Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Isaiah 64:1-12; Exodus 19:16-19 / Mt 24:36-44 / 1 Corinthians 2:9

Theme: Pleas for a new year.

Today is New Year’s Day.

Many of you here this morning have probably made some New Year’s resolutions.

If you’re interested here are the perennial top-ten resolutions of Americans.

1. Exercise more

2. Lose weight

3. Get organized

4. Learn a new skill or hobby

5. Live life to the fullest

6. Save more money / spend less money

7. Quit smoking

8. Spend more time with family and friends

9. Travel more

10.

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Obviously there is nothing wrong with resolving to do start doing something you’re not doing or to stop doing something you are.

Based on this morning’s text, instead of making New Year’s Resolutions, maybe it would behoove us to make some Pleas to God for the new year.

Here in Isaiah 64 we hear the continuation of the prophet’s prayer that began back in Isaiah 63:15 — "Lord, look down from heaven."

In other words, “God, please don’t forget about us!”

In this prayer Isaiah pleads for God's visitation to come upon Judah.

Isaiah's desire was to witness a visible and dramatic manifestation of God's power and presence upon the nation.

Isaiah knew his nation’s history and he knew his God (v.4).

He knew what God had done in the past.

He was tired of the mess that God's people were in (63:17-19).

He was tired of the usual, the common acceptance of their situation.

Isaiah was one of those prophets who desired to see the unusual, to see the hand of God visit His people in a miraculous way.

Isaiah is calling upon God for a fresh visitation — he is calling for a spiritual awakening, and it must begin with the people of God.

There is, I believe, a similarity between the spiritual condition of Judah in Isaiah’s day and the spiritual condition of America in our day:

Israel Was Rebellious in Soul — so is America.

We have essentially told God to ‘get off our backs’ and ‘leave us alone’.

Israel Was Ignorant in Mind —so is America.

Israel had forgotten its roots in Yahweh.

Similarly, our nation has become ignorant of its Christian heritage.

Isaiah contrasts Israel’s foolishness to the wisdom of the ox and the donkey… These “dumb” animals understood where their feed was coming from… but Israel did not recognize God.

Generally, neither does America.

Israel Was Sinful in Life —so is America.

Israel’s great sin was that they adopted the ways of the nations around them.

So has the Church.

Poll after poll reveals that most professing Christians lead lives that are little different than their un-churched neighbors.

We divorce just as much, we commit adultery just as much, we watch pornography just as much, we play the lottery just as much.

Israel forgot what it meant to be holy.

So has much of the Church.

Israel Was Evil in Conduct —so is America.

While we must certainly celebrate the end of Abortion on Demand on a national level, we must lament that Dobbs vs. Jackson Health Care, did not end the murder of babies in the womb.

It now becomes a state issue with some states, like Missouri, ending abortion on demand, but some states, like California, doubling-down and enshrining abortion on demand in their state constitution.

The slaughter of the innocents will sadly continue.

And then there are the sexual perversions in our culture that will continue to be legalized and celebrated by the society at large.

Israel Was Apostate in Their Acts —so is America.

Isaiah said of Judah, “They have forsaken the Lord” (v. 4).

The word “forsaken” means to loosen yourself from God.

This is us.

America is growing increasingly secular.

ILLUS.

Thirty-five year ago when I became your pastor, a mere 7% of Americans claimed no religious affiliation.

Today it’s 21%.

In 2021 just 63% of Americans identified as Christians.

A mere decade ago it was 75%.

To use Isaiah’s words, seventy million Americans have forsaken — or loosed themselves from God.

As older Americans age and as they begin to pass away, they are being replaced by a new generation of young adults that's coming of age with far lower levels of attachment to religion than their parents and grandparents before them.

That does not bode-well for the future of our nation.

Israel Was False in Worship —so is America.

So much of what passes for worship in America is nothing more than self-help homilies or spiritual entertainment.

How did Isaiah respond to Israel’s deplorable spiritual condition?

How do we respond to our nation’s deplorable spiritual condition?

Here in chapter 64 the prophet appeals longingly to God because unless God’s Spirit comes down the people will not return Him.

The people are so distant from God they will not return without God's presence coming in power.

Isaiah’s prayer — for that’s essentially what it is — reveals the hope of Israel in Isaiah’s day as well as the hope of the Church today.

If God’s people will confess their sins and turn to Him, God might rescue the nation from its tragic condition.

Yahweh works wonders for those who walk in righteousness befor Him.

I. Plea #1: GOD, DEMONSTRATE YOUR POWERFUL PRESENCE

“Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!

As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you!

For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.”

(Isaiah 64:1–3, NIV84)

1. Isaiah begins with an ardent plea for the manifestation of God’s presence — Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence

2. the prophet here pleads for God to come down and shatter whatever barrier is separating us from Him

a. Isaiah is asking, "Why have You let the situation get so desperate?

Why have You not already intervened?

Why have You not restored the nation?”

b. it’s Isaiah’s heart cry for God's direct intervention in the affairs of his nation

3. in vs. 2 the prophet gives an illustration of how he wants the Lord to manifest His presence

a. as fire kindles dry twigs, as fire causes water to boil — he pleads for God to make His consuming presence known to both His people, Israel, and His adversaries, that both may tremble at His presence!

1) throughout the Bible, God's manifested presence is so intense that it is like a consuming fire that burns everything in its path

b. but fire also represents the cleansing presence of God in that it burns out all the impurities in one’s life or even the life of a nation

1) the Prophet Isaiah had himself experienced the consuming presence of God in his prophetic calling

2) early in his prophetic ministry Isaiah had a vision of God on His throne

“Woe to me!” I cried.

“I am ruined!

For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.

With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

(Isaiah 6:5–7, NIV84)

c. if God were to come among us and apply His fire to our unclean lips and hardened hearts as He had with Isaiah (6:1ff); the trash of our lives would be consumed in flames and the lukewarm water of our souls would burst into a rolling boil

1) the result would be a great spiritual awakening that would cause people to tremble

ILLUS.

In 1904–1906 spiritual awakening in the small country of Wales broke out.

It was the largest Christian revival in Wales during the 20th century.

It was one of the most dramatic in terms of its effect on an entire nation, and triggered revivals in several other countries.

Out of a population of two-millions, over 200,000 people came to Christ, and into the churches.

Whole communities were turned upside down, and were radically changed from depravity to glorious goodness.