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Isaiah 6 - High and Lifted Up

Tiepolo's The Calling of Isaiah

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Pray and Read:  Isaiah 6

Contextual Notes: The sixth chapter of Isaiah is the account of the Grand Vision of Isaiah, and usually tagged as the calling of Isaiah. Jeremiah (Jer. 1:1-10) and Ezekiel (Ezek. 1:1-3:3) had similar callings. All three of them caught a glimpse of the Court of Heaven and felt themselves physically in the Lord’s presence. The focus of this vision if the Lord ‘high and lifted up.’ While the others’ calls constitute the beginning of Jeremiah and Ezekiel’s prophecies, Isaiah’s is not recorded until chapter 6. Why is that? Chapters 1-5 form a preface to the prophecy of Isaiah.

Note the context. Chapters 1-5 form the preface to the book, including the major themes of God’s holiness, Judah’s sinfulness, the coming judgment, but the hope found in the Branch of the Lord, the Messiah (4:2-6). After an incredible vision of the resurrected, glorified Messiah in 6:1-4, the Branch (4:2-6) becomes the stump from which Holy Seed comes in 6:13. The Seed will then become the Child of Promise of Isaiah 7-9. While all the forests burn (Isaiah 9:18-10:19), the Light of Israel, the Holy One (6:1-4) will in a single day burn through His thorns and briers (crucifixion) (10:17), and once the burning anger of judgment on Judah passes (10:33-34), the stump of Jesse will produce a Shoot, a Branch on whom the seven-fold Spirit of God will rest. Isaiah’s prophecy is consumed with this Holy One who in chapter six is ‘high and lifted up.’

Key verse of chapter: Isaiah 6:8 The only adequate response to forgiveness. Faithfulness is the measure of success.

Key Truth: Isaiah wrote Isaiah 6 to teach Israel to see the Messiah exalted, be cleansed of their uncleanness, and to embrace their calling.

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about your calling to exalt Christ.

Sermon Points:

1. See the Messiah exalted (Isa. 6:1-4)
2. Be cleansed of your uncleanness (Isa. 6:5-7)
3. Embrace your calling (Isa. 6:8-13)

Exposition:   Note well,

1.   SEE THE MESSIAH EXALTED (Isa. 6:1-4).

a.   6:1 – King Uzziah had been on the throne for 52 years. This was the end of a great era in Judah’s history. The second part of Uzziah’s reign was marked by unfaithfulness (2 Chron. 26:16-23).

b.   Now the Lord who previously took the role of a father (1:2) and a vineyard farmer (5:1) now appears at the only king, the Resurrected Messiah! (6:1) This king commands cosmic forces. Angelic creatures bow to his holiness and glory (6:2; 40:25-26). And he expects the same kind of adoration from his people.

c.   Isaiah was in the outer court of the Temple before the veil which separated it from the Holy of Holies. He saw the Resurrected Messiah seated on his throne (Hebrews 1:1) and his train filling the Temple. Here is Immanuel (Isa. 7), God with us.

d.   6:2 – Seraphs – ‘burning ones’ Psalm 54:4. With six wings, two covering their eyes, unworthy to look on Him. Two covered their feet, unworthy to serve him. With the last two they fly with all they have to fulfill his will. They burn with the glory of God, calling holy, holy, holy, worshiping his holiness and his grace.

e.   6:3 – “Holy Holy Holy” – Everyone agrees that this repetition three times is a Hebrew way of affirming the importance of something, but there is no reason to deny the Trinitarian nature of the Lord taught here. John Calvin saw no reason to do so, but the context demonstrates Isaiah was aware of the Trinity. See 6:8: “Whom shall I send and who will go for us?” And elsewhere in the book (63:7-16), Isaiah affirms one God (63:7) but a Savior (the Son) (63:8-9), an Holy Spirit (63:10-14), and a Father (63:15-16).

f.    6:3 – The whole earth is full of his glory – the beauty of His creation, leading us to praise Him, but one part of creation does not accept His glory – mankind (1:2).

g.   6:4 – The angels’ adoring voices shake the doorposts and thresholds, and smoke fills the sanctuary, all phenomena associated with God’s intervention and presence (4:5; Josh. 6:1-20; 1 Kings 8:10; Acts 4:31).

h.   ILLUSTRATION: The sight of Christ is the highest privilege we can enjoy. This week I had the privilege of leading a man to Christ on his deathbed at Nash General Hospital. Some say that can’t happen, but the thief on the cross was ushered into the kingdom hours before he died, and he was received with full honors. And so was Wesley Lundin. The first four times I went to see him in April in the hospital with stage IV lung cancer, he was not interested in talking about his soul or his eternal destiny. But Dr. Nadine Skinner called me on Tuesday morning and told me Wesley was back in the hospital, and that he was given a day to live. He had lived a life for himself, but just before noon that day, he asked Christ to forgive his sins and submitted himself to Jesus Christ. Four hours later Wesley was dead. But he was safe. No great treasure and reward laid up over a lifetime of service to Christ, but safe and in Paradise with Jesus all the same. Christ came into the world to save sinners, people. This past Tuesday afternoon, Wesley met his Lord. He had that highest of privileges of seeing Christ his Lord. He saw the Lord high and lifted up with his train filling the Temple, and he worshipped him, not in fear, but in thankfulness.

i.     APPLICATION: In the presence of the Lord there is healing, there is forgiveness, there is hope. Seeking his presence will bring you to repentance and a healthy sense of the reverent fear of the Lord. Are you seeking his presence? Are you in the Word of God daily? Are you sitting before Him in prayer? You cannot see revival in yourself or this church or this nation until you seek the face of Christ and His glory as Isaiah did.

2.   BE CLEANSED OF YOUR UNCLEANNESS (Isa. 6:5-7).

a.   6:5 – Woe is me! – Notice that Isaiah’s “Woe to me!” (6:5) comes in context after a list of six great woes on the people of Judah (5:8, 11, 18, 20, 21, 22). Isaiah’s Woe in 6:5 is the seventh woe. Isaiah, like Moses and Gideon before him (Exod. 3:6; 33:20; Judg. 6:22), knows that sinful man cannot survive in God’s presence, and he is disturbed. He senses his unworthiness, and that exactly is what qualifies him for this high office. As soon as Isaiah sees God’s holiness, he immediately senses his unrighteousness.

b.   ILLUSTRATION – I am a member of the Mission America Coalition, a cooperating group of over 80 denominations and over 200 ministries. Several years ago, a dear friend from Charlotte called and asked me to serve on the National Lighthouse Council, a group that would help design an evangelism strategy for Mission America and the United States. I was hesitant, and I remarked to her that I did not feel that I was qualified for a seat on that Council. She immediately replied, “Feeling unqualified is actually how you are qualified to serve with this group. If you feel that you are qualified, you probably aren’t.”

c.   Isaiah senses the fear, humiliation, and contrition that come in God’s presence. Peter knew that feeling, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 10:8). When Job was presented with the Lord, he abhorred himself and repented in dust and ashes (Job 42:5-6) and counted himself a leper in a leprous world. Indeed, in His presence, all our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). It is the gospel, the good news of forgiveness of sins that the atoning blood of Christ brings us. It frees us to serve him with joy and boldness.

d.   Did Isaiah have a foul mouth? There is more to it than that. The point here is not that he had a dirty mouth and needed to clean up his language. The point is that he is like his own people of Judah. Jesus said, “But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' (Matt. 15:18; Luke 6:45).  His heart was unclean, so his lips were as well.

e.   And it is the interplay of the mouth and heart that bring salvation. Paul writes in Romans 10:9-10, “That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”

f.    The coal: The seraphs are flaming angels, and it is a coal from the altar that burns, symbolizing a sin offering. With his sin atoned for, he can now worship and serve the Lord.

g.   Did you notice that Isaiah did nothing to earn his clean mouth? He received his salvation without doing anything. In the same way we are saved without works. Ephesians 2:8-9.

1. APPLICATION: Has your mouth betrayed what is in your heart this week? Has your bad attitude come out? Have you slain someone’s character with your tongue, even in front of others? Perhaps you need the grace of repentance like Isaiah. You need a coal which will cleanse your lips but reach to your heart.

2. Have you received the forgiveness that Christ offers? Have you submitted to him? Have you given your life to Christ? Today is the day of salvation, Isaiah says later in his prophecy (49:8-9). Ask Jesus’ forgiveness today while you still have breath in your lungs. 

3.   EMBRACE YOUR CALLING (Isa. 6:8-13)

1. 6:8 – “Here am I, send me!”  literally, “Behold me!” (Genesis 22:1; John 19:5). While God values and empowers our service, he really does not need experts. He needs willing hearts to do his work. The Lord will not force you to serve him. You must volunteer. You see, we do not serve God to get saved or to get his attention or to be approved of him. We cannot do that. Our best work is wood, hay, and stubble before the fire of Christ. We serve him because of his pardoning love. It drives us to an unreserved surrender of ourselves to him.

2. APPLICATION: Do you think you must be good enough to earn your salvation? Do you think you must get your life straightened out first before you can become a Christian? That’s backwards. First you receive the coal, have yourself cleansed by the Fiery Light of Israel, Christ Jesus, then you serve him with joy. For those of you who are active and serving believers, are you serving Christ out of duty, or out of thankfulness? Has ministry become a drudgery? Then you need to find again your joy in Christ. Like David you need to pray, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation” (Psalm 51:12).

3. Are you sensing the Lord’s calling on your life? To missions? To ministry? To serve in a capacity in our church

4. 6:9-10 – Note the double role of the word of God. It saves and destroys (Hebrews 4:12). But God does not randomly elect or unelect anyone at some despotic whim. Let’s look at the context. Chapters 1-5 detail the willful sinfulness of Judah and their self-directed refusal to obey. They chose to trust in themselves rather than their Lord, so the Lord says here, “I’m not going to force you to obey me.” “Be ever hearing but never understanding, etc.
5. 6:11-12 – The majority reject it or refuse to understand it (6:9-10; Romans 1:18-22), and therefore the judgment of exile will come on Judah (6:11-12). Punishment comes when we disobey. Consequences come on individuals, families, and nations for their behavior.
6. Does God control our response? God forces no one into disobedience. We stray there ourselves without any help at all! Pharaoh hardened his heart (Exod. 7:22ff), so that his heart was hardened by God (Exod. 9:12) The point here is that willful men, with all their arrogance, are still impotent to thwart the Almighty’s intentions.

7. 6:13 – Good news: But the good news is that there is salvation for a remnant (6:13; 4:2). Jesus quoted 6:9-10 to explain his use of the parables (Mark 4:12). The gleam of hope, the remnant, and the holy seed of the Messiah. Cf. 10:33-11:1. This holy seed is the subject of chapters 7-10, as Isaiah unveils the Child.

8. The Lord made clear that Isaiah’s ministry would be remarkably rejected and unsuccessful in his own generation, but that the very failure was ordained by God. In God’s eyes, there was no failure. His failure to persuade the people would prove him to be a true prophet!

9. APPLICATION: Have you had a tough week? Has the discouragement gotten the best of you? Some of us thrive on being appreciated. That can be a stumbling block. Isaiah spent a life preaching some of the best sermons ever recorded, writing and influencing national leadership who did not appreciate his efforts. Jewish tradition tells us that King Manasseh, Hezekiah’s son, had Isaiah sawn in half in the Temple courts where he had seen the great vision of Isaiah 6. Felt cut in two this week? Have the results not scored what you had hoped?

10. The Lord calls us to faithfulness, not huge profits or great numbers, or fine achievements. If they come, don’t let them become your idol, but thank Christ for them. Let’s not be discouraged in ministry, even when the results are truly discouraging. Isaiah today is known as the inspired prophet who was the most Messianic of all of them. He pointed to Christ with more clarity and poetic beauty than any of the other O.T. prophets. Isaiah was faithful whether he was appreciated or not. Your job as a believer is to point to Christ. Point to him when it is easy. Point to him when disappointments and betrayals happen. Point to him when your character is assaulted. Point to him when senseless evil happens. The point is to point to him.

Invitation:

Sources:

Tokunboh Adeyemo, gen ed. Africa Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006.

David F. Payne, “Isaiah.” International Bible Commentary, F.F. Bruce, ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986.

Lawrence O. Richards, Bible Reader’s Companion. Wheaton: Victor, 1991.

Charles Simeon, Horae Homileticae, 5:238-234.

The Old Landmarkers

Part of an ongoing series on Southern Baptist history . . . 

The nineteenth century South saw the rise of Old Landmarkism, a controversial group of Baptists who asked the right questions at the wrong time and influenced Southern Baptist life up to today in many churches. The term Landmarkism is derived from their battle cry, Proverbs 28:22; 23:10, “Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set.”

The forced organization and centralization of the missionary movement in the South into two Boards along with Baptists’ flexible polity of local church autonomy led to questions from well-meaning Baptist leaders about the doctrine of the church.

Biblically, they asked, what is a true church? If we take the Reformation marks of a true church, i.e., that a true church exists wherever  there is the right preaching of the Word and the right administration of the sacraments, then what is right? If a church is not teaching correct doctrine, then it is not rightly preaching the Word, and therefore, they reasoned, it is not a true church. If the Bible teaches believers’ baptism, then every church that practices infant baptism is not rightly administering the sacraments, they said, and therefore is not a true church. So the Old Landmarkers rather bluntly counted them either false churches or religious societies.

In the Cotton Grove Resolutions, citing Proverbs 22:28; 23:10, “Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set,” Landmarkers laid out several controversial positions. First, Baptist churches are the only true churches in the world. All others are either false churches or religious societies. One can be a saved Methodist or Presbyterian, but not in a legitimate church. Second, the church is local and visible. Forget this foolishness about denominations and boards and the invisible church and the church universal. It’s not in the Bible. Third, therefore there should be no pulpit affiliation with these illegitimate groups, and no trading pulpits with other non-Baptist so-called churches. And fourth, only churches can do churchly acts like baptism or the Lord’s Supper. It is illegitimate and possibly sin to participate in these ordinances outside your local church in which you are a member.

Famous Landmarkers included native Vermonter J.R. Graves, who was the controversial editor of the Tennessee Baptist. He emphasized the local church because, he said, Jesus did. He could not find mission boards mentioned in Matthew 28:18-20 no matter how hard he tried.

J.M. Pendleton

James Madison Pendleton (pictured), the “forgotten Landmarker,” and author of An Old Landmark, is the least appreciated of nineteenth century Baptists because of his Landmark position. He was a pastor-scholar, pastor of First Baptist Church, Bowling Green, KY, and president of Union University in Tennessee, writing over 700 editorials in Baptist papers across the South and numerous books including the 300-page Compendium of Christian Theology, for black Baptist preachers in the post-War era.

Pendleton also wrote the Baptist Church Manual which trained deacons to operate like a corporate board of directors and pastors the CEOs who worked at the pleasure of the board, with the congregation functioning as the corporate shareholders. With that one book, Pendleton turned many Baptist churches for a century away from the biblical servant role of deacons. The elevation of deacons' roles to a ruling status created many a little Napoleon who lorded over local churches and made life difficult for many a pastor and congregation in some rural communities even up to today.

Inevitably, Landmark questions turned to missions, missionaries, local churches and mission boards. With all this authority going to these new mission boards, they asked, where are they found in the Bible? Landmarkers couldn't find them, and if they are not in the Bible, can churches form Foreign and Home Mission Boards? Why are we doing this? Where does mission boards' authority reside? With the churches? With the Board members? And is it even Biblical, they questioned.

Enter the case of missionary to China, I.J. Roberts. He had been appointed by the old Triennial Convention mission board back in the early 1830s, but he was not well supported by them, and consequently he had been living for years as an independent missionary. In 1846, like other missionaries who had been part of the American Board, Roberts asked the new Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board to appoint and support him.

A problem arose, though. Roberts had grown too independent in China. He did what he wanted to do, and the Foreign Board was powerless to control him. Roberts wrote the Board to please send him a wife. Included were love letters he had written to whomever the Board chose for him. In the meantime, he furloughed, came home, married a woman in Kentucky, then returned to China with her to find, to everyone's embarrassment, a single woman waiting for him sent by the Board. In 1851, the Board fired him. Old Landmarkers were watching, and they had their questions and opinions ready.

J.R. Graves

J.R. Graves (pictured) wrote in the Tennessee Baptist, “Can a Board fire a missionary sent out by local churches in Kentucky?” He suggested the local Kentucky churches supporting him should be the ones to decide. Biblically, Graves suggested, since local churches should be sending missionaries anyway and not unbiblical mission boards, the Foreign Mission Board should have no authority to fire a missionary sent out by local churches in Kentucky with funding from local Kentucky churches.

With that question, Graves threatened to destroy the Southern Baptist Convention before it was up and running. In the end, the Board stuck by its guns, maintained its authority to hire and fire missionaries, and the issue quieted, but the controversial questions Landmarkers raised remained.

While they raised legitimate issues of power and authority in the Baptist churches, Landmarkers cast themselves as God’s insiders who were more informed than what they considered their more 'liberal' Baptist brethren. They were often viewed as mean spirited. While they helped keep the budding power of convention bureaucracy in check, they also had a cantankerous, contentious spirit. Landmarkers often appeared to observers as simply a self-appointed set of trouble-makers with a hateful attitude toward anything or anyone with whom they disagreed.

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Baptists and postbellum foreign missions

Part of an ongoing series on Southern Baptist history . . . 

Among the Northern Baptist churches, the old Triennial Convention changed its name to the American Baptist Missionary Union in 1846, focusing on foreign missions alone in the Northern society model. Almost immediately there was trouble. The framers of the union wanted to protect their autonomy (read: power), and an executive board was chosen to run the union. Membership was $100 for lifetime membership, so that meant the only people who could be members and run the Union were rich elites. 

While the Union looked good on paper, the membership requirement kept churches from any input. Only individuals had influence. That made the churches angry since the board was not working for them, and church giving dropped dramatically creating an intractable financial crisis that threatened their missionaries. An 1854 change to a $10 per year dues to be a delegate to the annual meeting got more people participating, but the churches still were not behind the Union. Despite the problems, work expanded in Burma and India with women taking an active role in the missionary work.

J.B. Taylor

In the South, the local Baptist churches were energized for foreign missions. Richmond, VA, pastor James B. Taylor (pictured) consented to serve as the first Corresponding Secretary of a new Foreign Mission Board, giving two days a week to the Board which would be based in Richmond.

During Taylor’s tenure (1845-1871), the Board increased its missionary personnel from 2 to 81 missionaries abroad despite the South’s economy being wrecked by the War. This was amazing. The Board’s first fields were China (1845), Liberia (1846), and Sierra Leone (1846). 

Taylor appointed the board’s first single woman missionary, Harriet Baker, in 1849. The work fascinated Southern Baptists. The China mission was much more successful than West Africa, where many missionaries died of malaria only months after arrival so much that finally the Board placed a moratorium on further deployments there. Still, the work continued to expand into Nigeria (1850) and Italy (1871). In the first twenty-five years under Taylor, with no model to work from, the Foreign Mission Board had begun a great work.

H.A. Tupper

The Board’s second Corresponding Secretary was Henry Allen Tupper (pictured) (serving 1872-1893), who opened fields in Mexico (1880), Brazil (1881), and Japan (1889). Like his predecessor, Tupper was also open to sending single women as foreign missionaries, and a single college graduate from Virginia named Lottie Moon was appointed to China under his leadership. Between 1845 and 1920, two-thirds of the SBC mission force in China were women. Nearly every one of them had a high school diploma and some collegiate training. The Board also appointed five female medical doctors during the last half of the nineteenth century.

Under the third corresponding secretary Robert J. Willingham (1893-1913), fields opened in Argentina (1903), Macao (1910), and Uruguay (1911).

Isaiah 5 - The Song of the Vineyard

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Pray and Read:  Isaiah 5 (pictured: Tissot's Isaiah)

Contextual Notes: Isaiah 1-5 form the preface to Isaiah’s great prophecy. In chapter 5, the close of the preface begins with a parable in poetic form about a vineyard. This song is one of the finest examples of the prophet’s art and skill in the whole book. Its structure resembles the joyful songs of sweetness which were common at the grape harvest, but this one ends on a ‘sour’ note. In verse 7, the song reveals the vineyard and the owner and the perverse fruit that Israel had produced.

That vineyard is Judah. Middle Eastern grapes were one of the land’s three most important products along with olives and grain.

Throughout Scripture, fruit and fruitfulness serve as metaphors for the visible product of one’s inner character (Jesus’ teaching in both Matthew 7 and Luke 6). The clearest expression of the metaphor is in Galatians 5:22-23 which identifies the fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in a believer. The parallel in Isaiah is clear. The Lord looked for His people to produce the fruit of justice and righteousness, but instead society was marked by injustice and crime.

After the song of the vineyard, chapter five ends with a series of teaching applications that come out of the parable. In this case they are in the form of ‘Woes,’ or specific reactions the Lord has against the state of the vineyard. The six woes are on those monopolizing land ownership (5:8-10), those living profligate lives (5:11-17), those who taunt God in their evil (5:18-19), those who distort good and evil (5:20), the self-important (5:21), and those who corrupt justice (5:22-25). Because of these, the judgment of God was coming on them (5:26-30; Col. 3:6).

Key Truth: Isaiah wrote Isaiah 5 to teach Israel that God expects the good fruit of Godly living and will punish the bad fruit of selfish living.

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about right relationships with God and others.

Sermon Points:

1. God expects the good fruit of Godly living (Isa. 5:1-7)
2. God will punish the bad fruit of selfish living (Isa. 5:8-30)

Exposition:   Note well,

1.   GOD EXPECTS THE GOOD FRUIT OF GODLY LIVING (Isa. 5:1-7).

a.   Isaiah now sings for the Lord “the one I love,” “my loved one” (5:1).

b.   God longs for the good of his people (James 1:16-17), but he has been deeply hurt, so much that Isaiah speaks for him. This song tells of the relationship between God and his people as being like the vineyard owner and his vines. The owner has been devoted to his vineyard, doing everything to promote good growth and protect the vines, but he only gets bad fruit (5:2, 4). The good fruit he expected was justice and righteousness, but the vineyard has produced bloodshed and distress (5:7).

c.   In the rocky, hilly land of Israel, great care and hard work combined to preserve the soil and moisture needed to produce good fruit. Stones were removed to make terraces to conserve water and prevent soil erosion. Irrigation and constant hoeing to take out weeds that would take the scarce water were used. If there was not enough moisture, the crop would be small and sour.[1]

d.   The vine is often an image of Israel in the O.T. (Psa. 80:8, 14, 15; Jer. 2:21; Hosea 10:1; Zech. 3:10). God is the vineyard keeper who nurtures and protects his people. Yet despite God’s loving care, the nation continued to produce the bitter fruit of sin rather than the sweet fruit of righteousness.

e.   5:5-6 – The people had rejected their owner, so the Lord had stopped his protection and blessing on the nation. Now the people would find themselves at the mercy of threats from every direction.

f.    5:7 – Key verse. “men of Judah” in the NIV is actually the singular “man of Judah,” (aish Yehudah) a prophecy of the Messiah, the garden of delight harkening back to Eden. In John 15:1-8, Jesus calls himself the ‘true vine’ (John 15:1-7), reminding us that only through an intimate personal relationship with Him can any human being produce the fruit God desires. To help the hearers remember this key message, Isaiah uses a memorable word play. Hebrew justice – mishpat is paired with bloodshed – mispah, and righteousness – shedaqah with distress – she`aqah.

g.   APPLICATION: Does this remind you of a nation you know? When we should be celebrating new life in wombs, we have turned away from justice for the oppressed inside them and turned instead to bloodshed. Instead of celebrating the joy of a young woman coming of age, we have turned aside to the distress caused by human sexual trafficking. Instead of showing justice to those who commit crime, we find more rights for the criminals than we do for the distressed victims. Our nation needs leadership that is again built upon the foundation of God’s word and Biblical values rather than the evolutionary concepts of socialism and humanistic Gnosticism.

2.   GOD WILL PUNISH THE BAD FRUIT OF SELFISH LIVING  (Isa. 5:8-30).

h.   Poor national leadership: Isaiah lays out the sinful attitudes that hinder the Lord’s works (5:12, 19). They are greedy accumulation of property (5:8-10); drunkenness (5:11-12; Prov. 31:4-5; Amos 2:11-12); manipulation and lying (5:18-20); the pretense of wisdom (5:21; 1 Cor. 1:18-31), and the perversion of justice (5:23). The source of all these sins is their rejection of the word of the Holy One of Israel (5:24). All of these focus on the lack of leadership stemming from a lack of understanding (5:12-13)

i.     5:8 – ‘add house to house’ –In that day, expanding one’s real estate holdings was usually as someone else’s expense. A few bad harvests might mean losing one’s land. In Israel this was not just an economic, but a theological crisis. Land was part of the covenant. God distributed the Land in small parcels so every family would have a homestead (see Leviticus 25). Also, the decision makers in every community were the landowners. The individual who had the majority of land rights in the area had power to do whatever he wanted. For some to have so much at the expense of others who have less and less is a great and terrible injustice. The wealthy today need to take heed.

j.    5:10 – Reduced yield: Normal wine production for that day was 1000 gallons of wine per acre. Here 10 acres would produce only six gallons. Normal grain production was 1:10, i.e., 1 bushel of seed produced 10 bushels of grain. Here, six bushels of seed would produce a half bushel of grain.

k.   APPLICATION: In a day of government bailouts and multi-million dollar bonuses to corporate CEOs who cook their own books and sink their own companies while their customers lose a lifetime’s retirement in a single month, their homes in a matter of months, and must use their grocery money to pay bank fees, we find that many things have not changed in the human heart. It certainly has not evolved in the last three millennia, it has devolved in sin. We may find that in the end our government was bribed through lobbyists and ‘friends’ to overlook corporate indiscretions, but God will not forget. We have already seen the fall of companies and reduced yield after their mammoth deceptions. Enron,

l.     5:11 Wine – Wine is often associated in Scripture with joyful occasions, but the O.T. is blunt when it comes to drunkenness and love of strong drink (Prov. 20:1; 21:17; 23:20-21). The N.T. views alcohol abuse as a characteristic of a pagan, not a Christian lifestyle (Eph. 5:18; 1 Peter 4:3).

m. APPLICATION: Are you a slave to alcohol? Do you party on the weekends and then show up all prim and proper on Sunday? Has your family suffered under the scourge of drunkenness? Do you know someone who is enslaved by alcohol? Such a one through habitual sin has come under domination of not one, but two demonic spirits, one of alcoholism and one twinned with a spirit of addictions. Addiction spirits are generational, that is, they run in families. If you or someone you know is enslaved by an addiction and wants to be freed from it, there is hope in Jesus Christ. Call our office for an appointment, and we can cast out those demons and give you freedom to say no to that addiction.

n.   5:20 Calling evil good – It is still done today with improved efficiency. Homosexuality is an alternative lifestyle, even healthy and normal. Same-sex marriage is considered by some a right. Abortion for convenience is not murder but being ‘pro-choice,’ except that one of the people involved does not get a choice.

o.   5:23 – Judges bribed: Bribes are temptations everywhere competing parties work to outmaneuver one another in courts (Ezra 4:4-5; Micah 3:11). Exodus 23:8 forbids the taking of bribes and the perversion of justice as an offense against God, the weak and innocent, and the entire community. (see Amos 5:12; cf. Lev. 19:15; Prov. 6:35; Micah 7:3).

p.   ILLUSTRATION: A judge named Karboi Nuta is a friend of ours in Liberia, West Africa. Because of his integrity and refusal to take bribes, he has risen as a young justice in the Liberian court system, from Criminal Court B to a Circuit Court judge. When he arrives in the outlying areas, he finds murder and other major criminal cases where the poor were victimized to be routinely ignored on the court docket, but those who have money to bribe regularly have their cases heard and rendered in their favor. He creates quite a stir when he tries cases from years ago which have never had a hearing. Despite the wealthy working against him, he continues to be promoted, avoid threats, and succeed. What is his motivation? His relationship with Jesus Christ. He was intentionally discipled while a student at African Bible College.

q.   The land grabbers will have no harvest and their homes will be ruined (5:10, 17; Amos 3:15). The wild partiers will die of hunger and thirst (5:13). Instead of eating, they will be eaten by death (5:14). All their pride and wisdom will come to nothing (5:15; 25-30). The punishment is not abandonment now (5:5-6). God himself strikes them down (5:25) and summons a foreign nation to attack his people (5:26), one which doesn’t sleep (5:27), has perfect equipment (5:28), is fierce as a lion and as irresistible as the sea (5:29-30).

r.    APPLICATION: God is in full control of international history. The Assyrians march at his bidding. This lesson is developed in Isaiah 10:5. The gods of Assyria did not govern the fortunes of that nation. YWHW did. Today, the gods of ‘market forces,’ ‘nuclear proliferation,’ ‘terrorism,’ and ‘the international debt crisis’ are the so-called controlling powers of the world, but the Lord is in control of this world still.

Invitation:

The God who controls international history expects the good fruit of righteousness from you. If you do not have a personal relationship with God, you cannot produce that fruit. You must submit yourself to the Holy One of Israel, that Man of Judah. Would you do that today?

Perhaps you need to come forward and ask forgiveness for a sin in your business or in your family that needs cleansed. This altar is open.

Sources:

Tokunboh Adeyemo, Africa Bible Commentary, 813.

F.F. Bruce, International Bible Commentary, 723-725.

Lawrence Richards, Bible Readers Companion, 414.

Walton, Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Old Testament, 589-591

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[1] Walton, Bible Background Commentary: OT, 589-90.

Southern Baptists . . . and Northern

Part of an ongoing series on Southern Baptist history . . . 

After the Schism of 1845 that created the Southern Baptist Convention, both groups were forced to reorganize. But the split was not clean cut, and mixing of both groups would continue until the 1890s. In the South, many churches were lukewarm toward the new SBC because the meeting in May 1845 was supposed to involve only talking about what to do, not actually creating a new convention. Add to that the South’s new devastating poverty. In 1860, 13 of the 15 wealthiest states were in the South. In 1900, not one of the 35 wealthiest states was Southern. Three to four billion dollars in capital was lost by the South in the War, and they were left to deal with it.

Home Missions

The American Baptist Publication Society (ABPS) (1845) based in Philadelphia was the least affected by the Schism of 1845. An outgrowth of the old Bible and Tract Society (1824), they continued to serve both the Northern and Southern churches with Bibles, tracts, Sunday School literature, commentaries, study aids, family Bibles, and the Baptist Cyclopedia. Their booming business gave rise to colporteurs, book sellers who came door to door selling literature. Colporteurs were forerunners of the modern evangelists. Their work in the Confederate and Union camps during the War Between the States helped spread the Great Revivals among them. Their work among Northern, Southern, and newly forming African-American churches also raised literacy levels until the 1890s when Southern white and black Baptists began to set up their own publishing houses.

Ever wonder why all the denominations except the Baptists reunited after the War Between the States? The answer is found in the tension between the Northern and Southern Home Mission Boards. It was called mutual encroachment. The Northern board said, “You stay where you are and we will expand wherever we want.”

The American Baptist Home Mission Society (1832) had been the seat of troubles that led to the Schism of 1845, and afterwards they focused on sending missionaries to the West. John Mason Peck was sent out by the ABHMS. Though now largely forgotten, he was a great man of God who planted churches, schools throughout the Midwest despite the Society’s neglect of support for him on the field. The ABHMS financed many church buildings and after the War helped the Freedmen’s Bureau by helping build schools. The US Government and ABHMS worked closely in the South (using student builders)  to finance construction of many historically black universities such as Morehouse College, Howard University, Shaw University, and Jackson State University. This work for freed Blacks by Northern Baptists and the conquering US Government caused great resentment among Southern Baptists. In fact, the ABHMS was authorized under military law to take ownership of Baptist properties in the South for their own use. Unfortunately the ABHMS got overextended financially in the post-War period. Immigration to the North was hitting over one million a year and in the West, the Indians being placed on reservations needed ministry. The question became, “Just who or what is our Home Mission Field?”

The Southern Baptist Home Mission Board formed with headquarters in Marion, Alabama, closer to the Frontier. But they were soon consumed with questions about their vision and direction, asking, “What is Home?” How far north will we go to plant churches? We are going West. Will we go East and North to the great cities filled with new immigrants? Do we plant churches among Blacks? Indians? Church planters also had more preferable options rather than working with the HMB. They could partner with their local association or their local church, or the Northern society rather than the HMB. Then there was money. The HMB was competing with the Foreign Mission Board for funding – and losing.

Henry L. Morehouse (pictured), the president of the Northern board (the Home Mission Society), sparred in the newspapers with Southern Baptist leaders. Morehouse wrote, “Ours is not the ‘Northern society,’ it is the American society,” and he did not care whether Southerners liked it or not, they would stay in the South as long as they wanted.

Despite Morehouse's obnoxious attitude, some Southerners suggested the HMB be abolished. Of the 21 state Baptist conventions or associations at the time in the South, only seven were cooperating with the HMB which had only $28,000 in receipts in 1882 and 40 missionaries, mostly in Indian Territory. While most of the Baptist state conventions in the South worked with the Northern society, the HMB was nearly defunct. Isaac T. Tichenor and other leaders realized that if Southern state conventions and associations did not stop cooperating with the ABHMS, there would soon be no Southern Baptist Convention.

The Home Mission Board needed a change, so in 1882, Isaac T. Tichenor (pictured) moved the Board to Atlanta, a thriving New South city. Tichenor had been a Confederate sniper in the War, and he was bitter about the South’s loss. A popular preacher, he had been president of Auburn University, and in terms of organizational skills and vision, the best president the Home Board ever had. Therefore, he worked to align all the state bodies with the HMB. Ten years later, every home missionary to whites in the South was aligned with the HMB or its state conventions. They now aimed at evangelization of immigrants, Appalachia, urban areas, native whites, blacks, and Indians. Tichenor’s successes garnered him the epithet, “Father of Cooperation.”

After ten years of hard work, the HMB had overcome the rivalry with the ABHMS. Finally on September 12, 1894, a meeting was held at Fortress Monroe, VA, to define their mutual cooperation and territory. Earlier overtures by the Southern board had been ignored, but at that time the ABHMS agreed to meet on a basis of equality. The Northerners were looking for a way out of the South. They were overextended and needed to relinquish responsibilities with some dignity. With one million immigrants a year arriving from Ireland, China, and Southern Europe, they want to let the South go.

The Northern Society wanted to retain control of the black universities, and the Southern Board agreed to help fund them as well as cooperate in the training of black ministers in what became the New Era schools. Blacks resented the Northerners telling them what to do and wanted to lead themselves. As for other areas, the two groups agreed not to seek funding in areas where the other already had work in place. The net of the Fortress Monroe Conference? The Northern Baptists relinquished their responsibilities in the South, and the Southern Baptists got the Northerners out of their region.

The New South: growing less Christian

The following is an excerpt from Thomas Crane's article, "The new south, not what it once was."

"The South is changing and it's doing so fast. The South is growing at a rate five times faster than the midwest and northeast, and during the next 30 years the South will become the most populous region in the nation.

"Tyler Jones told the group gathered for the Advance the Church conference at Summit Church in Durham that evangelical churches are nowhere near close to keeping up with this type of growth. Jones, pastor of Vintage 21 Church, described the South as a region becoming increasingly less religious and more "post Christian" at a rate far faster than anywhere else in the country. More than half of the people in the South who say they are evangelical believe that many religions can lead to eternal life. Only 36 percent of southern evangelicals believe their religion to be the "one, true faith that leads to eternal life."

Advance the Church seeks to start and revitalize churches in the South. This year's conference focused on contextualizing the Gospel in the new urban South.

Quoting Billy Graham, Jones said that in the South, "we have become inoculated to the gospel." Many Christians "claim it but don’t live it" is one way to look at what is happening in the South, but Jones believes a better description is "quaint moralism." People strive to behave morally, but morality has no capacity for transforming lives. "Our goodness is our own poison," Jones said. "We think we can demand that God owes us because we have been good and moral."

Rather than being inoculated by the gospel, Jones said some in the South misunderstand the gospel. "We have reduced Christ and the gospel and it has affected our churches in every aspect," he said. Some churches are full of Christians who, although they are regenerate, have never been challenged to apply the gospel and are more moralistic than gospel-centered. Other churches are full of people who think they are Christians but are actually unregenerate. "At the heart of the issue is restoring the gospel in our churches," Jones said.

Full article here.

Liberian orphan girls sing

Click this video of some cute Liberian orphan girls singing if you do not see a video box.
We got to work with the orphans at what became Rainbow Town in central Liberia, West Africa, back in 2004, and I've been back a couple of times to see how they are doing.

Isaiah 2:1-4:6 -- Our Pride and His Glory

Bartolommeo's Isaiah

Contextual Notes: Isaiah was a prophet in the southern kingdom of Judah which had David’s descendants as their kings. Isaiah was of the royal family and keenly aware of the geopolitical realities of the day. The 
Assyrians were hungry for world domination, and they would take out the kingdom of Israel’s ten northern tribes by 722 B.C.

Chapters 1-5 of Isaiah form a preface to the book and draw attention to the sad state of affairs in Judah and Jerusalem. Chapter one draws attention to the nation’s illness giving its diagnosis (1:2-9), its prescription for healing (2:10-23), and its prognosis (1:24-31).

Chapters two through four are a well-structured unit which may have been uttered toward the end of Uzziah’s reign (2 Kings 15:5) or during Jotham’s (2 Kings 15:32-38). We find bookending this passage is a vision of the last days of the Mountain of the Lord and world peace (2:1-5) and the Bringer of Peace, One whom Isaiah calls the Branch of the Lord (4:2-6). In the middle we see plunge from the Mountain to the very dregs of civilization which comes out of man’s pride and arrogance.

Isaiah warns his own people of the danger of walking in arrogance, that one day all arrogance and pride would be laid low and the Mountain of the Lord and His Branch would be raised up for worship and glory. Isaiah in this passage gives us a glimpse of what the Last Days will be like, and how Jesus Christ will rule and reign from Jerusalem.

Key Truth: Isaiah wrote Isaiah 2-4 to warn Israel of the danger of arrogance and predict the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to bring cleansing and glory.

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about pride and Christ’s coming.

Sermon Points:    In the Last Days . . .

1. The Mountain of the Lord will be exalted (Isa. 2:1-5)
2. The arrogance of man will be humbled (Isa. 2:6-22)
3. The pride of Israel will be collapsed (Isa. 3:1-4:1)
4. The Branch of the Lord will be glorious (Isa. 4:2-6)

Exposition:   Note well,

1.   THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD WILL BE EXALTED (Isa. 2:1-5).

a.   Jerusalem’s future: This prophecy also found in Micah 4:1-5 (written 928 BC). Joel likely mentored Isaiah as a prophet if not in person at least in his prophecies. Joel 3:10 quotes these two passages later, all affirming that Scripture does not become God’s inerrant word over time as people revere it. It is inerrant Scripture as soon as it is written because it is immediately within similar time periods recognized immediately as authoritative Scripture.[1]

b.   “All nations” 2:2-5 – Although Israel is God’s chosen people, salvation’s blessings are intended for all. Isaiah affirms this powerful truth. Here Jerusalem is the capital city of the Earth, with nations eager to walk and learn God’s ways, with peace worldwide and the Lord Himself handling international disputes. Those who spiritualize OT prophecy have taken this vision to portend the ultimate triumph of the Gospel of Christ and universal conversion, i.e., an a-millennial or post-millennial view of the End Times. Some of them, like Reformed or Calvinists, say that the Church is the “New Israel,” a teaching found in the writings of Augustine and John Calvin. Those who take OT prophecy literally believe it pictures the future rule of Jesus after His return. In Christ’s first coming, all the prophecies were fulfilled literally in minutia. By precedent, why should we not therefore expect the prophecies for His Second Coming to be fulfilled literally and not simply spiritually?

c.   APPLICATION: Christ is coming back. Christ will set up his throne. Are you ready? Do you have a personal relationship with him? At the end of this sermon, I will invite you to respond to him and make him your Lord.

2.   THE ARROGANCE OF MAN WILL BE HUMBLED  (Isa. 2:6-22).

1. 2:6-9 – Judah’s sins – The house of Jacob is involved in alternative spiritualities (2:6); glutted with wealth (2:7) and pride in what they have manufactured, built, and created for themselves leading to idolatry (2:8). What Judah needed most was a dose of humility. This is a total reversal of what God intended. Isaiah 1:1-5 shows God intended knowledge of the Lord to flow from Judah, but instead paganism, its corrupt values, and idolatry have flowed into Judah from the nations![2]
2. Rev. 3:17, 19-20: “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. . . . Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I Am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.”
3. 2:11-12 – The Day of the Lord – This phrase (here “that day”) occurs often in the OT prophets, and always identifies a critical period of time when God personally intervenes in history to accomplish His purposes for the ages, most of them at history’s end, and much of it in the context of wrath, distress, darkness, and gloom. (see Isa. 7:18-25; Zephaniah 1:14-15; Isa. 22; Jer. 30:1-17; Amos 5:18). God’s intervention involves delivering a remnant of Israel, bringing about a national conversion, forgiving sins, and restoring his people to the Promised Land of Abraham (Isa. 10:27; Jer. 30:19-31:40). The day of the Lord is a day of darkness, but at evening there will be light.[3]
4. 2:10-17 – Punishment must come, and it would come through the Assyrian armies. Soon the Northern Kingdom of Israel would fall.

5. 2:22 – The point – Stop trusting in man. Jeremiah says something similar (Jer. 17:5)

6. APPLICATION: Are you full of pride yourself? Do you put your trust in yourself or your business? Do you put all your trust in your government or completely in our military for your protection? Isaiah says that our trust should be in the Lord and we should walk humbly before him.

3.   THE PRIDE OF ISRAEL WILL BE COLLAPSED (Isa. 3:1-4:1)

a.   3:4 – Boys their officials – Breakdown of National Leadership. This breakdown unites three separate prophecies here (2:1-9; 10-11; 12-15). Here Isaiah’s gift for powerful imagery. Hebrews associated age with wisdom. Boys pictures headstrong, immature leadership sure to make foolish decisions and lead the nation to disaster.[4]

b.   ILLUSTRATION: This is the sad cycle we see in Africa. In Liberia, West Africa, where Amanda and I lived for a while and which is still in our hearts, the nation began a descent from the most prosperous, advanced nation on the continent in 1980 to ranking by Money Magazine in Jan. 2004 as the worst place to live in the world, the month we arrived, ranking behind Iraq and Afghanistan. What happened? In 1980, an illiterate Army sergeant named Samuel Doe stormed the Presidential palace with a few men, assassinated President Tubman, and took over the country. When another rebel leader named Charles Taylor threatened to oust President Doe in 1989, he famously said to Liberian citizens in an effort to get support, “Better the devil you know than the angel you don’t know.” Charles Taylor eventually did take the government over. Today he is being tried before the Hague’s International Court for war crimes.

c.   3:8-9, 11-12 – ‘parade their sin like Sodom” in the streets – The state of their nation is because of this sin against the Lord (3:8) so that they come to disaster like Sodom did (3:9; Gen 19:4-11). Now those who should be leaders in Jerusalem are failing to take their responsibilities (3:12).

d.   3:10 – The righteous – Whatever happens here and now, the righteous can be confident. They will surely be rewarded for the good they did (i.e., trusting Christ)

e.   3:13-15 – “in court” – Frequent courtroom images are in the prophets. Here God is pressing formal charges against sinners. The charge is found in verse 15-16: exploiting the poor rather than caring for them. God is concerned about the poor and the alien.

f.    ILLUSTRATION: That is why it is interesting what is being said about the Arizona immigration law. Do people need to obey the law? Yes, of course. We have people boycotting a whole state because it decided to expect people to obey the law. But what is more important here are the people who are crossing the borders. They are simply looking for a way to provide for their families, much like many of our ancestors who came to this country. The problem is that they are being exploited because they are poor. They must pay the coyote, a human trafficker, to get them across the border, and then they are often sold, abused, put in bondage in abandoned houses or in low-rent motels, for cheap labor or as mules for the drug cartel or for human sexual traffic. These people are the great reason why an immigration law is important. The drug cartels and coyotes must be targeted and taken out, but unfortunately it is the poor man or woman trying to earn some money for their family who are here illegally and being forced to do illegal activity who are punished.

g.   3:16-4:1 – Isaiah addresses Judah’s women, their pride (3:16) and love of finery (3:18-23) for flirtation and seduction (see Prov. 6:20-7:27; 31:3). Verses 16-17 with the women parallel 3:6-7 of the men. It is not that being attractive is a bad thing. The Song of Songs demonstrates that to be a lie. The question is the role of the attraction. A woman’s unique gifting is to attract others to the Lord (Prov. 11:22-23; 31:30; Matt. 19:3-6). When attractiveness is used to woo someone to yourself and not to the Lord, you are misusing your gifts of attraction. You are making yourself an idol. The outcome of this misuse of attraction is to make women objects of desire and exploitation to be used and abused rather than appreciated for their gifts and talents.[5]

8. APPLICATION: Ladies, do you dress to call attention to yourself? What kinds of pictures of yourself have you posted on facebook? How is your conduct with men? Have you bought into the lie that women are sexual objects meant for the pleasure of men and you act accordingly, or are you wise enough to have learned that your purpose is to attract others to Christ Jesus your Lord through your manner and grace and cheerfulness and kindness and the way you care for yourself and make yourself beautiful?

9. And what about the aliens among us? We are commanded to be kind to them but also to expect everyone to follow the law. One of my hopes is to plant a church for Latinos. Would you be interested in reaching out for Christ in that way in our community?

4.   THE BRANCH OF THE LORD WILL BE GLORIOUS (Isa. 4:2-6)

a.   4:2 – “in that day” – phrase is repeated 30 times in Isaiah. Disaster for the wicked but comfort and renewal to upright and oppressed (Isa. 2:17; 11:10; Jer. 30:8; Ezek. 20:6; Joel 3:18).

b.   4:2-6 The Branch – This metaphorical title indicates a person who will “spring up” or “sprout” from David’s line. Christ will give a new identity and holiness to his people (4:3-4; 2 Cor. 5:17-19); an assurance of God’s presence in cloud and fire (4:5; Exod. 13:21; 24:16-17; 2 Chron. 5:13; Matt: 18:20; 28:20); and peace and comfort despite internal threats (4:6).

c.   Six OT passages use this term of the coming Messiah (Isa. 4:2; 11:1; Jer 23:5; 33:15; Zech. 3:8-9; 6:12). In them the Messiah is associated with washing away the sins of God’s people “in a single day” (Zech. 3:9) and with the kingdom glory to follow. The Branch, empowered by the Holy Spirit, will bring justice and righteousness to earth and fulfill the covenant promises given to David (Jer. 33:15-22).[6]

4. APPLICATION: This passage is a clear picture of Jesus Christ who has washed away our sin and given us a new identity and a new holiness and will one day bring righteousness and justice to this earth while fulfilling his promises to David and Abraham.

Invitation:

Do you know the Branch? Is he your Savior? Has his righteousness washed you of your sin? Today is the day to make the Branch, the Lord Jesus Christ, your Lord. You see, He is Lord whether anyone likes it or not. But if you will make him your Lord, you can be part of the remnant that enjoys the Day of the Lord.

Sources:

Tokunboh Adeyemo, gen ed. Africa Bible Comentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006.

David F. Payne, “Isaiah.” International Bible Commentary, F.F. Bruce, ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986.

Lawrence O. Richards, Bible Reader’s Companion. Wheaton: Victor, 1991.

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[1] IBC, 721. Some commentators speculate that both Micah and Isaiah took the vision from a familiar hymn sung at the Temple. If so, the song became inerrant Scripture when it was inspired through the writer.

[2] Richards, BRC, 413.

[3] Richards, BRC, 413.

[4] Richards, BRC, 413.

[5] ABC, 812.

[6] Richards, BRC, 413.

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