Isaiah 63:15
What Should We Do?
Isa 63:15 Look down from heaven, and behold from
the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory:
where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding
of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are
they restrained?
17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy
ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear?
Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of
thine inheritance.
19 We are thine: thou never barest rule over
them; they were not called by thy name.
Is 64:1 Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens,
that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains
might flow down at thy presence,
2 As when the melting fire burneth, the fire
causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name
known to thine adversaries, that the nations may
tremble at thy presence!
I believe America is where Israel was when Isaiah spoke these words,
on the verge of God’s judgment. I may not come this week, this month,
or this year; but it is coming. Why? Because God has "pushed" out of
the camp.
This morning, I preached on the three locations of God’s Ark to the
camp of Israel, telling you that those three locations are symbolic
of the three relationships the believer can have with Jesus.
1. God’s design was is that He be in the middle of the camp.
2. Man’s desire was is that God be on the outside of the camp.
3. Sin’s consequence is that God will be "pushed" too far and
just leave us altogether.
That was this morning, but tonight we must ask ourselves what would
should we do? We, the Green Pond Baptist Church. If we understand
that we have "pushed" God out of our lives, our church, our nation,
what should WE do?
By Isaiah 63-64, God had been "pushed" too far by Israel. He was
gone. Without God, the enemies of Israel, whom God had protected them
from, came and looted, plundered, raped, and pillaged Israel. Much
like what is happening on the some of the streets of American today.
Those who fought back were killed. Those who submitted were abused.
And the godly like Isaiah were left praying that God would return to
the camp; but it seemed too late.
When does it get too late put God into the center of a life, a
church, or a nation? I don’t know if it does or when it does; but if
it does, I would say it is too late once the judgment starts. The
people in Noah’s day prayed after the rains started, but it was too
late. Isaiah and Micah prayed just before the Assyrian captivity of
Israel. We are reading Isaiah’s prayer, but Assyria came anyway. It
was too late. I am sure everyone in hell prays for forgiveness, but
it does them no good. It is too late.
In all these cases, their prayers did bring God to the center of the
camp and stop the judgments. Why? I suppose because the judgment was
already under way and, it was just too late.
Is it too late for revival in America? I honestly don’t know; but if
it is isn’t too late today, it may well be too late come Tuesday. If
we are going to get the presence of God back into the camp, we better
get started today.
Several thoughts. I will speak some and this just stop.
I. We will have to quit exempting ourselves.
A. My goal is to never blister our people; but if we are going to
bring God back to the center of the camp, we must be honest.
B. The reason our church is not doing more for Jesus and seeing
more from Jesus is not because of the world, the community,
or the Capitol.
C. It is because of us.
2Chron 7:14 If my people, which are called by my
name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and
seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways;
then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive
their sin, and will heal their land.
D. We are not demanding of ourselves what God has commanded.
1. Anytime God is "pushed" away from the center, it will
always be the fault of the people of God.
2. God deals with the enemies that attack from without, but
God expects us to deal with the enemy from within.
3. That is always us.
E. What sins are we not taking seriously?
1. We are not praying.
a. At the end of February, we started having two extra
prayer meetings each week.
(1) Friday at 7:00.
(2) Saturday at 4:00.
(3) The purpose was simple and has been kept simple:
(a) To pray for the safety of our people from
Covid.
(b) To pray for our nation.
(4) The format has been kept simple.
(a) Come and pray as long or as little as you
like.
(b) Leave when you have finished.
(c) I stay and lock up when everyone has left.
(5) That has been three months, and I can count on my
two hands how many people have come.
b. I am not mad. I am not hurt. I am just wondering why
so many exempted themselves from coming.
c. There was a Bible verse that God laid on my heart which
prompted me to call the church to prayer.
(1) I shared it with the group each time someone new
came.
Joel 1:14 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn
assembly, gather the elders and all the
inhabitants of the land into the house of the
LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,
15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is
at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty
shall it come.
(2) God had Joel give these instructions to the people
of God just before the Babylonians came.
(a) That is the "day of the Lord" that was at
hand.
(b) "The day of the Lord" is always a day of
judgment in the Bible.
(c) I believe another day of the Lord is at hand.
(d) The instructions:
i. Fast
ii. Call an assembly
iii. Gather the elders
iv. Cry unto the Lord
(3) But notice where God told the people to assemble
at to carry out these instructions.
Joel 1:14 …gather the elders and all the
inhabitants of the land into the house of the
LORD your God….
(4) Do we have to gather at the church to pray,
fast, and cry unto the Lord?
(5) No, but considering we are on the verge of another
"day of the Lord," it seems to me that we should
follow God’s instructions no matter whether we
think they are important or not.
d. Questions:
(1) Is there anyone in our church that really does not
think Covid is dangerous and we need God to
protect us from it? I don’t think so.
(2) Is there anyone in our church that does not think
the upcoming election and the general direction
our nation is going is not dangerous? I don’t
think so.
(3) Then over the last three months, why has the
church not only never been packed for prayer, why
have 90% of the people not come at all?
(a) There is only one answer.
(b) They thought they were exempt.
e. Listen. You can’t get God back in the center of your
life as long as you think you are exempt from prayer.
(1) If you want to trust our safety to facemasks, and
social distancing, and vaccines, all right.
(2) If you want to trust our election to commercials,
debates, and Facebook memes, all right.
(3) If you want to trust your children’s future,
including their souls and nation, to the whims of
politics, all right.
(4) But I think we’d better quit exempting ourselves
and start doing some serious praying.
(5) I think somebody better go get God!
2. We are not repenting.
a. I am not preaching today to homosexual churches, to
lady preachers, or to Bible doubters.
(1) I am preaching to us.
(2) I know you. You might need to be there, but I
don’t have to go get you out of jail for crimes
against mankind or sins against God.
b. When I am preaching on homosexual churches, lady
preachers, and Bible doubters, I can expect to hear
several AMENs because those are not our sins.
c. But what about when I preach on…
(1) Stealing God’s tithe?
(2) Slacking at the house of God?
(3) Dressing immodestly in public?
(4) Using the wrong kind of words when you get mad?
(5) Keeping a stash of liquor or maybe a few "fun"
pills?
(6) Watching an occasional skin movie or visiting an
an inappropriate website?
(7) What about not reading your Bible or spending any
quality time in prayer?
(8) What about volunteering for Sunday work just so
you’ll have an excuse not to go to church?
(9) For that matter, when was the last time we were
just convicted over being wretched sinners?
d. We are not repenting of our sins because we think we
are okay the way we are.
(1) While I just mentioned those things, someone
thought, Preacher, those things are not so bad."
(2) Do you know what you just did? You just exempted
yourself.
(3) We, us, ourselves, have exempted ourselves from
repenting of our sins.
e. Question: If you treated your job and school like you
treat your church and God, how would things being
going for you?
f. Another question: If you paid your bills and
entertainments the way you give to the churchy, how
would that be going for you.
g. It is not that we are all that good. Rather we have
just exempted ourselves from repenting.
3. We have exempted ourselves from being at church.
a. Too many find too many reasons to skip worship.
b. Why? Because they feel exempted from attending.
c. Again, I’m not here to blister anyone, but I am here to
tell you that we are the problem.
d. It does not matter how old you are. If you call
yourself a Christian, you are to be in God's house
worshipping Him.
(1) children and young people
(2) workers who are working 40, 50, 60 hours per week
(3) retired workers
(a) A lot of our people like to travel since they
are retired.
(b) I understand that. You've worked hard to get
a few years of freedom. I try not to
begrudge you of that; but wherever you are,
you should find a place to worship the God
who saved your soul.
e. It is the LORD'S DAY, is it not?
f. But we are slack in attending God's house.
(1) Why?
(2) Because we have exempted ourselves from being at
church.
g. I was told that this morning the parking lot was almost
full, no place to park.
(1) That is exciting, but I noticed this morning
inside the sanctuary we only had two cars that
would have been visitors.
(2) Perhaps we had many visiting in the parking lot
this morning, but I have to ask.
(3) If our church is almost filled one Sunday every
few months, why isn't it full every Sunday?
(4) It must be because we have exempted ourselves from
being at church.
4. We have exempted ourselves from being the light.
a. The world is lost and needs a Savior.
b. I honestly understand that it is hard to win the lost.
(I do not hold myself up as an example of an effective
soul winner.)
c. But we cannot quit trying.
d. The more difficult it gets, the more determined we must
be at sharing Jesus as our Savior!
II. We will have to quit liking God being out of the camp.
A. Israel got comfortable with God being on the outside of the
camp.
1. I am sure at first it was odd; but eventually, they liked
it that way.
2. There is no record of Ark ever being brought back into the
camp.
3. There is no record of the Israelites even beseeching God to
bring the Ark back into the camp.
B. I’m afraid that we, like the children of Israel, have gotten
comfortable with God being out of the camp.
1. We, us, those who were sitting inside this church this
morning.
2. I mentioned this morning, pushing God out of His place at
the center gives us a false sense of control.
3. We are in the mercy buffer.
a. The distance between the sinning Christian and the
justice of God.
b. Mercy is great.
c. It keeps us alive and out of hell even though we may
still be fooling around with sin.
4. But mercy is given to us to protect us when we accidently
fall into sin. Mercy is not for us to abuse by
deliberately stepping into sin!
a. Isn’t it sad when something as sweet and good as mercy
can become a danger to us?
b. God gave Israel mercy so that He would not destroy them
for their sins, but they abused God's mercy.
c. They lived in sin and "pushed" God further and further
away.
d. What they did not seem to understand was the distance
between their sins and God was also the distance
between God and their enemies.
e. God did not destroy Israel...
(1) But the Philistines did, the Amorites did, Moab
did, Ammon, Edom.
(a) Where was God?
(b) They used His gift of mercy to push Him out
of the camp.
(c) He could not come any closer to Israel, or He
would have ended up destroying them.
(d) The distance that kept God in place to keep
from judging Israel let their enemies attack
and destroy them.
(2) Egypt, Syria, Babylon, Greece, Rome
(a) The enemies just kept coming.
(d) The distance that kept God in place to keep
from judging Israel let their enemies attack
and destroy them.
C. The same thing is happening in America today.
1. God has given America some distance between our sins and
His justice.
a. That is mercy.
b. But by not judging us quickly and severely, the enemies
of liberalism, socialism, cults, greed, waste, lust,
and maybe a dozen or two others enemies have been able
to creep inside.
2. If God were to start judging today, He would get those
vultures; but His holiness would have to take a good many
backslidden Christians and churches too.
3. What is needed is not so much a judgment as it is a
revival, a movement to bring God back to the center.
4. Where does it need to start?
a. Right here.
b. Right now.
c. Oh, can’t we see it?
d. We have to quit wanting God to just be part of our
lives and put the Ark where God designed it to go, in
the center, in the middle of lives, churches, and
nation.
Can we have a revival? I honestly don't know, but I know the longer
we wait to even try to get God back in the center of our lives, the
less likely it is going to be. What should we do? You decided the
answer to that question tonight.
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