Isaiah chapter 1

Let me give you a little bit of an overview for chapter 1. In chapter 1, God is summoning His very sinful people, Israel, to a trial, to a court trial. When God gave Israel its law under Moses, He promised them blessings through obedience, cursings for disobedience. And in the book of Deuteronomy four times, He calls heaven and earth as a witness to the nation about that fact.

I'll read to you, I'm not going to turn there, Deuteronomy 30 verse 19. Deuteronomy 30.19, where God says to Israel, I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, but I've said before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life that both you and your descendants may live. Now, by Isaiah's day, Israel had repeatedly broken the covenant. God was about to send the ten tribes into national captivity. Remember from our background, when Isaiah's writing this, this is perhaps around 740 BC. Less than 20 years later, Israel goes into national captivity. So, Isaiah's going to witness this in his lifetime.

Now, this book of Isaiah is mostly to the nation of Judah, but Israel is still very much alive at this point as a nation. As a matter of fact, they're doing quite well as a nation in many regards in terms of their prosperity. But they are just 18 years, 20 years or so removed from no longer being a nation, from being destroyed as a nation. And so, Isaiah has been asked by God to basically be a lawyer in a court where God summons his sinful people and has some words to say to them.

Now, remember what we talked about when we were going through the background to this book. The overall purpose of Bible prophecy is to encourage us to change our lives. It's not just to understand what happened X number of years or centuries or millennia ago, but for us to look at what we see here and to change our lives.

And today, and maybe next time we're talking about Isaiah, we're going to see an awful lot of Christian living material here. A great deal of Christian. Just like when we were going through the book of Daniel, we saw a lot of Christian living material there. In your notes, if you want to take any notes, I'm going to outline the chapter here for you. It's basically in four sections. Verse 1 is the first section where Isaiah is given a very special vision by God.

That's verse 1. The second section is verses 2 through 10. Here we have God's first charge against his sinful people that they were rebellious. That's verses 2 through 10. The third section is verses 11 through 20. God's second charge. They had an unacceptable form of worship. An unacceptable form of worship. And the fourth section is God's third charge that they were unjust and deceitful people. That's verses 21 through 31. We'll go through that step by step.

Now as we're going through the material today, brethren, and I've got more time than normal since the announcements are relatively short, we're going to take a look at a number of Christian living principles as we go through the book of Isaiah. Before we read a single word in the book of Isaiah, I would like you to turn to 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. Because there's a New Testament spiritual principle here that's going to guide us as we go through God's Word in the Old Testament. You know, unlike what people in the world may think, the Old and the New Testaments are not at war with one another.

They complement one another. The same God inspired both Testaments to be written. And the scripture here in 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 21 has a basic and a profound idea to discuss that we see in Isaiah 1. 1. 2 Peter 1 and 21 says this, For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. So God's Spirit is going to be moving Isaiah. And he's got some very important things to say. So let's read verse 1.

Isaiah 1. 1. The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Now, as we said before in our background information, because Amos, the father as mentioned, we feel that he was probably a very important individual.

And it may well be that Amos, his brother was king, that Isaiah had royal blood coursing through his veins, that Isaiah was a man who was very familiar with the capital and the ongoings of the affairs of state, diplomacy, and so forth. A little bit of, along those lines, a little bit of historical context just to give you a little bit more from what we said last time.

Isaiah lived from, we believe, 760 B.C. 760 to 680 B.C., roughly 80 years. In that time, he seems to have written somewhere between 742 and 700. 742 and 700. He's contemporary, and we're going to see some of this in just a moment. Other prophets that he was living alongside of and the same time as would be Amos, Hosea, Micah, and Jonah.

Now how do we know that? Well, I'm not going to take the time to turn there, but if you were to go to Amos 1-1, Hosea 1-1, and Micah 1-1, you would see that those three men also lived during the same kings as mentioned in Isaiah 1-1. Now why is this relevant? Why am I even bringing this up? Much like there's a reason why we've got four gospels. The four gospels, and we've gone through this, those of you who go to the In-Home Studies, as we've gone through the Book of Mark, I've given this to those groups. The four gospels show four different views of Jesus Christ. Matthew emphasizes Jesus Christ as King.

Mark emphasizes Jesus Christ as servant. Luke emphasizes Jesus Christ as man. And John emphasizes Jesus Christ as God. So King, servant, man, God. Four perspectives. When you take them all together, it has a very complete outlook on Jesus Christ and His ministry. Now, three of these prophets of the four I've made mention of, Hosea, Amos, and Micah, again, they write at the same time that Isaiah does. And again, as you put these together, you have a more complete picture of what's going on.

And remember, brethren, one of the things when we were thinking about which book do we want to go through, we were talking about the Book of Acts, we were talking about Deuteronomy, and we were talking about Isaiah, I made mention regarding Isaiah that we were going to go through an awful lot of other material about other books. Going through Isaiah would be a tremendous educational background in terms of understanding different other books, what other books are about, and so on and so forth.

And we're going to find that today as we go through this material. Hosea, primarily, was talking about the need for repentance and showing God's great love for the nation. Isaiah writes about the same thing, the need for repentance and God's great love for the nation. Isaiah's very name, you know, talking about repentance today and talking about forgiveness today. God's very name shows how much he loves the nation.

So Amos, or excuse me, yeah, Hosea, shows the need for repentance. Amos, one of the major themes through that book is the people were more into form than substance in their worship of God. Now, do we have some of that going on today? Well, what time of the year are we in this time?

A lot of form, you know, put up your tree, buy your gifts. Now, is that what God wants? Well, we're going to see some wording here in his first chapter that shows how much God is against all of that. Amos wrote about people having more of a form than substance in their worship. Isaiah writes about the same thing. Micah. Micah was one of the prophets who wrote to both Israel and Judah very extensively, and one of the things he wanted to get across is people looking to the wrong source for help.

And in Micah's case, one of the things people were looking for were the leadership in terms of the political leadership of the land. And today, you can see what's happening to our nation. Now, you know, I've only lived, come January, I've lived 67 years in this flesh, so I've not seen, you know, all of our history. You've not seen all of our history. I understand our colonial history, the political atmosphere, after we became a nation, was very charged. People, you know, wanting to fight duels, calling them one of their all sorts of horrible names.

Well, we see some of that today, don't we? We see a very divided nation. Politically, that's one of the themes that you see in the book of Micah, and we're also going to see that as we travel through the book of Isaiah. Now, let's go, let's dig down a little deeper into these three books. And this is where we see a lot more information. And again, this is all relevant to what Isaiah is writing, because Isaiah may well have known these men, and they were working perhaps in concert.

Hosea, the name means salvation. He was sent to the northern ten tribes. Most historians say that his message was written from about 753 to 715, which very much coincides with when Isaiah was writing. When Hosea comes along and starts his message, it's a time of one of the greatest economic revivals in Israel's history. And remember, he will be alive when that nation goes into captivity.

So just prior to captivity, lots of, you know, the great society. Think about our day today. Think about our nation. We are a very wealthy nation. Okay? So there's a lot of things we're going to see that speak to our day today. When Hosea was writing, Israel had not seen a time this great since the days of Solomon. It was a resurgence of one of the greatest times in their history. It might have been the greatest extent of their size in terms of population when Hosea was writing. But they had a philosophy. You know, even though God loved them a great deal, God wanted them to repent because they kind of had this idea that they were so blessed, God must be happy with them. Today we call that the health wealth gospel. That if we're doing really well, then God's blessing us. Sometimes that's true. But we've got plenty of atheists and plenty of people who do all sorts of bad and evil things who make a lot of money. So just because you're making a lot of money doesn't mean you're one of God's favorite songs. Okay, moving on to Amos. His prophecy was in the mid-700s, about 753, most scholars would think. He wrote also to the northern kingdom, also at the time of the, as we just saw with Hosea, at the time of some of the greatest power the nation ever had.

But in the book of Amos, he saw that they had only a form of worship.

And they didn't seem to care that their relationship with God was solid.

Oh, they went to church all the time, so to speak. But it was a lot of form and not substance.

Another thing that Amos wrote about, another theme he wrote about, as being a part of God's people doesn't guarantee exemption from judgment.

Just because they were living in Israel didn't mean they got a free pass.

Just like today, brethren, just because we come to services doesn't mean we can't be led to seeing.

Just because we come to services doesn't even necessarily mean that we're even converted.

Think about what happened to us as a church back in 1995.

People think, but that person had so much understanding of the Bible. Well, they had a lot of technical understanding. But you know, I've got on my computer back at home, I've got all sorts of Bible helps, Bible encyclopedias. Those guys have a lot of understanding about the Bible, but none of those guys are converted. So just because a person may know a lot about the Bible doesn't mean they're converted. Back in 1995, if the converted people stayed with us, they would have stayed with us. That's a statement to make something for us to think about. But we don't want to be like that. We don't want to say, just because I'm coming to services every week in Beloit, that everything is well. We need to examine ourselves as to whether we are in the faith. And that's true for the ministry, that's true for the members, that's true for all of us.

Micah, drilling down a little bit into Micah, again, all these three things, fellas, are writing the same time as Isaiah. We're getting these messages that they build on one another. Micah's ministry fell between 750 and 686 BC. Micah wrote when Israel went into national captivity. Micah had a great deal to write about the leaders. He talked a lot about Samaria and Jerusalem, the capitals of the two countries, and he wrote to both countries. And so it's interesting to understand where Micah's coming from, where people had their eyes on the wrong government.

Just like today, you can go to some of our churches. I'm told by people who've done this, you go to some of our churches, and if you're a new person, some of the first things you'll be asked is if you're a Republican or a Democrat. That's having our eyes on the wrong thing. That's having our eyes on the wrong government. Now, am I saying you should not be a Republican or Democrat? Well, that's your decision to make. That's not my decision to make for you. That's your decision to make. But in terms of what Micah was writing about, he said that the people had their eyes on the wrong government, the wrong individuals. They felt the king was going to deliver them. They were looking to the wrong king. They were looking to a physical leader and not the spiritual leader. So we see a lot of information there that's background that helps us understand Isaiah and Isaiah's day through the three men, those three prophets, plus Isaiah. Okay, so that was, verse 1 shows that God gave him a very special vision here, and he's about to discuss this information with the people of the land. Now we get into the second section.

God levels his very first charge against Israel and Judah, and that is that they are a rebellious people. They are rebellious people, going from, like I said, verse 2 through verse 10.

A New Testament principle here that you can put in your notes. I can read for you if you'd like. If you don't want to turn there, it would be Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 3 verses 12 and 13.

Hebrews 3 verses 12 and 13, where Paul writes, Beware, brethren, lest there be in any view an evil heart of unbelief, and departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily, while as called today, lest any view be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Well, the people here, Isaiah is writing to, are a sinful people.

Verse 2, Isaiah 1-2, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. I have nursed and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

We're going to see this more in chapter 5 of Isaiah, where in chapter 5, God basically is lamenting.

As a father, what more could I have done?

Those of us who have got kids, whose kids don't attend services.

I can relate to that. What more could I have done?

So here in verse 2, we see this courtroom setting, heaven and earth.

And Isaiah is acting as God's lawyer, God's representative, quoting Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse 1. We won't go there. We're quoting 32 verse 1 of Deuteronomy. Verse 3, For the ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib. But Israel does not know, my people do not consider. So here we see, again, we believe this is to both Israel and Judah.

It shows that people may have all sorts of... the animals have knowledge of who their creator is, how things are to work, where their food, where their sustenance comes from. Animals know that, but God's people don't seem to know that. They don't seem to understand that.

Again, this is a time of riches in the country, a time where they probably, to use our language today, they made sure they were in church every Sunday, or on their case, every Sabbath. But again, it was so much form and not substance.

Verse 4, A last sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corruptors, they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward.

Now, verse 4 has a lot going on here. The people had become loaded down with their sins.

They weren't just starting to depart from God. In Israel's case, they were just less than a generation away from being exterminated as a nation. They were well on their way to corruption. This corruption was being passed down from generation to generation. They were evil children. Their parents were evil. Their grandchildren were going to be corrupt and evil. And notice the wording here in verse 4. It talks about how they have forsaken the Lord.

Vines Expository Dictionary says this word forsaken means to abandon, to leave behind. They were abandoning God. They were leaving God behind. Yes, they were in church. They had a form of religion. And again, brethren, we want to make sure that's not talking about us.

That we have a form. We come to services, but where is our heart? Where is our mind?

Are we abandoning and leaving God behind? Are we just so much suits and ties and nice dresses? And there's not much behind that.

It says they provoked to anger the Holy One. The word provoked here means to despise, to abhor.

They provoked God because of their attitudes. They turned away, it says. They became estranged. So not a lot of things being said there that's positive. And it says also here, the Holy One of Israel. Talking about God's name. Now, I commented on this when we went through the background here a few weeks ago. The title, The Holy One of Israel, is a very important title. It's used 25 times in the book of Isaiah. 25 times. It is only used six other times in the rest of the Old Testament. So this name is very important to God. It's very important to Isaiah. And Isaiah uses it a great many times compared to the rest of the whole of the Old Testament. Holy, emphasizing the character of God. Contrasting with the people.

The people were anything but holy. They were a sinful people.

Okay, getting back to chapter 1, verses 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 and putrefying sores. They have not been closed or bound up or soothed with ointment. So here in verses 5 and 6, it's talking about the government. It's talking about the head. It's talking about the heart. Brethren, is our government's head, is our government's heart, and not just talking about the current setup with Mr. Trump, but for some time now, too long of a time now, much too long of a time now, has our government been what it should be in terms of wanting to obey God? Has it ever really been that way? Well, I guess people can maybe say, well, during the colonial times, people had a love for the Bible, that sort of thing. Back in colonial times, some of our colonies, I think Rhode Island, if I'm not forgetting, if I'm remembering correctly, I think Rhode Island was established by a Sabbath keeper. We've got that fairly strong in our history.

But as it says here in verses 5 and 6, you know, our head, our heart is sick, and because of that, it says, verse 6, from the soul of the foot, in other words, the common guy, the common gal, from the soul of the foot, even to the head. So because of the improper leadership, not just politically, but religiously as well, because of the improper leadership, the whole body is in a really bad, bad shape. It's sick. It's wounded. It's beaten up.

Verse 7, your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire, strangers devour your land and your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. Boy, we can kind of talk about that for some time, couldn't we? Strangers. Are we aware to what degree foreign concerns foreign countries have invested in this country, and just how much of our country isn't really ours anymore? Foreign investors. That's happening today. But as we see here, it says, your cities are burned with fire. That's talking about just as ancient Israel and ancient Judah went into captivity. That's talking about how our nation's going to end up, how our nation is going to end up. We don't want to see that. We don't want to see that.

Desolation, overthrown by strangers. What we're looking at there in verse 7 is a hint of World War III. And basically, brethren, nobody wins that war. There's a time when one group of nations may have it over another group of nations, but it's very short-lived. You know, the times of the Gentiles last three and a half years prior to the return of Christ. And in that time, the world is convulsed in war. Our nation goes down. Other nations go down. No one wins. No one wins that conflict. At the very end of that, the nations try to gather together around Jerusalem to fight Christ as he returns. And Christ puts down that rebellion. You know, what's sad to me, brethren, as I watch news, as I've commented to you on so many occasions, as too many—not all Americans, for sure. I'm sure none of us—but too many, too many Americans—I'm not even going to say a majority—but too many Americans just don't appreciate what God has given to us. Just don't appreciate.

Here, not that long ago, it was just as I was putting this together for the first go-round there in Chicago, the governor of New York, Mr. Cuomo, said, America's not that great.

I would love to put him on a plane to Yemen. Let him live there. And not even tell him what date he can return. Let him think he's going to live there the rest of his life.

And then let him return to this country. America is not that great. God has given us such a beautiful land, such a beautiful blessing, because of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But just as God has given to us, God can take it away from us. And we see that here in the book of Isaiah. And again, brethren, so many of these things we're going to be reading—I've already read the start—things for us to contemplate not only as a nation, but as individual Christians. As individual Christians.

Verse 8, So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a hut in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. That's very much speaking about the end time. Talking about the daughter of Zion, the daughter—we need to pay attention to these words very carefully—the daughter of Zion. So that's talking about our age today. Verse 9, Unless the Lord of hosts have left us in a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been made like Gomorrah. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah. Why is Isaiah saying this? Why is Isaiah saying this? And look at verse 9 again, Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a very small remnant.

Let's turn over to Amos chapter 5. Remember, Amos wrote the same time as Isaiah.

Amos chapter 5. That's one of the reasons I wanted to give you a little bit of the background of those books.

We'll be touching base of those books as we go through the book of Isaiah. Amos chapter 5, verse 1.

Hear this word which I will take up against you, O lamentation, O house of Israel, the virgin of Israel has fallen, she will arise no more.

You know, people think, well, you know, if something happens to this country, we'll, we always get it back. We'll stage a comeback. Well, no, we won't.

The virgin of Israel has fallen, she will arise no more. She lies forsaken on her land.

There is no one to rise her up. There's no one in the world who wants to rise her up. You know, in one sense, people of the world, they can appreciate America. They can appreciate what we do for the people who are stricken with calamity, and we come to help, and we're very generous as a people. But make no mistake, the people of the world are jealous of America. They're jealous of our riches. They're jealous of the land we have. They're jealous of our history.

And we go down, they think, oh, well, if they're going to go down, maybe this is our turn to rise up. Verse 3, For thus as the Lord, 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 here we see an indication that when all this mayhem starts at the end of the age, only 10 percent of our people make it through the great tribulation and day of the Lord into the millennium. Only one person in ten.

And I don't know about you, brethren, but when I drive around, sometimes, especially on days I'm giving these kinds of sermons, I look at the people sitting in their cars at a stoplight, I look at the people coming in and out of stores and malls, and thinking, those poor people. It's as if, brethren, you and I were taken back in time to live in Europe, and we're watching people coming out of the synagogues. And it's 1930 in Europe, and we're watching the people coming out of the synagogues, and they don't know what's about to befall them. And yet we know what's about to befall our nation, to our families.

That's why, brethren, we need to make sure. And you've done such a wonderful job of this.

I've always been very thankful for the heart that I've seen here in the Beloit Church, when we have a holy day and we take up an offering. So many of you are on fixed income, just how many of you, how much you give. Because the dollars, in one sense, aren't the important thing. The important thing is your heart, and your heart wants to give. Your heart wants to serve. Your heart wants to proclaim a warning message, because you know what's coming down the road.

And you are patriots. You love your nation. And we see what's going to befall. But notice now, verse 10. It's interesting that they use Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, Sodom and Gomorrah was totally destroyed. God says, I'm going to leave you a small, very small remnant. I'm not going to destroy the whole nation. So we can be thankful for that. Verse 10. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom, and give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah. Notice, the word of the Lord, the law of our God.

Why the calamity? The calamity is because the people aren't obeying this way of life. They aren't obeying God. They're not giving ear to the law of God. They have the form of religion, but not this substance. So, again, in our outline, God's first charge against Israel and Judah, verses 2 through 10, they were rebellious. Okay, let's look at the second charge. Their worship was unacceptable to God. We see that in verses 11 through 20. And here, brethren, let's pause and take note of a New Testament spiritual principle here.

2 Timothy 3 and verse 5. 2 Timothy 3 and verse 5. Having a form of Godliness, but denying its power, and from such people turn away. Having a form of Godliness, but denying its power. What is the power of God? The power of God is His Holy Spirit. It is the very essence of who God is.

And they're denying people in New Testament times, in our day-to-day, people are denying what true Godliness is.

And today you've got churches of the world where, typically they used to tell you, well, you come to church on Sunday. But now to make it easier for people, well, you can come and have church on Saturday, or your midweek study or whatever.

But no discussion about the Holy Days of God. If you were to talk to, you know, your average person today, brethren, can't name the four Gospels. Now they may go to services, but, you know, what good is it doing if you can't even name the four Gospels? Okay, let's start here in verse 11, in the second section here. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? Says the Lord. What good is it? What you're doing. What good is what you're doing? I've had enough of burnt offerings of rams, the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls or lambs or goats.

When you come to appear before me, who has required this from your hand? Who's required you to keep Sunday or Christmas or Easter or the things they did back in their day? To trample my courts. Who's required you to do that?

Now, they were religious people. They were faithfully attending worship services. They were sacrificing. They had plenty of form, but they didn't have the proper mindset. In that essence, they were hypocritical. Let's put a marker here, and let's go to 1 Samuel chapter 15. We're going to take a little bit of a detour here. And I can tell, this is going to be a two-parter. We won't cover all this chapter today. 1 Samuel chapter 15. What I will do is, next time I'm here, I'll go through the rest of this. I won't go into something else. I'll do two Isaiahs in a row. 1 Samuel chapter 15, verse 22, principle here. So Samuel said, That's what God wants. He wants substance. He wants the real deal. He doesn't want just window dressing. He doesn't want the bells and the whistles and all the things that look good. He wants what is actually good. He wants us worshipping God with our whole heart. In that regard, let's turn to Romans chapter 6. What many people call the baptismal covenant chapter. When I'm counseling somebody for baptism, I have them read this chapter over and over and over again. This is basically the fine print of what we're saying we're going to agree to. 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. Obeyed from the heart. That's what God wants. Not slitting the throats of some animals as they all did in the Old Testament, but it's a matter of where their heart was when they were doing that. Obey from the heart. John chapter 4. One more verse before we move on. John chapter 4. Talking about substance. John chapter 4.

Verse 24. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth. Worship in spirit and in truth. Not just physically, but in spirit and in truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship Him. And what is truth? Your word is truth.

Recently somebody told me that it's under consideration for the pontiff to change what we call the Lord's Prayer. Change some of the wording in the Lord's Prayer. Oh, wonderful! But of course, according to their teachings, His word is equal to Scripture. So if He wants to do that, I guess according to what they believe, they can do that. Brethren, we can't do that. God's word is truth. And we can't change anything the Bible has to say. Okay, let's go back to Isaiah chapter 1.

Verses 13 through 15 here. Bring no more futile sacrifices. Feudal sacrifices. Just like people are doing today. They think they're going to church. I'm not trying to be negative toward the world. They don't know any better. There's going to come a time when God will open up their hearts and minds. So I'm not trying to down them. But what they are doing is misguided. Those who say that they are ministers of God are very, very misguided. And God is going to pay them special attention for saying that they were His men of God when they really were not.

Bring no more futile sacrifices. Incense, their incense, which represents prayer, is an abomination to me.

So just because people pray doesn't mean they're praying in the right way, even to the right God. No, obviously this is not something we'd necessarily walk up to somebody in the supermarket and say, you know you're praying for the wrong God. Incense is an abomination to me. The new moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure iniquity in the sacred meeting. Now somebody might say, well, this is why we're new covenant people. That's Sabbath and the new moons. God's calendar and the Sabbaths and called out assemblies like the Sabbath. But what does God say about what they're doing? God says, that's iniquity. Why? Because this is a whole different set of days. These aren't God's Sabbaths. These aren't God's holy days being mentioned here. These are the things that they concocted on their own. We see that more clearly in verse 14. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates. So when people come to you this time of the year and say, as Christians, we can do this. And our former association said that. Well, it's totally appropriate. As new covenant Christians, we can do this. Oh, really? That's not what God says. Your new moons and your...where in the Bible is Christmas? Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They are a trouble to me. I am weary 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 again, just being religious is not enough. We've got to obey God and worship Him according to what He wants us to do. Let's go to the book of Mark. Mark 7. Again, if you thought that Isaiah was only about prophecy, look at all the Christian living we're getting into here. Mark 7. And verse 7, And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

Isaiah 59.

Verse 1 and 2, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor is it 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. So that He will not hear. God is telling Israel, God is telling Judah, they must stop making meaningless offerings. They must stop bringing detestable incense. Remember, incense was a symbolical prayer. Their prayers were not good to God because they were filled with untruths. They were filled with man's doctrine. They must stop their evil assemblies, not only their regular weekly ones that they've concocted, but also their annual ones, and so forth.

Now, let's wash out our mind with the truth of God. Let's go to Leviticus 23.

Leviticus 23.

And we see such a tremendous contrast here. Leviticus 23, verse 1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, The Feast of the Lord. Now, we didn't see that when we were looking at Isaiah 1, did we? No. Notice this is, The Feast of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, These are my feasts. You think God didn't know about the feasts that the pagan people were keeping? You know, when Israel was about to go into the Holy Land, God knew exactly what their religions were. He knew exactly the falseness of their religions. And so by way of contrast, it is, These are my feasts. And it goes through, and you can, I wrote in my notes here, the different places in this one chapter where it talks about God's feasts. Verses 2 through 6, and you can do this on your own. Verse 8, verses 11 through 14, verses 16 through 18, verses 20, verses 25, verses 27 and 28, verses 34, verses 36 through 41, verses 43 and 44, all of that. I mean, you can do this on your own. It's talking about worshipping God on His feasts. His feasts. Very different there. Okay. Let's go back to Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1, verse 16. Wash yourselves. Make yourselves clean. Remember we talked about the various other minor prophets where repentance was such a big thing? They wrote the same time as Isaiah. This is one of the things all these prophets are seeing together. Hosea Amos, Isaiah, Micah. Wash yourselves. Make yourselves clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Rebuke the oppressor. Defend the fadless. Plead for the widow. Interesting. Interesting where that is put there as a part and parcel of what repentance is all about. Let's put a marker here and turn to James chapter 1. James, Jesus Christ, half-brother. Headquarters Jerusalem Apostle, pastor. James chapter 1, verse 27. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this. To visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Why does that make such a difference to the great God? Because the people in this situation, the orphans and widows, are not the kind of people who can pay you back. And so when we do good to those folks, we understand that we're doing good because there's nothing we get. We don't get any kickbacks here. Other than knowing we're doing God's will. Other than knowing that we are doing what is right and pleasing in God's eyes and being satisfied with that. Being satisfied with that. So we go back here now to Isaiah chapter 1, verse 17. Learn to do good, seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fathers, and plead for the widow. Be there for those who can't help themselves.

Verse 18, Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. You know, earlier today we heard about forgiveness. Which accompanies mercy. And God says, I want to be merciful to you.

God doesn't summon the people, you know, Isaiah is not summoning the people to hear this information. Just to be a sundowner. You've got to remember the purpose of prophecy. The purpose of prophecy is to hear these words and to do what it says here in verses 16 through 19. To repent. Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But it's got to be a part of your heart. It's got to be a part of your mind.

Verse 20. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Bad decisions bring bad consequences. Bad decisions bring bad consequences. You know, sometimes people say, well, why are we going through this? What's happening here? Well, sometimes, brethren, we make some bad choices. And sometimes God doesn't deliver us from those bad choices. Sometimes we have to pay the full weight of the price for the decisions we make. We want wisdom. How do we get wisdom? We get wisdom as we go through life. We learn what works and what doesn't work. The wise person says, that didn't work. I'm not going to do that anymore. Why do we know that didn't work? Because, verse 20, we rebelled against wise counsel and did something that was unwise. So God is teaching us wisdom. He's teaching us all sorts of patience, all sorts of things. All sorts of things. All right, I think I'm...