Isaiah 59

A Desperate Situation

If you do a quick read through of the first couple of chapters of Romans you will very quickly realize how desperate our situation is. You will see how devastating the affects of our sin really is. We have been separated from God. Here in Isaiah 59, Isaiah is showing God’s people how desperate their situation is. He tells them that because of their sin God had to hide his face from them. They were guilty of murder, lies, violence, evil, and all kinds of wickedness. They were completely separated from God.

We are in the same situation that the people of Israel are in. Our sin has completely separated us from God. Because of our sin we have no access to God. The Bible tells that there is no one who is righteous, not even one person. So no one can stand before God and have access to Him. He can not even look at us because He is to holy and righteous. How does that make you feel?

Weeping Over Sin

Do you feel like the people of Israel did in Isaiah 59:9-15a? This section is a lament of the people. They came to the realization of their wickedness and they cried. Not only did they cry but they wept. They realized that they were walking in darkness. They were hoping for justice against their enemies but it did not come. They knew salvation was far away because of their sin and they knew they did not deserve it.

We need this attitude. We need to realize how wicked our sin really is. All sin is wickedness. All sin separates us from God. A lot of times we like to down play our sin and say that we are not as bad as other people. All that does is shows that you are living by a worldly standard and not God’s standard. Pray and ask God to give you His heart toward sin, to see it for what it really is; wickedness. When we see sin like God see’s it, the grace of God will be evident in every aspect of your life.

Salvation

In the last section we see God intervening for His people to bring salvation for them and judgment for their enemies. The people were repentant. They recognized their sin and turned from it and God honored that. This is speaking of a future time when Christ will return and bring call His people home and bring judgment to all His enemies.

Are you an enemy of God? I doubt that there are a ton of people that would call themselves an enemy of God(though I know there are some) but what does it mean? Do you actually have to call yourself an enemy of God? The Bible is very clear about what it means to be an enemy of God. Jesus said in Matthew 12:30 “Whoever is not with me is against me.” If you are not a friend of God, you are an enemy of God whether you view yourself as that or not.

James, in his epistle takes it a step further in James 4:4 “friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” Are you a friend of the world? Do you allow things in your life that are worldly and don’t do anything about it? Do things of the world appeal to you more than things of God? Do you have sin in your life that you just don’t care about? That is a dangerous place to be. Don’t be an enemy of God!

For a message given by Pastor Jon Lee on James 4 titled “The Test – How Much Has The World Marked You” click here