This morning, we begin a series on Isaiah called Awesome God. The book of Isaiah is 66 chapters long! We have study guides available that small groups are using as they follow and discuss this series. We included a “Readers Digest" (a distilled version of Isaiah) in that booklet. All the key passages and highlights are included. Our team put a lot of work into that! I am praying that more people than ever will get into groups… or back into groups. I was looking at all the people who have stopped attending groups (and leading groups)—please tell us how we can help you reengage. You’re going to want to process this series with others. I am also praying that you will invite people to this series. We want to be a growing church—the harvest fields are ready!
I’m calling this first message: “God is Awesome in Seriousness.” I don't even know if seriousness is a real word. It passed spell check. But I think this is one of the things that people would find so shocking about God. I don’t even know what superlative to use. God is profoundly serious…gravely, utterly, intensely, deeply, extremely, exceedingly serious? The British would say, “deadly serious.” Isaiah shows us how profoundly God is affected by us. You may not care about God, but he cares about you. You may not love God, but he loves you. You may be careless about God, but he is jealous for you. You may have a hundred other priorities greater than God—but you are his priority. His agenda, his purpose and plan are centered around your redemption. God's mightiest, most awesome deeds, were done because God is serious about you…the cross being the most awesome deed.
There is a lot of historical intrigue to the book of Isaiah—and we will get into some of it. Isaiah was the Bible of Jesus, of the Apostles and Early Church. It's what they read, memorized, knew, and quoted. Every significant gospel truth you might feel compelled to share with someone is fully articulated in Isaiah. I like to think of Isaiah as the “first gospel." Matthew, Mark, Luke, John—Jesus Himself all anchored their understanding of God in Isaiah.
Let’s jump in here. Does anyone remember the “Magic Eye” books? One day a teacher posted one of these in our classroom and asked what we saw. At first everyone was confused. But then she explained if we’d stare long enough, a whole new world (a holographic world) would emerge. At first nobody believed her. Some thought it was a joke. But then someone shouted, “Wait a minute I think I see something! It's amazing!” Then another shouted, “I see it too. It’s like magic!” Many saw, but some never came to see.
The “Magic Eye” illustrations remind us that without faith, there is no seeing. To see, you have to first believe. You have to believe there was a deeper reality beyond the chaotic colors and digital patterns. And to see, you have to relax your eyes, in fact, you have to retrain the way they focus. And, of course, once you see you can’t stop seeing. You can’t un-see what you’ve now seen.
This was Isaiah’s experience of God. He lived in a deeply confusing time, full of chaos and pain. A time when everything was swirling downward, into a bottomless whirlpool of darkness and dread. Nobody could make much sense of anything, much less God. But then God gave Isaiah vision to see.
How many of you would agree that pain is confusing? In Isaiah's day people we’re spiraling downward Physically—it was a time of cruel violence and gross injustice. In Isaiah 1:5-6 people were undergoing beatings often because of their own rebelliousness. Look what Isaiah writes, “Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? The whole head is hurt, and the whole heart is sick. From the sole of the foot even to the head, no spot is uninjured—wounds, welts, and festering sores not cleansed, bandages, or soothed with oil…”
Economically, people’s livelihood was being plundered by the rich and by enemies. And what wealth people did have was greatly diminished. It sounds funny to say, but Isaiah 1:22 describes how their “silver become like dross to be discarded” and even “their beer was being diluted!” You know it's bad when you can’t even get a drink to numb the pain. The first miraculous sign Jesus would later perform was to provide undiluted wine at the Wedding in Cana. It was a sign that whatever they were enduring personally in days of Isaiah was over!
Politically, the Northern Kingdom (the Ten Tribes of Israel) was divided from the Southern Kingdom (The Tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and the Levites). In Isaiah 1:7-8 we read how the “land was desolate, cities burned down, foreigners devoured fields, and desolation evident everywhere.” People didn’t know where to turn, where to take shelter, where to hide, how to rebuild from ruin, they felt abandoned! Judges, rulers, governors—people at all levels of society—perverting justice.
People were Morally weighed down by their iniquities. The mightiest ships speed through the seven seas. But as they sail, their hulls begin to collect barnacles. This is also true of blue whales, sea turtles, and us. As we traverse the world, our sins don’t just roll off our backs, like water off a duck’s back. Our iniquities stick to us, they weigh us down, our sins are parasitic, attaching, draining us of life, until one day our ship capsizes and sink into the miry depths. And sin metastasizes, until it devours everyone around us. The ripple of affect of sin is not just personal, but societal. In Isaiah 1:4a God laments, “Oh sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, brood of evildoers, depraved children. . .”
Spiritually, people felt as disconnected from God as ever. How confusing is it when your worship… your services, sacrifices and burnt offerings, your “countless” prayers, your solemn assemblies, your music, festivals, celebrations . . . when all your spiritual busyness… feels inconsequential? How confusing is it when it feels that not only is heaven silent, but maybe God is dead too? Psychologically, people were being afflicted with bouts of depression… anxieties… fears… despair.
Yet all of these were symptoms of an even deeper problem. In Isaiah 1:2-3 God says, “Listen heavens, and pay attention earth, for the Lord has spoken: I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner; and the donkey its master’s feeding trough, but Israel does not know; my people do not understand.” Isaiah 1:4, “Oh sinful nation weighted down with iniquity… they have abandoned the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel; they have turned their backs on him.”
Despite our temptation to focus on the symptoms (on the pain), the root problem, the core diagnosis to all that ails humanity, is we’ve forsaken our God! There is so much pain echoed in God’s voice. It’s the pain of a parent… I raised you, I birthed you, I brought you up, and you rebel against me? It’s the pain of a farmer, shepherd, or rancher. My ox, my donkey at the trough more readily recognizes their master than God’ own people do! Animals come when called, but God’s people have turned backs on Him.
God is Awesome in Seriousness. Should we suppose God is going to let our rebellion fly? When I read Isaiah, I realize that God is both lovingly and terrifyingly serious about a relationship with me. “Lovingly serious” because God created us for relationship. “Terrifyingly serious", because if we don’t embrace this relationship, there isn’t any other salvageable purpose for our existence. The Bible says we exist for the praise of his glory. We were created by God and for God. Period. God’s question is, “Why do you want more pain? Why do you keep rebelling? Why have you forsaken me?” I’ll put it to you even more plainly.
In Isaiah 1:10-15, “Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 11 “What are all your sacrifices to me?” asks the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings and rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I have no desire for the blood of bulls, lambs, or male goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who requires this from you—this trampling of my courts? 13 Stop bringing useless offerings. Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons and Sabbaths, and the calling of solemn assemblies—I cannot stand iniquity with a festival. 14 I hate your New Moons and prescribed festivals. They have become a burden to me; I am tired of putting up with them. 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will refuse to look at you; even if you offer countless prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”
We can be as spiritually active as ever and yet as spiritually dead as ever! Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.” Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ 23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!”
To the Church at Ephesus, Jesus pleaded, return to your first love! Paul’s devastating critique of the Gentiles and Nations in Romans 1:18-21, “18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened.”
All of Israel’s pain was only a symptom of a deeper problem. The deeper diagnosis was they didn’t want to know and love God. The ox and donkey know who supplies food in their trough… but this people cannot so much as lift our eyes to heaven and thank God. In Isaiah, pain is our chief “symptom.” And what is the diagnosis? It's that despite how awesome God truly is, and all he's done, we don't care to know him.
If the symptom is pain. If the diagnosis is we don't know God. What then is the prescription for healing our fractured relationship with God? In Isaiah, three pathways are set before God’s people. PATHWAY #1 we can call “Repentance Leading to Renewal.” Next week is Decision Day. Baptism Sunday! Let Isaiah 1:16-19 show you how quickly and easily you can get back on track with God. “Wash yourselves. Cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from my sight. Stop doing evil. 17 Learn to do what is good. Pursue justice. Correct the oppressor. Defend the rights of the fatherless. Plead the widow’s cause. 18 “Come, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are crimson red, they will be like wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land.”
Isaiah 1:16-19 shows how simple and beautiful a relationship with God should be. Jesus said, “Repent and Believe.” The Apostles said, “Repent and be Baptized for the forgiveness of sin and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Let’s settle this! So PATHWAY #2 we can call, “Discipline Leading to Repentance.”
The bottom line is that God is serious enough about you that he disciplines you. It means God willingly permits pain, if there is remotest prospect that pain bring us to repentance. It’s Hebrews 12:5-12, “. . . My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly or lose heart when you are reproved by him, 6 for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and punishes every son he receives. 7 Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline—which all receive—then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had human fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but he does it for our benefit, so that we can share his holiness. 11 No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore, strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed instead.” *Both Judah and Israel choose this second path. How does God respond? He uses the cruelty of Assyria and Babylon as rod of discipline, not to destroy his people, but to bring them to repentance. The irony is all that pain and discipline is unnecessary if you just humble yourself. But God uses pain to rebuke, train, and break our pride.
A THIRD PATH set before us is “Rebellion Leading to Destruction.” There are those who, when calamity comes, instead of trusting God, double down, and resist God. Both Israel and Judah’s rebellion cascades into national demise. God's constant complaint was Isaiah 6:9-10: “Go! Say to these people: Keep listening, but do not understand; keep looking, but do not perceive. 10 Make the minds of these people dull; deafen their ears and blind their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed.” Listen to Isaiah 1:19-20: “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land. 20 But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Sadly, some would rather be devoured than repent or be redeemed. Its Hebrews 10:26-27, “For if we deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries.” Still don't think God is awesome in seriousness? Isaiah 1:27-28, “Zion will be redeemed by justice, those who repent, by righteousness. 28 At the same time both rebels and sinners will be broken, and those who abandon the Lord will perish.” Where will you be found on that day?