Rsbc 8/27/00
Sunday Night
Isaiah
Subject- “ Ye Have Not Looked Unto The Maker”
Text- Isaiah 22-8-14
Intro- I would like to make a few comments on what is going on in this part of the vision that he saw that day. The discovering of Judah was an uncovering of what they were really like, it revealed that their heart was not right with the Lord.
In this event we see very clearly the truth that even of Gods people, that is, we look to everyone but the Lord. The problem here was not in the provision they were trying to make and protect themselves but was in the forgetting of who it was that had made the provisions for them.
Take a long look tonight around you, take a look around your every day life, take a look at your basic needs, take a look at the provision of shelter, our health, who is it that provides all of this for us, is not it the LORD?
Not one of us here tonight can say that God hath not provided all our needs plus more, if that is the case then why do we look to those things as though they are our shelter, our protector, our provider, this is what Judah was doing.
I.... “ THE NATURAL LOOK”...VS 8-11
1st. They did not look..
Solomon had built the Temple from the forest and they remembered this. So we too can go and cut down more trees and build a wall to protect us, nothing wrong with that, it makes good sense, but a sin not to acknowledge the Lord.
They gathered the waters of the Lower pool and made it available to those who was to protect the city. They gathered the broken down houses and stores and took the wood from them trying to shelter themselves.
Isaiah 31:1 Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because [they are] many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!
What we have here is a classic example of our tendency to forget the Lord, to forget what he has done especially when we are in a battle for our life, for the life of the family, when something personal happens to us..
1. The scripture warns against this...Deuteronomy 8:11 Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:
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2. Forgetfulness leads to rebellion against he Lord...Deuteronomy 9:7 Remember, [and] forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD.
Hebrews 13:16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
3. How not to forget?
Psalms 103-1-5
Not to look to the Lord is insult to the Lord, it invites his judgement, it brings more burdens hard to bear upon us, it reveals our lack of faith, and our lack of belief in what God has told us to do and what he will do for us.
2nd. They did not respect the Lord...vs 11
Respect means to honour someone and certainly the one that is due all respect in this case and in our lives tonight is the Lord.
Respect him because of who he is..Isaiah 43:12 I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when [there was] no strange [god] among you: therefore ye [are] my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I [am] God.
Isaiah 46:9‑10 Remember the former things of old: for I [am] God, and [there is] none else; [I am] God, and [there is] none like me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times [the things] that are not [yet] done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
II.... WHAT GOD CALLS UPON THEM TO DO...VS 12-14
1ST. The intensity of this message... Call to weeping & mourning
The truth of this particular part of the word of God is talking about repenting, do it with a real sense of what you have done to the Lord. No amount of self serving, self infliction can bring about a godly repentance in our hearts...
2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
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Mourning in this text is not merely grieving for the dead, such as the children of Israel did for Moses for 30 days after he died. But it means to lament, to wail over.
Joel 2:17 Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where [is] their God?
2nd. The sneering of the message...vs 13
The natural response to the message of the Lord concerning repentance, eat, drink, and be merry for we are going to die after all. This is not the first ime this ever happened and want be the last, but what is sad is Gods people doing it.
These people were spending as it were the night as common drunks, engaging themselves in the desires of the flesh, disregarding the message of the prophet of God and could care less.
3rd. What God declares about them...vs 14
When God says something he is not just talking he means it, and even in our day when God says something in his word he intends for us to take heed to it lest we die. These people had provoked God with their insentivness to the message.
1st. The source of his announcement... the Lord.
2nd. The severity of his announcement...No mercy.
3rd. The finality of his announcement... Shall die
4th. The authority of his announcement... Saith the Lord God of Hosts