Isaiah 9-12

Lord Jesus, we do just thank you, God, for this morning.

We thank you, Lord, that you are present here.

Lord, just continue to lead us, open our eyes and ears, Lord, that we would just be a people who respond in worship.

We thank you, God.

Amen.

Well, good morning, New Song Church.

I thought I'd start this morning with just giving us a reminder of what our vision is, right?

Where we're going, what we're going after, what we're hungry for.

And if anybody remembers the first one, we want to be a people of passionate worship, right?

We want to be a people of passionate worship.

And how do we become that people of passionate worship?

It's we increasingly know the holiness of God.

So we looked at Isaiah's calling last week.

And when he was beholding the holiness of God, like eventually his response was worship, right?

The angels are continually singing, holy, holy, holy, not out of duty, not because they were told, hey, you do these things, say these words.

It's no, but because they're beholding the beauty of God.

And so as we increasingly know the goodness of God, the glory of God, we will become increasingly more a people of worship.

Secondly, we want to become more like Jesus.

So we want to increasingly become more like Jesus.

We don't just meet to gather to entertain ourselves just so we can have someone to hang out with.

No, we're increasingly becoming more and more like Jesus day by day.

And third, we want to be a people sent on the mission of God, right?

So that's what we're going after.

And I just want to keep us focused on what we're going after.

So, and I'll keep reminding us so we don't lose sight or forget why we're gathering as New Song Church, that we're going to increasingly become a people of worship, becoming like Jesus, sent on his mission.

Just wanted to start with reminding of us, reminding us of that vision.

So we stay on course.

We know where we're going.

We've just been three two weeks.

This is our third week in the sermon series in Isaiah that we're doing for 18 weeks.

And over the last two weeks, we've seen three different kings, just as a reminder, give you a little background.

We saw this guy named Tiglath Pelezer III.

If you remember where he's from, he's the Assyrian king, right?

That maybe 20, 30 years after Jonah went to Nineveh.

This guy, Tiglath Pelezer III, just south of Nineveh, about 20 miles south of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria at that time, rose up and he was a very aggressive leader, a very effective leader.

Very quickly began conquering lands east and west.

But many peoples were beginning to pay tribute.

They didn't want to be conquered.

He was a very violent, very aggressive leader.

So very quickly, he was expanding the Assyrian Empire.

And this is this is the leader when Isaiah came on the scene.

We also saw Pekka in northern Israel.

Remember Pekka?

Pecca apparently took over as king in northern Israel from another king that was paying tribute, quickly paying tribute to Assyria.

Pecca took over and said, No, we're not going to pay tribute to Assyria.

He formed an alliance with the north northern people in the north, the Aramaeans, Assyrians, formed an alliance, an anti-Assyrian alliance, tried to get Judah to join the alliance.

If you remember from last week, Judah said, No, I'm not joining your alliance, right?

And so what did they do?

They eventually attacked Judah, hoping to install a new king so that he could join their Assyrian, anti-Syrian alliance.

But we also have seen two kings in southern Israel or southern Judah, um Uzziah, which is our timestamp for how we know when Isaiah came on the scene, because right, his calling that we saw last week began with in the year Uzziah died, the timestamp for when Isaiah's calling began.

And Uzziah, if you remember from the first week, Uzziah was a king in Judah for 52 years.

For most of the people of Judah, that was the only king they knew.

He was the stability.

And actually, he was a very effective leader.

For most of his life, it says he walked with God.

And as he walked with God, God blessed his reign.

He expanded the empire.

He was very effective, very stable.

But if you remember the story from the end of his life, right?

He didn't finish well.

He became proud, he became arrogant, and he went into the temple to offer incense, and he immediately was judged and received leprosy, ostracized to a private house in isolation until he died.

We also saw Ahaz last week.

Ahaz was the king when Packa in northern Israel was trying to form this anti-Assyrian alliance, trying to get Judah to join this alliance.

And Ahaz said, No, he's not going to join the alliance.

Isaiah told him, ask for a sign.

Ahaz's response, if you remember from last week, was no, I'm not going to test God.

If you remember, Ahaz looked like he was saying the right things.

Ahaz looked like he was doing the right things, but his heart was corrupted.

How do we know that?

Because immediately he's turning to Assyria, trying to pay tribute to Assyria to depend on Assyria so that Assyria would protect him from Israel and the Aramaeans.

And through the scripture, we're seeing that it was Ahaz was a king who looked like he was doing the right things, though his heart was not dependent on God.

He was dependent on what seemed right to him, what seemed strong to him, what seemed practically successful to him.

Uzziah and Ahaz, not necessarily faithful to God through Judah.

Three the three three things that we've seen thus far in Isaiah, and we'll start today in chapter 8, which is where we finished last week, verses 21 and 22.

It says, They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry.

And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God.

They will turn their faces upward, and they will look to the earth.

But behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be thrust into thick darkness.

This is a prophecy about words of judgment toward both Israel and Judah.

Welcome to New Song Church.

They will be thrust into thick darkness.

Describing this picture of being distressed.

The people are hungry.

They then become angry.

Then they're cursing toward God.

They're looking upward, they're looking downward, but the only thing they find everywhere is darkness.

This is what life will look like when the Assyrian judgment will arrive.

It's a very scary scene.

There's war, there's hunger, there's political chaos, there's fear, there's despair.

Mentioned the first week, one of the main themes of Isaiah is the judgment of God.

There's two other themes that I gave that there's a saved remnant as well as this coming salvation through the Messiah that we'll see each week, including this week.

But I thought it was interesting.

I didn't really present what the judgment of God is.

I saw a survey recently from Barda when it was asking millennials that aren't attending church what they think of Christians.

And it just at 80% 7% of them, the number one thing that they almost all agreed on is that Christians are judgmental.

We don't like that.

85%, the second most thing they almost all agreed on, is that they're hypocrites.

So not only are they judging us, but they're not doing the things that they tell us to do.

And 70% said Christians are insensitive.

There's other studies, Pugh does studies regularly on those who leave the faith.

And one of the common responses for those who leave the faith is similarly.

It's too much hypocrisy.

There's too much judgment in the church.

They're focusing too much on the rules.

The judgment of God is not a topic that people outside the church like, but much less inside the church, quite frankly.

Charlie Kirk used to regularly say the young people would tell him all the time that they they refuse to be Christians.

Number one reason, according to what he his response on college campuses, Christians are too judgmental.

I don't want to be judged be in this group of judgmental Christians.

By judgmental, they're meaning telling anyone directly or indirectly things that they can't do, or with and or even verbalizing things that might be wrong.

It's said today that now John 3 16 is no longer the most quoted Bible verse in contemporary culture outside the church.

Anyone guess what the most quoted Bible verse is for contemporary culture?

That's a good one.

That's a good because athletes all all this is a proposal.

Do not judge, or you too will be judged.

For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged.

I can't tell you how many times I've heard that in the church.

This is people's favorite verse.

No, you can't judge me.

If you judge me, then God will judge you worse, but especially outside the church.

It's amazing how many people know that verse.

You nope, you can't judge me because God will judge you if you judge me.

Even Tupac says, only God can judge me.

Right?

And if Tupac knows that only God can judge me, then the world knows.

This is their their celebration, that no, God can judge can't only God can judge me.

The point is the judgment of God is very unpopular.

We're seen as a judgmental church.

A lot of times, if you ask outside the church, talk about all this, okay, you can't have sex before marriage.

You're judging me.

Or transgender identity, God created us male and female.

Oh, you're judging me, or abortion or divorce, drunkenness, drugs, greed, and materialism, pride, gossip, unforgiveness, even other religions.

For those outside the church, a lot of times they look at the church and see it's just a matter of judgment.

Other religions, Jesus makes it clear: no one comes to the Father except through me.

It's pretty exclusive.

That is super loud.

That is the first time anyone's called me on a Sunday morning.

Now I know what I need to do.

The judgment of God, though, is not a topic that anybody, really even preachers, want to address.

I've just seen it as an observation.

Like as a result of this, preachers are conscious of what the culture is, what people are saying, why people are leaving the church, right?

And as a result, I feel like we've accommodated in a lot of ways in just my personal observations, especially churches in Denver.

We move to this loving church stance, which is great in a lot of ways.

John 3 17, church.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

This is the beginning and end of our gospel.

God doesn't, Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but only to save the world.

We speak of no judgment.

We we talk of no judgment.

We remove John 3 18 from the gospel.

But whoever believes in him is not condemned.

Those who believe in him are not condemned.

But whoever does not believe stands condemned already.

The point is, no, Jesus didn't come to condemn the world.

Why?

Because we're already all condemned.

And only those who believe in him are not condemned.

God's condemnation is his righteous verdict that a person stands guilty because of sin, and we are deserving of judgment.

And beyond that, when we talk of the judgments of God, we're not communicating our judgments, we're communicating his judgments.

We read in Isaiah the first week.

There's six woes.

Isaiah gives us woe to the greedy landowners, woe to the drunkards and revelers, woe to the mockers and cynics, woe to the moral inverters who are calling evil good and calling good evil.

We see that all the time today.

Woe to those who are conceited or being wise in their own eyes.

We even celebrate that today.

Woe to corrupt leaders, woe to corrupt judges.

And we see these seven woes that are the judgments of God.

It ends with Isaiah in his calling.

If you remember from last week, as he's standing before the holiness of God, what is his response?

Woe is me.

For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people who are unclean lips.

It's not just internally that I am condemned, I am a sinner, but collectively, communally, we are consent condemned, we are a sinner.

The judgment of God is just.

We're in need of his mercy.

That would be helpful since judgment is such a continual theme throughout Isaiah, just to define his judgment.

Because I think a lot of times we think of it incorrectly.

God's judgment is his righteous response to sin and evil, which is universal for all of us.

And God's judgment brings justice to make wrong things right.

I think it's important.

A judgment of God is primarily not about punishment, it's all about restoration, restoring things that sin has broken.

We oftentimes use those words interchangeably, a punishment and judgment.

No, the judgment of God, God is all about establishing what is good and right from a broken and sinful world.

The world is broken.

We are in a world of pain.

He is making all things new, eliminating sin and everything that sets itself up against the knowledge of God through his judgment.

We see this most clearly in God's judgment in the cross.

The question that often comes out of this is well, does God judge us as Christians?

If if if God laid on him the iniquity of us all, and that it is true, we are no longer condemned because we believe in him.

Is there judgment for us as Christians?

I think there's two important just concepts we see through Scripture to clarify this.

And first is God's discipline.

We read in Hebrews 12 My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone who he accepts as a son.

Judgment is often looking backwards.

Discipline is building us moving forward.

So does God judge us in the sense of looking, condemning us for sins that we have we have transgressed?

No.

But he will discipline us in building us forward.

Second concept is just this judgment seat of Christ.

We read in 2 Corinthians 5 that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us, as believers, as children of God, may receive what is due to us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Romans also tells us that each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

And in 1 Corinthians, the fire will test the quality of everyone's work.

If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.

But if it's burned up, the builder will suffer loss, but yet will be saved, even though only as escaping through the flames.

The point is, at some point, all of this that we are all builders in this life, and everything that we accumulate and accomplish will eventually disappear.

But what we do in this life, some of it will somehow dictate our eternity.

The life may fade, but it can determine our eternity.

Judgment of God, a point of this, is not primarily about punishment.

It's all about restoration, restoring things that sin has broken.

We will see these through the next chapters in Isaiah.

As children of God, he disciplines us, and we will eventually face him and give an account to him in everything that we have done.

Well, we'll start in chapter 9, and we'll track again this judgment of God with this saved remnant and this plan of salvation through the Messiah through these four chapters.

We read in the end of eight, where there are this gloom and darkness and despair.

Chapter 9 starts with.

Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them have the light has shone.

If that verse is just incredibly familiar with to you, it's because why?

We see it quoted in Matthew.

At the beginning of his ministry, it says, Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake, in the area of Zebulun and Naphtala, to fulfill what is said through the gospel through the prophet Isaiah, land of Zebulun and land of Naphtala, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people living in darkness have seen a great light.

On those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has gone.

If you remember from last week, talked about the different horizons that we see in prophecy, especially in Isaiah, where some of those horizons are the immediate history, right?

Where the king of Assyria is literally attacking this northern part of northern Israel, and they're conquering historically in the moment this land.

But then you'll see other horizons where he's looking forward to this coming Messiah, or he's even looking beyond that to this eschatological age.

And you see that in this passage, where the judgment of Israel and Judah in the historical moment is promised.

But then there is another promise of this anticipation that those people who walked in darkness, who experienced gloom and darkness, they now see a great light.

Those who dwelled in deep darkness, on this light has shown.

Continues, for to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

The amazing thing about Isaiah is this was written 700 years before Jesus.

700 years before Jesus, and so many of the passages so clearly articulately describe Jesus to a detail.

Us a child is born.

Interestingly, somehow this child is given divine names.

He is a ruler with divine titles, wonderful counselor, called mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace.

I think why Christians in particular love studying Isaiah is because it moves us with just this awe of the wisdom of God, that somehow, 700 year foresight, God is seeing and proclaiming that this coming child will.

Be also mighty God, everlasting Father, reflecting the unified nature of the Godhead and Jesus and the Father.

Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

I think sometimes it's confusing to us to, or we miss why there was such a fervor of anticipation in Jesus' day of this coming Messiah.

They were waiting, they were anticipating for the son of David to come and save them.

We say, how did they believe this and know this?

A lot of it comes because it is so incredibly clear in Isaiah.

Now, Jewish people have reinterpreted Isaiah post-Jesus because Isaiah is so clearly aligning with Jesus.

Jewish interpreters now have to go back and kind of reinterpret Isaiah.

But in Jesus' day, they were fully anticipating that there was this Messiah coming, the increase of his government, there will be no end.

We are waiting, we're believing, we know that from the Son of David this kingdom will be established by God.

Because throughout Isaiah, over and over again, the prophecies are incredibly clear.

So they read Isaiah, they read the prophets.

It was clearly defining, anticipating this coming throne of David.

The Messiah means anointed one in Hebrew.

And the idea is that there's this king who is anointed with oil, who will come.

Which is why when Jesus on Palm Sunday, when he was coming into Jerusalem, the city is crying out, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

They were anticipating, believing the prophecies of Isaiah.

Some saw it clearly.

Jesus aligned himself.

The apostles clearly are quoting regularly Isaiah, identifying Jesus with this Messiah in Isaiah.

In the midst of this judgment, throughout Isaiah, there is this promise of the Messiah.

Then it goes back to a word of judgment against Israel.

Verse 8 The Lord has sent a word against Jacob, and it will fall on Israel, and all the people will know, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, northern Israel, who say, in pride and in arrogance of heart, The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dress stones.

The sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place.

What he's saying is the people of Israel saying, No, we've been locked down, we've been disciplined, we've experienced pain, but we will come back stronger, build it better.

God may have knocked us down, but we don't need him.

We will rebuild it ourselves, we will make it better than before.

The people did not turn to him who struck them, nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.

So what was his response?

The Lord cut off Israel from head and toe.

For everyone is godless and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly.

God's judgment here isn't random anger.

He's responding to real evil that is destroying people.

Everyone is godless and an evildoer.

And through his discipline, their response wasn't to turn to God, but no, it was to, in pride, continue forward in their own strength and hoping to build it better.

People might ask, well, what exactly was Israel doing that was so treacherous?

Were they there?

Speaking folly.

It says in verse, in chapter eleven, verse one.

The writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey.

The writers who keep writing oppression.

The way we describe this now is systematic injustice.

The people in power were actually riding injustice into the law.

There was oppression and abuse.

The widows, the orphans, the fatherless, the helpless were being continually abused.

So God sent Assyria, is promising to send Assyria to bring judgment.

Might feel a little uncomfortable the more you study Assyria.

You realize, well, this is Assyria is not exactly a just operator.

Why exactly is this people of unjustice, injustice, being used to bring judgment against another injustice?

Assyria in this passage isn't left out.

Isaiah writes, Woe to Assyria too, the rod of my anger, the staff in their hands is my fury.

Against the godless nation, Israel and Judah, I send him.

God is sending Assyria to this godless nation.

And against the people of my wrath, Israel and Judah, he's commanding the king of Assyria.

But when the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion, what is his work?

His work is judgment.

And on Jerusalem, then he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.

The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land, the Lord will destroy.

This is of Assyria, both soul and body, and it will be as when a sick man waste away.

Even Assyria is not escaping the judgment of God, but it's used as a tool of God.

But even still there is a remnant that remains.

We read in verse 20 In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them.

Lean on him being the Assyrians who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel in truth.

Then a remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.

And within that remnant will rise a Messiah.

Chapter 11, verse 1.

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jess Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.

Sounds like Jesus' baptism.

This is where the famous passage of the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together, and a little child shall lead them.

They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

This promised Messiah, restoring all creation back to peace, when the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth.

In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for peoples, of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

This passage is quoted by Paul in Romans, and again Isaiah says, The root of Jesse will spring up, one who will rise to rule over the nations.

In him the Gentiles will give hope.

It gives us such precise clarity, seven hundred years before Christ, into what would happen with Jesus, what is happening to this day, what will happen in the coming days, affirming the wisdom of God and the plans of God, strengthening our faith.

Closes with a psalm.

The point, I hope you see, the overarching theme of through these four chapters.

God's judgment is working toward restoring all things.

He confronts evil because he intends to remove everything that destroys his good creation.

And throughout these chapters, we see two responses to the discipline and judgment of God.

We can turn toward God in humility and repentance, recognizing our need for him, learning to trust him more deeply, which in the end we see the remnant is turning to God.

Israel's problem wasn't simply that hardship came.

It was that hardship came and they still wouldn't return to God.

In Isaiah 9, it says, The people did not turn to him who struck them, nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.

Instead, the response, their bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones.

In other words, we have been knocked down, but we will rebuild ourselves stronger than before.

That's the danger of discipline.

That the same difficulty that can soften our hearts can also harden others.

God's discipline can lead us to say, God, what are you showing me?

Where do I need to repent?

Where have I stopped trusting you?

Or pride can take us the other way.

I will fix this, I'll work harder, I'll figure it out.

So the question isn't whether we experience hardship, but what that hardship produces in us.

God's discipline in us can drive us to dependence or deeper into ourselves.

Go back to that passage from Hebrews in chapter 12, and it continues in verse 7.

Endure hardship as discipline, which is a hard, hard verse for people to interpret because it's open-ended.

Which hardship?

What hardship?

All hardship?

Can't be all hardship.

And I think he intentionally leaves it vague, not defining which hardship.

We endure hardship as discipline.

God is treating you as his children.

For what children are not disciplined by their father?

If you are not disciplined and everyone undergoes discipline, then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.

Moreover, we all have had human fathers who disciplined us and we respect them for it.

How much more should we submit to the Father and live?

They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good in order that we may share in his holiness.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.

Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

So let us submit to the Father more in being trained in discipline.

Through these 12 chapters, we've seen themes of judgment, the judgment of God.

His judgment is true.

That messiah is incredibly clearly articulated in what he will do, what he will look like, who that what this may this coming king will save.

There's also a saved remnant.

Isaiah's vision doesn't end with Assyria or destruction or punishment.

No, it ends with the righteous king reigning, the broken creation restored, God's scattered people gathered, his people singing songs of salvation.

There is a promised remnant worshiping the land, Lamb.

But who will be the remnant?

Those who return to the Lord trust his promise as Messiah.

Isaiah 10 says, A remnant will return to the mighty God.

And by Isaiah 12, that returning remnant is saying, Behold, God my salvation, I will trust and will not be afraid.

The question for us today is who will be joining in the song of his salvation?

Thank God that we are the remnant of God.

Let's pray.

Lord, I just thank you, God, for Lord, just your wisdom in Isaiah.

Lord, that you so clearly give us a picture that we can look back on and just see your fulfillment in Jesus, that you were the promised Messiah, and that Lord, you Lord, save us unto a remnant that worships.

So Lord, I just pray that or just we would just continue to reflect in this day, Lord, and just the ways that you continue to train us and to continue to discipline us, Lord, that Lord, we're no longer condemned in Christ, Lord, but there's still hardship, Lord, and that we can endure hardship as discipline.

And Lord, I just pray that, Lord, ultimately it would just lead us to just a place of greater praise, greater love, greater passion, just for the things of your heart, of your kingdom, of what you're doing to restore all creation back to a place of peace and harmony.

Amen.