Who are you?
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Good morning, it is good to be together, to worship together, to study the word together.
Today we are going to take a look at the book of Isaiah.
I have been stuck on this chapter of scripture for most of the week, I found it, because a friend had highlighted a verse from this chapter in the Bible app… I followed that link, and ended up up studying there for most of the week.
One of my favorite things about scripture is how deep you can really go with it. How profound it can be.
Before we get into the word, lets pray together.
We are going to take a look at Isaiah 58.
If we rightly understand something about God from the old testament, we rightly understand that about God. We have to be careful that we rightly understand the scripture.
We are jumping into the middle of a conversation between God and and the nation of Israel. And this Passage is a monologue from God to the prophet Isaiah. l
1. God says that Isaiah can’t be quiet.
Say it louder for the people in the back!
Then He describes the condition of the nation of Israel.
“Like” a nation
Acting like they want to get closer to god, acting like they want his righteousness. Putting on a good show.
They had been going through the motions.
Crying because God does not intervene more in their lives.
They were living in the land of make believe. Hey we checked off all the boxes.
Will the fast I choose be like this: A day for a person to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the Lord?
We don’t know anything about that do we?
We don’t dress up on sundays, come to church and bow our heads, and take communion and say “this is how I fight my battles” and then leave from here, and make plans for nonsense.
Allow God’s word to do some work in your life today.
The nation of Israel was whining.
Why aren’t we seeing God move?
Why isn’t God working on our behalf?
Why isn’t he moving mountains in my life?
“Why have we fasted, but you have not seen? We have denied ourselves, but you haven’t noticed!” “Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast, and oppress all your workers.
God’s response is a condemning one.
Remember what we said in the beginning - that God does not change?
The way that He felt then, the way he responded to nonsense then, is the same way that He responds now.
Fake doesnt make it.
Lexham Context Commentary: Old Testament Grace for the Disadvantaged and the Repentant (56:1–58:14)
Isaiah 58 begins with Israel’s complaint that God has ignored her ritual observances, to which God responds that her rituals were empty, heartless actions. He expects true marks of righteousness to characterize his people
What are God’s expectations:
That we live like Jesus.
Isn’t this the fast I choose: To break the chains of wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and to tear off every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your house, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to ignore your own flesh and blood?
Those actions require work, sacrifice, and a specific heart set.
You can’t be better than anyone else.
You can’t be above anyone else. You don’t get to cast people aside.
At that time, when you call, the Lord will answer; when you cry out, he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you get rid of the yoke among you, the finger-pointing and malicious speaking,
and if you offer yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted one, then your light will shine in the darkness, and your night will be like noonday.
The Lord will always lead you, satisfy you in a parched land, and strengthen your bones. You will be like a watered garden and like a spring whose water never runs dry.
Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore the foundations laid long ago; you will be called the repairer of broken walls, the restorer of streets where people live.
“If you keep from desecrating the Sabbath, from doing whatever you want on my holy day; if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, seeking your own pleasure, or talking business;
then you will delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride over the heights of the land, and let you enjoy the heritage of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.