IF YOU COMPARE YOU CAN DECLARE
Isaiah 40
Last week I shared about a gospel that is being taught and it is spreading like wildfire in Asia, Africa, Latin America and my country. It is a gospel that looks attractive on the outside, but on the inside it is a deadly poison. There are many names for it; prosperity gospel, health and wealth gospel, name it and claim it gospel, blab it and grab it gospel. I call it another name; a monstrous atrocity. It is an atrocity that demotes God and makes man divine. It is an atrocity that by your faith, you can speak into existence and declare whatever you want. Just declare healing in Jesus name. I will not have this cancer, I will be prosperous. Just speak it and declare it!
As I shared last week, it is based on 3 assumptions that are not Biblical. I heard a sermon on this by a good friend, Dr. Matthew St. John several months ago and he shared the origin and basis for this gospel. I appreciated his insight because it gave me a lot of insight into why these people believe like they do. For example, I mentioned being asked questions like, show me one verse in the Bible that says God is sovereign, or show me one verse in the Bible that says it is God’s will for you to be sick. It is these false assumptions that made me realize why they ask these questions. These assumptions are; man is a divine being, but he lost it to Satan when he sinned, Jesus in His death paid a ransom to get it back. The result of that is you are a “little god” who can manipulate God and the spiritual laws governing the universe. If this is not heresy, I don’t know what is.
And I went on to share 3 truths; only God is divine (Gen 1:26,27),, Jesus death was a payment for our sins, (2 Cor. 5:21) and we are not divine beings who can declare whatever we want into existence (Matt 6:10, Luke 22:42).
I want us to take a look at the God we worship; a window into God. Ask yourself, how big He is and how small we are.
How big is your God? The answer you give will tell the kind of spiritual life you live, how you serve God and how you live your life.
I am grateful to my friend Dr. Ramesh Richard who shared from this passage several years ago. I was at a singles retreat with my church in San Antonio. Ramesh was a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. He took a break for 4 years to pastor Delhi Bible Fellowship, in India. At the time of the retreat, I had no idea that a year later, Ramesh would be one of my professors at the seminary. I will admit, I admired his preaching and wanted to preach like that. As I get older, I still find myself wanting to imitate other preachers, but I eventually develop my style. But I remember being on campus shortly after I got accepted and on the campus is a big sign saying “Preach the Word” which is the motto of Dallas Seminary. That and Ramesh’s preaching inspired me to do just that. In fact Ramesh and his wife Bonnie are in Hong Kong now, finishing up an 18 day trip to Southeast Asia. I know they would appreciate your prayers as he has numerous speaking engagements. Too bad they won’t be in Bangkok, because I would let him preach this message instead of me.
Today I want us to look at a passage that, as Ramesh put so well, will give us a window into the God we worship. At AITCF I’ve heard the song, The God I Know. Make sure that the God you know is based on His word, and not something that you’ve made up.
Our passage is in Isaiah and I want to give you some background. It was written by Isaiah, which in Hebrew means YHWY is Salvation. The time of writing was between 740-680BC. Isaiah wrote it to the Southern Kingdom, Judah. If you read Isaiah, it is a message of judgment followed by a message of blessing. A common theme in the Bible is that judgment is always followed by blessing.
Isaiah is one of the best loved, if not the best love OT prophet. It is quoted over 400 times in the NT. Isaiah makes numerous reference to the Suffering Servant and Messiah.
Perhaps these pictures will help you to visualize what I will be talking about tonight. First, let’s go to the wilderness. In 1992 I went to Israel with a group of seminary students and 2 professors. I took hundreds of slides and pictures. I cannot remember all of them, but certain places will be burned into my mind forever. This picture is of the Judean wilderness. It is a barren, desolate place. You won’t find a Siam Paragon there. You won’t even find a shady place to rest. Vegetation is almost non existent. It is not a tourist attraction like The Grand Palace and Wat Arun.
When you are in the wilderness you will be lacking the things that give you comfort and enjoyment. You will not feel like you are just passing through, you will feel like you are there for good. It is a desolate place where no one is around, and you will even feel like God is nowhere to be found.
Why am I telling you this? Because all of us at one time or another will find ourselves in a place of desolation. It may be sickness or cancer. It might be an unfaithful spouse. It might be a very stressful situation at work or with your family. You will feel abandoned by all, and that includes God. But, even in the wilderness, there is a message of hope. Notice the context of the first few verses we will look at. Do these verses sound familiar to you? You might have seen my page on Facebook, where last night I was working on this sermon and listening to Handel’s Messiah. If you turn to Mark’s gospel, in his introduction we see John the Baptist as God’s messenger, preparing the way for the coming of the Lord. John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance, but he also said there is one coming after him, who he did not even feel worthy to untie His sandal.
When I was a brand new Christian, my friend who had been praying for me and witnessing me for several months invited me to church with her. This is First Baptist Church, Dallas TX which has been around since 1868. Dr. W.A. Criswell was the pastor there, and he is a man I also admire very much. In the late 1970’s there were liberals trying to attack the inerrancy of God’s word. Dr. Criswell was a staunch defender of inerrancy. And this man could preach! I still enjoy listening to sermons he preached back in the 1950’s and 1960’s. He died in 2002. The church is located in downtown Dallas. They are going through a massive building program where they are building a new campus and worship center. But this building, the old sanctuary will stay. I will show you something. In order to build the new facilities, several existing buildings had to be brought down, or imploded. This picture was taken just after the implosion. Notice the sun is shining on the steeple of the old sanctuary, something that has not happened in many years. On the door of the sanctuary was this verse. I will read it for you in the King James Version. God’s word stands forever. We are here only for a time. The flowers and grass you see outside are only here for a time. But not God’s word. It is eternal.
Let me say something about OT prophecy. It is predictive. It usually relates to present judgment with future restoration. Isaiah prophesied concerning the Messiah who would come 700 years later. You all know I am Jewish. The Jews are awaiting their Messiah. What they don’t realize is that He came 2000 years ago. But also included in this passage, and even though Isaiah did not know it, there would be a future time of ultimate restoration. That will be when Christ returns and sets up His Messianic kingdom.
Where will he rule? In my country, Washington D.C. is where the President lives and governs. In Thailand, Bangkok is the city where the King and Prime Minister live and govern. You all know President Obama is coming Sunday?
If you ever go to Israel, one place where you will spend a lot of time is Jerusalem. If you come down the Mount of Olives, this is what you will see. In the Bible, and ultimately in the world, Jerusalem is the most important city. It might not be as big as Bangkok, New York or Tokyo. But it is a city of eternal significance. It is the city where the Davidic dynasty reigned and built the temple. It was the religious center of Judaism until 70AD when it was destroyed by the Romans. For us as believers, it is where Christianity began and spread. And it is in Jerusalem that Christ will reign as Messiah.
Also in Jerusalem, but not where the temple is located is Zion. We stayed there at the Institute of Holy Land Studies.
Just to give you the context of tonight’s message, Isaiah 40 begins the message of comfort that will take us to the end of the book. Judah is going to be released from her captivity. It is a message of comfort and hope. Keep in mind, that while this will not ultimately come to pass until the Millennium, it is still a message of hope. Because if you have been in the wilderness for an extended period of time, you want hope! But this is where I will part company with Joel Osteen, in part. God does have His blessings in store for you. But it will not be because you declared it, it will be because of God’s mercy and goodness.
Verses 1-8 are about the message and the messenger. The message is one of comfort, the message is based on God’s eternal word. I mentioned I was listening to Messiah last night. Every time I hear the first part I think of looking out over the Judean wilderness. It looks pretty desolate, but there will come a day when every valley shall be exalted and the mountains made low. Christ will come!
Notice 2 qualities of the coming Messiah in verses 9-11. He is a mighty ruler and a shepherd. It is important for Judah to understand this and also it is important for us to understand this. It was difficult for Israel to trust in God. It is difficult for us to trust in God. When He appears far off or unconcerned and uncaring, the tendency is to put our trust in other gods that we conjure up and worship them. Because the Jews were carried off to Babylon, they thought that God was unable to deliver them. Isaiah’s message is one of comfort that God has not abandoned His people. He still confirms His love and care for them. He leads them like a shepherd with powerful arm. He has absolute sovereignty over the nations.
If I can use one word to describe God it is incomparable. Isaiah will develop this in chapter 40. Before you go declaring things into existence, take a look at the God you are declaring this before. If the God you know can compare with what you declare, ok. But if He doesn’t think before you declare.
God is incomparable in His creation. Verse 12 tells us this by looking at the water, dust and mountains. Before you go home tonight, stop in your garden and scoop up a handful of dust. Do you know what that dust is composed of? Do you know what the smallest element of matter is? An atom. I learned about atoms when I was in 3rd grade. They are so small, not even the most powerful microscope could enable you to see them. Yet God can see them, and He knows exactly how many are there.
God is incomparable in knowledge and understanding. Verses 13 and 14 show us. Notice how Isaiah shows us by asking us a series of rhetorical questions. What do you think the obvious answer to these questions is?
Most of us will say that we trust God. But look at your prayer life. Because if most of us were honest, we tell God how He should run things. We give Him advice. Or we give Him our agenda expecting to adapt to it. God is the creator. We are the created. Can the created tell its creator what to do? I have both given and received counsel. But can we give God counsel? Where do we get our knowledge and understanding from? Where does God get His knowledge and understanding from?
God is incomparable with the nations. Verses 15-17 tell us that they are nothing but a drop of water and a speck of dust. Lebanon, which was considered mighty, does not even have the needed resources of wood to burn and beasts to make an offering. I come from a country which is considered a superpower, along with China and Russia. Well let me put it this way. During the 60’s and 70’s there was the Cold War going on. If there had been a nuclear war, or better yet, World War III, it would have been fought between these 3 countries with missiles. If you think this is bad, read the book of Revelation. Although there is much symbolism, there will come a time when God’s patience with man’s rejection and rebellion will run out and there will a tribulation like you’ve never seen before. I don’t know if Johnny Dammon spoke on this in his series on end time prophecy, but I believe the church will be raptured before this takes place, so we will be spared from God’s wrath. But to God, the nations are nothing. For example, notice Israel is surrounded by Arab countries. In spite of this, she is still standing, because God has protected her.
God is incomparable to idols. Verses 19 and 20. Notice there are idols made of silver and gold in contrast to those made with wood. Either way they are crafted by men. The first time I visited Thailand I was amazed by all the Buddhist temples and statues I saw. These are man made. Yet go to a Buddhist temple and people will be bowing before those statues. I lived in Sukhothai when I first came to Thailand and my missionary friends told me that Buddhism was very strong in that part of the country. I could sense the oppression. It was sad because Buddha will not give eternal life.
There are idols made with hands. There are also those we make up in the recesses of our minds. The prosperity gospel that I have been talking about makes God nothing more than a Cosmic Bellhop or Genie. We all have images of our God that are not based on what the Bible says, but on our own conceptions which are shaped by the experiences we go through in life, especially our childhood. Let me say to those of you who are parents, and to those of you who will be parents, there are 2 things your children need to know. They need to know that you love them, and God loves them. If you teach them this, they will be secure, emotionally children.
I’ve shared this before, but because we cannot see God, we have our image of Him and this image is usually in the form of a person which we magnify to cosmic proportions. Jesus, when He came, revealed the Father to us. John 1:18 tells us that He explained the Father to us. So if you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. Jesus told Philip, if you’ve seen the Father, you have seen me, in John’s gospel.
God is incomparable with any created being. He is the creator, not the created.
Is this getting convicting? I hope this will give you a window into the God you worship.
God is incomparable with inhabitants and rulers of the earth. Look at verses 21-24. God rules above the earth. He rules over the universe. Nobody likes to be described as a grasshopper. But that is who we are.
Last week we had a presidential election in my country. President Obama was reelected to serve another 4 years as our President. I do not agree with him on many issues. But he is my President and I am praying for him. There are leaders who are feared. If any of you have studied World History, do names like Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini scare you? And Japan was a very powerful country to be reckoned with during World War II. But to these, and others, God is the one who reduces them to nothing. Because God rules over them, I don’t need to fear. That reminds me of a story I will tell you later.
God is incomparable and unequal to anything and anyone. Look at verses 25,26. Remember, Isaiah is stating his case by using rhetorical questions. Whom will we like to God? Friends, God is not your equal. He is not your Genie, He is not kneeling at your throne. He does not bow down to you, you bow down to Him. Before you tell me you can declare whatever you want, answer this question. Go out and look up at the stars. Did you create them? Did you name them? Did you number them? Do you know how many stars there are? Before you claim equality with God think about this. Only one man claimed to be equal with God and that cost Him His life.
Let me give you some illustrations to put this into perspective. Do any of you remember this story? Yertle the Turtle?
Yertle was a turtle who ruled over the pond. But as he saw some birds flying overhead he was upset that all he could see was the pond. He wanted to rule over all he could see. So he called 9 turtles and he stacked them and got on top. Now he could see the trees, a house and a cat. Yertle was happy. But at the bottom of the pile was a turtle named Mack. The turtles on top of him were getting heavy and Mack asked Yertle for a drink. Yertle told him to shut up.
But when Yertle saw some birds flying even higher he wanted to build his throne higher. So he called for 200 turtles and he had a much higher throne. He was king over all he could see and he was very happy. But not so happy was poor turtle Mack who felt like his back was going to crack. He asked Yertle for a drink but Yertle told him to shut up.
It looked like Yertle was happy. Until the moon came up. He could not stand for anything to be higher and he said get me 5000 turtles and we’ll stack them to heaven. At this point, the load was too heavy for Mack and he burped. It shook the whole stack of turtles, and Yertle fell all the way down to the pond, where he stayed. I think you know a story very similar to this and it’s in the Bible. Do you know what I’m referring to? Babel.
Before you consider yourself equal with God count the consequences. And if you can do this next step you might have some credibility. But if you can’t you are in no place to put yourself over God.
The Pacific Ocean is the biggest ocean on our planet. If you go to the shore and look out as far as you can see, you will only see water. Get on a plane and fly over the Pacific. Just to fly from Tokyo to Los Angeles takes 9 hours and this is pretty much what you will see the whole flight. Pacific Ocean and there is lots of water down there. But I’m going to show you how insignificant even that is.
Earlier I said that God created, counted and named the stars. When I fly from Japan to the U.S. it is usually an overnight flight. If it’s a clear night, the stars are very bright. There are many more stars than I can count. If you are travelling at the speed of light, it will take you 4 years to get to the nearest star. A 14 hour flight is one thing; what about a 4 year flight? Look at this galaxy. If you travel at the speed of light, from one end of the galaxy to the other, it will take you 100,000 years. And we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface.
Look at these pictures. I previously showed you one galaxy. Look at all these galaxies. To someone who acknowledges how great God is, my hat goes off to you. To someone who claims to be a “little god” I have no respect for you. You are making yourself higher than God. That is idolatry and blasphemy.
After hearing Ramesh speak at the singles retreat, I got on his mailing list. This was before the days of internet. He would always conclude his letters with, “In the Inexhaustible One.” God is inexhaustible. No matter how hard you try to know Him, to know about Him, to fathom Him, to understand Him, you will never be able to exhaust Him. How can you, an exhaustible being make declarations on an inexhaustible one? You can’t. If you claim you can, what you are doing is blasphemy; making yourself equal with God. If the Lord will vs. you don’t have enough faith. If you pray this you are not expressing God’s inability, you are submitting to His ability and His sovereignty, wanting what is best for you and most glorifying to God.
Here are some some ways we reduce God which Ramesh taught us. First, we make Him a Business Partner. Not the President and CEO but a Business Partner. As I shared earlier, God is not equal to us (15,18-20). Second we make God an Obedient Servant. This is the when we rub our magic lamp and out pops the genie who does whatever we want. But I have a question for you. Who is the one kneeling at the other’s throne? God is not kneeling at your throne (12,13). Third, we reduce God to a Dependant Beggar. We see them all over the place, people begging for money. We think we are doing the greatest favor serving God that He cannot possibly get along without us. He does not need you, but you need Him (21-26). And finally, we make Him as Fire Insurance. We only call on Him as a last resort. But guess what? God wants to be involved in every aspect of your life. Judah did not trust God in Babylonian captivity. They did not believe He was able to do anything. So they turned to man made idols.
Friends, and this includes me, if you are making God to be anything other than what His word reveals Him to be, you are making a terrible mistake. You are creating your own god and that is idolatry. God is inexhaustible, incomparable, unfathomable, incomprehensible, unequal, and I could go on with a lot more. Are you going to declare healing? Or are you going to submit it to God, ask for healing, but nevertheless, not my will but your will be done? This is the biggest mistake of the prosperity gospel. It is a gospel where instead of bowing to the sovereign will of God, you are making Him bow to your sovereign will. This is not the God of the Bible. And if this God is the God of the Bible, I want nothing to do with Him. You know why? Because I couldn’t trust Him. It would be my job to run my life and the universe. I can’t do that. And neither can you. I hope this gives you a better understanding of the errors of this gospel. You are not God. I’ll close with what Ramesh closed with. God is God and He’s not applying for the job. Let’s pray.
