Wednesday, October 29, 2025
God entrusts us with suffering
Why 380 million Christians are being persecuted
Whenever stories of innocent suffering make headlines, I wonder if I should once again write on the perennial issue they raise: How can an all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful God allow such evil to exist? Even though I have done so often in books and articles, the question persists because the issue persists.
And the closer to home it strikes, the deeper the doubts it raises.
Today, let's take a different tack. As I noted yesterday, Halloween week seems an appropriate time to discuss Satan and his strategies. And causing innocent suffering is one of his most nefarious activities.
Jesus called him "a murderer from the beginning" (John 8:44), one who comes "only to steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10). Note the word "only"—everything the devil does expresses one or more of these three actions.
He can cause natural disasters (cf. Job 1:12–19) and disease (Job 2:7) and inspire sinful acts against God's people (cf. Luke 22:3–6). Because he cannot attack our Father, he attacks his children (1 Peter 5:8–9). Consequently, according to Open Doors, more than 380 million Christians are suffering persecution and discrimination around the world today. As John Stonestreet notes, such persecution affects one in five Christians in Africa and two in five in Asia.
As you can see, much innocent suffering in the world is caused by Satan. But you may be asking: Why, then, does an omnipotent God allow the devil to act in such horrific ways?
Here's one factor: the deeper our suffering, the greater our transformation when we trust it to our Lord.
Surviving the Bataan Death March
Our Bible study teacher last Sunday recommended Bill Keith's Days of Anguish, Days of Hope, which tells the incredible story of Chaplain Robert Preston Taylor's experience as a POW in World War II. Reading it was a deeply moving experience, especially since my father experienced the horrors of war in the South Pacific as well.
Rev. Taylor, with an earned doctorate from Southwestern Seminary, was an established pastor in Fort Worth, Texas, when he sensed God's call to devote a year to military chaplaincy on behalf of American soldiers in the South Pacific.
He was serving in Manila when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. They soon assaulted the Philippines as well, taking Taylor and more than twenty thousand other Americans captive. He was subjected to the Bataan Death March, three and a half years of horrific imprisonment, and unspeakable torture and deprivation. When he was finally liberated at the end of the war, he learned that his wife had thought he was dead and remarried.
Early in his captivity, Colonel Alfred Oliver, chief of the Philippine chaplains, said to Dr. Taylor and the other chaplains imprisoned with him, "Men, I want us to pray and thank God for the confidence he has placed in us by letting us be in this place at this time." The wisdom of such confidence was soon revealed: God used them to spark a spiritual revival in their prison camp that touched thousands of lives and became known across the region. Soldiers who began the war with no spiritual interest became deeply devoted believers in the midst of their suffering.
Colonel Oliver said to his fellow prisoners,
"Men, I've learned never to doubt in the darkness what I believed in the light."
Because he and his fellow chaplains experienced such deep darkness, the light of their faith was transforming for thousands. And God continued to use Dr. Taylor: he was ultimately promoted to Air Force Chief of Chaplains with the rank of Major General.
"Thank God I'm not the one in charge"
What Joseph said to his brothers, every Christian can say to Satan when he does his worst: "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Genesis 50:20). The greater our suffering, the greater our impact when we trust our pain to our redeeming Lord.
The old hymn therefore rightly declares:
The powers of darkness fear,
When this sweet chant they hear,
May Jesus Christ be praised! . . .
The night becomes as day,
When from the heart we say,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Saturday, October 25, 2025
Keller. What is wrong with the world. Justin Poythress PCA Faith magazine
Cybersecurity has a term for its hooded hackers – they're called "bad actors." You can now read how government and online communities are plagued by "bad-faith actors." In lay terms, these are people who do mean and selfish things. What's fascinating is that the preferred shorthand for these villains is a type of actor. It infers they are playing a role, rather than actually being bad themselves.
Language reflects culture; in this case, a culture that has abandoned the category of sin. We can admire the impulse toward linguistic restraint. It stems from a moral reasoning that avoids judgmentally-sweeping statements about a person's character. We often don't know enough about a person to assign them a moral category. All we know is that here, in these particular places and times, this person acted badly when they scammed people for millions of dollars.
Though moderation is healthy, the philosophy behind this terminology, however, is based on a desire to separate being and doing. We have to make moral judgments and call certain actions bad, yet we refuse to imagine a world where someone (including me!) might actually be bad. We believe the humane and humble attitude is to assume that everyone, deep down, is really good. We just act bad from time to time.
The trouble with this, of course, is that as long as people subscribe to a "bad actor" perspective, they'll be shocked and confused by those bad actions. It will appear as if people are continually breaking out in random anomalies of destructive insanity. Describing people as "actors" implies a dangerous detachment from the outset. It's the idea that my behavior (my words and deeds) is some outward performance that may or may not be linked to my always-good inner person.
Into this confusion, Tim Keller's latest book – "What Is Wrong with The World?" (Zondervan, 2025) – serves as a gentle guide of counter-therapy. It provides categories to help people in the 21st century understand sin not as some archaic religious points system, but as a complex cancer that explains my deepest problems – why I am unhappy, addicted, and stuck in dysfunctional relationships.
It is easy for a seminary-trained pastor to circumnavigate a text with sound theology and then pull on some general redemptive thread – "This is sin. We sin in a similar way. Jesus died for that. Trust Jesus more." We can trace through a progression of covenants. We can connect to Jesus' threefold fulfillment as prophet, priest, and king. What all of these protect us from doing, however, is the hard and painful work of heart-reckoning.
One of Keller's greatest preaching strengths was his steady and patient hand as a spiritual surgeon. He took the time to cut deep instead of prescribing the pills of pat answers. Based on a series of sermons Keller preached in the 1990s, "What is Wrong With the World?" does this slow work of reflecting on human nature to show why sin is still the issue. We may start by seeing ourselves as "occasional bad actors," but if we're willing to do an inward dive, we will discover a heart poisoned by sin. It's only when we find that root problem that we can do real repentance and then get real healing.
Keller identifies several thematic lenses the Bible uses for portraying sin, and they can surprise us enough to change how we see ourselves. Sin is a predator, self-deception, leaven, mistrust, self-righteousness, leprosy, slavery, and pride. If we have eyes to see it, we will notice that our lives are riddled with sin.
But I don't want to merely observe this phenomenon like a disinterested scientist. I want to practice what Keller is preaching and do the work on my own heart in order to find healing.
I'll start with a sin that comes naturally to me: self-righteousness. I'm a pastor, which though a noble calling, also gives me plenty of reasons to view myself as more righteous than others. It is a thought I harbor though it's not something I would verbalize. My calling requires me to sacrifice time and money for God. I spend hours studying the Bible and caring for other people. I might not be perfect, but I've got the inside track when it comes to holiness.
That's self-righteousness. That's sin. Self-righteousness is one of the easiest ways sin creeps into the hearts of those in ministry. And it doesn't stop there.
I'm a pastor in a particular denomination, in a particular church, with a particular vision and values. Those can be more layers of self-righteousness. Being in the PCA is the right denomination. I am one of the few church leaders who have struck a perfect balance between high church and low church, between living in the freedom of grace and the constraints of God's law, between robust theology and a love for people. We're doing it right! We're part of the inner ring. We don't say it, but we all know we stand a few spiritual inches taller than everyone else.
In one of his sermons, Keller notes that one of the first signs of repentance is that your sense of humor starts to return. You're able to laugh more quickly and easily at yourself, and then you discover more healthy laughter more often (instead of sickly snickering). When you place the burden of fixing you onto Jesus, you become less fragile. Instead of taking your failures so personally, you take them to Christ. You can be so much more than a bad actor; you can be a bad person. But on account of Christ, you can still live with comfort and confidence.
We never stop needing to repent because we never stop grabbing for self-righteousness. Just like Harold Abrahams in "Chariots of Fire," I wake up every morning training for some sprint in which I hope to save myself—the "ten lonely seconds to justify my whole existence." In "What is Wrong With the World?" Keller defines sin as merely "putting our roots into something besides God" (59). And roots are always growing, and new ones are always beginning.
Here's some diagnostic questions Keller suggests to find sin in your life:
- "What do you worry about most?
- What scares you the most?
- What would make you feel like you didn't have substance anymore, or that your life wouldn't be worth living?"
What other religions are you practicing?
Keller spends so much time identifying the problem because the solution (repentance and intimacy with God) happens more quickly and easily the better you get at identifying the problem. You will never get to repentance if you do not see anything you need to repent of.
Do you still sin? Of course you do. We have no problem admitting that. But let's press on from doctrinally acknowledging this reality like it's the hypostatic union. Let's engage in the healing heart work of seeing specifically where you and I want to put our hope in something other than Jesus. Then let's walk through the daily process of repentance so we can enjoy intimacy with God.
As we engage in that process ourselves, we will have more relevant and powerful gospel hope to share with others. We will know what's wrong with the world because it's the same thing that's wrong with us. And you will have a solution that didn't come from way back one time in Bible camp, but one you received yesterday.
Thursday, October 23, 2025
Pastoral Bitterness by Chuck Lawless
It happens. Pastors get smacked around in church work, and they often bear the scars of anger and bitterness. My fear is that many pastors let that bitterness settle into their hearts, and they never really deal with it. Here are some markers that catch my attention:
- Quick temper. For some pastors, little things that should not create much negative response do, however – and others cannot figure out why their pastor is so easily stressed and short-fused.
- Personal isolation. The office (or someplace else) becomes a place of refuge, a place of escape from the very people the pastor is called to lead. It seems safest where people are not.
- Family stress. Bitter leaders usually take out their bitterness on somebody, and that somebody is often their family. Divorce is not that uncommon when relational bitterness grips a heart.
- General distrust. The pastor who's been hurt in the past—especially the one who's never fully moved beyond yesterday's pain—usually struggles trusting any congregation. Instead, he constantly waits for the next problem to develop.
- Ministry "merry-go-round." Bitter pastors often become "sojourners" who travel from church to church to church. Their method for dealing with issues = leaving for the next "greener grass" place—which is never greener when they carry bitterness with them.
- Weak prayer life. That's because the prayers of unforgiving people don't go very far (Mark 11:25-26). I don't know many leaders who keep praying persistently when it seems no one is listening to their prayers in the first place.
- Poor health. This marker isn't always apparent, but there's often a connection between a pastor's spiritual health and his physical health. Some bitter leaders get so consumed with their emotions that they don't eat well or exercise enough.
- Forced justifications. At least for a while, even pastors defend themselves when confronted about their bitterness. They rationalize as well and as "spiritually" as anyone can.
- "Mean" preaching. The pastors may not recognize it, but their congregations know when they're "taking out their anger" on the whole church. Having a microphone only makes their sin more obvious and loud.
- Hidden sin. Again, this symptom isn't always apparent, but it does happen: the recourse for some wounded pastors is to turn toward wrong in their isolated lives.
- Relational distancing. Bitter pastors develop only surface-level relationships. After all, why take the risk of getting hurt again?
- Fading joy. Not many people want to be around these pastors anymore. The congregation may not know all that's happening, but they know their pastor doesn't show the joy of Christ anymore.
- The enemy wants you to stay unforgiving so your prayers are hindered. Jesus' words were clear here: "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your wrongdoing" (Mark 11:25). Satan delights in anything that harms your own walk with God and halts your prayers.
- Your bitterness is sin. When you stay angry and unforgiving, you are living in disobedience. That sin has a way of becoming a foothold, and then a stronghold – even while you deceive yourself that your continual anger is just.
- Your stronghold of bitterness can quickly become an idol. If you choose to stay bitter when God demands a change of heart, you are choosing to serve your emotions over God's command. You may not have a carved idol sitting on a shelf in your living room, but you're just as much an idolater.
- You carry the bitterness wherever you go. Even when you separate yourself from the person who's offended you, the bitterness resides in you—and affects the rest of your life.
- Your bitterness affects every other relationship you have. Few of us are so intentional and strong that we can compartmentalize every relationship. Your bitterness affects all your relationships, even if only by others seeing your continual anger.
- Even stifled bitterness is still present in you. You may have pressed it down, but all someone needs to do is "push the right button" in you—and all that anger rises to the surface again. It's still there, slowly eating a hole into your soul.
- Our sinful egos naturally protect our "right" perspectives. Few people want to admit their own failures, especially when someone else has clearly been in the wrong. So, we refuse to forgive rather than even suggest that we may have been wrong.
- Bitterness hinders living in faith. Bitterness usually looks backward, but faith looks forward. It's hard to look in that latter direction with hope when bitterness has captured you.
- Bitterness opens the door to other sin. That's just naturally the case—one unforsaken sin dulls our senses to the work of the Holy Spirit, and other sin begins to invade our lives.
If you are holding on to bitterness today, I encourage you to repent and ask God to change your heart. Holding on to bitterness is not worth the cost.
- Has someone deeply hurt me or one of my family members? Many of us must answer "yes" to this question – which means that we also must (or have had to in the past) decide what we will do with our pain. Thus, we must ask the following questions, too. . . .
- Do I still get angry or anxious when I think about that person? The pain may be so recent that you've simply not fully worked through it yet, or it might be that you're just holding on to it because you feel justified in doing so.
- If that person has already passed away, am I justifying my continued anger? He or she's gone, so what's the big deal about dealing with your feelings now?
- Do I quietly hope that that person also hurts like I have? That's a harsh question, I know, but I've known people who would only "forgive" after their offender also experienced some kind of similar pain.
- Would I help that person if he or she needed ministry? An unwillingness to serve a perceived enemy is an indication of a disobedient heart.
- Can I pray for that person? I don't mean a "may God get you" prayer, of course. If that person is a non-believer, can you pray for him or her to be saved? If he or she is a believer, can you pray that God will use him or her for His glory?
- Would I be frustrated if God blesses that person? If you would dare wonder what God would be thinking if He blessed your enemy, your heart is out of tune with Him.
- Would I probably avoid that person at church this weekend? If so, you know you still have some forgiveness work to do.
- Am I willing for this post to confront me and convict me? What you do with this post will show you something about where you are. Increased anger is a sign that you need the Lord to keep working on your heart this weekend.
Monday, October 20, 2025
Revival
Several have rejoiced recently over different movements around the world, some where people preach Christ, or which express a desire to know Jesus or follow Him. Many are asking, "Is this revival?" That begs the question, what does genuine spiritual revival look like? I'm going to answer from the characteristics of great movements of God in the past, from Pentecost and following (which D.L. Moody called, "The Specimen Revival"), to the Great Awakening of 1735-70, the Great Revival of 1857-58, the Welsh Revival of 1904-05, the Hebrides Awakening of 1949-53, and others. Here are the features of real spiritual revival:
1. PRESENCE. True revival can only happen when the presence of God comes to earth, and the Holy Spirit falls on human beings. We call it God's "Sensible Presence" (George Whitefield), when God's Spirit makes Himself unmistakably known to people. People who truly taste the divine are buoyed up in the transcendent, with "joy unspeakable and full of glory", flooded with "the love of Christ that passes knowledge", and at rest in "the peace of God that passes understanding".
2. POWER. This Sensible Presence causes powerful conviction of sin for some, indelible assurance of salvation for others, and produces genuine conversions almost at once, that otherwise might take years. Think of those "pricked in the heart" on Pentecost morning, with 3000 turning to the Savior, or the 30,000 "melted down" at the Cambuslang revival as Whitefield preached, where over 2000 were thoroughly converted over that period of visitation. Sometimes amazing, miraculous answers to prayer and genuine healings have resulted.
3. PURITY. Groups and audiences become strongly aware of God's holiness, and thus convinced of their own sin. This has sometimes accompanied powerful manifestations of deep grief over such sin, with loud weeping and lamentation. This occurred under Jonathan Edwards' ministry, particularly his sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". This has often resulted in genuine repentance of sins that were deep and long, where sin is confessed (think of the crowds thronging John the Baptist's preaching), repented and forsaken. In the Welsh Revival, judges would put on "the white glove", indicating there were no cases to try. Welsh miners' mules, trained by profanity, could no longer understand their owners whose vocabulary was thoroughly cleansed in the revival.
4. PRACTICE. "Revival is a new beginning of obedience to God", said Charles G. Finney (not all he said was correct, but he was right on this one). In revival, Christ lives in and through His people, as they live out-and-out for Himself. Relationships are restored among friends, families, neighbors, and especially enemies. "The hearts of the fathers are turned toward the children, and those of the children toward the fathers". Lunchtimes become prayer meetings, as in the Fulton Street Revival in New York. Debts are paid, property is restored to rightful owners. Christians become earnest about personal evangelism and service to God. In Wales, young children would sing, "Come to Jesus" outside pubs and taverns, and the drinkers would come out, weeping and seeking forgiveness.
5. PREACHING. Revivals have moved forward through powerful, gospel communicators. George Whitefield was considered the greatest gospel herald, but he started John & Charles Wesley and a host of others on their public speaking tours. The Holy Spirit anoints surrendered vessels, and they "lift up their voice like a trumpet", with effects so far beyond ordinary hearing that they cannot be compared. Audiences like the Kingswood coal miners in England, hearing the gospel on their exit from the mines, would cry white tear-streams down their coal-blackened faces on hearing Whitefield. In revival, audiences pack churches, parks and public arenas, wherever the Word is heralded, "hearing, as for eternity".
6. PRODUCTION. Revival produces results! Nearly all the great mission societies in England and America in the late 18th and 19th Centuries began as a direct result of a revival or awakening. In the (albeit smaller) awakening that took place in the beginnings of Billy Graham's ministry in America and England, ministries of all kinds popped up in its wake, and churches (both "mainline" and independent) were suddenly flocked-to, whereas the attendance had flatlined immediately after WWII. Revivals produced book publishers and printing houses, orphanages, halfway-houses, homes for prisoners, and numerous hospitals. The slave trade in England and its empire was abolished through the undying efforts of William Wilberforce and participants in the Evangelical Revival in England. In the US, "The Second Great Awakening directly fueled abolitionist fervor by creating a moral imperative against slavery through its core teachings" (fiveable).
People, we need one now. In the Great Tribulation, the world will see the greatest revival ever, with "a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb" (Rev. 7:9-14). Ask God to send revival!
Friday, October 17, 2025
Isa 1 You Are Facing God's Arraignment Appeal and Acquittal
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken. "Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me." (Isaiah 1:2)
Isaiah 1:7-8, Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence foreigners devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners. 8 And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.
Isaiah 1:7-8, Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence foreigners devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners. 8 And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.
Isaiah introduction
Studying Isaiah has been timely for me.
Isaiah's ministry took place when Judah was on the decline. It had experienced decades of prosperity, but that was coming to an end. Rising powers threatened Judah. How would they respond?
Isaiah had a message for the nation: trust God, not human strategies, to respond to these threats.
Isaiah's challenge likely felt unrealistic and overly pious. How can a nation respond to real and powerful threats simply by trusting God?
The reason we struggle to trust God is because we have a small view of God. Isaiah's message is that God is much more powerful than we realize. As he says in chapter 40, the nations are a drop in the bucket to him.
Trusting God is not a retreat from reality; it's actually recognizing our ultimate reality. What we need most is a clear vision of God, which will help us face challenges by trusting Him.
Thursday, October 16, 2025
Isaiah 1 The Gospel of Isaiah
Isaiah 1 The Gospel of Isaiah
The whole
first chapter of Isaiah is a court scene. It's a crown
case. The Lord brings an arraignment against His
people. He says, "I have nourished and brought up children, and
they have rebelled against Me.” “Instead of worshiping God and
giving glory to God, they give their lives and their hearts and their
possessions and the love of their souls to everything else in the world and
leave God out." That's God's arraignment, and He calls them to trial.
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for
the Lord has spoken. (Isaiah 1:2a)
“Children have I reared and brought up, but
they have rebelled against me.” (v. 2b)
Why should
one listen to the message of the prophets and of Holy Scripture? In an age of
doubt and the rationalistic criticism of Scripture, this remains a vital
question for the church and all believers. Scripture is the word of God given
through the apostles and prophets. God gives His word to His people in times of
need and guidance. This word from God is the only reason that the church has
any authority to speak to the world and call it to repentance and faith in
Jesus Christ. The message of the church is that Jesus Christ has died for
sinners so that they might be righteous and children of God. All who repent and
believe in Jesus are saved from sin and the wrath of God. This message of
salvation confronts the world in its fallenness and brokenness and tells of the
God who has died for the world. God’s revelation is the only reason that the
church can stand and proclaim this great truth that Jesus has come and died for
sinners. We only have something to say
because God has spoken, He spoke first: irrefutably, unrelentingly, and demands
that you and I and the whole world answer to Him!
The prophet
Isaiah wrote to show Judah and Jerusalem the cause of their troubles and the
way out.
While the
book of Isaiah has authority to speak to the Jews at that time, this book
speaks to you and I even more powerfully. It is recognized as the Old Testament
gospel! It is quoted more times than any Old Testament book in the New Testament! Its main subject, though written 700 years
before Christ, is Christ!
Sometimes
God shouts to us in our troubles. And sometimes we cannot hear Him because we
are so focused on our troubles we forget to listen to Him! And so we try our
own wisdom and our own ways to get us out of troubles. We try false ways of
dealing with trouble.
And God has
already the announced the true way of deliverance.
Isaiah's
message is still relevant today because it deals with man's relationship to
God. God never changes. Man’s
problems are usually variants of the same problem: Sin.
Isaiah asks
us to listen to his message because it is a vision from God. It is not his own
ideas. God spoke through Isaiah.
The evidence
that Isaiah's message is from God includes:
The sublime
and elevating character of the message.
The unity of
message across prophets separated by time.
The historical
accuracy of predictions.
The timeless
relevance of the message.
Isaiah's
message is summarized in the first chapter.
As the book of Isaiah has come to us, chapters 1–5
form a distinct section— like a ‘preface’ to Isaiah’s collected prophecies. It
summarises the whole book in some ways.
Isaiah 1:7-8, Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with
fire; in your very presence
foreigners devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by
foreigners. 8 And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like
a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.
Israel was
in a state of complete desolation and ruin. The text describes:
A country
that was desolate; Cities that were burned with fire; Land that strangers were devouring;
This
represented Israel's spiritual and physical condition - they were isolated,
conquered, and watching helplessly as others consumed what once belonged to
them.
Isaiah starts with
what must have been obvious—even if the people will not accept his diagnosis,
they cannot quarrel with his facts! Nationally (2–9), foreign invasions (7–8)
have left a trail of desolation so that the ‘body politic’ (5c–6) is like the
victim of a savage mugging. Religiously (10–20), there has been punctilious
devotion —sacrifices in abundance (11), temple attendance (12), monthly and
weekly observances (13–14), prayers (15)—but it has not got through to God and
has done nothing to rectify the national plight. And socially (21–26), the city
life is degenerate and dangerous (21), its leaders corrupt and self seeking
(23a–d) and its needy uncared for (23ef).
But the
cause of trouble is sin. Man's troubles
are due to his own rebellion against God.
Even though we might blame circumstances outside our control. We may
choose to see only the trouble, but not recognize our own responsibility for
our own sinfulness.
It is not
immigration laws that cause a higher rate of crime in Australia today. It is
sin. And that news I bring to you today
comes to you via a great great grandson of a convict!
The essence
of man's trouble is sin, which is rebellion against God, not just individual
sins. Sin is about man's relationship to God.
“The ox knows its owner, and the donkey
its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” (v.
3)
Man was made
to live for God's glory but rebelled. This is why the world is in
trouble.
Motyer: Isaiah sets
this three-part analysis of the contemporary scene as if in a court of law. In
verse 2ab the witnesses are called, in verses 2c–23 the charges are laid and in
verses 24–30 sentence is pronounced. Behind the observable facts Isaiah
discerns the hidden causes: rebellion against the Lord (2d) as the root of
national calamity (5); personal guilt nullifying religious practice (15);
social degeneration through abandonment of justice and righteousness
(21). All this gives colour to
a comparison with Sodom (9–10) and builds a case for divine punitive action (5,
20, 24, 28, 29–31), but, typically of Isaiah, there is also a surprise: hope is
affirmed. The Lord has not left his people (9); when he acts it will also be to
purge and restore (25–26), and the very justice and righteousness
they abandoned (21) will be
affirmed in a divine work of redemption (27).
God raised
up prophets like Isaiah to show people their sin, call them to repentance, and
offer mercy.
Even when
shown the damage caused by sin, people continue to live in rebellion, not
listening to God’s call to repent. While even animals know their master and
know the master provides their food and all that they have, people refuse to
acknowledge God and all the blessings that come from His merciful hands.
Humanity loves sin and wickedness more than their gracious God who has promised
to give all things to those who love Him and believe in His name.
Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with
iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! (Isaiah 1:4a) They have
forsaken the Lord, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly
estranged. (v. 4b)
The prophet sees God’s people missing the point of life (“sinful
nation”), oppressed with failure (“laden with iniquity”),7 going
from bad to worse (“offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly”). But
he isn’t railing. The word “Ah!” signals that this is a lament. Hear that in
the prophet’s tone. He is not nagging; he is weeping. It is a solemn thing to
see God’s children, called to greatness, dissolving into the opposite. How does
this happen? Isaiah sees through the infestation of surface-level sins, down to
the root.
People love
their sin, but it leads only to death and despair.
Sin is
rebellion against God. It denotes a wrong attitude and relationship towards
God.
Sin blinds
the mind and renders man ignorant and incapable of thought. Man fails to think
and reason.
Sin perverts
man and makes a fool of him. Man behaves in an unnatural and stupid manner,
worse than beasts.
Man is
ignorant of what he was meant to be - the companion of God, meant to share in
God's glory.
Man is
ignorant of his utter dependence on God. He thinks he is clever and independent
but, in the end, his life is in God's hands.
Man is
ignorant of the excellence of the provision God supplies - the message of
salvation in Christ.
This isn't
merely historical study but "a very up-to-date word" for today. The
same spiritual principles apply to our modern world. Our world today is
"in the same position" as Israel was then.
The physical
consequences in Israel's case represented deeper spiritual realities.
"What
happens in the material world around us, in Australia, in Sydney, in this
church, is a representation of what happens in the realm of the
spiritual."
Do we really forsake the Lord and despise the Holy One? From his point
of view, yes. How so? To forsake the Lord is to treat him as the last resort
rather than as the fountainhead. To despise God is to disrelish him, to put a
discount on God while valuing other things. And that condition of the heart
estranges us from God because of who God is — “the Holy One of Israel.” He is
both the Holy One and our Holy One. Jonathan
Edwards explains the moral significance of that: Our obligation to love, honor and obey any being is in proportion to his loveliness, honor and
authority. Therefore, sin against God, being a violation of infinite
obligations, must be a crime infinitely heinous and so deserving infinite
punishment. If there is any evil in sin against God, it is infinite evil.
What Does This Teach About the Nature of Sin?
Isaiah 1:7-8 Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire; in
your very presence foreigners devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown
by foreigners. And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city. (ESV)
Sin always
leads to misery and unhappiness.
Sin is
subtle and deceptive - "always comes in a most enticing form."
Sin makes
false promises - "always offers life, always offers a good time."
Sin results
in total loss rather than gain.
Sin robs
people of their "most priceless possessions."
Sin enslaves
- making people "utterly slaves" to desires and habits.
Sin eventually
isolates - leaving people alone "like a cottage in a vineyard."
"Sin,
having taken all out of me, having fooled me and robbed me leaves me at the end
as a lonely, isolated, miserable wreck."
Sin takes us
further than we want to go, keeps us longer than we want to stay, costs us more
than we want to pay.
Sin affects everything and its results are seen in many
of the difficult daily patterns of life.
Its consequences reach into every area of existence. When
disasters strike, people often wonder about the reason behind why something
like that happens. Sin alone explains the state of the world as it is in
complete rebellion to God and His character. Christians know that the wrong
choices they make will result in bad things, and yet still choose to do them. Sin
never gives anything of value but instead robs of what is best. After this, sin
leaves the sinner alone and isolated.
1. God’s Arraignment
2. God’s Argument
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil, 17 learn to do good; seek
justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's
cause.
18 "Come now, let us reason together,
says the LORD: though your sins
are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow; though they
are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall
eat the good of the land;
20 but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be
eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
What Solution Can We Offer to the Problem of Sin?
Consider the Invitation
Isaiah 1:16-18, God calls sinners to "Come now, let us reason
together,"
God demonstrates the rightness of His demands, the justice of His
judgment, and now he invites us to consider the grace of His offer of forgiveness.
The first
principle is the rightness of God's demands on us. God made us and has the
right to lay down conditions for us. His demands are right and good.
The second
principle is the justice of God's punishment of our failure and sin. God has
the right to judge and has told us He will punish sin. We deserve punishment
according to God's judgment.
The third
principle is the grace of God's offer. Though we deserve punishment, God offers
forgiveness, justification, renewal and blessing.
It is extraordinary that God would even want to reason with us who are
sinners. But in mercy He does.
Consider
this: the God of the universe, the Creator, has called sinful humans to come to
Him.
God calls
sinners to reason with Him, to have a discussion about their sins.
God
addresses an appeal to man through the prophet Isaiah. There is nothing more
astonishing than God appealing to and calling upon men.
God says
"Come now, let us reason together." This is an invitation to a discussion
and to state our case before God. It shows God's fairness, reasonableness and
condescension.
"Come
now, let us reason together" also contains an element of challenge. God
will allow us to say anything but then He will answer and we must answer
Him.
God’s Arraignment God’s
Argument
God’s Acquittal
Isaiah’s
name means God saves. God is salvation. Salvation is of the Lord!!
J. I. Packer puts into words the greatness of the Isaianic
message: God saves sinners. God — the Triune Jehovah, Father, Son and Holy
Spirit; three Persons working together in sovereign wisdom,
power and love to achieve the salvation of a chosen people, the Father
electing, the Son fulfilling the Father’s will by redeeming, the Spirit executing
the purpose of the Father and Son by renewing. Saves — does
everything, first to last, that is involved in bringing man from death in sin to
life in glory: plans, achieves and communicates redemption, calls and keeps,
justifies, sanctifies, glorifies. Sinners — men as
God finds them, guilty, vile, helpless, powerless, blind,
unable to lift a finger to do God’s will or better their spiritual lot. God
saves sinners. . . . Sinners do not save themselves in any sense at
all, but salvation, first and last, whole and entire, past, present and future,
is of the Lord, to whom be glory forever, amen!14
God made
this offer of salvation possible through sending His Son Jesus Christ. Christ's
life, death and resurrection enable God to forgive and justify us.
Consider the promises and the
call to life in the gospels that Jesus extends to those who are lost.
Unlike the problems of sin, Jesus promises to never leave
His people, and He fulfills the promises He makes.The Solution is Christ alone: Jesus
Christ who died and rose from the grave, reigning over all so that all who
believe may have eternal life abundantly. Christ is "the only one"
who can help in our isolation. He "takes away our guilt" and bears
our punishment. He reconciles us to God. He promises to "never leave us
nor forsake us." Unlike sin which robs, the gospel "gives and gives
us gloriously."
Sin fools
us, robs us, leaves us helpless, leaves us hopeless, leaves us isolated,
whereas the gospel gives and gives us gloriously, gives us continuously, gives
us endlessly.
The Gospel gives us everything and it gives us the Giver
Himself as the greatest gift.
God showed
the greatest love by sending Jesus to save us from the punishment our sin
deserves.
We must
realize we are a phenomenon and monstrosity because of our sin, then we must repent,
and believe in Jesus to be saved.
Jesus has
offered to take sins that are as red as scarlet and make them as white as snow.
As the old hymn communicates so poetically, there is a fountain filled with
blood that is drawn from Emmanuel’s veins. Yet, sinners plunged beneath that
flood lose all their guilty stains.
Trust in
Jesus today for forgiveness from sins.
We cannot
meet God's demands on our own. We need God's mercy, grace and the blood of
Christ to cleanse us. If we accept God's offer, though our sins are as
scarlet they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they
shall be like wool. We will be cleansed and made righteous in Christ. this phrase shows God's extraordinary
condescension to humanity.
Can you get rid of the guilt of your past sins? Can you wash yourself
and make yourself clean?"
We cannot, and therefore we stand condemned unless we accept God's
gracious offer in Christ.
God’s Arraignment of you God’s Argument to you God’s
Acquittal Provided for you
God’s Appeal to you
personally
Repent. This
is a command that many, even those outside of the church, are familiar with.
But what actually is repentance?
What does it
means to repent and why every single person ever born is in need of repenting.
People who trust in Christ for their salvation from sin do so because they see
their need. The word “repent,” he says, means literally to stop and think
again. With the culture moving along from day to day at a blistering pace, it
is imperative that all stop and think soberly about what they believe regarding
eternity— they must repent. The second aspect of repentance when someone is
coming to faith in Christ is a changing of the mind, realizing they have been
wrong regarding their beliefs about Him, and put their complete dependence on
Him for forgiveness from their sins. Third, repentance is ceasing to rely on
one’s own capacity and wisdom. Finally, repentance is utter submission to God
and His word. Repentance is not when one cries over their sin; it’s when they
turn from it and change to follow the Lord instead.
The prophet
Isaiah calls the people of Israel to repentance in Isaiah 1:10-17.
Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching
of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 11 "What to me is the multitude of
your sacrifices? says the LORD;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed
beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. 12
"When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling
of my courts? 13 Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations--- I cannot endure
iniquity and solemn assembly. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my
soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 15
When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you
make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. 16 Wash
yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my
eyes; cease to do evil, 17 learn to do
good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead
the widow's cause.
Repentance
involves thinking again about one's life and beliefs. It requires a change of
mind and turning from sin.
True
repentance means ceasing to rely on one's own wisdom and understanding. It
requires submitting to God's wisdom found in Scripture.
There are several
barriers to repentance:
1. Pride of
intellect - unwillingness to admit one's thinking is wrong.
2. Natural
prejudices - the gospel contradicts human expectations about earning salvation.
3. Need to
fully understand - refusing to believe what cannot be completely comprehended.
4. Fear of
ridicule - concern about the world's mockery of Christian belief.
5. Failure
to recognize one's condition - not seeing the need for change.
Repentance
requires humility: “If you are willing
and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (vv.
19, 20)
The simple clarity here implies one thing: All that keeps us from
renewal with God is our own stubbornness. It isn’t as though the path forward
is mysteriously hard to find. Is God’s appeal unreasonable or irrelevant? He
isn’t demanding that we be perfect. All he wants is that we be open and
responsive. Is that asking too much?
Thomas Watson, the Puritan pastor, offers us incentives to say yes to
God:
Have you repented? God looks upon you as if you had not offended. He
becomes a friend, a father. He will now bring forth the best robe and put it on
you. God is pacified towards you and will, with the father of the prodigal,
fall upon your neck and kiss you. . . . Have you been penitentially humbled?
The Lord will never upbraid you with your former sins. After Peter wept,
we never read that Christ upbraided him with his denial of him. God has cast
your sins into the depth of the sea. How? Not as cork, but as lead. . . . O the
music of conscience! Conscience is turned into a paradise, and there a
Christian sweetly solaces himself and plucks the flowers of joy. The repenting
sinner can go to God with boldness in prayer and look upon him not as a Judge
but as a Father. He is born of God and is heir to a kingdom. He is encircled
with promises. He no sooner shakes the tree of the promise but some fruit falls
Repentance
means that a man, having come to the end of his own wisdom and having seen an
end to all other human wisdom submits himself utterly and absolutely to [the
Bible] because it is the wisdom of God.
Have you sincerely repented
and taken the free offer of the gospel for your life?
GOD'S CALL TO ME Fred Scott Shepard
"Come now...though your sins be as
scarlet they shall be as white as snow." Isa. 1:18.
God's call to me is a call of grace; "Come out from the life of sin;
My blood will cleanse you from ev'ry
stain;
Make pure without and within."
"Come unto me, all ye that
labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." Matt:28
God's call to me is a call of love: "Come unto Me and find
rest;
If weary ladened and burdened sore, My presence should be your quest."
"My grace is sufficient for you
for My strength is made
perfect in weakness." II Cor. 12:9.
God's call to me is a call of power; "Go work at your daily
task;
My strength shall be yours, my wisdom too, If you will but only
ask."
