Please turn with me in your copies of God's word to Isaiah 58. We will be reading from verse 1 to 12. Hear now the word of the Lord. Cry aloud. Do not hold back. raise your voice like a trumpet and declare to my people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me day by day and delight to know my ways as a nation that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask me for just decisions. They delight in the nearness of God. Why have we fasted and you have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves and you do not notice? Behold, on the day of your fast, you find your desire and drive hard all your workers. Behold, you fast for contention and strife, and to strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high. Is it a fast like this which I chose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one's head like a reed, and for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord? Is this not the fast which I chose to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and to bring the homeless poor into the house when you see the naked to cover him and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light will break out like the dawn and your recovery will speedily spring forth and your righteousness will go before you. The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call and the Lord will answer. You will cry and he will say, here I am. If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness. And if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom will become like midday. And the Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places and give strength to your bones. And you will be like a water garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins. You will raise up the age-old foundations. And you will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets in which you dwell. Now we come to our fifth message on the subject of fasting in Isaiah 58. And I remind you of several observations that we have made thus far. First, we said that fasting at its most basic level is abstaining from food and drink. But second, we said that fasting is the humiliation and affliction of the soul. Third, we said that fasting is a hunger and thirst for God. And then fourth, we said that fasting is an aid to prayer. Now, having considered several aspects of biblical fasting, we also want to consider common hindrances, if you will, to the efficacy of fasting from our text. And so we will do so under the two headings. First, the hypocrisy of the people of God. and second, healing for the people of God. Again, first consider with me point number one, which is the hypocrisy of the people of God. We read once more in verse one, it says, cry aloud do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet and declare to my people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins. Lord commanded Isaiah to sound the alarm with the full strength of his voice. The people were in danger. They were in danger due to sin. Now if you recall last week, I mentioned that after the death of Solomon that the kingdom was divided into Israel to the north and Judah to the south. Israel would be exiled by the Assyrians in 722 BC, but Judah would remain in the land for a little while longer. Now as you may recall also from last week, the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 25 says to the southern kingdom of Judah, he says, the Lord has sent you all his servants, the prophets, again and again, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. And so Isaiah was one such prophet that the Lord had sent to Judah Isaiah's ministry took place sometime around 740 BC to 681 BC during the reign of King Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. And so, again, we see this in Isaiah 1-1, where we read, the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem, which he saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. And so, while Isaiah speaks to his contemporaries, he's also, in a sense, speaking to Judah and those who would be exiled into captivity by the Babylonians. But not only Judah, but he also speaks to the people of God today. You see, in every age the alarm must be raised to awaken the people of God to the dangers of sin. It was once the duty of the prophet, but today it is the duty of the preacher. The preacher must cry aloud and warn the people of God of the dangers of sin and call them back to repentance. Now, Who does not know that sin is deceitful? It can even hide in plain sight. It can take on all the external appearances of true religion and yet be bankrupt of justice, mercy, and righteousness. So it was in the days of Isaiah, and so it is today. Again, the prophet says in verse two, yet they seek me day by day and delight to know my ways. As a nation, they have done righteousness and have not forsaken the ordinances of their God. They ask me for just decisions. They delight in the nearness of God. Isaiah says that the people of God sought the Lord daily. They delighted in searching the scriptures. They claimed to be holy and righteous and those who delighted in the nearness of God. Now, on the surface, this seems quite admirable. It seems that they checked all the boxes. But herein lies the first problem. You see, the people of God believed that all their external practices of righteousness obligated God to respond favorably to them. For they said, why have we fasted and you do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and you do not notice? Now herein lies the second problem. They were proud and self-righteous and even boasted in their humility. For they saw their fasting as an expression of great piety. They were like the Pharisee in the parable from Luke 18, 11, who boasts of his supposed righteousness, saying, God, I thank you that I am not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all that I get." Now you see, there's always the great temptation to equate the external practice of religion and things like praying and reading the Word of God and fasting with true religion, but the two are not the same. As one commentator notes, a hypocrite has no real delight in the service of God or in truth. But it is true at the same time that there may be a great deal of professed interest in religion. There may be much pleasure in theological discussion, in the defense of what is deemed orthodoxy. There may be much pleasure in the mere music of devotion, There may be pleasure in the voice of a preacher and in the power of his arguments. True delight in religion is in religion itself, in the service of God as such, and because it is holy. It is not mere pleasure in creeds and theological discussions, but it is delight in God as he is in his holy service and in his truth. Now the Lord is not deceived. Neither does he want the people of God to be deceived as well. The apostle John, for instance, says, if we say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. Do you walk in darkness and yet claim to have fellowship with God? And the Bible says that you lie and you do not practice the truth. Likewise, the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, 9 to 11, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Is this you? Is your life characterized by unrighteousness? Paul again says, do not be deceived. Sin is deceptive and it will make you believe that you are just struggling with sin when in fact you are dead in your sin. Now we believe in eternal security, amen? But make no mistake about it. Sin will kill you. It has killed many who has set out to sea in the fair weather only to turn around and be shipwrecked halfway through the journey. Do not be deceived. Just as faith bears fruit, so too does unbelief. Unbelief and counterfeit religion bear rotten fruit. So it was then, and so it is now. Again, Isaiah writes, Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire and drive hard all your workers. Now when the text says that the people of God quote, find their desire, this means that rather than the day of fasting being a day of humiliation and affliction of the soul, what it ended up being was a day for the people of God to do whatever they want. It was a day devoted to their desires. Some writers even suggest that the desire or the pleasure that they found on this day was even sinful. Again, on the day of fasting, it says that they drive hard all their workers. Now, this means either that they exacted debts, or work their slaves in an oppressive manner on the same day that they fasted. Whichever it is that it was the case, one thing is clear, that the people of God became oppressors. They were harsh in their treatment towards those under them. As has been noted on the passage, the idea seems to be that they were at the same time oppressive in exacting all that was due to them. They remitted nothing. They forgave nothing. People may be most diligent, in the external duties of religion, most abundant in fasting and in prayer, and at the same time most unyielding in demanding all that is due to them. Now, the goal and the manner in which they fasted also became odious to the Lord. Isaiah continues in verse 4, Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high. Now, oppression was so much ingrained in the people of God that either they fasted with the intent to spread hatred and malice, or it could mean that fasting made them more irritable and more hateful to the point where there was physical abuse. And God, again, is not mocked. for this type of fasting would not be heard on high. Ultimately, one word summarized the people of God, and that was hypocrisy. The people of God were hypocrites. And no place is this seen more clearly than in their fasting. Verse five again states, is it a fast like this which I choose? A day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one's head like a reed and for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day? to the Lord? The Lord says that externally they appeared to be humble. They bowed their head. They adorned themselves with sackcloth and ashes, all of which pointed to the humility of heart But the people were anything but humble. They were anything but righteous. Again, the people of God practiced their religion like the Pharisees during the times of Jesus. In Matthew 6, 16 to 18, Jesus says, whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do. for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your father who is in secret. And your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you now the first thing that I should say about this passage is that it does not prohibit corporate fasting but rather what it does do is promote private fasting Jesus again says whenever you fast meaning that he expected his disciples to fast at some point But fasting for the Pharisees was directed towards men, not towards God. It was an outward show. So they intentionally changed their appearance to make it known that they were fasting. And what happened? Because they fasted for men, they received a man's reward. But fasting done in secret before God gains the reward of the Father. This is what we are seeking. Not the praises of men, but the reward of the Father in true fasting and true humility. And so we see that the greatest enemies of effective fasting are pride and hypocrisy. And if the people of God will be heard on high, as it says in Isaiah, then the people of God must humble themselves before him. They must humble themselves in true repentance, laying aside hypocrisy and sin. Again, going back to verses six and seven, Isaiah then describes for us the type of fast that the Lord delights in. He says, is this not the fast which I choose? To loosen the bonds of wickedness? to undo the bands of the yoke and to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house when you see the naked to cover him and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Now, there are again two virtues that the Lord declares. First, the abolition of all forms of oppression. And second, benevolence to those in need. In other words, the people of God were to add justice and mercy to their practice of religion. Now this was the same standard of Christ in the New Testament. He says, for instance, in Matthew 23, 23, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness. But these things are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. Again, Christ, who exemplified justice and mercy, came to preach the gospel to the poor and to set free those who were oppressed. It was Christ, their king, who called them to do likewise. And it is Christ, our King, that calls us to do likewise today as well. And so we ask the question, where is there oppression that needs to be repented of? Could it perhaps be even in our own homes? or where has there been opportunity for benevolence? Most certainly we are called to open our wallets to those who are poor and needy, but not just our wallets, but our hearts as well. James chapter 1 verse 27 reminds us, pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world. As you may recall, Some weeks ago, I mentioned that fasting affects the heart. But as we have seen from this text, fasting affects our hands as well. And God uses fasting as a means to heal his people. This takes us to point number two. healing for the people of God. Isaiah again says in verse 8, then your light will break out like the dawn and your recovery will speedily spring forth and your righteousness will go before you the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Now this word Recovery can also be rendered as healing or restoration as it is in the New King James Version. So in the New King James Version, the text says, then your light shall break forth like the morning. Your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you. The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Isaiah now turns his attention to what God has promised to do for his people through fasting. As we have seen in Matthew 6, 16 to 18, though God is not obligated to do so, God nevertheless promises to reward and bless those who fast in an acceptable manner. Now this is still true today. Like the dawning of the sun that suddenly pierces the darkness, so too would healing quickly come to the people of God. No doubt that Isaiah has in view the calamity that would befall the people in captivity, that they would be wounded and afflicted with the darkness of gloom. And yet we see here a promise of restoration and happiness if they would but turn to the Lord. Likewise, if the sinner here today would but turn to the Lord, then darkness would become light, and there would be healing from the sickness of sin. For Christ is the great physician, and he is the light of the world, and whoever follows him will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Again, I say, consider what God promises to do for his people according to verse nine. Isaiah again says, then you will call and the Lord will answer. You will cry and he will say, here I am. If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness. Now the prophet here once more reminds us of the conduct of the citizens of the kingdom. They were to remove the yoke of oppression from their midst and to abandon the slightest hint of threatenings. This seems to be the idea that is communicated in the pointing of the finger. It is then, and only then, that the Lord will hear their prayers and see their fasting. Now there is also a nearness and an eagerness to answer prayer expressed in the words of Isaiah. The prophet says, you will cry and he will say, here I am. You know, sometimes we act as though God is stingy when it comes to answering prayers. We forget that the one who commands us to be generous is himself generous. Consider for a moment the various invitations for the people of God to come to him in prayer. In 1 John 5, 14-15, for instance, we read, This is the confidence which we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. Hebrews 4 15 to 16 for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but one who has been tempted in all things as we are yet without sin therefore Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. And of course, there is Matthew 7, 7 to 11. Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be open. For everyone who acts receives, and he who seeks finds. And to him who knocks, it will be open. Or what man is there among you who, when his son acts for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If then you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask him? Again, The Lord delights in answering the prayers of his people. And so he bids us to come. So let us come, laying aside all hypocrisy and with true humility. Again, going back to Isaiah 58, the prophet says in verse 10, And if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom will become midday. Now this phrase, give yourself to the hungry, is also rendered as draw out your soul to the hungry. You see, the idea goes far beyond mere almsgiving. As Calvin notes in the passage, it would not be enough to perform acts of kindness towards men if our disposition towards them were not warm and affectionate. If I give all my goods to the poor, says Paul, and have not love, I am nothing. To pour out the soul, therefore, is nothing less than to bewail their distresses and to be as much affected by their own poverty as if we ourselves endured it. As on the other hand, all who are limited and devoted to themselves are said to have a hard and seared heart, to shut up their bowels, and to restrain their feelings. And so, just as the Lord not only gives good gifts to his children, but ultimately himself, so too are the people of God, not only to give what is good and necessary for those in need, but also to give themselves to those who are in need. It is a call to a higher standard that places us in the shoes of others that we might fill up the cup of compassion for the poor and needy. It is this type of life that will cause light to rise in darkness and turn gloom into midday. It is this type of life that leads to the further blessings of verses 11 to 12. Again, we read, And the Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places and give strength to your bones. And you will be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins. You will raise up the aged old foundations. and you will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets in which you dwell. Isaiah describes the blessings that would overtake the people of God upon their repentance and reform. He speaks of continual guidance. the satisfaction of the soul, even in scorched places like that of a drought. He speaks of renewed strength and prosperity like that of a watered garden and a spring that continually flows, never to deceive. Ultimately, restoration is promised. No doubt, Isaiah has in mind the restoration of Jerusalem during the times of Ezra and Nehemiah. But for us today, it would point to the restoration of the church from sin. And so as one commentator notes regarding verse 12, the promise is indeed general. And though the language is taken from the recovery of Palestine from its ruins after the captivity, yet there can be no objection to applying it to a more general sense as teaching that the people of God, if they are faithful in keeping his commandments and in manifesting the spirit which becomes the church, will repair the ruins which sin has made in the world and rebuild the wastes and desolations of many ages. This was what God promised when there was a true and acceptable fast. When there is repentance and humility when the people of God truly seek God. Again, the Lord stood ready to bless his people. But sadly, the people of God would ignore the words of the prophets, even as some of you ignore the words of the preacher today. They would continue their empty rituals. They would continue in their dead religion, devoid of justice, mercy, and righteousness. They would continue to pray and to fast in vain, and ultimately, the curse of God would fall upon them. Now, these things happen to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction upon whom the end of the ages has come, that we would not crave evil things as they also craved, nor act immorally as some of them did. but instead that we might find grace in the eyes of the Lord and healing from the ruins of sin. Amen. Let's go to Lord in a word of prayer. Oh Lord our God, you are holy, holy, holy. You are just, you are righteous. Whatever you do is right. Lord, whatever happens to us, and has happened to us, has been ordained by you. Every good, every evil, you are sovereign over all of it. And you are working it all together for the good of your people who are called by your name and for your glory. And so Lord, I pray this day that we would take to heart the message of this preacher. That is not my message, but the message of the prophets. And not even the message of the prophets, but the message of the Lord. I pray, Lord, Holy Father, you are holy, holy, holy. You are also compassionate and loving. You are full of grace and mercy. And you have promised blessing upon blessing. If your people would return by faith, as they would keep their eyes fixed upon you, as they would trust in you and all that you have promised. You have promised to heal your people from sin, and you are doing so. You are sanctifying your church. You are purifying your church. You are strengthening your church through many trials, both outside and inside. And we thank you, Lord, because you are sovereign over it all. So I pray that you would make us the people of God, the better for it and that we would believe it that we would trust in your goodness and kindness to us throughout time time and time again you have supplied all that we have stood in need of whether it is what we stood in need of financially or spiritually you have supplied all our needs and we thank you for it Oh Lord, we pray that you would do that again for us this day, that you would strengthen your people with power, with might, that you would make your people a holy people. And we pray for those who are yet outside the kingdom, that the word of God would go forth and strike down all pride, that they would come humbly before you. trusting in the only wise God for salvation. For there is no other name besides the name of Jesus Christ by which men might be saved. It is not of our works. It is not of our own self-righteousness. Otherwise we would be like the Pharisee who sought to justify himself. Instead, I pray that the sinner today might be like that tax collector who beats on his chest crying out, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. We pray that the Spirit of God would move and accomplish all your good pleasure this day. And it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.