Calculated Repentance

1. CalculatedRepentance Isaiah 58:1-12

2. We all make mistakes.

3. We all make mistakes. But, if a doctor makes a mistake, it could cost a life.

4. What would you expect to hear if your doctor made a mistake?

5. 1999 study at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Lexington, KY.

6. 1999 study at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Lexington, KY. • After losing two big lawsuits, the hospital ruled that its employees should admit to every medical mistake.

7. 1999 study at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Lexington, KY. • After losing two big lawsuits, the hospital ruled that its employees should admit to every medical mistake. • After putting that policy into effect, the hospital’s court-ordered payment dropped significantly.

8. Does repentance count if there’s a big payoff?

9. Does repentance count if there’s a big payoff? If apologizing gets you off the hook, can contrition be genuine?

10. If we repent before God, but if it’s not true repentance, does it count in the higher scheme of things?

11. The Jews in tonight’s text thought so.

12. The Jews in tonight’s text thought so. • Obviously, God was not amused.

13. The Jews in tonight’s text thought so. • Obviously, God was not amused. • God doesn’t want “Calculated Repentance,” but he wants serious repentance.

14. The Jews in tonight’s text thought so. • Obviously, God was not amused. • God doesn’t want “Calculated Repentance,” but he wants serious repentance. • In tonight’s text, God rebukes the Israelites for their fake repentances & urges them to repent genuinely.

15. Isaiah 58:1-12

16. Curses for Fake Repentance vv 1-5

17. “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?” (vv 1-5, ESV).

18. The second half of Isaiah was written prior to the Babylonian Captivity, but the intended audience was the Jewish exiles in Babylon.

19. The second half of Isaiah was written prior to the Babylonian Captivity, but the intended audience was the Jewish exiles in Babylon. • The exiles cold go to Isaiah, therefore, to find needed encouragement & strength during the Captivity.

20. The second half of Isaiah was written prior to the Babylonian Captivity, but the intended audience was the Jewish exiles in Babylon. • The exiles cold go to Isaiah, therefore, to find needed encouragement & strength during the Captivity. • That’s the context of these words: the people are in Captivity, wishing to undo the consequences of their sin, & outwardly repent.

21. The people ask: “Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?” (v 3, ESV).

22. Fasting has long been connected with repentance.

23. Fasting has long been connected with repentance. • “Then all the people of Israel, the whole army, went up and came to Bethel and wept. They sat there before the LORD and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD” (Judg 20:26, ESV).

24. Fasting has long been connected with repentance. • Judg 20:26. • “So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the LORD and fasted on that day and said there, ‘We have sinned against the LORD’” (1 Sm 7:6, ESV).

25. The people did without food.

26. The people did without food. They did what people before them had done to express remorse over sin.

27. So, why is God not pleased?

28. The people outwardly repented, but they kept on committing their sins.

29. “Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?” (v 5, ESV).

30. “Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?” (v 5, ESV). • God isn’t interested in a show of repentance—he’s interested in genuine repentance.

31. Genuine repentance always involves a change of heart.

32. Genuine repentance always involves a change of heart. • “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Mt 3:8, ESV).

33. Genuine repentance always involves a change of heart. • “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Mt 3:8, ESV). • “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4, ESV).

34. Blessings for True Repentance vv 6-12

35. “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in” (vv 6-12, ESV).

36. God told his people the type of repentance he wanted.

37. God told his people the type of repentance he wanted. • God wanted his people to work for justice & help the poor.

38. God told his people the type of repentance he wanted. • God wanted his people to work for justice & help the poor. • Justice & benevolence are mentioned, for the Jews disregarded both.

39. God told his people the type of repentance he wanted. • God wanted his people to work for justice & help the poor. • Justice & benevolence are mentioned, for the Jews disregarded both. • They would exploit their workers (v 3).

40. God told his people the type of repentance he wanted. • God wanted his people to work for justice & help the poor. • Justice & benevolence are mentioned, for the Jews disregarded both. • They would exploit their workers (v 3). • They needed to do away with the yoke of oppression (v 9).

41. God told his people the type of repentance he wanted. • God wanted his people to work for justice & help the poor. • Justice & benevolence are mentioned, for the Jews disregarded both. • They would exploit their workers (v 3). • They needed to do away with the yoke of oppression (v 9). • They needed to feed the hungry (v 10).

42. The way we treat others affects our relationship with God.

43. The way we treat others affects our relationship with God. • “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Mt 5:23-24, ESV).

44. The way we treat others affects our relationship with God. • “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Mt 5:23-24, ESV). • “If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Mt 6:14-15, ESV).

45. For Christians “there are only two things that survive to eternity: our relationship with God and our relationships with each other. Therefore, the things we do with our relationship with God and our relationships with each other are of mutual significance. So social dimensions are incredibly important.”

46. If the people would truly repent, the Lord would provide benefits to them.

47. If the people would truly repent, the Lord would provide benefits to them. • “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chr 7:14, ESV).

48. If the people would truly repent, the Lord would provide benefits to them. • 2 Chr 7:14. • “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Is 55:7, ESV).

49. If the people would truly repent, the Lord would provide benefits to them. • 2 Chr 7:14. • Is 55:7. • “If a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die” (Ezek 18:21, ESV).

50. If the people would truly repent, the Lord would provide benefits to them. • 2 Chr 7:14. • Is 55:7. • Ezek 18:21. • “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19-20, ESV).