The Invitation to Confession

October 11, 2020

Main idea: Confession is the most powerful declaration.

Rebellion (Isaiah 1:1-15, 21-23)

• Summary (Isaiah 1:1-2)
• Rebellious nation (Isaiah 1:3-8)
• Rebellious religion (Isaiah 1:9-15)
• Rebellious relationships (Isaiah 1:21-23)

Righteous Response: Repentance! (Isaiah 1:16-20)

• Defined: stop, learn, and seek (Isaiah 1:16-17)
• Result: Purity (Isaiah 1:18)
• Recap (Isaiah 1:19-20)

Three Invitations

• Confess your sin
• Confess your Savior
• Be transformed

Icebreaker

What actions of others annoy you?

Do you ever do the same actions? 🙂

Why is it often easier to see the hypocrisy in others, but defend and rationalize our own hypocrisy?

Digging Deeper

In our text, God calls out his people's hypocrisy with strong language and imagery. Although this might seem harsh, it is ultimately done out of love as God desires to awaken his people to the danger of their sin and move them to the hope found in repentance.

1. Read or skim Isaiah 1:1-15, 21-23. What sins seen in Isaiah 1 are still present today? How so?

2. Where do you observe empty religious acts happening over and over again in our Christian context? Why do you think God hates merely external religiosity and hypocrisy so much?

3. Read Isaiah 1:16-17. In this text, we see that repentance and right living is linked with justice (further, contrast with Isaiah 1:23).

   • If you're honest, how often do you consider the poor, needy, oppressed, and the widow?
   • How often do you sacrifice for those most vulnerable?

4. “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD” (Isa 1:18 (ESV)). God implores his people to reconsider their ways. In light of this, read and then discuss the following quote:

"At its essential nature, sin is unreasonable, irrational, insane. It produces corruption and misery; it results in estrangement from God and enslavement to ever-increasing wickedness; it stores up an ever-increasing wrath on judgment day. Sin is the ultimate tyrant, seeking to destroy our very lives. Conversely, God is the most delightful being in the universe; in his presence is the fullness of joy (Ps 16:11)." – Andrew M. Davis

• What do you think of the description of sin in this quote?
• What do you think of the description of God in this quote?
• How might holding the pain of sin and the glory of God lead us to repentance?

Next Steps

1. Read Hebrews 12:5-11.

   • How have you seen God discipline you? That is, what difficulties or sorrows has He allowed for your good?
   • What good arose from that? What did you learn from that?

2. What kind of wake-up call do you need in your life now?

3. What kind of wake-up call does our church need now?

4. What would the next step in waking up (AKA repentance) look like for you? For our church?