Introduction
Some of you have undergone surgery or some type of treatment for a serious illness or disease. You know how painful the treatments can be. How difficult recovery is. How weak you feel. None of us would ever volunteer for that type of treatment as a preventative measure. We would not go in to the surgeon and ask him to open us up and have a look under the hood. We would not go to the cancer treatment center and ask to go through chemotherapy as a preventative, just in case there are some cancer cells of a certain type. But neither would we ask God to bring upon us some of the things that we need in order to make us more dependent upon him. Things that would make us more like Christ. Things that would change our course in life. Reveal the incorrect thinking we might be engaging in. Move us off the path to disaster.
The Good and The Evil (Isaiah 10:5-19)
The Good God Uses an Evil Nation (5-6)
He starts by proclaiming the, now familiar, woe against Assyria.
God calls them his “rod of anger”.
He says that they carry the club of God's wrath. In other words, this is God's business they are on. They are on a mission from God.
Their mission is a “godless nation” whom God is angry with.
There are a number of questions that come to mind as we ponder these two verses.
1. They are coming against a godless nation, Israel, but isn't Assyria more godless?
Good question, glad you asked. Yes and yes. They are a godless nation and they are more godless.
And we will see, as we already did this week, that God was not going to leave Assyria's wickedness unaccounted for.
But the godless nation, Israel, had been given a special privilege. They were a nation brought out of slavery by God, given a covenant
with God, given His law to obey, given a land, not their own. All of this by God. They were a people who were supposed to be a
light to the world, but that light had long before gone out.
God uses the same standard of morality to judge all moral creatures (namely humans).
In Luke 12:48, Jesus says, “To whom much is given, much is required.”
Israel had been given much as a nation. But unfaithfulness was the result.
God's righteous indignation against the people of Israel was long in coming, but it had arrived. And God chose to use a nation that
was no better than Israel to accomplish His judgment.
2. How could God use an evil nation to accomplish His will without being responsible for their evil deeds?
Once again, good question. First of all, God did not force Assyria to do evil.
He merely used a nation who was evil to enact a sentence against a people who had rebelled against him.
God is not responsible for the wickedness of men. But the wickedness of men does not somehow tie Gods hands from accomplishing His divine purposes.
God will always accomplish what He wills to accomplish in spite of man's choice to do evil.
God often uses what men intend for evil to accomplish His own good purposes:
[An Example from Job]
[An Example of Jesus life & death as sacrifice]
2) What the Proud Says About Himself (7-14)
Intend to Destroy (7)
My purposes are what matters.
What I want goes.
It's my choice and I don't have to answer to anyone.
I am the commander of my own destiny.
What God Says:
• You are a rod and club of my anger and wrath
• I dispatched you to loot, snatch plunder, and trample like mud
King of Kings (8)
Exalted view of himself.
He is the supreme authority and even his commanders have more authority than kings of other nations.
What God Says:
• You have authority ONLY because I have given it
• The extent of your authority is as far and for however long I allow it and no farther!
Greater Than All Gods (9-11)
In essence he's saying there are no gods, or at least none that have too much to do with man.
All gods are the same and I am greater than they are.
Jerusalem's God is not different.
What God Says:
• You are my instrument to conquer the nations and judge the people and their gods.
• I alone am God whether you acknowledge me or not.
I Have Done...And I Went Unchallenged (13-14)
It is my strength.
It is my wisdom.
It is my understanding.
Like stealing abandoned eggs – nothing there to even resist me.
3) What God Says to the Proud (15-19)
A Fitting Metaphor (15)
Wasn't verse 15 a fitting metaphor to describe reality to Assyria.
You are like an ax, a saw, a rod, or a club.
Try setting on of those down on a table and getting any good use out of them.
These tools serve the purpose of the one that wields them.
They have a use that fits the task at hand but the power is in the one that wields them, not in the tool itself.
To think that my significance to God is in what I do for Him is a wrong perspective.
If anything good comes out of what I do, it comes out of him working through me to will and to do of His good pleasure.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. But either I submit to His will or He can use me in spite of myself.
A Fitting Description of God (16-17)
Lord (Adonai) – Master, Sovereign – you think you are king over kings, I am The Sovereign One.
LORD Almighty (YHWH) – I AM that I AM, I am self-existent, and I am all powerful and all power is derived from me.
Result: I will use a wasting disease against his sturdy warriors; under his pomp a blazing fire kindled
Light of Israel – He gives guidance and direction to his people; they are His; but that Light is also a blazing fire.
Their Holy One – He is unlike any other; there is no comparison; He is otherly; He is morally pure and separate from sin.
Result: What He will do will occur in a single day.
A Fitting Destiny for the Wicked (18-19)
Everything you took pride in, your strength, your ability to conquer, all of it will be completely destroyed by the act (and ax) of the Almighty.
4) Conclusion For Today
We probably don't make exactly the same boastful remarks as the king of Assyria.
Pride At Home
Pride can adversely effect the way I treat my wife. I can think that it's my way or no way.
My needs are what matters.
Forgetting that God made the woman as a helper for man. As the complement of the man. I need my wife's counsel.
I need her insights. I need to value who she is as a person, her feelings, dreams, and aspirations.
Pride is too focused on me.
Pride At Work
Pride can adversely effect working relationships. It can think that I am always right.
Or I can be wrong but not willing to ask others' opinions.
Or I might not know something and be to proud to admit that I don't have it all together and could use some help.
Pride Before God
Pride is not possible in approaching God.
When I have pride, I approach him on my terms, with my agenda, and expect him to respond in the way I want him to.
My pride can (and will) keep me from acknowledging my sin. From seeing that I cannot save myself.
That I am broken and need God. My pride can keep me thinking that I just need to do one more thing for God in order for him to accept me.
When in reality I need to fall humbly before God and acknowledge my lost condition. Acknowledge His unapproachable moral purity. And that the only remedy for my condition is found in God's perfect provision in Jesus Christ.
Humility A Must
Humility is not an option, it is a must.
Scripture speaks of it so often.
It also speaks of pride as the original sin and the thing that God resists.
He will not accept man's pride.
But humility, that is a different story. It is something that God responds to with grace.
The ultimate example is the example of Christ.
The example of him, the Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace, becoming a man.
Taking on the frailty of humanity. Being sinless in a sinful environment.
Being misunderstood, maligned, harassed.
Enduring pain and suffering. Enduring temptation.
And remaining always submissive to the Father's will. Yielding to his every direction throughout life.
To the point of being crucified for godless people.
In Jesus, we see the paradox of God, the exalted One, being humble and meek.
Of the sinless One being the sin-bearer.
Of the wickedness of man being the instrument the Father used to lay the spotless Lamb upon the alter of sacrifice.
Can I go on in life thinking more highly of myself than I should?
Yes I can. But I have not warrant for it. There is no excuse for it. And there are serious consequences for it.
Principles
Man is responsible for his own evil intentions but God can use them for His divine purpose.
To be used by God is no assurance of a right relationship with God.
Applications
How has God been using you lately? Has it been cooperative or is He using you in spite of yourself?
How have you seen man's evil intent used by God to bring about good and reveal His glory?
The Fruit of Discipline (Isaiah 10:20-27)
Discipline is never pleasant but it is necessary
What have you learned from God's discipline in your life and what were the results?
How do you generally respond to God's discipline? How should you respond, knowing God disciplines out of the best
motives possible?
3. What does resistance to God's discipline say about my view of God's authority and His divine purposes?
The Consequences of Pride (Isaiah 10:28-34)
Apparently Assyrian had no allegiance with foreign nations. In spite of the fact that Ahaz had sent word to them, and relied upon them, they still had their eye on Judah's defeat.
This last section hones in on their march toward their final conquest. They perceive this as the end of Judah. But God declares that it will be the end of Assyria, even without Judah raising a finger against them.
1) Assyria's Offensive (28-32)
The Assyrians will move like a well trained army.
Nothing will get in their way.
And as Isaiah foretells, they bring great fear to the people. So much so that it appears as though there really isn't a battle or at least it's
one-sided.
They are moving in toward Jerusalem from the north.
It looks as though their plans are to remain there until the siege is complete.
They lay aside supplies at Micmash.
They work their way from the northeast [show the map] until they are just north of Jerusalem.
And they will shake their fist at Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.
Still confident in their ability to take that city.
What they really are doing is shaking their fist at the defenses of Jerusalem – God with Us.
And mocking His ability to save his people.
2) The Lord's Offensive (33-34)
The ax that was raised by God to discipline the nations will now feel the ax of God's wrath against them.
He uses the tree metaphor to describe them.
Often trees are used to describe the haughty and arrogance of men. But that will be brought low.
They were so sure of their own ability and their own strength, but in a moment, God will reveal who has the power.
He will leave them like a forest cut down.
Notice how this thought is a completion of what Isaiah had started back in verses 18 & 19.
3) The Full Circle
God had called Assyria to accomplish His task of disciplining His people.
Assyria saw this act as an assertion of their own will.
God's people were chastened by this heathen nation, leaving only a remnant.
And now God completes His work by humbling the proud and evil nation.
4) Conclusion
There was nothing in the course of this transaction that precluded Assyria from acknowledging God.
Their pride had made it very difficult. But there was no determinism working here that destined them to certain doom.
They came to the very gates of Zion. And rather than seeking God there, they sought to overthrow him. They did not acknowledge
His sovereignty over all nations.
And they reaped the consequences of a person who shakes his fist at God.
Principle
God's plans override the plans of men.
Applications
What plans are you making that don't include God?
How might your attitude be like shaking a fist at God?
Conclusion
God can do what He needs to in our lives in spite of what you and I want.
But when we resist His good discipline, we miss the lesson and the opportunity to bring God glory.
We assert our own will and in essence say, "I am sovereign of my life."
If God is Sovereign, ought we not submit completely to Him? He knows the end from the beginning. His plans are perfect. He knows just what you and I need to become what He has predestined us to be -- conformed to the image of the Son that He loves.
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