I am reading from the book of
Isaiah chapter 59 this morning. Isaiah chapter 59. If you want
to follow along with me, I hope you will. Now, the true prophets
of God throughout the scripture were always in the minority. Men such as Moses, Samuel, Elijah,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others, they stood alone against a majority
of self-ordained, self-sent false prophets. There is a story one
time of Elijah standing against 850 men, false prophets, and
mocked them and their false gods. And the prophets of old had nothing
good to say about their generation. To the contrary, they spoke out
against the widespread corruption in their day, particularly in
religion. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel
in particular had a great deal to say against their day, and
nothing, it seems, but judgment and condemnation. And man hasn't
changed. Religion hasn't changed. In fact, since the worldwide
population is much greater than in their day, therefore the corruption
is more widespread and universal. Now, someone will surely call
this negative preaching, but that's okay. That doesn't bother
me, for the fact is There is a very negative outlook for this
world. Fact is, God Almighty is going
to destroy this world. Not a loving God, which most
preachers ignorantly declare, but a holy, just, righteous,
angry, and offended God. Now, those are scriptural terms
which very few have heard. those perilous last days spoken
of by the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 3. They are upon us, the perilous
times, the last day. Here in Isaiah chapter 59, the
prophet Isaiah speaks out against his day, and yet it is a clear
denunciation of our day. In verse 1 I read, The Lord's
hand is not shortened that it cannot save. Why, most preachers
say so today, don't they? Don't you hear preachers say
things like this? God can't save you unless you
let him. Let go and let God. Let God, the creature, must let
the Creator do something. The servant must let the master
do something. Man must allow God to do something. That's what they're saying. They
say things like this, he's done all he can do, now it is up to
you. In other words, God Almighty,
sovereign, reigning, ruling, controlling God of all the universe
who works all things after the counsel of his own will, Scripture
says. Yet they say he's done all he
can do. And now it's all up to man. Look
at verse 2. I still read in Isaiah 59 verse
2 which says, Your iniquities have separated between you and
your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he
will not hear. He will not hear. Why, have you
ever heard a modern preacher declare such a thing as this
that Isaiah has said, that God will not hear? Why, to hear preachers
today, you would think God has nothing more to do than to sit
around and wait on somebody to call on him, that he is at our
beckoning call. No, Isaiah says God will not
hear. Verse 3, I read, He says, your
hands are defiled with blood, your fingers with iniquity, your
lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. Lies and perverseness. My generation has no fear of
God. In fact, that's a very popular
saying today, isn't it? No fear. Paul said that in Romans
3.18, there is no fear of God before their eyes. My generation
has no fear of God. They do not hesitate to say anything
and everything about God, to use God's name and to speak of
God in a flippant, careless, irreverent, disrespectful, common
and ordinary way. Anything and everything goes
today about God. God is being mocked and ridiculed,
especially by preachers. In Jeremiah chapter 23, God says
much about the false prophets there in Jeremiah 23, false prophets
who say things like this, Thus saith the Lord, or the Lord told
me, the Lord spoke to me last night and he said, But now God
says here in Jeremiah 23, 18, God said, who stood in the counsel
of the Lord and heard him say that? In other words, where is
that written? Where did they find this? That's
what I would like to ask various preachers and persons who say,
the Lord told me this. Where is that written? In Isaiah
8, verse 20, It reads this way, to the law and to the testimony,
if they speak not according to my word, it is because there
is no light in them. If they speak not expressly according
to God's written word, there is no light in them, no understanding. That makes them a false prophet. If they speak anything in addition
to or keep back something from God's word, there is no light
in them. They are darkness, false prophets. I continue to read here in Isaiah
59, verse 4. None calleth for justice, nor
any pleadeth for truth. They trust in vanity and speak
lies. They conceive mischief and bring
forth iniquity. None calleth for justice, it
says, or pleadeth for truth. Why, about the only question
I have people ask me today, the average person asks me is, how
many in your church? Is your church growing? What
denomination is it? Do you all belong to this or
that organization? Do you have curtains in your
church? Do you have this or that? I never hear anyone ask this,
what does God's word truly say about God, about Christ, about
man, about the way of salvation? Why, no, I don't hear that. You
don't hear that today. Everybody's already fixed up.
Why, they made a decision long ago in some church service years
ago. They got saved, so to speak,
years ago. They attend the church of their
choice now. They've got their salvation written
on their license plate. They can quote John 3.16. Well,
what else is there, preacher? I continue to read in verse 9
of Isaiah 59, which says, Therefore is judgment far from us, neither
doth justice overtake us. Judgment is far from us, he said. As Paul said in Romans 1, professing
themselves to be wise, they became fools. We live in an educated
society, don't we? Most are devoid of true spiritual
judgment and understanding from God's word. Peter called it willful
ignorance. They being willingly ignorant,
he said. Willful ignorance. In spite of
the plainest scriptures which are written, the problem is not
with the understanding. The problem is men don't like
what it says and so reject it. I'm continuing to read in Isaiah
59 verse 13, which says, "...in transgressing and lying against
the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression
and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood."
Lying against the Lord, departing away from our God, conceiving
and uttering words of falsehood from the heart. Perhaps you who
hear this this morning, perhaps you have heard of this so-called
God Speaks campaign going on today. Have you heard of that?
If not, I know you've seen it on billboards and so-called church
bulletin boards throughout the land. you'll see clever little
catchy statements that men have made up and signed God at the
bottom of it. Have signed God's name to it. They've made up clever little
catchy statements. Not God's word, mind you, but
they're little clever statements supposedly coming from God and
signed his name to it. Not only does this reveal man's
utter contempt of God's Word, or that is, there are thousands
upon thousands of verses from God Almighty's Word, each one
one verse, one word, full of infinite wisdom and power. Yes, in the power of the Holy
Spirit, if one word is applied to the heart of a man, it can
save that person. Yet, men think more of their
own little words and catchy phrases, thinking God's word is not good
enough or powerful enough, not relevant to this generation.
not powerful or good enough to arrest the heart and mind. So
we will use our own catchy little phrases. Not only that, but men
and women are lying on God. Isaiah said it here, that they
are lying on God by displaying things he did not say and signing
his holy name to it. Let me ask you, frankly, What
if I published abroad statement after statement that you did
not make, that you did not say, and signed your name to it? You would be furious, you would
be angry, you would sue me for slander and defamation of character. Well, God Almighty is not going
to sue, but is going to damn men for the same thing, defamation
of His character. There is a total disregard for
the Word of God today. Total, across the board, disregard
for the Word of God today. In spite of the plainest of scriptures,
men go ahead and do things and say things totally contrary to
what is said. Listen to this. Scriptures such
as this in Leviticus 18, verse 22, which says, Thou shalt not
lie with mankind as with womankind. It is abomination. What could
be clearer in denouncing homosexuality? While there is a universal contempt
for scriptures such as this, there is a worldwide agenda to
make it acceptable, what God calls abominable. Even in religion,
in the name of God, they are doing it. No less contemptible
No less is a disregard for God's word is scriptures such as this. In 1 Corinthians 14, verse 34,
let your women keep silence in the church. It is not permitted
unto them to speak. They are commanded to be under
obedience as also saith the law. Yet there is a total disregard
for that. Women stand up daily, preaching and so forth. 1 Timothy
2, In verse 12, I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp
authority over the man, but to be in silence. Why, there is
more concern today for being politically correct than biblically
correct, more fear of man than of God. Well, it is time someone
declared what God's word says in spite of what men say, and
women. I read in closing Isaiah 59,
verse 4. 14 and 15, judgment is turned
way backward, justice standeth afar off, truth is fallen in
the street, equity cannot enter, they don't want to hear it. Yea,
truth faileth, and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey,
or that is, the one who dares to speak against it and just
say what God has said becomes the enemy of the enemies of the
truth. Well, I hope you will heed. God's word and not the popular
opinion of the day. Amen.