Isaiah 44
Come Holy Spirit
Fill Us Up vs. 1-5
Take a Stand vs. 6-8
Remove the Idols vs. 9-20
Return to Me vs. 21-28
Intro: Unless the Lord Builds the House
Geocaching
You use your phone and satellites to find these hidden cases
You put your name on a list that you found it
The cases can be as simple as a pill bottle or as deluxe as a military supply box
Some have treasures inside and others don't
But to find these you need a heavenly guide that you can only find on your phone
I love Psalm 127
It starts off by saying Unless the Lord Builds the House, those who build labor in vain
So often we try to build a life on our own
When it doesn’t turn out right we wonder why?
The real reason behind it is that we didn’t use the master builder, Jesus
Today we see how God wants to build our house… through the Holy Spirit
Read Isaiah 44:1-5
Transition:
Isaiah 40-44 is one of the most encouraging sections of scripture in the Bible
Look at some of the themes God relays to Israel
Isaiah 40 God is the God of comfort, those who wait on him will be strengthened
Isaiah 41 Fear not, I am with you
Isaiah 42 I am sending My Servant Jesus to you
Isaiah 43 was the Gospel message of redemption, transformation, and mercy
God is going to do a new work
Isaiah 44 Brings it to a conclusion by the Promise of the Holy Spirit
The promised helper Jesus talks about in john 14&16 and bring in power in Acts 2
The Holy Spirit is the difference between a successful and defeated christian life
God tells Israel the he is going to pour out his Spirit on his people
Not a sprinkle or a filling but a flood
Isaiah 43 ends with a warning of judgment, but it does not mean God takes back His promise of hope and restoration.
Israel can still know the goodness of the LORD, if they will only turn back to Him.
Thus says the LORD who made you:
This reminds us that God is still active in and responsible for creation.
He didn’t just create Adam and Eve and then let the whole thing go.
There is a sense in which God has made each one of us, so we each have a personal obligation to Him as our Creator.
That active participation comes in the form of the Holy Spirit
He desires that we live The Spirit Filled life
Fill Us Up vs. 1-5
For us to live the Spirit Filled Life we have to desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit
God makes it very clear that he wants to do that to his people
He is trying to get Israel’s attention
He once again has to remind them that He chose them and made them and desires to help them
All he desires is that Israel is obedient
The name Jeshurun means “the upright one.” It is used here as a contrast to the name Jacob, even as Israel is sometimes used as a contrast to Jacob.
The name Jeshurun appears only three more times in the Old Testament:
This word speaks of the wonder of grace, for He calls His deeply sinful people His beloved, His upright one.”
Vs. 3 For I will pour water on him . . . I will pour My Spirit on your descendants:
This is a glorious promise to a humble, returning Israel.
God will not simply give them His Spirit; He will pour out His Spirit on them as if water was poured over them.
This is a freedom in the giving of the Spirit. This is a flow in the giving of the Spirit. This is abundance in the giving of the Spirit. This is an evident giving of the Spirit.
God wants to pour His Spirit upon His people! We want to experience a few drops, God wants to pour.
If you are bone dry, God wants to pour. If you know the pour, God wants to keep pouring!
We must learn to stop saying “when” as God pours!
Spurgeon: "Without the Spirit of God we can do nothing; we are as ships without wind, or chariots without steeds, like branches without sap, we are withered; like coals without fire, we are useless;”
There is never a time in the NT when the Holy Spirit doesn't pour
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Who receives this gift? I will pour water on him who is thirsty.
When we are thirsty for the outpouring of the Spirit, ask for it and receive it in faith, we can expect to be poured on.
Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness
God is looking for dry ground to pour out floods upon!
Vs. 3b And My blessing on your offspring: God doesn’t only want to pour His Spirit;
He also wants to pour His blessing, on us and our offspring.
Vs. 5 One will say, “I am the Lord’s”:
Another effect of the poured out Spirit is that He identifies us as belonging to the Lord.
When the Holy Spirit is poured out on us, we know we belong to the Lord, and we aren’t afraid to say it.
The Holy Spirit is an identifying seal upon the believer (Ephesians 1:13).
Vs. 5b Another will write with his hand, “The Lord’s,” and name himself by the name of Israel:
When the Holy Spirit is poured out on us, we want to take the name of the Lord.
We want everyone to know we belong to Him, and He belongs to us.
Take a Stand vs. 6-8
Vs. 6 I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God:
The LORD has already taken this unique title in Isaiah 41:4, in the same context of proclaiming His glory against the feeble false gods.
An idol can never be the First, because an idol needs someone to make him.
An idol can never be the Last, because they wear out and break.
But the Lord GOD of Israel is both the First and the Last; He is completely unique, and besides Him there is no God.
Jesus takes the same title of the First and the Last in Revelation 1:17 and 22:13.
If the LORD is the First and the Last according to Isaiah 44:6, and if Jesus is the First and the Last according to Revelation 1:17 and 22:13, since there cannot be two firsts or two lasts, Jesus must be the LORD God!
Who can proclaim as I do? Because God is the First and the Last, He lives outside our time-domain, and can proclaim things before they happen.
He can proclaim the things that are coming and shall come.
This shows God really is who He says He is, watching and directing the parade of human and cosmic history as it makes its course down His appointed path
Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
Vs. 8 Do not fear, nor be afraid: Knowing these truths about God isn’t only good for winning theological quiz games.
When we really know who God is, and His great wisdom and authority over all things, it erases all fear in our lives.
You are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me?
God says to His people, “You are all witnesses of these truths.
Tell Me yourself - is there any God besides Me?”
Because there is no other God besides the LORD, it means that God the Father is the LORD, God the Son is the LORD, and God the Holy Spirit is the LORD.
Yahweh - the name translated by the small-caps LORD - is the Triune God, the One God in Three Persons.
There are no “grades” or “degrees” to true deity.
There are false gods, symbolic gods, and the true God - and the only true God is Yahweh, the LORD
Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one: Since God is the only God, He is the only solid ground to build our life upon.
Remove the Idols vs. 9-20
2 Cor 6:16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Return to Me vs. 21-28
Hosea 14:1-2 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God for you have stumbled because of your iniquity 2 Take with you word and return to the Lord; say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good,
Closing: Build Yourself a Mansion
There was a contractor who had a large company
He built large houses, big office building, and massive industrial complexes
He was very successful and was ready to retire
One of the reasons he was successful was because of his right hand man
This guy made sure every project was on schedule and on budget
He had made the contractor millions of dollars
Right before he retired he looked at his manager and said we have one more house to build before we call it quits
This is going to be the nicest one we have ever done
I want you to run the job and spare no expense, put the nicest of everything in it
The manager went about the project but instead of installing the nicest of everything he cut corners
He used the second rate contractors who worked on the cheap but charged the company for the best and pocketed the rest
Instead of buying the best appliances and materials he used knock offs and inferior materials
He got the project done and it looked good on the outside but was flawed from the inside out
As he went to hand the keys to the Owner the contractor stopped and said keep them, I built the house for you
You have been my faithful worker for years and I wanted to reward you for that
Keep the house and remember what a great team we were
