Sermon #4 Series: Isaiah

Title: God’s Contempt Of Man’s Religion

Text: Isaiah 1:10-18

Subject: The Uselessness of Self-righteous Religion

Date: Sunday Morning - April 2, 1989

Tape #

Introduction:

Nothing in all the world is so evil, vile, and contemptible in the sight of God as legal, self-righteous religion. God hates sin, all sin. “The wages of sin is death.” But some sins are greater and more offensive to God than others (Matt.23:23-38). Murder is a horrible crime against God and man. Adultery is a vile, loathsome thing. Homosexuality is perverse, obnoxious moral degeneracy. It is a sad commentary on our society that the laws of our land and the philosophy of the age defend the rights of base homosexuals and the slaughter of unborn babies in the name of morality! But murder, adultery, and homosexuality are not the most contemptible things in the world in the sight of God.

Proposition: The most contemptible thing in the world in God’s sight is legal, self-righteous, works religion.

I realize that I use the words “legal, self-righteous, works religion” a good bit. And some of you may be uncertain about my meanings. Let me be unmistakably clear. Legal, self-righteous, works religion is any form of religion which teaches, implies, or leads men to believe that a man’s acceptance with God depends upon, is determined by, or is conditioned in any way upon man. Those who teach that . . .

· Salvation begins with an act of man’s free will.

· Justification depends upon man’s obedience.

· Sanctification depends upon man’s obedience.

· Our fellowship with God depends upon our personal obedience to the law.

· Preservation in grace depends upon personal holiness.

· Reward in heaven depends upon our good works - practice, legal, self-righteous religion.

And their religion is utterly contemptible in the sight of God. The title of my message tonight is God’s Contempt Of Man’s Religion (Isa. 1:10-18).

Divisions: God is here speaking to men, fallen, depraved, sinful man, but exceedingly devout, religious men. As we go through these verses, let me give you an outline to follow.

1. (v. 10) - God’s means of Communication.

2. (vv. 11-15) - God’s message of Contempt.

3. (vv. 16-17) - God’s method of Conviction.

4. (v. 18) - God’s Mercy and Compassion.

I. First, I want you to see GOD’S MEANS OF COMMUNICATION (v. 10).

Here is God speaking to men. But he does not speak to men directly. He is speaking through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah. It is always that way. Today, men mock, belittle, and deride the preaching of the gospel. But they do so to the ruin of their own souls. If you ever hear from God, you will hear from him through the voice of a man. These people heard Isaiah’s voice. But the words they heard were God’s words. The message was God’s message.

Though Isaiah spoke from a heart filled with love for the souls of man and the glory of God, he used great plainness of speech, so that the people to whom he spoke might know exactly who he was speaking to and exactly what he was saying. He was not content merely to tell the truth. He was determined to make those who heard him understand the truth.

A. The prophet of God plainly exposed the sinfulness of all who heard his voice.

He called the rulers of Judea Sodomites and compared the inhabitants of the land “people of Gomorah.” Remember, Isaiah preached in the king’s court! He knew nothing of diplomacy. He is telling the most outwardly religious people in the world that God almighty looks upon them and their religion and their good works with the same contempt with which he looks upon a band of Sodomites!

Will men ever hear what God declares? The best works of the best, most orthodox, most devoted people in the world apart from the merits of Christ, are no more worthy of God’s approval and acceptance than the loathsome, perverse practices of homosexuality.

1. No man by nature has any personal righteousness (Isa. 64:6).

2. No man, saved or unsaved, has the ability to produce righteousness (Jer. 13:23).

Illustration: “The iniquity of the holy things” (EX. 28:38).

Our tears need to be wept over, our repentance needs to be repented of. Our holiness needs to be bathed in the blood of Christ. We have nothing to offer God but sin. Sin is what we are. Sin is what we think. Sin is what we feel. Sin is what we speak. Sin is what we do.

3. The only way any man can obtain righteousness is to receive the righteousness of Christ by faith ( Rom. 9:29-33).

B. If you would escape the wrath of God, have enough sense to “hear the word of the Lord” and “give ear unto the law of our God.”

God help us to pay attention to me now. Do not hear the words of men or give ear to the religious doctrines, customs, and traditions of this world. If you do, if you follow the popular, accepted, approved religion of this world, you will lose your immortal soul.

1. “Hear the word of the Lord” - what does it say? What is the message of God’s holy word? Hear it - “Salvation is of the Lord.”

2. “Give ear unto the law of our God.”

a. Hear the law of God as given by Moses. What does it say? “Salvation is of the Lord.”

b. Hear the law of God revealed in the gospel (I John 3:23). What does it say? “Salvation is of the Lord.”

Note: The law and the gospel are not opposed to one another. The law and the gospel are both a part of God’s revelation of himself in Holy Scripture. The law shows us that it is impossible for man to save himself. The gospel shows us that God in Christ can save the chief of sinners. Both declare, “Salvation is of the Lord.”

Note: Do not despair the preaching of the gospel. You neglect it to the peril of your own soul. This is God’s means of communication. If he ever speaks salvation to your soul, it will be by the voice of a gospel preacher (Rom. 10:17; I Cor. 1:21-23; James 1:18; I Pet. 1:23-25).

II. Secondly, I want us to hear GOD’S MESSAGE OF CONTEMPT (vv. 11- 15).

I cannot stress this point enough. I keep hammering away at this thing, hoping that someone will hear me and pay attention. God holds the religion of this world, legal, free will, self-righteous, works religion, in utter, absolute contempt!

· Remember, these people were Jews, the lineal descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

· They were orthodox in their creed, but not in their hearts - their creed, to put it in modern terms, was thoroughly Calvinistic. But their hearts were thoroughly Armenian.

· Their outward form of religion was precisely as God had ordained it - They came to the place God had appointed, with the sacrifices God had appointed, at the time God had appointed. But there was one fatal mistake. These men and women vainly and foolishly imagined that their religious devotion, ceremonies, sacrifices, prayers, and sabbath keeping were meritorious with God. They did not say so in word. But they inwardly entertained the hope that God would accept them because of what they did. They built the confidence upon the works of their own hands! And for that God was angry. God refused to hear their prayers, receive their sacrifices, or accept their services.

A. They brought sacrifices to God and burned them upon the altar - but they trusted the sacrifices they brought to God rather than Christ, the Lamb of God, whom those sacrifices were meant to represent (v. 11).

Illustration: The Lambs - Christ (John 1:29).

The Altar - Christ (Heb. 13:10).

The Mercy Seat - Christ (Rom. 3:24-26).

Because they trusted their own works and refused to trust the blood and righteousness of Christ, God refused both them and their sacrifices (v. 12).

B. All their gifts and services to God were vain oblations (v. 13), because they imagined that their gifts and services made them righteous.

They thought their own obedience was meritorious. Therefore they could not trust the merits of Christ’s obedience (Rom. 5:19). As long as you imagine that anything in you, or done by you, is acceptable to God, you cannot and will not trust Christ.

C. Their incense, the symbol of Christ’s intercession, was an abomination (v. 13), because they saw no need of a mediator to make intercession for them.

Thank God, Christ is a great High Priest, who makes intercession for transgressors by the will of God. But you will never trust him to intercede for you until you know that you cannot approach God without him.

D. Their new moons, feasts kept on the first day of the month, were obnoxious (v. 13), because they never ate Christ’s flesh and drank his blood by faith (John 6:51-56).

They meticulously kept their solemn feasts. But they never fed upon the Bread of Life!

E. Their sabbath days were sacrilege (v. 13) because they found no rest in Christ our Sabbath (Heb. 4:9-11).

F. Their solemn assemblies for worship were assemblies of iniquity which God hated, was weary of, and refused to accept (vv. 13-14) because they were assemblies of empty, legal, self-righteous religion.

G. Even their prayers were an abomination to God (v. 15), because the hands they spread in prayer were full of blood.

Hear the word of God. If you spread your hands out to God in prayer, but have no heart faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you attempt to approach God upon the ground of your own merit, without faith in Christ, your hands are full of blood. God will not hear you. Your hands are full of the blood of Christ. Your willful unbelief screams out “Crucify him! Crucify him!” And his blood is upon your hands.

H. Now hear what God is teaching us in this passage.

1. Religion without Christ is worse than useless. It is damning to the souls of men.

Illustration: Joab - I Kings 2:28-34.

2. Your most costly sacrifices, and most devoted services, and most meticulous observances of moral, religious duty can never atone for sin or obtain God’s favor.

3. Your only hope of acceptance with God is the blood and righteousness of Christ (I Cor. 1:30-31).

III. Thirdly, we are given an example of GOD’S METHOD OF CONVICTION (vv. 16-17).

In these two verses, God is not telling these men and women that if they will stop doing evil and begin doing good, then he will be merciful to them. He is showing them the utter impossibility of self-salvation. When God says, “Be as holy as you can.” He is saying, “If you would be accepted of me you must be perfectly holy, as I am holy.” He intends by such statements to show us two things:

1. “By the works of the law there shall no flesh be justified” (Sam. 3:19-24).

2. If we would be saved we must be saved by the merits of a substitute - Christ.

A. If you would be accepted of God, if you would have eternal acceptance with Him, there are four things you must do.

1. You must purge all sin from your own heart and nature - you must give yourself a holy nature - “Wash you, make you clean.”

2. You must put all your past sins out of God’s sight - “Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes.”

3. You must “cease to do evil.”

4. You must “learn to do well” - to love your neighbor as yourself.

Go ahead and try - these are the things for which God holds you responsible. But you have no ability to perform them.

B. Your only hope of salvation and eternal acceptance with God is that someone may do for you what you cannot do for yourself.

Blessed be God! There is One who can! Jesus Christ the Son of God can …

1. Make you clean by the regeneration of his Spirit - imparted righteousness (I John 3:9-10).

2. Put away your sin by his blood atonement (Isa. 43:24-25).

3. Cause you to cease to do evil by the power of his grace (I Pet. 4:1).

4. Cause you to do well by the imputation of his righteousness (Sam. 5:19).

IV. Fourthly, I want you to know GOD’S MERCY AND COMPASSION TOWARD HELPLESS SINNERS (v. 18).

Here is the Lord God himself entreating guilty sinners, like you and me, even those who have been guilty of the base crimes of legal, self-righteous, works religion to come to him by faith in Christ and obtain full pardon for all our sins.

“Come”

“Come now”

“Let us reason together”.

· God reasons with you on the basis of his covenant grace, his Son’s obedience, his gospel promises, and your desperate need.

· You must reason with God on the same ground.

· Your scarlet red sins shall be as white as the wool of a spotless Lamb, as white as the newly fallen snow.