The Christian Family: Children, Fatherhood, and Generational Faithfulness: The Family

The Fruit of Sin Part 2 of 3 Rebellious Children

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Family Government

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2012-01-30

Synopsis: In this sermon, Pastor John Weaver continues his exposition of Isaiah 1:1-9, focusing on the heartache, haughtiness, hatefulness, and hardness of rebellious children as a picture of Israel's sin against God. He emphasizes that sin is exceedingly wicked and leads to destruction, and that God's grief over His people's rebellion is far greater than any human parent's sorrow. The sermon calls for self-examination regarding obedience and gratitude toward God.

[John Weaver] Isaiah chapter 1, and we're going to read the first nine verses. This is the second part of the message that I began last week. The fruit of sin, rebellious children. Lord willing, there will be a third part next week. So look in Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 1. The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. I have nourished and brought up children, and they rebelled against me.

[John Weaver] The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord. They provoke the Holy One of Israel into anger. They're going away backward. Why should you be stricken anymore? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint.

[John Weaver] From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores that have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Your land strangers devoured in your presence. And it is desolate, is overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant.

[John Weaver] We should have been a Sodom, and we should have been made like unto Gomorrah. Now last week we began looking at Isaiah chapter 1 verses 1 through 9 in detail. And we begin to discover that sin, of course, is exceedingly wicked, and it always leads to heartache and destruction. Our Lord always cries out against sin, and especially sin in His people, and He demonstrates for us here in Isaiah chapter 1, the grief and the heartache that always attends sin.

[John Weaver] And He does so in such a way that we may easily comprehend it, because He gives us the example of rebellious children. And he shows how that the grief and the heartache that we experience from our rebellious children is certainly amplified when he experiences the heartache and the grief with his rebellious children.

[John Weaver] Now last week we looked at two points, actually three, and just got started on the third one. But we noticed in verse two, first of all, the witnesses summoned. For he said, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth. where God calls heaven and earth then to witness against His people. And then of course we saw secondly the warning spoken. He says, the Lord hath spoken. Everyone must attend unto the words of the Lord.

[John Weaver] And especially when He speaks in anger. And then thirdly we look at the wickedness stated. He said, I have nourished and brought up children and they rebelled against Me. And so we simply look mainly at verse 2, at that particular point. So the Lord is giving us now an illustration that we can very quickly lay hold of, and I pointed out last week that if any of us had rebellious children, we know the heartache that is involved, we know the grief that is involved. If you have been so blessed by God not to have any rebellious children, then you certainly know family members or friends that do, and you're associated with that heartache as well. So God says in verse 2, I've nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me. You know, when you look at that verse, you cannot help but think, it's one thing to rebel against a sinful, yet a loving and godly parent who tries to do what is right but fails. And yet it's quite another thing to rebel against a holy, sovereign, loving, and just God who is absolutely perfect and absolutely righteous.

[John Weaver] And another thing we fail to realize is this, that when a child rebels against his father and his mother, he's actually rebelling against God. Because God is the ultimate, absolute, and sovereign authority And there is no authority but of God, and therefore God has delegated authority to the father and to the mother over the child. And so when they are resisting and rebelling against that parental authority, then at the same time they are resisting and rebelling against God Himself. So many then not only rebel against parental authority, they try to thumb their noses at God as well.

[John Weaver] For instance, their attitude is, Much like the attitude of Pharaoh in Exodus 5 and verse 2 when he said, Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? I know not the Lord. The Lord's Pharaoh basically thumbed his nose at God and said, I don't recognize you. I don't recognize your authority. I'm not going to listen to you. Parents, even godly parents, who desire to do that which is right, oftentimes fail. But the truth is God never fails. And there is no rhyme or reason to rebel against God. Job asked this question in Job 9 in verse 24. Listen carefully.

[John Weaver] Who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered? Now stop and think. Who has ever hardened himself against God and prospered? Who has ever hardened himself against God and succeeded in his rebellion against God? And the answer is absolutely no one. As you read Isaiah chapter 1, you can come to this realization. It is extremely difficult. It is extremely heart-rending and grievous to watch a child destroy himself. When the child absolutely will not listen, will not heed any instruction about the only thing that a godly parent can do is to weep and to cry and to pray and ask God to work in that child's heart. I've counseled many parents and I will tell you right up front the most difficult thing for the father. It's all difficult for the mother. But the most difficult thing for the father is this.

[John Weaver] He's lost all control He has no power, his authority is spurned, and he's totally rejected as the authority of that child. Now if you just multiply that about a million times and apply it to God the Father, and you can understand in the heartache that we experience is multiplied many times of the heartache that he experiences. And what can you do for a rebellious child? And the answer is nothing as a human except cry and pray and ask the Lord to speak to his heart.

[John Weaver] Our heavenly fathers likewise grieved over our disobedience. He knows we're going to destroy ourselves. In fact, that's what he said in Hosea 13 in verse 9. He said, O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thine help. But they would not look to him, and they just went on to their destruction.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to look, hold Isaiah chapter 1, but I want you to look, if you would please, in the book of Psalms, Psalm 78, and notice, if you would please, verse 40. Note what the scripture says concerning Israel and what they did to God. Psalm 78, and look if you would please at verse 40. Psalm 78, verse 40. Here's the question, how oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, watch, and grieve him in the desert? How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness and grieve him in the desert? Have you ever thought about God being grieved? Did you know the Bible teaches us basically the same thing in Ephesians 4 and verse 30, where he says, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you're sealed on the day of your redemption. I do want you to turn over in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah 43. Let me show you a verse. I don't know if you've ever thought about this or not, but I want you to see how grievous our sins must be to our Heavenly Father.

[John Weaver] Isaiah 43. You have to remember that we are in a covenantal bond with him. He is our father. We are his children. Are you listening? Remember in the New Testament, the Bible speaks that Jesus Christ is our head and that we are his body. So we are one with him. Notice if you would please in Isaiah 43 and verse 24, our Lord says to Israel, his people, thou hast brought me no sweet cane with money. neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices." In other words, you didn't honor me, you didn't worship me, you didn't respect me, but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins and hast wearied me with thine iniquities. Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins. Can you imagine the blasphemy that is involved when we as His people sin against Him And since we are in that covenantal bond and since we are His body and He is our head, basically we make Him to serve with our sins. Well, let's go back in our Bibles, Isaiah chapter 1.

[John Weaver] So much for that review. Let me take up now where we left off last week. And I want you to look in verse 3 with me and consider not only the heartache of rebellious children, which I just mentioned in verse 2, But now I want you to look at the haughtiness of rebellious children in verse 3. He says, The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

[John Weaver] Now the word haughty is often used in our day and time. And we tend to put a southern definition with haughty. We tend to make it mean highfalutin. Some individual thinks He's highfalutin', that's a haughty individual. But, the word haughty means more than that. It means to be arrogant, to be inconsiderate, to be disdainful, and to be contemptuous. So, I want you to look at verse 3 again. "...knoweth his owner.

[John Weaver] And they ask his master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." Sin had so perverted the minds and understanding of Israel, listen carefully, that they reached a level beneath the animals. Look at it, the ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master's crib. What is God saying? Here are these dumb animals, as we call them, and yet they know where they eat, they know who owns them, they know from where their bread is buttered. But he said, my people does not know, my people does not consider.

[John Weaver] Now if you don't believe this, I would challenge you just to come to where Alice and I live and you can observe first hand when it's feeding time where all of our animals are. They are in the proper place at the proper time ready to eat. Because they know where they get fed. They know what time they get fed. And usually they're waiting. And the interesting thing is this, when they see me coming, their eyes lock on me like radar. Every movement, you know.

[John Weaver] And I've got a certain little ritual that I go through. I feed certain ones first. They know that. And they'll just wait until it comes. their time. And after feeding time, if they see me riding up and down in a golf cart, they will still lock on me thinking that maybe he's bringing an extra snack or something like that. If one of those animals does not show up at feeding time, guess what? I know something is wrong.

[John Weaver] Either that animal is sick. If it's a cow, she's probably having a gaff. But they are there when it comes time to eat. And I'll tell you something else. Those animals love me. They'll rub up against me. They will lick me. I tell everybody, you don't know what love is until you get the slobber of a newborn calf all over you, you know. But I'm serious. But look what God said.

[John Weaver] The ox knoweth his owner. And the ass is master's crib. But He said, My people doth not know, they do not consider. How is it that we do not understand that everything we have and everything that has been given to us is from the hand of our Creator and from our God? How can we be so callous toward the One who feeds us? How can we be so ungrateful so unthankful and so unappreciative.

[John Weaver] Do you realize the Bible says in James 1 verse 17, now listen carefully. Every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from above from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Every good gift that you have comes from God. Your breath comes from God. Your food comes from God. Your friends come from God. Your family comes from God. Your ministry comes from God. Everything. Your breath. Everything comes from Him.

[John Weaver] So my question is, why is it that we do not recognize this? This is what he's complaining about in verse 3. He is saying that Israel became dumber than animals. Animals had more sense than his professing people. They recognized, the animals did, who fed them and where they were supposed to be fed, where their home was. But he said, my people does not know, my people does not consider. You know what we've sired? We have sired a generation of people that are totally ungrateful and unthankful and unappreciative.

[John Weaver] Not only have we been guilty of that ourselves and guilty in teaching that, if you would look at our government, our government has made a nation of people like that because it has given and given and given when there is no dessert and no work. And now everybody just expects everything to be handed to them on a silver platter. I want you to hold Isaiah 1, but turn in your Bibles if you would, to Luke chapter 17. Luke 17, and I want us to begin reading there with verse 11. Let me show you. Luke 17, verse 11. In fact, yeah, verse 11. Luke 17, verse 11. Watch carefully.

[John Weaver] And it came to pass, as he went out of Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off." By the way, if you had leprosy in those days, it was a death sentence. You were cut off from your family, you were cut off from your friends, you were cut off from villages and towns, you had to live by yourself or with other lepers, and anytime you saw anyone coming, You had to place your hand usually somewhere like this to warn them and holler, unclean, unclean, unclean. And so here are ten lepers now that stood afar off. That is, they would not come near, they could not, because they were lepers.

[John Weaver] And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when He saw them, He said unto them, Go, show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, and giving Him thanks.

[John Weaver] And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Where there are not ten cleansed, but where are the nine? They are not found that return to give glory to God, save this stranger. The implication is that the other nine were Hebrews. But here's this Samaritan who was so despised and so hated by them, by the Jews especially, and yet he is the only one that returned to give thanks.

[John Weaver] I want you to think about this. Nine-tenths of the men that were healed just kept on going and totally ignored the gift that had been given to them. They assumed, they presumed, and they took for granted, and they believed it was owed to them. Only one in ten, one-tenth turned and gave God thanks for what God had done for him. Have you stopped today just to think what God has done for you?

[John Weaver] Alice and I and Granny Doris were traveling last night. And just as we turned on 82 off 231, 7 or 8 miles down the road, speed limit was 55. I'd had to wait on a semi-truck at the stop sign, and they're slow. But I waited on him. But about seven or eight miles down the road, there was a crossroads, and the ones to the left and right had the stop sign, and we were within 100 yards of that crossroads. And Alice and I looked, and my mouth fell open because some man shot through those stop signs at about 60 miles an hour. And we were just about 100 yards away. And I looked at Alice, I said, did you see that? She said, I did. I said, we better thank the Lord right now for that old slow truck that slowed us down. We better thank the Lord that the Lord protected us.

[John Weaver] I'm just simply saying, you know, that's no accident. When you stop and think of the goodness and the graciousness and the kindness that God has given to each one of us, Where are we when it comes time to thank Him? Where are we when it comes time to recognize His blessings? Why is it we do not recognize those blessings? Is it because we are haughty, selfish, arrogant, and rebellious?

[John Weaver] Let me put it another way. Are we not as smart as an ox or an ass. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master crib. But my people doth not know, my people doth not consider. I want you to look in your Bibles, hold Isaiah 1, but go back to Psalm 49 if you would please. Psalm 49. And look if you would first at verse 12. Psalm 49 and verse 12. Psalm 49 verse 12.

[John Weaver] Nevertheless, man being in honor, abideth not, is like the beasts that perish. Hmm. Man being in honor, abideth not, is like the beasts that perish. You know, Adam was in honor, but he did not abide. And he became like a beast. Hmm. Skip down, if you would please, to verse 20. Man that is in honor and understandeth not is like the beast that perish." So what God says is this, if you don't understand where your bread is buttered, if you don't understand where everything you have comes from, you're like a dumb beast. Look in your Bibles to Isaiah 56 and verse 10. Just showing you how men are often compared to animals and the dumbest of the dumb many times. Look in Isaiah 56 and verse 10. Look what God says about His watchmen or His shepherds. He says His watchmen are blind and they are all ignorant. They're all dumb dogs.

[John Weaver] They cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. They're all dumb dogs. There's nothing dumber than a dumb dog. We've had one that I can remember. That dog wouldn't come when you called him. The dog wouldn't listen. That was the dumbest, stupidest dog I've ever seen in my life. That's what God says. What good is a dumb dog? How would you like a dog that greeted the home invader and the burglar with a good lick and lying down? That's a dumb dog.

[John Weaver] Look in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 8 and verse 7. Look what God says. Jeremiah 8 verse 7. Jeremiah 8 verse 7. In fact, let's read verse 6 so that you can really see it. Jeremiah 8, verse 6. Jeremiah says, I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright. That is the people. They spake not aright. No man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done?

[John Weaver] Everyone turned to his own course as the horse rushes into battle. Now look what God says. Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth his appointed times. and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observed the time of their coming, but my people doth not know the judgment of the Lord." So Israel then would not even consider the source of her blessings, nor would they consider the source of their judgment. And God says, you're actually lower. than the brute beast or the dumb animals, because at least the ox knoweth his master, and the ass his crib, but my people doth not know. They refuse to look to their God.

[John Weaver] If you'll go back in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 1, not only looking then at the haughtiness of rebellious children, but I want you to look in verse 4 at the hatefulness of rebellious children. The hatefulness. Verse 4, look what God says, Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that are corruptors, they have forsaken the Lord, they've provoked the Holy One of Israel into anger, they're going away backwards. Now we have just said that rebellious children are hateful children.

[John Weaver] Have you ever wondered why we say that? The first answer is because it's the truth. The second answer is because that's what God says. God says that rebellious children are hateful children. He says exactly the same thing. I want you to notice how he describes this rebellious nation. He begins in verse 4 and it says, Ah sinful nation.

[John Weaver] Now the word Ah It's not actually a word of astonishment, but it is a word of denunciation. It is also translated in our Bibles as woe. God is literally saying, woe sinful nation or woe to the sinful nation. The sinful nation was a nation that had incurred guilt by sinning, by disobedience and rebellion.

[John Weaver] Now the term sinful designates a people that have fallen short And they've not lived up to the standard of righteousness that God has laid out for them. What had God ordained for Israel to be? Remember now, He says, woe sinful nation. Look in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 19, whole Isaiah 1. But look in Exodus chapter 19 and verse 6. You're going to see exactly what Israel was to be. Look in Exodus chapter 19 and verse 6. And here is what God says, notice if you would, Exodus 19 verse 6, And you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which I shall speak unto the children of Israel. So they were to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. How does God address them? Ah, sinful nation. They are no longer a holy nation, they are a sinful nation.

[John Weaver] America was established on Christian principles. But we're no longer a Christian nation. We are a sinful nation. If you look back in verse 4, he goes again to show the hatefulness. He says, a people laden with iniquity.

[John Weaver] Now the word laden here refers to that which is massive and heavy. an oppressive and weighty. It's a weight that presses down with great force. It's a weight and a burden that is impossible to escape. And he says the exceeding heavy weight is that of iniquity, a people laden with iniquity. And the word iniquity refers to perversion, depravity and mischief. So God says that they're weighted down, they're being pressed and oppressed by their own rebellion and by their own iniquity. It's something that is pressing down heavily upon them.

[John Weaver] Look in verse 4 again. Now when they're called a seed of evildoers, he's not referring to their fathers, but he's referring to them. They had been planted a right seed, but now they are a degenerate and wicked generation of men. Let me show you. Hold Isaiah 1 and turn right over to Isaiah chapter 5. Isaiah chapter 5, and look at beginning there with verse 1. Isaiah 5 verse 1. Here's exactly what God is talking about when He calls them a seed of evildoers. Isaiah 5 verse 1.

[John Weaver] Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved, touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard and a very fruitful hill. And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge, I pray you betwixt me and my vineyard. Now notice if you would, he's appealing to Judah and Jerusalem, same ones that he's talking about in Isaiah chapter 1. He asks in verse 4, what could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked, that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes.

[John Weaver] Now go to, I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard, I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up, and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down. And I will lay it waste, and it shall not be pruned nor digged, but there shall come up briars and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant.

[John Weaver] And he looked for judgment, but behold, oppression, for righteousness, but behold, a cry. Now what did God just say? I planted you a ripe vine. But you turned into a degenerate vine. I did everything I could for you. And you refused it. And basically if you follow Isaiah 5, the only thing God says is left is they are to be destroyed. So go back to Isaiah chapter 1, we're still looking at the hatefulness of rebellious children. He says, all sinful nation of people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, and now he says children that are corruptors. Wow! They are children that pervert, mar, destroy, ruin, and corrupt. We would call them degenerate, debased, debauched, decadent, decayed, degraded, depraved, and desolate children. They're children that corrupt everything they touch. They're absolutely worthless. They're absolutely useless. They're good for absolutely nothing. Believe me, I know children like that. I know grown children like that. They were not only merely corrupt themselves, but they were corrupting others by their example.

[John Weaver] And this is always the case. When people become infidels and prolificate themselves, they always seek to make other people just like them. You know, it's just like our Lord said in Matthew 23 and verse 15, Listen to this, just listen. Our Lord said, Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites. Now watch. You compass land and sea to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. What? Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for you compassee in land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, he is twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." Let me put it like this.

[John Weaver] Our Heavenly Father is not politically correct when it comes to profiling. He just calls it like He sees it. And He says, here is your problem. You are a sinful nation, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors. And then look if you would in verse 4, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger. Or they have, he says in verse 4, they have forsaken the Lord. They have forsaken the Lord, that's the phrase I want.

[John Weaver] This is the reason why he reproves them with such sharpness and severity. They have forsaken Him. The peculiar heinousness of their sin was that it was against God. They had indeed forsaken God, not necessarily in their profession, but simply by their practice and in reality, because they were neglecting Him, His worship, His service, and they were refusing His yoke and refusing to submit to His law. Jeremiah said something similar in Jeremiah 2, verses 12 and 13.

[John Weaver] Listen to what he said. Be astonished, O you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be ye very desolate, saith the Lord, for my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and they have hewn them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water." So he says they've forsaken the Lord. And then if you'll look in verse 4 again, he says, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger. They blasphemed. They had so despised God as to excite His righteous indignation and anger. They had provoked Him by their numerous sins, both of omission and commission.

[John Weaver] To show you the stupidity of people, If I had a man in this room that was six feet four, 250 pounds, muscled up, martial artist to the nth degree. I mean could fight like you would not believe. Agile, flexible, quick. How many of you would like to go up and just provoke him and spit in his face and challenge him to fight you. None of you are going to do that, because I know you're not that dumb. I don't know very many people that would be stupid enough to do something like that, saved or unsaved. But isn't it amazing? We refuse to provoke someone whom we think might could beat us into the dirt, physically. But we think nothing of provoking a holy, righteous God. Who can do more than beat us into the dirt?

[John Weaver] What did our Lord said? I'll tell you whom you're to fear. Don't fear him who is able just to kill the body. But you fear him who is able after he's killed to cast body and soul into hell. He said that's who You ought to fear. You ought to fear the sovereign God of heaven and earth. So Israel then in departing from God, in forsaking God, were actually challenging God. They were actually challenging Him to do His worst.

[John Weaver] They were daring Him to exercise His justice. You know what Peter said in verse Peter 5 and verse 5? Listen to this. God resisted the proud, but He giveth grace unto the humble. The word resist means to fight against. God fights against the proud, but He giveth grace to the humble. Have you ever stopped to think, if God wants to destroy us, All he has to do is withhold our breath and we'll die. If it is that easy to kill us, what do you think it's going to be like for the man whom God rises up and battle array against? And when God fights against that individual. Wow. I don't want to challenge God. I don't want to provoke Him to do His worst. Look, if you would, in verse 4 again.

[John Weaver] He's showing us the hatefulness of rebellious children. He says, all sinful nations, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors, they have forsaken the Lord, they provoke the Holy One of Israel into anger. Here it is. They are going away. backwards. The word, or the words gone away, literally means to become estranged or to become alienated. Here's what this actually means. They are gone away backwards. If I am facing Ron, and I go away backwards, what do I do? I turn my back to Him, and I'm facing the other way. God is saying that Israel has turned to Him the back, and not the face. Here's the question. If you and I are talking and you're trying to convey something to me, you're telling me something that's very important to you and I just simply turn my back to you and walk off. I don't say a word. I just turn my back and walk off. Would you be insulted?

[John Weaver] Would you believe that I had disrespected you? And that I have no concern for you and your needs? Sure you would. You know what God kept saying? I've sent prophets rising early in the times and sending them. And God says, you just turned your back to me and walked off. I want you to look in your Bible. Call Isaiah 1. But look in your Bible, Jeremiah chapter 2.

[John Weaver] Here's a good illustration of this. Jeremiah chapter 2. Look in Jeremiah 2 and verse 27. Jeremiah 2 verse 27. Here's how they turn their back to God. Saying to a stock, Thou art my Father, and to a stone Thou hast brought me forth. For they have turned their back unto me, and not their face, but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise and save us." What did they do? They turned their back on the living God, and went and bowed down to a stalk, a tree stump, or a stone, I don't care how beautiful the stone is, and said, You're our God. Thus they had utterly and completely revolted against God, rebelled against Him, and turned aside to a course that they desired and they wanted. And in doing that, they were expressing their contempt and their hatred toward God. God said in Proverbs 1 in verse 30, they would have none of my counsel, they despised all of my reproof and that's exactly what contemptuous people do no wonder God said in Jeremiah 44 in verse 4 listen carefully how be I sending you my servants the prophets rising early and sending them saying

[John Weaver] oh do not this abominable thing which I ate God said I pled with you but what did you do while I was speaking you just turned the back to me and walked off sin is a hateful thing to God We've got to consider that for Israel and for us as well, it was a sin to mock anything holy. It was a double sin to mock God the Holy One. It was a triple sin for Israel to mock God who was to be the sanctifier of Israel and the one who required Israel's sanctification. Therefore, He should have been sanctified by Israel according to His holiness.

[John Weaver] If you'll look in your Bibles to the book of Leviticus 19, Leviticus 19. And notice verses 1 and 2. Leviticus 19 verses 1 and 2. Leviticus 19 verse 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, You shall be holy. For I, the Lord your God, am holy. Israel was to sanctify God. But they turned their back to Him. One last point today, I want you to look in Isaiah chapter 1 again, and verse 5. Lord willing, we'll finish the rest of this message next week, but look in verse 5. I want you to consider the hardness, the hardness of rebellious children.

[John Weaver] Our Lord asks, why should you be stricken anymore you will revolt more and more, the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint." Now, I'm using the word hardness exactly the way the scripture does. In Proverbs 29 in verse 1, listen to what the Bible said, He that being often reproved, and hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. In Proverbs 28 and verse 14, the Bible teaches, Happy is the man that feareth always, but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief. This word, hardeneth, is the same word when God called Israel stiff-necked. He said it in Exodus 32 and verse 9, And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, And behold, it is a stiff-necked people.

[John Weaver] So when you hear the word hardness, the hardness of rebellious children, it speaks of their incorrigibility, their unwillingness to repent, their deliberate and premeditated resistance to anything that is right and true and holy. Humanly speaking, When you have a hardened, rebellious child, nothing will deter them, nothing will change them, nothing will stop them, nothing will hinder them. They will persevere in their rebellion to their own destruction.

[John Weaver] It may surprise you to learn that according to the Scripture, there's a time when chastisement and punishment will no longer avail. You know what the Bible says? Listen to this. Proverbs 19 and verse 18. Help me out now. Listen carefully. God said, Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying. Chasten thy son, what's the next phrase? While there is hope. In other words, what he's saying is there comes a time that chastening will not do any good. There's no hope of correcting him once he's established in his pattern of rebellion and disobedience and wickedness. That's why he said in verse 5, Why should you be stricken anymore? Why would you be whipped anymore? Why would you be chastised anymore?

[John Weaver] You will revolt more and more, the whole head sick and the whole heart is faint. I know of one father who had a rebellious son and he heard a message on discipline. And the father went home and the son had done something wicked and the father was going to whip him. When he drew back the switch to hit the boy, The boy just balled up his fist and knocked his daddy flat. Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for its crying. Let me ask you, what is to be done to a child who will no longer be corrected and will no longer receive instruction?

[John Weaver] The answer is, that's the only answer, He's to be left alone. He's to be left alone to go his own way, do his own thing, plunge headlong into destruction. His parents, his brothers and sisters will forsake him, not by choice, but by necessity. Because he'll want nothing to do with them if they want to do what is right and holy. So he has to be left to go his own way.

[John Weaver] You know what God said concerning Israel in Hosea chapter 4 verse 17? Listen. Here's what God said concerning Ephraim. Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone. Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone. Do you remember In Matthew chapter 15, the disciples came to our Lord and said, know you not that the Pharisees were offended at your teaching? You know what our Lord said? I'll paraphrase it. Tough stuff. Here's what he did say. Our Lord said, let them alone.

[John Weaver] They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, they'll both fall into the ditch. Let them alone.

[John Weaver] Now, let me ask you a question. If the only thing that we can do to our rebellious children is to let them alone. Yes, we cry for them. Yes, we pray for them. But you can't make a child do what is right. You can try to teach him, you can try to talk to him, but you can't make him. He's going to do what he wants to do. The only thing you can do is let him alone.

[John Weaver] There is a principle in Scripture and that principle is this, if we sin, we suffer. And there's some who will not learn until they get to the big pin, like the prodigal. But have you ever stopped and think or thought about this fact? If all we can do to our rebellious children is let them alone, what will it be like if God left us alone? Do you realize if God wants to destroy us, the easiest way is for Him to just leave us alone? We'll destroy ourselves. Can you imagine what it's like to be left alone? What did he say? Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone. What did our Lord say? Let them alone. Can you imagine what it must be like to receive no mercy, no grace, no loving kindness, no goodness, no special favors? Can you imagine for a moment what it must be like to be left alone by God? And for the rebellious, are you listening? All the joy they will ever have It's what they have in this world, in their rebellion, in their sin, and it is a perverted joy, and all that perverted joy will do, will hasten them to their own destruction.

[John Weaver] That's it. God said, why would you be stricken anymore? Why would I waste my time trying to chasten a rebellious child? Only thing you're going to do is revolt more and more. Because your whole head is sick, your whole heart is faint. And all you'll do is sin more and more. So God said, I'll let you on. And you will destroy yourself. So I've got two applications.

[John Weaver] The first one is just a question. Are you a rebellious child? Or are you an obedient child? You know, he said in verse Peter 1, I think it's verse 14, as an obedient child, not fashioning ourselves according to our former lust and our ignorance. So an obedient child is one that obeys God and His law. A rebellious child is one that disobeys God. So are you a rebellious child or are you an obedient child?

[John Weaver] My next application is simply this. What group do you run with? Are you in the nine-tenths group that are unthankful, ungrateful, and unappreciative of everything that God does for you? Or are you in that one-tenth group where you return on a daily basis to give thanks and praise and worship to God for your life and your health and your blessings. Are you the one that pauses all throughout the day just to say, thank you Father for life and health and sleep and rest and family and friends and good times Thank you. Have you ever thought what it is just to be blessed with the preaching and teaching of the word of God? Just to be able to read the scriptures. Are you in the nine-tenths? Are you a one-tenther? And you give God the praise for everything in your life. Father, we bow to Thee this day. We thank You for Jesus Christ. We thank You for Your love and Your grace and Your mercy and Your goodness and Your kindness.

[John Weaver] Lord, I pray that You would make each one of us a one-tenther. Help us be the one, Lord, that returns and kneels and worships You and thanks You, Father, for all that You do for us. We have to confess and acknowledge we are what we are by the grace of God. We have what we have by the grace of God. And whatever we have, whatever we will have, whatever we will be, it will still only be by the grace of God. And we're thankful. And we praise and acknowledge thee, the giver of all gifts and the giver of life. And we ask you, Father, to make us more obedient more holy, more godly, more thankful, more appreciative. In the name of Jesus Christ we ask and pray. Amen.

The Fruit of Sin Part 2 of 3 Rebellious Children

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	FrLMk40OC1w
Subject	Family Government
Course	The Christian Family: Children, Fatherhood, and Generational Faithfulness: The Family
Genre	Sermon
Date	2012-01-30
Dictation Name
Book	Book 028: The Christian Family: Children, Fatherhood, and Generational Faithfulness — Chapter 17
Source Timed Segments	70

Formatted Transcript

Review of Part 1 and Introduction

Weaver reviews the previous week's message on Isaiah 1:1-9, highlighting the witnesses summoned, the warning spoken, and the wickedness stated in verse 2, where God laments His rebellious children.

Isaiah chapter 1, and we're going to read the first nine verses. This is the second part of the message that I began last week: "The Fruit of Sin: Rebellious Children." Lord willing, there will be a third part next week. So look in Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 1:

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 1:1-9

"The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. I have nourished and brought up children, and they rebelled against me." "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord. They provoke the Holy One of Israel into anger. They're going away backward. Why should you be stricken anymore? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint." "From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores that have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Your land strangers devoured in your presence. And it is desolate, is overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant." "We should have been a Sodom, and we should have been made like unto Gomorrah."

Now last week we began looking at Isaiah chapter 1, verses 1 through 9, in detail. And we begin to discover that sin, of course, is exceedingly wicked, and it always leads to heartache and destruction. Our Lord always cries out against sin, and especially sin in His people, and He demonstrates for us here in Isaiah chapter 1 the grief and the heartache that always attends sin. And He does so in such a way that we may easily comprehend it, because He gives us the example of rebellious children. And He shows how that the grief and the heartache that we experience from our rebellious children is certainly amplified when He experiences the heartache and the grief with His rebellious children.

Now last week we looked at two points, actually three, and just got started on the third one. But we noticed in verse 2, first of all, the witnesses summoned. For he said, "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth," where God calls heaven and earth then to witness against His people. And then of course we saw secondly the warning spoken. He says, "the Lord hath spoken." Everyone must attend unto the words of the Lord.

The Heartache of Rebellious Children (Verse 2)

God's grief over Israel's rebellion is compared to a parent's heartache, but magnified because God is perfect. Rebellion against parents is ultimately rebellion against God's delegated authority.

And especially when He speaks in anger. And then thirdly we look at the wickedness stated. He said, "I have nourished and brought up children and they rebelled against Me." And so we simply look mainly at verse 2, at that particular point. So the Lord is giving us now an illustration that we can very quickly lay hold of, and I pointed out last week that if any of us had rebellious children, we know the heartache that is involved, we know the grief that is involved. If you have been so blessed by God not to have any rebellious children, then you certainly know family members or friends that do, and you're associated with that heartache as well. So God says in verse 2, "I've nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me." You know, when you look at that verse, you cannot help but think, it's one thing to rebel against a sinful, yet a loving and godly parent who tries to do what is right but fails. And yet it's quite another thing to rebel against a holy, sovereign, loving, and just God who is absolutely perfect and absolutely righteous.

And another thing we fail to realize is this, that when a child rebels against his father and his mother, he's actually rebelling against God. Because God is the ultimate, absolute, and sovereign authority. And there is no authority but of God, and therefore God has delegated authority to the father and to the mother over the child. And so when they are resisting and rebelling against that parental authority, then at the same time they are resisting and rebelling against God Himself. So many then not only rebel against parental authority, they try to thumb their noses at God as well. For instance, their attitude is much like the attitude of Pharaoh in Exodus 5 and verse 2 when he said,

Scripture Reading — Exodus 5:2

"Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? I know not the Lord."

Pharaoh basically thumbed his nose at God and said, "I don't recognize you. I don't recognize your authority. I'm not going to listen to you." Parents, even godly parents, who desire to do that which is right, oftentimes fail. But the truth is God never fails. And there is no rhyme or reason to rebel against God. Job asked this question in Job 9 in verse 24. Listen carefully.

"Who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered?" Now stop and think. Who has ever hardened himself against God and prospered? Who has ever hardened himself against God and succeeded in his rebellion against God? And the answer is absolutely no one. As you read Isaiah chapter 1, you can come to this realization. It is extremely difficult. It is extremely heart-rending and grievous to watch a child destroy himself. When the child absolutely will not listen, will not heed any instruction, the only thing that a godly parent can do is to weep and to cry and to pray and ask God to work in that child's heart. I've counseled many parents and I will tell you right up front the most difficult thing for the father. It's all difficult for the mother. But the most difficult thing for the father is this.

He's lost all control. He has no power, his authority is spurned, and he's totally rejected as the authority of that child. Now if you just multiply that about a million times and apply it to God the Father, and you can understand the heartache that we experience is multiplied many times of the heartache that He experiences. And what can you do for a rebellious child? And the answer is nothing as a human except cry and pray and ask the Lord to speak to his heart. Our heavenly Father is likewise grieved over our disobedience. He knows we're going to destroy ourselves. In fact, that's what He said in Hosea 13 and verse 9. He said, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thine help." But they would not look to Him, and they just went on to their destruction.

The Haughtiness of Rebellious Children (Verse 3)

Israel is shown to be more senseless than animals, who know their owner and master. Their ingratitude and failure to recognize God as the source of all blessings is condemned.

Isaiah 43. You have to remember that we are in a covenantal bond with Him. He is our Father. We are His children. Are you listening? Remember in the New Testament, the Bible speaks that Jesus Christ is our head and that we are His body. So we are one with Him. Notice if you would please in Isaiah 43 and verse 24, our Lord says to Israel, His people,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 43:24

"Thou hast brought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices."

In other words, you didn't honor me, you didn't worship me, you didn't respect me,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 43:24

"but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins and hast wearied me with thine iniquities."

Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins. Can you imagine the blasphemy that is involved when we as His people sin against Him? And since we are in that covenantal bond and since we are His body and He is our head, basically we make Him to serve with our sins. Well, let's go back in our Bibles, Isaiah chapter 1.

So much for that review. Let me take up now where we left off last week. And I want you to look in verse 3 with me and consider not only the heartache of rebellious children, which I just mentioned in verse 2, but now I want you to look at the haughtiness of rebellious children in verse 3. He says, "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider."

Now the word haughty is often used in our day and time. And we tend to put a southern definition with haughty. We tend to make it mean highfalutin. Some individual thinks he's highfalutin', that's a haughty individual. But the word haughty means more than that. It means to be arrogant, to be inconsiderate, to be disdainful, and to be contemptuous. So, I want you to look at verse 3 again. "The ox knoweth his owner."

"And the ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." Sin had so perverted the minds and understanding of Israel, listen carefully, that they reached a level beneath the animals. Look at it, the ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master's crib. What is God saying? Here are these dumb animals, as we call them, and yet they know where they eat, they know who owns them, they know from where their bread is buttered. But He said, "My people does not know, my people does not consider."

Now if you don't believe this, I would challenge you just to come to where Alice and I live and you can observe first hand when it's feeding time where all of our animals are. They are in the proper place at the proper time ready to eat. Because they know where they get fed. They know what time they get fed. And usually they're waiting. And the interesting thing is this, when they see me coming, their eyes lock on me like radar. Every movement, you know.

And I've got a certain little ritual that I go through. I feed certain ones first. They know that. And they'll just wait until it comes their time. And after feeding time, if they see me riding up and down in a golf cart, they will still lock on me thinking that maybe he's bringing an extra snack or something like that. If one of those animals does not show up at feeding time, guess what? I know something is wrong.

Either that animal is sick. If it's a cow, she's probably having a calf. But they are there when it comes time to eat. And I'll tell you something else. Those animals love me. They'll rub up against me. They will lick me. I tell everybody, you don't know what love is until you get the slobber of a newborn calf all over you, you know. But I'm serious. But look what God said.

"The ox knoweth his owner. And the ass his master's crib." But He said, "My people doth not know, they do not consider." How is it that we do not understand that everything we have and everything that has been given to us is from the hand of our Creator and from our God? How can we be so callous toward the One who feeds us? How can we be so ungrateful, so unthankful, and so unappreciative? Do you realize the Bible says in James 1 verse 17, now listen carefully:

Scripture Reading — James 1:17

"Every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from above from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

Every good gift that you have comes from God. Your breath comes from God. Your food comes from God. Your friends come from God. Your family comes from God. Your ministry comes from God. Everything. Your breath. Everything comes from Him.

So my question is, why is it that we do not recognize this? This is what He's complaining about in verse 3. He is saying that Israel became dumber than animals. Animals had more sense than His professing people. They recognized, the animals did, who fed them and where they were supposed to be fed, where their home was. But He said, "My people does not know, my people does not consider." You know what we've sired? We have sired a generation of people that are totally ungrateful and unthankful and unappreciative.

Not only have we been guilty of that ourselves and guilty in teaching that, if you would look at our government, our government has made a nation of people like that because it has given and given and given when there is no desert and no work. And now everybody just expects everything to be handed to them on a silver platter. I want you to hold Isaiah 1, but turn in your Bibles if you would, to Luke chapter 17. Luke 17, and I want us to begin reading there with verse 11. Let me show you. Luke 17, verse 11. In fact, yeah, verse 11. Luke 17, verse 11. Watch carefully.

"And it came to pass, as he went out of Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off." By the way, if you had leprosy in those days, it was a death sentence. You were cut off from your family, you were cut off from your friends, you were cut off from villages and towns, you had to live by yourself or with other lepers, and anytime you saw anyone coming, you had to place your hand usually somewhere like this to warn them and holler, "Unclean, unclean, unclean." And so here are ten lepers now that stood afar off. That is, they would not come near, they could not, because they were lepers.

"And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when He saw them, He said unto them, Go, show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, and giving Him thanks." "And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? They are not found that return to give glory to God, save this stranger." The implication is that the other nine were Hebrews. But here's this Samaritan who was so despised and so hated by them, by the Jews especially, and yet he is the only one that returned to give thanks.

I want you to think about this. Nine-tenths of the men that were healed just kept on going and totally ignored the gift that had been given to them. They assumed, they presumed, and they took for granted, and they believed it was owed to them. Only one in ten, one-tenth turned and gave God thanks for what God had done for him. Have you stopped today just to think what God has done for you? Alice and I and Granny Doris were traveling last night. And just as we turned on 82 off 231, 7 or 8 miles down the road, speed limit was 55. I'd had to wait on a semi-truck at the stop sign, and they're slow. But I waited on him. But about seven or eight miles down the road, there was a crossroads, and the ones to the left and right had the stop sign, and we were within 100 yards of that crossroads. And Alice and I looked, and my mouth fell open because some man shot through those stop signs at about 60 miles an hour. And we were just about 100 yards away. And I looked at Alice, I said, "Did you see that?" She said, "I did." I said, "We better thank the Lord right now for that old slow truck that slowed us down. We better thank the Lord that the Lord protected us."

I'm just simply saying, you know, that's no accident. When you stop and think of the goodness and the graciousness and the kindness that God has given to each one of us, where are we when it comes time to thank Him? Where are we when it comes time to recognize His blessings? Why is it we do not recognize those blessings? Is it because we are haughty, selfish, arrogant, and rebellious? Let me put it another way. Are we not as smart as an ox or an ass? "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib. But my people doth not know, my people doth not consider." I want you to look in your Bibles, hold Isaiah 1, but go back to Psalm 49 if you would please. Psalm 49. And look if you would first at verse 12. Psalm 49 and verse 12. Psalm 49 verse 12.

"Nevertheless, man being in honor, abideth not, is like the beasts that perish." Hmm. "Man being in honor, abideth not, is like the beasts that perish." You know, Adam was in honor, but he did not abide. And he became like a beast. Hmm. Skip down, if you would please, to verse 20. "Man that is in honor and understandeth not is like the beast that perish." So what God says is this, if you don't understand where your bread is buttered, if you don't understand where everything you have comes from, you're like a dumb beast. Look in your Bibles to Isaiah 56 and verse 10. Just showing you how men are often compared to animals and the dumbest of the dumb many times. Look in Isaiah 56 and verse 10. Look what God says about His watchmen or His shepherds. He says His watchmen are blind and they are all ignorant. They're all dumb dogs.

"They cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber." They're all dumb dogs. There's nothing dumber than a dumb dog. We've had one that I can remember. That dog wouldn't come when you called him. The dog wouldn't listen. That was the dumbest, stupidest dog I've ever seen in my life. That's what God says. What good is a dumb dog? How would you like a dog that greeted the home invader and the burglar with a good lick and lying down? That's a dumb dog.

Look in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 8 and verse 7. Look what God says. Jeremiah 8 verse 7. Jeremiah 8 verse 7. In fact, let's read verse 6 so that you can really see it. Jeremiah 8, verse 6. Jeremiah says, "I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright." That is the people. They spake not aright. "No man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done?"

"Everyone turned to his own course as the horse rushes into battle." Now look what God says. "Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth his appointed times, and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observed the time of their coming, but my people doth not know the judgment of the Lord." So Israel then would not even consider the source of her blessings, nor would they consider the source of their judgment. And God says, you're actually lower than the brute beast or the dumb animals, because at least the ox knoweth his master, and the ass his crib, but my people doth not know. They refuse to look to their God. If you'll go back in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 1, not only looking then at the haughtiness of rebellious children, but I want you to look in verse 4 at the hatefulness of rebellious children. The hatefulness. Verse 4, look what God says, "Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors, they have forsaken the Lord, they've provoked the Holy One of Israel into anger, they're going away backwards." Now we have just said that rebellious children are hateful children.

The Hatefulness of Rebellious Children (Verse 4)

God denounces Israel as a sinful nation, laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, and corruptors who have forsaken the Lord, provoked Him to anger, and turned their backs on Him.

Have you ever wondered why we say that? The first answer is because it's the truth. The second answer is because that's what God says. God says that rebellious children are hateful children. He says exactly the same thing. I want you to notice how He describes this rebellious nation. He begins in verse 4 and it says, "Ah sinful nation."

Now the word "Ah" is not actually a word of astonishment, but it is a word of denunciation. It is also translated in our Bibles as "woe." God is literally saying, "Woe sinful nation" or "Woe to the sinful nation." The sinful nation was a nation that had incurred guilt by sinning, by disobedience and rebellion. Now the term "sinful" designates a people that have fallen short and they've not lived up to the standard of righteousness that God has laid out for them. What had God ordained for Israel to be? Remember now, He says, "Woe sinful nation." Look in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 19, hold Isaiah 1. But look in Exodus chapter 19 and verse 6. You're going to see exactly what Israel was to be. Look in Exodus chapter 19 and verse 6. And here is what God says, notice if you would, Exodus 19 verse 6, "And you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which I shall speak unto the children of Israel.

Scripture Reading — Exodus 19:6

" So they were to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. How does God address them? "

Ah, sinful nation." They are no longer a holy nation, they are a sinful nation.

America was established on Christian principles. But we're no longer a Christian nation. We are a sinful nation. If you look back in verse 4, He goes again to show the hatefulness. He says, "a people laden with iniquity."

Now the word "laden" here refers to that which is massive and heavy, an oppressive and weighty. It's a weight that presses down with great force. It's a weight and a burden that is impossible to escape. And He says the exceeding heavy weight is that of iniquity, "a people laden with iniquity." And the word "iniquity" refers to perversion, depravity and mischief. So God says that they're weighted down, they're being pressed and oppressed by their own rebellion and by their own iniquity. It's something that is pressing down heavily upon them. Look in verse 4 again. Now when they're called "a seed of evildoers," He's not referring to their fathers, but He's referring to them. They had been planted a right seed, but now they are a degenerate and wicked generation of men. Let me show you. Hold Isaiah 1 and turn right over to Isaiah chapter 5. Isaiah chapter 5, and look at beginning there with verse 1. Isaiah 5 verse 1. Here's exactly what God is talking about when He calls them a seed of evildoers. Isaiah 5 verse 1.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 5:1-7

"Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved, touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard and a very fruitful hill. And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you betwixt me and my vineyard."

Now notice if you would, He's appealing to Judah and Jerusalem, same ones that He's talking about in Isaiah chapter 1. He asks in verse 4,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 5:1-7

"What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked, that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?"

"Now go to, I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard, I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up, and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down. And I will lay it waste, and it shall not be pruned nor digged, but there shall come up briars and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant." "And he looked for judgment, but behold, oppression, for righteousness, but behold, a cry." Now what did God just say? I planted you a ripe vine. But you turned into a degenerate vine. I did everything I could for you. And you refused it. And basically if you follow Isaiah 5, the only thing God says is left is they are to be destroyed. So go back to Isaiah chapter 1, we're still looking at the hatefulness of rebellious children. He says, "Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers," and now He says "children that are corruptors." Wow! They are children that pervert, mar, destroy, ruin, and corrupt. We would call them degenerate, debased, debauched, decadent, decayed, degraded, depraved, and desolate children. They're children that corrupt everything they touch. They're absolutely worthless. They're absolutely useless. They're good for absolutely nothing. Believe me, I know children like that. I know grown children like that. They were not only merely corrupt themselves, but they were corrupting others by their example.

And this is always the case. When people become infidels and profligate themselves, they always seek to make other people just like them. You know, it's just like our Lord said in Matthew 23 and verse 15. Listen to this, just listen. Our Lord said,

Scripture Reading — Matthew 23:15

"Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites."

Now watch.

Scripture Reading — Matthew 23:15

"You compass land and sea to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves."

What?

Scripture Reading — Matthew 23:15

"Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for you compass land and sea to make one proselyte, and when he is made, he is twofold more the child of hell than yourselves."

Let me put it like this.

Our Heavenly Father is not politically correct when it comes to profiling. He just calls it like He sees it. And He says, here is your problem. You are a sinful nation, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors. And then look if you would in verse 4, "they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger." Or they have, He says in verse 4, "they have forsaken the Lord." They have forsaken the Lord, that's the phrase I want. This is the reason why He reproves them with such sharpness and severity. They have forsaken Him. The peculiar heinousness of their sin was that it was against God. They had indeed forsaken God, not necessarily in their profession, but simply by their practice and in reality, because they were neglecting Him, His worship, His service, and they were refusing His yoke and refusing to submit to His law. Jeremiah said something similar in Jeremiah 2, verses 12 and 13.

Listen to what he said. "Be astonished, O you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be ye very desolate, saith the Lord, for my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and they have hewn them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water." So He says they've forsaken the Lord. And then if you'll look in verse 4 again, He says, "they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger." They blasphemed. They had so despised God as to excite His righteous indignation and anger. They had provoked Him by their numerous sins, both of omission and commission.

To show you the stupidity of people, if I had a man in this room that was six feet four, 250 pounds, muscled up, martial artist to the nth degree. I mean could fight like you would not believe. Agile, flexible, quick. How many of you would like to go up and just provoke him and spit in his face and challenge him to fight you? None of you are going to do that, because I know you're not that dumb. I don't know very many people that would be stupid enough to do something like that, saved or unsaved. But isn't it amazing? We refuse to provoke someone whom we think might could beat us into the dirt, physically. But we think nothing of provoking a holy, righteous God. Who can do more than beat us into the dirt?

What did our Lord say? I'll tell you whom you're to fear. Don't fear him who is able just to kill the body. But you fear him who is able after he's killed to cast body and soul into hell. He said that's who you ought to fear. You ought to fear the sovereign God of heaven and earth. So Israel then in departing from God, in forsaking God, were actually challenging God. They were actually challenging Him to do His worst.

They were daring Him to exercise His justice. You know what Peter said in 1 Peter 5 and verse 5? Listen to this.

Scripture Reading — 1 Peter 5:5

"God resisteth the proud, but He giveth grace unto the humble."

The word "resist

Scripture Reading — 1 Peter 5:5

" means to fight against. God fights against the proud, but He giveth grace to the humble. Have you ever stopped to think, if God wants to destroy us, all He has to do is withhold our breath and we'll die. If it is that easy to kill us, what do you think it's going to be like for the man whom God rises up in battle array against? And when God fights against that individual. Wow. I don't want to challenge God. I don't want to provoke Him to do His worst. Look, if you would, in verse 4 again.

He's showing us the hatefulness of rebellious children. He says, "Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors, they have forsaken the Lord, they provoke the Holy One of Israel into anger." Here it is. "They are going away backwards." The word, or the words "gone away," literally means to become estranged or to become alienated. Here's what this actually means. They are gone away backwards. If I am facing Ron, and I go away backwards, what do I do? I turn my back to him, and I'm facing the other way. God is saying that Israel has turned to Him the back, and not the face. Here's the question. If you and I are talking and you're trying to convey something to me, you're telling me something that's very important to you and I just simply turn my back to you and walk off. I don't say a word. I just turn my back and walk off. Would you be insulted?

Would you believe that I had disrespected you? And that I have no concern for you and your needs? Sure you would. You know what God kept saying? I've sent prophets rising early in the times and sending them. And God says, you just turned your back to me and walked off. I want you to look in your Bible. Hold Isaiah 1. But look in your Bible, Jeremiah chapter 2.

Here's a good illustration of this. Jeremiah chapter 2. Look in Jeremiah 2 and verse 27. Jeremiah 2 verse 27. Here's how they turn their back to God.

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 2:27

"Saying to a stock, Thou art my Father, and to a stone Thou hast brought me forth. For they have turned their back unto me, and not their face, but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise and save us."

What did they do? They turned their back on the living God, and went and bowed down to a stock, a tree stump, or a stone, I don't care how beautiful the stone is, and said, "You're our God." Thus they had utterly and completely revolted against God, rebelled against Him, and turned aside to a course that they desired and they wanted. And in doing that, they were expressing their contempt and their hatred toward God. God said in Proverbs 1 in verse 30, "They would have none of my counsel, they despised all of my reproof." And that's exactly what contemptuous people do. No wonder God said in Jeremiah 44 in verse 4, listen carefully, "Howbeit I sent unto you my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying,

"Oh do not this abominable thing which I hate." God said, "I pled with you, but what did you do? While I was speaking you just turned the back to me and walked off." Sin is a hateful thing to God. We've got to consider that for Israel and for us as well, it was a sin to mock anything holy. It was a double sin to mock God the Holy One. It was a triple sin for Israel to mock God who was to be the sanctifier of Israel and the one who required Israel's sanctification. Therefore, He should have been sanctified by Israel according to His holiness.

The Hardness of Rebellious Children (Verse 5)

God asks why He should continue to strike a people who only revolt more. Their incorrigibility leads to being left alone to their own destruction, as seen in the examples of Ephraim and the Pharisees.

Our Lord asks, "Why should you be stricken anymore? You will revolt more and more, the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint." Now, I'm using the word hardness exactly the way the scripture does. In Proverbs 29 in verse 1, listen to what the Bible said, "He that being often reproved, and hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." In Proverbs 28 and verse 14, the Bible teaches, "Happy is the man that feareth always, but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief." This word, "hardeneth," is the same word when God called Israel stiff-necked. He said it in Exodus 32 and verse 9, "And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people."

So when you hear the word hardness, the hardness of rebellious children, it speaks of their incorrigibility, their unwillingness to repent, their deliberate and premeditated resistance to anything that is right and true and holy. Humanly speaking, when you have a hardened, rebellious child, nothing will deter them, nothing will change them, nothing will stop them, nothing will hinder them. They will persevere in their rebellion to their own destruction. It may surprise you to learn that according to the Scripture, there's a time when chastisement and punishment will no longer avail. You know what the Bible says? Listen to this. Proverbs 19 and verse 18. Help me out now. Listen carefully. God said, "Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying." Chasten thy son, what's the next phrase? "While there is hope." In other words, what He's saying is there comes a time that chastening will not do any good. There's no hope of correcting him once he's established in his pattern of rebellion and disobedience and wickedness. That's why He said in verse 5, "Why should you be stricken anymore? Why would you be whipped anymore? Why would you be chastised anymore?"

"You will revolt more and more, the whole head sick and the whole heart is faint." I know of one father who had a rebellious son and he heard a message on discipline. And the father went home and the son had done something wicked and the father was going to whip him. When he drew back the switch to hit the boy, the boy just balled up his fist and knocked his daddy flat. "Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying." Let me ask you, what is to be done to a child who will no longer be corrected and will no longer receive instruction? The answer is, that's the only answer, he's to be left alone. He's to be left alone to go his own way, do his own thing, plunge headlong into destruction. His parents, his brothers and sisters will forsake him, not by choice, but by necessity. Because he'll want nothing to do with them if they want to do what is right and holy. So he has to be left to go his own way.

You know what God said concerning Israel in Hosea chapter 4 verse 17? Listen. Here's what God said concerning Ephraim. "Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone." Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone. Do you remember in Matthew chapter 15, the disciples came to our Lord and said, "Know you not that the Pharisees were offended at your teaching?" You know what our Lord said? I'll paraphrase it. Tough stuff. Here's what He did say. Our Lord said, "Let them alone."

"They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, they'll both fall into the ditch. Let them alone." Now, let me ask you a question. If the only thing that we can do to our rebellious children is to let them alone. Yes, we cry for them. Yes, we pray for them. But you can't make a child do what is right. You can try to teach him, you can try to talk to him, but you can't make him. He's going to do what he wants to do. The only thing you can do is let him alone.

There is a principle in Scripture and that principle is this, if we sin, we suffer. And there's some who will not learn until they get to the pig pen, like the prodigal. But have you ever stopped and think or thought about this fact? If all we can do to our rebellious children is let them alone, what will it be like if God left us alone? Do you realize if God wants to destroy us, the easiest way is for Him to just leave us alone? We'll destroy ourselves. Can you imagine what it's like to be left alone? What did He say? "Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone." What did our Lord say? "Let them alone." Can you imagine what it must be like to receive no mercy, no grace, no loving kindness, no goodness, no special favors? Can you imagine for a moment what it must be like to be left alone by God? And for the rebellious, are you listening? All the joy they will ever have is what they have in this world, in their rebellion, in their sin, and it is a perverted joy, and all that perverted joy will do, will hasten them to their own destruction.

Applications: Obedience and Gratitude

Weaver challenges listeners to examine whether they are rebellious or obedient children of God, and whether they are among the ungrateful nine-tenths or the thankful one-tenth who daily return to give God praise.

The first one is just a question. Are you a rebellious child? Or are you an obedient child? You know, He said in 1 Peter 1, I think it's verse 14, "as an obedient child, not fashioning ourselves according to our former lust and our ignorance." So an obedient child is one that obeys God and His law. A rebellious child is one that disobeys God. So are you a rebellious child or are you an obedient child? My next application is simply this. What group do you run with? Are you in the nine-tenths group that are unthankful, ungrateful, and unappreciative of everything that God does for you? Or are you in that one-tenth group where you return on a daily basis to give thanks and praise and worship to God for your life and your health and your blessings. Are you the one that pauses all throughout the day just to say, "Thank you Father for life and health and sleep and rest and family and friends and good times. Thank you." Have you ever thought what it is just to be blessed with the preaching and teaching of the word of God? Just to be able to read the scriptures. Are you in the nine-tenths? Are you a one-tenther? And you give God the praise for everything in your life. Father, we bow to Thee this day. We thank You for Jesus Christ. We thank You for Your love and Your grace and Your mercy and Your goodness and Your kindness.

Lord, I pray that You would make each one of us a one-tenther. Help us be the one, Lord, that returns and kneels and worships You and thanks You, Father, for all that You do for us. We have to confess and acknowledge we are what we are by the grace of God. We have what we have by the grace of God. And whatever we have, whatever we will have, whatever we will be, it will still only be by the grace of God. And we're thankful. And we praise and acknowledge Thee, the giver of all gifts and the giver of life. And we ask You, Father, to make us more obedient, more holy, more godly, more thankful, more appreciative. In the name of Jesus Christ we ask and pray. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

The Grief of God Over Sin

Summary: God experiences profound heartache when His children rebel, analogous to but infinitely greater than a human parent's grief.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'if you just multiply that about a million times and apply it to God the Father, and you can understand the heartache that we experience is multiplied many times of the heartache that He experiences.'

Rebellion Against Parental Authority as Rebellion Against God

Summary: When children rebel against their parents, they are ultimately rebelling against God, who has delegated authority to parents.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'when a child rebels against his father and his mother, he's actually rebelling against God. Because God is the ultimate, absolute, and sovereign authority.'

Ingratitude and Failure to Recognize God's Provision

Summary: Israel's sin is compared to dumb animals who at least know their master, highlighting human ingratitude for God's blessings.

Evidence: Weaver explains, 'The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.'

The Corrupting Influence of Sin

Summary: Rebellious people not only corrupt themselves but also seek to corrupt others, making them worse than themselves.

Evidence: Weaver cites Matthew 23:15: 'you compass land and sea to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.'

The Danger of Provoking God

Summary: It is foolish to provoke a holy God who has power to destroy both body and soul, yet people do so thoughtlessly.

Evidence: Weaver warns, 'We think nothing of provoking a holy, righteous God. Who can do more than beat us into the dirt?'

Incorrigibility and Being Left Alone by God

Summary: When chastisement no longer avails, God may leave the rebellious to their own destruction, which is the worst possible fate.

Evidence: Weaver references Hosea 4:17: 'Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone.'

Key Arguments

Sin leads to heartache and destruction, and God's grief is magnified because He is perfect.

Summary: Weaver argues that sin always results in sorrow, and God's pain over His people's rebellion is far greater than any human parent's because He is holy and righteous.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'it's one thing to rebel against a sinful, yet a loving and godly parent... And yet it's quite another thing to rebel against a holy, sovereign, loving, and just God who is absolutely perfect and absolutely righteous.'

Rebellion against parents is rebellion against God's authority.

Summary: Since all authority comes from God, children who resist parental authority are simultaneously resisting God Himself.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'God has delegated authority to the father and to the mother over the child. And so when they are resisting and rebelling against that parental authority, then at the same time they are resisting and rebelling against God Himself.'

Israel's ingratitude made them lower than animals.

Summary: The ox and donkey know their master, but Israel did not acknowledge God as the source of their blessings, demonstrating a haughty and rebellious spirit.

Evidence: Weaver explains, 'Sin had so perverted the minds and understanding of Israel... that they reached a level beneath the animals.'

Rebellious people are corruptors who lead others astray.

Summary: Those who forsake God not only ruin themselves but actively corrupt others, making them even worse.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'When people become infidels and profligate themselves, they always seek to make other people just like them.'

Provoking God is irrational and dangerous.

Summary: People avoid provoking physically strong individuals but thoughtlessly provoke God, who has ultimate power over life and afterlife.

Evidence: Weaver illustrates, 'How many of you would like to go up and just provoke him and spit in his face and challenge him to fight you? None of you are going to do that... But isn't it amazing? We refuse to provoke someone whom we think might could beat us into the dirt, physically. But we think nothing of provoking a holy, righteous God.'

There is a point where chastisement becomes futile, and God may leave the rebellious alone.

Summary: Proverbs 19:18 indicates a time when discipline no longer offers hope; God's abandonment to sin is the most severe judgment.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Proverbs 19:18: 'Chasten thy son while there is hope,' and applies it to God's dealing with Israel.

Scripture References

Isaiah 1:1-9

Context: The primary text of the sermon, describing God's indictment against rebellious Israel.

Exodus 5:2

Context: Pharaoh's rebellious attitude: 'Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice?'

Job 9:24

Context: Rhetorical question: 'Who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered?'

Hosea 13:9

Context: God says Israel destroyed themselves, but help is in Him.

Psalm 78:40

Context: How often Israel provoked and grieved God in the wilderness.

Ephesians 4:30

Context: Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.

Isaiah 43:24

Context: Israel made God serve with their sins and wearied Him with iniquities.

James 1:17

Context: Every good and perfect gift comes from God.

Luke 17:11-19

Context: The ten lepers healed, only one (a Samaritan) returned to give thanks.

Psalm 49:12, 20

Context: Man in honor without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

Isaiah 56:10

Context: Watchmen are blind, ignorant, dumb dogs.

Jeremiah 8:6-7

Context: Even the stork knows its times, but God's people do not know His judgment.

Exodus 19:6

Context: Israel was to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

Isaiah 5:1-7

Context: The parable of the vineyard: God planted a choice vine but it yielded wild grapes.

Matthew 23:15

Context: Pharisees make proselytes twofold more the child of hell.

Jeremiah 2:12-13

Context: Israel committed two evils: forsook God, the fountain of living waters, and hewed broken cisterns.

1 Peter 5:5

Context: God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Jeremiah 2:27

Context: Israel turned their back to God, saying to a stock 'Thou art my father.'

Proverbs 1:30

Context: They would have none of my counsel, despised all my reproof.

Jeremiah 44:4

Context: God sent prophets saying 'do not this abominable thing which I hate.'

Historical References

Pharaoh in Exodus 5:2

Context: Pharaoh's defiance: 'Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice?'

The ten lepers in Luke 17

Context: Only one of ten healed lepers returned to thank Jesus, illustrating ingratitude.

The parable of the vineyard in Isaiah 5

Context: God's care for Israel and their failure to produce good fruit.

Ephraim in Hosea 4:17

Context: Ephraim joined to idols, and God's command to let him alone.

Important Quotes

I have nourished and brought up children, and they rebelled against me.

Significance: This is the central lament of God in Isaiah 1:2, setting the theme of the sermon on rebellious children.

The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

Significance: Highlights the haughtiness and ingratitude of Israel, being less discerning than animals.

Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors.

Significance: God's denunciation of Israel's hatefulness and corrupting influence.

Why should you be stricken anymore? You will revolt more and more, the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

Significance: Shows the hardness and incorrigibility of rebellious children, leading to God's abandonment.

Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone.

Significance: Illustrates the principle that God may leave the persistently rebellious to their own destruction.

Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.

Significance: Emphasizes the limited window for effective discipline before a child becomes hardened.

Discussion Questions

In what ways do we, like Israel, fail to recognize God as the source of all our blessings?

Context: Based on the haughtiness of rebellious children in verse 3.

How does understanding that rebellion against parents is rebellion against God change our view of authority?

Context: Weaver explains that parental authority is delegated by God.

What does it mean to 'provoke the Holy One of Israel unto anger,' and how might we do so today?

Context: From the hatefulness described in verse 4.

Why is being 'left alone' by God the most severe judgment?

Context: Weaver discusses the hardness of rebellious children and God's abandonment.

Are you more like the nine lepers who did not return to give thanks, or the one who did?

Context: Application from the story of the ten lepers in Luke 17.

How can we cultivate a heart of gratitude in a culture that often fosters entitlement?

Context: Weaver critiques the ungrateful generation and government handouts.

Applications

Examine whether you are a rebellious or obedient child of God.

Summary: Weaver asks listeners to consider if they are obeying God's law or living in rebellion.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Are you a rebellious child? Or are you an obedient child?'

Cultivate daily gratitude and thanksgiving to God.

Summary: Listeners are challenged to be among the one-tenth who return to give thanks, not the ungrateful nine-tenths.

Evidence: Weaver asks, 'Are you in the nine-tenths group that are unthankful, ungrateful, and unappreciative... Or are you in that one-tenth group where you return on a daily basis to give thanks?'

Recognize God's hand in all blessings and protection.

Summary: Weaver shares a personal story of God's protection to illustrate the need to acknowledge His providence.

Evidence: Weaver recounts a near-accident and says, 'We better thank the Lord right now for that old slow truck that slowed us down.'

Pray for rebellious children and trust God to work.

Summary: When human efforts fail, the only recourse is to cry, pray, and ask God to intervene.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'the only thing that a godly parent can do is to weep and to cry and to pray and ask God to work in that child's heart.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T13:17:16Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T00:08:08Z

Clean Transcript

The Fruit of Sin Part 2 of 3 Rebellious Children

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Isaiah chapter 1, and we're going to read the first nine verses. This is the second part of the message that I began last week: "The Fruit of Sin: Rebellious Children." Lord willing, there will be a third part next week. So look in Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 1: "The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. I have nourished and brought up children, and they rebelled against me."
#1 | 0:13 to 0:53 | cleaned
"The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord. They provoke the Holy One of Israel into anger. They're going away backward. Why should you be stricken anymore? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint."
#2 | 0:54 to 1:21 | cleaned
"From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores that have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Your land strangers devoured in your presence. And it is desolate, is overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant."
#3 | 1:22 to 1:55 | cleaned
"We should have been a Sodom, and we should have been made like unto Gomorrah." Now last week we began looking at Isaiah chapter 1, verses 1 through 9, in detail. And we begin to discover that sin, of course, is exceedingly wicked, and it always leads to heartache and destruction. Our Lord always cries out against sin, and especially sin in His people, and He demonstrates for us here in Isaiah chapter 1 the grief and the heartache that always attends sin.
#4 | 1:56 to 2:30 | cleaned
And He does so in such a way that we may easily comprehend it, because He gives us the example of rebellious children. And He shows how that the grief and the heartache that we experience from our rebellious children is certainly amplified when He experiences the heartache and the grief with His rebellious children.
#5 | 2:31 to 2:53 | cleaned
Now last week we looked at two points, actually three, and just got started on the third one. But we noticed in verse 2, first of all, the witnesses summoned. For he said, "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth," where God calls heaven and earth then to witness against His people. And then of course we saw secondly the warning spoken. He says, "the Lord hath spoken." Everyone must attend unto the words of the Lord.
#6 | 2:54 to 3:24 | cleaned
And especially when He speaks in anger. And then thirdly we look at the wickedness stated. He said, "I have nourished and brought up children and they rebelled against Me." And so we simply look mainly at verse 2, at that particular point. So the Lord is giving us now an illustration that we can very quickly lay hold of, and I pointed out last week that if any of us had rebellious children, we know the heartache that is involved, we know the grief that is involved. If you have been so blessed by God not to have any rebellious children, then you certainly know family members or friends that do, and you're associated with that heartache as well. So God says in verse 2, "I've nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me." You know, when you look at that verse, you cannot help but think, it's one thing to rebel against a sinful, yet a loving and godly parent who tries to do what is right but fails. And yet it's quite another thing to rebel against a holy, sovereign, loving, and just God who is absolutely perfect and absolutely righteous.
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And another thing we fail to realize is this, that when a child rebels against his father and his mother, he's actually rebelling against God. Because God is the ultimate, absolute, and sovereign authority. And there is no authority but of God, and therefore God has delegated authority to the father and to the mother over the child. And so when they are resisting and rebelling against that parental authority, then at the same time they are resisting and rebelling against God Himself. So many then not only rebel against parental authority, they try to thumb their noses at God as well.
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For instance, their attitude is much like the attitude of Pharaoh in Exodus 5 and verse 2 when he said, "Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? I know not the Lord." Pharaoh basically thumbed his nose at God and said, "I don't recognize you. I don't recognize your authority. I'm not going to listen to you." Parents, even godly parents, who desire to do that which is right, oftentimes fail. But the truth is God never fails. And there is no rhyme or reason to rebel against God. Job asked this question in Job 9 in verse 24. Listen carefully.
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"Who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered?" Now stop and think. Who has ever hardened himself against God and prospered? Who has ever hardened himself against God and succeeded in his rebellion against God? And the answer is absolutely no one. As you read Isaiah chapter 1, you can come to this realization. It is extremely difficult. It is extremely heart-rending and grievous to watch a child destroy himself. When the child absolutely will not listen, will not heed any instruction, the only thing that a godly parent can do is to weep and to cry and to pray and ask God to work in that child's heart. I've counseled many parents and I will tell you right up front the most difficult thing for the father. It's all difficult for the mother. But the most difficult thing for the father is this.
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He's lost all control. He has no power, his authority is spurned, and he's totally rejected as the authority of that child. Now if you just multiply that about a million times and apply it to God the Father, and you can understand the heartache that we experience is multiplied many times of the heartache that He experiences. And what can you do for a rebellious child? And the answer is nothing as a human except cry and pray and ask the Lord to speak to his heart.
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Our heavenly Father is likewise grieved over our disobedience. He knows we're going to destroy ourselves. In fact, that's what He said in Hosea 13 and verse 9. He said, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thine help." But they would not look to Him, and they just went on to their destruction.
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Now, I want you to look, hold Isaiah chapter 1, but I want you to look, if you would please, in the book of Psalms, Psalm 78, and notice, if you would please, verse 40. Note what the scripture says concerning Israel and what they did to God. Psalm 78, and look if you would please at verse 40. Psalm 78, verse 40. Here's the question: "How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert?" How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness and grieve him in the desert? Have you ever thought about God being grieved? Did you know the Bible teaches us basically the same thing in Ephesians 4 and verse 30, where he says, "And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you're sealed on the day of your redemption." I do want you to turn over in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah 43. Let me show you a verse. I don't know if you've ever thought about this or not, but I want you to see how grievous our sins must be to our Heavenly Father.
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Isaiah 43. You have to remember that we are in a covenantal bond with Him. He is our Father. We are His children. Are you listening? Remember in the New Testament, the Bible speaks that Jesus Christ is our head and that we are His body. So we are one with Him. Notice if you would please in Isaiah 43 and verse 24, our Lord says to Israel, His people, "Thou hast brought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices." In other words, you didn't honor me, you didn't worship me, you didn't respect me, "but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins and hast wearied me with thine iniquities." Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins. Can you imagine the blasphemy that is involved when we as His people sin against Him? And since we are in that covenantal bond and since we are His body and He is our head, basically we make Him to serve with our sins. Well, let's go back in our Bibles, Isaiah chapter 1.
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So much for that review. Let me take up now where we left off last week. And I want you to look in verse 3 with me and consider not only the heartache of rebellious children, which I just mentioned in verse 2, but now I want you to look at the haughtiness of rebellious children in verse 3. He says, "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider."
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Now the word haughty is often used in our day and time. And we tend to put a southern definition with haughty. We tend to make it mean highfalutin. Some individual thinks he's highfalutin', that's a haughty individual. But the word haughty means more than that. It means to be arrogant, to be inconsiderate, to be disdainful, and to be contemptuous. So, I want you to look at verse 3 again. "The ox knoweth his owner."
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"And the ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." Sin had so perverted the minds and understanding of Israel, listen carefully, that they reached a level beneath the animals. Look at it, the ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master's crib. What is God saying? Here are these dumb animals, as we call them, and yet they know where they eat, they know who owns them, they know from where their bread is buttered. But He said, "My people does not know, my people does not consider."
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Now if you don't believe this, I would challenge you just to come to where Alice and I live and you can observe first hand when it's feeding time where all of our animals are. They are in the proper place at the proper time ready to eat. Because they know where they get fed. They know what time they get fed. And usually they're waiting. And the interesting thing is this, when they see me coming, their eyes lock on me like radar. Every movement, you know.
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And I've got a certain little ritual that I go through. I feed certain ones first. They know that. And they'll just wait until it comes their time. And after feeding time, if they see me riding up and down in a golf cart, they will still lock on me thinking that maybe he's bringing an extra snack or something like that. If one of those animals does not show up at feeding time, guess what? I know something is wrong.
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Either that animal is sick. If it's a cow, she's probably having a calf. But they are there when it comes time to eat. And I'll tell you something else. Those animals love me. They'll rub up against me. They will lick me. I tell everybody, you don't know what love is until you get the slobber of a newborn calf all over you, you know. But I'm serious. But look what God said.
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"The ox knoweth his owner. And the ass his master's crib." But He said, "My people doth not know, they do not consider." How is it that we do not understand that everything we have and everything that has been given to us is from the hand of our Creator and from our God? How can we be so callous toward the One who feeds us? How can we be so ungrateful, so unthankful, and so unappreciative?
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Do you realize the Bible says in James 1 verse 17, now listen carefully: "Every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from above from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." Every good gift that you have comes from God. Your breath comes from God. Your food comes from God. Your friends come from God. Your family comes from God. Your ministry comes from God. Everything. Your breath. Everything comes from Him.
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So my question is, why is it that we do not recognize this? This is what He's complaining about in verse 3. He is saying that Israel became dumber than animals. Animals had more sense than His professing people. They recognized, the animals did, who fed them and where they were supposed to be fed, where their home was. But He said, "My people does not know, my people does not consider." You know what we've sired? We have sired a generation of people that are totally ungrateful and unthankful and unappreciative.
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Not only have we been guilty of that ourselves and guilty in teaching that, if you would look at our government, our government has made a nation of people like that because it has given and given and given when there is no desert and no work. And now everybody just expects everything to be handed to them on a silver platter. I want you to hold Isaiah 1, but turn in your Bibles if you would, to Luke chapter 17. Luke 17, and I want us to begin reading there with verse 11. Let me show you. Luke 17, verse 11. In fact, yeah, verse 11. Luke 17, verse 11. Watch carefully.
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"And it came to pass, as he went out of Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off." By the way, if you had leprosy in those days, it was a death sentence. You were cut off from your family, you were cut off from your friends, you were cut off from villages and towns, you had to live by yourself or with other lepers, and anytime you saw anyone coming, you had to place your hand usually somewhere like this to warn them and holler, "Unclean, unclean, unclean." And so here are ten lepers now that stood afar off. That is, they would not come near, they could not, because they were lepers.
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"And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when He saw them, He said unto them, Go, show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, and giving Him thanks."
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"And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? They are not found that return to give glory to God, save this stranger." The implication is that the other nine were Hebrews. But here's this Samaritan who was so despised and so hated by them, by the Jews especially, and yet he is the only one that returned to give thanks.
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I want you to think about this. Nine-tenths of the men that were healed just kept on going and totally ignored the gift that had been given to them. They assumed, they presumed, and they took for granted, and they believed it was owed to them. Only one in ten, one-tenth turned and gave God thanks for what God had done for him. Have you stopped today just to think what God has done for you?
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Alice and I and Granny Doris were traveling last night. And just as we turned on 82 off 231, 7 or 8 miles down the road, speed limit was 55. I'd had to wait on a semi-truck at the stop sign, and they're slow. But I waited on him. But about seven or eight miles down the road, there was a crossroads, and the ones to the left and right had the stop sign, and we were within 100 yards of that crossroads. And Alice and I looked, and my mouth fell open because some man shot through those stop signs at about 60 miles an hour. And we were just about 100 yards away. And I looked at Alice, I said, "Did you see that?" She said, "I did." I said, "We better thank the Lord right now for that old slow truck that slowed us down. We better thank the Lord that the Lord protected us."
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I'm just simply saying, you know, that's no accident. When you stop and think of the goodness and the graciousness and the kindness that God has given to each one of us, where are we when it comes time to thank Him? Where are we when it comes time to recognize His blessings? Why is it we do not recognize those blessings? Is it because we are haughty, selfish, arrogant, and rebellious?
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Let me put it another way. Are we not as smart as an ox or an ass? "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib. But my people doth not know, my people doth not consider." I want you to look in your Bibles, hold Isaiah 1, but go back to Psalm 49 if you would please. Psalm 49. And look if you would first at verse 12. Psalm 49 and verse 12. Psalm 49 verse 12.
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"Nevertheless, man being in honor, abideth not, is like the beasts that perish." Hmm. "Man being in honor, abideth not, is like the beasts that perish." You know, Adam was in honor, but he did not abide. And he became like a beast. Hmm. Skip down, if you would please, to verse 20. "Man that is in honor and understandeth not is like the beast that perish." So what God says is this, if you don't understand where your bread is buttered, if you don't understand where everything you have comes from, you're like a dumb beast. Look in your Bibles to Isaiah 56 and verse 10. Just showing you how men are often compared to animals and the dumbest of the dumb many times. Look in Isaiah 56 and verse 10. Look what God says about His watchmen or His shepherds. He says His watchmen are blind and they are all ignorant. They're all dumb dogs.
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"They cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber." They're all dumb dogs. There's nothing dumber than a dumb dog. We've had one that I can remember. That dog wouldn't come when you called him. The dog wouldn't listen. That was the dumbest, stupidest dog I've ever seen in my life. That's what God says. What good is a dumb dog? How would you like a dog that greeted the home invader and the burglar with a good lick and lying down? That's a dumb dog.
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Look in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 8 and verse 7. Look what God says. Jeremiah 8 verse 7. Jeremiah 8 verse 7. In fact, let's read verse 6 so that you can really see it. Jeremiah 8, verse 6. Jeremiah says, "I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright." That is the people. They spake not aright. "No man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done?"
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"Everyone turned to his own course as the horse rushes into battle." Now look what God says. "Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth his appointed times, and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observed the time of their coming, but my people doth not know the judgment of the Lord." So Israel then would not even consider the source of her blessings, nor would they consider the source of their judgment. And God says, you're actually lower than the brute beast or the dumb animals, because at least the ox knoweth his master, and the ass his crib, but my people doth not know. They refuse to look to their God.
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If you'll go back in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 1, not only looking then at the haughtiness of rebellious children, but I want you to look in verse 4 at the hatefulness of rebellious children. The hatefulness. Verse 4, look what God says, "Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors, they have forsaken the Lord, they've provoked the Holy One of Israel into anger, they're going away backwards." Now we have just said that rebellious children are hateful children.
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Have you ever wondered why we say that? The first answer is because it's the truth. The second answer is because that's what God says. God says that rebellious children are hateful children. He says exactly the same thing. I want you to notice how He describes this rebellious nation. He begins in verse 4 and it says, "Ah sinful nation."
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Now the word "Ah" is not actually a word of astonishment, but it is a word of denunciation. It is also translated in our Bibles as "woe." God is literally saying, "Woe sinful nation" or "Woe to the sinful nation." The sinful nation was a nation that had incurred guilt by sinning, by disobedience and rebellion.
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Now the term "sinful" designates a people that have fallen short and they've not lived up to the standard of righteousness that God has laid out for them. What had God ordained for Israel to be? Remember now, He says, "Woe sinful nation." Look in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 19, hold Isaiah 1. But look in Exodus chapter 19 and verse 6. You're going to see exactly what Israel was to be. Look in Exodus chapter 19 and verse 6. And here is what God says, notice if you would, Exodus 19 verse 6, "And you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which I shall speak unto the children of Israel." So they were to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. How does God address them? "Ah, sinful nation." They are no longer a holy nation, they are a sinful nation.
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America was established on Christian principles. But we're no longer a Christian nation. We are a sinful nation. If you look back in verse 4, He goes again to show the hatefulness. He says, "a people laden with iniquity."
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Now the word "laden" here refers to that which is massive and heavy, an oppressive and weighty. It's a weight that presses down with great force. It's a weight and a burden that is impossible to escape. And He says the exceeding heavy weight is that of iniquity, "a people laden with iniquity." And the word "iniquity" refers to perversion, depravity and mischief. So God says that they're weighted down, they're being pressed and oppressed by their own rebellion and by their own iniquity. It's something that is pressing down heavily upon them.
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Look in verse 4 again. Now when they're called "a seed of evildoers," He's not referring to their fathers, but He's referring to them. They had been planted a right seed, but now they are a degenerate and wicked generation of men. Let me show you. Hold Isaiah 1 and turn right over to Isaiah chapter 5. Isaiah chapter 5, and look at beginning there with verse 1. Isaiah 5 verse 1. Here's exactly what God is talking about when He calls them a seed of evildoers. Isaiah 5 verse 1.
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"Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved, touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard and a very fruitful hill. And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you betwixt me and my vineyard." Now notice if you would, He's appealing to Judah and Jerusalem, same ones that He's talking about in Isaiah chapter 1. He asks in verse 4, "What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked, that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?"
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"Now go to, I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard, I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up, and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down. And I will lay it waste, and it shall not be pruned nor digged, but there shall come up briars and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant."
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"And he looked for judgment, but behold, oppression, for righteousness, but behold, a cry." Now what did God just say? I planted you a ripe vine. But you turned into a degenerate vine. I did everything I could for you. And you refused it. And basically if you follow Isaiah 5, the only thing God says is left is they are to be destroyed. So go back to Isaiah chapter 1, we're still looking at the hatefulness of rebellious children. He says, "Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers," and now He says "children that are corruptors." Wow! They are children that pervert, mar, destroy, ruin, and corrupt. We would call them degenerate, debased, debauched, decadent, decayed, degraded, depraved, and desolate children. They're children that corrupt everything they touch. They're absolutely worthless. They're absolutely useless. They're good for absolutely nothing. Believe me, I know children like that. I know grown children like that. They were not only merely corrupt themselves, but they were corrupting others by their example.
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And this is always the case. When people become infidels and profligate themselves, they always seek to make other people just like them. You know, it's just like our Lord said in Matthew 23 and verse 15. Listen to this, just listen. Our Lord said, "Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites." Now watch. "You compass land and sea to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." What? "Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for you compass land and sea to make one proselyte, and when he is made, he is twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." Let me put it like this.
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Our Heavenly Father is not politically correct when it comes to profiling. He just calls it like He sees it. And He says, here is your problem. You are a sinful nation, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors. And then look if you would in verse 4, "they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger." Or they have, He says in verse 4, "they have forsaken the Lord." They have forsaken the Lord, that's the phrase I want.
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This is the reason why He reproves them with such sharpness and severity. They have forsaken Him. The peculiar heinousness of their sin was that it was against God. They had indeed forsaken God, not necessarily in their profession, but simply by their practice and in reality, because they were neglecting Him, His worship, His service, and they were refusing His yoke and refusing to submit to His law. Jeremiah said something similar in Jeremiah 2, verses 12 and 13.
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Listen to what he said. "Be astonished, O you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be ye very desolate, saith the Lord, for my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and they have hewn them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water." So He says they've forsaken the Lord. And then if you'll look in verse 4 again, He says, "they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger." They blasphemed. They had so despised God as to excite His righteous indignation and anger. They had provoked Him by their numerous sins, both of omission and commission.
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To show you the stupidity of people, if I had a man in this room that was six feet four, 250 pounds, muscled up, martial artist to the nth degree. I mean could fight like you would not believe. Agile, flexible, quick. How many of you would like to go up and just provoke him and spit in his face and challenge him to fight you? None of you are going to do that, because I know you're not that dumb. I don't know very many people that would be stupid enough to do something like that, saved or unsaved. But isn't it amazing? We refuse to provoke someone whom we think might could beat us into the dirt, physically. But we think nothing of provoking a holy, righteous God. Who can do more than beat us into the dirt?
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What did our Lord say? I'll tell you whom you're to fear. Don't fear him who is able just to kill the body. But you fear him who is able after he's killed to cast body and soul into hell. He said that's who you ought to fear. You ought to fear the sovereign God of heaven and earth. So Israel then in departing from God, in forsaking God, were actually challenging God. They were actually challenging Him to do His worst.
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They were daring Him to exercise His justice. You know what Peter said in 1 Peter 5 and verse 5? Listen to this. "God resisteth the proud, but He giveth grace unto the humble." The word "resist" means to fight against. God fights against the proud, but He giveth grace to the humble. Have you ever stopped to think, if God wants to destroy us, all He has to do is withhold our breath and we'll die. If it is that easy to kill us, what do you think it's going to be like for the man whom God rises up in battle array against? And when God fights against that individual. Wow. I don't want to challenge God. I don't want to provoke Him to do His worst. Look, if you would, in verse 4 again.
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He's showing us the hatefulness of rebellious children. He says, "Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors, they have forsaken the Lord, they provoke the Holy One of Israel into anger." Here it is. "They are going away backwards." The word, or the words "gone away," literally means to become estranged or to become alienated. Here's what this actually means. They are gone away backwards. If I am facing Ron, and I go away backwards, what do I do? I turn my back to him, and I'm facing the other way. God is saying that Israel has turned to Him the back, and not the face. Here's the question. If you and I are talking and you're trying to convey something to me, you're telling me something that's very important to you and I just simply turn my back to you and walk off. I don't say a word. I just turn my back and walk off. Would you be insulted?
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Would you believe that I had disrespected you? And that I have no concern for you and your needs? Sure you would. You know what God kept saying? I've sent prophets rising early in the times and sending them. And God says, you just turned your back to me and walked off. I want you to look in your Bible. Hold Isaiah 1. But look in your Bible, Jeremiah chapter 2.
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Here's a good illustration of this. Jeremiah chapter 2. Look in Jeremiah 2 and verse 27. Jeremiah 2 verse 27. Here's how they turn their back to God. "Saying to a stock, Thou art my Father, and to a stone Thou hast brought me forth. For they have turned their back unto me, and not their face, but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise and save us." What did they do? They turned their back on the living God, and went and bowed down to a stock, a tree stump, or a stone, I don't care how beautiful the stone is, and said, "You're our God." Thus they had utterly and completely revolted against God, rebelled against Him, and turned aside to a course that they desired and they wanted. And in doing that, they were expressing their contempt and their hatred toward God. God said in Proverbs 1 in verse 30, "They would have none of my counsel, they despised all of my reproof." And that's exactly what contemptuous people do. No wonder God said in Jeremiah 44 in verse 4, listen carefully, "Howbeit I sent unto you my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying,
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"Oh do not this abominable thing which I hate." God said, "I pled with you, but what did you do? While I was speaking you just turned the back to me and walked off." Sin is a hateful thing to God. We've got to consider that for Israel and for us as well, it was a sin to mock anything holy. It was a double sin to mock God the Holy One. It was a triple sin for Israel to mock God who was to be the sanctifier of Israel and the one who required Israel's sanctification. Therefore, He should have been sanctified by Israel according to His holiness.
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If you'll look in your Bibles to the book of Leviticus 19, Leviticus 19. And notice verses 1 and 2. Leviticus 19 verses 1 and 2. Leviticus 19 verse 1. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, You shall be holy. For I, the Lord your God, am holy." Israel was to sanctify God. But they turned their back to Him. One last point today, I want you to look in Isaiah chapter 1 again, and verse 5. Lord willing, we'll finish the rest of this message next week, but look in verse 5. I want you to consider the hardness, the hardness of rebellious children.
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Our Lord asks, "Why should you be stricken anymore? You will revolt more and more, the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint." Now, I'm using the word hardness exactly the way the scripture does. In Proverbs 29 in verse 1, listen to what the Bible said, "He that being often reproved, and hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." In Proverbs 28 and verse 14, the Bible teaches, "Happy is the man that feareth always, but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief." This word, "hardeneth," is the same word when God called Israel stiff-necked. He said it in Exodus 32 and verse 9, "And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people."
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So when you hear the word hardness, the hardness of rebellious children, it speaks of their incorrigibility, their unwillingness to repent, their deliberate and premeditated resistance to anything that is right and true and holy. Humanly speaking, when you have a hardened, rebellious child, nothing will deter them, nothing will change them, nothing will stop them, nothing will hinder them. They will persevere in their rebellion to their own destruction.
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It may surprise you to learn that according to the Scripture, there's a time when chastisement and punishment will no longer avail. You know what the Bible says? Listen to this. Proverbs 19 and verse 18. Help me out now. Listen carefully. God said, "Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying." Chasten thy son, what's the next phrase? "While there is hope." In other words, what He's saying is there comes a time that chastening will not do any good. There's no hope of correcting him once he's established in his pattern of rebellion and disobedience and wickedness. That's why He said in verse 5, "Why should you be stricken anymore? Why would you be whipped anymore? Why would you be chastised anymore?"
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"You will revolt more and more, the whole head sick and the whole heart is faint." I know of one father who had a rebellious son and he heard a message on discipline. And the father went home and the son had done something wicked and the father was going to whip him. When he drew back the switch to hit the boy, the boy just balled up his fist and knocked his daddy flat. "Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying." Let me ask you, what is to be done to a child who will no longer be corrected and will no longer receive instruction?
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The answer is, that's the only answer, he's to be left alone. He's to be left alone to go his own way, do his own thing, plunge headlong into destruction. His parents, his brothers and sisters will forsake him, not by choice, but by necessity. Because he'll want nothing to do with them if they want to do what is right and holy. So he has to be left to go his own way.
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You know what God said concerning Israel in Hosea chapter 4 verse 17? Listen. Here's what God said concerning Ephraim. "Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone." Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone. Do you remember in Matthew chapter 15, the disciples came to our Lord and said, "Know you not that the Pharisees were offended at your teaching?" You know what our Lord said? I'll paraphrase it. Tough stuff. Here's what He did say. Our Lord said, "Let them alone."
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"They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, they'll both fall into the ditch. Let them alone."
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Now, let me ask you a question. If the only thing that we can do to our rebellious children is to let them alone. Yes, we cry for them. Yes, we pray for them. But you can't make a child do what is right. You can try to teach him, you can try to talk to him, but you can't make him. He's going to do what he wants to do. The only thing you can do is let him alone.
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There is a principle in Scripture and that principle is this, if we sin, we suffer. And there's some who will not learn until they get to the pig pen, like the prodigal. But have you ever stopped and think or thought about this fact? If all we can do to our rebellious children is let them alone, what will it be like if God left us alone? Do you realize if God wants to destroy us, the easiest way is for Him to just leave us alone? We'll destroy ourselves. Can you imagine what it's like to be left alone? What did He say? "Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone." What did our Lord say? "Let them alone." Can you imagine what it must be like to receive no mercy, no grace, no loving kindness, no goodness, no special favors? Can you imagine for a moment what it must be like to be left alone by God? And for the rebellious, are you listening? All the joy they will ever have is what they have in this world, in their rebellion, in their sin, and it is a perverted joy, and all that perverted joy will do, will hasten them to their own destruction.
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That's it. God said, "Why would you be stricken anymore? Why would I waste my time trying to chasten a rebellious child? Only thing you're going to do is revolt more and more. Because your whole head is sick, your whole heart is faint. And all you'll do is sin more and more." So God said, "I'll let you alone. And you will destroy yourself." So I've got two applications.
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The first one is just a question. Are you a rebellious child? Or are you an obedient child? You know, He said in 1 Peter 1, I think it's verse 14, "as an obedient child, not fashioning ourselves according to our former lust and our ignorance." So an obedient child is one that obeys God and His law. A rebellious child is one that disobeys God. So are you a rebellious child or are you an obedient child?
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My next application is simply this. What group do you run with? Are you in the nine-tenths group that are unthankful, ungrateful, and unappreciative of everything that God does for you? Or are you in that one-tenth group where you return on a daily basis to give thanks and praise and worship to God for your life and your health and your blessings. Are you the one that pauses all throughout the day just to say, "Thank you Father for life and health and sleep and rest and family and friends and good times. Thank you." Have you ever thought what it is just to be blessed with the preaching and teaching of the word of God? Just to be able to read the scriptures. Are you in the nine-tenths? Are you a one-tenther? And you give God the praise for everything in your life. Father, we bow to Thee this day. We thank You for Jesus Christ. We thank You for Your love and Your grace and Your mercy and Your goodness and Your kindness.
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Lord, I pray that You would make each one of us a one-tenther. Help us be the one, Lord, that returns and kneels and worships You and thanks You, Father, for all that You do for us. We have to confess and acknowledge we are what we are by the grace of God. We have what we have by the grace of God. And whatever we have, whatever we will have, whatever we will be, it will still only be by the grace of God. And we're thankful. And we praise and acknowledge Thee, the giver of all gifts and the giver of life. And we ask You, Father, to make us more obedient, more holy, more godly, more thankful, more appreciative. In the name of Jesus Christ we ask and pray. Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T13:17:16Z

The Fruit of Sin Part 2 of 3 Rebellious Children

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

In this sermon, Pastor John Weaver continues his exposition of Isaiah 1:1-9, focusing on the heartache, haughtiness, hatefulness, and hardness of rebellious children as a picture of Israel's sin against God. He emphasizes that sin is exceedingly wicked and leads to destruction, and that God's grief over His people's rebellion is far greater than any human parent's sorrow. The sermon calls for self-examination regarding obedience and gratitude toward God.

Review of Part 1 and Introduction

Weaver reviews the previous week's message on Isaiah 1:1-9, highlighting the witnesses summoned, the warning spoken, and the wickedness stated in verse 2, where God laments His rebellious children.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 1:1-9

"The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. I have nourished and brought up children, and they rebelled against me." "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord. They provoke the Holy One of Israel into anger. They're going away backward. Why should you be stricken anymore? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint." "From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores that have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Your land strangers devoured in your presence. And it is desolate, is overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant." "We should have been a Sodom, and we should have been made like unto Gomorrah."

The Heartache of Rebellious Children (Verse 2)

God's grief over Israel's rebellion is compared to a parent's heartache, but magnified because God is perfect. Rebellion against parents is ultimately rebellion against God's delegated authority.

Scripture Reading — Exodus 5:2

"Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? I know not the Lord."

The Haughtiness of Rebellious Children (Verse 3)

Israel is shown to be more senseless than animals, who know their owner and master. Their ingratitude and failure to recognize God as the source of all blessings is condemned.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 43:24

"Thou hast brought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices."

In other words, you didn't honor me, you didn't worship me, you didn't respect me,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 43:24

"but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins and hast wearied me with thine iniquities."

Scripture Reading — James 1:17

"Every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from above from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

The Hatefulness of Rebellious Children (Verse 4)

God denounces Israel as a sinful nation, laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, and corruptors who have forsaken the Lord, provoked Him to anger, and turned their backs on Him.

Scripture Reading — Exodus 19:6

" So they were to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. How does God address them? "

Ah, sinful nation." They are no longer a holy nation, they are a sinful nation.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 5:1-7

"Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved, touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard and a very fruitful hill. And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you betwixt me and my vineyard."

Now notice if you would, He's appealing to Judah and Jerusalem, same ones that He's talking about in Isaiah chapter 1. He asks in verse 4,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 5:1-7

"What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked, that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?"

Scripture Reading — Matthew 23:15

"Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites."

Now watch.

Scripture Reading — Matthew 23:15

"You compass land and sea to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves."

What?

Scripture Reading — Matthew 23:15

"Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for you compass land and sea to make one proselyte, and when he is made, he is twofold more the child of hell than yourselves."

Let me put it like this.

They were daring Him to exercise His justice. You know what Peter said in 1 Peter 5 and verse 5? Listen to this.

Scripture Reading — 1 Peter 5:5

"God resisteth the proud, but He giveth grace unto the humble."

The word "resist

Scripture Reading — 1 Peter 5:5

" means to fight against. God fights against the proud, but He giveth grace to the humble. Have you ever stopped to think, if God wants to destroy us, all He has to do is withhold our breath and we'll die. If it is that easy to kill us, what do you think it's going to be like for the man whom God rises up in battle array against? And when God fights against that individual. Wow. I don't want to challenge God. I don't want to provoke Him to do His worst. Look, if you would, in verse 4 again.

Here's a good illustration of this. Jeremiah chapter 2. Look in Jeremiah 2 and verse 27. Jeremiah 2 verse 27. Here's how they turn their back to God.

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 2:27

"Saying to a stock, Thou art my Father, and to a stone Thou hast brought me forth. For they have turned their back unto me, and not their face, but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise and save us."

The Hardness of Rebellious Children (Verse 5)

Applications: Obedience and Gratitude

The Fruit of Sin Part 2 of 3 Rebellious Children

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	FrLMk40OC1w
Subject	Family Government
Course	The Christian Family: Children, Fatherhood, and Generational Faithfulness: The Family
Genre	Sermon
Date	2012-01-30
Dictation Name
Book	Book 028: The Christian Family: Children, Fatherhood, and Generational Faithfulness — Chapter 17
Source Timed Segments	70

Lecture Guide

Outline

Review of Part 1 and Introduction: Weaver reviews the previous week's message on Isaiah 1:1-9, highlighting the witnesses summoned, the warning spoken, and the wickedness stated in verse 2, where God laments His rebellious children.
The Heartache of Rebellious Children (Verse 2): God's grief over Israel's rebellion is compared to a parent's heartache, but magnified because God is perfect. Rebellion against parents is ultimately rebellion against God's delegated authority.
The Haughtiness of Rebellious Children (Verse 3): Israel is shown to be more senseless than animals, who know their owner and master. Their ingratitude and failure to recognize God as the source of all blessings is condemned.
The Hatefulness of Rebellious Children (Verse 4): God denounces Israel as a sinful nation, laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, and corruptors who have forsaken the Lord, provoked Him to anger, and turned their backs on Him.
The Hardness of Rebellious Children (Verse 5): God asks why He should continue to strike a people who only revolt more. Their incorrigibility leads to being left alone to their own destruction, as seen in the examples of Ephraim and the Pharisees.
Applications: Obedience and Gratitude: Weaver challenges listeners to examine whether they are rebellious or obedient children of God, and whether they are among the ungrateful nine-tenths or the thankful one-tenth who daily return to give God praise.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Sin leads to heartache and destruction, and God's grief is magnified because He is perfect.

Weaver argues that sin always results in sorrow, and God's pain over His people's rebellion is far greater than any human parent's because He is holy and righteous.

Weaver says, 'it's one thing to rebel against a sinful, yet a loving and godly parent... And yet it's quite another thing to rebel against a holy, sovereign, loving, and just God who is absolutely perfect and absolutely righteous.'

Rebellion against parents is rebellion against God's authority.

Since all authority comes from God, children who resist parental authority are simultaneously resisting God Himself.

Weaver states, 'God has delegated authority to the father and to the mother over the child. And so when they are resisting and rebelling against that parental authority, then at the same time they are resisting and rebelling against God Himself.'

Israel's ingratitude made them lower than animals.

The ox and donkey know their master, but Israel did not acknowledge God as the source of their blessings, demonstrating a haughty and rebellious spirit.

Weaver explains, 'Sin had so perverted the minds and understanding of Israel... that they reached a level beneath the animals.'

Rebellious people are corruptors who lead others astray.

Those who forsake God not only ruin themselves but actively corrupt others, making them even worse.

Weaver says, 'When people become infidels and profligate themselves, they always seek to make other people just like them.'

Provoking God is irrational and dangerous.

People avoid provoking physically strong individuals but thoughtlessly provoke God, who has ultimate power over life and afterlife.

Weaver illustrates, 'How many of you would like to go up and just provoke him and spit in his face and challenge him to fight you? None of you are going to do that... But isn't it amazing? We refuse to provoke someone whom we think might could beat us into the dirt, physically. But we think nothing of provoking a holy, righteous God.'

There is a point where chastisement becomes futile, and God may leave the rebellious alone.

Proverbs 19:18 indicates a time when discipline no longer offers hope; God's abandonment to sin is the most severe judgment.

Weaver quotes Proverbs 19:18: 'Chasten thy son while there is hope,' and applies it to God's dealing with Israel.

Scripture References

Isaiah 1:1-9: The primary text of the sermon, describing God's indictment against rebellious Israel.
Exodus 5:2: Pharaoh's rebellious attitude: 'Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice?'
Job 9:24: Rhetorical question: 'Who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered?'
Hosea 13:9: God says Israel destroyed themselves, but help is in Him.
Psalm 78:40: How often Israel provoked and grieved God in the wilderness.
Ephesians 4:30: Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.
Isaiah 43:24: Israel made God serve with their sins and wearied Him with iniquities.
James 1:17: Every good and perfect gift comes from God.
Luke 17:11-19: The ten lepers healed, only one (a Samaritan) returned to give thanks.
Psalm 49:12, 20: Man in honor without understanding is like the beasts that perish.
Isaiah 56:10: Watchmen are blind, ignorant, dumb dogs.
Jeremiah 8:6-7: Even the stork knows its times, but God's people do not know His judgment.
Exodus 19:6: Israel was to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
Isaiah 5:1-7: The parable of the vineyard: God planted a choice vine but it yielded wild grapes.
Matthew 23:15: Pharisees make proselytes twofold more the child of hell.
Jeremiah 2:12-13: Israel committed two evils: forsook God, the fountain of living waters, and hewed broken cisterns.
1 Peter 5:5: God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Jeremiah 2:27: Israel turned their back to God, saying to a stock 'Thou art my father.'
Proverbs 1:30: They would have none of my counsel, despised all my reproof.
Jeremiah 44:4: God sent prophets saying 'do not this abominable thing which I hate.'

Historical References

Pharaoh in Exodus 5:2: Pharaoh's defiance: 'Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice?'
The ten lepers in Luke 17: Only one of ten healed lepers returned to thank Jesus, illustrating ingratitude.
The parable of the vineyard in Isaiah 5: God's care for Israel and their failure to produce good fruit.
Ephraim in Hosea 4:17: Ephraim joined to idols, and God's command to let him alone.

Important Quotes

I have nourished and brought up children, and they rebelled against me.

This is the central lament of God in Isaiah 1:2, setting the theme of the sermon on rebellious children.

The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

Highlights the haughtiness and ingratitude of Israel, being less discerning than animals.

Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors.

God's denunciation of Israel's hatefulness and corrupting influence.

Why should you be stricken anymore? You will revolt more and more, the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

Shows the hardness and incorrigibility of rebellious children, leading to God's abandonment.

Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone.

Illustrates the principle that God may leave the persistently rebellious to their own destruction.

Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.

Emphasizes the limited window for effective discipline before a child becomes hardened.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

In what ways do we, like Israel, fail to recognize God as the source of all our blessings?

[Context]

Based on the haughtiness of rebellious children in verse 3.

[Question]

How does understanding that rebellion against parents is rebellion against God change our view of authority?

[Context]

Weaver explains that parental authority is delegated by God.

[Question]

What does it mean to 'provoke the Holy One of Israel unto anger,' and how might we do so today?

[Context]

From the hatefulness described in verse 4.

[Question]

Why is being 'left alone' by God the most severe judgment?

[Context]

Weaver discusses the hardness of rebellious children and God's abandonment.

[Question]

Are you more like the nine lepers who did not return to give thanks, or the one who did?

[Context]

Application from the story of the ten lepers in Luke 17.

[Question]

How can we cultivate a heart of gratitude in a culture that often fosters entitlement?

[Context]

Weaver critiques the ungrateful generation and government handouts.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T00:08:08Z