Sermon Central
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Isaiah
Contributed by Reuben Bredenhof on Jan 30, 2022 (message contributor)
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1. Encountering The Holy God
Contributed on Mar 6, 2022
When all hope is lost, when it looks like nothing is left—when the king is dead and the world is a mess—God is still working. For He is the great and holy king, and He sits on his throne, high and lifted up.
Being a prophet was one of the hardest jobs in the Old Testament. A prophet had to speak unsettling words, confronting sinners with sin and warning of judgment. They were usually unpopular, often persecuted. So a prophet needed a really clear sense that this is what he was called to do, the ...read more
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2. Trust In Immanuel
Contributed on Mar 13, 2022
Our Saviour is Immanuel, God with us—in the present tense. And He will be, now and always. This name can give us confidence. For if God is with us, no one can stand against us, and nothing can keep us from his love.
When Dad and Mom receive the good news that a child is on the way, there’s a few things they’ll do. Paint the baby room. Take a birthing class. And pick names. Dad and Mom might want to choose a name with a family connection, and name the little one after Grandpa or a favourite aunt. Or perhaps ...read more
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3. Hope For A Broken World
Contributed on Apr 3, 2022
The Root of Jesse will unite and heal everything in this world that has been broken and separated. Those who once were aggressive, hostile, and violent will live together in the harmony that only Christ can give.
When you look around the world, you see there’s a lot going wrong. People who don’t care at all about God are thriving. The tide of our culture is rushing quickly toward dangerous places. Just go to the public library, or onto Netflix or YouTube, and you’re confronted with many godless values. ...read more
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4. God Brings Down The Proud
Contributed on Apr 10, 2022
In the church's fear and struggle, feeling hard-pressed and helpless, she can be encouraged. We know that the proud of the earth will not endure forever. The violent will not prevail. God is on his throne: He is the great judge and our faithful Saviour.
The world has seen many cruel tyrants and dictators. Sometimes these powerful men live out their days to the fullest, enjoying all the glories of their position right to the end, then dying in comfort. But many end in humiliation and defeat. The great Napoleon spent his last years in exile on a ...read more
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5. The Suffering Servant Of The Lord
Contributed on Apr 14, 2022
You can’t really appreciate the cross if you don’t know how bad you are every day, how guilty. The cross doesn’t mean anything if you’re a good person, comfortable and at ease with yourself. Do you know how much you need the work of Christ?
Imagine what it was like for the Ethiopian man in Acts 8. He’s traveling south through the countryside, having just been to Jerusalem to worship. He’s a foreigner, but he’s devoted to the Israelite faith—for he knows it is God’s truth! Now on his way home, the LORD is still very much on his mind. ...read more
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6. A Welcome Change In Government
Contributed on May 26, 2022
Christ is Lord even over those who seem to have all the influence today. They’re not running things, He is. They’re not shaping history, He is. None can override him, for Christ holds the keys. He will be forever secure on his throne!
A change in government is always a big deal: there are new cabinet members to choose, new policies to begin implementing, new office spaces to move into. The old is quickly shuffled to one side, and the new is put into the spotlight. In our text today, we see something similar. Isaiah 22 describes ...read more
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7. Where Do You Put Your Trust?
Contributed on May 29, 2022
Keep yourself from idols because all of them will come to nothing. Don’t trust in something that’s going to fail you in the end. Remember that you have a better refuge, a kingdom that cannot be shaken. The LORD God alone is the shade in whom we may dwell, in whom we may put our trust.
Where do you put your trust? Without any exaggeration at all, that’s the most important question of our life: Who to trust? What do you seek for the security, confidence, the peace and rest that you need? And this is the only right answer: ‘I trust in God. I wait on him. My faith is in the Lord ...read more
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8. God's Spirit Is Poured Onto A Wilderness
Contributed on Jun 5, 2022
The Spirit is poured out from on high, “and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field.” It’s like the change from a dry desert into garden land. When God sends his Spirit, He begins to produce good fruits. That’s the sure effect of his work: a harvest for God.
If you looked back on the thirty-two chapters of Isaiah before our text, what would stand out about the people of God? How could we describe the nation of Judah in this book, and what they’ve shown themselves to be like? It’s not a flattering picture. Back in the very first chapter, the very first ...read more
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9. To Whom Will You Liken God?
Contributed on Jul 11, 2022
To whom shall the LORD be compared? Who is his equal? There really is none like him! When we really see that truth, and we accept it, then we’ll be comforted in all our trouble, our sin and brokenness.
There’s a lot of power in a good question. Because sometimes a question is so pointed that it leaves no possible answer but absolute truth—there’s no wiggle room, there can be no hesitation, just plain truth. In the Bible there’s lots of questions like this. Think of the powerful questions in ...read more
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10. The Mighty Saving Works Of God's Gentle Servant
Contributed on Jul 17, 2022
Christ will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax. None of his believers are disposable, none are useless to him. Be sure that when you go to Christ with your troubles, He will help. Be sure that when you repent and bring your sins to him, He will be gentle.
The book of Isaiah is sometimes called ‘the fifth gospel.’ In the New Testament we have four gospels, of course: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These tell the story of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. Well, you could say that Isaiah does the same thing, because his book is such a great ...read more
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11. The Only God, The First And The Last
Contributed on Aug 7, 2022
It’s foolish to put our confidence in what we own, or in what we look like, or in the people we love. All these good things only spring from the Lord God, the overflowing fountain. And none of these things can save or redeem, for God alone is the First and the Last.
One of my favourite Bible stories is in 1 Kings 18. That’s the chapter where God has a showdown with Baal, a dramatic contest on the top of Mount Carmel. You remember how Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to a competition. ‘Come up the mountain,’ he said. ‘Bring two oxen for sacrifice, wood to ...read more
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12. Introducing The World-Changing Servant Of The Lord
Contributed on Sep 4, 2022
God sends his Servant, and what does He do? In short, Christ rebuilds the covenant. He reconciles enemies. He restores the earth. He sets the prisoners free. He shepherds his flock in peace and goodness. And He does one more thing: He builds roads!
Time and again Isaiah brings Genesis to our minds—Genesis, that amazing book of beginnings. Like in Isaiah 44, where God calls himself, ‘The First and the Last,’ for God is the one who existed before all things and who called everything into being. Or chapter 40, where God recalls the story of how ...read more
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13. God Sends A Preacher
Contributed on Sep 11, 2022
Are we still waiting for the gospel, eager to hear the preaching? Do we come to church hungry for the food of the Word? To you and me it will be good news only if we realize how much we need it—how much we need the Lord every day, and every hour.
We’re about to do something very old-fashioned. It’s not often anymore that people will sit down for thirty or forty minutes, and listen to another person talking: without interruption, without visual aids, or any active engagement of the audience. But that’s what a sermon is. And so a sermon is an ...read more
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14. Pleading For God's Mercy
Contributed on Oct 30, 2022
What is the only basis for your prayer for mercy? When you’ve been emptied of all pride, when you’ve given up trying to earn the LORD’s favour or to fix your life, then your only hope really is this: God has made you his own in Jesus Christ.
In our text Isaiah is praying. Praying is a normal thing for us, but let’s appreciate what the prophet is doing here. In this book of prophecy, there’s all kinds of different styles of writing. In Isaiah there are speeches, parables, lamentations, hymns of praise, predictions of the future, ...read more
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15. Seek God While He May Be Found
Contributed on Nov 20, 2022
Now is the day of salvation! Come to the waters and drink, because the waters are fresh! Why would we turn down the generous invitation to draw near to God? Why take a pass on the waters of life, or on the great feast in the Lord’s presence?
It has been said that at the heart of every message spoken by God’s prophets are these three simple words: return to me. For centuries, the LORD sent many messengers to his people—everyone from Amos, that simple farmer from Tekoa, to Zephaniah, a member of David’s royal house. Whatever their ...read more