Category: Sermons (Page 1 of 13)

Isaiah 8 (ESV)

Two Enemies, Two Waters

1: Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’

2: And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”

3: And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz;

4: for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

5: The Lord spoke to me again:

6: “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah,

7: therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks,

8: and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”

9: Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered; give ear, all you far countries; strap on your armor and be shattered; strap on your armor and be shattered.

10: Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.

One Message, Two Audiences

11: For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying:

12: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.

13: But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

14: And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

15: And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

16: Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples.

17: I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.

18: Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

19: And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?

20: To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.

21: They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward.

22: And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.

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Isaiah 7 (ESV)

A Promise

1: In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it.

2: When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

3: And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field.

4: And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah.

5: Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying,

6: “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,”

7: thus says the Lord God: “‘It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass.

8: For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. And within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.

9: And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.’”

A Sign

10: Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz,

11: “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.”

12: But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.”

13: And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?

14: Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

15: He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.

16: For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.

17: The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”

18: In that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

19: And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.

20: In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.

21: In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep,

22: and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat curds and honey.

23: In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns.

24: With bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns.

25: And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.

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Isaiah 5:1-7 (ESV)

Provision

1: Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

2: He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

Confrontation

3: And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.

4: What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?

Judgement

5: And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.

6: I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

Epilogue

7: For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!

Isaiah 4:2-6 (ESV)

A Remnant

2: In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel.

3: And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem,

A Cleansing

4: when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.

A Covering

5: Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy.

6: There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.

Isaiah 3:1–15 (ESV)

Loss

1: For behold, the Lord God of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water;

2: the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder,

3: the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician and the expert in charms.

4: And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them.

Disruption

5: And the people will oppress one another, every one his fellow and every one his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable.

6: For a man will take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying: “You have a cloak; you shall be our leader, and this heap of ruins shall be under your rule”;

7: in that day he will speak out, saying: “I will not be a healer; in my house there is neither bread nor cloak; you shall not make me leader of the people.”

Shame

8: For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence.

9: For the look on their faces bears witness against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves.

10: Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.

11: Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.

12: My people—infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths.

Judgement

13: The Lord has taken his place to contend; he stands to judge peoples.

14: The Lord will enter into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: “It is you who have devoured the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

15: What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?” declares the Lord God of hosts.

Isaiah 2:12–22 (ESV)

The Devastation of Pride

12: For the LORD of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;

13: against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up; and against all the oaks of Bashan;

14: against all the lofty mountains, and against all the uplifted hills;

15: against every high tower, and against every fortified wall;

16: against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the beautiful craft.

17: And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

18: And the idols shall utterly pass away.

The Effect of Divine Terror

19: And people shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.

20: In that day mankind will cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats,

21: to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.

22: Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?

Isaiah 2:6-11 (ESV)

The Devastation of Idolatry

6: For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of things from the east and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.

7: Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots.

8: Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.

The Curse of Humiliation

9: So man is humbled, and each one is brought low—do not forgive them!

10: Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from before the terror of the LORD, and from the splendor of his majesty.

11: The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

Micah 5 (ESV)

1: Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops;
siege is laid against us;
with a rod they strike the judge of Israel
on the cheek.

2: But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
from ancient days.

3: Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in labor has given birth;
then the rest of his brothers shall return
to the people of Israel.

4: And he shall stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure,
for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth.

5: And he shall be their peace.
When the Assyrian comes into our land
and treads in our palaces,
then we will raise against him seven shepherds
and eight princes of men;

6: They shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
and the land of Nimrod at its entrances;
and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian
when he comes into our land
and treads within our border.

7: Then the remnant of Jacob shall be
in the midst of many peoples
like dew from the Lord,
like showers on the grass,
which delay not for a man
nor wait for the children of man.

8: And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations,
in the midst of many peoples,
like a lion among the beasts of the forest,
like a young lion among the flocks of sheep,
which, when it goes through, treads down
and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver.

9: Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries,
and all your enemies shall be cut off.

10: And in that day, declares the Lord,
I will cut off your horses from among you
and will destroy your chariots;

11: And I will cut off the cities of your land
and throw down all your strongholds;

12: And I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
and you shall have no more tellers of fortunes;

13: And I will cut off your carved images
and your pillars from among you,
and you shall bow down no more
to the work of your hands;

14: And I will root out your Asherah images from among you
and destroy your cities.

15: And in anger and wrath I will execute vengeance
on the nations that did not obey.

Isaiah 1 (ESV)

The Fullness and Fruit of Rebellion

1: The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2: Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for the Lord has spoken:
“Children have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.

3: The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey its master’s crib,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”

4: Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the Lord,
they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly estranged.

5: Why will you still be struck down?
Why will you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint.

6: From the sole of the foot even to the head,
there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
and raw wounds;
they are not pressed out or bound up
or softened with oil.

7: Your country lies desolate;
your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
foreigners devour your land;
it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.

8: And the daughter of Zion is left
like a booth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumber field,
like a besieged city.

9: If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors,
we should have been like Sodom,
and become like Gomorrah.

The Insufficiency of Sacrifice

10: Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!

11: “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.

12: When you come to appear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?

13: Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.

14: Your new moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.

15: When you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.

16: Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,

17: learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.

The Nature of Redemption

18: “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.

19: If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;

20: but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be eaten by the sword;
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

The Certainty of Vengeance

21: How the faithful city
has become a whore,
she who was full of justice!
Righteousness lodged in her,
but now murderers.

22: Your silver has become dross,
your best wine mixed with water.

23: Your princes are rebels
and companions of thieves.
Everyone loves a bribe
and runs after gifts.
They do not bring justice to the fatherless,
and the widow’s cause does not come to them.

24: Therefore the Lord declares,
the Lord of hosts,
the Mighty One of Israel:
“Ah, I will get relief from my enemies
and avenge myself on my foes.

25: I will turn my hand against you
and will smelt away your dross as with lye
and remove all your alloy.

26: And I will restore your judges as at the first,
and your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward you shall be called
the city of righteousness,
the faithful city.”

27: Zion shall be redeemed by justice,
and those in her who repent, by righteousness.

28: But rebels and sinners shall be broken together,
and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.

29: For they shall be ashamed of the oaks
that you desired;
and you shall blush for the gardens
that you have chosen.

30: For you shall be like an oak
whose leaf withers,
and like a garden without water.

31: And the strong shall become tinder,
and his work a spark,
and both of them shall burn together,
with none to quench them.

Psalm 137 (ESV)

The Pain of Separation

1: By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.

2: On the willows there we hung up our lyres.

3: For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

4: How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?

The Heart of Remembrance

5: If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill!

6: Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!

The Wrath of Divine Vengeance

7: Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!”

8: O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us!

9: Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!