Rsbc
April 28, 2002
Sunday Night
The Book of Isaiah
Text- Isaiah 48:1-22
Intro: In the previous chapter we seen the promise of the LORD to the nation of Babylon. He was going to bring her down for her sins. She would be totally humiliated.
In this chapter we have GOD dealing with Israel. John Gill says, “The prophecy of this chapter is concerning the deliverance and salvation of the Jews, and is addressed unto them; who are described by their natural descent and lineage, and by their hypocrisy in religious things”
I... “ GOD’S CALL UPON THEM TO HEAR.. VS 1 “ Hear ye this”
There is always a reason in the word of GOD for this statement. God’s people are often referred to as dull of hearing.. The Lord Jesus Christ said of the people of Israel in his day these words..
Matthew 13:15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and [their] ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with [their] eyes, and hear with [their] ears, and should understand with [their] heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Likewise we are dull of hearing sometimes..
Hebrews 5:11‑13 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. 12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which [be] the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13 For every one that useth milk [is] unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Often sinners and the people of GOD will not hear the word of the LORD because of pride and sins committed. It blocks their hearing, it causes an attitude of I don’t care.
Tonight we must never loose the ability to hear the word of GOD. Listen to it, heed it, obey it, walk by it. It is that which will help you when ntohing else will.
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II... “ THE REASON THEY DID NOT WANT TO HEAR”..VS 1-2
Notice what the Lord said to them:
1st.. They had a false profession... “ make mention of the LORD but not in truth”..
How often has that been done by multiplied millions of people. Hypocrisy is the worst of sins when it comes to the service of the LORD...
Jeremiah 5:1‑2 Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be [any] that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. 2 And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely.
2nd.. Their false profession led to a false security...vs 2
a. They call themselves the holy city...
B. They stay themselves upon The GOD of Israel..
Which means they claim to lean upon and to rest upon..This is what they were doing when Christ came and we see the same religious hypocrisy then and it is alive and well today also. We are the LORD’S people, we are the LORD’s church no matter what else we are it...
Revelation 3:1-14-20
III... WHAT GOD SAID TO THEM... VS 3-8
1st. The privileges they had above all other nations...vs 3-7
a. He declared things to them and then showed it them..vs 3
Isaiah 44:7-8
b. Before it came to pass he showed them...vs 5
The Lord did this for a reason, so that they would not give glory to one of the Idol gods they had fell to..
c. Note some reasons these people would not declare it...
Vs 4 “ their condition” hardness
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Once a person or a church or a nations becomes harden they are almost beyond reach... you cannot do nothing with them...
Note with me what Kings says..
2 Kings 17:13‑14 Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, [and by] all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments [and] my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.
14 Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.
Vs 8 “ two things...
1. Hear not
2. Knew not
Isaiah 6:9 ¶ And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Isaiah 6:10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
The Lord Jesus Christ faced the same crowd...
John 12:39 Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,
John 12:40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
IV.. “ THE PROMISE OF THE LORD TO THEM: VS 9-11
The honour of the LORD and his name is at stake. We should for the sake of Calvary and the one who died there be willing to be very careful about what we do and what we say...so that we will not dishonor the LORD.
1st. For his names sake he defers evil...vs 9
2nd. For his praise..vs 9
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Deuteronomy 9:13‑14 Furthermore the LORD spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it [is] a stiffnecked people:
14 Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.
Moses pleads with the LORD...
Deuteronomy 9:26‑28 I prayed therefore unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
27 Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin:
28 Lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.
3. He would refine them because he had chosen them..vs 10-11