Hope for a Backsliding Nation
Isaiah 57:15-21
A - 15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is
Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly
spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
B - 16 For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would
grow faint before me, and the breath of life that I made.
C - 17 Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I
hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own
heart.
D - 18a I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
C' - 18b-19a I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners,
creating the fruit of the lips.
B' - 19b “Peace, peace to the far and the near”, says the LORD, and I will heal him.
A' - 20-21 But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up
mire and dirt. “There is no peace”, says my God, “for the wicked” (anti-comfort and reviving).
I) Introduction
Memorializing September 11, 2001. Thought to preach a Jeremiad sermon. But this
passage drips with comfort for the afflicted people of God. Distinction between Righteous and
Wicked - Romans 11:22.
II) The Extreme Highness and Holiness of our God
The American trivializing of God. Our God is not like their gods. He is eternal, exalted,
and exquisitely holy. Who is responsible for “Acts of God” and foreign attacks?
III) The Fundamental Distinction between Men - Contrite vs. Wicked
The LORD dwells with the contrite. He is angry with the wicked. When God strikes a
nation, how will men respond? |
