Pastor Tim Brown, Calvary Chapel Fremont, Wednesday September 30, 2009

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Isaiah 43:22-28

1-7 Deliverance/8-13 Revelation/14-21 Provision.  Their chains are broken/blindness removed/future assured!  So what’s the problem?

22  What is God’s complaint?  They don’t have a song.  There was no calling on God in response to the promise/no excitement at the hope set before them.  Why?  They had corrupted the worship of God - it had become mundane/routine.  They had no heart for worship, therefore they have become a people who cannot be stirred by the word of God.  They weren’t moved to worship God the right way, nor moved by the word of God that came to them.  They went to church and heartlessly sang the songs and heedlessly listened to the message.  Why?  Weary – to work until tired.  

Weary of God!!  Tired of serving/exhausted by living for God!!  When you are walking in faith it is easy to serve God and go where God wants you to go.    Ex. Lloyd-Jones going from status of elite doctor in England to preacher in lower class Wales: “I have given up nothing.”  Missionaries praised for their sacrifice of going overseas: “It would be a sacrifice to stay.”  When you are walking in faith, the way is easy.  Is. 40:29-31.  His yoke is easy and His burden is light.  

But when you are not walking in faith, the way quickly becomes difficult and wearing.  When you are not walking in faith, every step you might take to do God’s will becomes a hike through knee-high mud.  Isaiah constantly exhorted the people to trust in God’s protection and not ally themselves in a military alliance w/ the surrounding nations and they couldn’t rise to this level of faith.  Thinking about going down that path wore them out.  

All they saw was the challenge in front of their eyes and not the promise presented to the eyes of their heart.  They could see w/ their eyes, but not w/ their hearts.  When you lose the ability to see w/ your heart, you will become weary.  When you cannot be stirred by the word of God, weariness has set in.  Does that describe you?  Boy who cried, “Wolf” – didn’t stir hearts of the people to rise in expectation because of lies.  Can you be stirred to expectation?

Abraham looked for a city which had foundations, whose architect/ builder was God.  Moses endured as seeing Him who is unseen.  Jesus endured the cross/ despised the shame for the joy set before Him.  These men didn’t see what was in front of them, they saw what was beyond them.  They didn’t live by what their eyes could see, but what the eyes of their heart could see.  They knew that faith would be rewarded and patience would have its joy.

If you lose a vision for the word you will lose heart for worship.  If you don’t walk in faith, you’ll walk in fatigue.  All Israel saw were the dangers surrounding them and it wearied them.  Serving God became fatiguing.  They became a people w/o a song.  If you are not receiving the word of God in faith/praise, after a while you will not be serving God in the freshness of the Spirit.

23-24 give us signs of weariness –

    * No burnt offerings – Ex. 29:38ff
          o Two, one year old lambs, twice daily
          o One lamb/c. 3 lbs. flour mixed w/ c. 1 qt. of fine oil/1 qt. wine
                + Jesus in His body/sanctified human nature/shed blood
          o This wasn’t to remind them what they owed God, but to remind them of what God had done for them.  No praise for Calvary
    * No sacrifices – no consciousness of sin
          o Either no sacrifices made at all or sacrifices made to idols.  The sacrifices made to God would be indications of awareness of guilt.  The sacrifices made to idols would be made out of fear.
    * No offerings –
          o These were free will/voluntary/love offerings.
          o No giving of self to God Romans 12:1
    * No incense – no prayers offered up
    * No sweet cane –
          o Sweet cane was an ingredient in the holy anointing oil in Ex. 30:22ff.  All the temple furnishings were to be anointed w/ it.
          o No desire for the beauty of holiness.  You are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Your life is to bear the fragrance of God.
    * No fat of sacrifices – no giving of glory to God

God has given many promises of deliverance/protection, but the promise of God hadn’t impacted their heart.  They have become a people who cannot be stirred by the word of God, therefore the work suffers.  We are to be moved to praise by the word of God.  We are to worship, not when we see God’s provision, but when God’s word promises provision.  We are not to praise when we see it, but when He says it.  

25-28  God desires to forgive sin, but Israel won’t draw near.  God desires to forgive them, but He waits for confession.  When it doesn’t come He asks Israel to prove that they are not in need of cleansing.  He reminds them that they come from a long line of sinners and if sin isn’t dealt with, judgment will come.  They have no consciousness of sin and therefore see no need of a Savior.

How did they come to have no consciousness of sin and therefore no felt need for a Savior? 

      And these also reel with wine and stagger from strong drink:   

      The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink,   

      They are confused by wine, they stagger from strong drink;   

      They reel while having visions,    

      They totter when rendering judgment..  Isaiah 28:7

      For from the least of them even to the greatest of them,   

      Everyone is greedy for gain,    

      And from the prophet even to the priest   

      Everyone deals falsely.  Jeremiah 6:13

The spiritual leadership of that day were preaching peace when they should have been preaching repentance.  

28  God will judge the priests/reject the spiritual leadership of that day because they didn’t live in the expectation of the power of God and didn’t teach the people to live in expectation of God’s promise.