Because of Who God Is (Slide 1)
November 11, 2012- David Tack
In our text this morning we see the nation of Israel is in great distress. (1) Northern Israel had been taken away by the Gentile world-power Assyria; while (2) Southern Israel was taken into captivity by the Babylonians. Perhaps, some of these ideas could be applied in a spiritual sense to America. Many who love our country have watched her slip down the slippery slope of debauchery and immorality, VOID of God and His commandments.
The THEME of this text is to FEAR NOT! WHY, because of just who GOD is!
We find in Isaiah 42: 1-4 the promise of a future coming Messiah (for the national Israel of that time; and ultimately in the consummation of the end times). This Messiah (Jesus Christ) will deliver God’s people. So, THEN and NOW we have COMFORT! WHY, because of just who God is!
Today, you may feel as if you have been taken away from the things you love: family, friends, and even God. My friend, Be of good cheer: WHY, because of who God is!
LET US LOOK AT WHO GOD IS: (Slide 2)
Isaiah 40:28: Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting [indefinite and un-ending] God, the LORD, the Creator [only God is the subject of this verb- bara] of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
GOD IS: everlastingly God, LORD (the self-existing One), Creator. One who never faints, is weary, or lacks understanding! Here, Israel is being reminded that Babylon is not beyond God’s range; this is a good point for today’s American Christian believers. FOLKS, God is able; don’t lose heart, just TRUST GOD!
Slide 3
Isaiah 42:5: Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
Isaiah 40:28: Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
NOTE: We are speaking of a God who has. . .
(1) Created the heavens, and stretched them out. . .
(2) That giveth breath unto the people upon it. . .
(3) AND spirit to them that walk therein. . .
LET US HEAR WHAT GOD HAS SAID: (Slide 4)
Isaiah 42:8-9- “(8) I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. (9) Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.”
FIRST, understand this morning that God will not give His glory to anyone else!
SECOND, know this, God will not allow graven images to be praised
THIRD, realize, God ultimately controls the future
FOURTH, Rest assured that God is behind all true prophecy
Slide 5
ISRAEL’S MISSION: Isaiah 42:6- “I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles.”
FOLKS, God has chosen and blessed Israel for several reasons. One primary reason was to be a mouthpiece and historical scribe for God which serves today as a LIGHT for all nations. IT IS NOTEWORTHY that God will: (1) hold our hands (2) and will keep us. What a promise from an Omni-dimensional God; that He holds our frail hands and preserves us till the end! ---- Here is not some ever-changing end: NOOOO, it is eternally established to BE!
LET’S MAKE A 2012 APPLICATION
Slide 6
In Isaiah 42:7 the Bible says Jesus came, “To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.”
TODAY
MANY (or maybe you) are IN DARKNESS
When Paul was writing to the Ephesians, he reminded them “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8)
YOU SEE, SIN SEPARATES unregenerate mankind from a holy God (Note: Skip Red)
Romans 6:23a-b “(a) For the wages of sin is death” (separation). “(b) but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
YOU WERE ALIENATED FROM GOD
Colossians 1:21: “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works . . . yet now hath he reconciled.”
BUT I HAVE GREAT NEWS THIS MORNING: GOD HAS MADE A WAY- HOW?
Colossians 1:19-20: “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; (20) And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him . . .” Recap Romans 6:23b (Note: Go Back and Read Red)
LET US RECAP
IN Isaiah 40:28 GOD IS described as an everlasting God, LORD, Creator. One who never faints, is weary, or lacks understanding!
IN Isaiah 42:5 we looked at a picture of a MIGHTY God that: created the heavens; stretched them out; gave “breath unto the people upon it” and the “spirit to them that walk therein”
THEN in Isaiah 42:8-9, WE NOTED THAT GOD: (1) will not give His glory to anyone else; (2) NOT allow graven images to be praised; (3) One WHO ultimately controls the future AND is behind all true prophecy.
NEXT in Isaiah 42:6 we noted: God had a MISSION and PURPOSE for Israel; just as He does us today: To be a MOUTHPIECE and a LIGHT to those still alienated from God and sitting in darkness (at that time a light unto the Gentiles). In Psalm 103:7 the Bible states, “He [God] made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.”
APPLICATION
OUR MISSION TODAY (found in Colossians 1:20) is similar to Israel’s: To teach the fullness in Christ and the “peace” made “through the blood of his cross”, by him to reconcile all things unto himself”
Slide 7
MY FRIEND: THIS MORNING you are either: (1) sitting in your sin (in darkness) and in NEED OF CHRIST or (2) you are a reflection of the Light (the gospel message: both in message and deed) to those who are still in darkness.
TO THOSE who DO NOT know Christ as Savior: UNDERSTAND THIS: God loves you. HOW MUCH . . . ., that He sent His Only Begotten Son (Jesus Christ) to bleed and die on an old rugged cross that had your name on it! I pose this question to you: won’t you accept the free gift of restoration with God the Father this morning? AFTER ALL, sitting in darkness is depressing and discouraging. MORE IMPORTANTLY, without Christ as Savior, you are destined to eternal alienation, damnation and alienation from God. ACCEPT JESUS AS LORD AND SAVIOR RIGHT NOW! TODAY!
TO THOSE who DO know Christ as Savior. Are you being a faithful mouthpiece for God; a Light bearer (in word and deed)? IF NOT, REMEMBER, Paul admonishes us (in Timothy 4:2) to preach the gospel (in season and out of season)? Won’t you resolve to do this for God today? There are many lost souls that are depending on your obedient faithfulness today!
PLEASE BOW YOUR HEADS WITH ME!
