Thanks, Amy. Let's pray and ask God to illuminate his words in our hearts.
Father, these words belong to you, and we believe that you speak to us today by your
spirit, and we pray, Father, that these words might cut us deep inside of us, so they might
change us. We pray that through our hearing of your word, that Jesus' name would be honoured
among us and among the nations, so that all glory might go to you, and we pray this in
Jesus' name. Amen. Years ago, I was involved in a beach mission to a little place called
Windang down the south coast. Yeah? You know Windang? Yeah, it's a pretty dirty little town,
if I could say so. High youth unemployment. It's the first time that I've met Satan worshippers,
and it was really interesting. I was involved with the mission to the adults. There was a,
somebody was giving a talk, and I think it was a heroin addict and dealer and all that sort
of stuff, and at the end of it all, one of the young blokes sort of stood up and said,
you know, I'll believe you if your God comes down and he lights my cigarette. He was going
to say something else, but he thought, you know, he didn't want to offend our Christian
sensitivity. And there was a very interesting proposition to prove the truthfulness of the
gospel. Of course, we were unable to do it, and he left. It might very well be a good question,
and that is, how do we show our peers, people around us, God? Where is our God to be found?
That might be a question for non-Christians, but it might be a question for Christians as well,
too. If you're going through a hard time, difficult patch in your life, you might be asking this
question, well, where is God to be found? Do I need to storm heaven in order to see God?
We see today that there are two significant problems, two significant problems for the presence
of God. The first one is the corruption of his people. That is how our passage begins.
God's people is just terrible. There's nothing to command God's people, and we can see that
the corruption of his people starts from its head, and we can see that in chapter 56, the last few verses.
Verse 10,
Come, all you beasts of the field, come and devour all you beasts of the forest. So it is an invitation to summon
by God to the animals to consume his people. Why? Verse 10, Israel's watchmen are blind.
They all lack knowledge. They are like mute dogs. They can't bark. They lie around, dream, scratch their
tummies. They love to sleep. They're dogs with mighty appetites. They never have enough. They're shepherds who lack
understanding, or they all turn to their own way. Each seeks his own gain. Come, each one cries. Let me get
wine. Let us drink our fill of beer, and tomorrow we'll be like today, or even better.
A terrible picture of what Israel is like. The head is corrupt. Verse 10, the watchmen of Israel.
I mean, who were the watchmen presumably in that time? You've got fortress, fortified cities,
and people were assigned to care for the city by warning the city of its danger. The watchmen,
you know, they stand at the turrets and watch for impending danger. It's a great, one of the,
I imagine, prerequisite of being a watchmen is that you have good eyesight. I couldn't be a good watchman
because I've got terrible eyesight. But these watchmen, the watchmen of Israel, they were blind.
They couldn't see. How could they possibly save Israel from danger? They were ignorant and they were lazy.
And unlike me, who's got a genetic thing with my eyesight, these people were willfully blind. They were
deliberately ignorant. And we can see the source of their ignorance and blindness in verses 11 and 12.
They were ignorant and they were blind because they love so much. They were lovers. They love their work.
They love their families. They love themselves. They comfort their ambitions, their hobbies. They love their drink.
They love everything except for the people they were supposed to love and protect.
And as a result, the people of God is devout. It is a sick head, but the body is equally sick.
Have a look at chapter 57.
The righteous perish and no one ponders it in his heart. Devout men are taken away and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.
Those who walk uprightly, however, enter into peace. They find rest as they lie in death.
You know, the whole place is so bad that even when the little good disappears, no one notices.
This is how bad things were. And the accusation becomes more direct.
But you, not just the head, but the body, you, everyone, come here, you sons of a sorceress,
you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes.
Whom are you mocking? At whom do you sneer and stick out your tongue?
Are you not a brood of rebels, offspring of liars?
You burn with lust among the oaks and under every spreading tree.
You sacrifice your children in the ravines and under the overhanging crags.
The idol among the smooth stones of the ravines, they are your portion.
They are your lot.
Yes, to them you have poured out drink offerings and offered grain offerings.
In the light of these things, should I relent?
Et cetera, et cetera.
This is what the people of God is like.
They are children of sorceress and prostitutes and adulterers.
It's not so much an indictment on their parents.
It's really talking about what they are like.
So if you are a son of rebellion, it's not saying that rebellion gives birth to you,
but you have the characteristic.
You have the family trait of rebellion.
So in other words, you are a rebel.
If you are...
So these people, they are children of unfaithfulness.
They are characterized by their unworthiness, their unfaithfulness.
They are spiritually promiscuous.
They are sons of liars.
They are people who are deceitful.
They lie.
They mock.
They stick their tang out.
At God, presumably.
At the righteous.
Mind you, it is not that they are irreligious.
Have a look at verses 5 to 8 again.
This is a people full of religion.
But they sacrifice to idols.
Religion is everywhere, from on top of the mountain to the ravines.
They sacrifice everything, even their children.
In verses 9 and 10, we are told that they went down to Molech,
and they send their ambassadors to afar.
They were so eager to seek out their spiritual lovers that they will go far and wide.
Later on, God accused them to acknowledge the futility and the hopelessness of their idolatry,
something that they refused to see.
They just don't see that as a complete waste of time and effort.
And they keep going back to their idols, hoping to get something from them.
Of course, just as an interlude, we might observe that this is not just what the people of God did thousands of years ago.
It's something that we are engaged in in our own time.
In our city, Christians, and maybe even our church, that we prostitute ourselves to our idols.
I don't know whether I mentioned this before.
It is interesting the way Isaiah describes their idols.
Have a look at verse 11.
Whom have you so dreaded and feared that you have been false to me,
and have neither remembered me, nor pondered this in your hearts?
Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear me?
The motivation for their idolatry was, in fact, fear.
Whom have you so dreaded and feared?
I can't remember when I said this in this congregation.
The way that you can tell what you worship is by what you fear.
Whatever you have nightmares about, that is the thing that you worship.
That is your God.
If you're afraid of being alone, if you're afraid of losing your financial security,
if whatever it is that you're afraid of, that is your God.
And we prostitute ourselves to our gods.
We sell our souls for all sorts of things.
For pleasure.
For a relationship.
For approval.
For a pat on the back by our boss.
For applause from our peers.
We even place our children on the altar, as it were,
and sacrifice them to the God of success.
I come from a culture where people would send the, you know,
there was someone in my church, previous church,
who offered to coach my four-year-old, Maths.
And I thought about taking her on her offer.
We put our children on the altar of success.
Not just academic, but sporting, or their self-esteem, their popularity.
And we might ask the question,
when we sacrifice to our idols,
when we lay ourselves and our future and our children on those altars,
we better make sure that it's worth it.
You know, when you make that decision to go out with that non-Christian boy or girl,
you better make sure that you're selling your soul for something that is worthwhile.
He better be worth it for your soul.
That's an enormous problem, isn't it?
That the people of God could be so corrupt from the top to the bottom.
But there is a bigger problem.
There is a bigger problem.
And it's a little bit subtle.
It's a little bit hard to notice.
And I might need to point it out for you to...
The bigger problem here is the context.
It's the context.
Why is that a problem?
It's hard.
I know it's hard when we go through from week to week.
Isaiah, it sort of all gets a bit lost.
We don't know when...
Just to refresh your memory,
Isaiah, the book itself, is divided,
or could be divided into two parts.
The first part is really looking at the impending judgment of God
for the idolatry of Israel.
That's the first part, first 39 chapters.
God warns his people,
if you don't quit your idolatry and prostituting and all this stuff,
I'm going to come and smash you.
And I'm going to give you a warning.
This is what's going to happen to the Northern Kingdom.
The Assyrians are going to come,
and they're going to smash the North.
And that's what happened.
But I'm going to spare you, the South Jerusalem,
from this, but you need to turn.
They didn't.
And God says, what I'm going to do is I'm going to send something worse than the Assyrians,
the Babylonians.
They're going to come,
and they're going to destroy everything that represents me.
They're going to come and destroy the temple,
the symbolic presence,
my presence,
and they're going to take you away from the land,
the symbol of my blessing and protection to you.
Everything that reminds you of me is going to be taken away from you.
A little bit like Eden, you remember.
Genesis chapter 3,
Adam and Eve cast out from the garden.
They're not allowed to return
because there's an angel with a flaming sword.
Everything,
the people of God will be cast out once again,
exiled from the presence of God.
That's the first 39 chapters,
but that's not the end of the book.
There's the second part of Isaiah.
There will be a return,
a return from exile.
There will be salvation.
The people would come back to the land,
the temple would be rebuilt on Zion,
and the nations would come stream to Zion.
This is the second part of the book.
Where is chapter 57 in?
The second part of the book.
It sounds a lot like the first part of the book.
Doesn't it?
Here's the people of God
being accused of exactly the same thing
before the Babylonian exile.
They're going back to their old ways.
It reminds me a little bit
of what happened to Noah.
You remember.
You know,
God was sick of the wickedness
and the evil of our race,
the human race,
and he said,
I'm going to wipe out everyone,
but I'm going to save Noah.
I'm going to save Noah
and create a new people out of him.
So everything on the face of the earth
was wiped out,
except for Noah and his family,
the righteous man.
And God says,
I'm going to make a promise to you.
I'm not going to destroy the earth
by flood water ever again.
Even though,
this is Genesis chapter 8, 21.
Do you remember what he says?
Even though every inclination of his heart
is evil from youth.
Everything,
every inclination,
everything that you desire,
your proclivities,
everything,
is evil
from when you were a child.
The judgment of God,
it seems,
did not solve the problem.
The earth was almost destroyed,
but what did not change
was the human heart.
And there it is.
Again, here,
the exile of God's people
to a foreign land,
everything that represents God
is taken away from them.
They brought back into the land.
Did that change their heart?
Clearly not.
From the head to the toe,
still sick.
Something has to be done.
Something much more dramatic
than an exile and a return.
Which takes us to chapter 57,
verse 14.
The highlight,
in my view,
of our passage.
The Lord says,
and it will be said
on a day in the future,
build up,
prepare the road,
remove the obstacles
out of the way
of my people.
There will be a great
returning.
Instead of turning away
from God,
people,
his people will now
turn to God.
But there is a greater
reversal in 15.
And this was,
this verse just blew me away
during the course of this week
when I read it.
So come and have a look at it.
It says,
for,
because,
this is what the high
and lofty one says,
he who lives
in eternity,
whose name is holy,
I live in a high
and holy place,
but,
also with him
who is contrite
and lowly in spirit.
I live with him
to revive the spirit
of the lowly
and to revive the heart
of the contrite.
This is the other
great reversal.
Did you notice
how God is described?
High
and lofty,
dwelling
in eternity.
When I was teaching
scripture,
I get this question
a lot,
and I think I got this
question from one
of my daughters.
The question is,
who created God?
Have you ever got that one?
Who created God?
Do you know why
they ask this question?
Because it is impossible
for us who do not dwell
in eternity
to imagine one
who has no beginning
and no ending.
Therefore,
God must have been created
like we are.
God who dwells
in eternity,
who has no beginning,
so no one created him,
and who has no ending,
so that no one
will judge him.
He is the
holy one.
The holy one.
You know,
in the Old Testament,
there's the temple
divided into all
these sections,
and,
you know,
there are all these
rituals associated
with the temple.
There's blood
everywhere,
splatters,
you know,
and every time
somebody comes
near the temple,
something has to die.
You know,
imagine that sort
of church.
and right in front
of this temple,
you know,
if we were to put
a sign there,
you know what the sign
would say?
Stay away.
That's what the temple,
the sign in front
of the temple
would say.
Keep out,
stay away,
you are not
welcomed.
That is the temple
of God.
That's what it means
to be holy.
Did you realize that?
No.
Every word
that you could
possibly come up
with to describe
the difference
between you
and God
is he,
in verse 15.
The lofty one,
the one who dwells
on high
in eternity.
He is so different,
so separate
from us.
You know,
just to reinforce
the point,
do you remember
Isaiah,
what he says
back in chapter 6
when he saw
the one
on the throne.
Chapter 6,
you remember
we looked at this
during the course
of our series.
In the year
that King Uzziah
died,
as I wrote,
I saw the Lord
seated on the throne,
high and exalted,
similar to the language,
and the train
of his robe
filled the temple.
Above him
were seraph,
which literally
means the burning ones.
each with six wings,
with two wings
that cover the faces,
two that cover the feet,
and two,
with two,
they were flying.
The created ones
who have not fallen,
these are unsinful ones,
they couldn't even look
at the presence of God,
they had to cover the faces,
and they were calling out
to one another,
holy,
it's the Lord Almighty,
the whole earth
is full of his glory.
The sound of the voices,
the doorposts,
and the threshold shook,
and the temple
was filled with smoke,
and Isaiah says,
I'm a dead person.
Woe to me,
I'm ruined,
for I am a man
of unclean lips,
and I live among
the people
of unclean lips.
My eyes have seen
the King,
the God Almighty.
He is dead
because he is unholy,
unlike the Lord.
This is the same God,
and yet,
in verse 15,
did you notice
the great reversal?
But,
he who dwells
in eternity,
he will also
dwell
with the contrite.
Did you notice that?
You see,
the sign didn't change.
The sign to the temple
didn't say,
welcome.
That's not the change.
Because what does it say?
Verse 15.
Who's dwelling
with whom?
Sorry,
this isn't rhetorical,
this is actually
inviting you
to participate.
Who's dwelling
with whom
in verse 15?
Yeah.
I can't see who said it,
but yes,
that's exactly right.
The unimaginable
is not that sinful men
and women
and boys and girls
are invited
into the temple.
That is not
what's happening.
Rather,
the holy God
is coming
out from his temple
to dwell
amongst
his people.
See,
we take this
so for granted.
It is such
a new idea.
God is coming
to dwell
among his
people.
He will step
out from heaven
to do that.
And as a result,
there is
life.
Verses 16
to 19.
I will not
accuse forever,
nor will I
always be angry.
For then
the spirit of man
will grow faint
before me,
the breath of man
that I have created.
I was enraged
by his sinful greed.
I punished him
and hid my face
in anger,
yet he kept on
in his willful ways.
I have seen
his ways,
but
I will heal him.
I will guide him
and restore comfort
to him,
creating praise
on the lips
of the mourners
in Israel.
Peace,
peace to those
far and near,
says the Lord,
and I
will heal him.
This
is what
God will do.
He was
angry,
but his
anger will be
turned.
There is
healing
and comfort
and peace.
Everything
will be
reconciled
and restored.
Things
will be
as they
should be.
The disease
that has
caused the
people of God
to keep
sinning,
the thing
that has
led them
to their
idolatry
again and
the judgment
of God
will finally
be healed.
Because
what is
their problem?
Ultimately
is not just
the external,
ultimately
is
their
hearts.
the
problem
with the
world
is
here.
And the
Lord
promised
he needed,
how could
a holy
God dwell
among sinful
people,
even when
they're forgiven?
They need
to be
changed
in such
a way
that they
will not
sin
anymore.
cleanse.
And the
only way
that that
happens
is if
their
heart
itself
gets
ripped
out
and
a
new
heart
gets
given.
And this
is what
Jeremiah
says,
Jeremiah
31,
31 to
33,
behold,
the days
are coming,
says the
Lord,
when I
will make
a new
covenant
with the
house of
Israel.
I
will put
my
law
in
them.
I
will
write
it
on
their
hearts
and
I
will
be
their
God
and
they
will
be
my
people.
One
day
I
will
give
them
the
ability
to
obey
my
laws.
Ezekiel
says,
a new
heart
I
will
give
you,
a new
spirit
I
will
put
within
you.
I
will
take
out
of
your
flesh
a
heart
of
stone
and
give
you
a
heart
of
flesh.
I
will
put
my
spirit
within
you.
The
way
he's
going
to
do
it
is
he's
going
to
put
his
spirit
in
them.
His
spirit
will
change
their
heart.
They're
all
saying
the
same
thing
as
I
Jeremiah
Ezekiel.
They see
the time
that is
coming
when the
sick,
disobedient,
high-hearted
people
will be
supernaturally
changed.
Their
hearts
will be
changed
and God
will give
them the
ability
to live
new
lives.
This
is when
the
lofty
one,
the one
who dwells
in
eternity
can now
dwell with
them.
Not
just
saving
his
people
from
exile,
but
transforming
them
so that
they can
return
to him
so that
the
holy
one
can
dwell
among
sinful,
corrupt
people.
Three
conclusions,
really hard,
quickly,
because I
just noticed
I got a
call from
Jan,
and that
is making
me very
nervous.
Firstly,
first
conclusion is
where is
God to
be found?
Where is
God to
be found?
Is it
the case?
Could I
have shown
the young
man where
God could
be found?
Well,
yes.
He who
dwells in
lofty
places,
in some
respect,
this young
man could
never have
ascended to
heaven to
meet God.
And yet,
this is a
God who
could be
found,
who could
be approached.
Instead of
a place,
like a
temple,
like a
church,
he's to
be found
in Jesus.
I wonder
whether
sometimes you
feel the
pressure
yourself to
experience the
presence of
God, to
demonstrate his
power to
other people.
Well, I
think the
word to
us is
show where
God is in
Jesus,
not in
things that
are necessarily
clever and
impressive.
Where is God
to be found?
He is to be
found in
Jesus.
Secondly,
what sort
of people
do you
think will
dwell with
God or
God dwell
with them?
You notice
here it's not
the strong
people, not
the worthy
people, not
the religious
people.
They were
religious.
They were
very religious.
I just want
to take you
very quickly
to Isaiah
chapter 1
from verse
10.
This is the
accusation that
the Lord has
directed to
his people,
the religious
people.
Chapter 1
verse 10,
the same sort
of accusation.
Hear the
word of
the Lord,
you rulers
of Sodom.
Listen to
the law of
our God,
you people
of Gomorrah.
The multitude
of your
sacrifices,
what are they
to me?
Says the
Lord.
I have
more than
enough
burnt
offerings
of rams
and the
fed of
fathed
animals.
I have
no
pleasure
in the
blood
of
bulls
and
lambs
and
goats.
When
you come
to appear
before me,
who has
asked this
of you,
this trampling
of my
cords?
Stop
bringing
meaningless
offerings.
Your
incense is
detestable
and your
pointed
feasts
my soul
hates.
They
become a
burden
to me.
I'm
weary
of
bearing
them.
When
you
spread
out
your
hands
in
prayer,
I
will
hide
my
eyes
from
you.
Even
if you
offer
many
prayers,
I
will
not
listen.
Your
hands
are
full
of
blood.
This
is an
indictment
on
Israel
in her
religion.
Imagine
if God
were saying
this,
your
singing
every
Sunday
makes
me
sick.
Makes
me
sick.
Who
me
a
favor
by
putting
money
on
the
offer
tree
back?
Your
money
makes
me
ill.
I
can't
bear
to
touch
it.
I
wish
you
would
stop
doing
it.
I
can't
stand
your
wicked
Bible
studies.
I
hate
your
singing,
your
services,
especially
your
Christmas
and
Easter
service.
In
fact,
frankly,
they
are a
burden
to
me,
and
I'm
sick
of
carrying
it.
I've
had
enough
of
your
prayers
for
so
long
that
I
have
stopped
listening
to
you.
Imagine
that.
Could you
imagine
if this
was said
of a
church,
not ours,
of course,
the
Presbyterians?
You
know,
I wonder
whether
that's
what we
think is
our
problem
with
God.
If
we
do
more
ministry,
or maybe
it's
somebody
else's
fault
that
we
don't
experience
God.
You
see,
what
does
the
Lord
require
of
his
people?
Is
his
sacrifices?
Psalm 51,
17.
It's not
your
sacrifice
that I
desire.
The
sacrifice
of the
Lord
is a
broken
and
contrite
heart.
The
two
men
who
went
to
the
temple,
there's
a
Pharisee
and
there's
a
tax
collector.
Who
left
the
temple
justified.
The
one
who
threw
himself
at
the
mercy
of
God.
This
is
what
the
Lord
desired,
not
your
religion.
He
desires
you to
be
broken,
to
recognize
that
you
are
a
sinner,
so
that
you
might
throw
yourself
down
at
his
feet
for
his
mercy.
And
it
is
there
that
you
will
find
mercy.
Lastly,
being
mission
month,
we
come
back
to
mission.
Of
course,
it
was
quite
disappointing
nobody
says,
oh,
you
know,
we
really
motivated
for
global
missions
since
looking
at
Isaiah.
Sad,
really.
But if
you notice
chapter 57,
how does
it end?
end?
How does
it end?
It ends
with a
warning.
But notice
in verse
19,
creating
praise on
the lips
of the
mourners
in Israel,
peace,
peace to
those far
and near,
says the
Lord,
and I
will heal
them.
Far
and near.
The message
for those
who can
experience
the presence
of God.
Far
and near.
Not
just near,
far.
It sort
of makes
me think,
wow,
you know,
God sees
beyond the
generation
in his
time.
That his
purpose is
to save
the nations
beyond the
wars of
Israel.
And it is
being fulfilled.
Us sitting
here in
Sydney,
more than
2,700
years later,
have been
saved by
him.
Did you
know that
global
mission is
part of
God's
plans and
purpose for
the world?
God's
love
and it
will not
fail.
It will
not fail
even if you
don't give
one single
cent to
it and
if you're
not part
of it.
You're not
doing him
a favor
if you
don't
pledge.
In fact,
what God
does is he
includes us
in his
wonderful
plans so
that we
can be
blessed,
so that
the presence
of the
Lord will
be all
over the
world,
not just
amongst us.
Wouldn't
it be
wonderful to
see God's
presence in
the Middle
East?
That people
come to
experience the
forgiveness and
the presence of
the one who's
created them and
he forgives
them?
Do you think
he could do
it?
Do you
want to be
blessed,
to be
included as
part of
that work
so that
in 10,000
years' time
when we
stand shoulder
to shoulder
with our
Arab brothers
and sisters
we can be
giving praise
to our
Lord Jesus
Christ?
That's what
Mission Month
is about.
That's what
the 29th
is about.
It's saying
that we
believe that
this is God's
plan for the
world and
it will not
fail and
we would
love to be
part of
this.
Would you
like to be
part of
it?