Isaiah 63:15 – What Should We Do? – Bible study

Isaiah 63:15 What Should We Do? Isa 63:15 Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained? 17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants sake, the tribes of thine inheritance. 19 We are thine: thou never barest rule over them; they were not called by thy name. Is 64:1 Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, 2 As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! I believe America is where Israel was when Isaiah spoke these words, on the verge of Gods judgment. I may not come this week, this month, or this year; but it is coming. Why? Because God has "pushed" out of the camp. This morning, I preached on the three locations of Gods Ark to the camp of Israel, telling you that those three locations are symbolic of the three relationships the believer can have with Jesus. 1. Gods design was is that He be in the middle of the camp. 2. Mans desire was is that God be on the outside of the camp. 3. Sins consequence is that God will be "pushed" too far and just leave us altogether. That was this morning, but tonight we must ask ourselves what would should we do? We, the Green Pond Baptist Church. If we understand that we have "pushed" God out of our lives, our church, our nation, what should WE do? By Isaiah 63-64, God had been "pushed" too far by Israel. He was gone. Without God, the enemies of Israel, whom God had protected them from, came and looted, plundered, raped, and pillaged Israel. Much like what is happening on the some of the streets of American today. Those who fought back were killed. Those who submitted were abused. And the godly like Isaiah were left praying that God would return to the camp; but it seemed too late. When does it get too late put God into the center of a life, a church, or a nation? I dont know if it does or when it does; but if it does, I would say it is too late once the judgment starts. The people in Noahs day prayed after the rains started, but it was too late. Isaiah and Micah prayed just before the Assyrian captivity of Israel. We are reading Isaiahs prayer, but Assyria came anyway. It was too late. I am sure everyone in hell prays for forgiveness, but it does them no good. It is too late. In all these cases, their prayers did bring God to the center of the camp and stop the judgments. Why? I suppose because the judgment was already under way and, it was just too late. Is it too late for revival in America? I honestly dont know; but if it is isnt too late today, it may well be too late come Tuesday. If we are going to get the presence of God back into the camp, we better get started today. Several thoughts. I will speak some and this just stop. I. We will have to quit exempting ourselves. A. My goal is to never blister our people; but if we are going to bring God back to the center of the camp, we must be honest. B. The reason our church is not doing more for Jesus and seeing more from Jesus is not because of the world, the community, or the Capitol. C. It is because of us. 2Chron 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. D. We are not demanding of ourselves what God has commanded. 1. Anytime God is "pushed" away from the center, it will always be the fault of the people of God. 2. God deals with the enemies that attack from without, but God expects us to deal with the enemy from within. 3. That is always us. E. What sins are we not taking seriously? 1. We are not praying. a. At the end of February, we started having two extra prayer meetings each week. (1) Friday at 7:00. (2) Saturday at 4:00. (3) The purpose was simple and has been kept simple: (a) To pray for the safety of our people from Covid. (b) To pray for our nation. (4) The format has been kept simple. (a) Come and pray as long or as little as you like. (b) Leave when you have finished. (c) I stay and lock up when everyone has left. (5) That has been three months, and I can count on my two hands how many people have come. b. I am not mad. I am not hurt. I am just wondering why so many exempted themselves from coming. c. There was a Bible verse that God laid on my heart which prompted me to call the church to prayer. (1) I shared it with the group each time someone new came. Joel 1:14 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD, 15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. (2) God had Joel give these instructions to the people of God just before the Babylonians came. (a) That is the "day of the Lord" that was at hand. (b) "The day of the Lord" is always a day of judgment in the Bible. (c) I believe another day of the Lord is at hand. (d) The instructions: i. Fast ii. Call an assembly iii. Gather the elders iv. Cry unto the Lord (3) But notice where God told the people to assemble at to carry out these instructions. Joel 1:14 gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God. (4) Do we have to gather at the church to pray, fast, and cry unto the Lord? (5) No, but considering we are on the verge of another "day of the Lord," it seems to me that we should follow Gods instructions no matter whether we think they are important or not. d. Questions: (1) Is there anyone in our church that really does not think Covid is dangerous and we need God to protect us from it? I dont think so. (2) Is there anyone in our church that does not think the upcoming election and the general direction our nation is going is not dangerous? I dont think so. (3) Then over the last three months, why has the church not only never been packed for prayer, why have 90% of the people not come at all? (a) There is only one answer. (b) They thought they were exempt. e. Listen. You cant get God back in the center of your life as long as you think you are exempt from prayer. (1) If you want to trust our safety to facemasks, and social distancing, and vaccines, all right. (2) If you want to trust our election to commercials, debates, and Facebook memes, all right. (3) If you want to trust your childrens future, including their souls and nation, to the whims of politics, all right. (4) But I think wed better quit exempting ourselves and start doing some serious praying. (5) I think somebody better go get God! 2. We are not repenting. a. I am not preaching today to homosexual churches, to lady preachers, or to Bible doubters. (1) I am preaching to us. (2) I know you. You might need to be there, but I dont have to go get you out of jail for crimes against mankind or sins against God. b. When I am preaching on homosexual churches, lady preachers, and Bible doubters, I can expect to hear several AMENs because those are not our sins. c. But what about when I preach on (1) Stealing Gods tithe? (2) Slacking at the house of God? (3) Dressing immodestly in public? (4) Using the wrong kind of words when you get mad? (5) Keeping a stash of liquor or maybe a few "fun" pills? (6) Watching an occasional skin movie or visiting an an inappropriate website? (7) What about not reading your Bible or spending any quality time in prayer? (8) What about volunteering for Sunday work just so youll have an excuse not to go to church? (9) For that matter, when was the last time we were just convicted over being wretched sinners? d. We are not repenting of our sins because we think we are okay the way we are. (1) While I just mentioned those things, someone thought, Preacher, those things are not so bad." (2) Do you know what you just did? You just exempted yourself. (3) We, us, ourselves, have exempted ourselves from repenting of our sins. e. Question: If you treated your job and school like you treat your church and God, how would things being going for you? f. Another question: If you paid your bills and entertainments the way you give to the churchy, how would that be going for you. g. It is not that we are all that good. Rather we have just exempted ourselves from repenting. 3. We have exempted ourselves from being at church. a. Too many find too many reasons to skip worship. b. Why? Because they feel exempted from attending. c. Again, Im not here to blister anyone, but I am here to tell you that we are the problem. d. It does not matter how old you are. If you call yourself a Christian, you are to be in God’s house worshipping Him. (1) children and young people (2) workers who are working 40, 50, 60 hours per week (3) retired workers (a) A lot of our people like to travel since they are retired. (b) I understand that. You’ve worked hard to get a few years of freedom. I try not to begrudge you of that; but wherever you are, you should find a place to worship the God who saved your soul. e. It is the LORD’S DAY, is it not? f. But we are slack in attending God’s house. (1) Why? (2) Because we have exempted ourselves from being at church. g. I was told that this morning the parking lot was almost full, no place to park. (1) That is exciting, but I noticed this morning inside the sanctuary we only had two cars that would have been visitors. (2) Perhaps we had many visiting in the parking lot this morning, but I have to ask. (3) If our church is almost filled one Sunday every few months, why isn’t it full every Sunday? (4) It must be because we have exempted ourselves from being at church. 4. We have exempted ourselves from being the light. a. The world is lost and needs a Savior. b. I honestly understand that it is hard to win the lost. (I do not hold myself up as an example of an effective soul winner.) c. But we cannot quit trying. d. The more difficult it gets, the more determined we must be at sharing Jesus as our Savior! II. We will have to quit liking God being out of the camp. A. Israel got comfortable with God being on the outside of the camp. 1. I am sure at first it was odd; but eventually, they liked it that way. 2. There is no record of Ark ever being brought back into the camp. 3. There is no record of the Israelites even beseeching God to bring the Ark back into the camp. B. Im afraid that we, like the children of Israel, have gotten comfortable with God being out of the camp. 1. We, us, those who were sitting inside this church this morning. 2. I mentioned this morning, pushing God out of His place at the center gives us a false sense of control. 3. We are in the mercy buffer. a. The distance between the sinning Christian and the justice of God. b. Mercy is great. c. It keeps us alive and out of hell even though we may still be fooling around with sin. 4. But mercy is given to us to protect us when we accidently fall into sin. Mercy is not for us to abuse by deliberately stepping into sin! a. Isnt it sad when something as sweet and good as mercy can become a danger to us? b. God gave Israel mercy so that He would not destroy them for their sins, but they abused God’s mercy. c. They lived in sin and "pushed" God further and further away. d. What they did not seem to understand was the distance between their sins and God was also the distance between God and their enemies. e. God did not destroy Israel… (1) But the Philistines did, the Amorites did, Moab did, Ammon, Edom. (a) Where was God? (b) They used His gift of mercy to push Him out of the camp. (c) He could not come any closer to Israel, or He would have ended up destroying them. (d) The distance that kept God in place to keep from judging Israel let their enemies attack and destroy them. (2) Egypt, Syria, Babylon, Greece, Rome (a) The enemies just kept coming. (d) The distance that kept God in place to keep from judging Israel let their enemies attack and destroy them. C. The same thing is happening in America today. 1. God has given America some distance between our sins and His justice. a. That is mercy. b. But by not judging us quickly and severely, the enemies of liberalism, socialism, cults, greed, waste, lust, and maybe a dozen or two others enemies have been able to creep inside. 2. If God were to start judging today, He would get those vultures; but His holiness would have to take a good many backslidden Christians and churches too. 3. What is needed is not so much a judgment as it is a revival, a movement to bring God back to the center. 4. Where does it need to start? a. Right here. b. Right now. c. Oh, cant we see it? d. We have to quit wanting God to just be part of our lives and put the Ark where God designed it to go, in the center, in the middle of lives, churches, and nation. Can we have a revival? I honestly don’t know, but I know the longer we wait to even try to get God back in the center of our lives, the less likely it is going to be. What should we do? You decided the answer to that question tonight.