The Holy One Of Israel

Introduction

Good morning. Welcome to everyone. Our study this morning comes from a text that has been a favorite of mine for a very long time. You have heard me quote it often to the extent that you know it by heart, I’m sure. And that was a joke. Isaiah 39 through 11. If we don’t know it by heart, I would like for us to get to know it because of its relevance to a modern way of thinking. God accuses his people. For this is a rebellious people. False sons. Sons who refuse to listen to the instruction of the Lord. What tragic circumstances have unfolded here? And here’s what they say to the seers. You must not see visions. And to the prophets, you must not prophesy what is right.

Can you imagine? Speak to us pleasant words. Prophesy illusions. Get out of the way. Turn aside from the path. Let us hear no more about the holy one of Israel. Can you fathom that kind of a response to the Creator by his own people? And yet, this is the thinking of many in our times today. In this lengthy section, Isaiah is warning Jerusalem about coming judgment for her sins. He announces a woe in Isaiah 29, woe, O Ariel, which means lion of God. The city where David once camped. At year to year, observe your feasts on schedule, but I will bring distress to Ariel, and she shall be a city of lamenting and mourning. And she shall be like an Ariel to me. I will camp against you, encircling you, and I will set siege works against you, and you will be brought low.

While the harshest blow of this judgment is still a century away, God is addressing the present spiritual ills of the people in hopes that they will penitently respond. And it would be great when such messages are preached, that a vast majority would respond, like at the preaching of Jonah in Nineveh. In Jonah chapter 3 and verse 10. But so often the response is only a few.

Fruitless alliance with Egypt. He says in Isaiah 30 and verse 2, who proceed down to Egypt without consulting me to take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh. And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt. You see, God is raising up the Assyrians to punish Israel, and they will swoop down into Judah as well. And then there will be the Babylonians beyond that. And so here’s the old nemesis of Egypt, and we’re going to team up with them and try to fight off these new and powerful oppressors, taking refuge in the safety of Pharaoh. Therefore, the safety of Pharaoh will be your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation. It says in verse 6, through a land of distress and anguish from there, from where come lioness and lion, viper and flying serpent.

Their treasures are camels’ humps to a people who cannot profit them, even Egypt, whose help is vain and empty. Therefore I have called her Rahab, who has been exterminated, just like we do to Texas roaches.

And so to turn to them as an ally, how fruitless is that.

1. They Execute a Plan, But Not Mine

Of Israel. Isaiah 30 and verse 1, woe to the rebellious children, declares the Lord, who execute a plan, but not mine. They make an alliance, but not of my spirit, in order to add sin to sin. And so I want to look at these words in Isaiah chapter 30 and see their relevance to our times and to us. What are God’s problems with his people? What does he accuse them of? The first thing that I want you to notice in Isaiah 30 and verse 1, he says, they execute a plan. We’ve got a great idea. Let’s go down to Egypt. Pharaoh will help us, and we’ll avert disaster. Foolish alliance. They have a plan. They execute a plan, he says, but it is not mine. We can fix this.

We can save ourselves. And here’s how we’re going to do it. We are going to go down to Egypt and establish an alliance. Seriously. That’s it. God is way more powerful than Egypt. He is far more reliable than Egypt is going to be. But like people so often do, they reject what works for what doesn’t. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, Paul says in Romans chapter 1 and verse 16, for it is the power of God unto salvation. You want power, you’ve got to go to the right source. You want salvation, you’ve got to go to the right source. And Egypt isn’t it. And yet, so often people go down to Egypt metaphorically. They choose all sorts of ways other than the Lord’s ways and declare it the way to salvation, the way to happiness, the way to fulfillment.

They execute a plan. But it is not mine. God says. Well, let’s make this even more personal this morning. What is your plan? You got a plan developed for your life. I know our young people are just now in the process of putting the plan together. Some of us are already in the midst of the plan. I’m going to get to one day. No. We all have had a plan that we have pursued in our lives. What’s the plan? What’s the big picture for you? Well, when you’re young, you I’m going to get an education, because with an education comes a good job. And so we pursue education. We go to high school. They make us go to high school. But we know we have to go to high school and then perhaps to college.

If we really want a good paying job. And unless we’re lucky. And we’re going to get this degree. And this degree is going to land us a job. But now we don’t want just any job. We want a job that we like. We want a job of great benefits. A great work environment. Let’s dream big. Six figure salary minimum. And with that, well, we don’t want to do this all by ourselves. So we get a family. Husband, wife, kids, perfect American family. Got to have a home to put these people. And so you think of a house, maybe a starter home. And then perhaps something larger as the kids grow up and take up more space and you collect more junk. And then there’s got to be vehicles to get everybody around.

And then they become teenagers, and you’ve got to get vehicles for the teenagers, or you go insane.

And you’ve got this plan, you see. And we’re going to make enough money that we can have some finer things, like a microwave oven. No, we’re going to have more than that in these times. And we’re going to have our automobiles and we’re going to have our gardens and we’re going to have our vacations and our hobbies, our special interests, and ultimately one day we’re going to have perfect health too, and we’re going to retire and live blissfully for 20, 25 more years before the evil days come. We’ve got a plan. What’s your plan look like? Don’t you think about that this morning? What is your plan? And then I want to ask you. What good is that plan if God isn’t in it?

If the planning that you’re doing doesn’t include him and his will for you. Everybody executes a plan. But we need to make sure that the plan we’re executing is his.

It’s how you’re living in your home in the midst of your family. It is how you are associated with his people and your role among them. And whether you’re doing his will in your life. What if the most important thing about your life is the influence you’re going to be on the lives of others. Maybe not a whole lot of others. Maybe just a few. Perhaps what God has in plan for you is a faithful life that impacts the life of one or a few or several people who will then impact hundreds, if not thousands, of lives. When I was growing up in Floyd’s Knobs, Indiana, I don’t know if my mom and dad ever realized that I would have the opportunity to preach the gospel in so many places and to hopefully positively affect many people’s lives.

But I’ve said many times that whatever I am able to accomplish in the kingdom for God and His glory, they’ve had a hand in it as they introduced me to the Lord and at a very early age brought me to every service of the local church where I learned God’s will. And I think of every one of those Bible class teachers that I had.

Men and women, some of whom have gone on to their reward and the investment that they made in me. And I think of the local church. And the marvelous examples that I’ve seen who have encouraged me. I think of the faith of my sisters. And now one of my sisters’ family. And how that encourages me and helps me stabilize my faith as well. But I think of all the people who have, yes, there have been some shipwrecks and disappointments along the way. But I think of all the people who have had an impact on my faith and my circumstances as I am now trying to help other people. The Olympics aren’t here today. I was going to use them as an illustration there in Florida. How many people in that family?

Is it nine? I haven’t got them all pegged yet. Just the faith there, their family affects nine souls. Maybe in your home it’s just three or four. But the importance of the life of faith. No matter what your role is, I want you to remember something. With God, a little is a lot. Sometimes we think, I’m really not all that significant in the whole scheme of things. I’m not really that influential in the local church. But I’ve told you many times, you are important. Who am I talking about? You, all of you. You are important. God has chosen the things that are not to nullify the things that are. Sometimes his people are a collection of are nots. Not many wise, not many noble. God has chosen the foolish things of this world to shame the wise.

All he needs is a humble and submissive heart, and he can accomplish things. With God, a little is a lot. The weaker members are necessary. I love that passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. He’s not talking about those who are weak in faith. Those who are not perhaps blessed with the ability that someone else has or the talent or the opportunity. He says, the weaker members are necessary. He gives more abundant honor to the member that lacks. I don’t care how weak you may consider yourself to be, like the widow in Mark chapter 12. All she had to contribute was two mights, and yet Jesus said, Hey disciples, I want you to come over here and see this. This is significant. Because she gave all that she had to live on.

That woman’s role. As little as it was. Really that little? She’s still teaching us. 2,000 years later. With God, a little is a lot. Listen, here’s the point. Never diminish the significance of a faithful life. Never diminish the choice to love. Never diminish the life that has come under the influence and control of the Holy Spirit, coupled with your diligence. Never diminish the sacrificial service that we render. And those things are something that every single one of us can do. And when things get tough in your life, and they will.

Regardless of how difficult things get. And that plan is simply do not be conformed to the former lust, which were yours in your ignorance, but be holy in all your behavior as God as holy. As obedient children, do this.

2. You Are Not of My Spirit

We can be like the Holy One of Israel, and we can execute that plan. Secondly, he says to his people, you are not of my spirit. So many people today claim to possess his spirit, but they do not.

But they think they do. In Psalm 50, there’s a classic example of that. Those who approved of injustice, practice injustice, did all sorts of evil, and because God says, I did not judge you immediately, you think that I thought like you.

And what he’s saying is, no, I’m going to tear you into pieces, you who forget God. No judgment is coming for that. And yet all the while they think, well, God’s approving of all of this. And what he’s basically saying is, no, you are not of my spirit. While you engage in that kind of behavior. I thought immediately as I was studying this when he says, You are not of my spirit. Of James and John in Luke 9, when the Samaritan villages wouldn’t accept them. And they say that the Lord, they’re so impressed with the ability that they’ve already displayed to cast out demons. Hey, Lord, you want us to call down fire from heaven and consume them? Why, they had visions of Elijah. 1 Kings, 2 Kings chapter 1, visions of Elijah where he consumed the armies of 50.

Oh, let’s call down fire from heaven. Wouldn’t that be spectacular? And what does Jesus say? He says, You do not know what kind of spirit you are. This is not, we came to save, not destroy. The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, as we saw this morning in 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 9. There’s rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents. He says, You are not of my spirit, desiring the destruction of people. That’s last ditch effort there. Here’s the thing. People often think things are a certain way. Because they lack sufficient information. They’re ignorant. Like Peter warned in 2 Peter 3, they are ignorant of this one fact.

This one fact escapes their notice. A day with the Lord is a thousand years, a thousand years is one day. But Scoppers say, oh, where’s the promise of his coming? They don’t, they’re not in the know. God’s promises are sure. He is not slack concerning his promise. See, the problem is ignorance. And that’s why in 2 Peter chapter 1, he said, add to your faith knowledge. In 2 Peter 3, old Paul wrote some things difficult to understand, not impossible to understand. Because he says the untaught and the unstable distort. They’re not in the known. They take what Paul said, they abuse it, the untaught and the unstable distort, and they do so to what? Their own destruction. That is not of my. They draw conclusions that are not of his spirit.

And I think just in our religious world today, the misconceptions that exist about grace and works. The conclusions that people draw about how salvation works. Once saved, always say, faith only. Not of my spirit. They lack knowledge of how it works because they’ve not grappled with God’s instruction like they should have. And one of the goals in my instruction here is always so that we will think like God in everything. We can’t manufacture our own way, execute our own plan. We’ve got to think like God. Our thinking needs to match his. And that’s what this book is designed to do, and that’s why we need to rely upon the patterns and the instruction that God has given us and do things his way. We launch out on our own.

3. Do Not Prophesy What Is Right

Whose plan are we executing? And then thirdly, what these people are saying. This is the part of Isaiah 39 through 11 that I just I love. You mean they actually said this out loud for someone to hear? They actually verbalize this? I’m not sure that they were saying this out loud. Perhaps they did. Boy, that would be bold and foolish. But if they weren’t saying it out loud, they were saying it in their hearts. God’s people were saying. If not by their words the way they were living, do not prophesy what is right. Can you imagine? If you’re not going to prophesy what is right, then you must be prophesying what is wrong, and you want that. Why would anybody want that? Because what is right indicts.

Because what is right stands opposed to what they want to do, and thus what they want to hear. And thus people accumulate teachers who will itch their ears. 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 3. We don’t want to hear about what is right. And here’s what people want, generally. All of the blessings and promises associated with Christianity, but not with all the responsibilities that go with it. I could not help but think here of Felix in Acts 24 and 25. When Paul reasoned with him regarding three things righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come.

You’ve got to exercise restraint, or not you will face the judgment as an evildoer. Paul told it to him straight about the holy one of Israel. What was the response of Felix? He trembled. He was frightened and he trembled. Because when you prophesy, when you teach what is right, what is right often indicts. It demands change. And thus they say, speak to us pleasant words. This message of judgment, that’s uncomfortable. That’s disconcerting. Speak to us pleasant words. Prophesy illusion. Tell me everything’s going to be okay, that everybody’s going to go to heaven, that there’s nobody who’s going to be lost. I don’t want to hear that. That’s disconcerting and uncomfortable. Please tell me pleasant words. Do you realize how many pulpits in our world and in the United States of America today are filled with just such words?

Pleasant words. You’re okay. You’re fine. Don’t sweat it. It doesn’t matter how many marriages you’ve been in and who you might be bound to according to God’s law. Just be happy with the one you’re with. It doesn’t matter if you’re practicing immorality or you’re practicing homosexual. Don’t really like it that much. It disgusts me, but come on in. Tell me everything’s fine. That’s the mood of our culture today. Speak to us pleasant words. Prophesy illusions. Tell me that no change is required. We want salvation to work the way we want it to. And we want to be included. Regardless of what we do. Personal exemption from holiness, please. That’s what that’s saying. I want an exemption from holiness. Speak to us pleasant words. Prophesy illusions. Make up some great story that I can buy into it.

Yeah, that’s what I want. Get out of the way. Turn aside from the path. You mean there’s only one way. Notice, get out of the way. Turn aside from the path. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. John 14 and verse 6. I want to tell you, Jesus, when he says that, makes a remarkable statement. That’s pretty exclusive. No one else is the way if he isn’t. I am the way. No one comes to the Father but through me. That excludes everyone who rejects Jesus as the way. That’s pretty narrow. Jeremiah would say a generation later after Isaiah. Stand in the way and see and ask for the old path wherein is the good way and walk in it.

He says, My people have diverted from the path. Stand in the way and see and ask for the old path wherein is the good way and walk in it, and you shall find rest for your souls. But you know what they said? Tragic verse, Jeremiah 6 and verse 16. They respond, but we will not walk therein. They were saying that a century ago. We don’t want to hear about this path of righteousness, this path of holiness, the way. We want to do things differently. Tell us no more about the holy one of Israel. Holiness is always the sticking point. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 14. Holiness is always the sticking point. What if I want to do what is unholy?

What if my preference for thinking and behavior doesn’t match God’s desires? What if I want to intoxicate myself and cater to my lusts and practice immorality and love the world? That’s the rubber. Most false teachings, in some way, incorporate a way to not be holy and receive God’s approval. But we must, we must grapple with God’s holiness. I appreciate Scott leading all those songs. I wish we sang a couple of those more often. All those songs about the holiness of God. Listen, quickly. The creator has a right to demand holiness. What right does the clay have to say to the potter, Why have you made me like this? In a context in Romans 9, where God has the sovereign right to choose the way he’s going to save man and to execute his plan.

He doesn’t have to run that, hey, I’ve got this plan for saving man. Let me run it by you and see what you think about it. God doesn’t have to do that. He’s God. He’s the potter, and we’re the clay. What right do we have to tell him how to run things? God, I’ve got a few pointers up for you on how to run the universe. What right do we have? God has the right to dictate behavior. And not vice versa. And beyond that, he is good. He is good. His essence is good. There is none who is good but God, Jesus says to the rich young ruler. Only God is ultimately good. And beyond that, his knowledge exceeds ours rather significantly.

Psalm 147, 4 and 5. I can sort of get the part. He counts the stars and knows them all by name. Because I can look at, well, that’s a vast multitude. Pretty amazing. But the concept of his understanding is infinite.

I can grapple more with the Isaiah reference. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are his ways to my ways and his thoughts to my thoughts. God is good, and he always chooses the best. His wisdom so far exceeds ours. Thus we must listen to him. His character is absolutely impeccable. Be ye therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect, Matthew chapter 5 and verse 48. What an awful and tragic reaction to God’s message, and yet it is so calm today.

But when they tell you that the holiness revealed in this book, lus immorality don’t sweat it. God is a loving God who wouldn’t send anybody to hell. You can do as you please. When that message is preached, that’s the illusion Isaiah’s talking about. Tell us pleasant words. We don’t want to change. God accept me the way I am. That’s not the meaning of the song, just as I am. Accept me the way I am. Pleasant words. The way. Ooh, that’s that’s strange, isn’t it? Difficult, challenging. You mean strive and diligent are a part of the New Testament plan for us? That we’ve actually got to strive to be holy as God is holy? Let’s get away from that. Turn aside from the path.

4. God's Reaction: Thus Says the Holy One of Israel

But the Holy One of Israel. We’ve got to come to grips with that. Finally, what is God’s reaction? I quote these passages a lot, verses 9 through 11. But what is God’s reaction to these thoughts? Therefore, thus says the Holy One of Israel. Since you have rejected this word and have put your trust in oppression and guile and have relied on them, this iniquity will be to you like a breach about to fall. A bulge in a high wall, whose collapse comes suddenly and in an instant. And whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar. So ruthlessly shattered that a sherd will not be found among its pieces to take fire from a hearth or to scoop water from a cistern. For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel.

See, that keeps getting repeated. That’s why the sermon is entitled this morning, The Holy One of Israel. That keeps getting repeated. Thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, in repentance and rest you shall be saved. In quietness and trust is your strength, but you were not willing. Oh, so what are you going to do? You’re going to flee on horses. Therefore you shall flee. And you’ll ride on swift horses. Therefore, those who pursue you will be swift. Don’t think you’re going to get away. One thousand shall flee at the threat of one man. You shall flee at the threat of five until you are left as a flag on a mountaintop and as a signal on a hill. Therefore, the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore he waits on high to have compassion on you.

For the Lord is a God of justice. How blessed are all those who long for him. Shattered to pieces, useless, wasted. If you reject the holy one of Israel, that is your life. That is the result. And not even that good. Shard so small they can’t even scoop water, he said. A lot of people aren’t seeing it. If you reject God and His ways for your life, your life is a broken and shattered jar. Disintegrated into a million pieces, worthless for nothing. We need the Holy One of Israel. No one successfully runs away from God. And the question is, why should you want to? Why should we want to run away from Him when it says He is a God of compassion? And how blessed is the one who longs for Him.

Conclusion

We’re not asking you to sign on to drudgery and an awful existence as a Christian, all these restrictions. The state of the righteous, the state of the Holy One, though often unperceived, is blessed, both now and in eternity. And so when I offer the invitation of the Lord to come and to embrace his provisions for salvation, to believe on him, repent of your sins, and to be baptized into Christ, having confessed Jesus as your Lord, to rise to walk in newness of life. It is an invitation not unto misery, but unto awesome blessedness. How blessed is the one who longs for him. Would you come to know better and appreciate the Holy One of Israel and His plan for your life? Can we assist you in getting on that path while there’s time and opportunity, while we stand and sing together?