Isaiah 1:1-7 – Deja Vu – Bible study

Isaiah 1:1-7 Deja Vu First, let me explain the Biblical reference. We are in an Old Testament prophetical book. Most people do not read the Old Testament. Most Christians do not read the Old Testament. In fact, most Christians do not like the Old Testament. Most of them will say that the Old Testament is boring. On that, I would agree. The Old Testament can be rather boring. Why? Because the Old Testament does two things: 1. It condemnsa lot! 2. It repeatsa lot! Others will say the Old Testament does not apply, that it is irrelevant. On that, they are wrong. Reading the Old Testament is just like reading the newspaperif anyone still does that. It is very current and it tells us what is going to happen not just in the land of Israel but especially in the Unites States of America. I hope to show you that this morning. So hang on to this Biblical reference. Second, the title of the message. Deja Vu is French and it means "already seen." It is a term used to describe the sense we sometimes have that we have already seen, done, or lived an event out before. As you read through the Old Testament prophets, you should be struck with the feeling of Deja Vu, because our country, our world, and many of our lives are re-living what has already happened to Israel. https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/extrasensory- perceptions/question657.htm With that in mind, lets look at the text. I. Notice to whom this passage is directed. Isaiah 1:2 I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. A. Notice that God does not mention Israel here, but "His children", specifically the children that God has brought up or reared. B. Now there is no doubt that God through Isaiah was speaking TO ISRAEL. 1. In fact, while he does not mention them in verse 2, he does in verse 3. Isaiah 1:3 but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. 2. But this text is not JUST directed to Israel. By using that opening address, the statement can be directed to any group of people that God has claimed as His own and reared up. C. I believe that includes the Unites States of America. 1. Some would disagree, and thats all right. 2. Some might even say that it is bad hermeneutics. Maybe it is not the BEST hermeneutics, but I would not say it is BAD hermeneutics. 3. Why? Because I believe America is a nation that God birthedas surely as He birthed Israeland I believe America is a nation that God reared upas surely as He reared up Israel. D. My reasoning: 1. The founding fathers certainly believed God birth America. a. Each year at this time I share some American history. b. I do so because the parallels between Israel and the United States are astonishing. c. This year, however, I am going to keep my history to a minimum. Instead, I want to focus on this Bible passage. d. But let me share just a few quotes from one of our most revered founding fathers, George Washington. (1) George Washington as first a soldier, then a commander, then the Commander in General, then chairman of the Constitutional Convention, then the first President of the United States. (2) Quotes: I am sure that never was a people, who had more reason to acknowledge a Divine interposition in their affairs, than those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that agency, which was so often manifested during our Revolution, or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them. http://www.great-quotes.com/quotes/author/George/Washington It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible. http://www.searchquotes.com/search/George_Washington_On_God /#ixzz5JxDy1Wug It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor. https://www.usa.church/us-history-quotes-about-god-and-the-bible/ 2. Gods divine intervention demonstrates that God birthed American. a. By that, I mean God did miracles. (That is what George Washington meant when he said that God "interpositioned" in Americas affairs.) b. Now some might not agree that there were miracles and that is all right with me. I am comfortable using the word that George Washington used over and over again, God "interpositioned" in the affairs of America. c. For example: (1) In 1775, the British ceased and occupied Boston. Washington wanted them out. He sent Henry Knox, a 25 year old book seller to Fort Ticonderoga300 miles awayto bring him 59 cannonsin the middle of an icy winter. Remember, there were few roadsand those that did exist were crudeand the British controlled much of the countryside and virtually all of the main waterways. But in just 95 days, Mr. Knox had the cannons delivered and set up. Victor Brooks, a historian, called Knoxs success "one of the most stupendous feats of logistics." As the sun rose on March 5, 1776, the British General surveyed the cannons pointed down from the hills onto his encampment and said, "The rebels did more in one night that my army would have done in one month." (a) Did God intervene or was it just hard work? (b) You decide, but I believe God intervened. (2) Things did not go so well in New York. The British assembled 32,000 soldiers to take New York from the patriots. That was the largest army assembled in the history of the world to that date. Washington declared a day of fasting. The British army attacked, killing and wounding American soldiers 10 to every 3 of the British soldiers. It became apparent that the rebel forces would have to retreat, but how? Many were trapped by the British army. That night, the sea where the British ships were anchored was boisterous, but the East River was calm enough that Washington was able to evacuate half of his troops; but the next morning, the other half were still trapped. That is, until a dense fog rolled in which hid the patriot armys retreat. Had the Americans been found out, the War for Independence would ended at New York. (a) Miracle or coincidence? (b) You decide, but I believe God intervened. Miracles in American History, Susie Federer, Copyright 2012, 4/29/2013, pp 37-48. E. You decide whether you think God had anything to do with Americas founding and growth; but first, read her history. 1. Many of these events used to be taught in our schools to show how God intervened and directed this country, but no longer. 2. However, just because we dont know our history does not mean that it did not happen. 3. This passage can be applied to America as surely as it was directed to Israel many years ago. II. Notice the similarities between Israel and the US. A. God described Israel in Isaiahs day, the same description could be used of our country today! B. Notice The problems Israel had: 1. Israel suffered from a broken relationship with God. Is 1:3 Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. a. What did Israel not know? They did not know God! b. Israel and the US are both nations that were birthed and reared by God, but they both forsook the Lord to the place that neither any longer know Him. Judges 2:10 And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. (1) It is very difficult to pass a KNOWLEDGE OF GOD from one generation to the next. (a) We have missed it in America. (b) I cannot speak for the generations before I was born but in my time as an adult, I would say most arent even close to getting their children to Jesus. (2) We can pass a knowledge ABOUT God to our children, but only God can introduce Himself to our children and only our children can introduce themselves to God. (3) Parents, (a) You can rest assured that God WANTS to know your children. (b) You can also determine that you will do everything in your power to foster that meeting. (c) But we all must acknowledge that the distance between knowing about God and knowing Him is the distance between heaven and hell. c. I believe there are four things you and I need to do to help our children to know God. (1) We must teach them. Church can help, but home is critical. Devotions, Bible reading, Bible application, prayers with earnest praying in times of difficulties. (2) We must train them. (a) Training is not just teaching them. It is also showing them. i. I am very limited with what I can see in my head. I have to see something or how s thing is done. If I can see it, I might be able to reproduce it. ii. That is part of what God meant when He told us to train up a child in the way they should go. aa. Every child has been apprenticed to his parents to be personally trained in knowing and loving God. bb. Our children should see every aspect of walking with God in our lives: giving, praying, worshipping, dealing with problems, sacrificing, committing to serviceevery thing. cc. Dont tell them how to know God. Show them how to know Him! (b) But I think training also means making them capable of receiving Gods seed. i. That means disciplining them, removing some of the rebellion toward authority and creating a humble field for the seed to take root within. ii. It also means cultivating faith. Too many homes are site only home. Every thing is based on what someone can see, can calculate, can hold, and prize. Faith is a spiritual gift. If it is not cultivated as a youth, it becomes elusive to adults. (3) Gradual Release – For parents, this is often the most difficult; but children have to be released to live their own lives. If not, many will rebel. It is better to do a gradual release while they are growing up than have to suddenly release them. Hopefully, if we are doing the job well, we will can start that gradual release long before it is time for them to leave the home. (4) Faith – We must have faith in God. No matter how things seem, we must believe that God will honor our labormistakes and allif we were seeking to please him all along. I believe this is what Solomon meant when he wrote: Pr 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. We must believe that if we have done our job, God will do His. 2. Israel lived a sin-filled life. Isaiah 1:4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD. a. If you want to know what kind of sins that Israel was committing, look around. b. They will be essentially the same ones our country is committing. (1) Greed and lust (2) Malice or meanness (3) Blasphemy (4) Perversion (5) Rebellion against God (6) False worship c. God compared Israel to a beast laden or loaded with sin and wickedness. (See above.) d. God also said they were going the wrong direction! Isaiah 1:4 they are gone away backward. (1) Like Israel of old, we have forsaken the One true God for a multitude of gods and religions that do not satisfy and cannot help us. (2) Keep this thought in mind for we will visit it again later. 3. Israel had gone even further, to antagonize God. Isaiah 1:4 they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger. a. It is one thing to sin against God. It is another to provoke Him. b. To provoke God implies that Israel was intentionally doing acts that they knew would anger God. c. Anyone can do wrong, anyone can be taught wrong, anyone can reject Jesus, anyone can doubt, but when people set out to do the things that God says not to do in an attempt to prove that there is no God or just because they know Gods would disapprove of it, friend, that is dangerous and God will settle with you one day. 4. Israel was suffering from their sins. Isaiah 1:5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. 7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. a. We have different terms in our country for some of these, but they the same conditions from which Israel suffered. (1) Israel had revolted against God. We have thrown God out out of our schools, out of government agencies, out of sports, out of history, out of some of our churches! (2) There was no soundness in Israel. In America, many often lament that there is no common sense. They are about the same thing. (3) Israel cities are burned with fire. Ours were for a while. Every time something happened that people did not like, there was a riot. We seem to have replaced that now with mass shootings. (4) Israel was overthrown by strangers. America is being overrun with illegal immigrants. Im not against a control, vetted, and improved legal immigrant, but allowing uncontrolled numbers of unvetted illegals is the same condition that Israel was experiencing. b. America is sick. (1) Sick to the point of death. (2) Sadly, most are calling the sicknesses that are killing us "progression." (3) In preparation for today, I pulled some my old books off my shelves and looked them over. (a) I noticed books from the 1970-80s entitled "We Must Defend American" and "One Nation Under God." (b) Then I released the very people that these authors were calling upon us to fight are the ones who are now controlling our country. (c) The Marists are now called Socialist and Progressives and Democrats or even Moderate Republicans but they are the ones that we were called upon to recognize and fight years ago. (4) Friend, unless we have a revival, the capitalistic, God-fearing America that was created in 1776 is lost. (a) The enemy has won. (b) Most are just too blind to know it. (c) There is only one hope. III. Notice Israel and Americas Only Hope Isaiah 1:9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. A. God had left Israel a remnant. 1. A remnant is a small portion of the original. 2. God left Israel a small portion of righteous people in the midst of a wicked and corrupt nation. 3. Isaiah was one of the remnant. a. They were few in number, badly outnumbered by the wicked. b. But they knew God and God knew them and they had not been corrupted. c. God could use them if they were willing to be used. B. God has left America a remnant. 1. You and I are part of it. 2. We are not much and we are badly outnumbered 3. But God can use us if we are willing to be used. C. What must we do so that God can use us? The same things that God told Israels remnant to do. 1. Get cleaned up. Isaiah 1:16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; a. To wash means to get rid of something that is staining us. Sin has stained us. (1) We need to get out of the dirt. (2) Then we need to wash off the sinful stains. b. How? (1) The only way to get out of sin is to let Jesus pull you out. (2) The only way to get the sin stain out is to be cleansed from sin. (a) One of the most powerful cleaners in years gone by was lye soap, but \#Jer 2:22\ says that wont help remove sin. (b) The only thing that will wash sin away is the blood of Jesus Christ. 1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 2. Learn how to do right. Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. a. The word means to goad or to prod. b. In order to get a stubborn animal to move where you wanted it to go, they would get a stick and whittle a sharp point on it. c. The implication is that sin hurts. (1) Learn from the pain it causes. (2) So you have sinned. There is no sin that does not hurt. (a) If not your body, then your heart. (b) If not your heart, then the heart of someone who loves you. (3) Why keep inflicting pain on yourself? 3. We need to think this out spiritually. Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. a. When God says "Lets reason together," He is not saying "Lets make a deal." b. He is saying, "Lets think this thing through." (1) Are you going to live forever? (2) Can you control your eternity? (3) Can you prove there is no God? (4) So what is your plan? c. God is saying, "Think about it!" (1) God does not want you to follow Him blindly. (2) God wants you to KNOW HIM. That means to figure Him out. D. If we will do these things, God will bless us. If we do not, the only thing left is for God to judge us. Isaiah 1:19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: 20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. It might not happen for a few years yet, but it will happen. As surely has God judged Israel, God will judge the United States of Americawith one big exception. Israels judgmentas severe as it has been, as long as it has lastedis temporary. What will happen to America will be permanent. Our name will fade into oblivion like so many wicked nations before us. That is likely to happen one day no matter what, but I would rather it not happen during my life 0r the lives of my children and grandchildren. Deja Vu – It has already happened to Israel. Lets do what we can to keep it from happening to us.