“These people come near to me with their mouth & honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.” Isaiah 29:13
Before saying anything else to introduce sincerity as a prayer key, I want to repeat something about the last part of this verse. “Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.”
We have said that prayer keys are not ways of manipulating God. Rather, they are like a boat hook. If I am in a row boat and cast a hook to shore, does pulling move the shore to me or does it move me to the shore?
Prayer keys do not pull God to our will. They pull us to God’s will.
When I was a child, I waited anxiously to hear something. Some of you did, too. I almost could not stand the wait. To this day I remember hearing it. It became such a part of Americana that even people much younger than me probably know it well, if not by heart. I’m going to give you a fill in the blank. When I stop talking, you fill in the blank.
"Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s...”
“Superman!”
I think George Reeves was the first actor to be Superman on TV.
Back in the 50's, TV actors were not quite as “elite” as some seem to be now. They would throw out the first pitch at a Los Angeles little league game. They would fire the starting pistol for a soap box derby race in Oklahoma City. They would be at the dedication of a statue in a city park in Boise. People could meet them, shake their hand, and, of course, get an autograph.
George Reeves was popular for guest appearances, but his fame included risks. Kids might kick him in the shins or throw rocks to find out if he was the “real” Superman or a “pretend” Superman, the same way kids pull on Santa beards to find out if they are real. It seemed like every time he appeared in public as Superman, someone wanted to put him to the test.
In 1953, he may have faced real-life danger appearing at a department store opening. A young fan, who wanted to see bullets bounce off Superman’s chest, brought his dad’s Army Colt, his dad’s loaded... .45 caliber... Army Colt. Reeves talked him into putting it down. He told the boy that Superman could survive the shot without being hurt, but “when bullets bounce off my chest, they might hurt you and others around here.”
He continued to make public appearances, but never again in the Superman costume.
I said, “he may have faced real-life danger.” I tried to find more details about the incident. I could not find a first hand account, a specific date, or a department store name. Apparently, neither can anyone else.
Some believe Reeves made up the story so he would not have to wear the costume when he appeared in public. It’s understandable. I would not want kids kicking me in the shins or throwing rocks every time I showed up. That story was the only way he could stop the agents and producers from scheduling Superman appearances.
When he appeared in public, children wanted to know. “Is he real or is he pretend?”
God doesn’t have to kick us in the shins or throw rocks at us to know if our devotion is real or pretend. When God sent Samuel to anoint the next king, he was impressed with some of Jesse’s sons, but God said, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” He still does. “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
Memorized prayers when our hearts are far from God are powerless prayers. The most eloquent prayers from an insincere heart are powerless prayers.
Powerless prayers remind me of one of the stories about a man dreaming he died and went to heaven. Jesus personally is showing the man around. He says, “It’s Sunday on earth and your church is in the middle of their service. Would you like to see them?”
The man is ecstatic. He would love to look in on them from a heavenly vantage point. They step over to a balcony he had not noticed before and look in on the congregation. In heaven, his eyes are so sharp he can not only recognize each face as he looks down, he can even read the title of the hymn they are singing. They’re enthusiastically singing one of his favorites. He looks over to Jesus and asks, “Can we listen to them, too?”
The Lord signs and says, “No. In heaven, we can only hear what comes from the heart.”
“These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” God doesn’t need to kick our shins or throw rocks to find out if our devotion is real or pretend. He knows our hearts.
This was not the first time God gave Isaiah a depressing message. In Isaiah 6 he sees the Lord, high and lifted up. He immediately confesses his own unholiness. God cleanses him and asks, “Whom shall I send?”
Isaiah can’t contain his excitement. “Send me! Send me!”
God essentially tells him, “I will send you. You will prophesy. No one will understand.”
Isaiah asks, “How long, O Lord?”
God answers, “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken,” (6:11-12).
That is a depressing call. Even before God sends Isaiah, He knows the people will not understand. God gives them chances, but they don’t respond.
In Isaiah 29, long, depressing years later, that first vision is still true. Sadly, they think their relationship with God is OK.
In 701 BC, the people ignore God and look to their leaders for deliverance. Their leaders ignore God and look to Egypt and other earthly allies for deliverance from Assyria. How does God respond? Isaiah 29:9-12, the verses leading up to tonight’s text, say:
Be stunned and amazed, blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but not from beer. The Lord has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); he has covered your heads (the seers). For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read and say to him, “Read this, please,” he will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.” Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” he will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”
“Be stunned and amazed.” You ignore God and looked to your leaders. Your leaders ignore God and look to earthly allies for deliverance. Now you’re all in for a shock.
“Blind yourselves and be sightless.” You’re doing this to yourselves. What happens next is your fault. You can’t blame God.
“Be drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but not from beer.” What is coming will leave you senseless and staggering.
“The Lord has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); he has covered your heads (the seers).” Instead of trying to make you wake up and come to your senses, I am just going to make you sleep deeper. Instead of giving visions to the prophets, I’m going to stop all prophecy. You have consistently rejected my message for so long that now I will just let them sleep. Soon, you won’t even have another chance to hear my word.
“For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll.” Apparently, Isaiah’s prophecies had already been written and circulated. He is proclaiming his message in public. The words are not sealed, but they may as well be. No one understands them.
“And if you give the scroll to someone who can read and say to him, ‘Read this, please,’ he will answer, ‘I can’t; it is sealed.’ Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, ‘Read this, please,’ he will answer, ‘I don’t know how to read.’” The “sealed in a scroll” idea is one I had some trouble with. What seems to me to make the most sense is that educated people who don’t know God, educated people with just human intelligence who read Isaiah’s prophecy may be able to read the words, but they won’t understand them. Educated people who don’t know God, educated people with just human intelligence, are like a man who is asked to read a book but is unable to loose the seal, he is asked to read a book but he cannot even open it. Educated people who don’t know God are no better off than uneducated people who don’t know God.
1 Corinthians 2:14 tells us that the natural man cannot understand the things of the spirit because they are spiritually discerned.
One day, while Ron Ritchie taught a Bible study for 70 ex-convicts on his first mission trip with an international prison ministry, a new man came in. The room was instantly abuzz. Ron sensed a need to finish quickly and listen.
The new man had gone to prison for 25 yrs for killing 4 people. While in prison, he accepted Christ as his savior. His sentence was eventually reduced and that day he had been released. Looking for his old friends, he found out they were all in that Bible study. He came as quickly as he could. He said, "As you know, I can't read or write. So you must teach me everything you know about Jesus."
That illiterate man knows that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. He knows salvation is by grace, he knows he did not earn or deserve his salvation. He knows.
On the other hand, atheists with multiple PhD's, using grammar, syntax, history, logic, and human intelligence will inevitably reach the wrong conclusions about the Bible.
It was the same in Isaiah’s day. Educated people with just human intelligence were no better off than the uneducated people who couldn’t read God’s words.
That repentant murderer, that illiterate ex-convict already understands the word of God better than atheists with multiple PhD's.
Chapter 29 is exactly what God told Isaiah to expect in chapter 6. “I will send you. You will prophesy. No one will understand.”
Their blindness is their own fault. Judgment is coming. They will be left senseless and staggering. They will be amazed. All because they have ignored God’s message for so long that even when it is right in front of them, they can’t understand it. But they still keep up their religious ritual. “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.”
The priests taught them about the law, but not about the law-giver. They did not know why they did what they did. The priests said to bring this sacrifice on this occasion, so they brought it. The priests told them what to sing and they sang it. The priests told them when to pray and they prayed. The priests told them when to say, “Amen,” and they said, “Amen.” They did everything they were supposed to, so they though they were OK with God.
“These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” God doesn’t need to kick our shins or throw rocks to find out if our devotion is real or pretend. He sees our hearts.
“Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.” We have studied prayer keys for months. We have studied abiding in Christ, praying boldly, delighting in the Lord, and focusing on God. We have studied praying in humility, holiness, and obedience. We have studied these and more keys. But these are not rules to pull God to our will. They are guides pulling us to God’s will. God knows our hearts. God knows when we really are praying earnestly and when we are pretending. God knows when we really are praying for his glory and when we are pretending. God doesn’t need to kick our shins or throw rocks to find out if our devotion is real or pretend. He knows our hearts.
Generally, the most faithful believers are in prayer meeting. Generally. Unlike God, I don’t know your hearts. I do think everyone here is a Christian. But if you are pretending devotion when you pray, the first prayer keys you need to concentrate on are repentance and confession. Repent and confess that you have been going through the motions while your heart was far away.
To be effective, our prayer must be real, not pretend. Our prayer must be sincere.
