Through this passage that you would awaken a greater longing and desire for you We pray that our hearts and our minds Lord God may be fixated on the things that honor and glorify you We pray for your Holy Spirit's guidance on leading Jesus name. We pray. Amen Okay, just to kind of give you a quick brief cap I think most of you guys already know that this is gonna be a shortened session And if you didn't get an email Hopefully, you know just to give me a heads up We're gonna be finishing everything by 825 and anyone who is not a member in the church We're gonna have to ask you guys to not be in the room because we're having a members meeting at 830 830 At 830 we have snacks in the back You guys are in the middle as you guys are having small group discussion more than welcome to go and grab that stuff But there's not going to be a separate Snack time unless it's gonna be way at the end Okay, so I'm gonna cut my teaching time a little bit shorter or a lot shorter than normal so that we can get to that So again, just to give you a heads up Anybody who's not a member even if you're in the process of going through BCC right now And if you have not been officially announced We ask that you guys are not in the room by 830.

So we don't have to say hey, please exit the premises So if you see 830, please do us a favor and if you know that you cannot be here, please There's certain things that we need to talk about we're gonna try to start us as as close to 830 as possible So again at 830 without any announcement if we don't and again your small small group leaders No matter how intense your small group gets please try to finish by a time shoot for 825 So that if you can't finish by 25 at 830 at the at the maximum that that's when it's gonna be done So please control your small group so that that can happen on time.

Okay? All right. Let's look at the text. We're looking at Isaiah chapter 56 and 57 So again just to give you context chapter 56 is the continuation of 55 Where the Lord calls his people to repentance to come and draw and to to gain insight and life from him And so chapter 56 is a follow-up from that So what does it look like to come to him and so he begins by calling his people?

in redemption to keep justice and righteousness So some of you guys remember a few weeks ago I talked about that on Sunday the word for justice is to make something that was wrong to make it right Righteousness is to do what is right. So the root word at least in the Greek is the same, right?

To make something right that was wrong to do something, right? That was wrong So basically what God's calling them to do is now that redemption has come to draw near to him and make what was wrong, right? And what is the scope of his invitation even though he begins with a nation of Israel his intent always has been the world Genesis begins with the world and then Genesis chapter 12 It begins to focus on how he's going to reach the world to the nation of Israel But now that he's prophesying about the redemption of redemption.

He's again opening up the scope to mankind, right? So he begins by saying it's going to foreigners and verses 3 to 8 Not just the Israelites, but the foreigners are going to be called to this Gentiles and anyone who is considered an outcast And again the theme of the redemption is for those who are who are in need of redemption those who are in need of grace Who normally did not have access to God God's gonna open the door wide It specifically mentions that they're in the kingdom.

There's going to be eunuchs Again to a Jew this means quite a bit because Jews knew that it was prohibited for eunuchs to have access to the temple So it was prohibited that that passes not here, but Leviticus chapter 21 18 through 20 specifically spells out that the eunuchs were not allowed because they were considered unclean Deuteronomy 23 1 says the same thing Acts chapter 8 anybody know what is contained in Acts chapters 8 26 What happens in Acts 8 26 What happened Ethiopian eunuch gets converted.

So remember what happens is the gospel is in Jerusalem member the Member the angel says I you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you will be my witnesses Jerusalem Judea Samaria to the remotest part of the world. So up to chapter 6 and 7 it's in Jerusalem Right, and then after that the gospel begins to spread out to Samaria And then we get to chapter 13 of the book of Acts and it begins to spread out to the remotest part of the world Chapter 8 is the beginning of where the gospel where the persecution happens Phillips the evangelist as he is going he runs into an Ethiopian eunuch and he converts him Remember the passage that the eunuch was reading Yeah, we just finished Isaiah 53 he reads that he converts If you don't understand the context of why all of a sudden the one Ethiopian eunuch converting what's the significance of this is because?

The Ethiopian eunuch converting and coming into the kingdom represented the the fulfillment of this prophecy Where God is going to restore and when God restores and redeems that the door of to his kingdom is going to be wide open So the significance of that what happens in chapter 8 is Where the gospel now begins it goes beyond the borders of the Jewish community and now it's beginning to open To this even this Ethiopian eunuch.

He he was a God-fearer who came to Jerusalem to worship God But he would have never been able to enter the temple one because he was a Gentile and second because he was a eunuch But now because of the because now the door has been opened he's able to go and worship.

That's the significance of that, right? The God has opened the door And he promises that those who are on the outside they will begin to partake of all the promises that God made to the nation of Israel Even though his language was to the nation of Israel the fulfillment of all these prophecies are going to be opened up to everyone who?

Is on the outside? And that this covenant that God makes with them is also an everlasting covenant that this is not a temporary Door opening but this was going to be permanent So if you see the redemptive history It begins with God's promise to the world and then it narrows to the nation of Israel Because that's the salvation plan and then and then now he says at the end through them the Messiah is gonna come he's gonna open the door wide open again And then we see in verse 9 to verse 12 again, he's going back and forth and now he's going back to the Warning against the watch before the watchman.

They're the leaders of Israel So again just just the imagery itself of calling the leaders watchmen What's the first image that you get? What was the responsibility of the of the? leaders of Israel To protect what does a watchman do when you put a watchman on the tower to protect?

How does he protect? To Warn people right when there's danger what else Stay sober and alert right in order to do their job Well, they they themselves have to be sober and alert So if you look at the indictment against the leaders of Israel that God establishes leaders for the purpose of watching To alert to keep them safe, right?

So the indictment against them the rebuke against them so they said they were beasts ready to devour The watchmen are placed there to protect from these wild beasts from their enemies But they say these these leaders themselves became the devourers And the reason behind that was because they themselves were blind if they were watchmen How can they be a watchman if they themselves are blind, right?

So they couldn't do their job because they didn't know themselves Well, what do you think the meaning behind is they're like silent dogs that can't bark what do you think the meaning behind that is They can't sound that alarm right the dog can't bark when there's danger they're just limp they're just there It has no purpose They said they're lazy they have lots of vision but no discipline to carry it out They speak a lot about what they're gonna accomplish what they want to do.

But in the end there is no fulfillment of any of these things Ultimately their appetite can't be satisfied Meaning the focus is upon themselves. It's not to warn the people it's it's for their own Egos, it's for their own fulfillment and it is never satisfied And ultimately it's because they turn to their own ways that seeking their own gain They ultimately gather people for themselves promise hope that will ultimately lead to destruction And if you look at the very end of that he says come they say let me get wine Let us let us fill ourselves with strong drink and tomorrow will be like this day great beyond measure I Mean it was a it was very promising what they were saying He was encouraging people tomorrow.

Everything's gonna be fine. You have plenty of drink, right? There's no danger So the message of these false leaders for that there is no danger You don't have to worry about tomorrow What was the problem with that? Why would that cause judgment? Why would promise of hope and prosperity and peace why would that bring judgment upon the leaders Yes Because it wasn't true Because it wasn't true They were put up there to shout danger that God was warning them that the judgment is coming But these false leaders were saying no judgment is not coming.

Look look how nice we have it. Why would you worry about tomorrow? Tomorrow's gonna be no different than today, right? So that was basically the message of the Prophet the false prophets were not That God's gonna come and smite you the message of the false prophets Basically was peace peace when there is no peace It's because they're self-seeking why would a false prophet never sound the alarm Because nobody wants to hear it Right.

Nobody wants to hear it Because there's they're looking for themselves if you're a man pleasing and all you care about what other people think And you're not gonna give a give a message that people aren't gonna be excited about right? That's why they hated Jeremiah Jeremiah They said man that guy every time he opens his mouth.

He's talking about judgment They hated him that troublemaker, right? But the reason why they didn't do that is because they ultimately were seeking their own gain their apathy was for their own appetite, right And their message was always good When there was no peace And in the in the context when Israel was sinning against God they couldn't discern what was right or wrong When they're that far away from God they couldn't discern what is right and what is wrong So they were the ones who were persecuting the righteous I mean think about the darkest period of church history Darkest period of church history one of the things that is that church was known for Okay, one of the things that the church was known for was killing Genuine people who wanted to bring the Bible they wanted to bring revival They were the ones that were extinguished in church history during the darkest period and so in Israel's darkest period It's the righteous who got killed.

And so the promise that God makes to the righteous is that God is going to ultimately Be faithful to them that they are going to truly find peace Is that they're going to the Sin that God indicts the Israel they burn with lust they sacrifice their own children and this is a very specific indictment against Israel one of the idols that Israel kept on falling into was the idol of Molech and the way that they worshiped Molech was more Molech was like a metal metal Idol piece with an outstretched arm and they would burn it and then come really hot and they would take their infant babies and place it on its arm and in the end then the baby would die in the arm and would burn to death and that way they would appease the Idol of Molech.

All right, and so he's saying at the at the peak of Israel sin. They were actually sacrificing their own children And they were giving offerings to idols rather than offering to God so if you look at verse 6 That among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion There your lot to them you have poured out drink offering.

So who was drink offering meant for? For God God Required that for the nation of Israel you have brought a grain offering shall I relent for these things? And so they were doing the right things to the wrong person right Does that make sense They were obeying God but yet they were offering it up to Molech or to the other idols What would be an equivalent of that in the church I can think of a few What would be an equivalent of doing what is right?

for the wrong cause I'm sure you can think of some You Just say it I know you're thinking it I could hear it We throw words around like do unto others as you would do unto them Unto you would have them do unto us and then you apply it to that's why we need to accept homosexuality as normal Right, you take all kinds of sins and then you apply the Word of God into it the wrong way and you're saying well That's what a Christian aren't Christians supposed to be gracious and loving and then they're applying it in the wrong direction So this is exactly what they were doing They were offering sacrifices that God required of them But they were offering to idols and he said do you think I will relent of my anger because you made these sacrifices to to Moloch Right.

Do you think God is God's anger as a piece because you are gentle and nice for the wrong purpose? So that would be again, I think the New Testament version of something like that And ultimately they made a covenant with them so in other words when he says made a covenant with them this was not just a casual Drifting away to idols.

This was a deliberate commitment to do wrong They You can't make a covenant with God and covenant with idols so to say that the Nation of Israel Covenant it with these false idols was that he they deliberately broke away from God and Decided that we have more benefit from worshiping these idols in God So they break the first two commandments, I mean they break all of the commandments when they do this But you know to not to worship any other on the other God not to make any other graven images Right, and that was a constant sin of Israel.

They worship idols They worship God or Yahweh in a form of idols. It would create this golden calf and say this is Yahweh Right, or they will worship God and take it up to high places where God forbid them to go So they would worship the name of Yahweh, but they would do it in their own way So again, they were covenant covenanting at mimicking Their relationship with God with false idols And so as a result of that what happened They did not remember They forgot about God which is a constant cycle the reason why they fall out to fall into idolatry is because They continue to forget who he is If you just look back and that's why God always says to a church that's backsliding to remember to go back Go back and remember who he is if you remember what he has done his forgiveness his mercy That will prevent you from drifting away They said they forgot and they forgot And God says those who trust in idols will find that it offers nothing at the end of the day Right, there's nothing waiting for them But despite all of that despite the indictment despite the detail explanation of what was wrong with the leadership He ends with the promise here in this text.

Look with me starting from verse 14 And it shall be said build up build up prepare the way remove every obstruction from my people's way For this thus says the Lord This is after listing of indictments against Israel how they forgot him how they made a false covenant with wrong gods and Leaders were actually the there were the ones devourers and yet he says For thus says the one who is high and lifted up who inhabits eternity whose name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place and also with him who is Who is of the contrite and lowly spirit to revive the spirit of the lonely and to revive the heart of the contrite?

he said God though he is high and mighty and and Exalted that he's coming for the lowly, right? I mean that at the core of the gospel message is that God of the universe stepped off of his throne to get sinners were without hope I Mean just think about that that image alone And not only does he do that he says to his disciples that this is a model I give to you Then he Serves as disciples as a last lesson to give all throughout every time there's any kind of competition or pride he squashes it by saying that he who serves is the greatest of the kingdom of God because That's at the core of what the gospel is the high and mighty came so that he can come for the lowly Though Sixteen and seven he goes back that I will not contend forever Nor will I always be angry for the spirit would grow Faint before me and the breath of life that I made because of the iniquity of his unjust gain.

I was angry I struck him I hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own own heart again That's a condensed Version of Israel's history that God was faithful. He kept chasing after them. They kept on turning away but despite all of that I have seen his ways, but I I Will heal him I will lead him and restore and comfort him and his mourners So in other words even after the indictment the end conclusion is that this is God's heart God's not doing this all like ultimately Simply to discipline them his ultimate goal in his discipline is to bring restoration, right?

He chooses to heal them despite all of that God says I have determined to heal you Okay, I said I was gonna keep this short and I'm gonna keep my promise All right So I'm gonna ask you guys to take some time with your small group, take some time to pray.