How (not) to invite someone to church

How (not) to invite someone to your church.

Isaiah 65 - New Heavens and New Earth

Contextual Notes:

Isaiah prophesies about one Royal, Priestly, Suffering, Divine Son of David. For 39 chapters He is the King coming to judge sin, then beginning at chapter 40, He is the coming Comforter, the Servant who will suffer, die, and rise again (53), fulfilling all His covenants (54-55), transforming our sinful present into a glorious future (56) through repentance (57), to make us like Himself (58).

Sin might destroy our relationships with Him and others (59:1-15a), but the Redeemer’s intercession (59:15b-21) provides hope, honor, and transformation (60) of a relationship with the righteously robed Redeemer Himself, who proclaims favor, prosperity, and joy over his people(61), then calls his bridal people (62:1-5) to watch and intercede for Messiah’s purposes, people, and proclamation.

Immediately the watchmen see a coming Robed Warrior, returning from battle, a Savior righteous and mighty, compassionate and kind (63:1-14), a zealous and mighty Redeemer (63:15-19). His grace (64:1-5a) overpowers sin (64:5b-7) in response to watchman intercession (64:8-12).

Here at chapters 65-66 we reach the grand climax of Isaiah’s prophecy – the Messiah’s response to the intercession of the watchmen – the wondrous promise that God will one day create a new earth and heavens as the home of the righteous.

Key Truth: Isaiah wrote Isaiah 65 to teach Israel that the Messiah is coming to judge sin and punish rebellion, but he will save a faithful remnant and create a new heaven and earth.

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about the Messiah’s End-time work.

Key Verse: Isaiah 65:17

Pray and Read:  Isaiah 65

Sermon Points:

1.   In the End, Messiah will judge sin (65:1-7)

2.   In the End, Messiah will save a faithful remnant (65:8-10)

3.   In the End, Messiah will punish rebellion (65:11-16)

4.   In the End, Messiah will create a new heaven and earth (65:11-25)

Exposition:   Note well,

1.   IN THE END, MESSIAH WILL JUDGE SIN (Isaiah 65:1-7)

a.   Now the Messiah responds to the intercession. He has not neglected them. He is not hidden. He has reached out to the nations who were not even seeking him (Isaiah 65:1) and his own people who have not bothered to respond but are busy pursuing their own imaginations (Isaiah 65:2; 1:23; Exodus 14:11; 16:2; 32:1ff).

b.   The people have deliberately chosen to walk in ways not good (Isaiah 65:3; 63:10; 3:9; Job 1:11), involved in secret societies that are more interested in the dead than the Risen One who has conquered death (Isaiah 65:4a; 1:29; 57:9; Deuteronomy 18:11; 1 Samuel 28:3; ), eating unclean food, not paying attention to the Scripture (Isaiah 65:4b; Leviticus 11:7; Deuteronomy 14:8). Yet in their hypocrisy, they consider themselves too holy to be approached (Isaiah 65:5a). They are a constant irritant, an annoying smoke to the Lord (Isaiah 65:5b; Jeremiah 17:4). Therefore, (literally, Behold! Hinneh) he has decided to punish them for their sin and that of their fathers (Isaiah 65:6-7; 57:7; Exodus 20:5; Matthew 12:41-42; 21:43; Deuteronomy 32:5, 6, 21; Hosea 4:13; Jeremiah 2:20; 3:6ff; 17:2).

c.   Paul refers to Isaiah 65:1-2 in Romans 10:20-21. The Gentiles were not looking for God, but He was found by them in the Gospel. The Jews to whom God held out His hands in love refused to see him and turned instead to pagan deities. Yet in the end god’s grace will triumph, and both will have a place in the world to come (cf. Isaiah 65:9 and the doctrine of the remnant).

e.   APPLICATION: In the end, Messiah will judge sin – every act of infidelity, every secret murder, every bribe, every dictator, every genocide, every robbery, every lie, every sin. The only way to avoid being judged is to appeal to the Just Judge Himself for mercy. He has provided a way where there was no way, and He Himself is that Way, that Truth, that Life. Maybe you have not been looking for him, but he has been looking for you. Perhaps he has held out his hands to you all day long and you have been obstinate. Either way, he will receive you today if you want. Will you ask Him to forgive you of your sins and submit your life to him today? In a few minutes you can respond to the Judge’s invitation to pardon.

2.   IN THE END, MESSIAH WILL SAVE A FAITHFUL REMNANT (Isaiah 65:8-10)

a.   God will preserve a faithful remnant (65:8-10). The Lord does not curse his servants (Isaiah 65:8; Exodus 20:6; Jeremiah 31:29-30; Ezekiel 18:1-3).

b.   ILLUSTRATION: Isaiah illustrates with an example from the vineyard (Isaiah 5:8). The owner is about to throw out rotten grapes, but someone says that they are not completely moldy. There are good ones among the rotten (Matthew 13:28-30; 1 Kings 19; Romans 9).

c.   Isaiah 65:9 tells how the Lord will do it: He will cause to go forth from Jacob (a name with the connotation of the people in bondage) a Seed (Isaiah 6:13; 11:1), and from Judah (the southern kingdom; Micah 5:2), One will inherit the mountains and the chosen ones (Jews) will inherit them as heirs (Romans 8:17; Galatians 3:26, 29; Ephesians 3:6; Titus 3:7). The final word, shammah (lit. to there, thither) implies forward motion. The heirs come to the Land (the return of the Jews to the Land with their Gentile co-heirs).

d.   Isaiah 65:10: The faithful will have descendants in a fruitful land, Sharon (a fruitful plain from Mount Carmel south to Jaffa (Isaiah 33:9; 35:2), even in the Valley of Achor (literally valley of trouble, Joshua 7:26; Hosea 2:15), there will be peace and rest (Isaiah 65:10).

e.   APPLICATION: In the End, Messiah will save a faithful remnant. A remnant is a portion of the whole, what is left. Now will you join that faithful few, that remnant? Will you trust him?

3.   IN THE END, MESSIAH WILL PUNISH REBELLION (Isaiah 65:11-16)

a.   Messiah will turn against the rebels among His people and punish them (11-16). Those who worship Fortune and Destiny (Isaiah 65:11) will meet their destiny – destruction and slaughter because they refused to listen to God (Isaiah 65:12; Matthew 22:7; 23:37; Luke 19:27; Acts 13:46).

b.   The contrast is striking between those who enjoy his blessing and those who do not (Isaiah 65:13-14). One will be a curse while the other will be worthy of great honor (Isaiah 65:15) and past troubles will be forgotten (Isaiah 65:16). The accursed will try to curse the elect (Isaiah 65:15a), but curses are useless against the one who is walking with God in truth and faithfulness (Isaiah 65:15b-16a; Proverbs 26:2; Matthew 28:20).

c.   APPLICATION: Are you worshiping at the altar of Fortune? Are you worshiping Destiny? Are you looking for how to climb the ladder? Are you hoping to win the lottery? Are you doing and saying whatever you need to in order to get what you want? 

4.   IN THE END, MESSIAH WILL CREATE A NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH (Isaiah 65:17-25)

a.   The Great Promise: Behold Me! (cf. Isaiah 65:1): Messiah is about to create (bara; Genesis 1:1) a new heavens and new earth (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15; 2 Peter 3:15; Revelation 21) where his people will enjoy long lives in peace and security (Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1). This prophecy should be read in tandem with Isaiah 24, but there is no misery in this new creation (Isaiah 65:18-19; 25;8; 35:10; Revelation 7:17; 21:4) in which Christians are called to live even now (Philippians 4:4-5), an already but not yet kingdom. There will be victory over death (Isaiah 65:20; 25:8; 26:17-19; 38:15-17; Genesis 6:3; Jeremiah 17:1-8). Isaiah 65:21-23 is a development of Isaiah 62:8-9 – security will be reality (Leviticus 26:16; Psalm 78:33; Jeremiah 15:8). The climax is Isaiah 65:24-25 where fellowship with Messiah will be restored with his people (Isaiah 30:19; 58:9; Psalm 145:18-19; Matthew 6:8), among his people, even reconciliation with the environment and among the animals (Isaiah 65:25; 11:6-9; Romans 8:19-23).

b.   Isaiah’s vision now reaches out beyond time and into eternity. He sees not only a renewal of our earth under messiah, but further glimpses a new creation. Old Testament prophecy does not make clear the relationship between a renewal of the earth under the Messiah and reconstitution of the heavens and earth envisioned by Isaiah. But the New Testament joins in looking forward to this event. Peter says the “heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.” Then “in keeping with his promise,” God will create a “new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Peter 3:10, 13). The Apostle John reaffirms Isaiah’s vision “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Revelation 21:1). When the grand drama of sin and redemption has been played out, the curtain will rise on glories we cannot even imagine.

c.   Isaiah’s description may combine elements of the millennial kingdom of the Messiah and the eternal new heavens and new earth. However those who study end-time prophecy sort it out, it is clear from Isaiah’s description that a real transformation of our state and our reality lies ahead. Sin’s curse is lifted. Lifespan is extended, and peace is brought even to the animals. All that is wrong on earth will be set right.

d.   ILLUSTRATION: Perhaps you’ve read or seen on television the prophecies that the world will end in 2012 because the Mayan calendar ends there with a catastrophic meltdown. There are others who are saying that Judgment Day is going to be May 21, 2011, as they render it, exactly 7000 years from Noah’s Flood, with the end of the world coming with a fiery end on October 21^st of this year.[1] This is nothing new. The end of the world was prophesied to come in 1828 and 88 reasons why the Lord would return in 1988. Then there are prophecies of doom, atomic holocaust, greenhouse ice-cap meltdown, a New Ice Age, a meteor impact, a sun-storm, a mighty super disease.

e.   APPLICATION: What we do know about the timing end is that the Messiah Himself said he does not know the day nor the hour, only the Father knows. But there are some people who purport to know more than Jesus Himself does. But our trust is in the Lord. The real destiny of the earth is described by Isaiah here. Isaiah’s prophecy pledges that all mankind as well as the Jewish people will find Him reigning on his throne at history’s end while those who rebel against him will be scattered (vv.17-24). There is no final doomsday and destruction. There is renewal and life and peace and security for those who believe. Are you one of those? Have you placed your trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation? Perhaps you need to do that right now.

Invitation:

Those who trust him can look forward in hope. Those who don’t in fear. Won’t you come to him now in hope?

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[1] http://www.ebiblefellowship.com/may21/

The Outline Bible

Harold L. Wilmington's Outline Bible is a real help in looking at the Scriptures. I had noticed a copy of this book at the local Lifeway. My wife noticed my interest, and when birthday time rolled around I received one. Wilmington does a great job of digesting the Biblical material into an outline for Bible students and teachers. His best work is in the Gospels and Epistles, and he does a fairly good job with outlining the passages from Torah and the histories.

Since I have been preaching through Isaiah, I immediately looked at the outlines he had compiled for the chapters I had recently preached. His approach with the Prophets generally is to rework their messages by reordering them to fit his impressive powers of classification. While there is merit in trying to understand the prophet's message, as an inerrantist, I get a little uncomfortable with reordering Biblical passages for one's own classification. Context is king for understanding the theology and proper teaching of a passage, and when the text is severed from its context, there are red flags. Still, I don't think Dr. Wilmington would want to divorce content from context, and he might defend his work by saying he has classified the passage within its broad context.

Despite the slight differences in looking at the Prophets, I recommend that pastors, teachers, and Bible students take a look at the Outline Bible.

James McGready: North Carolina Catalyst for Revival

Red River Meetinghouse, KY, where McGready led revivals 1799-1800

James McGready  (1763-1817) was a powerful tool in the Lord’s hand in Kentucky and North Carolina in the Revival of 1800-1804. A native of Pennsylvania and reared in Guilford County, NC, McGready about 1790 became a Presbyterian pastor of two churches, Haw River and Stony Creek, north of Burlington, NC. McGready was a prayer warrior and a pastor who withstood intimidation from his people.

His Prayer and Character
Mr. McGready was an unusual man. God had evidently endowed him, and raised him up, and given him a spiritual training for a special work. He had great physical strength, and a voice like thunder. In these respects, he was precisely fitted for the field of labor to which Providence assigned him.

His early religious experience among people who assumed themselves saved because they were part of the Covenant awakened distrust of the reality whether many around him had an actual relationship with Jesus. He had himself built his faith for long a time upon a false foundation of religious activity, and it was very natural that he should fear that others would fall into the same fatal error. He was therefore terrible upon hypocrites, deceivers, and the self-deceived. Such could hardly stand before his searching and scathing denunciations.

The history of the Churches in his time, and the history of his own labors, show very clearly that such a man as McGready was greatly needed – Boanerges, sons of thunder, men of a deep and earnest spiritual experience, were the proper ministry for arousing formalists and double-minded Christians, and driving them from their refuges of lies.

The Old West of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Kentucky, at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries, was filled with open infidelity. Vice was rampant. A bold front was needed to meet them. Mr. McGready's experience, too, was calculated to give him low views of himself. Notwithstanding his great success as a minister, he was remarkable for his humility.

The following is from a sketch of his character, furnished by a pastor friend:

"From the conduct and conversation of Mr. McGready, there is abundant evidence to believe that he was not only a subject of Divine grace and unfeigned piety, but that he was favored with great nearness to God, and intimate communion with him. Like Enoch, he walked with God; like Jacob, he wrestled with God, by fervent, persevering supplications for a blessing on himself and others, and prevailed; like Elijah, he was very jealous for the Lord of hosts, and regarded his kingdom as the great end of his existence on earth, to which all other designs ought to be subordinate; like Job, he deeply abhorred himself, repenting as it were in dust and ashes, when he was enabled to behold the purity of God, and his own want of conformity to his holy nature; like the apostle Paul, he counted all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ his Lord; and like him, he felt great delight in preaching to his fellow-men the unsearchable riches of Christ. 

"He was remarkably plain in his dress and manners, but very familiar, communicative, and interesting in his conversation. He possessed a sound understanding, and moderate share of human learning. The style of his sermons was not polished, but perspicuous and pointed, and his manner of address was unusually solemn and impressive. 

"As a preacher, he was highly esteemed by the humble followers of the Lamb, who relished the precious truths which he clearly exhibited to their view; but he was hated, and sometimes bitterly reproached and persecuted, not only by the openly vicious and profane, but by many nominal Christians, or formal professors, who could not bear his heart-searching and penetrating addresses, and the indignation of the Almighty against the ungodly, which, as a son of thunder, he clearly presented to the view of their guilty minds from the awful denunciations of the word of truth."

His public prayer before his sermons were long wrestlings with God for the congregation he was about to address. The prayers themselves were so powerful that some in the congregation would fall under conviction of the Holy Spirit and be found weeping over their sin at the end of the prayer and before he had even begun to preach.

A very reliable old gentleman who claimed Mr. McGready as his spiritual father relates the following circumstance:

"On a certain occasion, he was preaching to a large congregation in the woods. A very dark and threatening cloud arose. A storm seemed ready to burst upon them. They had no shelter. The preacher was delivering his message with great earnestness and fervency. Seeing the storm approach, he stopped in the midst of his discourse, and addressed a prayer to God that the storm might be restrained or turned aside. The cloud separated, passing to the right and left, and leaving the congregation undisturbed." 

All this might have occurred, had no prayer been offered by the preacher. Still the narrator, and no doubt many of the people at the time, believed that God averted the storm in answer to the prayer.

His Sermons
His first sermons alarmed the good Presbyterians who liked things decent and in order. McGready considered the Word of God as truth to be taken for granted, and not to be reasoned and proven but to be explained and enforced by other Scripture, with examples from man’s condition. He preached the plain word with much point and great plainness and effect, earning him the nickname, “Son of Thunder.” 

Many church members who had never been converted to Christ confessed themselves deceived hypocrites, unworthy to be acknowledged as members of Christ’s church and they abhorred themselves in dust and ashes. 

An example of a line from McGready’s sermons. “An unworthy communicant in such circumstances as yours, is more offensive to Almighty God than a loathsome carcass crawling with vermin set before a dainty prince.”  In 1791 revival broke out in Orange Presbytery, North Carolina, from his preaching, as many church members became truly converted to Christ.

"His zeal provoked opposition at the Stony Creek Church, and he was accused of distracting people from their labors and creating unnecessary alarm among decent and orderly people. 

The opposition increased from some of the wealthy and influential families at Stony Creek who were loose in their morals and decided to teach him a lesson. With these families and some of the baser sort assembled at the church, they tore down the seats, pulled the pulpit outside, made a bonfire of it, and burnt it to ashes. In the church clerk’s seat they left a letter written to McGready in blood, warning him that next time they would not stop with the pulpit and ordering him to leave the country at the peril of his life. 

When the congregation met the following Sunday, they found the intimidating vandalism. McGready, not the least intimidated by the burning of the pulpit or the letter, however, proceeded with the service, using a relevant and solemn psalm, and delivering a sermon from the following text: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold your house is left unto you desolate." 

Within a few years, the opposition had died away as these families’ sinfulness ruined their character and property, and not one of their descendants could be found in the congregation.

Revival Prayer Covenant

 In 1796 McGready left North Carolina for Kentucky and took the pastoral charge of three congregations in Logan County -- Gaspar River, Red River, and Muddy River. These congregations were small, and in a low state of interest in the things of Christ.

He presented to the members of his congregation for their approval and signatures, the following preamble and covenant:

When we consider the word and promises of a compassionate God to the poor lost family of Adam, we find the strongest encouragement for Christians to pray in faith--to ask in the name of Jesus for the conversion of their fellow-men. None ever went to Christ when on earth, with the case of their friends, that were denied, and, although the days of his humiliation are ended, yet, for the encouragement of his people, he has left it on record, that where two or three agree upon earth to ask in prayer, believing, it shall be done. 

Again, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. With these promises before us, we feel encouraged to unite our supplications to a prayer-hearing God for the outpouring of his Spirit, that his people may be quickened and comforted, and that our children, and sinners generally, may be converted. 

Therefore, we bind ourselves to observe the third Saturday of each month, for one year, as a day of fasting and prayer for the conversion of sinners in Logan county, and throughout the world. We also engage to spend one half hour every Saturday evening, beginning at the setting of the sun, and one half hour every Sabbath morning, from the rising of the sun, pleading with God to revive his work.

To this covenant he and they affixed their names. 

Within a few years the Second Great Awakening of 1800 would break out in Kentucky, and its story is the story of James McGready. He would come back to North Carolina and the Revival would spread across North Carolina, into the Methodists and Baptists, then into Virginia, South Carolina, and north Georgia.

More on James McGready here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. 
 

Related articles

• Ministry and Mission on the Frontiers (pastorbobcornwall.blogspot.com)
• The Church's Ministry of Worship (genebrooks.blogspot.com)
• A.W. Tozer on "Lion Country" (epm.org)

Graham Festival in Liberia

Don't miss the Franklin Graham All Liberia Life Festival online broadcast March 29 at 7:30pm ET
Franklin Graham's Prayer Request Stand with UsThree generations of Grahams in Liberia Billy Graham's 1960 Liberia Crusade

Strongholds in the Church: Control, religiosity, idolatry, pride

1.      Pride. This is a cunning enemy. It leads us to boast of the past, be consumed with appearances, and exalt our buildings and programs. The boastful American individualist pride has infiltrated the churches. God does not visit arrogance (Isaiah 57:15). Pride always leads us away from bowing our knees and repenting (Isaiah 55:6-7). Lack of repentance deadens our ears for hearing from God (Isaiah 6:9-10). We cannot honor pride, because He resists the proud (Proverbs 3:34).

2.      Religiosity. Religious pride was the downfall of the Pharisee who prayed to himself, “I thank you that I am not like other men” (Luke 18:11). Often our good-sounding prayers are simply a platform to puff ourselves up. Self-righteousness is religious snobbery. Having every detail of theology right is less important than a humble heart. Religious tradition, self-righteousness, and legalism are horrible masters that leave you shriveled with nothing but a critical spirit.

3.      Idolatry. Desiring to be worshiped was the downfall of Satan, and when churches or church structures or church leadership desire the worship that is God’s alone, we have a problem. Satan dresses up his most alluring temptations as worship of “good things.” We make idols of our church, our denomination, our success, our accomplishments, our past, our image, or our reputation. We might find ourselves paying homage to great programs, attendance or budget numbers, our superior theological system, our tradition, our seminary degrees, even our pastor. This is rebellion to God’s clear command to have no other gods before Me (Exodus 20:3). What does a church place its faith in? The object of a church’s faith is its god. We need to pray, “Lord, remove every sacred cow we have danced around.” Would you be so bold as to pray, “Ruin everything that is not of you”? Are you willing to let go of everything that is not of Christ Jesus?

4.      Control. Control and power by any other spirit than the Holy Spirit is serious evil, even if it wears a suit and a smiling church face. Control can hide behind a doctrine of male superiority (not male leadership), or it can be matriarchal domination. Control can be obvious and authoritarian or it can be subtle and “lovingly” manipulative. Our churches have borrowed too much from politics and advertising with persuasion and manipulation. Churches are not exempt from the corrupting lust for power. When we are unwilling to let the Lord be the Lord (i.e., in charge), we put ourselves in His place, and that is a serious offense to God (Isaiah 42:8). God does not take lightly the act of usurping his ownership, authority, glory, and praise in His church or our lives. Control leads to a spirit of separation and that leads to division and that leads to defeat.

God calls us to repent (Psalm 51:4). He wants us to love Him with everything we are (Matthew 22:37-38), with all our heart (Psalm 119:2) and nothing else to get in the way.

Stronghold in the Church: Self-satisfaction

Self satisfaction. “You say, ‘I’m 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” (Revelation 3:17.) The deception of self-satisfaction can be so covered up we cannot see it. It is a blind spot. It is the plank in our eye (Matthew 7:3-5). 

Spurgeon says of this passage that churches are very apt to fall into this position, a position that may be far from her reputation outside (Revelation 3:15a) or inside (Revelation 3:17, “But you do not realize . . .”).[1] The world judges by externals. Christ judges by internals. 

The deception of self-satisfaction is one of indifference and carelessness (Revelation 3:15b-16). We must ask God to reveal our blind spots. For a local congregation, new members and visitors are our best friends when they help us identify them. Self-satisfaction never considers the need for self-examination or accountability (Psalm 139:23-24). It assumes that self is the standard by which to measure everyone else. 

Self-satisfaction does not want to be bothered with how the world has changed around it. Within its own self-constructed fortress, self-satisfaction spends its days admiring itself, its past, its goodness, and its own self-sufficiency (Revelation 3:17), unaware that it is mired in hypocrisy (Matthew 16:16-22). 

Self-satisfaction values human opinion above the Word of God (Matthew 15:1-6). Self-satisfaction is more concerned with appearance and image and the self-deception of hypocrisy than with Christ-honoring authenticity (Matthew 15:7-11). Because of this one thing, many of our young people leave the church and never come back. 

Self-satisfaction is deeply offended by hearing that it is not righteous, but is only right-ish (Matthew 15:12), “Did you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” God honors hungry, desperate seekers. Worship, abandoned worship is the opposite of self-satisfaction. 

Tozer writes, “The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestations of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted.”[2] It is the call of desperation for Christ. A.W. Tozer wrote, 

 

“Did you notice what Luke said about the Pharisees and their request that Jesus should rebuke His disciples for praising God with loud voices? Their ritual rules probably allowed them to whisper the words, “Glory to God!”, but it really pained them to hear anyone saying them out loud. Jesus told the Pharisees in effect: ‘They are doing the right thing. God my Father and I and the Holy Spirit are to be worshiped. If men and women will not worship me, the very rocks will shout out my praises!’ Those religious Pharisees, polished and smoothed and polished again, would have died right there in their tracks if they had heard a rock given a voice and praising the Lord. Well, we have great churches and we have beautiful sanctuaries and we join in the chorus, ‘We have need of nothing.’ But there is every indication that we are in need of worshipers.”[3]

Our adversary dulls us with our own comfort, wealth, success, charm, or goodness. Self-satisfaction is easily recognized by the self-imposed stiffness in our religious lives. Self-satisfaction is a profound blindness (Matthew 15:13-14). The worst thing about self-satisfaction is that, like carbon monoxide, it lulls us into a deadly sleep of no appetite, no desperation for the Lord. The lack of desperation is a silent killer. It regularly kills churches. The only antidote to self-satisfaction is crucifixion by way of repentance (Revelation 3:19). In that way the Lord Jesus will be allowed back into their midst to do his work and be worshiped (Revelation 3:20).

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[1] Charles H. Spurgeon, “An Earnest Warning about Lukewarmness, July 26, 1874, Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

[2] A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God (Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 1982), 17.

[3] A.W. Tozer, Whatever Happened to Worship? (Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 1982),  16.

Coffee: The antidote for . . .

Church during March Madness

I've pretty much come to the place that in North Carolina we should cancel Sunday night services during March Madness and the first two Sundays after Daylight Savings Time changes. The attendance halves.

Isaiah 64 - The Potter and the Clay

Image by nanda_uforians via Flickr

Contextual Notes:

The prophecy of Isaiah focuses on one Royal, Priestly, Suffering, Divine Son of David. For 39 chapters He is the King coming to judge sin, then beginning at chapter 40, He is the comforting Servant who through suffering, dying, and rising (53), fulfills all God’s covenants (54-55), transforms our future from our present sinfulness (56) through repentance (57), and makes us like Himself (58).

Though sin destroys relationships with God and others (59:1-15a), the Redeemer’s intercession (59:15b-21) gives us the hope, honor, transformation (60) of a relationship with the Redeemer Himself in wedding robes of righteousness proclaiming favor, prosperity, and joy (61). The Bridegroom (61:9-10) calls his delightful bride, his people, (62:1-5) to watchman intercession for Messiah’s purpose (62:1-7), people (62:8-10), and proclamation (62:11-12).

The watchman sees Someone coming: Who is it, robed in splendor? He is the righteous and mighty, the compassionate and kind Savior (63:1-14), and the zealous and mighty Redeemer (63:15-19). He comes with the grace of God (64:1-5a) over the severity of sin (64:5b-7) through the power of intercession (64:8-12).[1]

Key Truth: Isaiah wrote Isaiah 64 to teach Israel the grace of God over the severity of sin through the power of intercession.

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about the Redeemer’s work.

Key Verse: Isaiah 64:8

Pray and Read:  Isaiah 64 (by sections)

Sermon Points:

1.   Learn the grace of God (Isaiah 64:1-5a)

2.   Learn the severity of sin (Isaiah 64:5b-7)

3.   Learn the importance of intercession (Isaiah 64:8-12)

Exposition:   Note well,

1.   LEARN THE GRACE OF GOD (Isaiah 64:1-5a)

a.   Isaiah yearns for God to act (64:1-3), but is so terribly aware that His people continue to sin. How can God save a people whose righteous acts are like filthy rags in God’s sight? (64:4-7). God is not just a moral governor. He is like a Father to his people. In His love and grace the Lord will save those who appeal to his mercy (64:8-12).

b.   63:16 – “You, O Lord, are our Father.” This is an awareness of a personal relationship with the Lord that Paul expresses in Romans 8:15.

c.   64:1 – In 63:15, the Lord is asked to look down from heaven, but in 64:1 he is asked to rend the heavens and come down.

d.   64:1-3: Isaiah’s use of fire and judgment has been common (1:31; 9:18; 10:17; 30:27, 30; 33:14; 65:5; 66:15).

e.   64:3 – cf. Luke 23:30; Revelation 6:16f.

f.    64:4 – cf. 1 Corinthians 2:9; Matthew 13:17

g.   APPLICATION: Until we know God as “our Father” in a personal relationship, he will not be real to us, nor will we be bound to him permanently. Romans 8:15 says that by the Lord Jesus we receive a spirit of sonship that does not make us a slave again to fear but causes us to cry out, “Abba, Father.”

2.   LEARN THE SEVERITY OF SIN (Isaiah 64:5b-7)

a.   54:6 – “All of us” is similar to 53:6. The uncleanness is being legally unclean (Leviticus 5:2; 7:19). Even their righteous acts are “filthy rags,” literally a “garment of times,” or a menstrual cloth. Our sins sweep us away (Psalm 1:1; Job 27:21). This human effort to save is fruitless and filthy (Ephesians 2:8-10)

b.   64:5-7: Sin’s nature: The modern critic says, “How can God judge so brutally? How can he trample men like grapes?” But Isaiah says, “How can we be saved?” These verses contain a complete description of the impact of sin on human beings.

                i.    First, sin is habit-forming: We continue to sin against God’s ways (64:5)

              ii.    Second, sin arouses the anger of God and directs it against us (64:5)

            iii.    Third, sin is defiling, making it impossible for us to approach Him (64:6)

             iv.    Fourth, sin so corrupts our character that even the best we can do is fouled by base motives (64:6)

               v.    Fifth, sin is destructive, shriveling us up from within and creating circumstances that sweep us away (64:6)

             vi.    Sixth, sin alienates us from God, creating a distaste for the Lord that keeps us from calling on His name (64:7)

           vii.    Seventh, sin causes God to hide His face from us and to judge us (64:7).

         viii.    In view of all that sin has done to us, it is no wonder Isaiah cries out, “How then can we be saved?” The answer is in verse 8.

c.   ILLUSTRATION:  James 1:14-15

d.   APPLICATION: Sin appears attractive at first, but it spoils soon. There is no future in walking in sin. There is only heartache, broken relationships, and hurt. Sin is a severe taskmaster. Leave it and walk free. Repent and receive Christ’s freedom.

3.   LEARN THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERCESSION (Isaiah 64:8-12)

a.   The Art of Priestly Intercession: In 64:7 we see that in sin there was no prayer going on, no one who would “lay hold” of the Lord in importunity as Jacob did at Peniel (Genesis 32:22-32). Now in 64:8-12 the prophet or the watchmen cry out in submission (64:8), then in appeal (64:9), then in advocacy (64:10-12).

b.   64:8 –A turn in thought, “And now” or “Yet” God is our Father (43:1). The figure of the potter (literally “the one who forms us”) has been used at 29:16 and 45:9. The thought is of 63:16 of redemption.

c.   64:9 – The people pray because prayer is the prerogative and privilege of those for whom the Lord is Father. They entreat him (“Be not angry”). Do not remember iniquity in the full measure of punishment in which it is due (54:7, 8). The prayer asks God to pay attention and consider that they are his people and in the relationship of covenant.

d.   64:10 – Verses 1-11 show a nation in need of revival. Note the contrast between the cities of Your holiness and the house of our holiness (v.11). The Temple has gone from the house of the Lord’s holiness to the house of our own holiness. Not good. The intercession reminds the Lord not to forget his covenant and to reclaim the cities of Judah. Cf. 6:11-13.

e.   64:11 – From cities to Jerusalem to the Temple, note the narrowing focus. The worship of God has become a desolation. If what is in view is the historical burning of the Temple (Jeremiah 52:13), then this is a prophecy, but Isaiah may be using a figure to express the terrible condition of worship into which the people had fallen.

f.    64:12 – Would Messiah not show mercy? (49:15-16; Exodus 34:6; Jeremiah 31:20). These verses are answered in the next verse.

g.   ILLUSTRATION: The Koreans are importunate prayer warriors. They pray so loud and with such fervency as a group that they must have a prayer bell to tell them when the time for prayer has ended.

h.   APPLICATION:  God’s people must come to the place of importunate prayer. The word intercession means to “go between,” i.e., to stand before God, pleading with him on behalf of others, just like what a priest does. Intercession is prayer that focuses on others, not yourself. Intercession is a priestly work, the work to which Isaiah was called in chap. 6 when he saw the High Priest upon the Throne. As believers, we are called to the priestly work of intercession. We are called to intercede for the salvation of our loved ones and friends and coworkers, to call them back from sin to repentance, the first step in evangelism. We are called to intercede for our community and our nation, for God’s mercy and grace to fall upon us, to call us back from sin to repentance, the first step in revival. We are called to intercede for the nations, for the Lord to call them from their sin into the Kingdom of the Son He loves, the first step in missions. When we pray fervently as this, we begin to have a proper sense of our sin and come to repentance.

Invitation:

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[1] Note the weaving of intercession with the Messiah. Isaiah 59 focuses on sin; Isaiah 60 on the Redeemer’s intercession. Then in Isaiah 61, the Messiah speaks and makes royal proclamations. In Isaiah 62 there is a call for watchmen in intercession. Then in Isaiah 63 the Messiah comes like a Warrior from the battle, dressed in the priestly wedding robes splattered with blood. Then Isaiah 64 is a watchman prayer of intercession. In Isaiah 65 we see the Redeemer’s intercession in response. Then in Isaiah 66 is the Glory. So the Messiah and intercession take us from sin (59) to glory (66).

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