Alright, let's go back to Isaiah
1. Whenever a sinner engages in
religious exercise, all of the outward means of worship, When
a sinner engages in religious exercise without faith in Christ,
it's idolatry before God. It's idolatry. No amount of zeal,
no amount of our religious activity can atone for our sin. You read
the words when we sing these songs. We just sang Rock of Ages. The second verse says, Could
my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer know? These for sin could not atone. Thou must save, and thou alone. And that's what we are going
to see in our text tonight. The question in this passage
is, for what purpose do you sacrifice? For what purpose do you sacrifice? Now that's a variation of the
next question that God asks a sinner in this series of questions we're
looking at in Scripture. He says there in verse 11, To
what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me, saith
the Lord? Then in verse 12, He asked this
question, When ye come to appear before Me, who hath required
this at your hand to tread My courts? Our text begins here in verse
10, And hear the word of the Lord. This is the Word
of God. He says, ye rulers of Sodom,
give ear unto the Word of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. He addresses the rulers, the
religious leaders, the civil leaders, and the people. And
He calls them Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah. Those were
the wicked cities full of that evil that God hates, sodomy,
or as we politely tone it down and call it, homosexuality. And for that, God poured out
fire from heaven in judgment and destroyed those cities. He
destroyed those cities. So is the Lord speaking to the
inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah? Is that who he's talking to here?
No. Look back at verse 1. The vision
of Isaiah the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. So, if he's talking to the children
of Judah, had they begun to practice sodomy like Sodom and Gomorrah
had? No. It was something far worse
than that. Well, then it must have been
some base immorality that they were guilty of. No, not at all. I want you to notice first of
all, they were very religious. They were very religious. Verse
11, they made a multitude of sacrifices unto God. Burnt offerings
of rams, the fatter-fed beasts, the blood of bullocks and lambs
and of he-goats, just like God commanded. Verse 12, they did
this in God's house. God said, they tread My courts.
Verse 13, they observed new moons and Sabbaths. They called assemblies. They had the solemn meeting.
They had appointed feasts in verse 14. Verse 15 says, they
were continually spreading forth their hands and making many prayers. They were a very, very religious
people. And those sacrifices in those
Sabbath days were commanded by God. They were commanded to be
offered and to be observed by God. You see, that was God's
ordained means of worship in those days. That was how Men
were to worship for that day. So when they heard Isaiah declare
God's question, and he says, when you come to appear before
me, who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts?
They would have answered, God, you did. You required us to do
this. You commanded us to do these
things. But did God require what they were doing? Did God require
what they were doing? Listen to what God says about
the children of Judah and what they were doing. He says there
in verse 11, I'm full of the burnt offerings. He says, I delight
not in the blood of bullocks. He says in verse 13, bring no
more vain oblations. Don't bring me any more sacrifices
of robbery, God said. He says, incense is an abomination
unto me. The new moons and Sabbaths, the
calling of assemblies, I cannot away with it. It's iniquity,
even the solemn meeting. In verse 14, he says, your new
moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hateth. They are trouble unto me. I'm
weary to bear. And when you spread forth your
hands, I will hide mine eyes from you, God said. Yea, when
you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full
of blood. Turn over to Isaiah 66. Isaiah
66. Listen to how God describes it here. Verse 3, He says, He that killeth
an ox is as if he slew a man. The man that kills an ox is guilty
of murder. He that sacrifices a lamb is
as if he cut off a dog's neck. He that offereth an oblation
is as if he offered swine's blood. Both a dog and a pig, neither
one of them were allowed in God's temple. He that burneth incense, as if
he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own
ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. I also
will choose their delusions, and I will bring their fears
upon them, because when I called, none did answer. When I spake,
they did not hear. But they did evil before mine
eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not. You see, God
was not just looking on the outward. He wasn't just looking at the
form. If you would have looked at these people, here they were
coming and doing these things. And here's another man coming
and doing the same exact things. But to this one man, God says,
you're worshiping an idol and I hate it. And to the other man,
God says, I'm delighted in you. I'm well pleased with your worship."
See, God was looking on the heart and He knew what their purpose
was and God hated it. God knew they were not doing
what He required and God hated it. You see, just as those sacrifices
and observance of days was God's means of worship for their day,
we have in our day a means that God has ordained for public worship. For instance, we begin, we make
a public confession of faith in believer's baptism. And we
become a member of the local church. We continually attend
to the preaching of the gospel. We observe the Lord's table.
We sacrificially support the ministry and needy brethren and
our missionaries with hard-earned money. We continue in prayer
and in good works. We have a means of worship, a
form, an outward form of public worship just like they had. Imagine
if I stood here just like Isaiah stood up before them and I said,
God says, I am full of your profession and your baptism. I delight not
in your church membership. Your continual attendance unto
the gospel is an abomination unto me. Your observance of the
Lord's table, I cannot away with it. My soul hateth it. Your support of the ministry
and of needy brethren, of missionaries, is a vain sacrifice of robbery. And what if God said, when you
spread forth your hands to make many prayers, I will not hear
you. I'll hide my eyes from you. You're a trouble to me. I'm weary
to bear you and your practices. Brethren, if you and I are doing
what the children of Judah were doing, that's exactly what God
says to us right here today. If we're guilty of what they
were guilty of, that's what God says to us right here today.
What made God say those things to them? What would make God
say those things to a person in our day? Let's answer the
first question. God asked, to what purpose is
the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? For what purpose are
you sacrificing unto Me? What is the purpose of this multitude
of your sacrifices unto Me? In Isaiah's day, their purpose
was to try to make satisfaction to God for their sins. That was their purpose. Their
purpose was to try to earn God's favor by making all these sacrifices
and observing these days. That was their purpose. That
was what was in their heart. That was their purpose of heart.
And today, there are multitudes doing the same thing. Multitudes
today will join a church, they'll make a confession of faith, they'll
be baptized, they'll join a church, they'll do all these different
forms, this different outward form of religion. Even if it's
true, even if it's exactly what God ordained, men will do these
things, but they'll do them and in their heart be attempting
to make satisfaction to God for their sins, by these things,
by the things they do, by coming to a church service, by praying
many prayers, all these different things we read about right here.
They are trying to earn God's favor. I had a friend that told
me, he said, I am looking for a church to join. And I said,
well, why do you want to join a church? He said, well, I figure
it's about time that I start making up for the first half
of my life when I didn't go to church. And there's a multitude of people
who go through religious exercises just trying to make up for their
sins. Brethren, just like God said
in Isaiah 66, if today, in our day, if we engage in religious
activity, in religious... the true ways of the outward
form of religion. If we engage in that, trying
to make up with God, trying to make satisfaction for our sins,
and trying to earn God's favor, we are guilty of idolatry just
like they were. guilty of murder, crucifying
the Son of God afresh. It is sinful man choosing his
own ways and his soul delighting in his abominations. Religious
acts without Christ is damning. It's damning. The offense before
God in Isaiah's day is the same as today. They did not believe
on God's Son. That was the offense. That was
the offense before God. They did not believe on God's
Son. Sinners then and now are saved
only through faith in Christ. Only through faith in Christ.
Go with me to John 14, 6. John 14, 6. I want everybody
to read this. You know, we go into some really
deep things of God, trying to learn more and more about Christ
and what He accomplished, but sometimes we need to step back
and look at some basic things. Because there's a lot of folks
that are doing just what we're talking about here, that just
come thinking this is what God's pleased with, just the outward
form. But look at this right here. Read John 14, 6 with me. Willie boy, look on there with
your mother. John 14, 6. Jesus saith unto him, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. That means He is the only way
to God. That means He is the truth. He
is everything this book is declaring. He is the life. He is eternal
life. He is heaven. There is no man
cometh unto the Father but by Me. Go to 1 John 5. 1 John 5.
And look at verse 10. 1 John 5, 10. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He is born of the
Spirit. The Spirit bears witness with
our spirit. He has the witness in himself.
But he that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because
he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son. And this
is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life. And this life is in His Son. It's in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. Look with me at Acts 4. Acts
4 verse 12. Neither is there salvation in
any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Go to John 6 real quick. John
chapter 6. What about our works? What must we do? This is the
question that men always have. What must we do? Surely there
is something we need to do. Look at John 6 and verse 28. They said unto Christ, What shall
we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered
and said unto them, This is the work of God, that you believe
on Him whom He hath sent. So why did God command that they
bring those sacrifices then? What was God's purpose in commanding
they bring those sacrifices if salvation is through faith in
Christ? It's because all those sacrifices typified Christ. They all pictured Christ. And
so, when the true believer, those that really were born of God
and given faith to believe, when the true believer came to the
high priest, and he brought the burnt offering, and they burnt
that offering, and they burnt that fat, and he smelled that
sweet savor of that fat going up to God through faith, he beheld
the coming Christ. The Lord Jesus, of whom it said,
He loved us and gave Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet smelling savor. When the high priest burned incense,
the true believer smelled that incense and saw that incense
going up, rising up, and he beheld Christ in spirit. making intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. He beheld Christ
even in the incense. When the true believer rested
from all his physical labor on the Sabbath day, through faith
he beheld Christ who came and worked all the works necessary
for our salvation. So that now, he that's entered
into Christ our rest, he also has ceased from his own works
as God did from His. At the appointed feast called
Passover. That was one of the appointed
feasts. And at the Passover, while the others were just trying
to make satisfaction by bringing the actual sacrifice, the true
believer, He was beholding Christ, the firstborn Son of God, who laid down His life and was
slain in place of His people, so that when Christ, our everlasting
Father, the head of the house, just like the Scripture said
in the Passover, when the head of the house, Christ our Father,
has applied the blood to the doorposts of our heart and given
us faith to rest in Him, When God sees Christ's blood, He passes
over us. He doesn't pour out judgment
on us because Christ already bore that judgment for us. That's
what the true believer held in that appointed feast called Passover.
Now in our day, these means that God has ordained for worship,
just like it was in the old day, the true believer, even in the
means God has ordained, we behold Christ in these things. When
we confess Christ in believer's baptism, we see our brethren
go under the water and come up out of the water. We behold how
that in Christ we were crucified. Our old body of sins, our old
man was crucified and died and we were buried. And when Christ
arose, we arose in Him to newness of life. Paul said in Romans
6, Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized unto Jesus
Christ were baptized unto His death? Therefore we are buried
with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life. Those born again of God, they
unite with other believers in a local church body. You know
why? What do we behold in that? Christ
is the head and His church is His body. And by God's grace,
He's made us members of that body. We're members of Christ's
body, of Christ's own body. Scripture says, now you're the
body of Christ and members in particular. In our day, we don't
offer those sacrifices or observe Sabbath days. Today we gather
and we use those pictures to do what I just did, to see Christ
in them. And we worship Christ through
the preaching of the Word. That was preaching in their day.
Those sacrifices and that high priest and everything he was
doing in that tabernacle, that was their Preaching. Today we don't offer those. Today
we take those types and those shadows. We preach Christ from
them. We preach the Gospel. And that's how we worship Christ
in this day. And this is what we rejoice in. Go to Colossians 2.10. Here's
what we rejoice in when we hear the Gospel. Here's why we don't
worship according to those sacrifices anymore. Colossians 2 and verse
10. You are complete in Christ. You are complete in Christ. That's
the good news. Look down at verse 14. He blotted out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us. All the law which was contrary
to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross. Look at verse 16. Let no man
therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of
a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which
are a shadow of things to come. Those were just pictures, but
the body. is of Christ, the express image,
the fulfillment is Christ. And so that's why we don't offer
those sacrifices anymore. That's why now we come and we
hear the gospel preached through those sacrifices, using them
as types and shadows of Christ at the Lord's table. We don't
just come to the Lord's table because by that religious exercise
we expect to earn God's favor. We come to the Lord's table to
show forth the Lord's death till He comes. We come to the table
to remember His broken body and His shed blood by which we've
been made the righteousness of God in Him. And then, as believers
give sacrificially to help one another, We behold the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ though He was rich, yet for our sakes
He became poor that we through His poverty might be made rich.
And then when you behold a believer do a good work, we don't much
see our own good work, but when you behold a fellow believer
do a good work, We thank God who works His will in His people
to do that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ
our Lord. And we give Him all the glory
and all the praise. You realize that when they came
to that tabernacle... Maybe I'll preach on this sometime. I preached on it a long time
ago. But when they come to that tabernacle and those priests
were washed, The picture of that lamb was slain and then the priests
were washed is a picture of Christ redeeming us and us being born
again, made priests unto God. But when those priests entered
in to do any service to God in that temple, I mean in that tabernacle,
you realize the entire floor of that tabernacle was made out
of silver. Can you imagine what that looked
like? He was made out of silver. And that silver was redemption
silver. That silver was the silver they
collected because all the firstborn had to be redeemed. Remember
that? In the old covenant law, they had to be redeemed. And
so they brought that shekel of the sanctuary and God said, take
those shekels now and you melt them down and make the tabernacle
floor out of that. And that's what they made it
out of. And the picture is this. You have a high priest, a picture
of a believer who's been justified by Christ's blood and washed
in regeneration and he goes now, he can go into God's house and
he can serve God now. But everything he's doing is
on the foundation already laid of redemption accomplished. He's
not adding anything to that foundation. That means, brethren, whatever
we do in the service of God, we're not trying to make satisfaction. We're not adding anything to
what Christ has already accomplished. Believers do everything on the
foundation of Jesus Christ our Lord, our righteousness, our
redemption, the one in whom it's all finished. Everything is on
that foundation. So today, the same as then, there
were means that God ordained. But believers only use the means
to worship Christ. We don't worship the means. We
don't worship the means. We use the means to worship Christ. Let's answer the second question.
God said in verse 12, Isaiah 1.12, When you come to appear
before Me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread My
courts? Then and now, vainly religious
men would say, well God, you required that we come to you
by this means. You required it. That's not what
God's asking them. God's asking them this, who has
required satisfaction be made at your hand in my courts? Who's required satisfaction be
made at your hand in my courts? God never said satisfaction could
be made by a sinner's hand offering sacrifices. Never. Never. Go to Hebrews 10. Hebrews chapter
10. And look at verse 1. The law, having a shadow of good
things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never,
with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually,
make the comers thereunto perfect. They couldn't do it. Verse 4,
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sins. The same is true in our day.
Satisfaction to God is not made by any of these religious exercises. It's not made by our will. Satisfaction
is not made by our will. And satisfaction is not made
by our works. It's not by our decision for
Christ, not by our being baptized, not by our going to church, not
any of these things. Satisfaction to God's broken
law is made one way. It's made by Christ fulfilling
God's will and sanctifying those whom God separated in Christ
before the foundation of the world. It's by God's will and
by Christ's work fulfilling God's will. Look here in Hebrews 10.5.
Wherefore, when He, Christ, cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice
an offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared
Me. And burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure, no satisfaction has been made. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it's written of Me, I come to do thy will,
O God. Look at verse 9, Hebrews 10,
9. The second part there says, He
taketh away the first, that covenant of works, that He may establish
the second, the everlasting covenant of grace. Verse 10, By the witch
will, by God's will, we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. Satisfaction is by God's will
being fulfilled by Christ's works. It's not by our will in our works.
God's will is fulfilled by Christ's works. And look at verse 11.
And every priest stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes
the same sacrifices which can never take away sin. Can you
believe in 2018 they're still doing it? Men are still doing
the same thing. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. God began this passage by calling
the children of Judah Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah. And the reason he did that is
because what they were doing, trying to be saved by their will
and their works, is symbolized by sodomy, by homosexuality. And you ask, how is that so?
A man and a man cannot produce fruit. A man and a man cannot
produce children. They can't produce fruit. And
he started out there addressing the rulers and the people. The
rulers, the religious leaders, were telling the people, man
and man, how to produce fruit. And none of them ever produced
any fruit to God. Ever. And so that's a spiritual
sodomy. It's a spiritual homosexuality
to try to come to God by your will and your works. Yesterday,
A man who was the prominent teacher for the past hundred years died. And he would have stadiums full
of people. One reporter yesterday said he
was at one of his crusades and he said that when he gave the
call to come down to the front, he said it was like fans in the
stadium rushing the floor when their team had won the championship. People just rushing to the front.
Why? Because He was telling people
they could be born again by their will, by making a decision for
Christ. And by that, by their will, they
made Christ's work, His blood effectual for them. And then He would tell them by
their works you can be made progressively more and more holy by your works
of law keeping. Either righteousness and holiness
is all of Christ apart from you and I contributing anything,
or this book is a lie. One of the two. You see, that's
a type, that's symbolized by homosexuality. because it's a
spiritual sodomy. And see, now in this day, just
like God called Judah Sodom and Gomorrah, the reason you see
in our day that God has judged this nation and turned us over
to a nation of homosexuality, where everybody condones it,
everybody thinks it's fine, the root cause of it goes back
to men in pulpits preaching salvation by man's will and man's works. That was the cause of it. You
look at this passage. That's what they were guilty
of and God called them Sodom and Gomorrah. And before it was
over with, God turned them over to do physical homosexuality. That's the judgment of God. We've
got a country full of self-righteous folks who are guilty of spiritual
sodomy. Now everybody, under the sound
of my voice, please hear what I'm about to say. God never required
any sinner to ever attempt to make satisfaction for our sins,
ever. He never required that. Christ
alone made satisfaction to God, and it's only through faith in
His blood that we're saved. Now, lastly, go back to Isaiah
1. Lastly, if a sinner is trying
to save himself by his will and his works, what does God command
him to do? He says in verse 16, wash you,
make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before
mine eyes, cease to do evil. That, in our day, is faith. That's faith. He's calling on
them to repent from the evil of trying to make satisfaction
by their will and their works. That's the evil. And believe
on Christ. And you see, when God has sent
the Holy Spirit and washed us in regeneration and purged our
conscience through this gospel, through the blood of Christ,
That's when He gives you faith and repentance. Repentance from
the dead, evil work of trying to make satisfaction to God by
your will and your works. And He gives you faith to simply
cast it all on Christ and rest in Him. He does it through this
Gospel. We say, wash you, make you clean. But you can't do it unless God
washes you and makes you clean. And then you'll cast your care
on Christ. Why tell a sinner to do it then? Because God told
us in the valley of dry bones, tell them to live. Tell them
to wash themselves. And I'll send forth My Spirit
and I'll make them live. And I'll make them wash in the
blood of Christ. That's why we preach it. And then this is love
right here. With faith always God gives a
heart of love. Right here, verse 17. Learn to
do well. Seek judgment. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for
the winner. Work righteousness amongst your
brethren and amongst your fellow man. And when He gives you a
heart of faith, He gives you a heart of love. Faith and love. That's what Christ gives when
He creates a new man within us. When He gives you a heart of
love, you fulfill that command right there, first and foremost,
by bringing your friends and your loved ones to hear the gospel
of Christ. That's the number one way we
love our brethren and our friends. Bring them to hear the gospel
of Christ. Because it's through this gospel that Christ made
judgment settle and relieved us from the oppression of the
law and from legal tyrants preaching law to us. And it's through this
gospel that Christ helps needy, helpless sinners like us who
are as helpless as an orphan and a widow. And the second way
that we love and do these things is to actually work what is just
and right between our brethren and our fellow man. And this
is the heart of a believer. This is what a believer wants
to do when he's put this new heart within you. You don't want
to come to God anymore by your works. I'm so afraid that anything
I do in religious exercise is just going to be for show. That
scares me to death. I want to guard against that
more than anything else. I don't want to pray just for
show. I don't want to come here and do anything in this service
just for show or thinking that it's going to put me in better
favor with God. I don't want to do that. I don't want that
to ever enter into it. And that's the heart of every
believer. We turn from that evil work. And all our care is on
Christ. And not only that, brethren,
We love one another. God's given us a heart of love.
I was talking to Ravi this week, coming down the elevator. It's
trials like this that, you know, we're all busy, we all have our
lives, and we don't necessarily call or go to see one another
all the time. But when you have a trial like
this, God, one of the reasons He gives it is so We get to see
just how truly our brethren love us. And you see brethren come
together. You see brethren truly mourning
with you, and praying with you, and begging God with you, and
hurting with you. And you see they love you. And
this is the heart of brethren. We're not under law. We're not
under legal restraints. We're not under anything. Our
motive in everything is the love of Christ toward us. That's the
best motive. That's the only motive. is the
love of God toward us. You see, their heart's motive,
it's not the outward, it's not the outward by which you see
the motive. They were coming and doing just what God commanded,
and they were doing what others who were accepted of God were
doing. But the motive in their heart was not the motive of the
believer. The motive in their heart was,
their motive was to try to make God indebted to them. Our motive
We are constrained by the love of Christ for us. And that makes
you want to do what God says to do. Believe on Christ and
love one another. And that's the only rule we are
under, brethren. Faith which works by love. Amen.