Good morning, church. It's good to see you all. Good to be with you all. Happy Father's Day.
Happy Juneteenth. Would you turn with me to the book of Isaiah? This summer we've been studying
Isaiah 40 through 55, and today we come to chapter 43, verse 22. That's page 565 in the Pew Bible,
565. And this passage of Isaiah that we're looking at extends all the way to chapter 44,
verse 23. That's nearly all of page 566 in the Pew Bible. And there are three parts to this passage,
and Isaiah. I'm going to begin by reading the first two parts. That's chapter 43, verse 22,
through chapter 44, verse 5. So let me pray, and then I'll read that section for us. Let's pray together.
Father, grant us light that we may not simply understand your word, but truly receive it by
your Spirit. And so would you renew us inwardly and outwardly for Christ's sake. In his name we pray.
Amen. All right. Isaiah 43, all the way through 44. Isaiah 43, 22, all the way through 44, 5. Let me
read for us. Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob, but you have been weary of me, O Israel. You've not
brought me your sheep for burnt offerings or honored me with your sacrifices. I've not burdened you with
offerings or wearied you with frankincense. You have not bought me, sweet cane, with money or satisfied
me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins. You have wearied me
with your iniquities. I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not
remember your sins. Put me in remembrance. Let us argue together. Set forth your case that you may be
proved right. Your first father sinned. Your mediators transgressed against me. Therefore,
I will profane the princes of the sanctuary and deliver Jacob to utter destruction and Israel to
reviling. But now hear, O Jacob, my servant, Israel, whom I have chosen. Thus says the Lord who made you,
who formed you from the womb and will help you. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have
chosen. For I will pour out on the thirsty, I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on
the dry ground. I will pour my spirit upon your offspring and my blessing on your descendants.
They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. This one will say,
I am the Lord's. Another will call on the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand,
the Lord's, and name himself by the name of Israel. Well, I wonder if it's ever occurred to you
that right now you and I could be engaged in one of the most deadly and dangerous of spiritual
activities. Coming to church, singing songs, reading the Bible, listening to a sermon, right now you and I
could be doing something that is utterly dangerous, even deadly for our souls.
But how could that be? All the things we're doing right now are things God tells us to do. He tells
us to gather, to sing, to read, to listen to his word for our spiritual good. Isn't this what we're
supposed to be doing? How could this be spiritually dangerous? How could this be spiritually deadly?
Ah, but it can be. In this passage of Isaiah, God is getting down to the root of our human condition.
Last week in the passage right before ours, God speaks, God spoke of his intention to liberate his
people from exile. Just as he saved them from slavery in Egypt, so he was going to save them
from exile in Babylon. A new exodus is coming, God says. Yet, yet, that's how our text today starts. Yet,
there is still a deeper problem that needs to be addressed. And what is that problem?
Well, it's the problem of our sin. But here's the thing. On the outside, in Isaiah's day,
the people didn't look all that bad. In fact, they were very, very religious. They went to the temple.
They sang songs. They offered sacrifices. They gave offerings. They were very, very religious.
But, and this is why it was so dangerous and deadly, it was all a formality.
There was a lot of outward form, but no inward reality.
Could that be you today? Could that be us, corporately, as a church?
On the outside, could we look like we're doing all the proper things without any inward reality?
Could it be that though we are very religious outwardly, we're just as lost as ever?
And if so, what's the answer?
Well, this is what our passage is about.
The people need, you and I need, the church needs, not just a political or material redemption,
but a spiritual heart renewal.
Let's walk through Isaiah's text, and let's see how God addresses this problem.
First, in verses 22 through 24, 22 through 24, God exposes our empty formality.
God exposes our empty formalities.
If you look at these verses again, verses 22 through 24, it's important to realize that the pronoun
me, in verse 22, for example, is in the emphatic position, and I tried to read it that way.
In other words, the text is not saying that the people aren't sacrificing at all.
Rather, they're not really offering their sacrifices to the Lord.
You've not called upon me.
You've not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings.
They're going through the motions, but there's no true worship of the Lord.
Empty ritual had replaced real repentance and real devotion.
And that meant they weren't doing these things for the Lord.
They weren't doing these things for the Lord to know Him, to enjoy Him, to love Him.
It turns out they were doing all those things for themselves.
They went through the empty formality.
They went through the religious motions, maybe, maybe just to look good to their neighbors,
you know, to keep up appearances, or perhaps to please their family, you know, to just go
through the motions of what their parents had done.
Or perhaps, more subtly, they did these things to try to get God's favor or to try to manipulate
God.
This is the kind of thinking that says, God, I'll do these things for you.
Now, you do something for me.
I'll show up.
I'll do the rites, the rituals, the acts.
I'll go through the motions.
You give me a comfortable life.
You keep me from trial and hardship.
I do my part, God.
You do yours.
I wonder, do you see any of this in your own heart as we sit here at church, sing songs,
and listen to Scripture read?
Do you see any signs of empty formality in your own life?
Here are perhaps two signs that were sliding in this dangerous direction.
First, weariness.
Notice again verse 22.
You did not call upon me, O Jacob, but you have been weary of me, O Israel.
Empty formality, you see, is wearying.
It's burdensome.
There's no joy in it.
If as a church we do things because that's how we've always done them, or because this
is how we keep up appearances as godly people, or if we go through the motions because we think
this is how we get a comfortable life from God, there will be no joy.
It will get stale.
It will become a burden.
And tragically, we'll even start to be weary of God himself.
You have been weary of me, God says in verse 22.
Now, of course, for Old Testament believers, the temple worship and the sacrifices weren't
originally given to be a burden.
The Old Testament sacrifices were meant to be signs of a vital relationship with God.
They were meant to be means to experience the promises of God's forgiveness and grace.
Ultimately, we know they were signs pointing ahead to the ultimate atonement in Christ.
So these things weren't meant to be a burden.
They were meant to be signs or ways to enjoy their relationship with God.
But when religious practices become an empty ritual, empty formalism, they're not that anymore.
They're a burden.
And we become weary.
We even start to get weary, we think, of God himself.
The second sign that we might be sliding into the danger of empty formalism is that we're
blinded to the reality of our sinfulness.
Look at the end of verse 24.
You have burdened me with your sins, God says.
You have wearied me with your iniquities.
God, in essence, is saying here, all that time you were going through the empty motions,
trying to keep up appearances, trying to get me in your pocket, that whole time you were
doing those outwardly religious things, you know what was really happening?
Your sins were just mounting up.
You thought that your religious acts could make up for your sins.
You thought that if you gave enough sacrifices or performed enough religious duties that you
could maybe earn or get a little closer to a right relationship with me or at least get
a comfortable life out of me.
But it was just the opposite.
God says, your empty religion was the very thing separating you from me.
Your empty religion was actually driving you further away from me.
Why?
God says, because you were treating me like an idol.
You were treating me like an idol that you could manipulate, a false god that you could
placate or control.
But friends, God is not that kind of God.
And our empty formality will just drive us even further from a real relationship with
the living God.
God says, it just piled up your offenses against me.
And that's why sitting in church can be one of the most spiritually dangerous or deadly
things you could ever do.
Because if we think that going through the religious motions will earn God's favor or
get God on our side, if we're here because that's what so-called moral people are supposed
to do, then friends, we're in worse trouble than when we started.
We should all go walk down to Nika's and eat brunch.
It'd be a better way to spend our Sunday morning.
Empty formalism, empty religion.
It's spiritually deadly and it's offensive to God.
It was a problem in Isaiah's day and it's still a very real problem for us today.
But what's the answer?
If you and I feel the danger of our situation, if we can maybe sympathize with the weariness
or maybe even the blindedness to our own sin, where do we go?
What do we do?
Well, after exposing our empty formalism in verses 22 through 24, the next section of our
passage shows us God's promise of undeserved forgiveness and renewal.
The end of chapter 43 and the beginning of chapter 44 show us God's promise of undeserved forgiveness
and renewal.
Notice, if you look down, if you have the pew Bible open, notice how abrupt verse 25 comes
in.
Just when God has exposed our sin and He says, your sins have been mounting up, He comes in
like a lightning bolt and says, I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own
sake and I will not remember your sins.
This is a sheer, a word of sheer undeserved grace.
And from a human standpoint, it doesn't make sense.
Just like the transition from verse 24 to 25 doesn't make any sense.
After offending God and turning the worship of God into a false and empty show, God turns
and says, I'll blot out your transgressions.
Doesn't make any human sense, does it?
In fact, look at how verses 26 through 28 even press home this point.
Lest the people of Israel think that God can forgive them because, well, we're not so bad
after all, right?
Lest we think God's forgiveness comes because we're not really that bad.
God says, okay, put forth your case.
Don't you see?
Your brokenness, your sinfulness, it goes all the way down your family tree.
From your forebears right to today.
And if I gave you what you deserved, it would be utter destruction.
But for God's own sake, that is out of His own nature and initiative, not because of anything
in us, He blots out our transgressions.
Now, in this passage, Isaiah gives no explanation why or how God will blot out our transgressions,
just that God will do it.
But we know that this forgiveness, though it comes free to us, is incredibly costly to God.
Forgiveness is always costly, isn't it?
To absorb the wrong that's done and not to repay.
It's always costly for the one doing the forgiving.
And for God, too, forgiveness would be costly.
Because how would God forgive our sins?
How would the holy God forgive a sinful people?
Well, in the fullness of time, God the Son would come.
And He would take on our human nature.
And He would live a life of complete obedience to God the Father.
And there would not be an ounce of empty formalism or empty religion in Him.
But nothing but genuine worship, love, and obedience.
And after living a perfect life, the Son of God would give Himself up to pay the penalty for our sins.
Jesus would be cut off and numbered among the transgressors and die on a cross.
And through His one perfect sacrifice offered to God on our behalf,
offered without any pretense, offered without any empty formality,
that one perfect sacrifice would do what no other sacrifice could ever do.
It would forgive the sins of all who would admit their empty formalism and sin
and place their trust in Christ alone.
And with this full and free forgiveness that God would work for us,
also comes renewal by the Holy Spirit.
That's verses 1 through 5 of chapter 44.
After forgiving our sin, forgiving the offense of our empty formalism,
God doesn't just create a blank slate.
He pours out His Spirit on us.
Like water on thirsty ground, like streams in the desert.
Can you imagine?
What if your relationship to God wasn't a wearisome burden anymore?
What if you weren't trying to keep up appearances anymore?
What if you didn't have to go through the motions anymore?
What if it didn't feel like your Christian life was a giant process of twisting God's arm
into giving you a comfortable life?
What if His Spirit was poured out upon you?
And instead of empty ritual, there was reality.
Genuine repentance, heartfelt love for God, desire for the things of God.
And all of that, not because ultimately we want something from God,
but because we just want more of God Himself.
Notice verse 5.
What has replaced the empty formalities, the empty religion?
When the Spirit is poured out,
when the Spirit is poured out,
they're replaced with a real vital relationship with God
and a real vital belonging to God's people.
This one will say,
I am the Lord's.
There it is.
A vital relationship with God.
Another will call on the name of Jacob,
belonging to the people of God.
Another will write on his hand,
the Lord's.
There it is.
Belonging to God.
A vital relationship with Him.
And name Himself by the name of Israel.
There it is.
Belonging to the people of God.
A vital, real relationship with God and God's people.
That's what replaces the empty formalities
when the Spirit is poured out.
Friends, what does the church ultimately need today?
What do you and I ultimately need?
What we need is God to pour out the Holy Spirit afresh on us.
At Pentecost, the new covenant work of the Spirit began.
The Spirit's work of uniting us to the risen Christ,
of flooding our hearts with the assurance of parting,
of making us living stones in the new temple of God.
We need the Spirit to come and renew His work among us.
God, the Holy Spirit, He's the only one who can break us
and change us from our empty formalism.
Open our eyes to the beauty of Christ crucified and risen
and grant us the renewed saving faith.
We need to be united to Him in the first place.
Ultimately, we don't need more programs or more policies or more systems.
Those things are fine and good in their place.
Ultimately, what we need is the Holy Spirit to come and do His work.
And here in Isaiah, He promises to do just that.
I will pour water on the thirsty ground.
I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring.
God doesn't leave us to wallow in our empty formalism.
He promises to pour out His Spirit,
and then we'll be like willow trees by the water, Isaiah says.
Strong, sturdy, offering shade and peace to all who pass by.
What a beautiful image of the church, full of the Spirit.
So how can we respond to this promise then?
How can we take hold of this promise in faith that God will fulfill it?
Well, that's the last part of our passage.
In the last part, verses 6 through 23 of chapter 44,
God exposes the futility of false idols,
and then invites us in response to His promise
to remember, return, and rejoice.
So let me read Isaiah 44, 6 through 23.
Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,
and His Redeemer, the Lord of hosts.
I am the first and I am the last.
Beside me there is no God.
Who is like me?
Let Him proclaim it.
Let Him declare and set it before me,
since I appointed an ancient people.
Let them declare what is to come and what will happen.
Fear not nor be afraid.
Have I not told you from of old and declared it?
And you are my witnesses.
Is there a God beside me?
There is no rock.
I know not any.
All who fashion idols are nothing,
and the things they delight in do not profit.
Their witnesses neither see nor know
that they may put to shame.
Who fashions a God or casts an idol
that is profitable for nothing.
Behold, all His companions shall be put to shame,
and the craftsmen are only human.
Let them all assemble.
Let them stand forth.
They should be terrified.
They should be put to shame together.
The ironsmith takes a cutting tool
and works it over the coals.
He hammers it.
He fashions it with hammers
and works it with his strong arm.
He becomes hungry, and his strength fails.
He drinks no water, and is faint.
The carpenter stretches a line.
He marks it out with a pencil.
He shapes it with planes
and marks it with a compass.
He shapes it into the figure of a man
with the beauty of a man
to dwell in a house.
He cuts down cedars,
or He chooses a cypress tree or an oak
and lets it grow strong
among the trees of the forest.
He plants a cedar,
and the rain nourishes it.
Then it becomes fuel for a man.
He takes a part of it and warms himself.
He kindles a fire and bakes bread.
Also, He makes a god
and worships it.
He makes it an idol
and falls down before it.
Half of it, He burns in the fire.
Over the half, He eats meat.
He roasts it and is satisfied.
Also, He warms Himself and says,
Ah, I'm warm.
I've seen the fire.
And the rest of it,
He makes into a god, His idol,
and falls down to it and worships it.
He prays to it and says,
Deliver me, for You are my God.
They do not know,
nor do they discern,
for He has shut their eyes
so that they cannot see,
and their hearts
so that they cannot understand.
No one considers,
nor is there knowledge
or discernment to say,
Half of it I burned in the fire.
I also baked bread on its coals.
I roasted meat and have eaten.
And shall I make the rest of it
an abomination?
Shall I fall down
before a block of wood?
He feeds on ashes.
A deluded heart has led Him astray,
and He cannot deliver Himself
or say,
Is there not a lie in my right hand?
Remember these things,
O Jacob and Israel,
for You are my servant.
I formed You.
You are my servant.
O Israel,
You will not be forgotten by me.
I've blotted out Your transgressions
like a cloud
and Your sins like a mist.
Return to me,
for I have redeemed You.
Sing, O heavens,
for the Lord has done it.
Shout, O depths of the earth.
Break forth into singing,
O mountains,
O forests,
and every tree in it,
for the Lord has redeemed Jacob.
And will be glorified in Israel.
So how do we respond
to the promise of the Spirit's renewal?
First, we remember, verse 21.
We remember that unlike the false gods,
unlike the idols made by hands
that Isaiah sort of scathingly exposes here,
idols that can't see or speak or think or act,
unlike those false gods,
this God,
the God of Israel,
the God of Jesus Christ,
will never forget us.
Remember, God says,
He will not be forgotten by me.
God made you.
He formed you.
He chose you.
And He will not forget you.
Remember that.
Remember the promise of God's grace.
But how?
How do we go about remembering
this awesome truth about God?
This awesome truth about God
that sets Him
in such wonderful distinction
to all the false gods in the world?
Well,
this is the real reason,
isn't it,
that we read Scripture.
This is why Bible reading
and teaching are so vital.
Because through the pages of Scripture,
we're invited,
once again,
to remember,
to remember who God is,
our Creator and Redeemer,
who will never forget us.
Here is a God
who is not fashioned by human hands
like all the other false gods.
Here's the God
who fashioned us
with His almighty hands.
Here's not a God
who we have made
in our own image,
but this is the God
who made us in His image.
When we gather on Sundays
around God's Word,
what we're doing
is engaging
in a great act
of remembering God
and remembering ourselves.
We are so prone
to forget,
and that's why
we must return
to God's Word
again and again and again.
Not as some empty ritual
or empty formality,
but we take up
the Scriptures
in an act of remembrance
like we take up
a love letter.
Here is the Holy God
of the universe
saying,
I'll never forget you.
And what do we know
about this Word
that God's given us?
Well, we know
that God the Holy Spirit,
whose renewal
that we need,
God the Holy Spirit
is the one
who inspired
this very Word
in Scripture.
God inspired it.
The Spirit inspired it
to be the constant witness
to God's never-failing
remembrance
of His promises
and His people.
So you see,
the renewal
of the Spirit
always comes
through the Word
of the Spirit.
That's how we remember.
And that's why
corporately we put
the Word
in the center
of what we do.
That's week after week
after week.
Because we want
to remember
God's promises
in the way
that the Spirit
has revealed
these promises.
So we teach
and preach God's Word
in the way
He gave it to us.
And the good news is
we don't just have
to do it on Sundays,
right?
We can take up
this Word
throughout the week
and remember.
Remember the God
who never forgets us
and who promises
to renew us
by His Spirit.
Remember,
that's verse.
Second,
return.
Verse 22 says,
return to me.
It's not enough
to just remember.
We must return.
You know,
our hearts tragically
do go after
those false gods
as silly as they are,
right?
We still chase after them.
But none of the false gods
can do what this God
has done.
And what is that?
Verse 22,
I have blotted out
your transgressions
like a cloud
and your sins
like mist.
Return to me
for I have redeemed you.
There's no other God
who can unshackle us
from the weight
of our sin and shame,
who can release us
from the guilt
of transgressions.
But this God
has blotted them out,
evaporated them
like a mist,
Isaiah says.
Through the cross
of Christ,
God has redeemed us.
Last week,
Pastor Matt
mentioned the parable
of the prodigal son.
And if you know
that story,
you know it ends
with the older brother
hard-hearted,
refusing to celebrate
the return
of his younger brother.
But as many commentators
and preachers
have pointed out,
it actually should
have been
the older brother
going out,
finding,
redeeming
his younger brother.
brother.
The older brother
is the one
who should have
paid the cost
to bring his wayward
little brother home.
And friends,
the wonder of the gospel
is this,
that Jesus Christ
is the true older brother,
the true redeemer
that we need.
He did go into
the far country.
He did pay the penalty
to set us free.
And so,
we can return.
We can return to God
and expect to find
not some angry deity,
not some angry
older brother.
But when we return,
what do we find?
We find the embrace
of eternal love.
So return,
God says.
Return to me.
Lay down
your empty formalism.
Lay down
your weary burden
of outward appearances.
And return.
Brothers and sisters,
we can return
today.
How do we do it?
How do we return?
Well,
it begins
through the simple
and yet profound
act
of prayer.
We turn
our hearts
to God
and speak
to the God
who always listens
and who always hears.
And we know
that for the believer,
the act of prayer
is also an act
of the Holy Spirit.
In prayer,
God's Spirit
testifies with our spirit
that we are children
of God
and we cry out,
Abba, Father.
So just as renewal
comes through the Word
of the Spirit,
so renewal comes
through prayer
in the Spirit.
And that's why
in our corporate gatherings
we give so much
attention to prayer,
to prayers of confession
and thanksgiving,
to prayers of petition
and praise.
We don't just remember,
we return.
We return to the God
who's forgiven
all of our sins
and promises
to renew us
by His Holy Spirit.
And lastly,
we rejoice.
Verse 23,
Sing, O heavens,
for the Lord has done it.
Shout, O depths
of the earth.
Why do we sing?
Why do we rejoice?
Because unlike
all the false gods
who have no power
to save,
this God,
the Lord,
verse 23 says,
has done it.
We rejoice
because the Lord
has done it.
That is,
we rejoice
because it's a finished work.
The Lord
has done it.
Do you want to know
the difference
between empty
formalism
and the gospel?
empty formalism
says do.
Do this.
Do that.
Do this.
Keep on doing that
and maybe you'll get
what you want.
Do, do, do, do.
But the gospel says
done.
God has done it.
All of it.
When Christ died
on the cross
and rose again,
it was done.
It's a finished work.
For you to receive
and enjoy.
The do, do, do
of empty formalism,
of empty religion,
as we said,
it just produces weariness.
But the done
of the gospel
produces joy.
And out of that
wellspring of joy,
what comes?
Complacency?
No.
Love
and service
and righteousness
and peace.
It's the weariness
of formal religion
that creates
burdensome,
tired,
burned out people.
But the joy
of the done
of the gospel
creates a people
who love righteousness
and justice
and want everyone
to know
and experience it.
You know,
the truth is
we won't be able
to love and serve
our fallen world
for very long
unless we have
this joy.
You know,
today's Father's Day
and today's Juneteenth.
There's a lot of fathers
who are weary.
We're in a country
where there's a long
history of injustice.
What's going to empower us
as people
to go out
and to work hard
to love in our families
and to go out
into our communities
to love
and to listen?
Unless we have
this joy,
unless we have
this rejoicing
that comes
not from what we do
but from what
the Lord Jesus Christ
has done,
unless we have that,
it's not going to last
long, friends.
But here's the good news.
The done of the gospel
is going to create
in us a dynamic
where the Spirit
doesn't just fill us
but it overflows
and we go out.
So rejoice, church.
Remember,
return,
and rejoice.
Your sins
have been blotted out.
The Spirit
has been poured out
and you don't need
to go through
the weary motions anymore.
you can have
a vital
living relationship
with God
and Christ.
It's yours.
May God pour out
His Spirit
afresh on us
and may we remember
and return
and rejoice.
Let's pray.
Father in heaven,
as we
spend a moment
to just meditate
on Your Word,
our prayer is simple
this morning.
As we open our hands
and our hearts
to You,
we pray that Your Spirit
would come.
We pray that He
would be poured out
upon us,
this blessing
of the Spirit.
Oh Lord,
we pray for the grace
to receive His work,
to release us
from sin,
to fill us with joy,
to unite us
to our risen
and reigning Lord Jesus.
Father,
we know that
some of us
have maybe thought
for a long time
that we're Christians
but we're realizing
maybe
that it's been
empty formalism,
that it's maybe
just been going
through the motions
and there hasn't
been any reality.
God,
I pray this morning
that You would do
something new
in the hearts
of those who are
feeling this way,
that perhaps
for the first time
they would lay down
empty formalism
and religion
and take hold
of the living Christ.
O God,
fill us all
with Your joy,
we pray.
Amen.