"Mercy Received, Part 1" Sermon: Isaiah 65:1-10 (manuscript)

 

“Mercy Received, Part 1”

Isaiah 65:1-10

July 30, 2023 YouTube

          As a result of Israel’s sin, God allowed the Babylonians to conquer her and take her into captivity.  Israel cried out to God, and God told them that He would crush the wicked like grapes in a wine press, and He told Israel to remember all the good things He has done for them, and they cried out to God in prayer for mercy.

          God answers their prayer, first, by telling them that the wicked are arrogant.  All those who never receive salvation from God are arrogant.  And these are from the Gentiles and the Jews.

          “I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ to a nation that was not called by my name.”

          God says He is ready to be sought and found – God is not the problem for the unbeliever.  The unbeliever never seeks and never asks for God. 

Paul says, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12, ESV).

And John writes, “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:11-13, ESV).

God says He calls out to the wicked with force – with emphasis – (we see the statement that God says, “Here I am” twice) – “If you really wanted Me, you would see Me and not be saying that you don’t need to seek Me or ask for Me.  You have an opinion of yourself that is far beyond what is realistic.”

          God continues, “I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; a people who provoke me to my face continually,”

          God stands with His hands out – round the clock – waiting to receive anyone who will come to Him – but as we just saw – no one comes of their own will.  The wicked of all people don’t believe they need God – they won’t ask for Him to save them or seek Him that they would know how to live rightly.  No, they believe they deserve to be in rebellion against the absolute truth – they deserve to do what is actually not good – they deserve to do whatever they want with no one contradicting them.  In their arrogance, they believe no one is above them or worthy of calling them on the carpet.  Rather, they get up in the Face of God and tell Him that they don’t need Him, and they don’t want Him and to just go away.”

          Have you ever gotten up in your parent’s face – or a teacher’s face – and told them off?  Have you ever told them that they can’t tell you what to do?  Have you ever said, “you’re not the boss of me?”

Paul considers how it can be that there are people in the nation of Israel – God’s people – who still remain in wickedness and arrogance:

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for ‘Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.’ But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, ‘I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.’ Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, ‘I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.’ But of Israel he says, ‘All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people’” (Romans 10:17-21, ESV).

How can it be that some in Israel would be so arrogant – not just the Gentiles – how is it that the people who have heard the Gospel of God provoke God to His Face by overturning the pure worship God has commanded?

“sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks; who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat pig’s flesh, and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels;”

Sacrificing in gardens is a practice of the pagans.  Making offerings on bricks instead of on stones and the altars approved by God is idolatry.  So is witchcraft involved in worshipping in graveyards and other hideaways.  Eating pig’s flesh and other forbidden foods is slapping God in the face and saying they will not obey the kosher laws.

 “And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you” (Leviticus 11:7-8, ESV).

In God’s Word, He has set out the way He commands believers to worship Him.  We are to worship Him as He has said to worship Him because He has said, “This is how you are to worship Me.”  The wicked do what they want to do in worship – sometimes with seeming good intentions – but still befouling the worship of God.

A friend of my sisters died recently.  This friend used Tarot cards.  The plan was to have a memorial service in a local Presbyterian Church.  One of the friends suggested having a Tarot reading as part of the service.  That would have been an abomination to God.  Thankfully, it did not happen.

          Arrogant hypocrites “who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.’ These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.”

          The wicked hypocrites turn against true believers and God – claiming to be holy – rather than sinners, and to believers and God say, “Get out!  Go away!”

          I hope any of us would stop dead in our tracks to hear those words – that anger – that self-inflicted misperception – about believers and especially God!

          God answers this stupefying arrogant anger by telling the wicked that they will be punished. 

          God is punishing Israel for her sins in the Babylonian exile, and this punishment and discipline is for fathers and sons, because they have committed the same sins.

          “Behold, it is written before me: ‘I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will indeed repay into their lap both your iniquities and your fathers’  iniquities together, says the LORD; because they made offerings on the mountains and insulted me on the hills, I will measure into their lap payment for their former deeds.’”

          The arrogance of the wicked will be repaid.

          Second, the remnant will be separated from the wicked.

“Thus says the LORD: ‘As the new wine is found in the cluster, and they say, “Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,” so I will do for my servants’ sake, and not destroy them all.’

Grapes are formed in clusters, and when they are ready to be harvested and made into new wine, they begin to ooze, so it is said not to destroy those grapes, for there is a blessing in it – the new wine – the fruit of the vine, which is formed by the believing remnant – the elect – those who live are branches of the Vine.

Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:1-11, ESV).

Out of all those who were sent into Babylon for their sin, there is a remnant that God will bring back to Israel, and within that remnant there is a remnant who are the true believers – the elect of God – those who were disciplined for their sin and for their growth and for their bearing of grapes that are a blessing to God and His people. Thess are those who believe in the Servant Savior and the salvation He brings.

God has separated the remnant from the wicked and causes them to be ingrafted into the Vine – the Savior – that they would be faithful and obedient and produce the good works of fruit to new wine. God will not destroy those who bear new wine.

‘I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah possessors of my mountains; my chosen shall possess it, and my servants shall dwell there.

The believing remnant are not just for the generation that returns from the exile.  They are for all those who believe throughout the generations.  The chosen of God – the servants of God – will dwell in the Kingdom of God – in Israel and Judah – and in the Kingdom that is yet to come.  God will bring the remnant out of the wicked, and they will dwell with God eternally.

No matter how things may look among believers, don’t give up hope – our assurance is in the Almighty God.  God will bring His Church through the most wicked of times, and she will not fall to the gates of Hell but will be victorious through Christ.

‘Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, for my people who have sought me.’”

Sharon is on one side of the land of Israel, and the Valley of Achor is on the other.  Sharon is land for flocks, and the Valley of Achor is a place to raise herds. The land was destroyed during the Babylonian conquest, but with the return of the remnant, the land will be restored.

God promised that after their discipline, the remnant will return to Israel.  The remnant will be separated out from the wicked. They will be fruitful and bear new wine as the people of God grafted into the Vine Who is the Servant Savior. They will be a blessing as the elect of God – the chosen of God.

All of the people of God receive discipline because we sin.  The author of Hebrews writes, “For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:10-11, ESV).

Now we are a blessing to the world and to God, and we wait with assurance and great hope, knowing we belong to God our Father, and He will bring us into the fulness of the restored Kingdom.

In this, we have received the Mercy of God.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, we thank You for answering Israel and us that the wicked will suffer for their arrogance, but You have chosen a remnant out of all people to be Your people, and You will cause us to be a blessing and assure us of our salvation and our life with You in the restored Creation.  May we be faithful to You.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.