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Lobelville SDA Church

Norman McNulty

The Holy One of Israel

It's good to be back in Louisville and I think this is the biggest congregation I've seen since I've been coming here.

So it's good to see all of you here today.

And before we get into our message for this morning, let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.

Our Father in heaven we thank you so much for your blessings to each 1 of us and Lord we know that we are living in serious and momentous times of Earth's history.

Pray that if we've had a tendency to be playing games with you and to be playing church that we would wake up and that we would come to see you for who you are, the Holy 1 of Israel.

May the words be according to your will and may it awaken in each 1 of our hearts and our minds the need to be right with you.

Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 57 verse 15.

And the title for our message this morning is the Holy 1 of Israel.

Isaiah Chapter 57, verse 15, 15 For thus saith the High and Lofty 1, That inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy.

I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Listen we serve a holy God, the holy 1 of Israel who inhabits eternity and we need to remember that God is holy.

He's not just the little daddy upstairs like some people try to make him out to be.

He inhabits eternity, and he dwells in a high and holy place with those who are of a contrite and humble spirit so that he can bring a revival to those who are humble and those who are contrite.

There is a need for a revival of humility and of godliness and of an acknowledgement that the God of heaven is the Holy 1 of Israel.

And if we would see the God of heaven for who He really is as the Holy 1 of Israel many if not all of these foolish things that have been coming into God's church would go away because God is the Holy 1 of Israel.

You know, the General Conference has this Bible reading program going on right now called revived by his word and Right now we are in the middle of the book of Isaiah and 1 of the things about the book of Isaiah Throughout this book at least 25 times if not more as I've counted that the title for God in the book of Isaiah is the Holy 1 of Israel.

And Isaiah is known as the Gospel Prophet.

There are Messianic prophecies talking about the first advent of Christ.

There are also prophecies describing the second advent of Christ, and of the new heaven, and the new earth, and of worshiping in heaven.

So, throughout this book of Isaiah there is a description of God's people from the time of Isaiah all the way to the restoration of all things.

And throughout all of that, God is described as the Holy 1 of Israel.

And in the very beginning of the book of Isaiah, starting in chapter 1, verse 2, the prophet speaks to us and says, 1 Peter 1, verse 2, 2 And hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD hath spoken.

3 I have nourished and have brought up children, and they have rebelled against me." Now this is especially speaking of the nation of Israel at that time, but couldn't God say the same thing today?

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

I'll have a relationship with Him, but please don't talk to me about obedience.

Don't tell me about a remnant at the end of time that keep the commandments of God.

I just want to have a relationship with Jesus and we'll figure it all out when we get upstairs.

God says, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me." Verse 3, The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know.

The animal knows who his master is, yet God is saying, My people, they don't know who their master is.

And they act as if they don't know who their master is.

But Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider, verse 4, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors.

They have provoked the Holy 1 of Israel unto anger.

They are gone away backward." And here is the first mention of the Holy 1 of Israel in the book of Isaiah.

And the Holy 1 of Israel is saying they are a nation laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors.

They have forsaken the Lord, and notice this, it says, they have provoked the Holy 1 of Israel to anger.

And you know so much focus is placed on the love and the tender mercies of God, which are all true.

But He is a God who can be provoked to anger by the rebellious ways of His people.

And we think that we can just float along through life rebelling against God, ignoring His commandments, ignoring His prophets, thinking that all will be well, that God will just love us and be merciful to us and cover us with His grace and when we get to the kingdom He'll clean us up.

And God is saying, no, no, no, if you are rebelling against Me that is provoking me to anger.

And we as His people living at this time of earth's history, listen we are seventh day Adventists living on the edge of eternity, if anyone should know that God is the Holy 1 of Israel we should be proclaiming that loudly and clearly to the world around us.

They have provoked the Holy 1 of Israel into anger, they are gone away backwards.

The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment." In other words, everything about you is sick, And you think that you can just go on living your life thinking that God will cover you, and the reality is God is here to point out that you are a nation that is sick, that is in need of a change of ways.

Now, if you continue on in verse 9, notice, it says, Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah." And so now the prophet Isaiah, speaking to the nation of Israel, he's saying, if there was not a remnant of people today who were faithful to the Word of God, we would be like Sodom and Gomorrah.

And at the end of time God describes a church, a people, the remnant of his seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

And isn't it amazing today that even in God's last day in time church, the seventh day Adventist church, people attack commandment keeping as legalism and as the spirit of prophecy as being out of date.

And yet those are the very identifying characteristics that show that God has a remnant on this earth today.

And the devil knows that and so he's going after those very 2 things.

Now listen, you know Jesus says in Psalms chapter 40 verses 7 and 8, I delight to do thy will O my God, yea thy law is within my heart.

Jesus delighted to keep the law, did that make him a legalist?

So why if by the grace of God we are delighting to keep the law of God would that make us a legalist?

Don't be fooled by the arguments of the dragon.

Except the Lord of hosts hath left unto us a very small remnant.

We should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

It's the faithfulness of the remnant, those who through the faith of Jesus Christ keep His commandments and who take heed to the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy.

That is what keeps the nation of Israel in that time and in ours from becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah.

Otherwise we should have been a Sodom we would have been like under Gomorrah.

Now notice what Isaiah does here and this just blows my mind.

Notice what the prophet says to the leaders of the nation of Israel of that day.

He says, hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of who?

He's speaking to the leaders of Israel, and if you don't believe me, we're going to go through the next verses where he talks about their sacrifices of the lambs and the bullocks, which is what the nation of Israel was doing.

And he is saying, hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom.

Give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah." I mean, what greater insult could the prophet of the Lord give to God's people at that time than to call the leaders of their nation the rulers of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Now, unless you think that Sodom and Gomorrah was simply, and you know where we get the term sodomy from, Unless you think all of Sodom and Gomorrah was about gay rights and homosexual this and that and whatever, Ezekiel 16.49 makes it very clear that the sin of Sodom was pride, abundance of idleness, and fullness of bread.

And when you look at the nation of Israel, and you can look at God's people today, there is plenty of pride to go around, there is plenty of abundance of idleness, there is plenty of fullness of bread.

People in God's church today, we have a message to take to the world, and yet we're sitting around all week long stuck on our TV shows hoping that our teams make the final 4 and win the championship or the Super Bowl or whatever else it may be, and we're stuck on these issues of idleness, wasting our time, and the Holy 1 of Israel wants His people to rise up and go give a message to the world.

And yet we're partaking in the very things of the world so that there's hardly any difference between us and the world.

And so the prophet of the Lord says to the nation of Israel in that time, Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom.

Give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

Verse 11, to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?

And at this point it becomes very clear he's not speaking to literal Sodom and literal Gomorrah, he's speaking to those who profess to be serving him.

And he's saying, what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?

In other words, you're coming to church and you're going through the motions, and you'll come to Sabbath school, and you'll come to church, and you'll listen to the sermon, and you might say a prayer, but what purpose is that when you're living like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah?

And the Holy 1 of Israel has a word for his people today.

And he continues, Saith the Lord, I am full of the burnt offerings, of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats." These were the very offerings that God commanded them to offer, and yet he's saying, I'm tired of these offerings.

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The Holy One of Israel

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