God's Grand Vision: Transformed people

Thanks, Amy. Let's pray and ask God to illuminate his words in our hearts.

Father, these words belong to you, and we believe that you speak to us today by your

spirit, and we pray, Father, that these words might cut us deep inside of us, so they might

change us. We pray that through our hearing of your word, that Jesus' name would be honoured

among us and among the nations, so that all glory might go to you, and we pray this in

Jesus' name. Amen. Years ago, I was involved in a beach mission to a little place called

Windang down the south coast. Yeah? You know Windang? Yeah, it's a pretty dirty little town,

if I could say so. High youth unemployment. It's the first time that I've met Satan worshippers,

and it was really interesting. I was involved with the mission to the adults. There was a,

somebody was giving a talk, and I think it was a heroin addict and dealer and all that sort

of stuff, and at the end of it all, one of the young blokes sort of stood up and said,

you know, I'll believe you if your God comes down and he lights my cigarette. He was going

to say something else, but he thought, you know, he didn't want to offend our Christian

sensitivity. And there was a very interesting proposition to prove the truthfulness of the

gospel. Of course, we were unable to do it, and he left. It might very well be a good question,

and that is, how do we show our peers, people around us, God? Where is our God to be found?

That might be a question for non-Christians, but it might be a question for Christians as well,

too. If you're going through a hard time, difficult patch in your life, you might be asking this

question, well, where is God to be found? Do I need to storm heaven in order to see God?

We see today that there are two significant problems, two significant problems for the presence

of God. The first one is the corruption of his people. That is how our passage begins.

God's people is just terrible. There's nothing to command God's people, and we can see that

the corruption of his people starts from its head, and we can see that in chapter 56, the last few verses.

Verse 10,

Come, all you beasts of the field, come and devour all you beasts of the forest. So it is an invitation to summon

by God to the animals to consume his people. Why? Verse 10, Israel's watchmen are blind.

They all lack knowledge. They are like mute dogs. They can't bark. They lie around, dream, scratch their

tummies. They love to sleep. They're dogs with mighty appetites. They never have enough. They're shepherds who lack

understanding, or they all turn to their own way. Each seeks his own gain. Come, each one cries. Let me get

wine. Let us drink our fill of beer, and tomorrow we'll be like today, or even better.

A terrible picture of what Israel is like. The head is corrupt. Verse 10, the watchmen of Israel.

I mean, who were the watchmen presumably in that time? You've got fortress, fortified cities,

and people were assigned to care for the city by warning the city of its danger. The watchmen,

you know, they stand at the turrets and watch for impending danger. It's a great, one of the,

I imagine, prerequisite of being a watchmen is that you have good eyesight. I couldn't be a good watchman

because I've got terrible eyesight. But these watchmen, the watchmen of Israel, they were blind.

They couldn't see. How could they possibly save Israel from danger? They were ignorant and they were lazy.

And unlike me, who's got a genetic thing with my eyesight, these people were willfully blind. They were

deliberately ignorant. And we can see the source of their ignorance and blindness in verses 11 and 12.

They were ignorant and they were blind because they love so much. They were lovers. They love their work.

They love their families. They love themselves. They comfort their ambitions, their hobbies. They love their drink.

They love everything except for the people they were supposed to love and protect.

And as a result, the people of God is devout. It is a sick head, but the body is equally sick.

Have a look at chapter 57.

The righteous perish and no one ponders it in his heart. Devout men are taken away and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.

Those who walk uprightly, however, enter into peace. They find rest as they lie in death.

You know, the whole place is so bad that even when the little good disappears, no one notices.

This is how bad things were. And the accusation becomes more direct.

But you, not just the head, but the body, you, everyone, come here, you sons of a sorceress,

you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes.

Whom are you mocking? At whom do you sneer and stick out your tongue?

Are you not a brood of rebels, offspring of liars?

You burn with lust among the oaks and under every spreading tree.

You sacrifice your children in the ravines and under the overhanging crags.

The idol among the smooth stones of the ravines, they are your portion.

They are your lot.

Yes, to them you have poured out drink offerings and offered grain offerings.

In the light of these things, should I relent?

Et cetera, et cetera.

This is what the people of God is like.

They are children of sorceress and prostitutes and adulterers.

It's not so much an indictment on their parents.

It's really talking about what they are like.

So if you are a son of rebellion, it's not saying that rebellion gives birth to you,

but you have the characteristic.

You have the family trait of rebellion.

So in other words, you are a rebel.

If you are...

So these people, they are children of unfaithfulness.

They are characterized by their unworthiness, their unfaithfulness.

They are spiritually promiscuous.

They are sons of liars.

They are people who are deceitful.

They lie.

They mock.

They stick their tang out.

At God, presumably.

At the righteous.

Mind you, it is not that they are irreligious.

Have a look at verses 5 to 8 again.

This is a people full of religion.

But they sacrifice to idols.

Religion is everywhere, from on top of the mountain to the ravines.

They sacrifice everything, even their children.

In verses 9 and 10, we are told that they went down to Molech,

and they send their ambassadors to afar.

They were so eager to seek out their spiritual lovers that they will go far and wide.

Later on, God accused them to acknowledge the futility and the hopelessness of their idolatry,

something that they refused to see.

They just don't see that as a complete waste of time and effort.

And they keep going back to their idols, hoping to get something from them.

Of course, just as an interlude, we might observe that this is not just what the people of God did thousands of years ago.

It's something that we are engaged in in our own time.

In our city, Christians, and maybe even our church, that we prostitute ourselves to our idols.

I don't know whether I mentioned this before.

It is interesting the way Isaiah describes their idols.

Have a look at verse 11.

Whom have you so dreaded and feared that you have been false to me,

and have neither remembered me, nor pondered this in your hearts?

Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear me?

The motivation for their idolatry was, in fact, fear.

Whom have you so dreaded and feared?

I can't remember when I said this in this congregation.

The way that you can tell what you worship is by what you fear.

Whatever you have nightmares about, that is the thing that you worship.

That is your God.

If you're afraid of being alone, if you're afraid of losing your financial security,

if whatever it is that you're afraid of, that is your God.

And we prostitute ourselves to our gods.

We sell our souls for all sorts of things.

For pleasure.

For a relationship.

For approval.

For a pat on the back by our boss.

For applause from our peers.

We even place our children on the altar, as it were,

and sacrifice them to the God of success.

I come from a culture where people would send the, you know,

there was someone in my church, previous church,

who offered to coach my four-year-old, Maths.

And I thought about taking her on her offer.

We put our children on the altar of success.

Not just academic, but sporting, or their self-esteem, their popularity.

And we might ask the question,

when we sacrifice to our idols,

when we lay ourselves and our future and our children on those altars,

we better make sure that it's worth it.

You know, when you make that decision to go out with that non-Christian boy or girl,

you better make sure that you're selling your soul for something that is worthwhile.

He better be worth it for your soul.

That's an enormous problem, isn't it?

That the people of God could be so corrupt from the top to the bottom.

But there is a bigger problem.

There is a bigger problem.

And it's a little bit subtle.

It's a little bit hard to notice.

And I might need to point it out for you to...

The bigger problem here is the context.

It's the context.

Why is that a problem?

It's hard.

I know it's hard when we go through from week to week.

Isaiah, it sort of all gets a bit lost.

We don't know when...

Just to refresh your memory,

Isaiah, the book itself, is divided,

or could be divided into two parts.

The first part is really looking at the impending judgment of God

for the idolatry of Israel.

That's the first part, first 39 chapters.

God warns his people,

if you don't quit your idolatry and prostituting and all this stuff,

I'm going to come and smash you.

And I'm going to give you a warning.

This is what's going to happen to the Northern Kingdom.

The Assyrians are going to come,

and they're going to smash the North.

And that's what happened.

But I'm going to spare you, the South Jerusalem,

from this, but you need to turn.

They didn't.

And God says, what I'm going to do is I'm going to send something worse than the Assyrians,

the Babylonians.

They're going to come,

and they're going to destroy everything that represents me.

They're going to come and destroy the temple,

the symbolic presence,

my presence,

and they're going to take you away from the land,

the symbol of my blessing and protection to you.

Everything that reminds you of me is going to be taken away from you.

A little bit like Eden, you remember.

Genesis chapter 3,

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

Adam and Eve cast out from the garden.

They're not allowed to return

because there's an angel with a flaming sword.

Everything,

the people of God will be cast out once again,

exiled from the presence of God.

That's the first 39 chapters,

but that's not the end of the book.

There's the second part of Isaiah.

There will be a return,

a return from exile.

There will be salvation.

The people would come back to the land,

the temple would be rebuilt on Zion,

and the nations would come stream to Zion.

This is the second part of the book.

Where is chapter 57 in?

Isaiah 57 · chapter mention

The second part of the book.

It sounds a lot like the first part of the book.

Doesn't it?

Here's the people of God

being accused of exactly the same thing

before the Babylonian exile.

They're going back to their old ways.

It reminds me a little bit

of what happened to Noah.

You remember.

You know,

God was sick of the wickedness

and the evil of our race,

the human race,

and he said,

I'm going to wipe out everyone,

but I'm going to save Noah.

I'm going to save Noah

and create a new people out of him.

So everything on the face of the earth

was wiped out,

except for Noah and his family,

the righteous man.

And God says,

I'm going to make a promise to you.

I'm not going to destroy the earth

by flood water ever again.

Even though,

this is Genesis chapter 8, 21.

Genesis 8 · chapter mention

Do you remember what he says?

Even though every inclination of his heart

is evil from youth.

Everything,

every inclination,

everything that you desire,

your proclivities,

everything,

is evil

from when you were a child.

The judgment of God,

it seems,

did not solve the problem.

The earth was almost destroyed,

but what did not change

was the human heart.

And there it is.

Again, here,

the exile of God's people

to a foreign land,

everything that represents God

is taken away from them.

They brought back into the land.

Did that change their heart?

Clearly not.

From the head to the toe,

still sick.

Something has to be done.

Something much more dramatic

than an exile and a return.

Which takes us to chapter 57,

verse 14.

The highlight,

in my view,

of our passage.

The Lord says,

and it will be said

on a day in the future,

build up,

build up,

prepare the road,

remove the obstacles

out of the way

of my people.

There will be a great

returning.

returning.

Instead of turning away

from God,

people,

his people will now

turn to God.

But there is a greater

reversal in 15.

And this was,

this verse just blew me away

during the course of this week

when I read it.

So come and have a look at it.

It says,

for,

for,

because,

this is what the high

and lofty one says,

he who lives

in eternity,

whose name is holy,

I live in a high

and holy place,

but,

also with him

who is contrite

and lowly in spirit.

I live with him

to revive the spirit

of the lowly

and to revive the heart

of the contrite.

This is the other

great reversal.

Did you notice

how God is described?

High

and lofty,

dwelling

in eternity.

When I was teaching

scripture,

I get this question

a lot,

and I think I got this

question from one

of my daughters.

The question is,

who created God?

Have you ever got that one?

Who created God?

Do you know why

they ask this question?

Because it is impossible

for us who do not dwell

in eternity

to imagine one

who has no beginning

and no ending.

Therefore,

God must have been created

like we are.

God who dwells

in eternity,

who has no beginning,

so no one created him,

and who has no ending,

so that no one

will judge him.

He is the

holy one.

The holy one.

You know,

in the Old Testament,

there's the temple

divided into all

these sections,

and,

you know,

there are all these

rituals associated

with the temple.

There's blood

everywhere,

splatters,

you know,

and every time

somebody comes

near the temple,

something has to die.

You know,

imagine that sort

of church.

and right in front

of this temple,

you know,

if we were to put

a sign there,

you know what the sign

would say?

Stay away.

That's what the temple,

the sign in front

of the temple

would say.

Keep out,

stay away,

you are not

welcomed.

That is the temple

of God.

That's what it means

to be holy.

Did you realize that?

No.

Every word

that you could

possibly come up

with to describe

the difference

between you

and God

is he,

in verse 15.

The lofty one,

the one who dwells

on high

in eternity.

He is so different,

so separate

from us.

You know,

just to reinforce

the point,

do you remember

Isaiah,

what he says

back in chapter 6

when he saw

the one

on the throne.

Chapter 6,

you remember

we looked at this

during the course

of our series.

In the year

that King Uzziah

died,

as I wrote,

I saw the Lord

seated on the throne,

high and exalted,

similar to the language,

and the train

of his robe

filled the temple.

Above him

were seraph,

which literally

means the burning ones.

each with six wings,

with two wings

that cover the faces,

two that cover the feet,

and two,

with two,

they were flying.

The created ones

who have not fallen,

these are unsinful ones,

they couldn't even look

at the presence of God,

they had to cover the faces,

and they were calling out

to one another,

holy,

holy,

holy,

it's the Lord Almighty,

the whole earth

is full of his glory.

The sound of the voices,

the doorposts,

and the threshold shook,

and the temple

was filled with smoke,

and Isaiah says,

I'm a dead person.

Woe to me,

I'm ruined,

for I am a man

of unclean lips,

and I live among

the people

of unclean lips.

My eyes have seen

the King,

the God Almighty.

He is dead

because he is unholy,

unlike the Lord.

This is the same God,

and yet,

in verse 15,

did you notice

the great reversal?

But,

he who dwells

in eternity,

he will also

dwell

with the contrite.

Did you notice that?

You see,

the sign didn't change.

The sign to the temple

didn't say,

welcome.

That's not the change.

Because what does it say?

Verse 15.

Who's dwelling

with whom?

Sorry,

this isn't rhetorical,

this is actually

inviting you

to participate.

Who's dwelling

with whom

in verse 15?

Yeah.

I can't see who said it,

but yes,

that's exactly right.

The unimaginable

is not that sinful men

and women

and boys and girls

are invited

into the temple.

That is not

what's happening.

Rather,

the holy God

is coming

out from his temple

to dwell

amongst

his people.

See,

we take this

so for granted.

It is such

a new idea.

God is coming

to dwell

among his

people.

He will step

out from heaven

to do that.

And as a result,

there is

life.

Verses 16

to 19.

I will not

accuse forever,

nor will I

always be angry.

For then

the spirit of man

will grow faint

before me,

the breath of man

that I have created.

I was enraged

by his sinful greed.

I punished him

and hid my face

in anger,

yet he kept on

in his willful ways.

I have seen

his ways,

but

I will heal him.

I will guide him

and restore comfort

to him,

creating praise

on the lips

of the mourners

in Israel.

Peace,

peace to those

far and near,

says the Lord,

and I

will heal him.

This

is what

God will do.

He was

angry,

but his

anger will be

turned.

There is

healing

and comfort

and peace.

Everything

will be

reconciled

and restored.

Things

will be

as they

should be.

The disease

that has

caused the

people of God

to keep

sinning,

the thing

that has

led them

to their

idolatry

again and

again and

the judgment

of God

will finally

be healed.

Because

what is

their problem?

Ultimately

is not just

the external,

ultimately

is

their

hearts.

the

problem

with the

world

is

here.

And the

Lord

promised

he needed,

how could

a holy

God dwell

among sinful

people,

even when

they're forgiven?

They need

to be

changed

in such

a way

that they

will not

sin

anymore.

cleanse.

And the

only way

that that

happens

is if

their

heart

itself

gets

ripped

out

and

a

new

heart

gets

given.

And this

is what

Jeremiah

says,

Jeremiah

31,

31 to

33,

behold,

the days

are coming,

says the

Lord,

when I

will make

a new

covenant

with the

house of

Israel.

I

will put

my

law

in

them.

I

will

write

it

on

their

hearts

and

I

will

be

their

God

and

they

will

be

my

people.

One

day

I

will

give

them

the

ability

to

obey

my

laws.

Ezekiel

says,

a new

heart

I

will

give

you,

a new

spirit

I

will

put

within

you.

I

will

take

out

of

your

flesh

a

heart

of

stone

and

give

you

a

heart

of

flesh.

I

will

put

my

spirit

within

you.

The

way

he's

going

to

do

it

is

he's

going

to

put

his

spirit

in

them.

His

spirit

will

change

their

heart.

They're

all

saying

the

same

thing

as

I

Jeremiah

Ezekiel.

They see

the time

that is

coming

when the

sick,

disobedient,

high-hearted

people

will be

supernaturally

changed.

Their

hearts

will be

changed

and God

will give

them the

ability

to live

new

lives.

This

is when

the

lofty

one,

the one

who dwells

in

eternity

can now

dwell with

them.

Not

just

saving

his

people

from

exile,

but

transforming

them

so that

they can

return

to him

so that

the

holy

one

can

dwell

among

sinful,

corrupt

people.

Three

conclusions,

really hard,

quickly,

because I

just noticed

I got a

call from

Jan,

and that

is making

me very

nervous.

Firstly,

first

conclusion is

where is

God to

be found?

Where is

God to

be found?

Is it

the case?

Could I

have shown

the young

man where

God could

be found?

Well,

yes.

He who

dwells in

lofty

places,

in some

respect,

this young

man could

never have

ascended to

heaven to

meet God.

And yet,

this is a

God who

could be

found,

who could

be approached.

Instead of

a place,

like a

temple,

like a

church,

he's to

be found

in Jesus.

I wonder

whether

sometimes you

feel the

pressure

yourself to

experience the

presence of

God, to

demonstrate his

power to

other people.

Well, I

think the

word to

us is

show where

God is in

Jesus,

not in

things that

are necessarily

clever and

impressive.

Where is God

to be found?

He is to be

found in

Jesus.

Secondly,

what sort

of people

do you

think will

dwell with

God or

God dwell

with them?

You notice

here it's not

the strong

people, not

the worthy

people, not

the religious

people.

They were

religious.

They were

very religious.

I just want

to take you

very quickly

to Isaiah

Isaiah 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1

from verse

10.

This is the

accusation that

the Lord has

directed to

his people,

the religious

people.

Chapter 1

verse 10,

the same sort

of accusation.

Hear the

word of

the Lord,

you rulers

of Sodom.

Listen to

the law of

our God,

you people

of Gomorrah.

The multitude

of your

sacrifices,

what are they

to me?

Says the

Lord.

I have

more than

enough

burnt

offerings

of rams

and the

fed of

fathed

animals.

I have

no

pleasure

in the

blood

of

bulls

and

lambs

and

goats.

When

you come

to appear

before me,

who has

asked this

of you,

this trampling

of my

cords?

Stop

bringing

meaningless

offerings.

Your

incense is

detestable

and your

pointed

feasts

my soul

hates.

They

become a

burden

to me.

I'm

weary

of

bearing

them.

When

you

spread

out

your

hands

in

prayer,

I

will

hide

my

eyes

from

you.

Even

if you

offer

many

prayers,

I

will

not

listen.

Your

hands

are

full

of

blood.

This

is an

indictment

on

Israel

in her

religion.

Imagine

if God

were saying

this,

your

singing

every

Sunday

makes

me

sick.

Makes

me

sick.

Who

me

a

favor

by

putting

money

on

the

offer

tree

back?

Your

money

makes

me

ill.

I

can't

bear

to

touch

it.

I

wish

you

would

stop

doing

it.

I

can't

stand

your

wicked

Bible

studies.

I

hate

your

singing,

your

services,

especially

your

Christmas

and

Easter

service.

In

fact,

frankly,

they

are a

burden

to

me,

and

I'm

sick

of

carrying

it.

I've

had

enough

of

your

prayers

for

so

long

that

I

have

stopped

listening

to

you.

Imagine

that.

Could you

imagine

if this

was said

of a

church,

not ours,

of course,

the

Presbyterians?

You

know,

I wonder

whether

that's

what we

think is

our

problem

with

God.

If

we

do

more

ministry,

or maybe

it's

somebody

else's

fault

that

we

don't

experience

God.

You

see,

what

does

the

Lord

require

of

his

people?

Is

his

sacrifices?

Psalm 51,

17.

It's not

your

sacrifice

that I

desire.

The

sacrifice

of the

Lord

is a

broken

and

contrite

heart.

The

two

men

who

went

to

the

temple,

there's

a

Pharisee

and

there's

a

tax

collector.

Who

left

the

temple

justified.

The

one

who

threw

himself

at

the

mercy

of

God.

This

is

what

the

Lord

desired,

not

your

religion.

He

desires

you to

be

broken,

to

recognize

that

you

are

a

sinner,

so

that

you

might

throw

yourself

down

at

his

feet

for

his

mercy.

And

it

is

there

that

you

will

find

mercy.

Lastly,

being

mission

month,

we

come

back

to

mission.

Of

course,

it

was

quite

disappointing

nobody

says,

oh,

you

know,

we

really

motivated

for

global

missions

since

looking

at

Isaiah.

Sad,

really.

But if

you notice

chapter 57,

how does

it end?

end?

How does

it end?

It ends

with a

warning.

But notice

in verse

19,

creating

praise on

the lips

of the

mourners

in Israel,

peace,

peace to

those far

and near,

says the

Lord,

and I

will heal

them.

Far

and near.

The message

for those

who can

experience

the presence

of God.

Far

and near.

Not

just near,

far.

It sort

of makes

me think,

wow,

you know,

God sees

beyond the

generation

in his

time.

That his

purpose is

to save

the nations

beyond the

wars of

Israel.

And it is

being fulfilled.

Us sitting

here in

Sydney,

more than

2,700

years later,

have been

saved by

him.

Did you

know that

global

mission is

part of

God's

plans and

purpose for

the world?

God's

love

and it

will not

fail.

It will

not fail

even if you

don't give

one single

cent to

it and

if you're

not part

of it.

You're not

doing him

a favor

if you

don't

pledge.

In fact,

what God

does is he

includes us

in his

wonderful

plans so

that we

can be

blessed,

so that

the presence

of the

Lord will

be all

over the

world,

not just

amongst us.

Wouldn't

it be

wonderful to

see God's

presence in

the Middle

East?

That people

come to

experience the

forgiveness and

the presence of

the one who's

created them and

he forgives

them?

Do you think

he could do

it?

Do you

want to be

blessed,

to be

included as

part of

that work

so that

in 10,000

years' time

when we

stand shoulder

to shoulder

with our

Arab brothers

and sisters

we can be

giving praise

to our

Lord Jesus

Christ?

That's what

Mission Month

is about.

That's what

the 29th

is about.

It's saying

that we

believe that

this is God's

plan for the

world and

it will not

fail and

we would

love to be

part of

this.

Would you

like to be

part of

it?