Wake Up!
By Pastor Matt Black
01
October 2006
Lord's Day Evening
Isaiah 9:8-10
Introduction: We come to the conclusion of our text in Isaiah 9 tonight. Stand with me as we read verses 8-21. Tonight we are going to see the reality of man’s lost condition that even though Christ promises to come into the world and rule His people, the reality on earth is that man without God’s intervention will utterly destroy himself. The title of tonight’s message is “Wake Up!”
[Stand and read Isaiah 9:8-21]
Isaiah 9:8-21, “8 The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel. 9 And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart, 10 The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars. 11 Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together; 12 The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. 13 For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts. 14 Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. 15 The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. 16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed. 17 Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. 18 For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke. 19 Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother. 20 And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm: 21 Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
The beginning verses of chapter 9 are so bright, while the rest of the chapter is so dark. There is a great contrast between God’s promises and man’s willful rebellion and unbelief. The moral of tonight’s message is that there is nothing at all to be gained by going your own way except grief and sorrow. As we looked at verse 1-7, something was so clear: God was revealing Jesus Christ by His Word. O, how we need to wake up to the message that God gives us in the Word of God! We need to examine our heart and let God control our lives. We need to wake up to God, walk with God, and wait on God!
So that theme is picked up in verse 8.
I. Wake up to the Word of God.
The ultimate understanding of God’s word or His revelation of Himself to us is found Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1:1 makes it clear, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son”. John 1:1, 14, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,)full of grace and truth.” God has spoken to us ultimately by sending His Son, the Incarnate Word of God into this world!! So another conclusion we can make is to reject or ignore the Word of God is to reject and/or ignore Jesus Christ!
There are really two different purposes in God’s word coming to us. The word is “sent to Jacob”. Jacob refers to the southern kingdom. It is a word of chastening. God chastens His children. As Hebrews 12:6, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”
Application: We are all responsible to keep God’s Word. That is exactly what this verse is warning. God’s word has been sent to us. God has revealed Himself to us, and we are responsible to respond to it. Responsibility means that we must exercise our ability to respond correctly to God! To not respond is to respond to God negatively. To say, I will not respond is to ultimately reject God’s written Word, and ultimately reject God’s incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.
· The result of God’s Word. We read in verse 9, “And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria…” Isaiah says, you just test God, and see if His threatenings are true. The ultimate result of God’s Word is that everyone in the end will know that it is true.
Turn over to Isaiah 66:1-2, “Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? 2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” Do you tremble at the Word, or do you ignore it. Either way you will find out that it is true.
Application: One way you can know what your opinion is of the Word of God is to see how much time you spend in it. What does Psalm 1:2 say about the blessed man? “But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” If you are one who trembles at the Word of God, you will say with David in Psalms 119:97, “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.”
· In the short term, Assyria comes and judges Israel. God’s Word said it would happen, and it happened. Do you see the Word of God active in this world? God says if a person rejects God, he gives them over to a reprobate mind. That is happening in our nation today. Do you see God?
· It’s also true in the long term. Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess! It is “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow” (Philippians 2:10).
Not all people bow the knee to Christ’s authority in this life, which is the purpose of the Word of God. Yet those who do not bow the knee in this life will reap in this life and in the life to come that which they have sown. The worst thing that God can do for someone who is ignoring the Word of God is to leave them alone! When God will not work with you, then there is NO hope. Then there is no Redeemer, no Saviour, no one to intercede on your behalf.
Now the Word of God leads us directly to another area of revelation.
So we need to wake up to the Word of God. Secondly, we need to wake up to something closer to home.
II. Wake up to the Heart of Man. We need to Walk with God!!
A. The Heart of man is deceitful, and here we see it illustrated.
Notice in verses 9-10 that, “all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria that say in the pride and stoutness of heart, 10 The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.” Here God has given the promise of a kingdom. All they have to do is receive the Word of God about them. This implies repentance. The only right response is a trembling at God’s Word. There is no humility, no repentance for sin, rather there is pride, deceit, and a carnal invincibility. Jeremiah was right when he said, (Jeremiah 17:9), “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
B. The Heart of man is Proud.
Can you believe the pride and audacity? The bricks have come down as a result of the Assyrians, but we are going to clear these bricks out of the way, and build with “hewn” or ornate carved stones, so that the houses will be better and stronger, more beautiful, and more durable! They said of the ordinary sycamore trees that the Assyrians annihilated with their great chariots—we didn’t like those sycamores anyway. We wanted to plant cedars there!
Application: The Israelites did not get the point of judgment. Do you? Do you ask yourself in times of trial what God is trying to change in you? Just because you are sick or in trial, in no way means God is chastening you. Remember Job and Joseph. The Lord tells us in John 16:33, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” We will have tribulation. But we must also recognize that every trial is an opportunity to examine ourselves.
C. The Taming of Man's Heart.
i. Through sickness
a. Sickness can sometimes reveal areas of spiritual weakness in our lives. Some in Corinth had been they were spiritually fine, when that wasn’t the case. They had become proud, and God sent sickness and even death to some of them. What does Paul say about them? 1 Corinthians 11:30, “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” Paul goes on in verses 31-32, “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.”
James 5:14-15 gives us this same truth: “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”
b. Times of sickness and trial are very important in the life of a believer for spiritual strengthening.
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get to thinking I’m pretty spiritual, like I’ve arrived or something. Then I get sick, and I realize how many areas of my life I am living out of the power of my own carnality! Bring me to a sick bed, and that is where you find the person as they really are in their heart.
Some of the best gifts to the church as far as books go were written on the sick bed. Spurgeon was often sick, and it was from that sick bed that he wrote some of his best works, including his Treasury of David commentaries on the Psalms.
If God has stopped you in your tracks, the one thing you should do is examine yourself and see what God has for you to do. Sometimes the best of God’s saints suffer the most!!
2 Timothy 2:12, “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us”
That’s not at all the attitude that these people had. They instead decided to live in the land of make-believe. Their response was to ignore the problem. Don’t ignore the problems in your life! Look to God and learn from Him! Praise God for trials and chastening and tribulation.
III. Wake up to God’s Control (verses 11-21). We need to Wait on God!
God sends the Assyrians, but these people are blinded by their own desire to control their own lives! They are boasting in the midst of tragedy—these people think they have control of the situation in their own hands. They refuse to acknowledge that all things are in God’s hands.
Application: The greatest comfort to God’s people is that God is in control. Are you comforted when things go wrong that God knows the end from the beginning? He says in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” His way is perfect! He makes no mistakes.
If you reject God’s control, you can be sure of a complete collapse. We will look at the rest of the chapter next week, but here you have a progression.
A. Those who reject God’s control are given over to the world (verses 11-13).
B. They are subject to the constant failures of human leadership (14-16).
C. They are taken out of the Lord’s protection (17)
D. Eventually, they are given over to their own wickedness, which on earth is the worst judgment of all (18-21).
Conclusion: Are you awake to God? Are you aware of His workings in your life? I think a wonderful demonstration of what it is to wake up to God is found in Ephesians 5:14-20, “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. 15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Are you awake tonight? Awake to Christ, Walk with Christ, and Wait of Him!
Closing Hymn: 333 Open Our Eyes Lord