The Way-An in-depth study of God's Word with Paul Orr

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God speaks directly to Isaiah. He challenges Isaiah in both a challenging and encouraging way. Isaiah has been called by God to speak the truth of His word to a people that will not see, hear or understand. Those who are called to speak the truth of God's word will have no popularity even amongst God's people. Therefore, Isaiah, like all those called by God to speak His truth, must be challenged and encouraged in the ministry that they have been called to. 

The challenge before us is that we will not walk in the way of the people but always in the ways of God. That we would not fear man and all the evil that arises around us, but we would fear God. Fearing God is the safest place for a believer to be. 

We are challenged to be true to God in all circumstances and in all ways. We are to obey God's word regardless of cost or consequences. In our daily living and in the face of crisis, we must always seek God's word first and remain obedient to His word at all times. 

Fear God. Heed His word always. Obey God's word exactly and always. This is the pathway to blessing. Obedience is the first step on the pathway of faith  

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We continue to look at the prophesy given to Isaiah concerning the Northern Kingdom and Syria alliance. This great threat looms ominously against Judah, the southern kingdom. God has amazingly, graciously offered to King Ahaz, a most wicked and vile individual, protection from this evil alliance. All he must do is believe. Yet King Ahaz refuses to trust in the power of God and places his full trust in the power of man. What a fatal choice. 

Any time we choose to trust in man rather than God, we can be certain that the result will be disastrous. Not at first, but as time rolls out, the folly of trusting in the power of man will come to full fruition.

In the case of King Ahaz and Judah, they did not reap the consequences of their refusal to trust in God for a little more than three decades. As it has been said, the wheels of God's justice grind slowly but exceedingly fine.

Any time we choose to trust in the power of man and our own clever devices, it will appear to be brilliant and successful at first. Yet as time unfolds before us, the consequences of our evil desire to trust in the power of man rather than trusting in the power of God will come to fruition. The absolute outcome of trusting in the power of man is utter humiliation, devastation, poverty, famine, desolation and destruction. If we choose to sow to the wind, we will indeed reap the whirlwind.

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God displays His amazing grace, love, longsuffering and justice as He sends Isaiah to the wicked, vile king Ahaz. Ahaz has lived in absolute rebellion and defiance toward the LORD in spite of having every reason to put his full trust in God. In his present situation, Ahaz has no desire to trust in the power and protection of God in spite of God's gracious offer through Isaiah. He stands on the precipice of calamity yet he arrogantly in willful ignorance refuses the incredibly gracious and loving offer from the LORD God.

God in His longsuffering told Ahaz to ask for any sign without limitation to confirm the word that He had given through Isaiah. Ahaz responds in hypocritical piety. This petty, arrogant king has thoroughly rejected God and His word by refusing God's offer to show a sign for him.

In spite of Ahaz, God Himself will show a sign to Ahaz. An undeniable sign confirming the authenticity of His word through the prophet Isaiah. This ultimate sign, that is a sign for us today, would be the virgin birth of Christ to Mary. Jesus is the word that became flesh. Jesus Christ the Living Word and God's written word are inseparably truth. The entirety of God's word points to the person of Jesus the Christ. Jesus displays the authenticity of the entirety of God's word. How blessed we are to know Jesus the living Word through the written word by the power of the Holy Spirit.

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Isaiah having been thoroughly prepared by God for ministry is now able to hear the voice of God calling him to ministry. 

As God described the ministry that He was calling Isaiah to, it did not sound like a successful ministry at all. In fact, in the eyes of men, it would be deemed a failure. True ministry that God calls us to is not deemed successful by quantifiable results. It is deemed successful by inward faithfulness to God and uncompromising obedience to His word. The success of ministry will be determined when we stand before Jesus at His judgment seat. The ministry of Isaiah was a great success.

Chapter seven begins a new section in Isaiah. In this passage, Isaiah will deliver prophesies of hope and deliverance. He will remind Judah that God is with them and is calling them back to faith in Him.

It begins with Isaiah bringing a message of hope to the most undeserving Ahaz. Ahaz was as wicked, vile and evil as they come. How could a person like this receive a message of hope from God? But he does. This displays to us the incredible grace of God. The enormity of His longsuffering and the love He has for His people.

God's message to Ahaz in the face of impending peril and disaster is a message for us today. God has not changed nor has His message changed. The same hope that He offers to the vile Ahaz is the same hope that we have today.

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Chapter 6 of Isaiah is a critical chapter. It is here that Isaiah shares with us the details concerning his call and qualification for being a prophet of God. This message is so critical yet largely forgotten and ignored by many. It is God alone who calls one to ministry. It is God alone who qualifies a person for ministry.

Here Isaiah will share with us an incredible vision he had of God. A vision of God is at the heart of our preparation to serve God. A true servant of God must be fully prepared to serve God before they can answer the call to serve God. Anyone who chooses to serve God apart from a vision of God is thoroughly unprepared. They will never serve God to the highest glory of God. All efforts will be feeble, futile and filled with the flesh. Men may marvel at all these great ministries, but God will never be glorified in it.

Isaiah's immediate response to this vision was a deep sense of his utter depravity before a holy God. So to should be anyone's response be when they enter the presence of God. Convicted to the core, Isaiah cried out in confession and repentance of his vulgar sin and iniquity. What else are we able to cry out in the presence of God?

God's grace hastened to meet Isaiah's need. God's grace is always sufficient. Through the intermediary work of the seraphim, Isaiah's iniquity was taken away and his sin was purged. Now, Isaiah is fully prepared and qualified to answer God's call on his life.

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Isaiah has just finished his song of the vineyard. It is a song about a vineyard whose owner provided it with every advantage to bear good grapes. However, in spite of all its advantage, the vineyard produced wild grapes. These wild grapes are disgusting and poisonous.  Therefore, the owner would remove all the advantages it had and allow it to be trampled down and destroyed. Isaiah clearly identifies the vineyard as Israel.

Isaiah will now spend the rest of the chapter defining what the sins of these wild grapes are by declaring six woes in exacting detail. He will present to Israel their horrible transgression and the depth of their iniquity.  

God is both longsuffering and just. His longsuffering with His people is beyond our understanding. He is just in that He makes clear to His people in exact, clear and simple terms, what their sin, transgression and iniquity is.

In reading a passage like this, we have a tendency to look at others, to look at the Christ rejecting world and say that this applies to them.  It does apply to them in many ways for sure. However, Isaiah is speaking to God's people. We need to first look at this passage in light of how it applies to us. Before we look out the window at others, we must first look in the mirror and see how God's word applies to us.

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In the midst of Isaiah telling the people why and how God would judge them, he brings hope to the righteous remnant. He tells them of both the messianic kingdom to come and of the Messiah who will rule in that glorious time. It will be a time marked by holiness. God will wash away all the filth and purge all the blood from the land. The tangible presence of God will be known throughout the kingdom of God. It will be a time of incredible joy.

Behold the tabernacle of God is with men and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away. Revelation 21:3,4

We then come to the song of the vineyard. It is an exquisite literary masterpiece. So far, the people have not listened to the challenging messages from Isaiah. Maybe they will no listen to the incredible message contained within this song.

God had provided Israel with every possible advantage to be all that God had called them to be. Yet Israel failed in spite of these great Divine advantages. They had been rebellious, defiant and disobedient. In spite of all God's goodness displayed in these amazing advantages they chose to transgress and go after other gods. The result of their great disobedience would be the removal of God's protection and blessing. All that they had would be destroyed in order for them to learn the pain of their transgression and that they would repent before God who loves them so dearly.

This is a study filled with lessons and applications for all of us. May God give us all ears to hear, a heart to receive and a will to obey.

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God now makes clear how He will bring judgment on the people. The Lord, the LORD of Host will take away from the people all that they need the most. He will take away the whole supply of bread and water. He will also take away every form of leadership that the nation depends on for survival and security.

The people will be desperate for leadership as a result of God's judgment. God will give them the leaders they deserve. Leaders who are unqualified, unprepared, unequipped, filled with evil and unrighteousness, to lead the people. In essence, as a part of God's judgement, the nation will get the leaders they deserve.

God holds these evil leaders as well as all leaders to a high level of accountability. The judgment of these evil leaders will be severe. There will be harsh judgment on the high society, evil woman who have such a great influence on these men who rule so wickedly. But there is also accountability and judgment for the people that choose to follow after such evil leadership rather than living in faithful obedience to God's word.

In the midst of all this judgment, it will be well with the righteous. God is so faithful. Not only will it be well with the righteous remnant but there is a wonderful, beautiful future beyond any possible description that awaits the righteous remnant.

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Isaiah has just concluded a wonderful exhortation concerning the latter days when Jesus will return and set up His millennial kingdom. In light of this great exhortation, Isaiah challenges the people to walk in the light of God's truth. Any time we are presented with the great scriptural truths concerning our glorious future with the Lord, it must impact the way we are living today in the present.

In spite of this great exhortation and challenge, the Israelites are living in stark contrast. They are filled with Eastern ways. They are filled with prosperity, luxury and military might. Their land is filled with idols. They are living in disobedience to God's word. They have a mixed form of worship, yet because of their seeming success they are convinced that God is pleased with the way they are living.

Isaiah makes it clear that God is not pleased and that His judgment is certain and will soon be upon them. There will be no escape for anyone from the judgment of God. There will be no place to hide. Everything that is exalted will be brough low. Only the LORD will be exalted in the day of His judgment.

Isaiah challenges the people to stop trusting in man and his feeble accomplishment. Man is but a vapor and all that he has built and accomplished will be gone in an instant before the mighty judgment of God. The judgment of God will bring both the terror of the LORD and the majesty of His glory. None shall escape the judgment of God.

We are to stop trusting in man. We are to trust in the LORD with all our hearts. We must be obedient to Jesus Christ and His word regardless of cost of consequence.

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In Revelation chapters 2 and 3, Jesus dictates seven letters to seven churches. These letters are of the utmost importance to the church. They must not be neglected. Even more, we must heed the words of Jesus and live in obedience to the challenges He presents to us.

In this study we will look at the first church, the church of Ephesus. It is a church that has chosen to leave her first love. While many good things appear to be happening within the church, they have chosen to leave their first love, Jesus.

What does it mean to leave our first love? How do we return to our first love? These questions and the answers to them are critical if we as a church are going to be all that God has called us to be.

We are in the last days most certainly. The return of Christ is at hand. Time is short! As a church there remains so much that God desires to do in us and through us. If we have left our first love and refuse to return to our first love, we will never be all that God has called us to be.

The remedy for purity in our lives as believers and as the church corporately is repentance. Have you left your first love? If so, are you ready to repent in obedience to Jeus Christ and His word?

This is a message that was given on June 30th of 2019. Given before the breakout of mayhem and chaotic evil that floods our world. The message given then is as relevant today as it was then. May God through the power of the Holy Spirit make His word come alive to you and convict you in the way of righteousness.

Contact Paul at [email protected]
Beginning Sunday May 5th, we have changed locations and will meet on Sundays at 10 am. If you are interested in joining us either live or on Zoom, please contact us at the above email address.