The Lord's Day Bible Message Outlines
March 8, 2009
Pastor Dana Johnson
"Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow
we die!" -Isaiah
22:13
But instead, joy and gladness, slaying
oxen and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: "Let
us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!"
1. The people of Judah, God's people,
have brought judgment on themselves by their persistent sin
and disobedience.
Isaiah 3:8-9 - For
Jerusalem stumbled, and Judah is fallen, because their
tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the
eyes of His glory. 9The look on their countenance
witnesses against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom;
they do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have
brought evil upon themselves. See 2 Kings
24-25.
2. At death's doorstep:
a. The people did not respond
to God's last call to repentance.
Isaiah 22:12-13 -
And in that day the Lord GOD of hosts called for weeping
and for mourning, for baldness and for girding with
sackcloth. 13But instead, joy and gladness,
slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking
wine: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!"
Ezekiel 33:11 - "Say to them: 'As I live,' says the Lord
GOD, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but
that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn
from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of
Israel?'
b. The people actually intensified
their self-centered behavior that characterized their
lifetime.
Isaiah 5:11-12 -
Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may
follow intoxicating drink; who continue until night, till
wine inflames them! 12The harp and the
strings, the tambourine and flute, and wine are in their
feasts; but they do not regard the work of the LORD, nor
consider the operation of His hands.
1) A materialistic,
indulgent, self-gratifying lifestyle.
Isaiah 22:13 -
But instead, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and
killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: "Let us
eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!"
2. A self-dependent, rather than
God-dependent lifestyle.
Isaiah 22:5-11
- For it is a day of trouble and treading down and
perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts In the Valley of
Vision; breaking down the walls and of crying to the
mountain. 6Elam bore the quiver with
chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the
shield. 7It shall come to pass that your
choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the
horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.
8He removed the protection of Judah. You
looked in that day to the armor of the House of the
Forest; 9you also saw the damage to the
city of David, that it was great; and you gathered
together the waters of the lower pool.
10You numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and
the houses you broke down to fortify the wall.
11You also made a reservoir between the two
walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not
look to its Maker, nor did you have respect for Him
who fashioned it long ago.
3. This cavalier attitude toward death
is not uniquely Jewish:
a. Consider the pagans- even
the intelligent ones like the Epicureans- who regard
death as the end of all existence.
1 Corinthians
15:32 - If, in the manner of men, I have fought with
beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the
dead do not rise, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we
die!"
Acts 17:16-18, 30-31 - Now while Paul waited for them at
Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw
that the city was given over to idols.
17Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with
the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the
marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.
18Then certain Epicurean and Stoic
philosophers encountered him. And some said, "What does
this babbler want to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a
proclaimer of foreign gods," because he preached to them
Jesus and the resurrection. 30"Truly, these
times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all
men everywhere to repent, 31because He has
appointed a day on which He will judge the world in
righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has
given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the
dead." 32And when they heard of the
resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said,
"We will hear you again on this matter."
b. Consider Adam and Eve who, in a
state of innocence, failed to grasp the tragedy of
death.
Genesis 3:1-5 -
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the
field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the
woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every
tree of the garden'?" 2And the woman said to
the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the
garden; 3but of the fruit of the tree which is
in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not
eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'"
4Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will
not surely die. 5For God knows that in the day
you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be
like God, knowing good and evil."
4. It is apparent that, though humans
have a will (made by God), they cannot make a biblically
rational decision regarding death.
a. Because, in the innocence
of Eden, that will was deceived.
b. Because, since Eden, that will
continues to be deceived and is corrupted by
sin.
5. God presently "commands all men
everywhere to repent" (Acts
17:30 - "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but
now commands all men everywhere to
repent.) because of every
man's appointment with death and judgment
(Hebrews 9:27 - And
as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the
judgment.) Yet with our
deceived and corrupted will we obviously need outside help.
Notice the help we need as revealed in Isaiah's
time:
a. The mercy of God.
Isaiah 1:9 -
Unless the LORD of hosts had left to us a very small
remnant, we would have become like Sodom, we would have
been made like Gomorrah.
b. The word of God.
Isaiah 40:6-9 -
The voice said, "Cry out!" And he said, "What shall I
cry?" "All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like
the flower of the field. 7The grass withers,
the flower fades, because the breath of the LORD blows
upon it; surely the people are grass. 8The
grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God
stands forever." 9O Zion, you who bring good
tidings, get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, you
who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength,
lift it up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah,
"Behold your God!"
c. Jesus, the Light of the
world.
Luke 1:78-79 -
"Through the tender mercy of our God, with which the
Dayspring from on high has visited us; 79to
give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of
death, to guide our feet into the way of
peace."
(All
Scripture quoted is from the New King James
Version)
|
