Step Over The Line: Isaiah 1:10-20

A few years ago I visited Germany. It was wonderful to be in that country and experience all of its history, both good and bad. One of the things about the trip that still stands out in my mind is the infamous Berlin Wall. The wall stood for 28 years as a dividing point between the Communist controlled East Berlin (and East Germany) and the free city of West Berlin (and West Germany). Today, the wall only stands in a few places for tourists to look at and photograph as a reminder of a country divided. In places where the wall is completely gone, a painted line designates where it once loomed. As I stood in the street I noticed that I was straddling the line. I had one foot in the former East Germany and another foot in former West Germany.

In our passage in Isaiah we are going to discover that the people of Jerusalem where straddling the line of faith. They were worshiping God on one side, yet living in sin on the other. God shows his complete disdain for their actions. We'll find in our study that we too, like the people of Jerusalem, have a tendency to want to straddle the line between obeying God and satisfying our own pleasures.

BACKGROUND

Isaiah was one of the great "writing prophets" of the Bible. Written nearly 2,800 years ago, primarily to the people of Jerusalem, his message is just as relevant today as it was then.

Previously, we looked at the first 9 verses of chapter one. We learned that because of our sinfulness we have rebelled against God, but we concluded "Because of God's great mercy we are not consumed" (Lamentations 3:22). Even though we sin and continually rebel against God, his steadfast love never ceases!

OKAY PEOPLE, LISTEN UP! (Isaiah 1:10)

Our passage begins with Isaiah telling his readers to "Hear" the word of the Lord. The word "hear" means to "hear and obey. You see hearing is more than just listening. If you are to really "hear" Godly instruction, you must obey it too. The book of James tells us to "Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves (James 1:22). You might say, "Okay I read the Bible everyday, I must be a pretty good person." James says, you are deceiving yourself -- you're not really good, because you are not obeying what you have heard. Here's what else James says about a person who only "hears" God's word, "He is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like" (James 1:23,24). No, when God tells you to "hear" he wants your obedience too.

In verse 10 Isaiah mentions Sodom and Gomorrah again. He is equating the people of Jerusalem with the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. The people of Sodom were "Wicked, great sinners against the Lord" (Genesis 13:13). The sin of Gomorrah was "very grave" (Genesis 18:20).

Isaiah is essentially saying, "You better listen and obey what God has to say, you wicked and sinful people."

YOUR RELIGION SMELLS (Isaiah 1:11-15)

Do you know that you cannot please God by being religious? People have tried it for years and have failed. In verse 11 God makes an interesting statement. He says, "I could care less about all of your religious talk. I could care less about how many times you read the Bible. I could care less about how many theological words you might know. All of your sacrifices mean nothing to me!" Why? Because you are doing them in "vain" (Isaiah 1:13). Vain means "emptiness" or "false."

The people of Jerusalem where practicing their religion in vain. Their religion was evil, worthless, deceptive, and fraudulent. Years earlier King Solomon warned against this type of religion and prayed that he would not fall into the trap of worshiping God in vain when he said, "Remove far from me falsehood and lying" (Proverbs 30:8). But the people of Jerusalem forgot Solomon's words and continued to practice their religion falsely.

It didn't matter what outward appearance the people put on. It didn't matter how much incense they burned! God said, even your smelly "incense is an abomination to me" (Isaiah 1:13). God uses the same word, "abomination" when he speaks against child sacrifice (Deuteronomy 12:31) and homosexual behavior (Leviticus 18:22).

Today, our world sacrifices humans through abortion. Life begins at conception. When the sperm and the egg meet, a new life is created. Psalm 139:13 says, God "formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb." Abortion is a terrible tragedy -- it is child sacrifice that God forbids throughout his word. He calls it an abomination.

Isn't it interesting how God calls homosexual behavior an abomination? Many people are working hard to gain approval of homosexual behavior, yet God is clear that it is offensive. Additionally, homosexual groups stand up and shout "Gay pride, gay pride" but what they are forgetting is that not only does God hates homosexual behavior; he hates pride.

"Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate" (Proverbs 8:13).

Don't buy into the world's "tolerance" of homosexual behavior. The Lord hates it; it goes against the natural relations of a man and a woman and it destroys families.

WHERE GOD DRAWS THE LINE (Isaiah 1:13-15)

We always think of God in terms of what he "can" do, but seldom do we consider what God "can't" or "won't" do.

God does not always delight:

God is not pleased when we worship him out of duty, or because we think we are being spiritual. The apostle Paul, in the book of Romans tells us what type of sacrifice God does delight in. "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship" (Romans 12:1). God only wants you to sacrifice yourself through obedience to him. He delights in us when we are "not conformed to the world" rather we are "transformed by the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:2).

God does not always endure:

God "cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly" (vs. 13).  The word "iniquity" means nothingness -- God cannot endure religion that is made up of nothingness. God says he can't stand it when people get together for a church service and nothing takes place. In other words, he can't handle fake church services.

God hates certain things and gets weary:

In our passage God says he hates "Your new moons and your appointed feasts. In fact, he says they make him "weary." All of the festivals that the people celebrated, God had become weary of. The celebrations would come and go every year and the people would celebrate them with no thought of worshiping God or serving him. They had become like a carnival or a county fair. God wants all of our celebrations to be centered around him -- in worship and praise of him.

God stops looking and listening:

The people of Jerusalem pretended to pray. They would stretch out their hands as if they were worshiping God, but God knew it was all fake. He said that he would not even look at them -- he would not even listen to their prayers -- it was all nothingness!

EIGHT WAYS TO GET CLOSER TO GOD (Isaiah 1:16-17)

God always has a simple solution to sin -- Just stop doing it! Here he gives eight ways for the people of Jerusalem to draw closer to him. This solution applies to us today too. They all require action:

Wash yourselves (vs. 16):

God says to "Wash...and make yourselves clean." In other words, repent. For us, this is not talking about how you receive salvation, for salvation requires coming to God just as you are. Salvation is a gift to those who believe in Jesus Christ (John 6:47). Salvation is never given to us by doing anything. It is always a gift. But, once you have the conviction that you believe in Jesus Christ you must confess your sins and repent. At that point, God forgives all of your sins and you become clean. Then you continue to turn from your sins and follow him.

Remove evil (vs. 16):

God commands us to remove the evil that is in our lives. Remember, sin is knowing what is right, but doing what is wrong. Whatever is causing us to sin we are to remove it from our lives.  What tempts you to sin?  Recognize what it is, then get rid of it.  It might be the music you listen to, or the T.V. shows you watch.  It could be the Internet, or alcohol, or drugs.  Remove the things that cause you to be tempted and give in to sin.

Cease to do evil (vs. 16):

This falls in line with removing things in our lives that cause us to sin, but it takes the idea a step further: Stop doing it. When you know you are sinning, stop.

Learn to do good (vs. 17):

Sometimes we need to learn how to do good things in life. We're born sinners; we don't have to be taught to sin, but we do need to be taught how to do good. We learn how to do good by reading God's word (2 Timothy 3:16) and listening to the encouragement and instruction of other believers.

Seek justice (vs. 17):

We are to seek justice. We seek justice by being submissive to rulers and authorities (Titus 3:1; Romans 13:1-7).

Correct oppression (vs. 17):

We are to correct oppression. When we see people who are oppressed, we are not only to help them, but also correct the situation so that it won't continue to happen.

Bring justice to the fatherless (vs. 17):

God continues his theme of justice by telling us to bring justice to the fatherless -- those who have been orphaned. We think of orphans as a bunch of little kids living in an orphanage, but this is far from the truth. Today, in our society, there are millions of orphaned children. They are orphaned by deserting fathers through illegitimate births caused by sex outside of marriage and no commitment; they are orphaned by weak fathers who lack self-control and end up in prison time and time again; they are orphaned by lazy fathers who only think of themselves and would rather focus on the pleasures of their own life rather than sacrificing for their children.

Plead the widow's cause:

It is always the duty of the Christian to make sure a widow in their family is taken care of. It is never to fall on the government -- the burden always falls on the family and if the widow does not have a family, the burden of her well-being falls on the church (1 Timothy 5).

When we do these things or actions, we are taking the focus off of ourselves and putting it on others.

YOU CAN'T STRADDLE THE LINE (Isaiah 1:18)

God says, it's time to make a decision.  "Come, let us reason together." To reason means to "decide." It's time to stand on one side of the line or the other. You can't have one part of your life in sin and the other in a pretend world of worshiping God. You must step over the line and draw near to God. James says, "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you" (James 4:8).

When you turn from your sins and false worship of God he takes your sins that are (metaphorically) scarlet and red like crimson and washes you clean.

The Hebrew word for scarlet literally means "double-dyed." He takes our deepest darkest sins and purifies them.

DEAL OR NO DEAL (Isaiah 1:20-21)

God offers the people of Jerusalem a deal. He says they can be obedient and reap all of his blessings or, they can refuse and rebel and suffer the consequences.

WHICH SIDE WILL YOU STAND ON?

What happens if you obey God? First, you must recognize that obedience requires believing in Jesus Christ. The blessing you receive is eternal life. The consequence of not believing is God's wrath (John 3:36).

Obedience always leads to righteousness (Romans 6:16). When you obey God by believing in his Son you become righteous and this righteousness is reflected in your character and conduct allowing you to make right decisions.

You can't serve God by sticking your toe over the line once a week, but living the rest of the week standing on the side of sin. God requires a decision. Here's what Joshua told the Israelites,

"Choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15).

This Week: Remove evil from your life this week. Cease doing the things that are dragging you down. Don't straddle the line between sin and holiness. Spend time in prayer and ask God to give you strength to step over the line into his righteousness. Live your life for God this week. Live your life better than you did last week.

Study Questions:

1. Is it comforting to know that God is a merciful God? Explain?

2. Why is it easier to "hear" the Word of God, rather than "obey" it?

3. What are some ways you can "draw near to God"?