The Breakup of a Loving Relationship Is a Tragic and Heartrending Experience.
Few Experiences Cause as Much Anguish as Rejected Love and Broken Trust.
Just Imagine the Pain and Heartbreak God Endures Every Day
as A Result of People's Rejection and Unfaithfulness!
Sin offends our holy God and separates us from him. Because God is holy, he cannot ignore, excuse, or tolerate sin as though it didn't matter. Sin cuts people off from him, forming a wall to isolate God from the people he loves. No wonder this long list of wretched sins makes God angry and forces him to look the other way. People who die with their life of sin unforgiven separate themselves eternally from God. God wants them to live with him forever, but he cannot take them into his holy presence unless their sin is removed. Have you confessed your sin to God, allowing him to remove it? The Lord can save you if you turn to him.[1]
The Savior's Message
to The Wicked: Guilty of Sin and Separated from God, 59:1–21
The Breakup of a Loving Relationship Is a
Tragic and Heartrending Experience.
When two people genuinely love each other, their being apart causes them deep pain and suffering. Their hearts long for the companionship of the person they love. But what is most damaging, even devastating, is when one of the partners ceases to love the other, becoming hostile and severing the relationship. Unbearable pain usually surges through the heart of the rejected partner. Unfaithfulness—whether caused by disloyalty, betrayal, breach of trust, deceitfulness, infidelity, or treachery—oftentimes enters the picture. Few experiences cause as much anguish as rejected love and broken trust. Just imagine the pain and heartbreak God endures every day as a result of people's rejection and unfaithfulness! A broken relationship with God is the subject of the present passage. The entire world has become guilty of wickedness, and sin has separated the human race from God.
This is The Savior's Message to the Wicked: Guilty
of Sin and Separated from God (Isaiah 59:1–21).
1Listen
now! The Lord isn't too weak to save you. And he isn't getting deaf! He can
hear you when you call! 2But the trouble is that your sins have cut
you off from God. Because of sin he has turned his face away from you and will
not listen anymore. 3For your hands are those of murderers and your
fingers are filthy with sin. You lie and grumble and oppose the good. 4No
one cares about being fair and true. Your lawsuits are based on lies; you spend
your time plotting evil deeds and doing them. 5You spend your time
and energy spinning evil plans that end up in deadly actions. 6You
cheat and shortchange everyone. Everything you do is filled with sin; violence
is your trademark. 7Your feet run to do evil and rush to murder;
your thoughts are only of sinning, and wherever you go you leave behind a trail
of misery and death. 8You don't know what true peace is, nor what it
means to be just and good; you continually do wrong and those who follow you
won't experience any peace either.
9It
is because of all this evil that you aren't finding God's blessings; that's why
he doesn't punish those who injure you. No wonder you are in darkness when you
expected light. No wonder you are walking in the gloom. 10No wonder
you grope like blind men and stumble along in broad daylight, yes, even at
brightest noontime, as though it were the darkest night! No wonder you are like
corpses when compared with vigorous young men! 11You roar like
hungry bears; you moan with mournful cries like doves. You look for God to keep
you, but he doesn't. He has turned away. 12For your sins keep piling
up before the righteous God and testify against you.
Yes, we know
what sinners we are. 13We know our disobedience; we have denied the
Lord our God. We know what rebels we are and how unfair we are, for we
carefully plan our lies. 14Our courts oppose the righteous man;
fairness is unknown. Truth falls dead in the streets, and justice is outlawed.
15Yes,
truth, is gone, and anyone who tries a better life is soon attacked. The Lord
saw all the evil and was displeased to find no steps taken against sin. 16He
saw no one was helping you and wondered that no one intervened. Therefore, he
himself stepped in to save you through his mighty power and justice. 17He
put on righteousness as armor and the helmet of salvation on his head. He
clothed himself with robes of vengeance and of godly fury. 18He will
repay his enemies for their evil deeds—fury for his foes in distant lands. 19Then
at last they will reverence and glorify the name of God from west to east. For
he will come like a flood tide driven by Jehovah's breath. 20He will
come as a Redeemer to those in Zion who have turned away from sin.
21 "As for me, this is my promise to them," says the Lord: "My Holy Spirit shall not leave them, and they shall want the good and hate the wrong—they and their children and their children's children forever."[2] (Isaiah59:1–21)
The Wicked of The World Have a Problem of Terrible and Disastrous Proportions: Their Sins Have Separated Them from God. The Israelites were perplexed because God had not delivered them from their hardships and distress. Apparently, they had been crying out in prayer for some time, seeking the Lord's help. But no help had been forthcoming. They simply could not understand why, so God sent His prophet Isaiah to explain.
1Listen now! The Lord isn't too weak to save you. And He isn't getting deaf! He can hear you when you call! 2But the trouble is that your sins have cut you off from God. Because of sin He has turned His face away from you and will not listen anymore.[3] (Isaiah59:1–2)
A. First,
The People Needed to Understand One Unmistakable Fact:
God Could Save Them. He could hear and answer their prayers. His arm (power) was never too short of reaching out to help His people. He had the power to embrace them and deliver them from any hardship, difficulty, circumstance, or enemy. Moreover, His ear was not deaf. It was very sensitive and alert. God always heard every Word spoken by them. Moreover, He was as ready and willing as ever to hear the prayers of His people. And He would immediately act to save them, but for one problem: sin.
B. Sin
Is a Barrier That Separates People from God (V. 2).
The Wicked Are Separated and Alienated from God Due to Their Sins. When people lie, steal,
or abuse and oppress others, God has to turn His face away from them because of
their terrible behavior. Why? Because God is holy. He dwells in perfect
righteousness, and He loves, cares for, and has a deep concern for every human
being. He longs for everyone to know the fullness of love, joy, and peace.
Consequently, He will not tolerate wickedness or the mistreatment of others by
any means, be it thievery, immorality, greed, covetousness, or any other
oppressive acts. When people sin, they choose to live apart from God.
For that reason, God turns His face away and will not answer their prayers. No
matter how religious people may be or how strongly they profess to trust God,
their wicked behavior alienates them from God, and He will not respond to their
pleas. Furthermore, the wicked will reap exactly what they have sown,
oppression and mistreatment by their enemies.
V "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask
amiss, that ye may consume it upon
your lusts" (Js. 4:3).
V "I denounce unto you this day, that ye
shall surely perish, and that ye
shall not prolong your days upon the
land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it" (De. 30:18).
V "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the
Lord will not hear me" (Ps. 66:18).
V "Because I have called, and ye refused;
I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at naught
all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your
calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as
desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and
anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer;
they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that, they hated
knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: They would none of my
counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore, shall they eat of the fruit
of their own way, and be filled with their own devices" (Pr. 1:24–31).
V "Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of
the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard" (Pr. 21:13).
V "He that turneth away his ear from
hearing the law, even his prayer shall be
abomination" (Pr. 28:9).
V "And when ye spread forth your hands, I
will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear:
your hands are full of blood" (Is.
1:15).
V "And there
is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold
of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of
our iniquities" (Is. 64:7).
V "And the heathen shall know that the
house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed
against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of
their enemies: so, fell they all by the sword" (Eze. 39:23).
V "They shall go with their flocks and
with their herds to seek the Lord, but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them" (Ho. 5:6).
V "Then shall they cry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings" (Mi. 3:4).[4]
The Problem is Our Sin
Father God, we
thank you that you do hear us and are waiting on us to cry out to you. We thank
you, Lord, that you can save us from ourselves, delivering us from the trouble
we cause on our own. Father God, forgive us and restore us to right standing
with you. We know our sins have cut us off from your primarily, but we also
know our sin is what causes us to have broken relationships. With our family,
friends, spouses, and on it goes. Our sin destroys relationships and breaks our
hearts. We know, Father God, that it also breaks your heart because you can see
what we do not; even though your Word warns us to live according to your ways,
we still fall short. Father God, we do not and cannot live with you turned away
from us. We cannot stand or take the silence and sense of abandonment because
of our sin. We need you, Father God, to restore us to a right relationship with
you forgiving us of our sins. Please, Father God, help us to repent of our sins
and live right with you.
We beg you for
forgiveness; in Jesus' name, we pray.
Amen
Listen Now! The Lord Isn't Too Weak to Save You. And He Isn't Getting Deaf! He Can Hear You When You Call! The Trouble Is That Your Sins Have Cut You Off from God. Because Of Sin, He Has Turned His Face Away from You and Will Not Listen Anymore.
[1] Life Application
Bible Notes. 2007. Tyndale.
[2] Taylor, Kenneth Nathaniel. 1997. The Living Bible,
Paraphrased. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House.
[3] Taylor, Kenneth Nathaniel. 1997. The Living Bible,
Paraphrased. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House.
[4] Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 2005. Isaiah: Chapters 36–66. Vol. II. The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
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