not enjoying the cleansing, but they're cleansing to enjoy something. They're seeking pleasure. Second observation. This is the very principle of self-denial. And that's how self-denial works. What happens in fasting is you deny yourself something you want and need in order to obtain something you want more. That's what self-denial is all about. That's not your idea of self-knowledge. It's not even working. So listen to some of the fasts in the Bible where we see this clearly. Fasting was observed at a time of danger, a time of crisis, a time of mourning. There were unique times when the nation would fast. And some, of course, were doing it in a routine basis. Now here there's a problem. They understand something's wrong with the health. So they're fasting. They're cleansing. 2 Samuel 15. God strikes the child. of Bathsheba and David with a sickness because it's going to die as a judgment of God. David seeks the Lord and he fasts. Why? He gives up something he wants and needs because he wants something far greater, the trail to live. So he goes to God. Nehemiah 1.4, Nehemiah heard of the burning of Jerusalem and the walls destroyed and he took to prayer and fasted. Why? He gives up something he wants and needs, namely food, because he He wants something more. Restoration of Zion in Israel. Ezra chapter 8. When the remnant goes back with the little ones and the vessels of the sanctuary, Ezra calls for a day of fasting at the river Ahava. Why? He gives up something that they want, need namely food, because he wants something more. A safe journey with the vessels of God and the children. that are within. And on and on in the Bible we see fasting as a means of giving up something desired and wanting to obtain something that is wanted more. So it fits. That's not a problem. That's what they did. You're seeking pleasure. You're seeking something that is better than giving up food. So that should be okay. But why is that wrong? Further observation. And here's where we get to the real problem. Beholden the day of your fast. This is not God's fast. I mean, he says that twice. Is this a fast that I have chosen? Is this what you think I'm about? This kind of fast? Spread out sackcloth and ashes and purge yourself, cleanse yourself and disbelieve. You know, bow your head like a bulrush and afflict yourself and not eat. And you're getting my attention? It's your fast, says God. Not my fast. What does that mean, 12? It's your pleasure. It's your pleasure you seek, not promised. Verse 13, if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, not finding your own pleasure, not speaking your own Have you ever fasted like that? Have you ever worshipped like that? See whether they were delighting in verse 2 in the approach to God, not the God for which they were approaching. It's like a pilot that's approaching the runway. And in his approach, he really delights him because he has to check the crosswinds and look at the instruments. That's where really the flying takes place. You know, you just coast a little bit. You guys can check me on this illustration later. He just comes to him and says, when you lay in, that's when the skill comes about. And then he gets close to the runway, what? Touch and go. And he circles, and he, touch and go. Why don't you lay in the plane? Oh, I love the approach. I don't love the laying in with God. I don't want to get to the destination with God. I just want to touch and go. Loves the approach, loves the takeoff. Just doesn't want to lay in with God. You seek your own Pleasure there, safe, glory. Using God as a kind of instrument to get what we want out of God. Now beloved, who seeks good health, to have an affair with good health? Yes, people do don't they? You ever met a person like that? You just kind of get the idea, the good health is all about the good health, so they can have an affair with the good health. And everybody can recognize the good health, and so they can enjoy the approach and the good health. That's not the aim of good health. The aim of good health is to enjoy something besides the good health, for which it's only a means to an end. Israel delights in the approach, they delight in the sacrifice, they delight in the burnt offerings, they delight in the ordinance, they delight in the specifications, they delight in the culture. And God says, I don't hear that kind of facts because it has nothing to do with me, sayeth the Lord." You can see it in the question in verse 3. Look, doctor, we have done everything you said and it's not giving us anything we want. That's the problem. Look at Hosea chapter 6 where Ephraim and Judah were called out by God as having the same kind of problem. Of course, Judah being the same So the two tribes are ultimately addressed by Jeremiah and partly by Isaiah. Ephraim represents the northern ten tribes. Israel was taken away first, Ephraim, and then Judah, the treacherous sister, followed after the idolatry, God says. And now, Hosea, who's primarily addressing the northern ten tribes, is going to say something to Judah, too, in verse 6 of Hosea chapter 6. Now, look at the attempt at the restoration of hell. God has come as a moth And it's just like, Isaiah, you're just a moth, you just irritate me. Be gone. God said, now I'm coming as a lion. You won't shoot a lion, but I'm a rip. I'm a tear. Go away, and you're going to see me early. You're a flinch. So here's the attempt at good health. Verse 1 of chapter 6. Come, says Israel. let us return to the Lord. For He hath torn, we recognize there's a problem, He will heal us. He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us. In the third day the doctor will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord, He's going forth as preparedness in the morning. He's so predictable with His prescription as the latter and former rain to the earth. You know the latter and former rain just came right on the calendar, just put it on the calendar. That's what God is. We know what to do. Giving the sacrifice, giving the burnt offering, giving what He wants so we can have our health to enjoy our health. How do we know that's really the problem? It's just like Isaiah 58, verse 2. It sounds like the right formula. This sounds like devotion. What church would not want to be engaged in this kind of devotion? Here's the problem, verse 4. Here's the father speaking to his son. Oh, Ephraim! What am I going to do with you? You ever had a father who said that to you, and you're like, Dad, I did something wrong here. I know you're going to tell me. Maybe you had to say that to your children, and you heard that from me. Oh, Judah! What am I going to do? See, the point is, all those first three verses, they're not getting it. They're not getting the prescription of God's good health. So God says in verse 4, your goodness is as the morning cloud and as the early dew is going away. The morning cloud is the kind of cloud that appears to have moisture in it early in the morning, and lo and behold, the sun comes up, it evaporates the moisture in what looked like rain, and the dew is the same. The dew appears and the sun comes, it goes away. Your love, your streams of water, your water garden is just temporary. You don't get it, it's not happening, it goes away. Verse five, therefore I have hewed them by the prophets. Here comes the diagnosis, here comes the cutting, the shofar, the trumpet. I have cut you by the prophets, I have slain you in the words of my mouth, and my judgments are in the light of the Lord. Now the last expression should be read like this. I'm doing this so that we have good health. That's the same expression, almost, as Isaiah 58, verse 8. That your light would go forth, that your health would spring forth. That's why I sing the prophets. Isn't that good? Another verse is, because I desired mercy and not sacrifice. In the knowledge of God, we remember our offerings. Oh, Jew, you're fasting. keeping ordinances, you're approaching, you're going to the temple, you're doing the sacrifices right on target. The problem is you don't delight in mercy and you don't delight in me, Savior. You don't know me. You don't know me, Savior. That's why your fasting is just a means to an end. It's not God. Friends, religion is not a means to an end on the other side of God to get what you want out of this world. It is the end of God, and that's what God is addressing here. Do you ever use Christianity that way? How many people do we, are like springs of water that fail? You know where fail means 1958? Lies to them. Oh brother, don't lie to unbelievers. Don't lie as if they think the happiness is here and not in Christ. We're lying. There are gospels like that in the world today. They just lie to people. You know, I'm a happy Christian. You come to be a Christian, you get a lot of money in your pockets, a lot of good things happening. You don't, according to Scripture. And if you do, God just being good, that's not His main thing. That's not what He's after. And if it happens, you use it for His glory. But what did Isaiah get? Just cut in half. What did Jeremiah get? Stalks, mire, bondage, weeping. The weeping crop. Lamentations. Oh, let us not be waters that fail or lie to people. Let us be water gardens and waters that are like living waters that spring out of our bellies to other people because we follow God's diagnosis and His prescription for good health. And it's not bow your head, spread the ashes, and give no love before God so He can really give you that love that you want with the world or with health. Let it be. We're delighting in the approach because we want to land with God. And He is what we're after. Oh, Ephraim. Oh, Judah. Oh, heritage. God said that to us today. What would He have us to do? He would have us then to turn again and again and hear the diagnosis and then implement the prescription. Now, you may say, well, yeah, but that gets kind of tricky. How do I just kind of know? Coming to church, I'm gauging in these acts of devotion like Israel. How did you really get it that their desires were off-centered? actions on Monday morning that will demonstrate that maybe your desires are off with God. Isaiah 58, verse 3, the latter part of the verse, Behold in the day of your fast you to find pleasure in exact all your pleasures. You fast for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of leaders. You shall not fast as you do this day. To make your The authenticity of Sabbath worship in the Old Testament, Sunday worship in the New Testament, is what you are on the New Sabbath. And herein lies the problem with Israel. So you're fasting and the indication that the x-rays are accurate and that you're seeking your own pleasure is because you are now exploiting every relationship. That's the word he's adding. You exploit labor. Now this could be the businessman, or it could be all relationships. This word is translated in Exodus, taskmaster. The exploiter, Egypt. What did they do? They took Israel to serve their own advantage and selfish interest in building the treasure cities of Pharaoh, Rameses. Picture is very good of this. When we are pursuing our own pleasure, we must exploit people. We fail to be a spring of water and we become a whirlpool of spinning water that draws everything into its vortex for its sin. You can't help it. You won't do it. Because you're seeking. You're bliss. You're happiness outside of God. So every relationship, marriage becomes an occasion for a whirlpool. This wife's got to serve me. This husband's got to serve me. Or we're just sucking the life out of people. Our children must serve our interests. They must be what I want them to be. And therefore, I'm a whirlpool. I'm drawing you into my center. Continue to serve. Why? Because our pleasure is off center. You say, God, I've been serving you, God. I've been doing all this for you. Malachi chapter 3. It's just vain to serve God. What's the profit? All we call the proud happy, and the weak are set up, and He delivers them. It's a case of definition of happiness in Israel. The proud are happy because they are set up in life, and God delivers them. Now God says in the Old Testament, which Israelites were known, He knocked the proud from way off. Israel had become so sick that their idea of happiness was for God to be distant to the wealth of Canaan, very close. And that when anybody attacks the wealth of Canaan, God come in and deliver us and then go back where you were. Is that our idea of happiness? Do you see how sick they really were? When we exact or exploit people because we need them to serve our pursuit of happiness, we're whirlpool-like and we're pulling them into every relationship. Like having friends. I used to be that way. Young man, I'd have a lot of friends. Lots of them. Because I needed to use every one of them to bring me fulfillment. And if this group didn't do it, that group didn't do it, I'd go to this group or that group or that group. It was just a whirlpool. using every relationship because my pleasure was in myself. And that's the root of sin. So we exploit. What's next? Well, now you're upset and you're angry all the time on Monday morning. Because the wife just gets in the way of your pleasure and you're trying to be a whirlpool and she's cutting off the circulation of water. She's not giving you what you want, so you're full of strife. and contention, and anger, and debate. Well, we see these patterns throughout Scripture. See, if I am this kind of person Monday through Saturday, then when I come and bow my head in like a bulrush, and I'm worshiping, God says, that's not my fast. This is not authentic. The X-ray shows a heart that needs transformation, needs to change, strive to make, and need to smile. Ultimately can relate to actual smited. Of course, Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount that anger is akin to killing. You've heard it said all the time, thou shalt not kill. If you do, you're in danger of judgment. But I say to you, if you're angry with your brother without a cause, you're in danger of judgment. What? These are not the same, true, but at a heart level. What man ever killed another man because he was happy with that man? He's angry. Why was he angry? Because you stepped into my world. And you messed it up. I'm taking you out. And so here are actions that are indicative of a health care crisis in the soul, where water is not going out because water's not coming in. Rather, the whirlpool is drawing things in, and nothing's going out. It's just going down, down spirally. And the ultimate end of this whirlpool Famine, disease, sword, and captivity. I wonder if there are certain kinds of captivity that we experience because of the same thing. A kind of incarceration, a kind of bondage that a believer can gradually be pulled back into because we are seeking the wrong kind of facts. from God. Let us pursue on Sunday and every other day of the week a pursuit of God that's not just the approach, not the activity, not the style. It's the God. It's Jesus. It's Him. And may we seek then to have the light to break forth as God says. Here's His prescription. We'll look at that this afternoon. When the light breaks forth in, then breaks forth out. You get water, you get water. Because this is a whole health care plan, it's not a partial plan. You just get water, you get water, and the fruit goes out like new waters for other people. If you have found that your soul has been sick, You have been pursuing, not God, but things other than God. And the message of God is, return and He shall pardon. Return, for our God shall give you humbling and mercy. Let's pray. Father, thank You for Your Word to us today. May we receive Your diagnosis where it fits, where it applies. We know that although You have opened our eyes to know You as believers and to see the Lord Christ, we confess that our health, our times, our diet, Cheers.