Scott Brown's sermon, 'Worldly Christians,' focuses on Isaiah 48:1-11, addressing the issue of people who have heard God's word yet remain unmoved in their hearts. The sermon explores how the passage illustrates the doctrines of the Old and New Covenants, God's enduring patience, and His call for genuine worship in spirit and truth. Brown highlights the contrast between a mere outward form of religion and true inward faith, emphasizing that many profess faith without possessing it. The sermon draws parallels between the historical context of Babylon and the spiritual complacency of modern believers, urging them to leave 'Babylon' and become part of a spiritual nation. God's perseverance is highlighted, as He continues to call out to His people despite their obstinacy, aiming to refine them through affliction and for His own glory. The sermon concludes with questions for self-reflection, urging listeners to assess their spiritual condition and relationship with God.

The sermon text is from Isaiah 48 verses 1 to 11. Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth from the wellsprings of Judah, who swear by the name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth or in righteousness. For they call themselves after the Holy City and lean on the God of Israel. The Lord of hosts is his name. I have declared the former things from the beginning.

They went forth from my mouth and I caused them to hear it. Suddenly I did them and they came to pass. Because I knew that you were obstinate, and your neck was an iron sinew, and your brow bronze, even from the beginning I have declared it to you. Before it came to pass, I proclaimed it to you. Lest you should say, my idol has done them, and my carved image and my molded image have commanded them.

You have heard, see all this, and will you not declare it? I have made you hear new things from this time, even hidden things, and you did not know them. They are created now and not from the beginning, And before this day you have not heard them. Lest you should say, of course I knew them. Surely you did not hear, surely you did not know.

Surely from long ago your ear was not opened. For I knew that you would deal very treacherously and were called a transgressor from the womb. For my name's sake, I will defer my anger, and for my praise, I will restrain it from you so that I do not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

For my own sake, for my own sake I will do it. For how should my name be profaned? And I will not give my glory to another. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that as we read this passage, as we are instructed in these words, Lord, that our ears would be anointed, that our hearts would be open.

Father, that we would not allow our sin and our blindness to come in the way. Lord, that you would remove it. Father, that we would not be obstinate, that we would not be a stiff-necked people. Oh, Father, may your Spirit come and fall upon us afresh. Oh Lord, that our hearts would be opened, that our eyes would be opened, that our ears would be opened to the words that Scott now brings.

Father, empower Scott too, that you would speak through him and we hear him not as a man but as your words being spoken through him Lord in Jesus name amen. The focus of Isaiah 48 is a people who've heard it all. They've grown up with it all, and they're unmoved in their hearts. And this chapter is so remarkable. It declares so many of the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith.

It declares the nature of the old covenant and the message that God brought to his people in the old covenant and the new covenant as well. But It declares the love of God. It declares how patient God is. How he continues to speak to his people. And he speaks to them even while they're unmoved.

He continues to raise his voice to look at them in the eye and say, turn to me, come and taste of that living bread, come and drink of that living water. And this passage really lays out this vision of God working across the ages and how from the old covenant to the new covenant, he continues to declare his glory and he's calling. He's calling people by name. He's calling his people by name. You can find the doctrine of the patience or the perseverance of God in this chapter.

You can find the whole doctrine of the new and the old covenant and how God continues to escalate the beauty of his kingdom from one dispensation to another, to the old dispensation and the new. You know, Kevin Swanson has preached a sermon on this passage and he called it Teenage Rebellion and he did that because this passage talks about people who have just kind of grown up in the church. Now the time horizon here isn't like the time of your teenage years. The time horizon of this is hundreds of years, hundreds of years and then the people of God are before Isaiah and he speaks to them and And it's it's like teenage rebellion. It's like teenagers growing up in the church and they kind of think of themselves as Christians They might call themselves as Christians.

They pray they act like Christians in a lot of ways, but but the the truth is is that they're they're worldly, they still are filled with Babylon, which is by the way, if you've been here with us in these expositions, you know, we're still talking about Babylon. In the previous chapter, we saw how Babylon is going down. It's going down. Don't hook your star to Babylon. You're going down with it.

That's really the heart of the matter in the previous chapter. But this chapter continues to speak of those who I believe are in Babylon or being released from Babylon and they've been taken to Babylon for judgment so that God would wake them up. Because you find the doctrine of the chastisement of God in this chapter too. Because God sent His children to Babylon to wake them up and they didn't wake up. And He describes them here in this passage.

They've heard, but their lives don't declare it. The heart of the matter is this, it's in verse 1, they make mention of God, but not in truth or in righteousness. In other words, the talk is cheap. And then later on, you have heard and will you not declare it? That's the heart of the matter in this now Isaiah 48 brings us to a continuation of Isaiah's prophecies about Babylon The focus shifts a little bit, but we're still talking about Babylon.

We've been talking about Babylon since chapter 44. And God has been declaring his perspective on Babylon, what it means to have Babylon in you, what does it do to you. He's been declaring all these things. And then finally, in the previous chapter, chapter 47, he declares that he's destroying Babylon. Remember how he said, you know, Babylon is a burden to you.

The world will just weigh you down, but God carries you. So Isaiah's been making this contrast between Babylon and between the true people of God. And so in this chapter, he's explaining how he has prophesied to them literally for hundreds of years. He's been prophesying to declare his truthfulness to them, and yet So many have just had a form of religion and Isaiah is addressing these people with all the outright outward manifestations of of religiosity of Christianity, but the inward realities don't exist Because as it says in verse 2 in they do not worship Him in truth or in righteousness. And it brings us to this matter that Mike mentioned at the very beginning of our service.

God is looking for worshippers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. It goes deep. It goes so deep in you to the Spirit and it takes hold of you. Jesus said that in John 4. And God also is teaching here of a spiritual reality.

He's teaching his people that their being a physical nation is not enough And they need to become a spiritual nation. And just in saying those words, I know that there are always people in a church who are either just in a physical nation, or they're really in a spiritual nation And you can't always tell who they are But God knows who they are and he got us speaking to these to these two primarily really almost exclusively to those who are just of a physical nation. And the waters of life haven't percolated down into their hearts. It's not going in. And He gives some very vivid language about that later on, about how hard-headed they are.

Isaiah is teaching his people why he prophesied to his people for so long and why it was that their ears didn't open. Because you can hear the Word of God for a long time and your ears don't open. They just don't open. And Isaiah is addressing that issue here. And we also, we learn the ultimate reason for this.

Why he has done all these things. He says he's done it for his own glory. He says, for my sake, for my own sake am I doing these things. Remember, God is bringing many sons to glory. God is bringing everything to a victory.

God is going to right every wrong. He's going to make all things beautiful in his time. That's what God is doing. He's doing it all for his own glory. And so as a result, he allows it, he actually ordains it that there would be people who would hear and hear and hear and hear and not understand the water is not seeping down into their hearts and they remain hard and Those people they either remain hard forever or at some point they feel that water trickling down and God gives them a heart of flesh instead of a heart of stone.

There are some critical words to recognize in this chapter. First is the word hear. The word hear is used eight times in this chapter. Six times in our text today in verses 1 through 11. Here is to...

It's a call to hear because it's so easy to just hear and hear and hear and not really understand, to have the words just bounce off of you. The other word is not, It's in verse 1, not in truth or righteousness. In other words, you can hear, but not in truth and righteousness. And then the third word is Babylon. This is the final chapter that Babylon is mentioned in the book of Isaiah.

So let's don't lose the moment. Now next week when Dan preaches on this, you'll hear more of Babylon, but if you go to verse 20, you'll read the final word regarding Babylon, which says this, go forth from Babylon. In other words, get out of Babylon. Leave Babylon. You know, God has already used Babylon's physical existence to be a picture of spiritual realities and He's saying get out of Babylon run for your life and And Isaiah is showing Judah that she's become an amalgamation of Babylon and Jerusalem.

She's just all mixed up. She hasn't decided. She's still wavering between two positions. A little bit of Jerusalem and a little bit of Babylon will send you to hell. And so he's saying no, repent.

Get out of Babylon. In verse 20. That will be the subject, partly the subject of next week's sermon. It's figured into this whole context. Now, also just by way of introduction, this wider context.

We know in chapters 1-39 in Isaiah, God is declaring His judgment against His people. He is showing how He will so beneficially chastise his people. He speaks of how he strikes them to get them to turn to him, and he says, why should I strike you again? But chapters 1 through 39 are largely about how God uses trouble and chastisement to turn your head to Him. And during that time I think we a lot of us started thinking a lot better of our chastisement.

So we were thinking maybe He was turning us, maybe it was so much better for us rather than such a hard thing, but it was good for us. And we could say, like David, it was good for me that I was afflicted. So that's chapters 1 through 39, but in chapter 40 through the end of the book, to 66, is a declaration of the glory of the gospel and the whole theme is behold your God. Behold your God and be saved. Your only hope is God.

And in chapter 40, verse 1 to chapter 42 verse 17, we read about the consolation of those who behold their God comfort yes comfort my people says your God there's only there's only one place in this world that you can find comfort and that is in God and and then in chapter 42 18 through 44 23 we saw the redemption of of the blind servant Remember the courtroom scene where God is lining up all these people in the courtroom and saying, you tell me what your God does for you. And God says, no, look at me. Look at me what I do for my people. And then in chapter 44 up to the end of chapter 48, it's this great deliverance from Babylon. So we're still talking about Babylon here.

This is a kind of a climax of a section of God's patience and mercy toward his people who are in Babylon and what he is doing for those who have been sent to Babylon for their chastisement. And then finally, in chapter 49 through 55, is this greater deliverance by the suffering servant. So you have a great deliverance from Babylon that culminates in this chapter, and then you have this greater deliverance by Jesus Christ, the suffering servant. And we'll read every week about the suffering servant Jesus Christ in this next section as we move into it. So we're kind of coming to the end of one of the short sections in Isaiah.

I just wanted us to sort of get our coordinates about us. And then let's look at just this chapter. In verses 1 through 11, the primary focus is God's past providence and the way that He's spoken to His people. In verse 12, to the end of the chapter, is largely focused on God's future perseverance. Verse 16 is a key verse in this next section that speaks of this servant who is filled with the Holy Spirit.

That's Jesus. So that's kind of a sense of the structure here. Now let's move into the text beginning first of all with verses 1 and 2 where God is calling Judah to hear the truth about herself. Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel and have come from the well springs of Judah, who swear by the name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth or in righteousness. For they called themselves after the holy city and lean on the God of Israel.

The Lord of hosts is his name so of course the I Judah is the the focus here the people of God that he is addressing and is he speaking to them while they're in Babylon or after they've been delivered from Babylon? I'm not sure. But he's also laying out a principle of his people that's applicable in every age. You have a people like this, a people who have been chastised. God has been speaking to them.

The word of God has gone out, but it's just bouncing off of them. This is what happened in Babylon. You would think that with all the prophecies, that once they were sent to Babylon, they would have been so purified, humbled, and chastised that they would have turned to God but they didn't. And so this this whole scene is is a picture of the children of Israel who either are in Babylon or they've been been liberated and are back in Jerusalem and Isaiah is diagnosing their disposition toward God. That's the big thing and as we go through this diagnose your own disposition toward God.

Pray about it. Ask God what is your disposition toward him Because he begins with this, hear this, O house of Jacob. It's a call to hear. He's addressing the common people. Is he addressing the remnant?

No, I don't think so. I think he's addressing this mixed multitude, as we always do when we gather together in the church. And he says they are called by the name of Israel. Do you see that? Called by the name of Israel.

This is who they are. They come from the right religion. They have a name. It's kind of like the church in Revelation. They have a name that they're alive, but they're not really alive.

They're just part of the deal. They're part of the culture of a church. And also we said they come forth from the well springs of Judah. In other words, they came out of the headwaters of the people of God. But now they're distant from that.

And there's no substance of the people of God from these well springs. And then they swear by the name of the Lord. In other words, they say the right things. They took an oath, maybe even like baptism. There are people in the church today that did go through baptism, but they, well, it wasn't in truth.

It happens all the time. And it does continue to happen. But this is just a reality that happens to people. But it says that they swore by the name of the Lord, they took an oath. You know, this is why the Lord Jesus said, do not swear falsely.

Don't make false oaths. Don't take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Taking the name of the Lord your God in vain is to talk about Christ, and do the things of Christ, and acknowledge Christ, but not really love Christ. That's what he's talking about here. And then they make mention of the God of Israel, this next statement.

It's very easy for people to use God language. This is what the Bible calls lip service. You know, I've had discussions with people that can talk theology. They can talk you to the ground on theology. They're actually no more of the theology than you do, and some of them have proven themselves not even to be saved.

At some point, they come to a place And they say, you know, I don't really love him. I've just been a theology jock. How about that? It happens. It happens to people that have grown up in a Christian environment.

They can give you all the right answers, and yet they're really just theology jocks. But there's nothing in them that would save their souls. Christ is not in them. He's not their greatest affection. It is not who they love.

And so they make mention of the God of Israel. And then they call themselves after the Holy City. Now, if they were in Babylon, which I think it's quite likely they were in Babylon, I'm not totally confident in that, but if they were in Babylon, they're thinking they're a special people and they're thinking of the holy city. Matthew Henry explains it like this, they valued themselves upon their interest in it in the holy city and they took great pride in it which is why in John chapter 4 you know Jesus comes to Sychar in this plot of ground and and he says that that many who are unholy and are proud in their relationship with the church are there in the holy city. He has a little debate with a woman about what it means to be holy in the holy city, the woman at the well.

And then it says they lean on the God of Israel. They lean on the God of Israel They lean on the God of Israel and I take this in the context that it was a leaning Of a certain kind It was leaning on an empty reliance. That there was no genuineness in it. They sort of felt like they wanted to lean, but they weren't actually leaning in terms of not in righteousness and truth as he terms it here in these first two verses. Because in reality it was not in truth or in righteousness.

See that at the end of verse one? Not in truth or in righteousness. See that at the end of verse 1? Not in truth or in righteousness. That's the operative, interpretive key to this text.

The worship, the reliance, the words were not in truth and in righteousness. The Pharisees were a good example of that in Jesus' day. Talk is cheap is a good way to speak of it. A profession of faith is not the same as personal heartfelt possession of faith. Profession is not the same thing as possession.

Profession can indicate possession, but it doesn't always indicate possession of true faith. They were impervious. It just wasn't percolating down. You know what an impervious surface is? Those of you who deal with land and building, you know what an impervious surface is.

And surfaces have different rates of porosity. In other words, things seep down in different places. If you're out in the countryside, the water seeps in differently than in the city. And these people were, he's talking about a people to where they hear, they hear, they hear, but it doesn't come in and seep on down. And they have the earthly signs.

He says, you have heard and will you not declare it? You've heard it, but will you, does it really come out in your whole life, like in your mouth and the things you think and everywhere you are? You know, from your personal conversations to the things that you do, to your Facebook page, to everything. Is it coming out like, you said it came down, but does it ever come out? That's the whole idea that's here.

And then after laying this foundation, Isaiah begins now to speak about God and his faithfulness to people who are in this condition. Because people in this condition, under the love of God, will continue to hear the message. I think he's saying he's going to continue to bring them to hear because he loves them because he desires To take them as it is his own. He's he's he's patiently for bearingly Not destroying them continuing to preach to them so that there would be that day when they would hear and the water would somehow be released, it would come down and they would know that there is a God deep within their hearts and they would care nothing but for God. And so, in verses 3 through 6, we find that God has been faithful to call.

Verse 3, I have declared the former things from the beginning. They went forth from my mouth, and I caused them to hear it. Suddenly, I did them, and they came to pass." This is how God warned his children beforehand, way, way beforehand. And by the way, you'll notice two terms in here that it's important to understand to get the flow of Isaiah's prophecy and what he's meaning. He's speaking about the former things, got that?

Former things and new things. Those are the two things that he's speaking about that he has been declaring. And he so in the former things he's talking about things that he has said going way back. How far back? I'm not sure how far back.

To Abraham? To Adam? I'm not sure how far back he's going. At least to Abraham. And to Moses.

And The whole declaration of the glory of God, the commands and the principles and the ways, and the way that God has always been appealing to his people, those are the former things. Now this word, former things, is used different ways in Isaiah. It is sometimes used for things in the near past, but in this case even as far back as the Exodus, like in 43.9 and 43.18, these former things were absolutely the Exodus. So he's at least going far back to the Exodus. How far back was the Exodus?

Well when was the Exodus? The Exodus was in about 1445 BC. Well now we're in about 700 BC when Isaiah is prophesying, but he's prophesying of something that happens in 586 BC for 70 years. So, I believe the perspective is sort of like a fast forward to being in Babylon or having been released from Babylon and looking back on history to Adam to Noah to Abraham to Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Moses and David. I think it's that look back.

I think he's saying, I have spoken for hundreds of years. And now we're at, in the sixth century BC. So I think that's the time frame that he's speaking. So former things, that's like a time marker. But I think it's a big old, I think it's a marker of a big old hunk of time.

And then the new things. I take this as referring to the coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the suffering servant, which is alluded to here, but more explicitly is revealed, particularly in verse 16. I think in verse 6 and verse 16 you see it. This probably seems way too academic, but I think it's helpful to understand what former things and new things are. Next week's sermon will be primarily focused on the new things.

And so what Isaiah is saying is that in his mercy and his kindness and his love, He has spoken, He speaks from one generation to the next. He continues to speak and even though you might not hear, He continues to speak. And even though like maybe even right here today and you can't hear and all you're hearing is blah blah blah blah blah. Like if that's you today, just recognize it's most likely that God is going to continue to speak to you because He loves you and because He has mercy upon you. And He declares his loving kindness and that he continues to speak and he calls his people to hear.

I don't think it's ever too late to hear and yet God is sovereign over all the hearing. So you have the old things that have been said and the new things that are of the Spirit. And then, so God is showing that he's been long-suffering. And you know, If you have time this afternoon, look at Deuteronomy 28 verse 36, where over 700 years before the Babylonian captivity, Moses prophesied the Babylonian captivity. And Also in Deuteronomy 29-28, look at that.

He says, and the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath and in great indignation, and cast them into another land as it is this day. The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of the law." Moses, you know, in around 1400 BC is saying there's going to be a time when the children of Israel are going to be uprooted from their land, and I think he's talking about this time. So this is just the places you can go to see where this was prophesied, but he's speaking of God speaking, but there is a key factor in here. Look at this. They went forth from my mouth, and I caused them to hear it.

Please look at that carefully. Every word is important. They went forth from my mouth, and I caused them to hear it." Only God can open up the heart. Only God can cause it to happen. You know that song, I love that song, How Sweet and Awful is This Place by Isaac Watts.

I love the word, every time I sing this, why was I made to hear thy voice and enter while there's room, while thousands make the wretched choice and rather starve than come? Why? Why was I made to hear thy voice? If you've heard his voice, it's only because God in His sovereign wisdom chose at that moment. And if you can't hear His voice now, I pray that there is that sovereign moment that he will allow you to hear his voice.

Pray the Lord of the harvest that messengers will come and you'll hear. And then God gives reasons why he prophesies these things before and after, the former things and the later things. And Look at verse 4. Why? Why is he so patient?

Why does he continue to speak? Answer. Verse 4. Because I knew you were obstinate, and your neck was an iron sinew, and your brow bronze. Why?

Why so many years? Because God continues to speak because he knows his children are obstinate. He keeps speaking and he doesn't stop. He knows you're obstinate. He knows you're as hard as a rock.

And He doesn't stop. His love is so great. He doesn't let you alone. He keeps needling you. He keeps sending you a prophet after another.

He sends you your father. He sends you the radio. He sends you something on the internet, he sends you your pastor, and someone is always saying, be safe from this perverse generation. He doesn't let you alone. He's the hound of heaven.

Why? Because they're obstinate. He was warning them because of his kindness and his tenderness in view of the kind of people that they were. And he warned them over and over again because of the hardness of their heart. There are several words here that I think are very helpful to understand your state if you're in this state.

But those of you who have been saved and you know your heart is tenderized toward Jesus Christ, you'll so relate to this. You'll remember what it was like. Obstinate. The word actually means cantankerous, temperamentally difficult, brusque. In other words, you just want to blow it away, You know, obstinate.

Neck was an iron sinew. That's the other illustration. Again, we're here to this beautiful graphic, amazing imagery of Isaiah to show us what can happen to us. Your neck was an iron sinew. In other words, unbending, unbendable, not able to change, hard, no abilities to submit, no real desire to submit to God.

A person who is just so self-assured in his own perspective, he does not bow his head. He cannot bow his head. Have you ever had conversations with people like that? They just can't. They just can't.

You know, I had a conversation like that yesterday with a man. It was one of the strangest conversations I've ever had. But in the midst of it, and there were people there with me in the car, witnessing this conversation. And you can just see how unbendable the neck was, absolutely. There's just no way.

You cannot bow the head. The bowing of the head in faith in Jesus Christ, in complete trust in His blood is the sweetest thing that can ever happen to somebody when finally that neck goes loose and it can bow down. What a wonderful thing. Remember when that happened? When you started bowing down, you couldn't do it.

You were so hard. Now remember the context. God is talking to his people who are going through the motions, they're calling themselves by the name of Israel, they really love the holy city, they're religious people. And then he says, your brow is bronze, your brow bronze. This is another way of talking about hardheadedness.

And the word indicates a confident and opinionated person with his mind made up and you can't get through. His head is so hard that nothing gets through. It's like bronze. Hardness to sin, hardness to shame. And this is, remember, don't forget, this is a warning for religious people who are in church kind of situations.

They've benefited from the goodness of God. They've grown up in a Christian environment, a Christian home, a Christian nation. They have right views of God. They swear by the name of God. They make mention of His name, but their brow is like bronze.

Even in captivity, their brow was like bronze. He had done so much to speak to them and to care for them, and yet they're obstinate. This is a reality that always exists in a local church, which is why I think Kevin Swanson named his sermon, Teenage Rebellion, because this is what happens. Kids grow up in church, they've heard it all, and it just is bouncing off their heads, and the living water is not percolating down. It's a reality.

Don't let it disturb you, by the way. This is always the case in every church. This always happens. It just ought to be a matter of prayer and care, really, because this is the reality of the nation and somehow you know children growing up in a church you pray that they'll make a transition from just being in the nation to being a spiritual holy people. And that transition is bowing their knee to Jesus Christ and repenting and believing in the gospel and serving him and then seeing the fruit of their salvation to see that they really have abandoned this world.

There's a transition that every person must make, not just young people. Israel started out as a physical nation and now God is calling them to become a spiritual nation. The physical nation of Israel is apostate at the time of writing here. You could go to Jeremiah chapter three verses one through four to see the state of that nation. God divorced that nation.

Because God is looking for people to worship Him in spirit and in truth, He's looking for a spiritual nation, not just a nation. He's not just looking for people with an identity. He's not just looking for people who have a look or a way about them. He's looking for a people who love him. And then you find this warning against their susceptibility to deception in verse 5.

Look at verse 5. Even from the beginning I have declared it to you. Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you, lest you should say my idol has done them, and my carved image and my mold image have commanded them." In other words, God is so desiring this that he would win people, that he wouldn't let them go on thinking it was their idols that made them so successful and so happy. God, you know, we've seen this in Isaiah, throw your idols down, they're going to embarrass you, you're going to be embarrassed of them, you're going to hate them, throw them now, get out of Babylon, that's what Isaiah's been saying. And he's been, and God, God has been preaching to his people so that they don't come to the conclusion that their idols have done them any good.

In other words, that they won't say, it was my idol that made me so successful. It was my worldliness that made me successful. It was my worldliness that made my way in the world. No. God was preaching to them because He did not want them to say that their idol was any blessing to them at all.

So He prophesied what would come hundreds of years in advance and preached the Word of God to them through the law of God and the love of God, all these things. He continued to do that for a specific reason so that they wouldn't get to the end of it and say, yeah, my idols are so good. But they would say, no, my idols are horrible. The verbs in this verse are focused on knowing and hearing, hearing and knowing in that sequence. And his prophecies were designed to help them conclude that there is no God but the Holy One of Israel, and to help them to behold their God and their God alone, and not to trust in their outward righteousness, not in their nation, not in their practices, but that they would trust in God alone.

That they would be weaned from their religion and weaned from Babylon at the same time. In verse 6, we read that God favored them with this knowledge of new things. Remember former things, now we're in new things in verse 6. You have heard all this. You have heard.

See all this and will not declare it. I have made you hear new things from this time, even hidden things, and you did not know them." So now Isaiah turns to future things. I think he's turning to the Messiah. He's spoken of his testimony in the past, now he's speaking of his testimony about the Messiah who's coming. And the changes from the singular to the plural and indicating quite possibly the individuals in the nation, There are two ways to take that actually, the singulars and the plurals.

You have to look at the context. But God revealed Himself and what He was doing long before it entered their minds. He revealed to them that he was sending a messiah we've read about him many times so far in Isaiah and He told them about these things that are to come he says you've heard it and Now will you declare it in other words Will you make it your own? You've heard it, now will you declare it. You've heard it, now is it really yours so much that you declare it with all your heart.

You've heard it, now is it so much inside of you that you can't keep it out. It's just part of the very fabric of your life. The kingdom of God has come near and you love him Declare it means to make it conspicuous To show the fruit that's there because The You can have hearing and no fruit, and you can have hearing that is fruitful. And so that's what he means by declare it. The heart of the matter, is it declared?

Do they make mention of God, but not in truth of righteousness? Have they heard it and declared it? And then in verses 7 through 11 we see the reasons that God has so faithfully beforehand declared His name. This last section here, God just continues to argue for his own goodness and his own glory, and how kind he is. Remember what I said at the beginning?

This is about the doctrine of the love and the perseverance of God. And He proves this in the way that he deals with his people in different ways. He kept speaking to his hardened people for particular reasons, and these reasons are given. There are five reasons, I believe. Reason number one, so they would not boast in their idols.

Verse seven says, they are created now and not from the beginning, and before this day you have not heard them, lest you should say, Of course I knew them." He sent prophets so that they wouldn't boast in their idols. He didn't want them to trust in their idols. And he continued to speak to them so that they wouldn't be content in their idolatry, that there would be no one to disturb them in their idolatry. God is always trying to disturb idolatry. He didn't want them to say, my idolatry was beneficial.

My idols are all that I need. He wanted them to say, God is true, God is good, there is no salvation except in Jesus Christ. The second reason that God so faithfully preached is in verse 8. Surely, you did not hear, surely you did not know, surely from long ago your ear was not opened, for I knew that you would deal very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb." So The second reason that God continued to preach to them is so they wouldn't be degraded in their sin, that they would be restrained in their sin. It's a good thing for a mixed multitude to gather because they're encouraged not to be degraded in their sin.

It's a good thing. It's a good thing to have a mixed multitude. Do you understand that? It's the only way God has worked on this earth. Surely you did not hear.

Those words, did not hear. And surely you did not know. Those two things. We're back to this impervious surface. They're not able, nothing percolates down, there's nothing seeping, nothing is nourishing.

And they're transgressors from the womb. They did not know because they did not hear. This prolonged inability. By the way, again, we find the sovereignty of God in the opening of the ear. Your ear was not opened.

In other words, it has to happen from the outside. You can't open it yourself. God must open your ear. Why was I made to hear thy voice and enter while there's room." Why did God take so long? Because they were rebellious.

He continued to speak because they were rebellious. He had mercy, he had compassion on them, why he continued to speak was to defer his anger for his own namesake. Verse 9, for my namesake I will defer my anger and for my praise I will restrain it from you so that I do not cut you off." He's delaying because of his mercy. He didn't cut his people off. He could have reduced them to dross and throw them away, but he did not do it because of his patience and his mercy.

And then the fourth reason he called so faithfully was to refine them by affliction. Verse 10, Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. It's difficult to understand this matter of refining, but not as silver. But I think he's speaking about the fact that in Isaiah 1.22, Isaiah says, your silver has become dross, your wine is mixed with water.

In other words, they were all dross. And David uses this in a similar way in Psalm 119 verse 119. But you know, God, I think he's saying that God stopped the refinement. He didn't go all the way. He could have burned off all the dross and nothing would have been left, but if he had done that so harshly and so comprehensively, all of them would have been destroyed.

And God is saying, I'm not doing that with my people. I forbear. But he does put them in the refiner's fire and they're not consumed. God is refining Israel. We know that there's a better refining in the New Covenant where the people of the Lord Jesus Christ are refined like silver, then the dross comes up and it's slaked off and there's a purification.

This is what God's been doing for Israel. He's testing them in affliction. He sent them to be slaves in Egypt. In 722, He sent Sennacherib to terrorize them and kill thousands of them. In 586, he sent Nebuchadnezzar to take them to Babylon.

God puts His people in the furnace of affliction so that their heads would turn toward Him and they would hear. The fifth reason, the fifth and final reason, is in verses 7 through 11, verse 11, for his own sake, for my own sake, for my own sake. Notice he says that twice, for my own sake, for my own sake. I will do it. For how should my name be profaned, and I will not give my glory to another?" So God is going to send them to Babylon to be afflicted so that his name is not profaned.

And this just means that God is ordering all history for his own glory. God leads his people through wildernesses and through cities from one generation to another. And why? To another and why God he's demonstrating his righteousness through his testings and refinings of his people you have heard will you not declare it God is appealing to a people who've heard it all, they know it all, they identify with it all. They have such a nice religious life, it's moving pretty smoothly.

And now Isaiah comes and he says, we're not done yet, because it hasn't percolated down for some. It's a call to the outwardly religious. Now the remainder of chapter 48 shows the proofs of how God does everything for His own sake, for His own glory. You know, He says, I am he, I am the first and the last. Does that sound familiar?

That is Jesus Christ. And God will not allow His name to be defamed. He's already said, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess in this section in Isaiah. And how will that happen? It will happen because God continues to preach.

He continues to call. He continues to lay words on ears. And he has patience. And every time the people of God gather together, you always have those who have heard and those who have not heard. It's always a mix and it always will be, Which is why it shouldn't be surprising that this is in Isaiah chapter 48 for us today.

Okay so here's some applications. First of all, the most important thing in your life is to know what stage of life you find yourself in. Are you just a totally unbelieving person like a pagan? Or are you a moral believing person who's engaged in the trappings of Christianity? Or are you a spiritual Christian?

Are you just part of a nation or are you part of a holy people? Who are you identified with? That's the imagery that's here. You know, this is a very, very common thing in churches. And it happens most poignantly, maybe, as children transition to adulthood in the church.

And you have people who've grown up in the church just like we do here. You know so many here have grown up like their whole lives They can't remember a time where Christ, where the Bible, where church life. They just can't remember. They don't even know anything else. They've just grown up with it and they wonder, who am I?

Is this mine? Whose is it? And it seems like Who's is it? And you know, it seems like just yesterday when we had so many little children in our church And now we're preaching to a lot of those children who used to be old, they're not all that little anymore. They've grown up.

And they've grown up in the church. And as a result, they find themselves sort of in this category that Isaiah is speaking about. And you know, this is, have you ever wondered why it is that so many people become Christians like in their teens? The overwhelming majority of people become Christians in their teens and their early 20s. It's just a statistical reality.

And the older you get, the fewer turn. And if you get really old, you almost hardly find any turn. This is one of the things we should really be aware of at Memorial Day tomorrow. One of the reasons we do Memorial Day is we really want some of these old guys to come back. They've seen the terrors of war and they didn't turn to Jesus.

They're really old and the odds of their turning are so low it's crazy and Maybe maybe for some of them. It's going to be their last time They're going to hear the gospel. They're going to hear the gospel on on Monday But our prayer was some of these old guys, maybe they went to war and they got bitter and they got angry and their lives fell apart in different ways. And now they're 92 years old. So it's, you know, but people turned to the Lord typically earlier in life, in their teens.

And it's a reality that, you know, we're experiencing here in our own church. I think the fact that some of the little children that have grown up, it's kind of caught us by surprise. Some of the older people still trying to treat these adults as like they're little kids, but they're not little kids anymore. They're adults now. And the question is, for the parents and for the children and for the pastors, there is a question that all three of those parties need to consider.

And Isaiah is bringing it up here today. The question is, are they part of a physical nation? Are they part of a spiritual nation? That's the most important question in all of life. You know, children who grow up in Christian homes, they typically go to church because their parents go to church.

And that may be true, that's pretty much why you're here. You're here because that's what you do. And there'll be trouble in River City if you say you're not going to go anymore. So you're just not even going to say it. You're not going to say how boring it is, how distasteful you think it is, and just how unprofitable it is, and Why in the world would they have to listen to somebody go blah, blah, blah for an hour or more on some days?

But maybe you just haven't actually said it that way to your parents even though you might be thinking it. Why do I have to do this? I can't wait until I don't have to do this every Sunday. That's a normal condition in a local church. And so the question is, is there true Christianity?

Are hearts engaged in church life? Are they walking just in the footsteps of their parents? Are they walking in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. And they come to church because their parents come. So as a result of that, they may have just fallen into this passive mode.

Well, I'm just going to come here and sit in a seat and then we're going to go have lunch. What is for lunch today? And they're just used to it, you know. Here are five questions for parents and for all of us and for the pastors five questions, okay question number one What's their true spiritual condition? Like is it possible that they're like the people in Isaiah 48 1 & 2?

Do they have affection for holy things? Or do they find their enjoyment in trivialities? Do they find their enjoyment and their satisfaction in indolence and self-interest and pleasure and celebrating the celebrities of this day? Or do they desire the Word of God? Do they desire fellowship and obedience?

Do they desire meaning? Do they desire the things of God? Are they honoring their fathers and mothers, you know, these are signs that point to a credible profession of faith or an incredible profession of faith You know we live in a culture that just expects youth to go through a season of foolishness and rebellion and worldliness and dishonor. We think that's just normal. And it might be normal, but it's not required, and it is actually something different than just normal.

It's bigger than normal. It's actually the work of the devil. And it's not just something that people go through. It's rebellion that people go through. You know, the media is, you know, trying to trap and target and trap young people by spending time in all kinds of trivialities.

And so you have to ask, What's the direction of their affections? What's the direction of my affections? That's the question we should all be asking. Pastors need to ask this question, parents need to ask this question, every person needs to ask this question. What's the direction of my affections?

Do I love silly things? Do I love worldly things? Do I want to push the limit as far as I can go? Or is it different than that? So the first question is, what is their true spiritual condition as seen in the affections?

You know, there isn't really any way that an outsider can tell you whether you're saved or not. But they can definitely look at various evidences of fruits and those are worthy to talk about. It's right to talk about that. The Bible does, God does, quite regularly. Number two, second question.

Do they love to obey the commandments of God for church life? Because if they're truly converted, the signs of true faith will be seen and they will be becoming progressively clear about their role in the church, that they're part of a church, they're part of a family of God, and they take action as part of a family of God. In particular, when you're younger, you kind of go through a transition where you've just kind of been, you know, You haven't been there as an activist, you've been there as a pacifist, or a pacifist, not a pacifist. You've been engaging it passively rather than actively in terms of not giving the gifts that you have and blessing the brothers and the sisters from the oldest to the youngest, seeing yourself as an active minister of God in the church, joyfully engaged in it. If so, they'll reflect what Jesus said, what was said of Jesus, that He increased in wisdom and stature and favor with God and men.

This is the trajectory you'll see in a Christian, particularly young person or old person as well. They grow in wisdom and stature in favor with God and man. If they're Christians, they do have gifts that have been given to them, and do they find it a joy to work for the benefit of the church, or are they really pretty much just thinking about their PlayStation or their sport they'd really absolutely rather be involved in? And so that's kind of the gravitational pull of their whole life. You know, What kind of activity should we expect from a 14, 16, 18, 19 year old?

Well it can't simply just be that they serve the church just by stacking chairs, doing work. Well that's a blessing and that is good and we need that for sure. But there's more. It's a difference between being part of a physical nation or a spiritual nation, where the hearts are engaged, love is activated, patience is exercised in the church. Sometimes young people lose patience with the goofiness of the old people, but love should cover that, you know, and vice versa.

Number three, have they made the friendship transition? Have they made the friendship transition? Immature people have friends that make them feel comfortable and important. Their friendships are really pretty much for themselves. And so they engage themselves in self-centered friendships based on affinity, self-gratification, and they engage, but they're not really engaging friends on the level of eternal things.

It's just not in their minds, they're just going through the most, they're just doing stuff, they're having a great time. But they're not thinking about the, They're really just part of a nation. They're not part of a spiritual people. And they're hanging out where nothing important is being said or done, and there's little spiritual direction in their relationships. But they don't really have spiritual eyes.

They don't see beyond just the physical, because the Spirit of God isn't activating them. So it's just very surface, mechanical, physical, nation-like, rather than spiritual. This is why the apostle Paul said in Titus 2, Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded in all things, showing yourself a pattern of good works, in doctrine, showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to save you." Here's a picture of young people who live so differently that their lives are actually a condemnation toward the unbelievers who don't live that way. That's what Titus 2 verses 6 through 8 mean. That you have a different kind of young person and they live for God and they're so different and they really are a condemnation to their peers.

Number four, are they celebrating the Sabbath according to God's design? When they come to church, do they treat their interactions just like the interactions of any other day of the week. Is the Sabbath a special day or is it just a social day? Are they entering into his gates with thanksgiving to live out the things that God has ordained, you know, for the gatherings of God's people? The Day of Delight.

Is it really a day of delight in God? Or is it a day just to find whatever delight in whatever worldly thing you can kind of import since your parents made you do this? Number five, have they sought or considered membership in the church? You know, one of the realities of churches and our church is no different, is that we have, we have, we have young people who just kind of grew up on us, and they're not members of the church. They haven't become members of the church.

I mean, that's natural. I mean, that's the way it is, right? You become to greater awareness, And then you realize you have to decide whether you're going to be a member of a church or not, whether you're just going to hang out, whether you're just part of a nation, or whether you're really going to connect spiritually in a church. And While they may be baptized and they may have entered into sort of a mental connection with the church, do they really see themselves as part of the church? As young people have grown up in our church, they're in a time of transition.

They are just literally in a time of transition, and they're growing into the matters of full church life. It's really important that the parents and the pastors and the young people themselves just recognize that this is happening. And when you become an adult and you're not a member of a church, it's a blessing to consider why am I not a member of this church. Like this conversation probably caught some of you younger ones off guard. Now he's asking me have I become a member of the church.

I haven't even really thought about that. Maybe you have. My guess is probably a lot of you just thought, wow, I didn't even think about that. I mean, I think that would be normal pretty much. But have you made the transition to become a fully covenanted member of the church.

Like you're thinking, hey, you know, I'm not a kid anymore. I'm actually part of a community. And it's my community. It's not just my mom and dad's community. So there you have it.

Let me close with just a couple more thoughts. The heart of the matter is, while you have on the surface embraced it, Have you declared it? And is your faith clear in the world? And... You have heard, and will you declare it?

That's the question. You know, you've heard, you know, some of you have been here for a long, long time, and you've heard so much preaching till we and you are both blue in the face. How many Bible studies, how many this and that? I mean, you've heard it all. You're just like the children of Israel.

You've heard it all. Now what? Now what? Here's what you should think. God has been so kind to me.

He's cried out to me over and over again, Oh God, save my soul. I want you to remember two things. First, remember God's forbearance. Remember God's forbearance. Romans 3, 23 says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace to the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith.

Why? To demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. To demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. God has been patient. You've heard a lot so that he would show his forbearance.

This is how God glorifies himself in salvation. He actually causes your ears to be closed so that you will know how patient and kind and merciful God has been toward you. That's why he did it. He did it for his own glory. He did it to show how patient he was with you.

And he would send his son. And secondly, remember God's power. God is powerful to save. He's not only patient to save, but he's powerful to save. The Lord Jesus Christ said, how hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God." And the disciples were astonished at his words.

And Jesus answered again and said to them, children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, who then can be saved? And Jesus looked at them and said, with men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. God is so kind.

God is so kind. He gives His voice, He gives His patience, and He gives His power to save. And I really don't know where anybody is really at in this church, but here's what I do know. God has been crying out to us probably our whole life long. The very best thing we can do is to listen and bow our heads, to unstiffen our necks, and to stop being so stinking, lousy, hard-headed, and believe by hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Would you pray with me? Lord, Lord, you have delivered so many messages to us. I know if we counted up all the hearing we have had all our lives long, it would be such a staggering amount of hearing that we've had. I thank you, Lord, that you've been so kind. Thank you for declaring your loving kindness to us.

Thank you for showing us your intentions for your people. Father, I pray that you would Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us that we would know the condition of our souls that we would make these transitions That we would glorify you in the world because of your son Jesus Christ. Amen.