WHAT THE LORD DOES WHEN YOU WANT WORSHIP

Isaiah 29:9-16

 

V:9. "Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink."

 A. There is a drunkenness that comes from ignoring the Word of God.

     1. If you stay in the world, you will become drunk with the things of the world.

         a. The world will have you think that what is wrong is right.

         b. The world will try to persuade you to believe that wrong is ok with God. 

     2. If you follow the ways of the world, you will not be able to make right decisions

         because your mind is corrupt.

  B. When your focus is on the world you will stagger away from the Word of truth.

      1. Focus on the world leads to spiritual blindness.

      2. Our desire to be like the world is a rejection of the righteousness of God.

      3. If you stray away, from the Word of God your conduct and your walk will

 

         become corrupt.

 

V:10. "For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered."

 A. If you decide not to worship God by not following His commands, He will give

 

      you over to your own devices.

    1. The Lord will cause you to sleep in the spirit.

    2. You will not be able to hear the Word of God.

    3. You will read the Word, but there will be no understanding.

 B. Before you will be the opportunity to serve, but you will have no desire.

     1. God will cause you to become spiritually sluggish.

     2. You will become blind to the needs of others.

     3. You will become blind to the will of the Father.

 C. What areas of your life are you spiritually blind to the Will of God?

     1. Some Christians are spiritually blind when it comes to the discipline of their

         children.

     2. Some Christians are spiritually blind when it comes to the blessing of giving.

     3. Some Christians are spiritually blind when it comes to serving the Lord.

 

V:11."And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed."

 A. In His Word, God gave us a vision of things to come.

      1. Much of the Bible is a prophecy of future events.

      2. When we ignore the Word of God, His Word becomes foreign to us.

 B. Isaiah gave Israel a prophecy of the destruction of Israel because of their sins,

      but they could not hear him.

     1. The prophecy was given around 725 BC  which occurred in 586 BC at the hands

 

         of  the Babylonians.

     2. Instead of repenting after hearing the prophecy, they continued in their sins.

     3. God keeps His Word.

         a. Thousands of Jews were killed, the city of Jerusalem destroyed and thousands

             taken into captivity.

         b. God gave the Jews a warning when the Assyrian nearly overran Jerusalem in

             701 BC.

         c. God takes his time before executing his judgment  desiring that we all be

 

             saved.

 

         d. However, our repeated sins after His warnings will result in His wrath .

 C. Sometimes God will make an example of us for the benefit of the next generation.

     1. Israel spent 40 years wandering in the desert prior to going into the promise land

         because of their unbelief.

     2. God causes history to repeat itself to get our attention.

 

V:12. "And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned."

 A. God gave us His Word.

     1. We have to study the Word to get an understanding.

     2. Ignorance is not always blessed.

 B. We can't rely on man to give us the correct interpretation of God's Word.

     1. Laziness in studying God's Word can result in awful consequences.

     2. At some point in our spiritual walk, we all should become teachers.

     3. We ought to be able to determine when the Word of God is being perverted.

 C. Ignorance of God's Word is not an excuse because we have the indwelling of the

      Holy Spirit as our teacher.

 

V:13. "Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men."

 A. God commands us to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

    1. When we hear the Word of God, it ought to effect a change in our hearts to give

 

        God honor and glory.

    2. We ought not show up for church for church sake.

        a. Going through the motions does not please God.

 B. Our worship ought to draw us closer to God.

     1. Our Worship ought to be because we love God. The evidence is following His

         commands and loving the brethren.

     2. Our worship should based on our fear of God.

     3. Our worship ought to because we honor God.

 C. God does not want lip service.

      1. God wants true servants who make themselves available to Him.

      2. The traditions of man have no place in the worship of God.

          a. Our worship must be according to the Word of God.

          b. True worship considers God as the supreme being and the

              creator and the owner of all things.

     3. True worship gives God praise for all that He does.

     4. True worship gives thanks to God for His goodness.

 

V:14. "Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid."

 A. God does miracles before our eyes every day.

     1. We do not have to rely on the limited wisdom of man to understand the works of

         God.

     2. Man tries to understand the works of God from a logical stand point.

         a. God does not follow man's logic.

         b. God's ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.

 B. We can only understand God through our faith.

      1. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

      2. The just live by faith and not by sight.  

 C. If you don't know the Word for yourself, you can easily be mislead.

     1. The Spiritual person understands God because the spirit of God lives within.

     2. The Spiritual person has a continuous diet of Bible Study.

 

V:15. "Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?"

 A. You can't hide any thing from God.

     1. God knows what you are going to do before think of doing it.

     2. God made you, so He knows your heart.

 B. You do not have a front before God.

     1. God sees you and not your makeup.

     2. Your heart is an open book before the Lord.

 C. You can deceive man but not the Lord.

     1. You can only deceive yourself and others around you.

     2. There are consequences to any attempt to deceive the Lord.

     3. God has a way of calling you out.

     4. He will lay you out on the carpet for all to see.

 D. Everybody looks good in a suit.

      1. Since God is the tailor, He knows who fits in His suits.

      2. Some of us wear the suit, but the fit is not right.

  C. Truth brings life and a lie bring God's wrath.

 

V:16. "Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?"

 A. You can't turn the Word of God into your way of thinking.

      1. We would turn things upside down if we had our way.

      2. We would tell the potter what to do with His clay.

      3. We have to be careful not to act as if God is not our maker.

 B. God made you so he knows all about you

      1. You can't pervert the Word of God and get away with it.

      2. God is not pleased when we try to make His Word fit our way of thinking.

 C. We can't fit God into our will.

     1. We have to fit into God's will.

     2. We can't fit God into our plan.

         a. We have to fit into God's plan.

     3. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

         a. We are not the way.

         b. We are not the truth.

         c. We have no life other than Jesus.

 D. We cannot tell God what commands we will accept.

     1. We have to follow and accept all of God's commands.

 E. God is supreme and we must treat Him with honor.

     1. We must glorify God in all our doings.

     2. God has been good to us, so we owe Him praise and honor.