A Rebuke for Sinful Fasts & Broken Sabbaths

Please turn with me in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 58.

Isaiah 58 · chapter mention

You can find Isaiah 58 on page 617 in the chair Bibles.

In this chapter, Isaiah gives a rebuke to the House of Jacob for

their sinful fasts and broken Sabbaths, for their hypocrisy in

seeking God while hating their neighbor.

We'll start in verse one. Cry aloud.

Do not hold back. Lift up your voice like a

trumpet. Declare to my people their

transgression to the House of Jacob, their sins.

Yet they seek Me daily and delight to know my ways, as if

they were a nation that did righteousness and did not

forsake the judgment of their God.

They ask of me righteous judgments.

They delight to draw near to God.

Why have we fasted, and you see it not?

Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?

Behold, in the day of your fast, you seek your own pleasure, and

oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to

quarrel, and to fight, and to hit with a wicked fist.

Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard

on high. Is such the fast that I choose a

day for a person to humble himself?

Is it to bow down his head like a Reed, and to spread sackcloth

and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a

day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I

choose to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps

of the yolk, to let the oppressed go free, and to break

every yolk? Is it not to share your bread

with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house?

When you see the naked to cover him, and not to hide yourself

from your own flesh? Then shall your light break

forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up

speedily. Your righteousness shall go

before you. The glory of the Lord shall be

your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the

Lord will answer. You shall cry, and he will say,

Here I am. If you take away the yoke from

your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,

if you pour yourself out for the hungry, and satisfy the desire

of the afflicted, then shall your right light rise in the

darkness, and your gloom be as the noonday.

And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your

desire in scorched places, and make your bones strong.

And you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water,

whose waters do not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be

rebuilt, and you shall raise up the foundations of many

generations. You shall be called the repairer

of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.

If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your

pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and

the holy day of the Lord honorable.

If you honor it, not going your own ways or seeking your own

pleasure, or taking or talking idly, then you shall take

delight in the Lord. And I will make you ride on the

heights of the earth. I will feed you with the

heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has

spoken. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this word from Isaiah 58 and

I pray that as we consider this rebuke, that we would consider

our own hearts, our own lives, ways that we need to turn from

our sin, and that we would turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, the

righteous one in whom there is all hope.

So we pray this in Jesus name, Amen.

Church heard. A lot of people these days are

talking about church heard and spiritual abuse, and I think

it's how people realize how common it actually is.

I've been surprised at how many people in this church have

church hurt in their past. And as you hear different

people's stories and as you read about many high profile

spiritual abuse cases from famous pastors and well known

churches, you often see some similar patterns.

Often times there's a charismatic leader, someone

who's highly gifted, passionate, zealous, full of big emotions

for God and, and for doing God's will.

These people appear to have an intense and strong relationship

with God. Maybe they're fervent in worship

and in prayer and in fasting. They, they attract a lot of

followers and people assume because this leader is so

zealous, so fervent in seeking God, so committed to their

spiritual movement that that they are spiritually mature.

But tragically, they're often wrong.

These charismatic leaders who express strong emotion for God

also end up showing strong emotion towards those who get in

their way. For those who aren't getting

with the program, they spiritually abuse those under

them in the in the name of protecting the vision and

mission of the church. They hurt people under the guise

of loving God. This is the kind of hypocrisy

that Isaiah rebukes Israel for here in Isaiah 58.

Seeking God zealously while hating your neighbor.

That's something that God hates very much and will not tolerate.

True humility toward God is expressed in humility toward

others. Love for God is never meant to

be void of love for neighbor. Our vertical relationship always

has an essential horizontal expression.

So as we study Isaiah's 58th chapter, we'll consider 5

things. The rebuke, the requirements,

the reward, the righteous one. And then we'll ask, So what?

And and consider how we can apply this prophecy to our

lives. All right, first, the rebuke.

Let's look at the first 5 verses.

In verse one, we hear God's call to Isaiah to confront Israel for

their sin. Cry aloud.

Do not hold back. Lift up your voice like a

trumpet. Declare to my people their

transgression to the House of Jacob.

Their sins is often in the job description of God's prophets.

To do The Dirty work of calling people out for their sin and

pointing out people's sins has never been popular.

It's a major faux pas in American culture, but it should

be important to us Christians. Wise and mature Christians know

how dangerous their sins are, and they want other Christians

to help them see their sin. The fool hates rebuke, while the

wise person welcomes it as sharpening and helpful.

Proverbs 9 verse 8 says do not reprove A scoffer or he will

Proverbs 9:8

hate you. Reprove a wise man, and he will

love you. Isaiah's rebuke in this chapter

probably wasn't originally received very warmly.

But how will you receive it today?

This rebuke wasn't just for Israel.

It's for all who hear God's Word.

So Are you ready and willing for God's Word to show you your sin

and to point you to a Savior? In verse 2, we read about the

religious zeal of Israel. Verse 2.

Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways as if

they were a nation that did righteousness and did not

forsake the judgments of their God.

They ask of me righteous judgments.

They delight to draw near to God.

Here we see begin to see Israel's sin, the sin of

hypocrisy. On the outside, it looks as if

they're zealous for following God.

They seek God daily, they delight to know His ways, they

pray to God, and they even delight to draw near to God.

Just because someone has strong emotions for seeking God doesn't

guarantee that they're the real deal.

We must also see how they treat other people.

Look now, verse 3. Here Israel speaks as if they're

shocked that God hasn't noticed how humble they are.

Verse 3, why have we fasted and you see it not?

Why have we humbled ourselves and you take no knowledge of it?

Here we see Israel's heart problem.

They're fasting for all the wrong reasons.

They're fasting in order to be seen by God and merit His favor.

This is the heart of the legalist, the one who believes

they can please God through their external obedience to

God's law. If they check the right boxes,

if they say the right stuff, if they're they could be at the

right places, do the right thing, then they'll be on God's

good side. Jesus shared a parable of this

kind of person in Luke 18, the parable of the tax collector and

Pharisee. It's one of my favorite

parables. Jesus shares of two men who go

go to the temple. The 1st is a Pharisee who stands

and he prays confidently. God, I thank you that I'm not

like other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even like

this tax collector. I fast twice a week.

I give tithes of all that I get. This Pharisee trusted in himself

that he was righteous and he had contempt for others who were

worse people than what he was. He believed he was in a

different camp than sinners because he didn't do the really

bad stuff that they did. And he was faithful in his

fasting and so generous with his money.

He faithfully sought God, unlike these sinners.

The Pharisee in Jesus parable gets at the heart of God's

critique of Israel in Isaiah 58. They had external obedience, but

they also had pride and they and they lacked love for others.

We see this in the last half of verse 3 and into verse 4.

Behold in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure and

oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel

and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist.

Their fasting was really all about themselves and their own

pleasure. And while they rested and

fasted, they oppressed their workers, maybe making their

servants work twice as hard so that they could rest and fast

during during their special fast.

Furthermore, as we see in verse 4, their fasts would erupt into

quarrels and fights that things would even get physical.

Maybe they were being physically abusive toward their servants.

We talk about hangry. Just imagine these people being

so careful to observe the fast with all the other good Jews,

but then getting so hungry and angry at their Jewish servants

that they would just lash out at them.

I could just imagine them putting their heads on their

pillow that night, proud of themselves for keeping the fast

and being so faithful to God like all the other good Jews,

while lacking any self reflection on how they have

mistreated others. God hates this kind of false,

empty religion. Love for God looks like love for

neighbor. We see this in the 10

commandments. The first four focus on love for

God and then the last 6 focus on love for neighbor.

And you cannot divorce a love for God from love for neighbor.

So how does God respond to this kind of hypocritical fasting?

Look at the end of verse 4. Fasting like yours this day will

not make your voice to be heard on high.

Wow. God responded to the sinful

fasting by not responding to their prayers.

Because they weren't showing mercy to their neighbors.

They wouldn't be receiving mercy when they called out to God in

prayer. That's really serious.

And this isn't the only place in Scripture where we see God say

that He won't listen to the prayers of those who mistreat

others. Here are a few other verses.

Proverbs 21, verse 13. Whoever closes his ear to the

Proverbs 21:13

poor, to the cry of the poor, will himself call out and not be

answered. And Jesus in the beatitude says

says this in Matthew 5, verse 7. Blessed are the merciful, for

Matthew 5:7

they shall receive mercy. And James 213, which we read

earlier, says, For judgment is without mercy to the one who has

shown no mercy. And then the apostle Peter, he,

he speaks to, he writes to husbands in first Peter 37, he

says likewise. Husbands, live with your wives

in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker

vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life,

so that your prayers may not be hindered.

So that your prayers may not be hindered.

The husband's love and honor your wives, because if you

don't, your prayers may go unanswered.

God takes mercy very seriously, and He will not listen to the

cries of mercy from those who are merciless toward their

neighbors. Now, of course, there may be

other reasons why God isn't granting your prayers.

I know so many of you have just really big concerns on your

heart that you're praying so much for, and God has.

God hasn't been saying yes to those things.

There's so many other reasons why God might, might, might say

no or not yet to your prayer request.

But right now we're focusing on what we're seeing just in this

passage here. It's important for us to reflect

on on how merciful we are towards others.

So that's God's rebuke of Israel.

Now let's look at the second part of this passage, the

requirements. What righteous living does God

require of his people? What is the fast that pleases

God? And how does God desire to be

worshipped on his Sabbath day? Let's look at verse 6 here and

then we'll we'll continue down and jump down to verse 13.

So verse 6, is not this the fast that I choose to loose the bonds

of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yolk, to let the

oppressed go free, and to break every yolk?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the

homeless poor into your house when you see the naked to cover

him and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

The fast that God delights in is far more about is far more about

the ACT is the fast that God delights in is far less than the

about the act of not eating food and more about how to love their

love your neighbor. During the fast in verse 6, we

see that God desires for those who are pressed to be set free

for their heavy yokes to be permanently broken and taken

off, for them to be freed from enslavement to wicked treatment

by those who have power over them.

And verse 7 we see that God desires for his people to to

still make food when they fast, but instead of eating it

themselves, they are to give it to the hungry.

They're also to house the homeless and to clothe the

naked. The righteous fast that God

requires doesn't find its full expression in not eating, but in

taking extra time to devote oneself to the justice of the

oppressed and the provision of the poor.

True religion finds its most mature expression not merely in

acts of love to God, but in acts of love towards neighbor.

Look at that the last line of verse 7 again.

And not to hide yourself from your own flesh.

Fake holy people hide from their own flesh and blood, from the

poor and weak and oppressed, from the needy dirty people.

They view these kinds of people as as holding them back from

following God. We would do better to view our

holiness not so much in how we are separate and different than

sinful people, but in how we love and help those who are

sinful and weak and poor and oppressed.

Holiness moves toward others in love, and that movement toward

the lowly is a movement toward God.

The Pharisee in pair in Jesus parable viewed His Holiness as

separation from sinners, and for that he was unholy.

The tax collector who beat his breast and cried out, God have

mercy on me, a Sinner. He didn't try to compare himself

with other men, he only compared himself with God.

And in light of God's holiness, he saw himself as a Sinner and

God as a generous giver of mercy.

And so the tax collector went home.

Righteous, holy, justified. What about you?

Have you isolated yourself from the poor and the needy, from the

homeless, the sick, the mentally ill, the sojourner, the orphan?

I know there's certain seasons in life when you when you need

to care for children, for aging parents.

Maybe you need to take care of your own health.

But check yourself for a moment. Is there an openness in your

heart to open your home, to open your wallet, to open your

calendar to those in our society who have the greatest needs?

That's the kind of fast that God chooses.

A fast focused on serving others more than on just achieving a

personal piety goal. Now look down at verse 13 and

let's see what kind of worship God requires on His Sabbath day.

If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your

pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and

the holy day of the Lord honorable, if you honor it, not

going your own ways or seeking your own pleasure or talking

idly, not not only was Israel fasting the wrong way, they were

also breaking the Sabbath. Just as they had made fasting

all about the pursuit of their own pleasures and wants, they

were doing the same thing with the Lord's Day.

They didn't delight in the Sabbath.

Instead, they probably saw it as a barrier to doing what they

wanted to do, worship and resting in God's work and

salvation. That was not a delight to them.

But God requires His people to worship and rest on His holy

day, to enjoy the blessing of rest from work, and to enjoy the

blessing of having a right relationship with God and

worshipping Him with the people of God.

Is the Lord's Day is a Sunday? Is this a burden to you or a

delight? Are you just here to check the

box of what you think God requires of you so you could

just stay on God's good side? That's the totally wrong way of

looking at it. Here's an illustration.

One of the funniest and most famous interviews of an NFL

player was of Seattle Seahawks former running back Marshawn

Lynch. NFL players are required to take

questions from the media and and one time and Marshawn just

absolutely hated those kinds of interviews.

He's a very private person. He just didn't like, he didn't

like all the show 1 time he didn't participate and he got

slapped with $100,000 fine by the NFL.

So after that, Marshawn found his own ways to participate in

as minimal a way as possible. Before Super Bowl 49, Marshawn

sat in front of the media, asked if his time had started and then

asked and then answered every question with I'm just here so I

won't get fined. I'm just here so I won't get

fined. I'm just here so I won't get

fined. He gave that same answer 29

times and as soon as his 5 minutes was up, he grabbed his

cell phone and he was out. Hopefully you're not attending

church with the same attitude Marshawn Lynch had with his

media interviews. Kids and teens, are you just

here at church so that you're you don't get in trouble with

your parents? Hey, you're honest.

It's good to be honest. Adults, are you just, are you

just here to do your religious duty?

Are you just here to stay on God's good side?

If that's your attitude this morning, you don't understand

the Lord's Day and the freedom and rest there is in worshipping

God with God's people. On the Lord's Day, we get to

hear the greatest news imaginable from God's Word that

we can be forgiven of our sins, We can have an everlasting

relationship with God and through Jesus.

There's just nothing greater than that.

Resting in God's love for you in Christ, gaining wisdom and

guidance for your life from His word, having fellowship with

other believers, getting to love and and serve other people, just

getting out of your own self-centered world.

If you can tell me something that's greater than that and

let's talk afterwards. So check your heart and take off

your worldly glasses and look at the Lord's Day through heaven's

perspective. The worship God requires of you

on the Lord's Day is for your ultimate good, for your own

peace and joy and freedom. Those are God's requirements for

fasting and for His Sabbath day. Now let's consider point #3 the

the rewards. The Lord promises, blessing and

reward for living out the requirements of His holy law of

loving neighbor. Fasting, fasting genuinely, and

worshiping God rightly on the Sabbath.

So far, the tone's been pretty negative, but the tone really

changes with the amazing blessings God promises for

obedience to His commands. So look with me at verses 8

through 12. Then shall your light break

forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up

speedily. Your righteousness shall go

before you. The glory of the Lord shall be

your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the

Lord will answer. You shall cry, and He will say,

Here I am. If you take away the yoke from

your midst, and the pointing of the finger, the speaking and

speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry, and

satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light

rise in the darkness, and your gloom be as the noonday.

And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your

desire in scorched places and make your bones strong.

And you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water

whose waters do not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be

rebuilt. You shall raise up the

foundations of many generations. You shall be called the repair

of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.

Now let's just jump down to verse 14 for the blessings that

come from observing the Sabbath rightly.

Then you shall take delight in the Lord.

And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth.

I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob, your father,

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Wow, this is amazing, Amazing promises.

So what kind of blessings do we see here?

Promised for obedience to God's requirements.

God promises healing, righteousness, the nearness and

protection of God, light and guidance from God.

A close intimate relationship with God.

Ancient ruins being rebuilt, the heritage of Jacob, these are

just some of the best blessings God could promise.

And as you read these blessings, it's, it's, it's almost, it

almost reads of what life would be like in Eden with God.

You know, verse 11, there's the promise of life like a watered

garden. And verse 9 speaks of having

such a close relationship with God that when you speak to him,

God, he responds saying, here I am because his presence is right

there with you. No gloom and sadness, only light

and joy. So these promises, kind of the

more you start to think about them, the more they sound like

blessings, the blessings of heaven rather than mere earthly

blessings. So why does it sound as if these

heavenly Edenic blessings can be earned by obedience to God's

requirements? You see all these if then

statements, if you do this, then these blessings will come.

I think what's happening here in Isaiah 58 is similar to what

Jesus says to a rich man in Matthew 19.

So please turn your Bibles to Matthew 19 starting in verse 16.

In Matthew 19, a rich man comes to Jesus and asks him the all

important question. Teacher, what good deed must I

do to have eternal life? That's a great question, isn't

it? And so how does Jesus respond?

Does Jesus share the gospel with him?

Does he say repent and believe in the gospel as Jesus often

would preach? No, Jesus gives him the law, not

the gospel. Look at verse 17.

And Jesus said to him, Why do you ask me about what is good?

There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep

the commandments. He said to him, which ones?

And Jesus said, You shall not murder, you shall not commit

adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false

witness, honor your father and mother, and you shall love your

neighbor as yourself. The young man said to him, All

these I have kept, what do I still lack?

Jesus said to him, If you would be perfect, go sell what you

possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in

heaven. And come follow me.

When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he

had great possessions. Why did Jesus give him the law?

Why did he give the same demand as Isaiah 58, that the rich man

must give generously to the poor?

Jesus wanted to show that the only way to eternal life through

the law is through perfect obedience.

This is what US Reformed theologians call the covenant of

works, or the covenant of life. That eternal life with God is

promised on the condition of perfect obedience.

But when we're faced with the law's demands, it convicts us,

and we crumble like the rich man because we know we can never be

as loving to God and to our neighbor as is required by God.

And so how do we respond to the law's unreachable requirements?

Jesus disciples responded in verse 25 by asking who then can

be saved? I think that's the proper

response. Who then can be saved?

Jesus response to them saying with man this is impossible, but

with God all things are possible.

That's what we must feel when we read the requirements and the

rewards of Isaiah 58. That it feels impossible to earn

the rewards of heaven. That we could never love the

poor and the needy as well as what God requires.

And we can never observe the Sabbath as faithfully as what

God has asked. And when we understand that it's

impossible to merit the reward of heaven, we should turn to

Jesus with empty hands and cry out like the tax collector.

God have mercy on me, a Sinner with man.

Salvation is impossible, but it isn't impossible with Jesus.

Jesus is the righteous one, the one who never sinned, the one

who fulfills all the requirements of God's law, who

fasted perfectly and perfectly loved the poor and needy.

He was perfectly merciful to all.

He delighted in the Sabbath. He showed mercy to the needy on

the Sabbath. This Jesus is the righteous one,

the only one who deserves the promised blessings of God.

If we just read Isaiah 58 and just isolate it from the rest of

Isaiah's message as if there's there's no perfect savior

coming, there's no suffering servant.

If we do that, then if all we have Isaiah 58, then all we'd be

left with is a legal moral teaching with no hope outside of

ourselves. All we'd be left with is a

feeling that we just got to love the poor better, We just got to

observe the Sabbath better in order to merit God's favor.

And eventually we'd be just either blinded by our own pride

because we think we're doing good, or we'd be just honest

with ourselves and despair. But the message of Isaiah, the

whole message of the whole book is one of hope in a coming

Savior. Isaiah 58 promises that there

will be no more gloom and there will be light for those who meet

God's requirements. But do you remember what God

promised way back in Isaiah Chapter 9?

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

Isaiah Chapter 9 verse one says, But there will be no gloom for

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

her, her who is in anguish. Verse 2 the people who walked in

darkness have seen a great light.

Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light

shone. And then verse 6 For to us a

child is born. Light was coming for those who

lived in darkness and gloom, and it would not come because of

their obedience to God's law, but because Jesus is God's free

gift to sinners. Jesus is the light of the world

that has come and has shown in this Dark World.

He has brought truth and hope to a world without direction and a

world without a drop of hope. And in Isaiah 61, we'll see this

in a few weeks. Jesus has promised to come and

usher in a Kingdom where the oppressed captives are free and

the poor are no more. The Spirit of the Lord is upon

me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the

poor. He has sent me to bind up the

broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the

opening of the prison to those who are bound.

And do you remember how we read in Isaiah 58, verse 12, how God

Isaiah 58:12

promised to rebuild the ancient ruins, To rebuild the ancient

ruins if they would obey Him? Well, in Isaiah 61, verse 4, God

Isaiah 61:4

promises that the ancient ruins will be built up with the coming

of the Kingdom that Jesus will establish.

They shall build up the ancient ruins.

They shall raise up the former devastations.

They shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many

generations. Jesus the righteous 1.

He will bring to his people all the promised blessings of Isaiah

58, not because of their obedience to the law, but

because of his obedience to the law, and because of his grace

and mercy and kindness and generosity.

So don't put your hope and your obedience to God's law.

Let God's law humble you and put your faith and trust in Jesus

the righteous, 1 the one who is bringing a Kingdom of prosperity

and peace. So what?

How are we to live in light of Isaiah 58 and really in light of

the whole message, the whole gospel message of Isaiah?

So three things. First, live in right

relationships with others around you.

Consider how Jesus has had mercy on you, and then share that

mercy with others. It's really that simple.

You'll never be able to be holy enough on your own, so don't try

to earn God's favor by loving the poor and the needy around

you. Rest in the gospel of Jesus

Christ that God loves you because you are in Jesus.

You're his adopted child. Think how generous God's been to

you in Christ and how you don't deserve His blessings at all,

and then share what you have with others.

Loving others is how you how you can live a holy life before God.

Don't view others as other people as getting in the way of

your spiritual growth, but rather as the very opportunities

God has for you to become more like Him.

There are many other ways. There are many ways that we can

be generous to the poor in our community and to give to those

who are needy in our own church. Talk with the Mercy Committee

about ways you can help our church body.

Go on a trip to Crow Creek, volunteer with Next Chapter

Ministries, Teen Challenge or The Landing, donate to our

Community Schools box in the foyer or donate to a local food

shelf. You can also get involved with

Together for good. We we heard them present in at

the Sunday school today and you can help local families with

very tangible needs, or you can meet tangible needs through the

care portal. There's so many ways we can love

those who have needs and share the mercy of God.

So let's live and right relationships with the needy

around us. Let's not ignore them.

Second, let's worship God rightly as we fast.

Let's fast the right way. John Calvin wrote about how

fasting should be auxiliary or supplemental to prayer and other

good works that God desires for us to do.

So let's fast in order to improve our prayerfulness, to

help us focus ourselves on the needs of others.

And perhaps to help focus, I'm turning away from some specific

sin or fast to increase your longing for the return of Jesus,

our bridegroom. Let's also worship God rightly

on the Lord's Day. Be faithful to coming to to

worship each Sunday and and grow in your delight in the Lord's

Day. If you have a bad attitude on

Sundays, or maybe take some time to reflect on how important

worship is and how amazing the promises of the gospel are, you

might complain that you don't have friends at church, but

worship on Sundays is so much more than just hanging out with

friends. You have a church family and you

got many opportunities to love others and to grow in wisdom

and, and, and to serve others. And you just can't put a value

on that. Some of you need to make Sunday

worship a greater priority. Obviously some of you are

employed on Sundays and jobs that show mercy to others, and

that's great. That's wonderful.

But maybe you're here and you've been making the Lord's Day your

day, a day for your personal goals and wants and comforts.

So you repent from that and open your eyes to all the good things

God has for you here in corporate worship and as you go

from here living out the one another's of Scripture with the

church. And finally live with the right

hope. The right hope.

Isaiah 58 paints an amazing picture of people giving to the

poor and bringing justice to the oppressed.

And we want that so badly for our world, but we need to put

our hope not in any earthly government to make that happen,

or any church program to make that happen, or any peer church

ministry to finally do away with all the injustices of this

world. The Kingdom of heaven won't come

through man, but only through the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 65 says that Jesus will create new heavens and a new

earth, a Kingdom where there will be no more weeping, no more

death, no more conflict. The wolf and the lamb shall live

together in God's holy mountain. There will be no more poor, no

more injustice, no more oppression to put all of your

hope in the coming of Jesus Christ and the forever Kingdom

He will establish. Yes, we can help the poor and we

can fight injustice, but our ultimate hope in the lasting

change needs to be in Christ's second coming and His eternal

Kingdom. So live with right hope in

Christ's coming Kingdom. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this chapter, for this

prophecy. We thank you for showing us our

sin, the ways that we have fallen short of your glory.

Thank you for pointing us to Jesus the righteous. 1 Thank you

that we have hope in him. Thank you that we have life in

him. Thank you that he became a curse

for us so that we could have the blessings of God.

We ask not now Lord, that as we go from here that we would show

mercy to others, that we would be humble to our neighbor, that

we would meet the needs of those around us because you've been so

merciful to us. This we pray in Jesus name,

Amen.