The Advantage Of Repentance Series

The Advantage of Repentance

(Isaiah 1:1-20)

Isaiah is often considered the most important of the prophets, and his book is sometimes called the “Fifth Gospel” because it so frequently predicts the Person and Work of Jesus Christ.

Being a prophet meant being both a forth-teller and a foreteller, but, contrary to what we commonly hear, it was more about being a fore-teller, whether of God’s judgment or blessing.

Introduction to Isaiah, quoted from David Guzik [https://enduringword.com]

… This book contains the prophecies of Isaiah…, who ministered from about 740 to 680 B.C. For about 20 years, he spoke to both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. After Israel’s fall to the Assyrians in 722 B.C., Isaiah continued to prophesy to Judah.

i. This period of Israel’s history is told in 2 Kings 15 through 21 and 2 Chronicles 26 through 33. Isaiah was a contemporary of the prophets Hosea and Micah. By the time of Isaiah, the prophets Elijah, Elisha, Obadiah, Joel, Jonah, and Amos had already completed their ministry.

ii. By this time, Israel had been in the Promised Land for almost 700 years…

iii. Up until the time of Isaiah, the kingdom of Israel – the northern ten tribes – had some 18 kings, all of them bad and rebellious against the LORD. The kingdom of Judah – the two southern tribes – had some 11 kings before Isaiah’s ministry, some good and some bad.

iv. [Judah] was a little nation often caught in the middle of the wars between three superpowers: Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon.

v. … The superpower of Assyria was about to overwhelm the [northern] kingdom of Israel…the southern kingdom of Judah was faced with repeated threats from the larger surrounding nations.

vi. Many modern scholars think that there was more than one author to the book of Isaiah.. However, the New Testament indicates that there was only one author of Isaiah. In John 12:37-41, John quotes from both the “first” part of Isaiah and the “second” part of Isaiah – the parts supposedly written by two or more different Isaiahs – and John specifically tells us it was the same Isaiah. The New Testament quotes Isaiah by name more than all the other prophetic authors…

…There is “a strong Judeo-Christian tradition that … [Isaiah] was sawn asunder by his [Hezekiah’s] successor Manasseh … after the prophet had hidden himself in a hollow tree from the angry king.” … Many think Hebrews 11:37 (they were sawn in two) is a reference to the martyrdom of Isaiah.

The Advantage of Repentance

(Isaiah 1:1-20)

1. I am recirculating some jokes I told years ago that are so old they may have been forgotten. Frankly, some of them should be forgotten.

2. Johnny the painter, was big on cutting corners so he could make more of a profit. So when a church hired him to paint their wooden building, Johnny submitted the lowest bid, and was hired. As always, he thinned his latex paint with water to stretch it.

One day while he was up on the scaffolding -- the job almost finished -- he heard an oppressively loud burst of thunder, and it began raining cats and dogs.

The torrential rain washed the thinned paint off the church while intense winds blew Johnny off his scaffolding to the church graveyard, surrounded by puddles of thinned paint.

Johnny interpreted this as a warning from God above, so he got on his knees and cried: “Oh, God! Please forgive me! What should I do?”

God’s voice thundered from heaven: “Repaint and thin no more!”

3. Sadly, we live in a day where people do not repent of their sins, they just learn from their mistakes. The God whose wrath is incurred by sin has been replaced by a God who does not judge. God is no longer the great judge, and sin is not something we take responsibility for.

4. Even many Christians do not understand the importance of repentance – at the point of conversion and throughout our lives.

Main Idea: Repentance is a firm theme throughout both testaments because it is crucial and essential.

I. REPENTANCE in OT: It Precludes God’s Judgment (1:1-20).

A. Rebellion against God results in RUIN (1-9).

1. The heavens and earth are called upon to give testimony to Judah’s sin.

2. Like reared children that chose to go astray. Some of you know the pain.

3. Even animals are more loyal to the hand that feeds them (story of our pig).

4. Israel and Judah are like a brood of evildoers, inciting God’s anger.

5. They were spiritually sick, from head to toe.

6. God’s judgment was inevitable, almost as severe as Sodom and Gomorrah.

7. For a time, people or societies think they are getting away with something, but God is not on man’s timetable. None of us can evade His judgment.