When a child is rebellious
I. God's Controversy with His People - 1:1-20
A. Jehovah's Complaint - 1:1-9
1. The complaint is that of a loving Father for
his child (vs 1-2).
a. This is His last desperate attempt to
control a rebellious son. The son will be turned over
to the jurisdiction of the civil court (Dt 21:18ff).
He says to those in the gate, "I am bring my son to you
for discipline. I have clothed, fed, loved,
strengthened, and provided for this my child. But this
child of mine has done just the opposite of what I
wanted the child to do. He has committed sins against
me and it is now time that I must do something about
it."
b. Therefore, this loving Father must now
bring the child before the judges at the gate to be
stoned to death because of rebellion.
2. The actions of a rebellious child (vs 3-8).
a. Jehovah shows what trouble he has had in
bringing up His child. but all of His discipline has
come to be a completely negative end. Judah behaves
worse than a brute beast.
b. Men often allow sin to degrade them to
an animalistic nature (Jer 5:8; 2 Pe 2:12; Ro 1:18-32).
c. vs 5-6 - They think wrong because they
love sin. The whole man is diseased!
d. Their sins include...
Rebellion (vs 5) Murders (vs 21)
Despising the Holy One (vs 5) Thieves (vs 23)
Insincere worship (vs 10) Idol worship (vs 29)
Unfaithfulness (vs 21) No knowledge (vs 3; 5:13)
e. In the first 10 chapters of Isaiah's
record, all of the ten commandments are broken! A
nation which should have been obeying, but were not!
f. What's wrong with this people? Their
heads are not in the right place. When they start
thinking wrong, they start acting wrong! When they
start acting wrong the whole man becomes diseased!
g. None of the sins of God's people in
Isaiah's day are new. Nor are any of the sins we commit
today new. Sin is sin.
h. What's wrong with a nation when eleven
out of 100,000 people commit suicide every day? What's
wrong with a people when six out of 100,000 commit a
murder every day? What's wrong with a people when one
terrible crime is committed every minute? What's wrong
when 50% of the people in the hospital are there for
mental reasons? What's wrong when over 50% of the
marriages in this country end in divorce court? Sin
has gotten into the life of the people!
B. Jehovah's Correction - 1:10-17
1. The false correction of sin (vs 10-15).
They were trying to find their own remedy to escape
punishment from Jehovah. They were trying to worship
their way back into fellowship.
a. Meetings, activities, workshops, and
ceremony can never take the place of faithful obedience
(Jer 7:21-23). They go to worship on the Sabbath, go
to Sabbath school, Wednesday night "Sabbath," and they
have small group study of the prophets' words, and they
do everything they can to get back into fellowship.
b. Do we sometimes go through the same
motions and activities? We attend all the meetings,
observe all the correct procedures in an attempt to rid
our lives of sin! But that will not happen! When a
life is not consistent with its faith to God, it will
be judged by God!
c. Some who go through the motions of
worship are rank hypocrites. Others feel
self-sufficient, without the need of God (Am 4:4-5),
5:21-22).
d. All the worship, all the praise, all
that you are doing is nothing but a foul odor to my
nostrils! It is nothingness unless we get our life
straight with God!
e. When men try to get back into fellowship
with insincere worship and living, it will not work!
It will mean nothing unless we daily live for God in
all of our activities!
f. There are many inventive ways of
removing from the mind any fear of judgment or
responsibility to Jehovah. Become totally liberal and
say there is no sin. Develop our own religion and
change the rules.
2. The tue correction of sin (vs 16-17).
a. Get your heart right! Repent! All the
prophets had one word for Judah and Israel. Repent!
Come back to Him! Change your life!
b. God cannot be approached by man unless
with the attitude of repentance. There must be a
turning from sin and living for God!
C. Jehovah's Call - 1:18-20
1. The Invitation (vs 18). "Come" is an
imperative, a command. Your sins are too great. It's
time for you to act - NOW! No matter how ghastly or
horrendous sin has become, you can be clean. The
invitation is to think, not to make decisions about
salvation. God alone can lay down the conditions.
2. The Promise (vs 18). The worst of sin can
be erased and the sinner transformed (Ro 3:23ff; 1 Jn
1:7). We understand this as Christians. We know that
Jesus died and shed His blood that we could have the
removal of sins and be saved! We place our life into
the hand of God! But I must come to Him. He says that
to the Christian and the non-Christian!
3. The Alternative (vs 19-20). Destruction!
There is nothing that we can do if we do not return to
Jehovah! Judgment will come! It would happen to Judah
and it can happen to this nation, this city, this
church unless we repent! He is just and must punish
sin! When a child is rebellious, he is disciplined.
When God's people are rebellious, God disciplines. It
is not because He hates us, but because He loves us.
II. God's Judgment Announced - 1:21-31
A. Jehovah's Reason - 1:21-23
1. Jerusalem had become unfaithful (vs 21).
2. Great men had become contaminated (vs
22-23).
B. Judgment's Result - 1:24-31
1. The Person behind the judgment (vs 24).
2. The Purification of the repentant (vs
25-27).
3. The Punishment of the unrepentant (vs
28-31).
Conclusion:
Sin is a corrupting, killing, foreign substance
in the soul of the individual and the church. The hurt
cannot be healed until the cause of it is removed.
Repentance and a return to God is the answer. But this
message is cleverly drowned out today with campaigns
and programs and religious retreats and dynamic
workshops. It is unpopular to call people to
repentance. Unholy people want to preserve the status
quo. But repentance was God's message through Isaiah,
and it is His message for us today.
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