Isaiah 1:1-9
“How Does God See Us?”

Introduction
1. Vision…Vision which he saw. The book is a prophetic vision. This book puts before us the
way of seeing. It isn’t your own ideas. God is offering us a new perspective on everything!
2. How does God see us?
3. Isaiah 1:1-9 Israel thought they looked pretty good. How did God see them? Isaiah deals
with ‘sin’:

How does God see us?
I. THE CURE FOR SIN 1:1-9
Isaiah means, the Lord saves. Isaiah was a walking bill board announcing God’s
Grace…something beyond our ability.
A. The Source 1a The Lord
1. Everyday we treat God as incidental. We live our own self-salvation.
2. We cannot save ourselves. Any hope that isn’t from God is an idol of our own
making.
3. Soon our SELF-HELPS fail. Isaiah wants to lead us to life outside ourselves…life
beyond ourselves that leads to eternal life. Life Is Not In Us!
B. The Salvation 1b Saves
1. It implies a state of lostness.
2. The Lord, for all He is, saves, for all He is worth, sinners for that we need.
3. The people of Isaiah’s day had an unrealistic appraisal of themselves. They went
through the motions. When it came to everyday living, they saw no relevance in
God’s help.
4. The Lord saves was not a popular message. The Gospel is God’s idea. You cannot
be your own Savior. God can save you totally! God saves sinners! You must get lost
before you can get saved!

How does God see us?
II. THE CONVICTION OF SIN 1:2-4
What Isaiah saw was real. Conviction of sin brings life. Faith and Therapy by William
Kirkpatrick…A colleague at Boston College asked member of his philosophy class to write
an anonymous essay about a personal struggle over right and wrong, good and evil. Most of
the students however were unable to complete the assignment. “Why?” He asked. “Well”
they said…and apparently without irony… “we haven’t done anything wrong.” We can see
a lot of self-esteem, but little self-awareness.
A. The Revelation of Sin 2a
1. His Creation Hear O heaven and give ear O earth
*The whole system is touched by sin.
*The whole creation groans and travails in pain (Rom 8:22)
2. His Communication For the Lord hath spoken
*God has given us a revelation.
*Unless God speaks we know nothing of God. We have no concept of sin.
B. The Rebellion of Sin 2b
Israel was 2 ways a child: As a Nation and By Birth.
1. He Gives He nourished you…He brought you up. God has been good to you
2. They Get They revolted as children. They rebelled. They lived for themselves
with little or any thought of God. They did what they wanted.
C. The Realization of Sin 3
1. The Beasts Know
*The ox and the donkey…Ox: has his owner Donkey: has the Master’s crib and
feeding trough.
*At least a beast goes to his master!
2. The Blessed Don’t Know
*Doesn’t know…Doesn’t consider…Do not understand.
*My people…the nation as a whole did not recognize Him.
*We wander from one false master to another (there is a God-shaped emptiness in
everyone and we are trying to fill it with something.) We are hungry, empty,
frustrated, wondering why God seems unreal.
D. The Ruin of Sin 4
1. Their Description
*Sinful nation…Sinful means, ‘to miss the mark’. “For all have sinned.”
*People weighed down with sin…It is like carrying a bag of weights.
*A seed if evildoers…offspring of evildoers. We pass this on from generation to
generation.
*Sons of corruption…these are sons who act corruptly.
2. Their Direction They Have 3 times
*They have forsaken the Lord…They treat the Lord as the last resort.
*They have provoked the Holy One of Israel….(despised)
Righteous Indignation…to put a discount on God while valuing other things.
*They have gone backward. They have turned away from Him.
*This is how God sees us!

How does God see us?
III. THE COMPULSION OF SIN 1:5-8
Isaiah uses two word pictures as to how clueless we can be. He has already used the ox
and donkey.
A. Beaten 5,6
1. The beaten man who doesn’t feel his own wounds enough to get help. Where will
you be beaten again…the whole head is sick, the heart is faint.
2. Beaten all over and you keep going back.
3. Beaten you keep going back because you do not know anything else. Wounds have
not been closed…neither bound up…nor softened with ointment.
4. You just live with the pain…abused by sin!!
B. Burned/Besieged 7,8
Some feel this is a historical occurrence…as…like. Others argue that Isaiah is using
another figure to get the point home.
1. Where They Point 7
*Desolate…Burned…Devoured…Desolate
*What a picture of sin as it ravishes its victim. Sin leaves nothing.
*Satan wants you to feel helpless, hopeless…there is no reason to live!
2. What They Portray 8
*As overthrown by foreigners…left as a shack in a vineyard…
*Like a watchman’s hut in a cucumber patch…
*Like a besieged city…all supplies are cut off. Defeated your worth and value is
gone. Trapped and no way out!!

How does God see us?
IV. THE COMPASSION IN SIN 1:9
The Lord Saves…The Lord Seeks
A. We Deserve It
1. Apart from God’s grace we would relive Sodom and Gomorrah.
2. We deserve Hell. We deserve judgment.
B. We Deny It
Except the Lord had left a small remnant.
1.Not many, but some receive God’s saving grace.
2.The Lord extends His hand of mercy and grace to the Beaten and Besieged.
Some Get It and Most Don’t!


The only conviction of sin that ends up healing us is when we see we have
despised and rejected the very One Who died to save us!