Choosing a City (Isaiah 1:1-20)

John Parker, 13th May 2018
Part of the Study of Isaiah series, preached at a Fordham Sunday Service service

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« To Know Jesus Christ and Make Him Known	None	Hiding from Reality »

1:1 The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
1:2 Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: "I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.
1:3 The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand."
1:4 Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord ; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.
1:5 Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted.

1:6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness- only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil.
1:7 Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.
1:8 The Daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a city under siege.
1:9 Unless the Lord Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.
1:10 Hear the word of the Lord , you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

1:11 "The multitude of your sacrifices- what are they to me?" says the Lord . "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
1:12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?
1:13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations- I cannot bear your evil assemblies.
1:14 Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood;

1:16 wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong,
1:17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
1:18 "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 as crimson, they shall be like wool.
1:19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land;
1:20 but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword." For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.