Isaiah 59:1-3 ESV
“Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.
For your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies;
your tongue mutters wickedness.”
There are many people professing faith in Jesus Christ here
in America, and perhaps in other countries, too, who are not listening to God
nor to his counsel but they are going their own way, instead, living for the
sinful pleasures of the flesh, engaging themselves in all sorts of immorality
and wickedness without regard for God nor for who gets hurt in the process. For
it is all about them and their sinful pleasures. They are greedy for unjust
gain and this is what drives them.
They are addicted to sin, but addiction is not uncurable.
Jesus Christ died on that cross to deliver us from our addiction (slavery) to
sin so we would now be slaves of God and of his righteousness. So, it isn’t
that there isn’t a way out or that they don’t know the way out, but that they
are choosing their sin over God and they are choosing their addiction in place
of the way our Lord provided for us to be free of our slavery to sin. And it is
because they don’t truly want to let go of their sin in order to follow the
Lord in obedience.
But then they don’t want other people to know of their
sinful practices and so they cover them up with lies. For those who are
addicted to sin and who are deliberately and habitually sinning against the
Lord are sinning against other humans, too, and a lot of this is being done in
secret. And so going along with the addiction to their specific sins is lying
to coverup what they don’t want other people to know about. But God knows. They
can’t hide their secret sins from him.
Isaiah 59:7-8 ESV
“Their feet run to evil,
and they are swift to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
desolation and destruction are in their highways.
The way of peace they do not know,
and there is no justice in their paths;
they have made their roads crooked;
no one who treads on them knows peace.”
These are not people, though, who just happened to be in the
wrong place at the wrong time and who fell prey to the enemy and who gave into a
temptation to sin. These are headstrong individuals who deliberately and
habitually do what they know is sinful because they want to sin. They plot out
sin in advance sometimes, too. Their lives are out of control and so they are
just meandering through life just doing what feels good at the moment. They
have no plan in place to keep from sinning and so they keep sinning.
For they are the intoxicated to sin. They are the
self-indulgent who look for ways to do evil and then who carry out the evil
without conscience. They sell themselves out for sinful pleasure for they are
totally selfish, living for self without regard for how their actions impact
others. They are altogether corrupt, dishonest, immoral, and impure. It is all
about what brings them pleasure even if it hurts other people, even knowing
that their actions are hurting other people, but totally lacking compassion for
those they hurt.
The way of peace they do not know because the way of peace is
the path of holiness and righteousness, of submission to Christ as Lord, of
surrender of our lives to him to do his will, and of forsaking our sinful
practices to follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his commands (New Covenant).
It is the path of following Jesus Christ in death to sin and living to him and
to his righteousness in the power of God because of what Jesus did for us in
putting our sins to death with him on that cross to free us from our sin.
Isaiah 59:12-13 ESV
“For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
and we know our iniquities:
transgressing, and denying the Lord,
and turning back from following our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.”
Transgressions get multiplied when people ignore the
commands of God and when they decide to go their own way, instead. They get increased
when those professing faith in Jesus Christ do not follow the commands of God
but they go through life aimlessly wandering from this thing to that with no
guards up. They are just meandering, proceeding through life in a leisurely
carefree way, exchanging the life that they could have had in Christ for the
way of the flesh, instead. And so when tempted, they give in, and then they
continue living unruly, wild, and out of control lives.
So, even though they profess faith in Jesus Christ with
their lips, they deny him by their lifestyles. They say they believe in Jesus,
that he is their Lord and Savior, and they claim to be in fellowship with him,
but while they are still walking in darkness (in sin, wickedness, immorality).
And so the Scriptures teach that what they are confessing with their lips is a
lie because it is opposite of what they are living, in practice. For the
Scriptures are clear. If we make sin our practice, we will die in our sins, not
live with Christ.
And the only way out of this sin cycle is to repent of your
sins, not just to confess them with your lips, but to die with Christ to sin,
to put your sins behind you and now to follow Jesus in obedience to his ways.
And this involves us learning of the Spirit of God to say “No!” to ungodliness
and fleshly lusts and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives for the
glory of God by the grace of God and in the power of God’s Spirit. For Jesus
died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his
righteousness.
An Original Work / September 26, 2011
When in the stillness of this moment,
Speak to me, Lord, I humbly pray.
Be my desire, set me on fire,
Teach me to love always.
Help me to walk in fellowship with You,
Listening to You; sit at Your feet.
Whisper Your words to me,
Oh, how gently, guiding me in Your
truth.
While we are waiting for Your blessing,
Lord, in our hearts be King today.
Help us to live for you ev’ry moment,
List’ning to what You say.
May we not stray from your word within
us,
Help us obey You, Lord, in all things,
Walking each moment, Lord, in Your
presence,
Our offerings to You bring.
Help us to love You, Lord, our master;
Be an example of Your love,
Helping the hurting, lift up the
fallen,
Showing them Your great love.
Teach them to love You, follow You
always,
Bearing their cross and turning from
sin;
Walking in daily fellowship with You,
Making You Lord and King.
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