Isaiah 56:9-12 - Isaiah 57 - What We Deserve and Do Not Deserve

Good morning, beloved.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

And I see that you survived Black Friday, so that's a good thing.

Let's take our Bibles and go over to the book of Isaiah.

We're going to continue our Thanksgiving theme even as we move through the book of Isaiah.

We'll be in chapter 56, the last part of 56, and all of 57.

And if you need a Bible, there's one in front of you in the pew.

And you can find our text on page 653, 653.

In 1830, a man by the name of George Wilson was convicted of robbing the U.S.

mail in Pennsylvania.

And it wasn't just a petty theft.

It wasn't something like the porch pirates that uh take our boxes off of our uh off of our porches.

It was a violent crime that endangered uh the mail carriers.

And in 1830, to rob the U.S.

mail was seen as an attack against the U.S.

government itself.

And so the trial uh came, the jury brought in the verdict, and justice was served.

Wilson was pronounced guilty.

And the punishment for that crime was to be sentenced to death by hanging.

But something remarkable happened.

Some friends of George Wilson petitioned President Andrew Jackson for a pardon and pleaded for mercy.

And against all expectation, President Andrew Jackson granted a pardon to George Wilson.

Imagine in a moment, on a piece of paper was the freedom of this man.

But instead of receiving the pardon, George Wilson refused it.

And to his friends' astonishment and shock, uh, they tried to find a way for this pardon to actually be enforced.

And so they brought it to court.

And it went from one court to another until it went all the way up to the Supreme Court.

And the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, John Marshall, said this: a pardon is a deed, to the validity of which delivery is essential.

And delivery is not complete without acceptance.

It may then be rejected by a person to whom it is tendered.

And if it be rejected, we have discovered no power in this court to force it upon him.

Think about that.

Here is a man who was sentenced to death, was offered freedom, and he rejected it.

Grace was extended to him, but he refused it.

And so George Wilson remained under the sentence of justice that the jury handed down, and he was hung for his crime.

The story of George Wilson reminds us that a pardon offered is not a pardon unless it's received.

Well, this week we've celebrated Thanksgiving together.

We've paused to count our blessings.

We've stopped to remember God's goodness and to remember all of the things that God has provided for us with family and friends and church and salvation and food and plenty and all the many things.

God's mercies to us, seen and unseen.

And at first glance, when we look at the passage that we're going to look at this morning, thanksgiving doesn't come immediately to mind.

The passage that we're about to look at is filled with corruption, it's filled with idolatry, and it's filled with the sobering reality of God's wrath.

And yet, woven in the midst of this is a golden thread that God extends to people who deserve wrath, mercy.

He doesn't give them what they deserve.

In fact, he gives them what they don't deserve, and that is grace.

And so this morning we're going to discover that.

And we'll discover that God's mercy and grace are seen in its highest fulfillment in Jesus Christ, as the one who bore the judgment on our behalf, to grant us not only a pardon, but a welcome into God's eternal presence without condemnation.

And like George Wilson, we will face a question: Here is this pardon.

Will it be ours or not?

And so as we walk through this passage, I want to see it in three movements.

I want to see, first of all, that leaders deserve judgment, but God offers mercy, that idols deserve collapse, but God gives refuge.

And that sinners deserve wrath, but God gives peace.

And each one of these will speak to us.

It'll honestly expose sin, but it will also lift our hearts to gratitude to God for his mercy and for his grace.

And so let's take a look, first of all, at this first movement: leaders deserving judgment, but God giving mercy.

And in chapter 56 and verse 9, we discover the start of this with this horrible indictment, this sobering picture.

It says here in verse 9, all you animals of the field and forests, come and eat.

Well, speaking to the nations in this sort of form, talking to them to come and devour Israel because our leaders have failed.

And the description follows of what those leaders are like.

All of them.

They know nothing.

All of them are mute dogs.

They cannot bark.

They dream, they lie down, and love to sleep.

These dogs have fierce appetites.

They never have enough.

They're shepherds who have no discernment.

All of them turn to their own way, every last one of them for his own profit.

Come, let me get wine.

Let's guzzle beer.

Tomorrow will be like today, only far better.

What a devastating indictment this is to the leaders of the nation of Israel.

These ones who had the responsibility to be discerning are here described as blind.

Those who have been sh should have been feeding the flock are instead indulging themselves.

And instead of protecting the people, they are actually consuming the resources of the people for their own appetites.

And instead of sounding the alarm, they're silent.

And instead of leading with wisdom, they are chasing pleasure and profit.

Israel is under that kind of leadership and deserves judgment.

They have abandoned their calling.

And they are causing the people to suffer for it.

This lays out for us this maxim that leadership matters a lot.

That when shepherds fail, sheep scatter.

When watchmen sleep, danger goes forward unchecked.

And when leadership without holiness leads to ruin.

And the failure of leadership is talked about all over in Scripture.

Ezekiel chapter 34, for instance.

Ezekiel 34 · chapter mention

Woe to the shepherds of Israel who've been feeding themselves.

Shouldn't the shepherds feed the flock?

Jeremiah 23, woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture.

And the failure of leadership is not only found in the Old Testament, it's found in the New Testament, where Jesus in John chapter 10 contrasts himself with the hired, the hired ones who abandon the sheep when danger comes.

John 10 · chapter mention

And in Matthew 23, condemning the blind guides who are leading Israel astray.

And so reverberating all through Scripture is this idea that the leaders deserve judgment because of their sin.

And the failed shepherds of Israel are pointing us, and certainly to them, to the need of a perfect shepherd, the one who would alone preserve the people.

And that's why we get these prophetic statements in Ezekiel and other places that talk about a leader, a shepherd who's going to come.

Ezekiel 34, God says this, I will save my flock.

And I will judge between one sheep and another, and I will establish over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will shepherd them.

He will tend them himself and will be their shepherd.

Bethlehem Ephraim.

For me.

His origin is from antiquity, from ancient times.

That's verse two, but verse four says this.

Where Israel's leaders failed.

The scriptures tell us that God was going to send forth one shepherd.

And so Jesus himself spoke and said that he is the good shepherd who gives his life for the sheep.

He's not blind like these men were.

But notice the mercy that's found here.

In the midst of this indictment of these false leaders, these failed leaders, God steps in and says, even though they are falling under this utter, utterly horrible leadership, God will preserve them and bring them to peace.

This is mercy.

Mercy in the midst of corruption.

And God is preserving his faithful ones.

And though the righteous ones might be overlooked by the world, God doesn't overlook them, he takes care of them.

I sent this verse over to Kevin Cooney just a few days ago.

In the middle of the corruption that he's dealing with, he and Matt, as they're trying to find a way forward, they needed some encouragement and hope.

And this passage tells that even though wicked people may not count them at all of any significance, God does.

God cares for them.

And I will not abandon them.

The righteous might be swept away from in the eyes of men, but they're not ever separated from the eyes of God.

In fact, he's going to sweep them into peace.

God will not expose his own to the wrath that he's going to give these failed leaders.

He's going to give them peace, he's going to give them rest, and he already has given them his presence.

The night before Christ was crucified, he spoke to his disciples, and he told them some words very similar to this.

He said, I've told you these things before, so that you might have peace.

You will have suffering in this world.

But be courageous, for I have conquered the world.

And in John chapter 17, he prays for his people to be preserved and protected and full of peace.

John 17 · chapter mention

This passage reminds us that leadership matters deeply.

That when leaders fail, consequences ripple outward.

But it also reminds us in God's mercy.

Reminds us that God's mercy is greater than human failure.

Even when shepherds sleep, God doesn't.

Even when watchmen are blind, God sees.

Even when they run away, God preserves.

So we can be thankful people.

Even in the midst of this declaration of judgment, that God has sent that one shepherd who would rule his people and he would be their peace.

That we have over us a faithful Lord who never fails, who's always watching, always caring, always giving, always preserving, and who will bring us into peace.

And we can be thankful that our Lord will not allow us to receive the wrath that lay upon those who rightly deserve it.

And so as you give thanks this week, let's remember this.

Now this brings us to our second point, verses three to thirteen.

And in this second point, the Lord speaks about the idols that deserve collapsing, but offers himself as a refuge.

Verses 3 through 13 shift the lens from these corrupt leaders to the people themselves.

And the indictment is sobering.

Because the problem isn't just failed leadership, the problem is the failed heart of all the people.

Listen to the prophet's words in verses three to five.

But come here, you sons of a sorceress, offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute.

Who are you mocking?

Who are you opening your mouth and sticking your tongue out at?

Isn't it you, you rebellious children, you offspring of liars who burn with lust among the oaks, under every green tree, who slaughter children in the wadies under the clefts of the rocks?

Isaiah doesn't soften his language, and I haven't even given the most the most salacious of the words that are in this passage.

He calls idolatry for what it is, spiritual adultery.

And the people here have abandoned their covenant faithfulness to Yahweh and have lusted after the false gods.

They've bowed under the trees, they've sacrificed in hidden places, and they've even offered their own children and sacrifice to these idols.

Their sin is shocking.

And God's exposure of their sin is uses language that is equally shocking.

It's a horror.

We live in a horror our day where convenience slaughters millions of children.

Jeremiah 7, verse 31.

Jeremiah 7:31

They've built the high places of Tophith to burn their sons and daughters in the fire.

We don't burn them with fire, we burn them with chemicals or cut them with sharp knives.

But kill them we do.

And here comes the verdict.

Verse 13.

The wind will carry them all off.

A breath will take them away.

There's no hope.

Whatever you give them, you give away just to empty yourselves and to find nothing in return.

And Paul warns us in 1 Corinthians that idolatry is not just an ancient action, it's a present history.

Anything that we trust more than God is an idol.

Paul claims it covetousness, which is idolatry.

Think of it this way: imagine yourself looking at a wall, look secure, and you go to lean against it, and as soon as you put any weight on it, it collapses.

That's idolatry.

That's covetousness.

But here, God is promising to be a fortress that is immovable.

And the entrance into that fortress is security from all things seen and unseen.

Take a look at verse 13 again, because in the same breath he speaks of the vanity of idolatry, he speaks about the refuge of himself.

When you cry out, let your collection of idols rescue you, the wind will carry them all off, a breath will take them away, but whoever takes refuge in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain.

You can't get to stronger contrast than that.

The idols are blown away like the dust in the wind, but God Himself is a refuge, a stronghold, and he places you in the most holy of places where his presence is seen and felt.

These false idols indeed collapse.

But God never does.

And this is why the psalmist could say the Lord is my refuge, my fortune.

My stronghold.

So the significance of this passage is clear.

Idolatry is not just an ancient problem, it's a people problem of all ages.

It's a human issue.

And we may not bow down to physical idols, though some in our world still do.

But here we can bow down to our careers, we can bow down to our wealth, we can bow down to our reputation, we can bow down to our relationships, thinking that somehow in them we're going to find meaning and security and identity.

But when the wind blows, they will fly away.

And we'll find ourselves more empty than we were before we started to worship them.

But God remains.

And he offers himself as a refuge.

And so the application here can go two different ways.

And I think one is not as we might expect it.

We can be thankful that God exposes idols for what they are.

I mean, think about that.

Would you rather have a friend who just pampers and pleases your every thought and word and says, oh, that's just wonderful.

Oh, you, and doesn't say anything true to you at all?

Or would you rather have a friend who says, hey, buddy, that's going to ruin you?

Well, our Lord is taking up that role here.

You're not going to find any help or hope in those things whatsoever.

And so we can be thankful that the Lord is exposing our idolatry because that's mercy.

He's doing it to show us the things that cannot deliver and cannot save and cannot fulfill and cannot give us hope.

He tears them down so that we might find the place where true hope is found.

And that's the second thing to be thankful for.

And God offers himself as a refuge.

And he promises us to give us his holy mountain, to give us his inheritance, to give us his presence.

So this passage where leaders deserve judgment, God gives mercy, where idols deserve collapse, and God presents himself as a refuge.

We're going to move to the third movement where sinners deserve wrath, but God gives peace.

In verses 14 to 21.

And after exposing these corrupt leaders, and after exposing these collapsing idols, Isaiah now points to the deepest reality of all: the condition of the human heart.

The problem is not just failed leadership, and the problem is just not false worship.

The problem is sin itself.

Take a look at verse 17.

Because of his sinful greed, I was angry.

So I struck him.

I was angry and hid, but he went on turning back to the desires of his heart.

In verse 21, there is no peace, says my God, to the wicked.

This is the human condition before a holy God.

Restless, guilty, and under judgment.

And despite being restless and despite being guilty and despite being under judgment, we run back to the thing that ruins us: Sin.

But in the midst of this indictment against leaders and idols and people are some of the most remarkable words you could ever, ever imagine.

Let's look at verse 14 together.

He said, Build it up, build it up, prepare the way, remove every obstacle from my people's ways.

For the high and the exalted one who lives forever, whose name is holy, says this.

I live in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and the lowly of spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the oppressed.

This is breathtaking.

Just giving us an imagine of trying to cast our minds with the with the best telescope ever to all of the places, not only of our galaxy, but of all galaxies, to the very edges of the universe, if there is such a thing, into the realm of the heavenlies, and to find God, the maker of all, there, high and exalted.

And yet paying attention to the brokenhearted.

To stoop down to the humble and the contrite ones.

We don't have words for this, do we?

It's so beyond our comprehension.

We're like those who've been hit with a shock.

We we don't even know how to absorb the truth of it.

But there it is.

Psalm thirty-four, the Lord is near the brokenhearted.

Psalm fifty-one.

A broken and contrite heart the Lord will not despise.

How faithful is God to these words?

In less than a month, we'll cry out the words Emmanuel.

Emmanuel.

And it continues.

It doesn't stop there.

Those are just, that's just the beginning.

Verse, verse 18 and 19.

Now I'm skipping over verse 17.

Maybe we should put it there just to give us a better backdrop.

Because of his sinful greed, I was angry, so I struck him.

I was angry and hid, but he went on turning back to the desires of his heart.

I have seen his ways, but I will heal him.

I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, creating words of praise.

The Lord says, peace, peace to the one who is far or near, and I will heal him.

In the midst of these indictments, against leaders and idols and people, against those who are so greedy for sin that despite the exposure of it, they keep running back to it, or so full of indifference to their duties that they indulge themselves with wine and get drunk and intoxicated upon their own pleasures.

To those who are sacrificing their children, to dead idols.

The Lord says, I have seen them, but I'm going to heal them.

I have seen them, but I've determined to heal.

I've determined to lead.

What do we deserve?

For wrath to be poured out against us, to be brought under the realm of destruction.

To be offered nothing but the silence of a holy God.

And have our lives full of constant and enduring turmoil.

But instead of wrath, he pours out healing.

Instead of destruction, he talks with words of restoration.

Instead of silence, he said he's going to create praise.

And instead of turmoil, he said, peace, peace.

Now take a note of verse 19.

But just lock it in, okay?

Just lock it in.

The Lord.

Now notice Yahweh, L-O-R-D, right?

All caps there.

That's a signal to us who speak English that underlying that is a Hebrew word Yahweh.

Okay.

The Lord says, or the Lord proclaims, peace, peace to the one who is far or near, and I will heal him.

This is a vision of peace.

Where do we find that peace?

That's the question.

We deserve everything that this passage has talked about, but we don't deserve all the other things that the passage talks about.

And the question must drive in our heart: where do I find that?

Where can I find that peace?

Where can I find that refuge?

Where can I find that embrace?

Where can I find that healing?

Let's go to Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

This is a great chapter, Ephesians 2.

Brings us into the truth that we're saved only by the grace of God, which comes to us through Christ alone, by faith alone.

Well, we won't read it all, but we'll start at the beginning of it.

And you who were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the rulers of the powers of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient.

And we too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath, as the others were also.

Boy, that doesn't sound like Isaiah 56 and 57 a little bit, doesn't it?

Well, you'll find out just how much in just a moment.

Go back to their sinful desires.

But God, who is rich in mercy, verse 4, because of his great love that he has for us, made us alive with Christ, even though we were dead in trespasses.

You have been saved by grace.

And it goes on to talk about how we are brought into that life, not because of any works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy and grace found in Christ.

And even the faith that we have to cling to Christ is not our own, that too is a gift from God.

Now, moving forward, because I want to bring Isaiah 56 and 57 into this even more deeply.

In verses 11 and 12, people are divided into two categories, Jew and Gentile.

And in verse 11 and 12, Paul dives into a vivid and still dreadful description of the status of Gentiles before coming to Christ.

So remember, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcised, by those who are called the circumcised, by which is done the flesh by human hands.

At that time you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope, and without God in this world.

That's dreadful.

No God, no hope, no promise, no belonging.

But now, verse 13.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who are far away, you remember Isaiah 57?

You're going to hear it in just a second.

You who are far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace.

Who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility.

In his flesh he made of no effect the law, consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace.

He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, by which he has put the host to he put the hostility to death.

And that brings us to verse 17.

Now catch this.

The whole time Paul's been working through this argument, Ephesians chapter 2, he has been writing the awful plight of sinful humanity with Isaiah 56 and 57 in his mind.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

Those are echoes of those chapters that talk about the plight of the failed leaders of the collapsing idolatry and of the never satisfied human heart that keeps running back to its sin.

But his heart is filled with Isaiah 57.

Because people, all people, Jew and Gentile, deserve wrath.

This is what we deserve.

But Isaiah 57 now comes to the front when he considers the effect of the gospel of Christ on humanity.

And we see that because look at verse 17.

In verse 17, he quotes Isaiah 57, verse 19.

Isaiah 57:19

He came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who are far away, and peace to those who were near.

That is Isaiah 57, 19.

Now I want to say two things about it.

One we'll only touch on, but boy, is it meaningful.

In Isaiah 57, verse 19, Yahweh will proclaim peace, peace to the one who is far and near, and I will heal him.

Isaiah 57:19

Here, Jesus proclaims peace to the one who is far and the one who is near.

But also, note this peace to the one who's far and peace to the one who is near.

To the people of Israel who are near to God by way of the covenants of promise.

To the people of God who were of the fleshly descent of Abraham, to the ones who had been given the promises, these he offers peace.

But also to those who are without God and without hope in the world, who are separated from the covenants of promise, who are called the uncircumcised by those who are circumcised by human hands, to those who are far off.

Peace.

More than not getting what you deserve, you get what you absolutely don't deserve.

The embrace of a holy God who offers with you eternal peace with him and punctuates your troubled life, not only peace with him, but peace from him.

A double gift of peace.

And so here we see that the promises of God are that he doesn't give up on his people.

But to those that he's never spoken to, with words of promise, he also says, Come, I want to give you peace as well.

And so to the believing Jew, they find in Jesus Christ all the fulfillment of God's mercies and grace.

The promises of God are yes and amen in Christ.

But to those who had never received the promises, now, now you are partakers.

You are welcomed in.

You are fellow members of all of these things.

All of God's promises are given to you as if you were actually born of the family line of Abraham.

From the very beginning, near the very first pages of the Bible, God promised to Abraham that through him all the nations would be blessed.

Paul writes in Galatians that that promise was made to one seed, that is Christ.

And that all who are in Christ will receive those glorious promises.

The verdict in Isaiah 57, where it says, There's no peace, says my God for the wicked, is reversed in Christ, who says, peace to those who are near and those who are far away.

In Christ, it doesn't matter if you're a Jew or a Gentile.

In Christ, it doesn't matter if you're a slave or free.

In Christ, it doesn't matter if you're male or female or rich or poor or educated or not or outgoing or an introvert or whatever you want to do.

In Christ, you have peace.

You have peace.

And his mercy is not tribal and it's not temporary.

It's found in his everlasting and global welcome.

And it's no wonder in the book of Revelation, we get an insight into heaven.

And in Revelation 7, verse 9, a vast and multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne and before the Lamb, crying out with a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.

Revelation 7:9

Yes, Isaiah 57, I will create praise.

What God is intending to do through Christ is to create a people of praise, to create a people who know his peace, a people who can claim every one of his promises.

And they are all, yes, and they are all amen in Christ.

Yes, in Isaiah 56 and 57, the indictment is true.

We deserve death.

We deserve punishment.

We deserve the condemnation.

Those things aren't just the failed leaders then and the idolatrous people then and the and the lustful people then.

They're every one of us.

That's what we deserve.

But God doesn't give those who come to Christ what they deserve.

He gives them what they don't deserve: His welcome, his peace, his pardon, his salvation.

And so we can be thankful.

Yes, God fully sees us, but he's also determined to heal us.

That he condescends to dwell with the contrite and to revive the hearts of those that the world discards.

And that mercy can be our story and not destruction.

And that peace is offered to all, not just to the near, but to those who are far away as well.

We began this story with this sermon with a story about George Wilson.

A man sentenced to death.

A man who had been granted a pardon, but a man who refused it and died.

Mercy was extended to him, but he didn't receive it.

It was placed in his hands, but he turned it away.

And Isaiah 56 and 57 shows us that same reality.

That judgment is deserved, that all that we trust in other than God will collapse.

And that wrath really does belong to us.

But God is extending here a wonderful offer of mercy in Christ.

And he's offering it to everyone.

To all, whether you're near or far.

Like George Wilson, we must receive that pardon.

Or we will face our punishment.

We must accept Christ.

To as many as received him, he gave the right, the authority to be called the children of God.

In Christ, our pardon is signed by the highest authority in heaven and on earth.

And if he has granted you pardon from your sins, there is no one can take it away if you're trusting in him.

And this is why Thanksgiving's not just a holiday for Christians, it's a posture of our heart.

It's because we know that we don't deserve any of this.

We know that all the things that we trusted apart from God really are collapsing into nothing.

But language of our heart is thanksgiving.

We're grateful people.

We sing because God has created praise in our hearts.

And every time we gather, and every time we sing, and every time we read the word, and every time we're among God's people, every time we stop alone in our in our places and remember, our hearts move to gratitude.

And if you're here this morning and you don't know Christ as your Savior, God is calling out to the near and to the far and to people just like you.

Hear the petition, hear the proclamation of forgiveness, of freedom from sin and judgment.

May George Wilson never be another name for you.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for this glorious passage that speaks honestly to us, but also speaks most welcomingly to us.

That gives us a sense that our sins are forgiven, that our collapsing idols are shattered, and that our hearts are healed, and that our life is secure in your everlasting mercy.

Father, we pray that the meditation of these things will stream out in our praise and will cause Thanksgiving to overflow, that it won't just be a day on our calendar, but every day of our lives.

And Lord, I pray that you'd mercifully awaken the hearts that you see who are still determined to stick by their sin.

I pray that you would arrest them.

Cause them to be so dissatisfied with their iniquity, to find everything that they've embraced as idols collapsing.

Cause them to be troubled until they find rest in you, we pray.

In Christ's name.

Amen.