Obedience is the Very Best Way--Isaiah Series

When can a good thing become a bad thing? I suspect most of us discovered one answer to this question when we stepped on the scale for the first time after Christmas. Somehow, all of those “goodies” that we ate became bad news! It reminds us of the saying, “Too much of a good thing is a bad thing.”

But how about in our relationship with God? When can a good thing become a bad thing, particularly in the way that we worship God? There are many good things that we can do to worship God, and we’ve done several of them already this morning. But when could these good things become bad?

There’s a song for children which simply reminds us that “obedience is the very best way to show that you believe.” Obedience to His commands is what God truly wants from us. He simply wants us to respond to His commands in faith and do what He says. As the song said, this is the very best path that we can take.

So in our relationship with God, when can a good thing become a bad thing? A good thing becomes a bad thing when it’s a substitute for the best thing. In the context of what I’ve mentioned so far, we could say that acts of worship become pointless and deceiving when they are substitutes for obedience.

Would you turn with me to Isaiah 1? We are going to begin a series in the book of Isaiah this morning that will take us all the way through this majestic portion of Scripture. This series will definitely be a marathon rather than a sprint, but don’t worry—we will take some breaks along the way to catch our breath and make sure we remain refreshed to finish the race. I think we will find that looking at Isaiah is a bit like gazing at a majestic waterfall. There will be moments that take our breath away as we look at prophecies about the Lord Jesus that were made seven centuries before His birth, and there will be moments of nearly unsettling awe as we consider the sheer force and power of the holiness of God confronting a wayward people through the words of the prophet.

In chapters 1-5, we receive a sort of summary of the entire book which introduces us to the distinct contours of Isaiah’s message throughout his ministry. As we jump into the flow of history in chapter one, we find Isaiah living during a time in which the people of Israel, who were supposed to be “one nation under God,” had been divided into two nations because of the sinfulness of Israel’s kings. And so, there was one nation in the northern part of the Promised Land that was called the nation of Israel, and at this time this nation was being conquered and resettled by the Assyrian Empire because of their sinfulness.

The second nation was in the southern part of the Promised Land and it was known as the nation of Judah. Isaiah lived in the nation of Judah, and God sent him to warn the people of Judah that they, too, would be conquered if they did not repent of their sins. Let’s see what the Lord had to say through His prophet.

1. The problem—The people have rebelled against the Lord (1:1-4)

Let’s read vv. 1-3 [READ vv. 1-3]. This is quite an indictment that the Lord gives here. Even animals know the hand that feeds them. If you feed a stray cat just once, it will come around again looking for food. But the Lord says that Israel had forgotten just who it is that provides for them and takes care of them.

Let’s continue with v. 4 [READ v. 4]. Now it may sound like the people had completely stopped worshipping the Lord, but the reality was far worse in some ways. As we will see shortly, they were still going through the outward motions of worshipping God, but they had divorced their acts of worship from heart-felt obedience to God’s commands. So the people were living in a state of self-deception—their hearts were far, far away from God, but their hands thought they were still worshipping Him just like they always had.

2. The Lord’s response—He has disciplined the people through invaders (1:5-8)

Let’s look at vv. 5-6 [READ vv. 5-6]. Basically, God is saying, “I’ve beaten you from head to toe! Why do you keep rebelling?” Verses 7-8 describe what the Lord had allowed to happen [READ v. 7]. This verse probably refers to a time during the reign of King Ahaz when the northern nation of Israel actually attacked the southern nation of Judah in what basically amounted to a civil war of Jews versus Jews. 2 Kings 16 says that the king of Israel came all the way to Jerusalem, though he could not defeat it.

The status of Jerusalem is referred to in v. 8, where the city is called “the daughter of Zion.” Zion is the name of the plateau on which Jerusalem is built. [READ v. 8]. The “booth” and “lodge” refer to flimsy, temporary structures that the people would build if they were camping outside. So the mighty city that was the pride of Judah had been left like a flimsy tent by the attacks of invaders.

3. The Lord’s mercy—He has not wiped them out completely (1:9)

Let’s read v. 9 [READ v. 9]. Sodom and Gomorrah were completely wiped off the map in the book of Genesis because of their wickedness, and Isaiah states that Judah would have been just like them if the Lord had not shown them mercy.

We will read more about the Lord’s mercy in just a moment through an offer of forgiveness, but first, look how the people respond to their discipline.

4. The attempted remedy—The people multiply their sacrifices (1:10-15)

Verses 10-15 describe the people’s attempt to do what they thought God desired [READ vv. 10-15]. Verse 13 captures the heart of the problem succinctly when God says, “I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.” The people were being very faithful to go through the motions of the sacrifices and feasts that were commanded in the Law of Moses, but their lives were overflowing with unrepentant sin.

In our day and age, we would say that they were faithfully attending church every week; they were singing the hymns at the top of their lungs; they were placing money in the offering plate; perhaps they were even teaching a Sunday School class. But their lives revealed a lack of devotion to God that manifested itself through the way that they lived.

So, to borrow a cliché, these people would talk the talk but they wouldn’t walk the walk when it came to following God’s commands for their daily behavior. This trap is one that is so easy to fall into, and we must examine our own lives to make sure that we haven’t become ensnared in it. When God considers your behavior, you can’t drown out hatred with hymns, or pride with prayer. You can’t cover up sexual sin with service, and you can’t pay off thievery with a tithe.

God deserves our worship and He desires it, but He desires pure worship that flows from a heart that is ready to do His will. This was the challenge that He issued to the people when He spoke of the true remedy.

5. The true remedy—Repentance and forgiveness (1:16-20)

Here is God’s challenge to the people [READ vv. 16-17]. God was challenging the people to repent, which means to change your perspective about what you’re doing. They needed to realize the futility—and above all, the sinfulness—of how they were living and then forsake that lifestyle for one that mirrored the values and the commands of God. Notice that God focused specifically on the way that they were treating each other, with a particular focus on the most vulnerable members of their society.

Here was the true remedy to the discipline that they had endured—bringing their lives into conformity with God’s commands. And in response to their repentance, God promised forgiveness [READ v. 18]. I’m always nervous when I eat spaghetti with a white shirt on, because I almost always seem to splash little drops of that red marinara sauce on my shirt, and red stains are the most difficult to get out of anything. But God says that when it comes to your sins, though they are like a red stain upon you, He will make you as white as snow! I don’t care what you have done—the cleansing power of God’s grace can wash your sins away. Whatever sin you may have that you think is beyond forgiveness—you can leave it behind today if you will only repent.

What a gracious and merciful offer from God! Though the people had forsaken Him—though we have forsaken Him—still He offers forgiveness. But God reminded the people in vv. 19-20 that their response to His offer had two very different outcomes riding on it [READ vv. 19-20]. This is a stern warning, but God wasn’t telling the people of Judah anything that He hadn’t already told them. In Deuteronomy 28, God had told the people very clearly that they would receive blessings for obedience and punishment for disobedience, and God was simply highlighting the same message.

Now in the rest of the chapter, we get a sense of how the moral life of the nation had gotten so bad.

6. The source of the problem—Ungodly leadership (1:21-23)

Let’s read vv. 21-23 [READ vv. 21-23]. Now the people of Judah were certainly responsible for their own choices, but we see from these verses that in their disobedience, they were simply following the example of their leaders. This is very clear when we read about King Ahaz in particular in 2 Kings 16.

Now in Judah at that time, kings and their representatives were not supposed to be religiously neutral figures the way that some people think our political leaders are supposed to be today. They were supposed to give both political and moral or spiritual leadership to the people. But the problems that the kings and princes of Judah introduced remind us of how important it is to assess the influence of our leaders by the standards of God’s Word.

In our country today, we have the tremendous privilege and unique opportunity to select who our political leaders will be. A passage like this reminds us of how important it is to choose political leaders who will embody and emulate a godly character. As children of God, this should be our primary concern—not simply who the most polished debater happens to be. And we certainly should not give first place to a pragmatic standard like electability! No one has electability unless God wills it, so our concern should be to support a candidate who embodies godly character.

We must also be discerning about those from whom we would accept spiritual leadership. There once was a day in which people received spiritual leadership almost exclusively from the elders of their local church, but today, you can listen to one preacher while you get ready for church on Sunday, listen to another one on the way to church, listen to the sermon in your church service, and then listen to another preacher on the way home. Virtually anyone can get on the airwaves if they simply have enough money to pay for the airtime—even a proven false prophet who makes incorrect predictions about the end of the world!

We must use the word of God to test those who would seek to give us spiritual leadership. Leaders in both the political realm and the spiritual realm have such tremendous influence, so if we’re going to play “follow the leader,” we better make sure there’s a godly person at the head of the line!

7. The Lord’s remedy—Purity through purging (1:24-31)

In the remainder of the chapter, God declares that He will not allow these leaders to retain their positions forever [READ vv. 24-26]. The “beginning” that God refers to is probably a reference to when Jerusalem was founded as the capital city by King David. David was a tremendous example of godliness at that point, so Jerusalem was established in a time of godliness and righteousness. Let’s read God’s final warning in vv. 27-31 [READ vv. 27-31].

It has been said that human beings have an endless capacity for self-justification. That phrase simply means that we can convince ourselves that no one has any reason to find fault with us. I think this can be particularly true for Christians, because we can do so many things that just look so good! We can go on forever telling ourselves that all is well in our lives because we go to church, give a tithe, and stand up and sit down at the right times.

But remember—a good thing becomes a bad thing when it’s a substitute for the best thing. The best thing we can do in our relationship with God is simply obey His commands. That involves coming to church and praying and singing songs of praise, but it goes so far beyond those things to touch every moment of our lives and every decision that we make. Let’s make sure we haven’t wandered from the best thing into a bad thing!