Gods Promise In My Life - Isaiah 40

 

Gods Promise In My Life
Isaiah 40

 

A few years from “Messages from God" began appearing on billboards alongside the highways all around the country. 

They were developed by Andy Smith and his Ft. Lauderdale advertising firm.  They were funded by an anonymous benefactor.

We need to talk - God

Will the road you're on get you to my place? - God

You know that "love thy neighbor" thing? I meant that - God

Keep using my name in vain, I'll make rush hour longer - God

What part of "Thou Shalt Not..." didn't you understand? - God

Big bang theory, you've got to be kidding - God

My way is the highway - God

You think it's hot here? -God

Don't make me come down there -God

Have you read my #1 best seller?  There will be a test - God

Now I liked seeing those billboards and thought our country needed to read them, but they weren’t really from God, nor or they up anymore. And today more than ever we do need to hear from God. I’m glad that God still speaks to us, that He has sent and secured forever His messages to us in the Bible? Here are the real signs from God and they will always be with us.

The Message of God in Isaiah

The people of Isaiah’s time also needed to hear from God and God used Isaiah to be the channel by which those messages were sent. Isaiah recorded them in the book that bears his name.

The prophesies of Isaiah collected in the book of Isaiah can be divided into to sections, chapters 1-39 are God’s judgments upon Israel and Judah, the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel. Chapters 40-66 all contain God’s comfort for his people. The chapters of judgment told Israel they would be punished for their idolatry and forsaken of God, but that punishment was not permanent, and chapters 40-66 tell them that they are not forgotten and one day will return to the promised land.

Irving Jensen in his Old Testament Survey categorizes the first half of the book as God’s Government and the second half as God’s Grace. The first half foretells the coming of the pagan kings who God would use to judge His people, but the second half foretells the coming of the Righteous King who would save his people.

The Hope of Comfort – Isaiah 40:1

The 40th chapter of Isaiah begins with this command from God, Isaiah 40:1-2 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins.

The word comfort is the Hebrew word naham and it’s literal meaning is to cause to breathe again. The first half of Isaiah’s prophecies have the remnant of God’s people holding their breath wondering what terrible punishment will happen next then God commands, “Comfort them, yes, their sins will be punished but there is hope and a future under my protection and power.”

The Way Prepared – Isaiah 40:3-5

God’s comfort, His hope for Israel, was that He make a way for reconciliation, for redemption and bring them back to Himself and to the Promised Land.

Isaiah 40:3-5 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: 5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

We know that prophecy was partially fulfilled in John the Baptist and would be ultimately fulfilled by the Messiah John came to prepare the way for.

The Message Proclaimed - Isaiah 40:6-8

The message of the Voice crying in the wilderness is found in Isaiah 40:6-8 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: 7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

Man could not bring Israel back to God or back to the land, because man’s life is like grass that withers or a flower that fades away. But what man could not do,  God’s eternal Word will do. God had declared the promise, and His word was the guaranty, the assurance of his promise.

The Promise Given 

From chapter 40 to the end of the book, God is telling Israel, “I am your God, you are me people and no matter how terrible and hard life is or may become, I will be with you and one day I will bring you home.”

That is God’s promise for all situations, for all ages, and for all of God’s people.

Isaiah, in chapter 6, saw God in the temple, high and lifted up. When Isaiah needed to hear from God, he, the prophet of God, was given a vision. Now we are not prophets, but we still need to hear and see God especially when our times are hard.

But we don’t need to settle for billboards along the freeway that can only remind us of God. No, we have something much more powerful, more real and more eternal. We have the word of God. When I’m doubting, discouraged, depressed, downtrodden or despairing, what God said to them then, He says to me now. “There is comfort, and there is hope.”

The questions that God asks in chapter 40, are the reason for that hope. The answer to the questions is that is God himself. Look at the question in vs. 18, 25 and later in vs. 27

Three Challenges Given

The challenges are in

vs. 18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?

Vs. 25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.

Vs. 27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD

First Challenge:  God is incomparable

Now let’s look at the first challenge that God asks of Israel in vss. 18 Isaiah 40:18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?

The reason that Israel could have hope was because of their God. He cannot be compared to a worthless idol. He cannot be rendered in metal that can be stolen or melted or wood that can be infested with insects or rot away.

He continues in His challenge Isaiah 40:21-22 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.

God is incomparable. You can’t reduce Him to something as pitiful, puny, paltry or  possessable as an idol. He is God and He oversees the entire earth, the entire universe.

Second Challenge: God is Unequaled

The 2nd question flows from the answer to the first, in Isaiah 40:25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.

His answer is no one. You can’t compare God to anything or anyone else so you must …

Isaiah 40:26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

Look upward to the heavens and see the things God has made. He has numbered them and named them by the greatness of His might. He is strong in power and in that power the elements of the universe will not fail.

The Final Challenge: Israel, Don’t You Know – Isaiah 40:27-31

The final question and challenge is in vs 27 and with it is the wonderful promise of God’s comfort and strength for Israel. Isaiah 40:27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?

Israel, Your Hope Is In Me

God asks his people, “Why do you say your way is hidden from the Lord? Why do you say, “my judgment is overlooked by my God?” Israel was asking, “Where is God and where is justice?”

God answers by repeating part of the challenge He asked of Israel earlier, “Have you not know? Have you not heard?

He reminds them, that they should know this. You have been told,  “Isaiah 40:28-31 … that the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. 29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

God tells them, this truth is recorded in your history of your nation, it has been experienced in your lives, it is being proclaimed by my prophets and it is recorded in scriptures. God, the creator of all, does not faint, he does not grow tired. His knowledge is infinite. His power is unlimited, and it is given to those who are stumbling and to those who are exhausted. To them God says, I will power and strength from an unending source.

Man’s Strength Will Fail, God’s Cannot Fail

Isaiah 40:30-31 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary;
and they shall walk, and not faint.

Even the strongest youth run out of strength, they will grow weary and they will fail, but they that wait upon the Lord shall have their strength restored and renewed. Then, they shall soar upward with wings as eagles. When the run they won’t stagger to a stop, and when they walk, they will walk on and not faint in the journey.

I believe He is especially encouraging Israel about how they will come back to Jerusalem to the promised land. Some will fly back like eagles; some will run back like athletes, and some will walk back like pilgrims whose hope will not let them quit. It may be different times, different speed and different ways but Israel will come back in the power of God’s strength.

Will We Answer The Challenge?

We are also God’s people; Israel was under the Abrahamic Covenant but we are under the New Covenant of Jesus Christ. And just like the people of God in all ages, we will face difficult, hard, soul breaking, heart rendering times.

At those times I believe we will hear the challenges of God. Who is like our God? No one and no thing. He is incomparable. He and He alone is God, above and beyond all.

Who is equal to Him? None, None can equal His power, None can grasp his knowledge, None can measure the depths of His love or the purity of His Holiness.

God, our God stands incomparable and unequaled. That is why He and He alone is our hope, our comfort, our assurance.

I know that sometimes we feel that God has overlooked us, or that He is not treating us justly. The terrible troubles of this wicked world will make us wonder, even doubt.

We ask these things because we are human, we are weak, and our strength is not up to the task. We ask God, where are you when I am going through the hard times of this world. Lord if you cared wouldn’t you spare me from the pain, sorrow and loss?

God where are you when a drunk driver kills a family? Or my child become addicted to alcohol or drugs? Where are you God when immoral, evil, corrupt people become the leaders of our nation and bring it to the brink of ruin? Where are you God when unborn babies are legally murdered each year by abortion? Where are you God when teachers, counselors and doctors tell our children they can destroy their lives with homosexuality, transsexuality or multi-sexuality? Where are you God when a bitter, hate-filled, drugged-up killer enters a church, a school, or a mall and shoots innocent men, women and children?

Where are you God? Do you see what is happening?

The questions, doubts and fears are the same and praise His name the answer is also the same.  

To these things God then asks us, He challenges us,  “Have you not known. Have you not heard? Open your eyes, look back at what God has done. What God has revealed. What God has recorded in His word, and you will know God has not abandoned you. Listen to others who have gone through even tougher times, harder circumstances, and more devastating loss. They will tell you, yes God was there and His strength did not fail me.

Paul in Romans 8 wrote a passage with the same sense of God’s love and strength for us in vss. Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Does Jesus Care

When we come to those hard times, we may question God and He is more than able to answer our questions. I heard the hymn, “Does Jesus Care.” Not to long ago, it states in a different way what we are talking about this morning.

Does Jesus care when my heart is pained
Too deeply for mirth or song,
As the burdens press, and the cares distress,
And the way grows weary and long?

Does Jesus care when my way is dark
With a nameless dread and fear?
As the daylight fades into deep night shades,
Does He care enough to be near?

Does Jesus care when I’ve said “goodbye”
To the dearest on earth to me,
And my sad heart aches till it nearly breaks—
Is it aught to Him? Does He see?

And then the answer rings out in the refrain:
Oh, yes, He cares, I know He cares,
His heart is touched with my grief;
When the days are weary, the long nights dreary,
I know my Savior cares.

 Conclusion:

Yes, He cares. His love is not lacking and His power is all sufficient. Sometimes you may be enduring the pain of this life, look and you’ll find God is there and He will lift you up on eagles wings. There will be times when we struggle under the burdens of sin or sorrow, listen, you’ll hear God speak and you’ll break away and run, never growing weary. And yes, there will be those times when our circumstance are nothing but hardship, hurt, and hopelessness, but our incomparable, unequaled God has promised that we are not hidden from His eyes and in the midst of our tears and fears, God is there and we will stand us on our feet and we will walk and not faint.

Our walking may take us far away, but God walks with us. Our running may seem unending, but God runs beside us and one day we will  soar on those eagle’s wings onto the shores of heaven and God will welcome us home.

And we will know the wait was worth it.

God’s Grace In My Life: 2 Chronicles 30:1 – 31:1

 

God’s Grace In My Life
2 Chronicles 30:1 – 31:1

Background

King Hezekiah was the 14th king after David and he was the son of the evil King Ahaz. The Bible considers him the greatest of all the Kings of the divided kingdom of Judah and the king most like his ancestor David. 2 Kings 18:5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.

He reigned during the rising of the Assyrian Empire, for 29 years from 715–686 bc. He probably also co-reigned with his father Ahaz for 14 years before that. (729–715). By this time Israel, the Northern Kingdom, had fallen to the Assyrians in 722 bc. Its people had mostly been deported from their homeland and settled in other countries, but some people either escaped or were overlooked and left by the Assyrians.

It is amazing that Hezekiah was such a good king because he came from a very bad father. Ahaz did more to bring Judah into idolatry and destroy the worship of the true God than any other king and only Athaliah the daughter of Jezebel, who by murder stole the throne, can even be compared

The Evil of Ahaz. Ahaz though may have been worse. We read in 2 Chronicles 28:2-4 For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and made also molten images for Baalim. 3 Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel. 4 He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

2 Chronicles 28:22-23 And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz. 23 For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.

The Reforms of Hezekiah Yet when his son Hezekiah came to rule after his father’s death, he undid the evil that his father had imposed on Judah. In 2 Chronicles 29:3-6, 10 He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them. 4 And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street, 5 And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. 6 For our fathers have trespassed and done that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs. … 10 Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.

After the Temple was reopened and cleaned Hezekiah determined to celebrate the most important of the Lord’s Holy Days, the Feast of Passover. This had not been celebrated for decades under his evil father Ahaz.

We pick up the story in …

The Invitation To Grace - 2 Chronicles 30:1 – 9

 ​1 And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover unto the LORD God of Israel. 2 For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the Passover in the second month. 3 For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem. 4 And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation. 5 So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover unto the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written.

Hezekiah Calls

Hezekiah sent out invitations to all the people of God, not just in Judah but also in the northern Kingdom. 2 Chronicles 30:1 Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover unto the LORD God of Israel.

Here is the invitation, sent from Dan to Beersheba, the two furthest cities in the north and the south of the old Kingdom of David and Solomon. Hezekiah wrote 2 Chronicles 30:6-9 Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. 7 And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the LORD God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see. 8 Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you. 9 For if ye turn again unto the LORD, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.

His invitation was a call to return to God. We in the New Testament would call it  repentance. “Do not be stubborn, yield yourselves to the Lord. God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away from you, if you repent and come to Him.”

Holy Spirit Calls

Hezekiah is no longer here, nor is there a king or a president who stands in a covenant relationship with God as Hezekiah and the sons of David stood. Though there may not be a king sending out an invitation to come and to repent, the call is going out today more powerfully than any King or ruler could ever attempt.

Today the call to grace is being sent around the world millions of times a day, by millions of God’s people, led by the Holy Spirit. Those believers who take the word of God as their daily bread, the rule of their life and the guide to their walk, in person, on TV, on radio, on the internet, in email, texts and phone calls, God’s people under the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit are reaching out to the lost, the dying, the rebellious, the skeptic and the atheist, “Come to God and find grace and mercy.” If you are a true follower of God, then that is what you are trying to do every time God opens a door of opportunity for you.

And that call hasn’t changed it is still a call to return back to God by repenting of sin.

There are some who say it is not necessary to repent. You don’t need to feel sorrow for your sin, or that you don’t even have the ability choose to turn from sin and turn to God’s grace. But that isn’t what an unbiased reading of the New Testament tells us.

The word repent in the Greek is μετανοέω metanoeō; and it means to think differently to reconsider. It is found 34 times in the new Testament and in all but 3 of those times it is a call for men to repent.

John the Baptist called out to those who went into the wilderness to see him, Repent. Jesus called to the crowds who came to hear him, repent. The apostles preached to the Jews on the day of Pentecost and to the Gentiles after the day of Pentecost, repent.

Paul’s Call to Repent - Paul preached to the buyers, the sellers, the philosophers and the lawyers of Athens. Acts 17:30-31 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. The call will even continue during the tribulation, “Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”

Repentance is the handle that must be grasped before the door of God’s grace will open.

The Gospel is the Holy Spirit’s invitation to return to God and find grace and mercy, but in order for it to be effective it must be responded to in repentance.

Back in 2 Chronicles 30:10 the people of Israel begin to respond to Hezekiah call.

The Response To Grace 2 Chronicles 30:10-15

 10 So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. 11 Nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. 12 Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the LORD.
13 And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation. 14 And they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away, and cast them into the brook Kidron. 15 Then they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the second month: and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the LORD.

Two Responses

There were two responses as the runners went from city to city with the invitation of the Passover in Jerusalem. Some of those, who heard of the call to return and find God’s grace and mercy, responded by laughing the messengers, the couriers, to scorn. They mocked them and they rejected the invitation.

But vs. 11 tells us that some men from Asher, Manasseh and Zebulan humbled themselves and come to Jerusalem. In addition, vs. 12 tells us the response of the people of Judah, 2 Chronicles 30:12 in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the LORD.

The result is what we see in vs. 13, 2 Chronicles 30:13 And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation.

Our Response

Today when the Gospel invitation is given, there are still just two responses mocking God’s grace or humbling ourselves to find God’s grace.

If you ignore the call, walk away or refuse it then just like the people of Hezekiah day, you are mocking the grace, mercy and love of God.

Paul writing to the church at Rome stated this in very strong words, Romans 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?. If you don’t respond to God’s call to grace and repent, then you are despising God’s goodness that gave you time to respond.

I pray that you have responded as those who came to Jerusalem responded, by coming to the Lord, answering the invitation of Grace by humbling ourselves and coming to the throne of Grace, the hill of Calvary, the foot of Jesus Christ the Savior who died for us. If you listen, you can hear Jesus calling you even now. Its right here in Matthew 11:28-30 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Over and over and over again we hear in God’s word the call to come but hearing it will never be enough, we must turn around, we must take the step, we must grasp the handle, we must go to the Lord.

Almost the last thing recorded in the New Testament is again the invitation to come. It’s written here so that it could be echoed over and over again from the time of the apostles to the time of Jesus return.

Revelation 22:16-17 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. 17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

Responding to God’s call is what we must do, but grace is what God and only God can do. We see it next in this passage.

The Prayer for Grace - 2 Chronicles 30:18 -20

18 For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the Passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon everyone 19 That prepareth his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. 20 And the LORD hearkened to Hezekiah and healed the people.

Hezekiah’s Prayer For Grace

The people have assembled in Jerusalem, the Passover lamb was slain but there was a problem. We find it in 2 Chronicles 30:18 For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves.

They had responded, they had returned, they had repented but they could not meet the requirement of the law in order to eat the Passover lamb. There were many requirements of the law but the Israelites from the Northern Kingdom didn’t know them and so they had  not ceremonially cleansed themselves. Now they are not worthy to partake of the Passover.  But notice what the great King Hezekiah does when this problem is brought to him.

It’s in the second half of vs. 18–20 But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. And the LORD hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.

Isn’t that a moving, beautiful example of grace? King Hezekiah prays, he steps in as an intercessor between the unclean people and the holy God. He prays, “may the good Lord, pardon everyone that has set their heart to seek God, the Lord. The Lord heard Hezekiah and cleansed the unclean, he made them worthy.”

The law didn’t cleanse them. The ceremony didn’t cleanse them. Only God could take away their unworthiness, their uncleanness and because of Hezekiah’s intercession and the people setting their hearts to seek God, God made them worthy of the Passover.

Jesus Sacrifice and Prayer for Grace

The Passover was a remembrance of God’s deliverance from Egypt. The lamb without spot of blemish was slain and it blood sprinkled on the lintel and the doorposts of the house. That night when the judgment of God fell upon the Egyptians, God would “pass over” the homes where the Angle of the Lord saw the blood. The Passover was a picture of the future shedding of blood by Jesus Christ. His blood, the seal of his sacrifice, must be applied by faith to the heart of one who seeks God’s forgiveness and His judgment passes over them when He sees we are under the blood of Jesus.

That was what they celebrated that day so many centuries ago and just as they were not worthy of God’s grace then, neither are we now. They were unclean and we are also unclean, but someone has also prayed for us.

1 John 2:1-2 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Romans 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Hebrews 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

We could not cleanse our sin by our works, but Jesus shed his blood and paid the price to redeem us and His intercession has cleansed us in the eyes of the Father. That is Grace.

Grace, as we define and experience it in salvation, is the undeserved, unearned mercy, love and forgiveness of God. It is available to all but it is only applied through repentance.

Conclusion

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran Pastor who was hung with piano wire by Adolf Hitler, just before Hitler took his own life. Bonhoeffer had many opportunities to leave Germany but he stayed for his people and to take as stand against the evil of Nazism. He had a great quote about grace.

“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” - Deitrich Bonhoeffer

That isn’t grace at all, it is a sham, an eternally damning hoax, that makes people believe in anything but the truth and anyone but the Lord Jesus. Millions of people today are blind to God’s grace. They have responded with pride, with works, with belief in a false god, who has no grace for them.

God’s Glory In My Life: Isaiah 6:1-8

 

God’s Glory In My Life - Isaiah 6:1-8

As we have been preaching through the Bible chronologically, we have also been reading through the Bible and this past week we came to the book of Isaiah. The Old Testament is divided into several classes or categories.

We have the Torah, the Tanak, or the Law which is the first 5 books of the Bible, Genesis through Deuteronomy. Then the books of history Joshua through Esther, the books of poetry Job through Ecclesiastes and then the books of the Prophets Isaiah Through Malachi. Isaiah is one of the major prophets, which includes Isiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, while the other prophetic books are Hosea through Malachi.

Isaiah 6

Isaiah is one of the most elegent and powerful of the Old Testament writers. His words, his style, his poetry has a majesty that impresses anyone who reads his book.

And it would be almost impossible to preach from the Book of Isaiah and not bring a sermon on chapter 6, where Isaiah sees a vision of God sitting upon the throne, high and lifted it. The vision shares much with Moses, Ezekiel, and John in the book of Revelation. In the vision of these men we also get to glimpse the Glory of God. In every case they are overwhelmed and changed by what they see and we need to take time to read and meditate on these visions because until we get to heaven, their visions are our introduction to God’s glory.

And we need to understand as much as we can of God and his glory because as James Packer, in his book, Knowing God, wrote, “Knowing about God is crucially important for the living of our lives. As it would be cruel to an Amazonian tribesman to fly him to London, put him down without explanation in Trafalgar Square and leave him, as one who knew nothing of English or England, to fend for himself, so we are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is and who runs it. The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life with it a disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not know God. Disregard the study of God and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul.”

We need to know as much as we can of the God who made us, saved us, called us and one day will resurrect us and part of knowing Him is glimpsing His glory. So, turn to Isaiah chapter 6 and one of the most dramatic passage of scripture in the Bible. This sure isn’t another list of fathers begetting sons, or offerings to build the tabernacle.

God Glory In My Loss Isaiah 6:1

Isaiah 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord…

Isaiah’s Loss

Isaiah dates his vision by the year his King Uzziah died. King Uzziah for the most part was a good king. One of the last that Judah would have.

2 Kings 15:3 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done;

Then something happened. Uzziah became proud and he entered the holy place of God’s Temple to burn incense. 2 Chronicles 26:16-20 But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense. 17 And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men: 18 And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God. 19 Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar. 20 And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD had smitten him.

I believe that Isaiah who lived at this same time may have been looking to Uzziah as a king who would once again lead Israel to follow God but instead, he was severely punished by God because of his pride and he then he died, leaving that great task undone. Isaiah and Israel have lost their King and their hope. It is at this time of loss for Isaiah and the nation that the God chooses to show his glory to the prophet.

In Our Loss We Often See God

Many times in life, if not always, it is necessary to suffer loss in order to know God, to glimpse His glory in our lives. It is often after loss, brokenness, great sorrow or complete weakness, that we experience the power, hope and strength of God. The Bible is filled with examples of this truth. 

Israel after facing certain death at the Red Sea, with no way to retreat and no way to go forward in Exodus 24:9-11 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God,

Ezekiel the prophet is taken as a prisoner of war suffering the loss of family, friends and home, all he had ever known and then in  Ezekiel 1:1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

John according to history is dipped into burning oil for preaching the word of God, banished to a barren rock of an island called Patmos and left to die. Then this near 100 years old the last of the apostles sees the great vision of God and the conclusion of God’s plan for the ages. Revelation 4:2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

To begin to experience and know God as He wants us to see Him, we must understand the loss, pain and defeat. We must come to the end of ourselves before we can come to the beginning of God.

We must lose our belief in ourselves, lose hope in our goodness. We must see the reality of our weakness and fallibility. We must die to ourselves in order to truly become alive to the reality of God. We must be willing to believe that the greatest loss, our greatest failure may result in our greatest gain by experiencing God.

Philippians 3:8-10 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

Jacob Wrestles with the Lord - Genesis 32:24-26

Probably the best example of this is the conniving, supplanting Jacob. When he was sure Esau would kill him, he went away by himself and their on Mt. Penuel, he met God and in his brokenness became Israel a prince with God. And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

The Lord could have slain Jacob with just a whisper, but instead he lets Jacob use up all his strength, cripples him for life and then Jacob finally cries out as he cling to the Lord, “I will not release thee, except thou bless me.”

Without that loss Jacoub would never have been made Israel by God’s and without loss in our life we cannot fully receive the blessings of God in our life.

God’s Glory In His House Isaiah 6:1

1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

Isaiah’s Worship

I don’t think it was coincidental that God revealed himself to Isaiah when he came to the Temple.

I think Isaiah was seeking God in God’s House. I think he was praying to God for his nation in the loss of Uzziah. Perhaps he was trying to find hope in the place where hope is always found. So, he comes to the House of God and there he saw and experienced God as he never had before.

We also see this over and over again in scripture.

John in the spirit on the Lord’s Day. He was worshipping God on the day God ordained Christians to worship.

Solomon at the dedication of the Temple prays and the Shekinah glory of God fills the Temple.

The apostle and the first church of Jerusalem are worshipping in the upper room on Sunday in the only house of worship they had and the Holy Spirit filled the room, the NT parallel of the OT Shekinah Glory of God filling the Temple.

In Our Worship We Find God’s Glory

I ask people who tell me they are Christians and yet don’t go to church, “How can you say you love God and don’t even come to his house? How can you say you want to go to Heaven for eternity, when you won’t come to church for 2 or 3 hours a week?”

God meets us in His word, in prayer, in praise, in the fellowship of brothers and sister in Christ and all those come together in one place, the church of Jesus Christ, the House of God.

I know we all hear people say, I worship God in the outdoors, or my backyard or any place other than the church where God tells His people to assemble together.

This is what David said when he was in the outdoors, the wilderness and could not come to the Temple. Psalms 63:1-2 O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.

Where? In the sanctuary, the temple, the church. God’s house is where God has chosen to let us experience Him more than any other place.

God in My Experience

I have seen the greatness of God while standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon or looking up from the depths of its deep valleys. I have seen the greatness of God in the birth of my children and in the death of one of his saints but the place I have most often seen the greatness of God is in the church.

In the church, I saw his greatness reach done in love and grace and save my soul as a young 7-year-old boy. In church I felt his hand on my shoulder as I wept over an alcoholic father and a broken hearted mother. In church, I experienced his presence when I knelt with my Pastor and told him God was dealing with me to be a pastor. In church, I saw my children saved one by precious one. In church, I have seen God touch hearts, hard as stones and break them fine dust and then remake them into his own throne. In church, I have seen lives changed and souls saved and people caught up in the greatness and grace of God. In church, I have experienced God more often than anywhere else and that is not an accident, it is by the plan and will of God.

If you would experience the greatness of God, you must understand failure and loss. You must also seek God where He has told us He would be found in His House of Worship. Now let us look at what happens when we experience God’s Glory in my life.

God’s Glory In My Life - Isaiah 6:1-8

Isaiah 6:1-4 I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said,
Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Isaiah’s Remaking

Isaiah saw God on his throne, ruling and reigning over all the universe.  He saw God high and lifted up. His presence filled the temple. And He heard the voices of the seraphim calling out Holy! Holy! Holy!

So great was God’s presence and so loud the cry of the seraphim that the massive columns of the temple shook as though an earthquake was taking place.

So powerful was this vision that Isaiah cries out, “I am undone.” My body cannot bear the glory of God.  My soul cannot sustain the reality of His holiness. I am being tore apart by the greatness of God’s presence.

Then in that state of being reduced to nothing, one of the seraphim came with a live coal from the altar. This coal we know later symbolizes the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the only sacrifice that could make Isaiah clean and worthy to be in the presence of God.

He then placed that burning hot coal to Isaiah lips but because the Messiah one day would take away the fire of God’s judgment for our sin, all that Isaiah feels is the redeeming, rebuilding warmth of God’s mercy and grace.

He is  cleansed of his iniquity and purged of his sin by God’s redeeming, restoring, reviving touch of grace.

Now when God called for one to send, he could answer, “Here am I send me.” Without loss, without seeing God glory, without experiencing cleansing, without restoring grace Isaish would have remained mute, but now he can answers the call of God. “Here am I, send me.”

Isaiah was deconstructed and then reconstructed by his experience of   God’s glory in his life. God filled the Temple with His Glory and then filled Isaiah with His power.

God’s Glory Will Change You

No one can truly experience the glory and greatness of God and remain the same. For this reason, I believe that most of us are afraid to risk experience God. We are afraid of the change it will bring in our lives.

Far too many church members today find comfort in legalism, joy in routines, steadfastness in traditions and in these ruts think that they experienced God.

 Too often we allow the paraphernalia of piety, the regalia of religion and the trappings of tradition to replace God word, God’s house and God’s people. Ritual replaces relationship and conformity replaces confrontation. We need God in His greatness, in His glory not just the outward décor of Christianity. Without a confrontation of God in his greatness, His glory, His grandeur we will arrive in heaven very much the same as the day we were saved still waiting to experience God’s glory in our lives.    

How great is God to you? Isaiah saw God’s greatness filling the temple and in a sense filling all of creation. Is God in his glory great enough to fill my life, fill my home or fill my marriage, my church, my life? Is He great enough to overcome my problems, my failures, my pain? Great enough to fill my heart, my thoughts or my hopes? Great enough to make a difference in the way you live, think or act?

The Story of How Great Thou Art

How Great Thou Art – The History of the hymn
The history of the hymn How Great Thou Art begins with Mr. Carl Gustaf Boberg (1859-1940). He was a Swedish pastor, editor, and member of the Swedish parliament. He was enjoying a nice walk when a thunderstorm suddenly appeared. A severe wind began to blow. After the storm was over, Mr. Boberg looked out over the clear bay. He then heard a church bell ringing in the distance calling people to the Lord’s house. The words to How Great Thou Art begin to form in his heart -- O Lord, my God, When I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hands hath made. He had glimpsed God and the result it a hymn that is a testimony to  God’s glory and one of the most powerful after all these years.

The hymn is so popular because it strikes a chord in our souls that echoes like that church bell so long ago. Oh how much we need in our own hearts to experience God in his greatness and glory, to truly know How Great Thou Art.

Conclusion

God’s Glory in My life to most of us it will only be another sermon title, just a like a dozen or a thousand before it. But to some it will be more, it will be an awaking, a call, a stirring to a quest to truly experience the greatness of the God of the Universe, here in His word, through prayer, through God’s weak but wonderful saints and especially in God’s house of worship and truth.   

The Glory of God can annihilate you and then reform you, it can overwhelm your senses and fill your soul. The Glory of God is so much more than a theme, it is the desire of those who truly long for more than just the routine of religion.

Could that be you today? Could that be us? Is God stirring your heart to experience His greatness and His glory?