Now I invite you to turn with me in your copy of the Word of God to the book of Isaiah, chapter 58. If you're using one of the Bibles that are provided for you, you'll find the reading at 617, 617 in the Pew Bible. Isaiah 58, and we're going to read into Isaiah 59, part of Isaiah 59. This is the word of the Lord. Cry aloud, do not hold back, lift up your voice like a trumpet, declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God. They ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God. Why have we fasted and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves and you take no knowledge of it? Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast and acceptable a day of and a day acceptable to the Lord? Is this not the fast that I choose, to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house, when you see the naked, to cover him, not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn and your healing shall spring up speedily. Your your righteousness shall go before you and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call and the Lord will answer. You shall cry and he will say, here I am. If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted. Then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually, satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong. And you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose water does not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt and you shall raise up the foundations of many generations. You shall be called the repairer of the breach and the restorer of streets to dwell in. If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable. If you honor it, not going your own ways and seeking your own pleasure or talking idly, Then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth. I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Behold, The Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save or his ear dull that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken lies. Your tongues mutter wickedness. No one enters suit justly. No one goes to law honestly. They rely on empty pleas. They speak lies. They conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity. They hatch adder's eggs. They weave the spider's web. He who eats their eggs dies. And from one that is crushed, a viper is hatched. Their webs will not serve as clothing. Men will not cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of iniquity and deeds of violence are in their hands. Their feet run to evil. They're swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in their highways. The way of peace they do not know. And there's no justice in their paths. They have made their roads crooked. No one who treads on them knows peace. Therefore, justice is far from us and righteousness does not overtake us. We hope for light and behold darkness, for brightness But we walk in gloom. We grope for the wall like the blind. We grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at noon as in the twilight. Among those in full vigor, we're like dead men. We all growl like bears. We moan and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but there is none. For salvation, but it's far from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before you and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us and we know our iniquities. Transgressing and denying the Lord and turning back from following our God. Speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words. thus far the reading of God's holy and infallible word. Let's pray together. Our Lord and our God, be gracious to us now as we meditate upon this portion of your holy word. Lord, give us the hearing ear, teach us Help us to see ourselves as you see us, that you may heal us, that we may run to you, and that, Lord, you may work righteousness. So help us. May the words of these sinful lips and the meditation of all our hearts, may they in fact be pleasing in your sight, for you are a strength and redeemer. In Jesus' name, we pray this. Amen. For six years we lived in Florida when we were down in seminary down there and down in Florida in those days, not so much today mind you, but in those days housing development seemed to grow up overnight. And, you know, you're walking down in this semi-lovely piece of land with trees and whatnot. We're all there, and then you come by the next day, and it's all leveled, just this barren landscape. And the next time you come, there's maybe a few roads in it, and the plumbing's been put in, and sewage and whatnot. And then these houses appear. There's just barren wasteland, and a house stuck in the middle of it. And they're model homes, because there's a new development going to be going up, and these model homes are pretty swanky. In fact, in those days, Alison and I were thinking about buying a house, and we went around a few of these things, and you go into this model home, and it's interesting, because they're really swanky, right? They're a model home, it's all set out, interior decorating, the finest quality stuff all in this place, and there you are, you're stood in this model home with all this fantastic stuff, walking up and down the stairs, big fancy faucets and this that and all around is just a barren wasteland. It's the strangest thing. If you think about it, as we've been going through this section here, that's really kind of a picture of the church. The church is a model of what life should be, surrounded by a barren wasteland. The church is like a colony of heaven. We saw this in the beginning of Isaiah 56, this description of what the church ideally ought to be. A picture of the world that is to come in some sense, and of course, in the life of the church, sometimes we're closer to that, sometimes we're less close to that. But here's the question, and I think it's the big question of this section in Isaiah is how does God bring that about? How does God bring that picture? You know, as I said last week, one of the themes in this section is we are called to do righteousness. How does God bring us to seek and do righteousness? This section is concerned with those questions. We saw last time, Isaiah 57, the visible church described again Externally, they have all the trappings of religion. They go to synagogue, they go to the temple, they do all those things. But additionally, they have these pagan practices. Remember, they have a covenant with life, a covenant with death. Externally, they look like the people of God, but their hearts are adulterous hearts. They do the things that they're supposed to do, but they also want to do other stuff. man, these pagan rituals and so on that they seek out. And the question that we were working through last time was, what should God do about this? He wants them to change. He wants them to turn. He sends blessing, but they do not change. He sends discipline, but they refuse to change. And so the question comes, if they won't turn with blessing and they won't turn with discipline, when will they ever change? When will they ever turn? Of course, the question that Isaiah 57 ends with is that they will never turn. Not in themselves. And see, so the point that we left with was those words at the end of 57, verse 17, you see, because of the iniquity of his unjust gain. This is God talking about the visible people of God. Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain, I was angry. I struck him. I hid my face and was angry. But he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart. Now, listen to this. Verse 18, I have seen his ways. I know what he's like. I know that he didn't turn when I blessed him. I know he didn't turn when I disciplined him, but strong adversity, but I will heal him. He won't do it. He won't change, so I will do it. I'll change him. I'll lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners and create the fruit of the lips." And in this case, this is the fruit of repentance. Some of the translations have the create the lips of praise, but the sense here more is the sense of repenting for what they have done, for the change of heart, a true change of heart. Now, loved ones, this chapter that we've just read, Isaiah 58, is covering the same ground. Only this time, it's not looking at it from the angle, as it were, of the pagan practices they're running into. Now it's the externals of religion. They go through what they're supposed to do, but there's no heart in it. But it leads to the same thing. Repentance. God creating the fruit of the lips. So it's three things we want to look at this evening. These two examples that God gives of their externals of religion, just going through the motions of religion. You see the two things, fasting and then Sabbath, the rhythm of life day. This is chapter 58, fasting and Sabbath, and then chapter 59, repentance. So three things, fasting, Sabbath and repentance. First thing he says is about fasting. See that in verses 2 through 12. of Isaiah 58. Now you look at verse 2, and this looks like a pretty good church actually, right? You say, wow, these guys are looking pretty good. Yet they seek me daily, delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the judgment of their God. They ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God. See, they love the festivals. They love the Yom Kippur and they love to come all these things and they go through those things and they do those things. But. God says it's all externals. No true heart before God. You see, you understand what fasting is. What was fasting in the Old Testament? Now, there's only one place commanded in the whole of the Old Testament, one place where they're commanded to fast. That's actually Leviticus 23, the day of atonement, Yom Kippur. On that day, they were told to fast. It's the only command to fast in all the Bible. And on that fasting, it had one single purpose. Afflict your soul. You look at Isaiah, you look at Leviticus 23, you'll see that. God tells his people to afflict your soul. What does that mean? Well, it was a way to express that in yourself, you're hopeless and in yourself, you're you're helpless before God. It was a it was a way to come before God and say, God, I have sinned. Have mercy on me, Lord. It was a way that you came back and denied yourself. I get me out of the way and God completely in my focus. That's what fasting was all about. Denying me. And focusing on the Lord. But you see here and you see all these things, this is the people talking to God. Why have we fasted and you will not see it? This is the thing here is this that they've twisted fasting, their sinful hearts have twisted it into a way of getting God's favour and God's attention. That's what's going on. Remember the Pharisee? Remember the Pharisee that Jesus taught about? You know, the guy who said, thank you that I'm not like these other guys. You know, I fast twice a week. Reminding God of all the stuff that he does. Like God, would he be impressed by that? You see what it has become? See, the Pharisee and these guys are the same. Fasting becomes a meritorious work. I should get credit for doing this. And if you read verse three here, why have we fasted and you see it not? Why are we humbled ourselves and you take no knowledge of it? But then listen, this is God now. Behold, in the day of your fast, you seek your own pleasure and oppress all your workers. You seek your own pleasure. You're pursuing your own business. How do you see what's going on here? They fast in order to In order to make their prayers work, you saw they have a mechanical view. You know, you put your money in and you should get the stuff out of the machine, right? Exactly what you ordered. You press the button and what you press the button for, that should come out. And that's how they're using fasting. It sort of, you know, strengthens the ratcheting value of their praying. If I do certain things and I do them in a certain way, then I should get a return for that. Lord, you owe us to all this stuff we do. And what do we get from you? So what was happening here, fasting has become something, something about what I want. And you see what's happened here, fasting has become, you see, not about self-denial, but rather self-advancement, it's about pursuing my agenda, my business, I stop eating for a day just to get something out of God. I do things in order to get things from him. Now, the question is, when you start doing that. Who's in charge? When you start doing that kind of thing, who's in the place of control and charge, if God is expected to give me what I want when I do certain things, Who's God? I am. And that's exactly what you see God at the end of verse four. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice be heard on high. I'm not going to listen. That's what God's word said here. Our loved ones. We have to ask ourselves, have we done this? See, the default mode of the human heart is this. I do. I do. Therefore, I ought to be blessed. I do, and because I do, therefore, I ought to be blessed. That's the default mode of our hearts. We're not wired for the gospel. Not naturally. By the spirit of God, yes, we are. But but here, see, I do. Therefore, I'm I'm blessed. And we find ourselves so often. I remember myself. I've mentioned this before. I'm sad. I've been off struggling with the Lord. And I said to myself, I've got to get myself sorted out and I've got to, you know, repent. But wait a minute. I can't come to God like this. I know, I'll do a bit of work first, I'll do some solid preparation and so on, work really hard, and then I'll come into the presence of God and pray and ask Him to forgive me. Right? You know, somehow, if I've done some work, and I've worked hard at it, done some slog, and then I come and present God, you know, a prayer that's really worth it. That's exactly what these guys are doing. Like God would be impressed. What does God seek? Well, verses 6 through 12 tell us here. What He's saying to them is this. I want you to sacrifice luxury. I want to see, you know, some real self-denying. Do you want to fast? Fast on these things. And then He has a list, doesn't He, right? We would call it like social justice issues. Clothe the naked. Release the debt. Share your bread with somebody. Now, there's a mistake you can make here, right? Social justice over religious stuff. All right, we chuck out the religious stuff and we do social justice and somehow that'll curry his favor with God. Well, you just twisted things again, you know, that's kind of getting if I do these things, then God will bless me. Maybe you like them. Now, the other the other point here is the Sabbath day versus 13 and 14. Sabbath day is the rhythm of life day. I understand that on Sunday, there's a lot, a lot of delighting in Sunday going on, right? This is a day that everybody enjoys, unless you're in retail. But otherwise, everybody loves this day. It's a day for golf, a day for, I don't know, all kinds of stuff. You see, a lot of people today are saying this is the delight. And the text says, call it a delight. Is that what's meant here? Do whatever you want, just as long as it's a delight. This is an extra day, right? This is another Saturday. A bank holiday. Just call it Sunday. It's not a day to acknowledge God or to give Him honour. in that day. And that's the that's the problem, isn't it? Verse 13, if you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight. If you honor it and not doing your own ways or seeking your own pleasure or talking idly. In other words, God is here saying to to his people, you can call the day Whatever you want, but you can't fool me. See, I see the secrets of men's hearts and I see whether this day is a delight to you, a day that you gather for worship with God, to God and with his people. God knows if you love that day or not and those kinds of activities. He knows whether we love those things. And if you love to be with him and with those that he loves, he knows that. Now, there are two things going on here. Chapter 58, God is coming to his people in their sin and they need to repent of externalism as well as pursuing pagan practices. Chapter 57, remember, we already said that they can't do it. They won't do it. They won't turn and change. So how does God work? to bring people to true repentance so that true righteousness can flourish in our lives. See, that's the question of this piece here. How does God work to bring his people to true repentance so that true righteousness can begin to flourish? Isaiah 59 is all about that. And he does it, he does it in two ways. The first thing that God does as he comes to bring his people to true repentance and so that true righteousness can flourish. The first thing he does is confront his people in their sin. In other words, he preaches the law. The Puritans, the old Puritans used to do this, but God was the first Puritan. That's what's going on in this text. Isaiah 58 is God preaching the law to his people. Isaiah 58 is God preaching the law to his people. You see verse 1, Isaiah 58 verse 1, cry aloud. Do not hold back. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. This is God talking to Isaiah. Declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. And then it starts going on, right? Fasting, Sabbath day. So the whole of Isaiah 58 is God preaching the law. It's like this, isn't it? Your child, you say to your child, you go say sorry to your brother. But you've got to tell them why they've got to go say sorry to their brother. So God's doing. You need to seek repentance. And this is why. And he preaches the law to them so that They see themselves as He sees them, and they realize that they are helpless and impotent without Him. Helpless and impotent in their sin, that they may seek salvation in Him. Now, further, God continues. You see in Isaiah 59, verses 2 through 8 are are a catalogue of the sins of God's people. They're a litany of their sins. And it's not easy reading. It's not intended to be. But beloved, it's easy and in speaking to people pastorally, often you sit down and people feel overwhelmed. If you sat down and all this was put down before you, there's your sin. These are the things that you keep on doing and keep on doing. Here's the whole list. And I sit down with folks sometimes and they have their list. These are the things that I do. These are the things, oh, pastor. And you see, you get this here. I'm beyond hope. I'm beyond the pale of salvation. Some people or some old people get like this. I've done too many bad things. I can't be saved. And you read a list like this, and perhaps that's the response. But you see, that's why Isaiah 59 verse 1 is so important. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, and his ear is not dull that he cannot hear. You see, this is Romans chapter 1, isn't it? I'm not ashamed of the gospel because the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. There's nobody outside the reach of God. There's nobody outside the power of his hand to save. But, beloved, God will not save apart from repentance. You see that? What this is telling us here is that God is not the problem. Isaiah 51, you see that verse 2, but 59, but you, but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God. Your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not, he does not hear. Our sin is the problem. And our love for sin is the problem. And that's the breach. And so God comes. tells us, confronts us in our sin, but in doing that he leads us to repentance. But you see Isaiah 59 verses 9 through 13, this is the result. Therefore, justice, this is the God's people before God, finally acknowledging what they are. Therefore, justice is far from us and righteousness does not overtake us. We hope for light, And behold, it's darkness. For brightness, for we walk in gloom. We grope for the wall like the blind. We grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at noon as in the twilight. Among those in full vigor, we're like dead men. And verse 12, for our transgressions are multiplied before you. Our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us and we know our iniquities. Transgressing and denying the Lord. Turning back from following our God. See, you ask the question, what does repentance look like and what does it sound like? There you have it, right there. God's people, you see, are coming to them. No longer, you know, the self-advancement. No, it's Lord, I live for me. I love me. I delight in me. Lord, I just like me. But no longer that. Lord, please, in mercy, forgive and save me from me. That's repentance. When God brings us to that, when God brings us to that humble place, that's where true righteousness begins. That's where true life begins. The way up is down. The way to life is to die. Do you see what's being said to us here by God? God is saying to you and me that it's hard to get us out of ourselves. But it's a hard thing to get us out of ourselves and out of our sin. And to come humbly to him. And to say, oh, God, without you, I can do nothing. Jack Miller, I'm reading Jack Miller's book on repentance right now. And right at the beginning of it, he says this. We are believers, we are loaded down with pretense and evasion. With no heart for confessing and forsaking their ways as God has commanded us. We're loaded down with pretense, right? We like rituals, we like doing these things and these things, and if we feel like we've done them in the right way, that that's good enough by us. We like evasion. I'm sorry, I really am sorry. That should be enough. Right? But here, no confession. No true forsaking of our ways to seek humbly the ways of God. That's what this text is about. God bringing us to an end of ourselves. that we may find the beginning in him. Let's pray together. Our Lord and our God, thank you for your word. Help us to learn and to know. Lord, bring us, bring us to that place where we are humble before you, teachable, walking humbly with you, our God. Lord, If there is any wrong way in us, O Lord, convict us and lead us in the life everlasting. We thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Good Shepherd, who comes to us and comes to us, comes to us. Lord, help us to hear his voice always, to follow him. Lord, hear our prayers now, we ask for Jesus' sake. Amen.