Isaiah Bible Study Series - Chapter 1

Today, brethren, we're going to start going through the first chapter of the Book of Isaiah. We'll be doing that next Sabbath as well. I don't know if I'll be able to get through the whole first chapter today or not. Somebody said something to me, and I know who did, but I was told earlier today before services that this individual had purchased a new notebook that's only going to be for Isaiah. That's actually kind of a good idea. When I was taking notes on this subject, I made sure I kept all my notes in one spot because there's so much that you would want to refer to in the future. If you've got them all over the place, it's kind of hard to find them. So you might consider doing that. So today, as I said, we're going to be going through at least part of Isaiah chapter 1. I want to give you a little bit of background and overview to the chapter. In chapter 1 of Isaiah, God is summoning his sinful people, Israel, to what appears to be a court trial. When God gave Israel its laws, God's laws under Moses, he promised them blessings if they would obey, cursings if they would disobey. Four times in the book of Deuteronomy, we see that explicitly stated. Let's turn to Deuteronomy chapter 30. Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 19 to begin. Deuteronomy 30, chapter 19.

And I'm quoting this because we're going to see where Isaiah himself quotes this in just a moment. Deuteronomy 30, verse 19, I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you. Basically, a court case through the heavens here. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life that both you and your descendants may live.

Now, when Isaiah was writing, we believe he began writing about 740 BC. When he began writing, Israel had repeatedly, Judah had repeatedly broken the covenant. God was about to, in about 20 years, exile the 10 northern tribes to Assyria. And as you know after that, not that long after that, Judah to Babylon. Before doing that, God the Father assembled the court of heaven so he can press his case against his own people. And we see that taking place in Isaiah chapter 1. God's case is presented by his lawyer. His lawyer in this case happens to be the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah, the great prophet, makes a very powerful, dramatic presentation of God's charges against his own people. But even as Isaiah is pronouncing an indictment against the people of Israel, we see in this book, and I think it's so important for us to always remember this, that as they are being charged with one charge after another, God through Isaiah offers hope. People can repent. It's interesting that Jonah wrote, Jonah and Isaiah may have been contemporaries. Jonah would have been older. Jonah finished his writings probably about 20, maybe 30 years before Isaiah started his. So they probably touched to some degree. Isaiah probably was a very young man, Jonah more of an older man. But Isaiah may well have known the story and probably did know the story of Nineveh. And that here's a great people that were tremendously sinning people, and yet they took the prophecies to heart. And they repented, and God relented. And so perhaps it's in Isaiah's mind that this can happen here as well. And over and over we see where Isaiah makes that presentation, that our God wants to be forgiving. Our God wants to extend the hand of forgiveness. Remember what we discussed as we were going through the background to the book, how the overall purpose of Bible prophecy is to encourage us to change our lives. The purpose of Bible prophecy is not an academic exercise. It's not to give us specialized information. No one has. That's not the purpose. It does that, but that's not the purpose. The purpose of prophecy is so that you and I can see ourselves and see our needs and then change accordingly. And as we read the book of Isaiah, each and every one of us, no one gets a free pass. All of us keep that in mind. Isaiah's name means the eternal is salvation, or God is help. So even in his name, the prophet God is using, God is using even his name to symbolize that there is help available, salvation is available, but repentance is key. Let me outline chapter one here for you. Basically four sections to chapter one. First verse is the first section where you've got Isaiah the prophet having a very special vision. It's talking about his vision. The second section is verses two through ten where God lays the first charge against his people that they were rebellious. The third section of the chapter is verses 11 through 20. The second charge, their worship, their way of worship is unacceptable before God.

And the fourth section of chapter one is God's third charge against them that they are an unjust people. Before we actually turn to Isaiah and start there, I want to go through just one verse here. Second Peter chapter one verse 21. Because with each of these sections, there's a New Testament spiritual principle we want to take a look at. Second Peter chapter one. Second Peter chapter one.

Remember, the first verse is the first section. It's talking about Isaiah's very special vision. So second Peter chapter one and verse 21.

For prophecy never came by the will of man, but by holy men of God, as they spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. So this is not just something that Isaiah is concocting in his own mind. This is something that God inspired him to write down, inspired him to deliver to the people in a very clear and dramatic way, a very arty way in many ways because Isaiah, as we made mention in the background last week, last time, not last week but the last time I was here, that even as viewed as literature, Isaiah is considered one of the greatest books humanity's ever been able to read. So Isaiah has been given a tremendous revelation of events to come. I'll just kind of tick off these points here. Basically, it's a chapter outline of the whole book, but you know, you don't need to write all this down. Isaiah is going to show the future of Judah and Jerusalem. First twelve chapters. He's going to show the future judgment of God on the nations and his triumph over the whole world. We see that in chapters 13 through 27. He shows the future condemnation that will fall upon God's people because of their continued sin and refusal to repent. We see that in chapters 28 through 35. We see the future shift of world power from Assyria to Babylon and the impact upon Judah and Jerusalem. See that in chapters 36 through 39. We see the future captivity of the Jews and Babylon, and they're released by King Cyrus of Persia, chapters 40 through 48. Future coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in chapters 49 through 59. And the future consummation of history, the glorious destiny of God's people, and the fate of the unbelievers, chapters 60 through 66. So that's kind of an overview of the whole book. This is the part of the vision that God gave to the prophet Isaiah. Let us now turn to Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1, verse 1.

The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. So here we've got a time stamp, a date, a historical context. And normally we don't spend a whole lot of time with something like this, but I want to spend a little time with this because I may mention, as we were talking about going through this series, that we're going to be touching on a lot of different prophecies, a lot of different areas in both the major and the minor prophets, Old and New Testament, so on and so forth. So let's have a little bit of historical context here, a little bit of prophetic context. We believe that Isaiah lived from 760 to 680 BC, probably having done his writing on this book from about 742 to 700. Now, again, we're not going to use these dates and peg our salvation to these dates. These are dates many historians have come up with. They seem to be fitting the circumstances here.

You see that Isaiah is contemporary with Amos, with Hosea, as I said Jonah, and Micah. Now, how do we know these things? I'm not going to turn there, but in your notes you can jot down Amos 1-1, Hosea 1-1, Micah 1-1, and you'll see that the same kings are made mentioned, that we just read here in Isaiah 1-1. So what we have as we look at Hosea, Amos, and Micah especially, we've got three different views of what Isaiah himself is seeing. When you add Isaiah, that's a fourth view. Now, I find it interesting that when God was putting together his book, the Bible, to discuss the ministry and the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of the kingdom of God, we've got four gospels. Each gospel has a unique view of the ministry of Jesus Christ. As an example, Matthew emphasizes Jesus Christ as king. That's his emphasis. That's just on other things. Mark emphasizes Jesus Christ as servant. Luke emphasizes Jesus Christ as man. And John emphasizes Jesus Christ as God. When you put all that together, you've got a much better understanding of Jesus Christ, a much better understanding of his ministry. When you take a look at Hosea, Amos, and Micah, and you add that to what Isaiah says, again, you're getting a number of perspectives looking at the same thing. As an example, Hosea, Hosea's name means salvation. Hosea was sent to the northern ten tribes of Israel. Most historians would say his message went from about 753 to 715. Now, remember when Israel went captive, 722. So he started in 753 BC. So he's writing a few decades before and through the course of the captivity. When Hosea was writing, again, he's contemporary with Isaiah. So this means that this is true for Isaiah as well. When Hosea was writing, Israel was at a time of its greatest economic stance. Borders the furthest, people are making money, life is good, and this is just a few decades before they go into national captivity. Now, Isaiah is not just a book for us to think about musty old history. Yes, the book primarily is for Jerusalem and Judah, but Israel is all we're going to get to that in a few moments. Israel is mentioned as well. The northern tribes is mentioned as well.

And so basically, earning all this money, everything was going so well, but in just a few short decades, the country's going under. Our country is a fabulously wealthy nation.

But who knows how much time we have as a nation? So again, the book of Isaiah is something that we want to pay close attention to, very close attention to. You know, back in Isaiah's day, back in Hosea's day, they may have believed in what we today call a health wealth gospel. If you're wealthy, if you're doing well, things are going really nice, money's in the bank, and so forth. You must be obeying God. Things must be going well. Now that's a false way of looking at life, the health wealth gospel, because there's plenty of people out there who are, they don't do good at all, and they've got plenty of money. You know that, and I know that. So what does God say through the prophet, Hosea? God says, yeah, you got a lot of money. Your wallets are full, but your lives are empty. I'm going to come, and if you don't repent, I'm going to punish you.

That's Hosea. Then you've got Amos. Amos, a farmer. Prophecy came about 753 BC, about the same time as Hosea. Again, he's prophesying mostly to the northern kingdom. Again, they're at the zenith of their power, borders to the furthest extension, money flowing, life is good, guns and butter, that sort of thing. But what does Amos concentrate on? Remember, he's a contemporary with Isaiah. Amos focuses in on the fact that there are church-going people. They go to church, but their form of worship is not what God wants. Their form of worship is not what God wants. And just because a second thing, just because they're God's people, doesn't guarantee them exemption from judgment.

We're going to think about that in terms of you and I as members of God's church. Again, we want to make this personal. We can come to Sabbath services, we can go to Holy Day services, we can do all those things. But if our heart—I mean, we can fill chairs—but if our heart is not where it should be, even if our body is here, if our heart's not where it should be, it's meaningless. If we say we've been baptized into the Church of God, you named a different organization. I've been baptized into the Church of God, but if we're not living in the way God wants us to live, just like Amos was saying, that doesn't exempt us from punishment before God. Micah was an interesting prophet in that he spoke both to the northern tribes and the southern tribes. His dates for his ministry between 750 and 686. Again, a contemporary with Isaiah. Basically, what Micah was wanting to get across is the people were looking to the wrong other people for their salvation. Mostly, Micah is talking to the people in Samaria in Jerusalem. The two capitals. Are you into politics? Do you think you've got to get your guy in there? Well, that's kind of what the people that Micah was writing to, they thought. Of course, they were dealing with kings. They'd be praying that one guy would maybe fall, another somebody else better would step up. But their eyes were on the wrong government.

In Jerusalem and Samaria, their eyes needed to be on the government of God.

Their eyes were on the wrong individuals, a human king, as opposed to the true king. That's a little bit about verse 1 there. I thought we'd just have a little bit of historical and prophetic context. Let's keep on with the story now. Verse 2. 2. Hear, O heavens, and give here, O earth, for the Lord has spoken.

We read a little bit earlier Deuteronomy 30. Here in verse 2, Isaiah is quoting Deuteronomy 30. Why? Because the reason all this difficulty is going to take place is they weren't listening to Moses and the law that God gave through Moses. And here we see kind of like this heavenly, earthly tribunal here. Here, O heavens, give here, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. I have nourished and brought up children, and they've rebelled against me. So now we're starting into the second phase here, second section of the chapter, talking about their rebellion, verses 2 through 10.

Nourished up children, brought them up, and they've rebelled against me. Let's put a marker here as we start this section, a New Testament spiritual principle we find over in Hebrews chapter 3. Let's go over to Hebrews chapter 3.

Hebrews chapter 3 verses 12 and 13. Now, the writer of Hebrews, we believe to be Paul, most believe it to be Paul, is talking to old-time church members. These are Hebrews. These are people who, prior to Christ, they knew about the Sabbath and the Holy Days and what to eat and how to tithe, and all that sort of good thing. And after Christ, they accepted him as their Savior. But these people also, the people Paul's writing here to, they were thinking about going back to Judaism. They were thinking about leaving the faith that they had had. And so Paul here reminds us, lest there be an evil heart of unbelief and departing. We don't want Old Testament Judaism. What we want is what God gives us. I mean, there's a point that carries over. We understand that. But we want to have Jesus Christ be a part of our lives. It's got to be a combination of what we learn in the Old Testament in addition to what Jesus Christ brought as our Savior. But he says in verse 13, But exhort one another daily, while it is called to dayless, any to be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Through rebellion you turn away. So God here is beginning his case in verse 2 of Isaiah chapter 1, the courtroom of heaven and earth, and shocked to find out that the proceedings are against God's own kids, God's own children. Let's go back to Deuteronomy again, this time chapter 32. Again, for emphasis, Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse 1, Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

So once again, God says through the book of Deuteronomy, a book about the law of God, that, you know, listen, my people. You're not getting it. Okay, now we go back to Isaiah chapter 1, verse 3.

Isaiah chapter 1 verse 3, The ox knows its owner, the donkey its master's crib, but my people does not know, my people do not consider. And so here we see a prophecy against Israel as well, but Israel does not know. So to some degree, even though the emphasis is on Jerusalem and Judah, Israel is also mentioned. They're a part of God's people. They're a part of God's children. And it shows they have less knowledge than they think they have.

You know, the animals know who their owners are. The animals know who feeds them. The animals know who directs them. And yet Israel, Judah and Israel, don't understand those things about the true God. They don't have the proper knowledge that they should have.

Their rebellion is proving they really don't know God. They don't understand His love, why He's doing the things He's doing. Now, again, as you and I read this today in America, today in the Church of God culture, think about what we read as we were going through the church in Laodicea. Think about this from our perspective. You know, the people in Laodicea thought that they were rich and increased and had need of nothing. And it may well be. This is the historical era we are now living in.

Well, that's kind of how Israel felt back. This is, you know, just a couple of decades before they go into captivity. Just a couple of decades, and they're going to go into national captivity. Verse 4, Isaiah 1.4, A last sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity. They were laden with iniquity. It wasn't just the process that started. They were actually good people, and things are just starting to get bad. Things have been bad for a long time here. Very bad for a long time. A brood of evildoers, children who are corruptors. So basically, Isaiah is saying, this has gone from family to family to family.

We've got the sins of the fathers here that we're working with. This is nothing new here. These ways of life are being passed from generation to generation. They have forsaken the Lord. Forsaken the Lord. Forsaken the Lord. In Vines, it says, to abandon or leave behind. They are abandoning. They're leaving God behind. They have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel. They have turned away backward. Turned away. In the original, it means to become estranged. So notice the words, Isaiah, as God's attorney, if you will.

He's saying that they are abandoning God, leading God behind. They have become estranged to God. They've gone backward from obedience to God. And also notice here in verse 4, a very special name, the Holy One of Israel. The Holy One of Israel. God uses this name by way of contrast. His people are not holy. His people are sinful people. There are people who have degraded themselves through sin. In the book of Isaiah, I believe this phrase, this name is used 25 times.

Isaiah is wanting to make a very special point with this name. This name emphasizes the character of God in contrast with their unrighteous character. Now, in the rest of the Old Testament, I think this name is only used about six times. 25 times in Isaiah, six times in the rest of the whole Old Testament. So Isaiah is leaning on this name. He wants this name to be emblazoned in their hearts and their minds.

Verse 5 and 6. Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick. The whole heart faints from the sole of the foot, even to the head. There is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises, putrefying sores. They have not been closed or bound up or soothed with ointment.

So here we've got a picture of an individual who's been badly beaten, badly beaten up. Israel and Judah have been badly beaten up by Satan. By the way, Satan would have them live. And it says here, talking about the whole head in verse 5, the whole head, the whole heart in verse 5. That's talking about the government from the top down. Then it talks about from the sole of the foot, even to the head.

That's the rest of the country. From the leadership, from the greatest down to the least, these folks have really been beat up pretty badly by Satan. Nobody can escape when that is their situation. Their wounds have not been properly dealt with, not been properly clothed. Ointment has not been used to mollify the situation. Of course, oil representing God's Holy Spirit.

That's not been part of the situation to help in the healing process. Verse 7. Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Strangers devour your land and your presence and its desolation. And it is desolate as overthrown by strangers. Verse 7 is dual in nature. Dual in nature. Talking about the end time Holocaust, what today people refer to as World War III, the desolation, the cities being burned with fire.

Obviously, that was going to happen when they went into captivity, but it's going to happen a second time at the end of the age. It talks about strangers devouring your land and your presence. Again, dual in nature. It will happen with both captivity, both ancient and future. But also, we're seeing that today, aren't we? Aren't we seeing foreign investors today coming in and gobbling up various parts of our economy, having a real strength here or there?

We're seeing a lot of that today. And yet, to such a large degree, so many people in this nation don't appreciate what we have. Not long ago, somebody in New York, you probably know the name, he was giving a speech, trying to make points, and he said, you know, America was never all that great. Remember hearing that? America was never all that great. Now, he's a person that has far-reaching political aspirations, maybe even the presidency someday. America was never all that great. I would love to buy him an airline ticket, put him on a plane to someplace like the Sudan, and not let him know how long he's going to live there. Maybe let him stay there for about five years or some other place that's, you know, Yemen or someplace else. Let him stay there not knowing how long. And then maybe after, you know, several years, put him back on a plane, bring him back to this country. And I bet you at that point, after de-planning, he would drop down on his hands and knees and kiss the tarmac. God has given us such a beautiful land. Recently, I was watching a National Geographic special. The title of the special was America Before Columbus. It was really quite eye-opening as I was watching. Now, I'll have to take National Geographic's word for some of the facts that they were using. You know, I don't know. I'm just watching what they've got there. But they were talking about how the American Indian, you know, people think that this land, which this America was just, you know, virgin land, untouched. No one was working with the land, and they were bringing out how the American Indian, the Native Americans, they noticed them when lightning would strike and it would start a fire in the grasslands, that after the fire was put out and as time would progress, the grasslands would come back stronger than ever before.

And so, according to the National Geographic, what our American Indians were doing was they were managing the land. They would set fires. They would burn off large areas so that the area could be more productive. And they were talking about all different kinds of things that, you know, I just never even really thought of. And then as they were going through the special, you saw different parts of the country. You know, back when, you know, Columbus and those fellows were coming over, oil was not the big issue in terms of natural resource. When our nation, you know, North and South America, when we were being discovered, one of the great needs in Europe was lumber. Lumber. Europe had almost denuded itself of lumber for their ships, for their buildings, for firewood. Lumber was a scarce commodity. And then they pulled up to North and South America. And they see all this timber. And for all they know, it goes forever. Tremendous riches that God has given to this area, this nation. And yet people, strangers, are going to devour that. We're going to give it away through our lifestyle as a people. Verse 8. And so the daughter of Zion is left as a booth and a vineyard, as a hut and a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Notice the daughter of Zion, making this more of an end-time setting. It's the daughter of Zion. Talking about, again, a besieged city.

Verse 9. Unless the Lord of hosts has left us to a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom. We would have been like Gomorrah. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give here to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah. So finishing out this section, we've got this discussion about Sodom and Gomorrah. What happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? Sodom and Gomorrah were totally destroyed, weren't they? But notice verse 9. Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a very small remnant. So God is not going to destroy all of our people. A small remnant is going to be left. A very small remnant is going to be left. Put a marker here. Let's go to Matthew chapter 24.

Matthew 24.

Verse 21.

For then will there be great tribulations, such as it has not been since the beginning of the world till this time, known or ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened. So we see the same thing in the Olivet prophecy, Matthew 24, verses 21 and 22, that we're seeing over here in Isaiah chapter 1, verses 9 and 10. Same thing. God has got to intervene. Otherwise, we would obliterate all life from this planet. We may mention earlier that Amos was a contemporary. Let's go to Amos chapter 5.

In the mind of prophets, you got Hosea, Joel, and Amos. Amos chapter 5. Again, Amos is writing about same time as Isaiah. We saw what Isaiah was saying there in chapter 1, verses 9 and 10, about almost a complete obliteration of the people, but a small remnant being left. Amos begins to talk about this. Amos chapter 5, verse 1. Hear this word which I take up against you, O lamentation, O house of Israel. The virgin of Israel has fallen. She shall rise no more. No more resurrections. This is it. This is end of the age. She lies forsaken on her land. There is no one to rise her up. No one's going to come to her rescue. For thus says the Lord God, the city that goes out by a thousand shall have a hundred left. And that which goes out by a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel. So the look of it is that God is going to save a tithe, a tithe of His people. But as you go back to Isaiah chapter 1, Isaiah the prophet, Isaiah the attorney, if you will, notice what he says, even though these are very dire predictions here, notice what is said in verse 10. Isaiah 1.10. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God. Give ear. Hasn't happened yet. There is time for repentance. There's time for change. This is the whole idea behind prophecy. Here's what's going to happen, but if we don't, if you, this is what's going to happen if you don't change, but if you do change, remember the story of Nineveh. So the key to understanding as to why this is going to take place and why it doesn't have to take place is all wrapped up in the law of God. Because they were disobeying the law of God, these court cursings are going to come. On the other hand, if they begin to obey like Nineveh did, God can relent. So in this portion, a second portion of the chapter, verses 2 through 10, we see where they were rebellious. That's God's first charge. Now we move on to verses 11 through 20, God's second charge against his children. And that is that their worship was unacceptable in his sight.

Their worship was unacceptable in his sight. A New Testament concept, New Testament principle here, 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 5. 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 5. Having a form of godliness, a form of godliness, but denying its power.

From such people, turn away. We don't want form. We want substance. We don't want form. We want substance. We want God's power. We want God's Holy Spirit. Who receives God's Holy Spirit? Acts chapter 5 verse 32. God gives a spirit to those who what? Those who obey him. Those who obey him. Okay, we'll go back now to Isaiah chapter 1, verse 11 and 12. Isaiah chapter 1 verse 11. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me, says the Lord? I have enough of burnt offerings and of rams, and the fad of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of rams, or goats. When you come to appear before me, and remember, these were religious people. They were a church-going people. But their churches weren't teaching the right thing. They were not practicing. People weren't practicing the right thing, the godly thing. But when you come to appear before me, who has required this from your hand to trample my courts? So yes, you can faithfully attend worship services and be all wrong with God. An elder I used to have in Ann Arbor.

He's now a church pastor in another part of the country, but there was a phrase he used from time to time. It was humorous but true. You know, just because you sit at McDonald's doesn't mean you're a hamburger. Just because we sit in church doesn't make us a Christian, right? Let's take a look at 1 Samuel chapter 15. 1 Samuel chapter 15 and verse 22. So Samuel said, Has the Lord as great delight and burnt offerings and sacrifices as obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams. Substance versus form. Spiritual substance versus form.

To obey is better. Romans chapter 6.

What I've heard called on many occasions the baptismal covenant chapter.

So to obey is better than sacrifice. And notice about obedience. Romans chapter 6 and verse 17. But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. You obeyed from the heart. That's what we want. Obedience from the heart. John chapter 4. John chapter 4 verse 22. John chapter 4 verse 22. You worship what you do not know.

True for the people of this world today, true for the nation of Israel and Judah back in the days we're talking about. You worship what you do not know. We know what we worship. For salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. So again, I have to ask myself as I'm reading Isaiah, as I'm analyzing Isaiah, where am I with this? And you analyze yourself. Where are you with this?

You know, we don't want to be just people holding down a seat with a Sabbath smile and it doesn't go much further than that.

You know, trumpets will be an... I've made mention before, but trumpets will be an anniversary for me. It was September, I think 22nd, 1979. I was ordained as an elder. The ripe old age of 27. So it'd be 39 years, if I've counted it up correctly. 39 years in the ministry, five years as an elder not in the employ of the church, and 34 as an elder employee in the church. I've seen an awful lot of things. I've seen some really fine church people, a lot of them. Some of them. Salt of the earth people. People I look forward to seeing in the world tomorrow. I look forward to them being over me, for sure. But I've also seen a lot of folks that, to be charitable, were very loosely attached to divine. People who I would wonder, are they even attached to divine? They show up. They're in church. They do all the things that look right, but where is their heart? Now, that's not for me to judge, or you. That's for God to judge. But we do need to be examining ourselves, whether we be in the faith. Whether we be in the faith. Let's go back to Isaiah. Just have a few more minutes here, Isaiah. Didn't think I'd get through the whole chapter. But next Sabbath, we'll continue on. Isaiah 1, verse 13.

Bring no more futile sacrifices. Incense is an abomination to me. The new moons, the Sabbath, the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure iniquity in a sacred meeting. Now, that's a verse a lot of folks love to quote. Oh, you're keeping that old feast of tabernacles. Don't need to do that. You know, it's interesting. I just said, you know, I need a little stress relief. And I've not been playing golf the first two years. So I decided, I'm going to start playing golf again. And so here, about a month ago, made a tee time, show up, get to the first tee, two guys waiting there. And they invite me, says, hey, would you like to join our group? Sure, be delighted to join your group. We're playing along, kind of enjoying the banter that golfers would enjoy with one another. And I think it was about the fourth tee, fifth tee. Randy, what does it you do for a living?

I'm a minister. I pastor a couple churches. Oh, that's interesting. Because Ron, Baptist pastor.

And his friend, who lived two doors down, was also a Baptist. And you know, these fellows are really nice. I've played now with them, I think, four times. Really nice. And you know, Ron always, Randy, what are you preaching on this week? Well, I'm going to be starting Isaiah. Oh, that's interesting. And both guys, almost at once, were starting a series on Revelation. So, you know, at some point, I'm working with this. At some point, you know, what did you preach on this last Sunday? Well, you know, we're nowhere near Pentecost, so I'm not preaching on Sundays. So at some point, you know, folks, we do it differently. Here's what we do, and here's why. Now, I've been kind of laying the groundwork for that. We're going to see how that goes. I may be playing golf on myself from now on. I don't know. But people who look at verse 13 say, yeah, see, we don't need to keep those holy days, and so on and so forth. These, you know, throw them out. But notice verse 14 qualifies this. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hates. I'm talking about the holy days of God here. First of all, we're not observing moons. We use moons in our calendar, but we don't observe them the way these folks are doing. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hates. They are a trouble to me. I'm weary of bearing them. Wary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. So God is using a very strong statement here.

God sees everything. God knows everything. But just as Jesus Christ became sin for us, God the Father, Jesus Christ, they'll forgive us of our sins. But if we're going to go a certain way and we don't care about repentance, if we don't care about going God's way, then we see the truth of the situation here. God says, I will hide my eyes from you. In other words, He's going to pull back. Now upon repentance, God will embrace us. Very much so.

Let's look at Isaiah. Let's look ahead a little bit. Isaiah chapter 59.

Isaiah chapter 59, verse 1. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor is he heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear.

We don't want that to be said of us. We want to have the ear of God, the eye of God at all times. And the way you and I do that is by being a community of repenting people.

You know, we come to Passover services and we know, we've done our due diligence. We know who and what we are. We know we're sinful people. We know we've got our issues.

But we also know that we've got Jesus Christ as our Savior. We also know that God will help us with His Holy Spirit to overcome. Now it's a partnership. God's not going to do it all for us. And we can't do it all by ourselves. We've got to have God's help. But God does expect us to join and to pray. One last scripture. Let's turn over to Mark 7. You probably know where I'm going. Mark 7.

This was true back in ancient Israel, Judah. It's true today.

Mark 7, 7. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. So God doesn't honor everything in the name of religion. God tells us how to worship Him. We must worship Him in spirit, not form. We must worship Him in truth. What is truth? Your Word is truth. We must worship God according to what the Bible teaches us, not apart from what the Bible teaches us.

All right. So I will mark it down here. This is where we ended up. Next weekly Sabbath, I'll be here again. You poor folks, you've got to put up three times in eight days.

I'll be here for trumpets and also the weekly Sabbath. So we'll just continue on next time.