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Sermon by Pastor Michael Rauls

Isaiah 1:1-20 (ESV)

1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

² Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
    for the Lord has spoken:
“Children have I reared and brought up,
    but they have rebelled against me.
³ The ox knows its owner,
    and the donkey its master’s crib,
but Israel does not know,
    my people do not understand.”

⁴ Ah, sinful nation,
    a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
    children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the Lord,
    they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
    they are utterly estranged.

⁵ Why will you still be struck down?
    Why will you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
    and the whole heart faint.
⁶ From the sole of the foot even to the head,
    there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
    and raw wounds;
they are not pressed out or bound up
    or softened with oil.

⁷ Your country lies desolate;
    your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
    foreigners devour your land;
    it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
⁸ And the daughter of Zion is left
    like a booth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumber field,
    like a besieged city.

⁹ If the Lord of hosts
    had not left us a few survivors,
we should have been like Sodom,
    and become like Gomorrah.

¹⁰ Hear the word of the Lord,
    you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching of our God,
    you people of Gomorrah!
¹¹ “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
    says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
    and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
    or of lambs, or of goats.

¹² “When you come to appear before me,
    who has required of you
    this trampling of my courts?
¹³ Bring no more vain offerings;
    incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
    I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
¹⁴ Your new moons and your appointed feasts
    my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
    I am weary of bearing them.
¹⁵ When you spread out your hands,
    I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
    I will not listen;
    your hands are full of blood.
¹⁶ Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
    remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
¹⁷     learn to do good;
seek justice,
    correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
    plead the widow’s cause.

¹⁸ “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
    they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
    they shall become like wool.
¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient,
    you shall eat the good of the land;
²⁰ but if you refuse and rebel,
    you shall be eaten by the sword;
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”