Turn in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1 will read verses 2 through 31. I believe that's on page 604 and 605 there in the Pew Bible. Isaiah chapter 1. We will begin in verse two. This is God's holy word. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib. But Israel does not know. My people do not consider. Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel. They have turned away backward. Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick. and the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot, even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not been closed or bound up or soothed with ointment. Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Strangers devour your land in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a hut in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Unless the Lord of Hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom. We would have been made like Gomorrah. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me, says the Lord? I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required this from your hand to trample my courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices. Incense is an abomination to me. The new moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feast, my soul hates. They are a trouble to me. I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood." Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good. Seek justice, rebuke the oppressor. Defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. How the faithful city has become a harlot. It was full of justice, righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before them. Therefore, the Lord says, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel. Ah, I will rid myself of my adversaries and take vengeance on my enemies. I will turn my hand against you and thoroughly purge away your dross and take away all your alloy. I will restore your judges as at the first and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward, you shall be called the city of righteousness. the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with justice and her penitence with righteousness. The destruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed for they shall be ashamed of the terrible trees which you have desired and you shall be embarrassed because of the gardens which you have chosen. For you shall be as a terebinth whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water. The strong shall be as tender, and the work of it as a spark. Both will burn together, and no one shall quench them." Amen. This is God's holy, infallible, and inerrant word. Well, this morning we are entering into a celestial courtroom. This is probably the ultimate in terms of a courtroom drama. We have the defendant on one side, Judah, representing Jerusalem. We have the covenant prosecutor on the other side, who represents the government, the kingdom of God. And the covenant prosecutor is bringing charges against Judah, the defendant. I've organized the outline of this trial into two parts. The first is covenantal charges. And the second is covenantal commentary. And I want to consider these covenant charges in three contexts. And this is how we'll see it in the text. The first is related to the civil. The second is related to ceremonial. And third is related to culture or cultural. So let's look at these three in order. The first covenant charge is in the context of the nation. And the first indictment is rebellion. And notice in verse 2, he calls to the heavens and the earth. Isaiah is calling his first witness. We read this in chapter 32 of Deuteronomy this morning. When you hear those words, hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, you know a lawsuit is coming. And that's what we have in this chapter. He calls the created order to bear witness against his child, his beloved. These children, the text tells us, that he has nourished. That word nourished in the Hebrew is used to describe God's care. They sat at his table. He clothed them. He took care of them. That old adage, that old expression, don't bite the hand that feeds you. And this is exactly what his children were doing. The official charge is spelled out in verse 2. And they have rebelled against me. Harmon writes, the word rebelled is one of the technical terms used in the Old Testament. for covenantal violation. They have violated, they have profaned the blood of the covenant. Samuel the prophet writes in chapter 15 verse 23, for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. to spurn the blood of the covenant to know this one who has entered into covenant with you and to say no thank you this is exactly what the people of Judah were doing look at verse 3 The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know. How can they not know? What is he saying here? To know means to be in relationship. They have turned their face from Yahweh. We don't want what you have. And really what they're saying is, we don't want to be restrained by your rules any longer. They knew the consequences. They had entered into covenant with Yahweh. You remember at Sinai? And this was reintroduced and repeated in Deuteronomy. And there was warning, okay, careful. Do you know what you're getting into? And you remember the picture in Genesis chapter 12? with Moses, or excuse me, Abraham, and having the sacrifice split in two. And you remember it was the pot, it was Christ, who walked in between those sacrifices. And what is He communicating? May it be done to you, if you or I, either one, violate this treaty. If either one of us were to spurn this covenant, this is what will happen. And they knew exactly what they were getting into. Oh yes, we'll be obedient. We'll obey. We agree. It's interesting that he's using this analogy. He's referencing the created order. Bearing witness, and then he talks about the ox. He talks about the donkey. They know their master's crib. What is Isaiah saying? That even the created order is more righteous than you. We're familiar with that story in the Old Testament, where the Philistines had conquered Jerusalem. They had taken the ark, and the Philistines were being struck by God with the plague. And the Philistines were like, we got to do something about this. They prayed to their God and said, if it goes, they put the ark on a cart with oxen. They said, if the oxen goes right back to Jerusalem, we'll know this is from God. and that's exactly what happens and as the ark comes into the camp you remember it it hit a rock and the ark started to fall and Uzzah reached out to steady the ark and God struck him dead God told his people do not touch the holy thing and R.C. Sproul makes the point that the dirt The earth itself was more righteous than Uzzah himself. And this is what God is saying through his prophet. Even the created order, it is more righteous than you. The ox and the donkey know, but Israel does not know. My people do not consider. This word for consider in Hebrew means to be attentive. And I think there's application here for us. We come to church, we check a box, but where is your heart? Maybe your words, your mouth is moving, but is your heart far from God? Are you inattentive to Him? The people of God in our text were willfully ignorant. They paid no attention to God or His covenant. and he addresses them collectively as a nation, look at verse four, a last sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity. That would be bad enough, but he doesn't stop there. Notice what he writes next, a brood of evil doers. The word brood in Hebrew means seed. literally seed of evildoers. What is he saying? He's likening, he's comparing his people to the devil. We have seed language throughout scripture. The seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. And this is the judgment that God is pronouncing upon his child, Judah, his people. You are like your father, the devil. Jesus was even more explicit speaking to the religious leaders of his day. He says, why do you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen to my word. You are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do. This is a stinging indictment. You are like your father. the devil, the ultimate rebel. How do you not know? The ox and the donkey, they get it. How do you not know? They had hardened their hearts. They are in open rebellion to God. If we are to see change in our nation, change must begin with us it must begin with you if we want revival in our nation Revival must start in your heart. That's the question we have for ourselves today. Where are we with the Lord? Are we in rebellion to Him? And that takes a number of different forms. Maybe you're like me. I couldn't hide anything. My sister could not understand. Kevin, don't do that. You'll get in trouble. I didn't care. whereas she was more passive, and both are rebellious. You can be like that child in the truck with his father, and his father tells him to sit down, and he sits down, but he tells his father, but I'm standing up on the inside. Are you standing up on the inside this morning? Are you in rebellion to the Lord Jesus Christ, to the one who is in covenant with you? Revival must begin with you. Well, let's look next at the second charge, which is legalism. The second context here is ceremonial. It's related to Judah as a worshiping community, the church. What is legalism? Let me read this. It's a definition from our testimony, chapter 19, verse 6, or section 6. Sinful legalism consists of mere outward conformity to the law in the absence of love to the lawgiver. It often involves the effort to gain salvation or reward through such obedience. Israelites thought they were looking pretty good, right? We're sacrificing, we're going through the motions, but yet God, man looks on the outward, God is looking at the heart, and it smells pretty bad. Notice what he says here in verse 11 he asked them a very revealing question to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me you've heard that saying if a little does a little good a whole lot will do a whole lot more or better and that's their M.O. They're like, well, let's just keep up our ritualistic practices, our sacrifices. And indeed, that must be acceptable to God. And God is telling them, your many sacrifices don't impress me. I've had enough of burnt offerings. The fat of fed cattle, I do not delight. in the blood of bulls, or the lamb, or of lambs, or of goats. Is God changing His requirements? Is He saying, you don't need to sacrifice to me any longer? No, not at all. He, again, is calling them to worship Him in faith. You remember our definition of legalism? It's doing those things with, from a, from a heart of, of, or lack of love, rather. And that's what God is calling His people and indicting them to their legalism. Your heart is far from me. I see your lips are moving, you're bringing sacrifice, but what does that mean?" Again, I want you to hear from Jesus, who condemned the religious leaders of his day. Very same people, very same word. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, For you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautifully outward, but inside are full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness." Maybe we look pretty good on the outside. As I tell people, we clean up well. But what is going on in our heart? We're coming to church faithfully. We're bringing sacrifice. Maybe you're tithing regularly, but where is your heart? That is what God wants. That's where He's going. In my own testimony, I speak of being convinced that I was a Christian for years and years, and it wasn't until I was 18 years old. that I realized there were parts of my heart that I had sealed off from God. And where does Jesus go? He goes right to that door. And He's calling you to open that door to Him. Don't hold back. Don't keep back from the Lord Jesus. Give your heart to Him. Isaiah is communicating to the people of God that they are no better than the idolatrous pagans. In fact, look at verse 12. He accuses them of trampling his courts. This word trample has an idea of someone who's a foreigner. They should not be here. In essence, what he's saying is, I don't know you. You're trespassing. He tells them Just stop, verse 13, just stop. Your worship, he uses the word incense, it's an abomination. Wow, an abomination. Again, something that is so vile and so repulsive that it makes him sick. What does that remind you of that we read this morning? The church in Laodicea. they were neither hot nor cold they were lukewarm kids if you've ever poured yourself a glass of milk and it's sitting there on the counter and you go off and you play and you forget about it and you come back three or four hours later and you pick up that milk and you take a big gulp and it's lukewarm it's revolting it's disgusting and that's exactly what The prophet is communicating to his church, your worship disgusts me. The very thing that I've asked you to do, but because you're doing it in an unworthy manner, and you're doing it without any regard to me, you're checking a box. You think by doing these things that you'll earn my favor. I think a good analogy is that of an unfaithful spouse, serially unfaithful. They continue to go to their lover, and yet they come back and whisper sweet nothings. They bring you flowers. How revolting, how disgusting is that? And that's the indictment here that the prophet brings to his people. their true character is revealed in verses 15 through 18 they're guilty of murder you have blood on your hands they are living lives of uncleanness they're unholy they practice evil what does that mean look at verse 17 and this is very convicting they are oppressing the helpless in their midst God commands rebuke the oppressor defend the fatherless plead for the widow of all the grace that God had given them all of the wealth the prosperity and now they become bullies they're picking on the poor and the helpless And isn't that really at the core of injustice? Injustice affects the poor and the helpless and the weak among us. And we're oblivious. Worse, we are inflicting harm and damage to them. The only way the church can get right with God is through repentance. They need cleansing. They need purification. They must cease from doing evil and administer just judgment. I don't know about you, I'm thinking 20 miles to our south we have some injustice going on. We have a government who is beholden to money interest. The big corporations, the lobbyists, they are perpetuating injustice. And are we sitting idly by? Are we not saying anything? Are we speaking truth to power? We dare not be complicit with the injustice. To love God is to love your neighbor, and yet the church under age thought, well, we can keep table one, we'll just ignore table two. And God says, To love me is to love your neighbor. Heed the words of Christ to the church at Laodicea. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him and he with me. Let's look now at the third charge. The third indictment that Isaiah brings is that of injustice. The context here is cultural. There's a little bit of overlap here, but this is the primary sin in this final section. Andrew Breitbart wrote that politics are downstream from culture, and I would add to that that culture is downstream from the church. We just looked at the corruption within the church, these abominable practices. Can you imagine saying that coming to worship here this morning, entering into prayer, hearing the word preached is abominable, it's an abomination? Why? Again, because their hearts were not right with God. And because the church has been influenced by the culture, there's this vicious cycle. the church influences the culture, and we see a lack of righteousness today in our culture because of the wickedness, the sin in the church itself. Judgment must begin at the house of God. Is it any wonder that the culture was messed up in 700 BC? I just read a report this week about a revoiced speaker. This is a conference and there was a conference in a PCA church where they're condoning homosexual behavior. We have side A, side B, and this is what he said. He claimed that the Apostle Paul is defending the LGBTQ plus community from, quote, heterosexual self-righteousness. So it means then that if we're seeking to be biblical, if we're seeking to be obedient, to be a one-man woman, a one-woman man, to be heterosexual, somehow that's self-righteous. And that's what's going on in our churches today. It's influenced our culture. And he begins the section in verse 21, how the faithful city has become a harlot. The city here, Jerusalem, represents Judah. It's interesting, this is the first time that this metaphor of adultery, of prostitution, is being used here in the book of Isaiah. We'll see that as we continue through the book. The verse continues, this city was full of justice. Righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. Notice the past tense, was. Also notice the contrast between good and evil, justice to injustice. The city has become Gotham. Notice that contrast. It was once a city where righteousness dwelt. The language here is lodged in it. That was the habitation of righteousness and now righteousness has fled. Jerusalem was to be the city set on a hill. It was to be the exemplar. It was to be the example of what it meant to be righteous. Isaiah will write later in chapter 42, I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand. I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles. that light had been sorely diminished because of their wickedness, because of their injustice. But look at it now. Verse 22, your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. Isaiah is using these word pictures to picture the transformation, the cultural transformation from good, from evil, From good now to evil. And Isaiah reserves the harshest judgment for the leadership. Princes have become rebels. They've sided with the moneyed interest. It's just about getting paid now. The rulers, the shepherds, have been put into positions of power by God. Why? For good. And now they're subverting justice. Isn't that the textbook reason for government that we find in Romans 13? To punish evil and to reward the good? And yet they've inverted this here. God declares through his prophet, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. This is a perversion of justice. It's a serious matter. And God will defend the helpless. He will defend the weak, the poor, and the needy. Isaiah is making his case as the covenant prosecutor. Judah is guilty. They have profaned the blood of the covenant. There are covenant breakers in every area. Rebellion, injustice, civil, ceremonial, cultural. We've considered these covenantal charges and now I want us to move to this covenantal commentary as we close. It's meant for us to pull back, to look at the bigger picture. We've been in the weeds and now I want us to get on top and look at this covenantal or these covenantal charges from a much higher view. There's two major themes that recur throughout this book. One is the doctrines of grace, covenant, covenant, covenant. You've heard that word a lot this morning, but also the doctrine of the remnant. And this is the framework for how we can understand this book. It's like putting on our goggles. And this is how, not only do we understand and the Word is revealed to us in Isaiah, but also the rest of Scripture. We must have a covenantal framework and a lens as to how we view His Word to us. In the introduction last week I mentioned the first half of the book, chapters 1 through 39, were about judgment or are about judgment. Now the second half, 40 through 66, is about restoration. Do you remember what I said about what distinguishes Isaiah from the other prophets? I said that he gives us a preview of what's coming. He telegraphs what it is that God will do, and we see that here in this chapter, in the midst of the darkness of God's judgment. There is light, there is a glimmer of hope, and I want us to see this together, kind of as a commentary on the entire chapter before we close. I want us to look at this commentary using the same three contexts. Let's begin with the civil. Look at verse 9. Unless the Lord of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, that's the same word as seed, we would have become like Sodom. We would have been made like Gomorrah. What is God saying? He says, I am the one that's preserving you. How often do we rebel? How often do we disobey God? And yet He continues to love us. Our sovereign God, and I want you to hear this this morning, as we see this in verse 9, God has put boundaries around your life. Boundaries, He will not allow you to go any further than what He has determined. And I hope that's encouraging to some of you today who are struggling with besetting sin. It won't always be that way. God is and will preserve you. Now, we tend to think, well, this remnant, there were these people in their midst that were holy and yet everybody else was corrupt, and that would be accurate. We could think that way, but then we, and we like to think of ourselves as the remnant, do we not? But what happens is we become self-righteous. Hey, look at me. Look how well I'm doing. Let me break it to you. Unless the Lord had intervened in your life, unless the Lord had broke it into your heart, you would be just like everybody else. If you're his remnant, if you're in Christ this morning, it's because God is preserving you. Let's look at the next one, verse 19. And remember the context here. This is the worship that was so repugnant to God. It was making him sick. Verse 19, if you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land if you are obedient. How is that possible? Well, it's only possible through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's by His blood. It's not by your legalism. It's not by your good works. Your obedience comes from a heart that's been changed by God. If you are willing and obedient and then look at this last context the context of cultural judgment verse 26 this is that glimmer of hope in this dark dark room I will restore your judges as at the first and your counselors as at the beginning afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness the faithful city the city who was righteous who is holy had become a prostitute. Righteousness had moved out. Rebels had moved in. In fact, the princes had become rebels. And they were full of bribes. It was full of payoffs, and justice was being perverted. And yet, here in this verse, there is a promise of hope, of restoration. How is it possible to go from Gotham to the Celestial City? One word, God. It's revival. We need his spirit to move among us, among our nation, among our culture, to bring transformation, true transformation by the transforming work of the gospel. In the midst of judgment, in the midst of discipline, there is hope of restoration. We're living in this tension between the promise and the fulfillment. Where are you? Are you living in rebellion to God? Are you just checking the box? Are you going through the motions? I want you to hear me this morning. We started with the courtroom. We're going to end there. The judge of all the earth who's sitting behind the bench, he gets down, he comes around, and he stands next to you. He is your advocate. He is your only hope. He is pleading with the judge, take me. in His place, in her place. That is the hope for us today. And as we look, as we continue this journey through Isaiah, to see the hope, the fulfillment of the promise, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray.