To Be Made Anew

Isaiah 22:8-14 — Have you ever come across a passage in the Bible that describes the exact situation you are in? This is not a coincidence, it is an illustration of the great message of the Bible. In this sermon on Isaiah 22: 8-14, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones examines the problems that Israel had in this passage, recognizes how similar they are to the problems of today, and explains that the answer to Israel’s problem is the same answer to the problems of today. In this passage, Israel is about to be attacked by the Assyrians, and they become no longer blind to their weaknesses and problems of their country. They had previously neglected their weaknesses but this led to “breaches in their wall”. It is the same with countries today; we don’t realize that we are in serious need of protection and think that everything is alright, until we are in times of trouble. Our reaction to this “unveiling” is the same as Israel’s as well. We become frantic and busy and start trying to figure out solutions, but in the end our actions are futile and it all fails. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones further addresses three reasons why these actions fail: just like Israel, we fail to see the moral character of our problem, we fail to realize the religious character of our problem, and we fail to see the profound and radical character of the problem. He explains that man’s trouble is in his heart and it cannot be fixed by just a little adjustment here and there, he has to be made a new made by God and turn to his maker. You need true repentance to fix the problems. The world is what it is because we have forgotten him.