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Teaching Notes

RELIGIOSITY

ISAIAH 29:9-16

General William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, has some interesting insight into what he was seeing happening in regards to religiosity. He said "I consider that the chief dangers which will confront the twentieth century will be:

Religion without the Holy Spirit

Christianity without Christ,

Forgiveness without regeneration

Morality without God and

Heaven without hell."

As we are moving quickly towards the twenty-first century, we can look back and see how accurate General William Booth's perspective of things really was. And I'm sure, without my speaking on any of those issues that General Booth was concerned about, you can easily see how accurate he was on his assessment of things and what he saw would be the dangers of the period of time we are living in.

To set the stage for what we are going to be talking about in Isaiah chapter 29, God is pronouncing judgment upon the Southern Kingdom of Judah for their idolatry, for their turning away from Him. They are being told that Jerusalem, God's city, was inhabited by people that were like the lion of God. But no longer will they be strong and powerful, but they are going to be brought down. God's judgment was going to cause them to be like an altar hearth were the people are the sacrificial victims.

Now instead of repenting of their sin and getting right with God, they refused and took up the mentality that life was going to continue on, year-after-year, God's judgment is not going to come upon them no matter what the prophets say. And as a people move away from God, they still, for the most part, remain very religious. That is what we see here in Isaiah chapter 29, and so lets dig into this section of Scripture beginning in verse 9.

ISAIAH 29:9-16

Isaiah is calling for them to be astonished over the condition they are in. They have turned from the truth, blinded themselves, and because that is what they wanted, God made firm their convictions, and made them spiritually blind to the things of God.

Morally, physically, and spiritually they have become drunk and their minds are clouded, their walk unstable, their life-style chaotic. They are spiritually dead to the things of God and even though they may hear the truth, they can't understand the truth. It is as Paul said in Romans 1:28, "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting." You see, because they removed God from their lives, their actions would reflect that condition, they would do all kinds of depraved things! And in a sense, they became blind leaders of the blind and are heading for the pit of destruction because they refuse to turn to God!

And just because they removed themselves from the true and living God, it did not make them non-religious. The truth of the matter is they were very religious outwardly and yet inwardly their hearts were far from God. They looked good to family and friends, they felt good doing all these activities, and yet, their actions were only mocking God! They weren't interested in the truths of God but they followed the precepts of man and drew their understanding of God from man, not from God.

They truly believed that God did not see their actions, and have come up with the perverted reality that they can tell God what to do, that they are in control, and thus, they can come up with their own theology, their own way of thinking about God!

In saying all that, we are no different today. And as we look at these verses, we can see the danger that General William Booth was concerned about, come to pass in the days we are living in. And with the remainder of our time this morning, we are going to look at these issues and see how they can be corrected. We are a nation that is very religious and yet very far from God!

1. RELIGION WITHOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT 29:9-12

"Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink.

For the LORD has poured out on you The spirit of deep sleep, And has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets; And He has covered your heads, namely, the seers.

The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is literate, saying, 'Read this, please.' And he says, 'I cannot, for it is sealed.'

Then the book is delivered to one who is illiterate, saying, 'Read this, please.' And he says, 'I am not literate.'"

Here is a group of people that are very religious but their hearts are far from God. Their understanding of the things of God comes not by revelation of the Holy Spirit, but from the wisdom of man. It is as Proverbs 2:6 says, "For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding." Our understanding of the things of God comes from Him. God's Spirit teaches us all truth.

Paul makes that point very clear when he said in I Corinthians 2:11-14. We read "For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

In other words, you can't know, you can't truly understand the things of God unless the Spirit of God revels them to you. Thus, if man tries to understand God apart from God's Spirit, he will be understanding God in the wisdom of man, which is foolish and dangerous. And thus, as he travels down that path, staggering and blinded by sin, he is heading towards a path of destruction. Again in Proverbs we read, "There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death." Proverbs 14:12.

An example of this is a group of self-proclaimed scholars of the Bible who call themselves the Jesus Seminar, who have come together to decide what Christ said, what is truth in the Bible. They have concluded that no more than 20 percent of the sayings and even fewer of the deeds that Christ said and did, are authentic in the New Testament. They deny His claims to divinity, the virgin birth, most of the miracles that Jesus did, and His bodily resurrection.

Their conclusion to all of this can be summed up in this manner. "This new Christianity, says Funk, [the leader of the Jesus Seminar] would among other things, emphasize Jesus as a teacher rather than as a divine being. It would replace the Eucharist with a common meal, emphasize forgiveness and freedom over punishment and piety, and endorse 'protected recreational sex among consenting adults.'"

Tragically, using the wisdom of man, they have negated the Word of God and the work of Christ. And even though they may feel they are right, the reality is they are heading towards a path of destruction apart from Christ. It is as we surrender our lives to Christ that the Holy Spirit indwells us and will guide us in truth, a place these men are far from. Notice what the Holy Spirit will do in our lives according to what Jesus said in John 16:13-14. We read "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you."

Religion without the Holy Spirit is a religion apart from God and it leads to destruction. And now we are seeing the church follow the wisdom of man rather than the wisdom of God! May it not continue.

2. CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT CHRIST 29:13a-c

"Therefore the LORD said: 'Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me..."

When you think about it, Christianity without Christ is insanity, it makes no sense! And Isaiah is saying that these people are very religious in their activities, but there is no relationship with God. They have become cold and satisfied with their religious activities, it seems to make them feel comfortable, but I am sorry to say, Jesus comes against that empty kind of relationship. He tells those that are doing all the motion, all the activity, without any relationship, that He doesn't know them and the result of that is they will be cast from Him. In fact, He tells them to depart from Him!

We are told that some 82% or so of Americans call themselves Christians, but it's in name only. We have taken Christ out of Christmas. Instead of the death and resurrection of Christ we celebrate Easter and the hiding of Easter eggs and the Easter bunny we go to see. And many are offended when the subject of Christ comes up, refusing to talk about Him. In fact, many times the only way you will hear the name of Christ mentioned among people is when it is used when people are angry and use the name of Christ in a derogatory manner. And yet, on Sunday mornings there they are, in church, but without Christ. It is an empty relationship that God is not interested in. In fact, in Revelation chapter 3 we get an interesting picture of what Christ is doing in the lives of these people that are far from Him, but are very religious. We read beginning in verse 20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." Revelation 3:20. God desires a relationship with us.

And our religion without Christ is getting worse, and our actions are even more blatant. Back in 1994 there was a women's church meeting where over 2,000 attended, and this meeting was a shocker to many because of what was being taught. This International Ecumenical Meeting, including women from the United Methodist and Presbyterian church denominations have taken Christ off the cross and were encouraging goddess worship.

One of the women speakers said: "Our Maker, Sophia, we are women in your image. With hot blood of our wombs, we give form to new life. With the courage of our convictions, we pour out our lifeblood for justice...Our sweet Sophia, we are women in your image. With nectar between our thighs, we invite a lover, we birth a child. With our warm body fluids, we remind the world of its pleasures and sensations."

This is nothing more than New Age doctrine pouring into the church. In fact, Delores Williams, from Union Theological Seminary said: "I don't think we need a theory of atonement at all." Think about that for a minute. Your child could be attending a school that is suppose to prepare them for the ministry and they are being taught New Age doctrine and the rejection of the atonement that Christ has given to us through His death and resurrection.

The Rev. Parker Williamson sums things up when he said: "When you offer prayers to Sophia, when you tell people that salvation consists of discovering the god that is within you, yes, I would say that those are heresy, and...the Christian church has, for centuries, declared those kinds of ideas to be outside the pale of...the faith."

Peter, as he was brought before the Sanhedrin for his faith, made it very clear of what we are to believe. He said in Acts 4:11-12, "This is the 'stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.' Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

If you take Christ out of Christianity, you are lost in your sins. There is no salvation in no one else. God is not doing a new thing, His work of atonement was completed for us and He now extends that free gift of life to all. You can't make God into something out of your imagination. Look to the Word of God to show you the truth of who He is, what He has done for us, and what He requires of us to do.

3. FORGIVENESS WITHOUT REGENERATION 29:13d

"And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men."

Today many are developing their own ideas of God and forgiveness. The idea is that we are better than most people, and we tend to compare ourselves to those who are very wicked, like serial killers, and-so-on. Thus, as we compare ourselves to them, we look good, they don't, and based on that, God will accept us because we are basically good. Well, man is not our standard, God is, and the Scriptures speak contrary to that kind of theology. Paul said in Romans chapter 3, "As it is written: 'There is none righteous, no, not one...They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.'...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:10, 12, 23.

And yet Robert Schuller writes: "I don't think anything has been done in the name of Christ and under the banner of Christianity that has proven more destructive to human personality and, hence counterproductive to the evangelism enterprise than the often crude, uncouth, and unchristian strategy of attempting to make people aware of their lost and sinful condition."

In other words, make people feel good about themselves. Don't make them aware of the lost and sinful condition they are in. But then you will have an eternity in the lake of fire to explain to these people why you taught them this destructive doctrine that has placed them in this condition. It is nothing more than a lie to make people feel good about living in sin!

And the reality of the matter is just the opposite of what he is teaching. Jesus clearly taught in Matthew 5:3-4, what Robert Schuller calls the "Be Happy Attitudes", and yet Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted." In other words, you must be broken over the reality of your sinful condition with no way out of it except through Christ. And it is out of that brokeness that we come to repentance before God, asking Christ to become Lord and Savior of our life. Without that awareness you are being evangelized into a false gospel! You see, forgiveness without regeneration is empty!

4. MORALITY WITHOUT GOD 29:14-15

"Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work Among this people, A marvelous work and a wonder; For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden. Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the LORD, And their works are in the dark; They say, 'Who sees us?' and, 'Who knows us?'"

When you try to live a moral life without God, what ends up happening is you try to justify what you have done. You rationalize away your sin. A great example of this, and a very sad one, comes from President Clinton. When he was caught in a lie, when they found out he was having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky, he justified his actions by saying the type of sex he was engaged in was not really sex. In fact he tried to cover up his actions and confuse the picture so much, he said during his deposition when asked a question "It depends what your definition of the word is is."

And what we see is from the president all the way down to the common people, we can easily justify our sin outside of God. You see, God has laid down the principles for us to follow. The 10 commandments were not the 10 suggestions! And our nation has been founded upon the Judeo-Christian principles, but now we are eroding away those principles to make them fit our own lifestyle. We have come up with a new morality outside of God. Thus, anything and everything goes, as long as you are comfortable with it. I have even seen signs promoting homosexuality that say "God is gay!"

Now you can come up with your own morality, do what you want, but then you will suffer the consequences of your actions, your behavior. Paul said in I Corinthians chapter 6, "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you..." I Corinthians 6:9-11a.

We all came from that kind of a background and there is no way we can justify our sins away. We are all guilty. But Paul does not leave us in that condition. He goes on to say, "...But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." I Corinthians 6:11b.

God has cleansed us and by His Spirit He will lead us to do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And when we fall short, when we sin, His Spirit will also show us we are heading in the wrong direction so that we can turn back to Him.

The truth of the matter is there is no morality outside of God, only chaos and disorder, with people doing their own thing, satisfying their flesh. You see, because of the wickedness of mans heart, evil comes forth, there is no morality outside of God!

5. HEAVEN WITHOUT HELL 29:16

"Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; For shall the thing made say of him who made it, 'He did not make me'? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, 'He has no understanding'?"

That truly is the mind-set of today. We make our own theology to make us feel comfortable about the afterlife. In death there is the place where all go, not hell, but a place of peace, like heaven. You see, as you live for self in this life, you don't want to think about the afterlife being a place of punishment. So instead we do away with hell and believe that all good people go to heaven, and we are all basically good. But, as we have seen, there are no good people except God, as Jesus pointed out in Matthew 19:17. He said "...'Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God...'"

We are seeing many talk about near death experiences that they have had and how it has made them very comfortable with death. They see a bright light at the end of a tunnel and usually there are their deceased relatives greeting them into the afterlife. Now think about this. These people are comfortable with death outside of Christ, and they shouldn't be! What a destructive fraud being bought and taught by many people, and I think you can guess who is behind it, Satan!

Elizabeth L. Hillstrom said in her book "Testing the Spirits": "NDEs [Near Death Experiences] can also have far-reaching effects on religious beliefs. Many studies indicate that NDErs lose their fear of death and become more confident in the existence of life after death. However, Ring found that these experiences did not strengthen NDErs' belief in God, even though NDErs did report more religious and ecstatic feelings after their NDEs. Most indicated that they were less interested in attending religious services, but more 'privately religious and prayerful' than they had been before their experiences. Many shifted toward a universalist position, asserting that all religions accomplish the same ends. Quite a few indicated that reincarnation now seemed more plausible to them as well...Margot Grey found that 20 percent of her English NDErs shifted from orthodox Christianity to univesalism after their NDEs, while an additional 27 percent converted to occult systems like spiritualism or theosophy [direct contact with the spirit world for wisdom]...Atwater found that about one-third of her American NDErs remained in their church after their experience, with the aim of 'working quietly from within to uplift and enrich its ministries.' The other two-thirds either cast aside their religious affiliation or were never affiliated to begin with. Many in this latter group eventually joined 'metaphysical,' New Age or Eastern congregations."

Make no mistake about it, there is a heaven and there is a hell! Heaven is a place where those who are born again, have given their life to Christ, will go to, and they will be with the Lord forever. Hell, a place that Jesus spoke often about, is the final resting place, the lake of fire, where those who have rejected the free gift of salvation in Christ will go. Jesus spoke of this place and said, "where 'Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched.'" Mark 9:46. And in Revelation we are told what it is like again. We read "The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." Revelation 20:10.

We have become a nation filled with people that are very religious but their hearts are far from God. We have developed a religion without the Holy Spirit, Christianity without Christ, Forgiveness without regeneration, Morality without God and Heaven without hell. The results of that kind of religiosity have been devastating.

Our hope to see this nation turned around to the truths of God instead of spiraling downward away from God is not going to be found in the Democratic party, the Republican party, not even the Independent party, not in any man or organization. Our only hope for this nation is Jesus Christ. Lets not forget that and the promise that God gave to the nation of Israel, and to us in II Chronicles 7:14-15. We read "If My people who are called by My name will 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. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place."

Don't give up, give it to the Lord and ask Him to begin this work in your own heart and that would then spread like a wild fire, touching the lives of others in your home, neighborhood, workplace, and this nation, even throughout this world. God does not need a big army to accomplish big things, just people who are ready to be used by Him. You see, it is not our power, or our strength, but as Paul said in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

May we not forget that truth. May we not give up on our families, friends, co-workers, neighborhoods, communities, this nation and this world. For they are filled with people that are lost and dying in their sins and they need someone who gives them the truth. Someone who gives them a religion with the Holy Spirit, Christianity with Christ, forgiveness found in regeneration, morality based on the truths of God's Word, and the reality of heaven and hell!