Thursday Night Study

Join us tonight, D.V., as we continue our look at II Timothy.  Hear a promise from God I have never heard a TV preacher claim.  :)

"I Said Sit" Sermon: Isaiah 30:1-17

“I Said Sit”

[Isaiah 30:1-17]

June 16, 2019, Second Reformed Church

            Egypt.

            Joseph had ruled under Pharaoh in Egypt. But after he died, we read:

            “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, ‘Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.’ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves  and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves” (Exodus 1:8-14, ESV).

            The nation of Israel in Egypt was made into slaves, and for four hundred years, they served Egypt as slaves.

“During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew” (Exodus 2:23-25, ESV).

And when Moses was eighty years old, God sent him to Pharaoh to demand that he set the people of God free.  And we will remember the ten plaques, and how Pharaoh finally release Israel, and they walk across the Red Sea and wander in the dessert for forty years due to their sin, but finally, they claim the Promised Land.

While they were still in the wilderness, God gave Israel instructions about having a king, which included these words:

“Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again’” (Deuteronomy 17:16, ESV).

You shall never, never, never, never go to Egypt again.

We may remember back to chapter seven of Isaiah when King Ahaz hears that the Syrians are coming to attack, and the king and all the people shake with fear, but Isaiah says,

“And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, ‘Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,’ thus says the Lord GOD:  ‘It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass’” (7:4-7, ESV).

God tells Israel to do nothing – to sit still and trust God – and especially, do not make an alliance with Assyria and Egypt.  He alone is her salvation.  But she makes alliances, and God allows her to be carried off into captivity.

Now, first, we are to obey God’s Word.

By chapter thirty, King Hezekiah has heard that the Assyrians are coming to wage war against Jerusalem, and he remembers God says to sit and trust and wait on God, but his advisors go ahead and make an alliance with Egypt.  And God is furious and promises that this alliance will leave them humiliated and defeated:

            “’Ah, stubborn children,’ declares the LORD, ‘who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation. For though his officials are at Zoan and his envoys reach Hanes, everyone comes to shame through a people that cannot profit them, that brings neither help nor profit, but shame and disgrace.’”

            Solomon writes, “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain” (Psalm 127:1, ESV).

            How does the Lord build His house? Through preaching and the proclamation of the Gospel – by you and me telling people about Jesus – why He came and what He did – and then calling them to believe and repent of their sins.

            Paul tells the Corinthians:

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

            “’I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’

            “Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (I Corinthians 18-25, ESV).

            The Word of God – telling others the Gospel – is the means by which God brings people to Him – not by any other means.  Not by soft-ball games, not by clown ministry or puppet ministry, not by liturgical dance, not by magic shows, not by rock concerts – and these things may all be fine, but they are not what God said to do – and we are to obey God – especially when it comes to telling others the Gospel.

            We are often like Hezekiah’s advisors and think, “well, yes, preaching the Gospel is good, but we need to add to it if we are going to draw people in and keep them.”

            Salvation is only through the Word of God Alone, and if we do something in addition to the preaching of the Word of God to try to captivate people, it will be an act of rebellion against God.

            Second, seeking salvation in God plus something else is futile.

            “An oracle on the beasts of the Negeb. Through a land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the adder and the flying fiery serpent, they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people that cannot profit them. Egypt's help is worthless and empty; therefore I have called her ‘Rahab who sits still.’”

            God tells them that an alliance with Egypt will be one where the Egyptians load up their animals and attempt to cross their harsh land, but they get nowhere – they are no help to Jerusalem.  Egypt will not make it out of her own land – her help is worthless and empty – the alliance is futile.  And so God calls Egypt, “Rahab who sits still.”

            The name, “Rahab,” means “arrogance.”  So, Egypt is “arrogance who sits still.”

            God told Jerusalem to trust Him for her salvation and to not make an alliance – and Jerusalem makes and alliance with “arrogance who stands still” – what folly.

            Whatever we add to God’s Word to make it better – to make it more acceptable – to make it more attractive – is “arrogance standing still.”

            We want to add to worship – we want to add to salvation.  “If you come to our church, you’ll be healed of the demon of acne and become healthy and wealthy” “Salvation is the free gift of God when you work in the nursery or serve on the Consistory.”

            It’s arrogance – it’s nothing – the addition of things takes away from God’s Word and work.

            And there is a sense in this part of the text, as well, that they are putting the animals through all this work and stress for nothing – it is a burden and a strain on them that ought not to be happening.

            Third, addition to the Word leads to denial of the Word.

            “And now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever. For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD; who say to the seers, ‘Do not see,’ and to the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions, leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.’”

            God tells Isaiah to write this down so the people can read it and so it will be a witness against them in the future.  And God notes that they go from holding to the Word of God and adding an alliance with Egypt to saying they don’t want to hear from God any more.  They have had enough of God and His Word.  They don’t want to be told to sit when there is an army at their door, so they tell the seers and the prophets to keep the Word of God to themselves – they are going to focus on saving the City of God.

            Have you ever been to a worship service where they skip the Word of God and preaching?  I have – it is a strange and terrible thing.  The skip the Word of God to present reports and programs and things that have been happening in the church….

            Would you be happy to have singing and prayer and then drama and reports and dancing, but no Word of God?

            Finally, salvation is God’s work alone.

            “Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, ‘Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them, therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly,  in an instant; and its breaking is like that of a potter's vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shard is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.’

            God tells Jerusalem since she has despised God’s Word and trusted in Egypt, God is going to make her like a wall the bulges out and collapses – like a clay pot that is smashed to the ground with such force, it will be dashed to tiny pieces.

            Why?

            Have they really done something so horrible in trying to protect themselves?  Do we really do something so horrible when we seek to attract people to Jesus by other means and tell them that they can’t be saved without their own good works?

“For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, ‘In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.’

“What shall we do to be saved?”

“I said sit.”

God wins and applies salvation to His people.  We do nothing – we bring nothing to the table of salvation. 

Jerusalem had to do nothing, but trust God, and He would have saved her.  We do nothing – we are spiritually dead – and God saves us, by applying His Word to us, by changing our hearts, by causing us to believe – and then we confess our heart belief and do good works to bear the fruit of what God has done.

But Jerusalem refused.  She believed she needed to “do her part.”  She needed to make an alliance with Egypt – “the enemy of your enemy is your friend.”

“But you were unwilling, and you said, ‘No! We will flee upon horses’; therefore you shall flee away; and, ‘We will ride upon swift steeds’; therefore your pursuers shall be swift. A thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill.”

I say, “sit.” You say, “We will flee on horses.”  I say, “you will flee.”  You say, “Our horses are swift.”  I say, “Your enemies are swift.  And Jerusalem will be left like a single flag on a mountain or a single signal on a hill.  The people will be killed and taken into captivity.”

One of my college roommates said that he would believe that Jesus is the Savior as long as what he did also contributed to his salvation.

Do we believe that God has saved us without any help or merit or works from us?

When God tells us that His worship is to be of prayers and songs and the reading and preaching of His Word and the sacraments and nothing more – do we hear and believe and obey Him, or do we say, “that’s all well and good, but I have a better idea – a way that will bring them all in.”

Does it matter if God says, “sit,” and we say, “let us give You a hand”?

Yes, it does.

Jerusalem was lost due to her arrogance and disobedience.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, You sent Your Son to be our Savior – and there is no other Savior.  Your Word is to be preached and God the Holy Spirit takes it and applies it as He wills, changing hearts and minds as He wills.  Ours is to be obedient to what You have said, and we ask that You would help us to trust You and obey You and to sit in peace as we wait on Your Will.  For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.

Thursday Night Study

Join us this evening at 7 PM, D.V., as we continue our study of II Timothy.  All are welcome.

"Transformed" Sermon: Isaiah 29:15-24

“Transformed”

[Isaiah 29:15-24]

June 9, 2019, Second Reformed Church

            In the first half of the chapter, Isaiah brings the Word of God against Jerusalem, calling her, Ariel.  God tells Jerusalem that He keeps His threats and His promises, and, if she doesn’t want God, He will come against her.  We remember, Jerusalem thought she was above discipline, because she is the City of God – but nothing could be further from the truth.

            Isaiah continues to speak against Ariel – Jerusalem – and then, He reminds her of what He will do on the last day – for the Creation, and for Jacob.

            First, the world twists the truth.

            Have you ever noticed that CNN and Fox News report on the same stories, but they are totally different?  And, of course, that is because “they” are twisting the truth.  Very often, we might rightly suppose, the truth is different from what any news agency is saying.

            So the world twists the truth about God:

“Ah, you who hide deep from the LORD your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, ‘Who sees us? Who knows us?’”

Isaiah says that Jerusalem believes she can hide what she is doing from God.  “If I do things in the dark, God can’t see me.  If I cover my eyes, I become invisible, and God can’t see me.  God doesn’t see what I’m are doing – God does not know what I’m are doing.  God is not everywhere at once – God does not have all knowledge.”

And we understand this type of thinking – even if we don’t say it out loud, because, even as Christians, we sin when we are alone – when “nobody” is watching – when no one knows – when no one can accuse us – when no one sees what we are doing – as Mark Heard sings, “Don’t worry, ain’t nobody watching but God.”

Even though our confession is different – even though our heart-belief is different – at times we act like Ariel and do things thinking that God doesn’t see or know what we are up to.

We understand how the unbelieving world can act like this, don’t we?

Paul writes:

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen” (Romans 1:18-25, ESV).

Everyone knows there is a God, and everyone knows “his eternal power and divine nature” simply by looking around at the Creation.  But the world doesn’t want the real God to be God.  They don’t want to follow Him, because obedience means love and unbelievers can’t love God, so they purposely suppress what they know about God and makes other gods that they like better.  They worship animals and blocks of wood and stone – things that can be controlled by humans – things that aren’t everywhere at once – things that don’t have all knowledge.  And God responds by saying, “If that’s what you want, have at it.  See how that goes for you.”

But the truth is that God is omnipresent – He is everywhere at once – and He is omniscient – He knows everything – and we above all people know that as those who have been saved by God the Holy Spirit through Jesus.  We know God is here.  We know God knows what you don’t want anyone else in this sanctuary to know.

As Isaiah says:

“You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, ‘He did not make me’; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’?”

            Can you imagine Carol going to a pottery class and making a pot, only to find on the bottom written, “not made by Carol”?

            We humans – and all that exists – are creations of the Almighty God – and we shake our fists at God and say, “You didn’t create us, we created You.  You didn’t exist, but we made You up to explain storms and death and other scary things, but now we have science, and we know that You have just been an excuse to us.  You are not here.  You do not know anything.  You did not create us.  We now know that everything is a colossal accident.”                 

            The Psalmist writes:

            “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you” (Psalm 139:7-12, ESV).

            Later, Isaiah asks, “Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?” (Isaiah 40:13-14, ESV).

            The questions are rhetorical – the answer to all of them is “no one” – God knows everything from before the beginning.  There is nothing that He does not know.

            God is Spirit.  God is everywhere.  God knows everything always. 

The world twists the truth.

            Second, the Lord renews the Creation.          

“Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?”

At this time in history, Lebanon was a land of mountains, wilderness,  and trees – it was not a “Garden of Eden.”  It was a land hard to be worked, but God says that soon – on that day – the entire topography of Lebanon will be changed, and it will become a delightful garden – a fruitful field.  Lebanon is cited here as an example of the utter overhaul the entire Creation will experience on the final day – when Jesus returns.

Paul writes, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (Romans 8:19-22, ESV).

We will remember that all of Creation was punished due to our first parents’ sin, and so all of Creation now – the animals, the plants, perhaps even the inanimate objects somehow – feel as though they are going through the pains of childbirth until Jesus returns and restores the planet to its Edenic state – how it was before we brought sin into the world..

“In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.”

Remember, we saw earlier that the Word of God was handed to the literate – to those who can read, and they said that the book was sealed, and the Word of God was handed to the illiterate – those who cannot read, and they said they could not read.  In that day, this will all change – the deaf will hear the Word of God and the blind will see the word of God – even now, as men and women are changed by God the Holy Spirit and brought to heart-belief in the Gospel there is the transference of us from darkness to light.

Paul writes, “for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8, ESV).

“But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober” (I Thessalonians 5:4-6, ESV).

Another thing to keep in mind is that the deaf and blind would have been excluded from worship in the Temple.  Anyone with any deformity or injury was not allowed in the Temple.  So going from being blind and deaf to seeing and hearing is not just a matter of regaining their senses – it is a matter of gaining the right to come before God in worship.

What does this renewal – this moving from darkness to light look like?

“The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. For the ruthless shall come to nothing and the scoffer cease, and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off, who by a word make a man out to be an offender, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.”

Two things:

First, all those who have been transferred from darkness into light – all those who have been renewed by God the Holy Spirit – will have the joy of the Lord restored in them.  Now, joy doesn’t mean that we’re always happy.  It doesn’t mean that we’re always a laugh-riot.  What it means is that we find in ourselves the desire – the pull – the need to be all about glorifying God because He alone fills us with meaning and purpose and salvation.

Second, the legal system will be perfected and finished.  All those who remain in the darkness and follow after evil will be shut outside the gate.  For in the Kingdom, there will be no evil or sin or suffering.  Those who bear false witness will be silenced.  Those who deceive people in court will be silenced.  Those judges who rule falsely will be silenced.

What we see in the renewal of the Creation – which includes all we who believe – is that salvation – and the fullness of salvation on the last day – causes radical change for the entire Creation.  And “radical” is the correct word – from the root “radix” meaning, “the root.”  Everything will be changed down to the deepest fibers of the beings and non-beings of all of Creation.  Sin and all its results will be eternally shut out of the Kingdom, the Creation will be restored to the way God created it, and we, in the fullness of joy, will be in the presence of our God and Savior forever and ever.

            The Lord renews the Creation.

            Third, the Lord transforms Jacob.

            Isaiah gives a word from the Lord God:

“Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:”

Notice, Isaiah speaks to Jacob now – to Israel – to the people who have been taken into captivity by the Assyrians, and he points them to the father of the Jewish people – to Abraham – and specifically, to all those who believe in God as Abraham did – as Paul calls us – the Israel of God.

And Isaiah reminds them that it was God, the Sovereign Lord, who redeemed Abraham.  God chose Abraham out of all the people of the earth to cause him to become the father of God’s people.  Where would have Abraham and his descendants have been if God had not chosen  Abraham and make him a people for God and the father of all those who will ever believe?  Isaiah wants them to turn their eyes to God, the Sovereign Savior Who chose and saved Abraham for God’s own sake.

 “’Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale.’”

God tells Jacob – all the people of Israel – that he will no longer be ashamed of his people for their sin; he will no longer grow pale because of their actions against the God Who made them.

Have you ever been embarrassed by your children or grandchildren?  Jacob is embarrassed by his descendants and their sin against God – but God says that something is going to happen to take away his shame – to take away his pale pallor.

“’For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will accept instruction.’”

Like the potter, God says that the children of Jacob are the work of His hands.  We are the work of God’s hands.  We are born spiritually dead – unable to do any good – the only hope we have is that God will choose to reach down and take our clay and mold it into something beautiful for God.

And so God transforms the people of Jacob – God sanctifies believers, and we respond by sanctifying God’s Name.  The believer will treat God’s Name as holy and use it rightly.  Believers will show God to be Who He is in perfection and holiness, and we will stand in awe – in fear – of the God of Israel.  All true believers will be so amazed and humbled and changed – transformed – that we will seek to obey everything God has said out of love and thanksgiving.

Those who have gone astray will be made to understand the Word of God, and He will draw them back to the fold.  Those who murmur against the Word of God will be made to understand, and they will cry out with joy about all that God has done.

God has transformed us.  God is transforming us.  God will transform us.  We are not yet what we will become.  We still have the remains of the sin nature in us – but not forever.  We are being transformed.  God the Holy Spirit is transforming us into the Image of Jesus that we would be fit for the Kingdom on the last day.

Paul commands us:

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2, ESV).

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (II Corinthians 3:18, ESV).

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Philippians 3:20-21, ESV).

Just as God called Abraham out of idolatry and made him our spiritual father, and God transformed Jacob to be the head and the name of the people of God, so we are being transformed so we will rightly sanctify the Name and the God of Israel and stand in awe of Him as we follow after Him doing all the good works He has called us to – and this will be perfected on the last day when Jesus glorifies us and completes our transformation.

Our hearts will be transformed.  Our minds will be transformed.  Our souls will be transformed. Our bodies will be transformed.  That’s good news!  You and I will still be who we are – be we will be changed – glorified and perfected.

We will no longer have a divided heart that turns away from our God and Savior.  We will no longer have a mind that thinks wrongly.  We will no longer have a soul that turns to sin.  We will no longer have a body that sins and has pain and falls part.  No!  We shall be changed.

And if you are a Christian – it is what you long for:  I long for the Lord to transform me fully, so my heart will be set on Him and Him Alone, so my mind will only think rightly, so my soul will never again turn to sin, so my body will work without pain and disease – and the Holy Spirit has begun the transformation – and if you are a Christian, He has with you.

If you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is God, the Lord and Savior, you shall be saved, and, as on that first day of Pentecost, God the Holy Spirit will come upon you and abide with you and transform you into a holy son or daughter of Abraham and Jacob.

The Lord will transform – all of – Jacob.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, we thank You for the gift of God the Holy Spirit.  We thank You that You are working in us by Him to transform us into the Image of Your Son.  We long for the day when all is right – when there is no twisting of the truth, when the Creation is whole and well – when we are righteous and holy and glorified before Your Son.  We ask that You would transform Your Church – revive Your Church here and throughout the world.  Make us faithful stewards of Your manifold gifts.  Let the world gape in awe at the works Christians do in Your Name and to Your glory.  Keep us ever crying out to be drawn closer to You.  For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.