Faith that Only Honors the Lord with Their Lips (Isaiah 29:1-24)
Rev. Myung-Sin Choi
“1 'Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! Add year to year; Let feasts come around. 2 Yet I will distress Ariel; There shall be heaviness and sorrow, And it shall be to Me as Ariel. 3 I will encamp against you all around, I will lay siege against you with a mound, And I will raise siegeworks against you. 4 You shall be brought down, You shall speak out of the ground; Your speech shall be low, out of the dust; Your voice shall be like a medium's, out of the ground; And your speech shall whisper out of the dust. 5 'Moreover the multitude of your foes Shall be like fine dust, And the multitude of the terrible ones Like chaff that passes away; Yes, it shall be in an instant, suddenly. 6 You will be punished by the Lord of hosts With thunder and earthquake and great noise, With storm and tempest And the flame of devouring fire. 7 The multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel, Even all who fight against her and her fortress, And distress her, Shall be as a dream of a night vision. 8 It shall even be as when a hungry man dreams, And look--he eats; But he awakes, and his soul is still empty; Or as when a thirsty man dreams, And look--he drinks; But he awakes, and indeed he is faint, And his soul still craves: So the multitude of all the nations shall be, Who fight against Mount Zion.' 9 Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink. 10 For the Lord has poured out on you The spirit of deep sleep, And has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets; And He has covered your heads, namely, the seers. 11 The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is literate, saying, 'Read this, please.' And he says, 'I cannot, for it is sealed.' 12 Then the book is delivered to one who is illiterate, saying, 'Read this, please.' And he says, 'I am not literate.' 13 Therefore the Lord said: 'Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men, 14 Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work Among this people, A marvelous work and a wonder; For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.' 15 Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord, And their works are in the dark; They say, 'Who sees us?' and, 'Who knows us?' 16 Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; For shall the thing made say of him who made it, ‘He did not make me’? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’? 17 Is it not yet a very little while Till Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, And the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest? 18 In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. 19 The humble also shall increase their joy in the Lord, And the poor among men shall rejoice In the Holy One of Israel. 20 For the terrible one is brought to nothing, The scornful one is consumed, And all who watch for iniquity are cut off-- 21 Who make a man an offender by a word, And lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, And turn aside the just by empty words. 22 Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: "Jacob shall not now be ashamed, Nor shall his face now grow pale; 23 But when he sees his children, The work of My hands, in his midst, They will hallow My name, And hallow the Holy One of Jacob, And fear the God of Israel. 24 These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding, And those who complained will learn doctrine.' ”
Introduction
Last week’s sermon, I listened to Rev. Kwang-Su Ryu’s testimony and I was very touched. I already listened to this testimony but I was moved again. The story of where Rev. Rye was an assistant pastor and a deacon came to him saying that he was doing a fasting prayer. The person told him he was doing fasting prayer because he had so many personal ulterior motives inside of him. Rev. Ryu said that most people would do fasting prayers to receive answers to their problems but this man was doing fasting prayer for his ulterior motives. This deacon prayed to God, “I have too many ulterior motives, God. I have developed ulterior motives because of my business. It is okay if my business does not do well. It is okay if my business fails or prospers, do what you will, Lord.” As the deacon was doing this fasting prayer, he was crying out to God. When we pray to God, we may shed some tears. Rev. Ryu said that he was moved more by this deacon’s resolution than the sermons he heard from other pastors. If we pray like this, then we will receive answers absolutely. This deacon was someone who truly believed. We must not be deceived. We must see what is important. We must truly believe in God and believe that God will answer our prayers. This is so important. Today’s sermon is so important. The background of this Biblical scripture was during the time of King Hezekiah and when Israel was under the control of Assyria. King Hezekiah was praying to God to ask for help against Assyria. This was what God told Isaiah to tell the Israelites.
1. Grief Over Jerusalem
1) Woe to Ariel
Verses 1-4 - This scripture starts out with, “Woe.” Verse 15 also started with the word, “woe.” We see a city called Ariel being called out. Ariel is referring to Jerusalem. Ariel was a city that was conquered by King David and built a fortress there, and claimed this city. This city was being cried out in these Biblical scriptures. Distressing Ariel means that hardships will come to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was a city that gave blood sacrifices and burnt altar worships to God. “…It shall be Me as Ariel” means that the city of Ariel will become an altar and sacrifice to God. This means that they will get to know the suffering of burnt and sacrificial offerings.
The suffering is explained in verses 3-4. From here, it says that God will strike Ariel and Jerusalem. God will burn Ariel and Jerusalem, and allow a sacrifice to take place. Suffering will come upon the land of Ariel. When a burnt offering takes place, an animal is burned; the same suffering and pain will come upon the city of Ariel. Great suffering and pain will come upon them.
2) Mercy upon Jerusalem
Verses 5-8 - God who bought the judgment of burnt offering upon Ariel, God changed His tone. Assyria that brought great suffering to Jerusalem, destruction will fall upon the land of Assyria. The destruction of Assyria will take place suddenly like a fine dust flowing away.
It said that it was God who allowed it to take place in verse 6. This means that when God would show His presence, He would show His presence with the presence of earthquakes and great noise. God will come and judge the Assyrian army.
Verses 7-8 - Assyria that conquered and controlled Jerusalem, their conquest and dominance will disappear like it was all a dream. A man dreamed that he was eating so much but when he woke up, he was still hungry because it was all a dream. Assyria conquered and dominated Jerusalem but like a dream, their dominance all disappeared. God said that He will do this. Why did God do this? God said that He was going to make Jerusalem like a burnt offering before Him but why did God decide to do this instead?
The answer to this is shown in 2 Kings 19:20, 34 “Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, 'Thus says the Lord God of Israel:' ‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard.’ 34 ‘For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ ” - This is astounding. God said that He heard the prayers of King Hezekiah who pleaded for help against Assyria.
2 Kings 19:34 - This is tremendous. King Hezekiah pleaded and prayed to God in the temple of God; and God completely changed His tone and attitude towards Jerusalem. King Hezekiah let go of everything and prayed a humble prayer before God. And, God heard his prayers. The entire judgment of Jerusalem completely stopped due to King Hezekiah’s prayer. Do you believe in this? Nothing is a problem to us. If we truly entrust all things to God and pray, then God will absolutely answer. God said that He was going to bring great destruction upon the land of Jerusalem and make them a burnt offering but He completely changed His mind. If we come before God and earnestly pray, then God will hear us. May we receive answers. Why did Jerusalem enter into a state of judgment before God where they almost became a burnt offering to God? There were 3 reasons. If we hold onto this then we can have victory within our walk of faith.
2. The Reason They Gave Burnt Offering
1) Drunken by idolatry
Verses 9-12 - “Pause and wonder” means to enjoy. “Blind yourselves and be blind” means to live for yourself as if you live only once. This is like living like a drunkard. What they were drunk with was not wine and alcohol but there was a reason. The reason why they were drunk was because they were drunk with idol worship. They were so drunk with idol worship that they were so hopelessly lost and wondering, and staggering.
Verse 10 - God allowed the spirit of sleep to come upon all of them because they were so drunk with idol worship. They were covered with darkness and their spiritual eyes were completely blinded. If we look at people who have fallen into idols, they live like they are blinded.
Verse 11 - They have become blind that even when they heard the word of God, they couldn’t read or hear at all. They couldn’t understand the word of God that was given to them. To them, it sounded like complete nonsense and gibberish to them. This is so scary. So many people and even Christians are living like this.
Verse 12 - The illiterate is referring to the people of God. The word of God was being relayed to the people of God but they couldn’t understand at all. They were living a life where it was completely apart from God’s word and covenant. They were completely lost in idol worship and so that is why God decided to sacrifice them as a burnt offering.
2) Worship by only lip service
Secondly is written in verses 13-14 - King Hezekiah became king and made a religious reformation. He completely destroyed all the idols within the temple and restored worship before God. The King restored worship before God but the people were still in idol worship. The King was trying to live inside the gospel but the people were still imprinted with darkness and idol worship. The King restored worship before God and would hold worship services but the people just followed mindlessly. This means that when we give worship to God but if we give worship mindlessly, then God will not accept that worship service. If your mind and heart is elsewhere, there are so many people who give worship to God like this. God will see that your mind and heart is elsewhere. This is where we are deceived. We must give our entire hearts and minds to God, and pray that God will be glorified through our worship. When we do this, then God will bestowed great blessings to you. What happens when we give proper worship to God?
Verse 14 - If we give worship mindlessly, then our wisdom and the ability to have knowledge to have discernment will all disappear. If we don’t give a true worship to God then there is no need for God to give you answers. We must have true victory in worship. True blessings come through earnest worship before God. Because the Israelites failed at this, they became a burnt sacrifice to God.
3) Fixation upon only your plans
Verses 15-16 - They did not follow God’s plan but followed their plans instead. They thought that God wouldn’t know about this. At that time, God commanded Isaiah to tell Israel not to do something but the Israelites disobeyed God and Isaiah, and thought that God wouldn’t know what they would do. They couldn’t understand and see that God hears and watches everything. What we must always hold onto is that God is always watching, hearing, and listening to us.
Verse 16 - You may think that God doesn’t know and you may try to hide things from God. God created me but people are saying that this is all nonsense. Those who have this kind of walk of faith, God said that He will make them a burnt offering. This was the origin of their suffering but if we can see and understand this, then we can receive blessings and see correctly. God gave His great grace upon the Israelites in the midst of all of this.
3. God's Absolute Plan
1) God's absolute grace
Verses 18-24 - God poured down His great grace upon them. Assyria came to complete halt and destruction, and opened the spiritual eyes of the Israelites. Those who have no conditions to be saved, they will be saved. God will save those who are in the midst of complete destruction. God was looking for His remaining ones.
Verse 19-21 - God was looking for those who are humble. Who are those who are humble? Those who are poor. God will find them and give them grace.
Verse 22 - This is important. The Lord who redeemed Abraham. Who was Abraham? Abraham originally worshiped idols and had no conditions to receive salvation. But God bought him out of idolatry and gave him salvation. Jacob will not be ashamed. Jacob was famous for his humanism; he would lie and steal. But God said that He saved Jacob too. Just like that God will save the people of God and the Israelites as well. Why did God say all of this and look for the remaining ones? It is because God had to fulfill His covenant. God remembered the covenant with Jacob.
Verse 23 - People without conditions who were not supposed to or didn’t deserve salvation, they were able to receive salvation. After this, they gave glory and thanksgiving to God. They were in awe and in relief when they used to resent God. This means that salvation is an absolute grace of God. Just because you are well-off you do not deserve salvation but we are saved by God’s grace. Those who understand the grace of God, you become in awe of God’s grace and can receive His salvation. The remaining ones are the ones who follow after God and see how holy and righteous God is. Those who don’t believe in God and deviate from Him, those are the ones who are not saved. The true remaining ones who can listen to God’s word and take it as our own. Those who do this, then you have received God’s grace and are the remaining ones.
2) The reason not to be deceived
The gospel will never change. God’s covenant will never change. The word of God will never change.
Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” - Hold onto this. When you hold Christ, then Christ will become your eternal prophet.
The power of Christ will never change. We were able to see the great evidence of Jesus Christ by showing great miracles on Earth. He possesses great authority and power; this is because He is the almighty God who created the entire universe. He is the True King of all kings.
John 18:37, 14:14 “Pilate therefore said to Him, 'Are You a king then?' Jesus answered, 'You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.' 14:14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” - Jesus said that He is a King.
We must hold onto John 14:14. Jesus who is the True King said this. The King who created the universe said this. If we hold onto this, then it is finished. Receive answers.
Our prayers will be answered. Through King Hezekiah’s prayers, the destruction of Israel changed into blessing and a way of salvation.
Hebrews 7:24-25 “But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” - Jesus is the eternal priest and continues to pray for us. If we pray to God, God will answer us even if we make mistakes.
Conclusion
Absolutely hold onto Deuteronomy 6:4-5 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” - The entire message of today is summarized with this Biblical Scripture. This is the word of God. Our Lord God is the one and only God. So with our entire heart, soul, and strength, we must love God. When we take God’s word within our heart, we will receive tremendous answers.
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