God’s Answer: What He Will Do • 07.13.25

Nick Lees   -   July 15, 2025

God’s Answer: What He Will Do

Isaiah 65:1-25

Wrestling with responses to sin, God’s and ours

1. God’s Refutation: He has made himself known
2. God’s Warning: Be careful what you ask for
3. God’s Plan: Providing eternal hope by making all things new

Manuscript:

Good morning, church family! (Respond to the hope shared in the testimonies and the truths of the songs we just sang + introduce self + welcome guests + point out that we’re getting ready for High Five Camp!)

Ushers + Bibles (Isaiah 65; page 741)

Over the last two weeks, as we’ve neared the end of the book of Isaiah, we’ve heard from the people of Judah as they cried out to God in lament. The people are grieved that God appears aloof and far off to them. They have acknowledged that their sin has caused a rift between them and their Holy God. Yet they still claim Him as their Father. They have pleaded with him to show mercy and not be so terribly angry with them. As they looked around, they saw the destruction of their cities and the temple burnt down… Hard realities to face, all because of their sin! And their closing questions in 64:12 were:

Isaiah 64:12 (ESV)

¹²      Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?

Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?

These are passioned pleas to God for an answer! They believe God has been silent and unwilling to rescue them. Throughout the lament there has been a tinge of potential self-righteousness in the way they worded their questions. As if God was responsible for their wandering, hardened hearts. But it has been difficult to discern if that is really the intent of their words or not, until we get to hear God’s response today.

Today, we begin to hear God’s answer to the lament of “What will God do?” And we’re going to have the opportunity to wrestle with his response to their sin. So, let’s turn our attention now to the text. Here is what God says:

Isaiah 65:1–5 (ESV)

I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me;

I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.

          I said, “Here I am, here I am,”

to a nation that was not called by my name.

   ²      I spread out my hands all the day

to a rebellious people,

          who walk in a way that is not good,

following their own devices;

   ³      a people who provoke me

to my face continually,

          sacrificing in gardens

and making offerings on bricks;

   ⁴      who sit in tombs,

and spend the night in secret places;

          who eat pig’s flesh,

and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels;

   ⁵      who say, “Keep to yourself,

do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.”

          These are a smoke in my nostrils,

a fire that burns all the day.

Uh oh! This is not the response you want to hear from God after calling out to him for an answer… They contended that God had been silent and absent, but he reveals that they are the ones in the wrong. God was ready and waiting to be sought and found, if only they looked for him!

God is turning the mirror back on Judah! He had gone to great lengths to make himself known. Think back over their nation’s history. God had shown up unexpectedly to Abram, to Moses, to Samuel, to Isaiah, and to many others! He is the God who initiates and makes himself known, even to those who don’t know to seek him. He had provided tremendous evidence that he was breaking into their lives, actively trying to have a relationship with them, but they are the ones who had turned their eyes and attention away from him!

Despite their charge of God being absent/silent and aloof, he has been the one calling out to them. He sent the prophets. He spread out his hands all the day, which, by the way, this is a powerful imagery of someone prostrating themselves in prayer. How amazing that God would use such imagery to describe his posture towards them!

Yet notice the way he describes them – “those who did not ask for me”, “those who did not seek me”, “a nation that was not called by my name” (this one would have been especially hard to hear, as he is essentially treating them like any other pagan nation with this title), or in verse 2 “a rebellious people” who “walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices”. These are not flattering terms for the nation of Judah!

And it only gets worse from there. What follows in verses 3-5 are a detailed explanation of some of the ways that these people had continually provoked God over the years. What you’re hearing is…

1. God’s Refutation: He has made himself known

God will not accept their charge that he is the one who has been absent/silent/aloof. He has, in fact, made himself known and they are the ones who have chosen to rebel against him. The description of their activities and sinful behaviors over these verses reveals a people who were busy with pagan worship practices.

sacrificing in gardens

and making offerings on bricks;

   ⁴      who sit in tombs,

and spend the night in secret places;

And defiling themselves by eating unclean animals, which God had expressly forbidden.

And yet, even as they were living in such wicked ways, they were self-righteous! Listen again to what they say in verse 5, “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.” They are self-deceived! They believe their religious activity has made them holy, and they warn others to stay back, lest their holiness be tainted.

Oh my, oh my, oh my! This is the height of hubris (excessive pride/self-confidence). They are SO PROUD and they don’t even see it! In their pride, they have accused God of wrongdoing, yet they are the ones in the wrong. *pause*

Have you ever met someone like this? Someone who is so proud that they cannot fathom they are in the wrong, rather than God? *pause*

This is what we see in our world all around us. It is the position we once inhabited before the Holy Spirit convicted us of our sin and need for a Savior. But there is something especially shocking about holding onto this posture and claiming holiness! To claim that you are walking uprightly all the while you are living in sin… is the height of folly! To blame God for your circumstances while you are actively tearing your life apart by your own choices… is madness!

And yet it happens every day. People who claim righteousness, perhaps even claim to follow God, yet live in rebellion against him. Their lifestyle looks nothing like obedience to God but they would certainly fit in amongst those who worship self or other false gods.

These are hard people to reach. They believe their problems are not with them, but with others! They refuse to see their need to change, but would rather point the finger anywhere else, even at their Creator!

And God will not stand for it. He tells us what such people are like to him in verse 5b, “These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.”

Have you ever had the displeasure of inhaling smoke? It’s quite unpleasant, isn’t it?

I have the opportunity to keep bees and part of caring for the hives requires me to open them up on a weekly basis to carry out various tasks. If you are familiar with bee-keeping, you probably know that smoking the bees is a helpful part of the process. By kindling a portable fire with a little bellows and some smokeable material, you can blow smoke into the hive and the bees will leave you alone as they care for the hive. That’s all well and good. But what is never fun is inhaling that smoke! Your body responds powerfully to it! Suddenly, you are choking and overtaken by a fit of coughing as you try to get life-giving oxygen back into your lungs and expel the awful smell/taste of the smoke. You are driven to move away from the smoke, lest you continue to inhale it!

That’s the idea here. The people’s religious behavior and self-righteousness are odorous and obnoxious to God. He cannot stand it. It is proverbial smoke in his nose. They are offending him by living in rebellion all while claiming that he is the problem!

Is that how you want to be seen by God? As odorous, obnoxious smoke in his nostrils? Constantly irritating him all the day? I hope your answer to that is – “NO!”

Learn from the folly of Judah by seeking after God. He has made himself known in his word and his world, look for him! Listen to his teaching through the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostolic authors of the New Testament. As you hear his teaching, seek to put it into practice in your daily life! This is what he expects of his people.

• Adults, are you setting the example of seeking after God for the next generation?
  • What is your regular practice of drawing near to God in his word?
  • What have you learned about God this year?
  • How has it changed your life?
  • Are you regularly talking to anyone else about it? Share what God has revealed to you! (Like our testimonies earlier!)
• Kids, do you desire to know your God?
  • What a privilege to be able to seek him through the Word and prayer! Do you make time for that each day?
  • You’ll have plenty of time for books and shows and swimming throughout these summer days, but what about knowing your God?
  • Can you imagine how much God might change you if you spent time with him each day? His Word is full of truth and His Spirit is able to make you holy.

I hope you never grow weary of being exhorted to know God and make him known! Because I’m going to keep calling us to these ways of life each and every week. *pause*

Let’s keep reading in Isaiah 65 to hear the sobering warning that God gives to those who wrongly assume he is the problem rather than taking ownership for their sin.

Isaiah 65:6–16 (ESV)

   ⁶      Behold, it is written before me:

“I will not keep silent, but I will repay;

          I will indeed repay into their lap

   ⁷            both your iniquities and your fathers’ iniquities together,

says the Lord;

          because they made offerings on the mountains

and insulted me on the hills,

          I will measure into their lap

payment for their former deeds.”

   ⁸      Thus says the Lord:

          “As the new wine is found in the cluster,

and they say, ‘Do not destroy it,

for there is a blessing in it,’

          so I will do for my servants’ sake,

and not destroy them all.

   ⁹      I will bring forth offspring from Jacob,

and from Judah possessors of my mountains;

          my chosen shall possess it,

and my servants shall dwell there.

¹⁰      Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks,

and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,

for my people who have sought me.

¹¹      But you who forsake the Lord,

who forget my holy mountain,

          who set a table for Fortune

and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny,

¹²      I will destine you to the sword,

and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter,

          because, when I called, you did not answer;

when I spoke, you did not listen,

          but you did what was evil in my eyes

and chose what I did not delight in.”

¹³      Therefore thus says the Lord God:

          “Behold, my servants shall eat,

but you shall be hungry;

          behold, my servants shall drink,

but you shall be thirsty;

          behold, my servants shall rejoice,

but you shall be put to shame;

¹⁴      behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart,

but you shall cry out for pain of heart

and shall wail for breaking of spirit.

¹⁵      You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse,

and the Lord God will put you to death,

but his servants he will call by another name,

¹⁶      so that he who blesses himself in the land

shall bless himself by the God of truth,

          and he who takes an oath in the land

shall swear by the God of truth;

          because the former troubles are forgotten

and are hidden from my eyes.

You see, asking God to break into creation and intervene is only a wise idea if you are living righteously for him… And many of the Judeans were not! As we have heard in this passage, there are two groups of people within Judah, the faithful and the rebellious. Only his faithful remnant will be saved, the rebellious will be justly judged. What we have here is…

2. God’s Warning: Be careful what you ask for

They wanted God to break his supposed silence, and what he says is that he will not keep silent, but he will repay. He intends to repay the unrepentant, rebellious people for their ways. Their false worship was not hidden from him, he has seen it all and it has been deeply insulting to him!

I’ll say it again; this is not the response you want when you call out to God! He is set on addressing those who forsake the LORD and who forget his holy mountain. These are the people who have turned from him to worship false gods and the irony of it all is that they think these false gods will protect them and secure their future. Yet it is God who now destines them for the sword. They were unwilling to hear his call or listen to his voice. They preferred to set their eyes and hearts on evil… living in a way that God hates. *pause*

These are hard things to hear. But let them serve as a warning for us! God, in his mercy, has caused these things to be written down for our benefit. Crying out to God to intervene and break in is utter folly IF you are not willing to turn from your sin in humble repentance. God is no fool. He is aware of how you’re living and your heart’s disposition towards him. He knows it all!

If you’re going to cry out to God to help you in time of need, then you better be ready to confess your sin and turn to him in faith! He delights to show mercy on his chosen, repentant people! He told us as much in verses 8-10 and 13-16.

But if you are unwilling to change and turn from selfish, self-righteous ways, then you have no reason to expect God to show mercy to you. You are proverbially poking the bear as you ask him for some of his honey! We all understand the folly of that analogy, so why do you hesitate to turn from your sin when you cry out to God? *pause*

Some of you have cried out to God repeatedly over the years. Perhaps in frustration. Perhaps in desperation. But you have been unwilling to change. You want God’s blessings and mercy but on your terms. By your actions and posture, you reveal that you think you know better than God. That you can pull a fast one on him! “I’ll get God to bless me or help me in my time of need, but I won’t really live for him! I’ll keep doing it my way!”

Do you really think you’re going to outwit the all-knowing, majestic Creator of the Universe? Of course not. So, stop playing games with him and come to him with a humble, contrite heart. That is what he wants.

Let me give you a sneak peek of what God is going to say in our text next week:

Isaiah 66:2b (ESV)

…     But this is the one to whom I will look:

he who is humble and contrite in spirit

and trembles at my word.

God looks favorably and in blessing on those who are humble and contrite, not self-righteous and proud. He looks at those who tremble at his word, recognizing their need to obey it rather than scoff at it.

Verse 10 in chapter 64 revealed that God responds quite differently to his people who have faithfully sought him. He will bless the faithful remnant of Judah. He will preserve them in the land. He will build them up in his holy city, Zion, as we’ve heard about in past weeks. He will cause them to have pasture for their flocks and to be at peace.

Let’s look at the contrasting outcomes for each group as shown in verses 13-16. I have it in a table for us to review easily:

The outcomes could not be more different! Those who seek God are claimed by him and will have the blessings of the Lord. Their needs will be met, they will have joy in the Lord and sing aloud about it, and they will be given a new name by God, a name that coincides with blessing. However, those who forsake God to pursue self-righteousness or wickedness will have curses from God. They will lack the essentials of life, walking in shame for their wicked, rebellious ways, and their lives will be full of misery. Their names will even become used for uttering curses. These are shocking differences – all based on your response to your sin and to your God! *pause*

So, which group do you fit into? How do you respond to the sin in your life? Are you appalled by it? Do you desire to turn and forsake it? Or are you comfortable in your sin? Are you walking down the path that leads to death?

Kids, please note, this is something for you to evaluate just as much as the adults! Every single one of us, no matter our age, needs to recognize that sin leads to death. We were made to live for the Lord! Each one of us must confess our need for a Savior and ask God to help us turn from sin to live for him. That is both a point-in-time response to God, what we often call the “moment of salvation” where a person trusts in Christ for the very first time, but it also a daily, ongoing battle for holiness that we live out after placing our faith in him. Can I ask you…

How do you respond to God? Are you humbled before his holiness and majesty? Do you desire to live for him every day of your life? Or are you content to live your own way and pretend to be the lord of your life, forsaking God in the process?

These are urgent matters for each of us today. The beauty of Isaiah 65 is that God is telling us the outcome of these ways of life. You don’t have to walk down the path that leads to death! You can submit yourself to God’s holiness and make it your aim to live in a manner pleasing to him each day. That is what it looks like to live a faithful, Christian life.

Those of you who have been around our church know I like to share 2 Corinthians 5 often, as it captures these beautiful truths:

2 Corinthians 5:9–10, 17-21 (ESV)

⁹ So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil…

Our primary, highest aim/goal/purpose in life – the thing that drives everything else we think/say/do – is pleasing God! This is only possible for those who have been rescued and redeemed by the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 – Jesus Christ. Listen to how it continues in verse 17:

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ¹⁸ All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

What the Old Testament reveals in part, the New Testament reveals in whole. The way of salvation, out of this posture of rebellious, self-righteousness, is through faith in Jesus Christ. When a man/woman/boy/or girl trusts in Jesus for salvation, he makes them new. They are literally not the same person they used to be. Their old ways of life no longer define them. They do not have to remain dead in sin because now they are alive in righteousness! They have peace with God and have been given the mission to take this good news of salvation and redemption to many others. You are now able to live in a manner that pleases him and carry out the purpose for which he made you.

Doesn’t this sound amazing? It is! And every Christian here would gladly testify of God’s marvelous grace in rescuing and redeeming them and making them into a new creation! We who were once dead in sin are now alive in Christ! We have the hope of eternal life with God, not because of who we were, but because of who he is, and our faith is in him. This is what set the faithful remnant of Judah apart from their self-righteous, religious country-men. It’s not about religiosity, fake faith, vain actions… God hates that stuff and sees right through it! Rather, it is about honestly and humbly seeking the Lord while he may be found and living for him. Will you live that way today? This week? This year?

I hope your answer is a resounding, “YES!” This way of life begins with confessing your sins (saying the same thing God says about it), putting your faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ, and living a life of repentance (a change of mind that leads to a change of action).

May we not grow weary of confessing and repenting so that we may live as God’s holy people who make much of him! Again, this is the way that leads to life for both young and old. There is much hope in walking with God and experiencing the blessed outcome of his plan. Speaking of that, let’s finish reading our passage for today to hear the incredible things that God plans to do:

Isaiah 65:17–25 (ESV)

¹⁷      “For behold, I create new heavens

and a new earth,

          and the former things shall not be remembered

or come into mind.

¹⁸      But be glad and rejoice forever

in that which I create;

          for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,

and her people to be a gladness.

¹⁹      I will rejoice in Jerusalem

and be glad in my people;

          no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping

and the cry of distress.

²⁰      No more shall there be in it

an infant who lives but a few days,

or an old man who does not fill out his days,

          for the young man shall die a hundred years old,

and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.

²¹      They shall build houses and inhabit them;

they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

²²      They shall not build and another inhabit;

they shall not plant and another eat;

          for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,

and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

²³      They shall not labor in vain

or bear children for calamity,

          for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord,

and their descendants with them.

²⁴      Before they call I will answer;

while they are yet speaking I will hear.

²⁵      The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;

the lion shall eat straw like the ox,

and dust shall be the serpent’s food.

          They shall not hurt or destroy

in all my holy mountain,”

says the Lord.

God invites the people to behold what he will do – he will make all things new!

3. God’s Plan: Providing eternal hope by making all things new

This passage is a beautiful foretelling of what God will do at the end of the age. He will do away with sin, suffering, sorrow, and death. Weeping will be no more; death shall be no more; no one will conquer or oppress another; those who are his will enjoy the fruit of their labors because they will be God’s children and he delights to bless them!

What a wonderful plan and promise! God intends to provide eternal hope by making all things new. Even the animals cease hostilities and relate in peace in this new creation. This is reminiscent of what we heard last year in Isaiah 11. After removing the wicked from the earth, here was the stated outcome:

Isaiah 11:6–9 (ESV)

   ⁶      The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,

and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,

          and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;

and a little child shall lead them.

   ⁷      The cow and the bear shall graze;

their young shall lie down together;

and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

   ⁸      The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,

and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.

   ⁹      They shall not hurt or destroy

in all my holy mountain;

          for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.

This is quite similar to what we just heard in chp 65. When God’s reign is fully realized and everything in Creation is fully submitted to Him, peace and restoration will be the order of the day. This is also what we hear in the very last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation. I’ve shared this passage many times, but here it is again:

Revelation 21:1–4 (ESV)

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

God’s Word is beautifully consistent! This is the hope of future glory and the new creation! He will recreate everything in its perfect state. It will be an Edenic-like world without the stain of sin or any of the suffering and death that sin has brought. *pause*

It’s hard for us to imagine the beauty and wonder of living in this New Creation, especially since we’ll be in the presence of our God whose glory radiates and illuminates all of it. Needless to say, these are marvelous truths to consider this morning. God has told us far in advance where he is taking all human history. He has laid out the plan, the essential details are not hidden from us.

And this future reality can be your hope – today! God gave this revelation through Isaiah for his people thousands of years ago. They were able to hope in this new creation through faith in the Savior, just as you can today. Their hope can be your hope.

Consider it this way: while they were languishing in exile, oppressed by foreign rulers, wondering what God was doing, distraught at the thought that they would never return to the promised land, God gave them this bit of truth through Isaiah.

Of all the things he could have said to them, this is what he wanted them to know – “I have a future hope for you. A new heavens and a new earth is coming. One day you will not remember these current pains/heartaches. Rejoice and be glad in these promises! I will be with you, and you will be with me! The terror of sin and suffering are over. Death has lost its sting. Enter into eternal life and peace with your Creator.”

What beautiful, hope-filled promises! And promises from God are as good as reality. You can take them to the bank. What he has promised, he will fulfill. We’ve seen that throughout human history and we know our God cannot lie.

So, church, rejoice in these beautiful promises today! If your faith is in the Savior, His Son, then this hope is your hope. Just as the faithful remnant of Israel/Judah will be there, so too will be the faithful remnant that God calls from all the nations to himself! What an honor and a delight to be part of his people.

I hope that reality gets you fired up to worship the Lord this week! We have the privilege of sharing the Gospel as his ambassadors with over 100 kiddos at High Five Camp. What greater way could there be to spend our evenings this week?!

I cannot think of anything better. And all of us will have many other opportunities on top of that with our family members, friends, co-workers, and neighbors. Will your eyes and heart be so full of the hope of eternal life that you can’t help but share it with them? Let’s meditate on these glorious truths far beyond our time together this morning.

• Discuss them over lunch today.
• Pray through them before you fall asleep tonight.
• Wake up giving thanks to God for them tomorrow!

Who knows how he might use our hope-filled, faithful witness to rescue/redeem others!?

Let’s pray.

Pray