PENTECOST 13 – August 22, 2021 – Isaiah 29:11-19
“UNBELIEF TURNS EVERYTHING UPSIDE DOWN”
Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Old Testament Lesson just read, from Isaiah 29. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- The corrupted and perverted part of our human nature is truly insidious. Isaiah describes it in our text. Jeremiah described it. Moses described it. Every prophet described it. Jesus Himself commented on it on numerous occasions, including in our Gospel reading. All of the apostles do the same.
- It is one thing to have a sinful heart that is inclined to all manner of evil. It is quite another to continue to “draw near to God” with one’s mouth, and to honor God with mere words – pretending to be pious and decent, when in fact a person’s heart is far from God.
- What is referenced in our text is a quite common behavior among “decent” people, even people within the church. The Lord describes it: “Their fear of Me is a commandment taught by men.” That is, they have substituted their own opinions, their own ideas, how they like things to be, for the Word of God. All the while, however, they act like they do really respect God and His Word.
- But when it comes right down to it, their attitude is aptly described by God in the book of Isaiah: “For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD; who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions, leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.” [Is. 30:9-11]
- What is the real problem? A refusal to repent and confess. A refusal to allow God’s Word to be above them, over them, in authority for them. A stubborn insistence upon having “religion” their own way – and an equally stubborn refusal to even consider God’s way. In fact, in one place these people actually proclaim: “Keep to yourself and do not come near, for I am too holy for you.” [Is. 65:5] They say this to God and to those who represent God, those who speak His Word. It is a terrible and dangerous spiritual condition.
- So God declares to them quite clearly: “YOU TURN THINGS UPSIDE DOWN.” They don’t think they are. They are absolutely convinced that they are straightening things out – and they even cite God’s Name. But they have no stomach for hearing His Word, His real Word. So we see that:
I. This Hypocritical Unbelief Rejects The Word Of God For One’s Own Word
A. When Asked To Consider God’s Word They Provide Only Hypocritical Denial
Text: “The vision of all of this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying “Read this, he says “I cannot read.”
B. This, So That They Can Focus On, Honor, and Elevate Their Own Word Over God’s Word
Text: “Their fear of Me is a commandment taught by men. . . . The wisdom of their wise men shall perish.”
Statement: It is a neat trick, and it often confuses and befuddles normal human beings, and pious, humble Christians. They look so committed, so pious, so wise, to devoted. They cannot be blamed for rejecting God’s Word – it is too hard for them to read, to study, to understand. And if someone comes along who does understand it, they just point to their own piety. And the one who finds fault with them must surely be a very evil person.
Application: So we must take great care, for we too can have our attention drawn away from the Word of God, and can be dazzled by the fancy “religiosity and piety” of these unbelievers. But remember, no matter how phenomenal this may appear, it is actually a matter of “TURNING EVERYTHING UPSIDE DOWN.” In fact:
II. Unbelief Denies God’s Presence And His Knowledge, His Prerogative And Place
A. It Cynically Rejects God As He Is
Text: “Ah, you hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, ‘Who sees us? Who knows us?’”
B. Unbelievers Reject Our Created Place, Our Creatureliness Under God
Text: “Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, ‘He did not make me” or the thing formed say of him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding.’”
C. And Unbelievers, Having Freed Themselves From The Constraints Of God’s Word, Make Up Their Own Obligations And Duties
Gospel: “You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men. Moses said ‘Honor your father and your mother . . . but you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, ‘Whatever you would have gained from me is “Corban” [that is, given to God] – then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the Word of God by your tradition.”
D. Many Do The Same Today When It Comes To The Right Relationship Between Husband And Wife, Men And Women In The Church
Epistle: “Wives,submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.”
1 Tim. 2:11-14 “Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.”
Statement: You see how man’s sinful nature can “TURN EVERYTHING UPSIDE DOWN.” It is not amazing that sin is what it is. What is truly amazing is how beautiful, how reasonable, how dutiful, how reverent, how pious, and how “holy” unbelieving and rebellious people can make their rebellion against God look! Jesus described it as “white-washing” the outside of a grave. And sinful people can do this quite well.
Application: Again, this same sinful rebellion lurks with us. I remember analyzing what my parents ordered me to do, and doing the things I wanted to do first, and doing them very well. Then, I would add in a few other things and do them very well also. When they came and asked me why I hadn’t done the other things they had asked me to do, I immediately became indignant that they were not giving me credit for what I had done. I turned my disobedience into something that looked quite good and noble. Shame on me. My parents wanted me to do what they wanted me to do – this is what was best for me.
So let us take care in these matters. It is to protect us from this that God has given us His Word. And it is the sole task of the one sent to speak and teach His Word to keep people from devolving from sinful human beings into utterly rebellious and arrogant human beings. And our text makes clear that:
III. Only Christ Restores Sentience, Reason, Joy, And Truth To Human Beings
Text: “Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest? In that day the deaf shall hear the Words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. The meek shall obtain fresh joy from the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.”
Statement: It is a return to repentance and humble confession, to meekness and acknowledgment of our own spiritual poverty, that opens the door to God’s restoration – to forgiveness, peace with God, and His wisdom. But it is repentance that sticks in the craw of our sinful nature. We want to be exalted not humbled. We want control, not to obey. We want what we want, and that isn’t God or His Word. So we rebel.
Application: But Christ came as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. His very Name, Jesus, indicates that He shall save us from our sin. But such salvation is thrust away by the impenitent, those who are already too holy to have any contact with us or with the Holy One of Israel! So let us beware, and remain in meekness, humility, and repentance, that we may always find our joy in God, in His grace and in His Word. And let us make it our greatest delight to submit to that Word.
Conclusion: It is fascinating, how many Christians, many of whom consider themselves to be the greatest and most upstanding of Christians, who have no time for Bible Study, and for some, even church. They are easily misled into other forms of “beautiful piety” which is not under that Word of God.
But I remember when on vicarage in Brainerd Minnesota, the headquarters of the Minnesota North District, that I was assigned Sunday morning Bible Class. In that class I was teaching were at least four pastors – including the District President who had a doctorate in theology. It made me a bit uncomfortable, to say the least. One morning, after class, I apologized to President Mennicke, that he had to sit in my class. He just laughed and said, “We all need to be taught God’s Word, all of us.”
Here was illustration of the kind of meekness, humility, and focus on God’s Word that prevents us from “TURNING EVERYTHING UPSIDE DOWN.” This humility enables us to submit to God’s Word, and to receive all good and graci ous blessings from Him. The diverse “faiths” and “religions,” and their outcomes, could not be more disparate. God grant all of us to remain under His Word, Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting. Amen.