Isaiah 56-57
Readying Our Hearts for Revival
Servants who Pray vs. 56:1-8
Leaders who See vs. 56:9-57:2
Idols Removed vs. 57:3-13
Hearts that are Contrite vs. 57:14-21
Intro:
Happy Father’s Day
Have you ever watched a medical show, whether it is on discovery or one of the drama’s on a network?
Invariably you will see a patient have heart problems
The doctors pull out a crash cart which has a defibrillator on it
Those are the paddles they use to shock the person heart back to working
They always yell clear and then the body jumps after it is shocked
What’s even more amazing is when a person has open heart surgery or transplant they put the persons heart on bypass so there is a machine doing the work of the heart while they work on it
After they have replaced a valve or repaired the heart they will stick two paddles that look like plastic spoons on the heart and shock it back into to working
Both instances are used to revive a heart that stopped working properly
Hopefully we won’t ever get to a point where we need our heart revived like that
As Isaiah talks to Israel he is talking revival of their collective heart
They have gone thru judgement, been comforted by the Lord, and now he wants to revive a country that has lost it’s way
In Isaiah 56–66, the third major section of his book, the prophet shows us the way into ongoing revival as we await the fullness of God’s coming kingdom
Isaiah is showing us that the One who is high and lifted up also dwells with the lowly, and with no one else, in reviving power. The implications are significant
Read 57:14-16
Transition:
Revival is often misunderstood.
When you drive by a church displaying a sign, “Revival here next week,” you can bet there won’t be a revival there next week. Revival can’t be scheduled
True revival is the wind of the Holy Spirit blowing over a church.
The wind blows where it wants to. We hear its sound, but we don’t know where it comes from or where it goes
What is revival? True revival is God coming down among us, visiting us, dwelling among us in his glory, overflowing into our need (Isaiah 57:15).
Revival is the manifest presence of God, the immediacy of God, the kiss of God, the nearness of God in his goodness and power.
Revival is a time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:20).
It’s a season in the life of the church when God causes the normal ministry of the gospel to surge forward with extraordinary spiritual power.
It is not foolish hysterics. It is God becoming overwhelmingly real to us.
Isaiah leads us by the hand toward true revival.
His ministry was not intended for people who were spiritually advanced.
God promises that, in both the near term and the far term, he will save his sinful people.
Servants who Pray vs. 56:1-8
The first step that leads to a church that is ready for revival are servants who pray
For a few chapters now God has been laying out his plan to restore Israel
Now he wants to revive them as a country but he needs open receptacles
The restoring is building up what has been tore down, the reviving is pouring His Spirit into what he has rebuilt
With every great revival in all of time it has always started with servants who pray
These are the willing hearts that desperately want Christ to work
Vs. 1 Salvation is about to come, my righteousness revealed
Salvation is coming through the Messiah and God’s righteousness will be available to everyone
This includes Gentiles
Is 65:1 I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that was not called by my name.
God is calling out to every person of every nation now
He is looking for people who will be faithful to Him
For centuries Israel has been everything but faithful
Now the new kingdom will based on those who follow Christ
Vs. 6 And the Foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, minister to Him, love the name of the Lord, and be his servants… these I will bring to my holy mountain
Notice what God says to the foreigners
If you will join yourselves to me, minister, love my name, and serve you will included
This is the picture of the faithful servant
Join yourselves to me is indicative of us coming to Christ in faith
It symbolizes how we believe and put our trust in Him
To minister to him, and be His servants
Not only do you believe but you put that into action and serve Him
That is discipleship
Greg Laurie: Sometimes the most well-fed Christians are also the laziest! They become sermon connoisseurs instead of fishers of men!
Tuesday night at the Women’s Bible study
Almost every woman at the study serves in some capacity
True discipleship is putting your knowledge into action
Love the name of the Lord
This is all about worship
God is looking for people who will worship him
This may sound vain and selfish but worship is giving worth to something worthy of it
If God is a true God then he is worthy of our worship
Vs. 7 My house shall be called a house of prayer
This may sound familiar to you, its because Jesus said it
Luke 19:46 And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”
The leading indicator of any revival is a church that prays
It is said you know how popular a church is by how many come on Sunday, you know how popular the pastor is by how many come to the midweek service, but you know how popular Jesus is by how many come to the prayer meeting
It doesn’t have to be a large group, but instead a committed gathering of people who seek the Lord
I think we have this happening in our church
Wednesday morning & night we have a committed group of people praying for this church
Saturday morning there is a committed group of women who get together to pray
The Staff prays each week for the needs of this church
Since we have been doing this we have seen God start to move in this church
If we want to see God do something thru this church it isn’t going to be through a program but thru prayer
Right now he is looking for faithful servants who he can pour his spirit into
Leaders who See vs. 56:9-57:2
The second step to a church that is ready for revival are Leaders who See
Israel had a problem, its leaders were blind, not physically but spiritually
They were focused on the wrong things and were missing what was going on
One of the roles of church leadership is to be on watch and warn the people
1 Peter 5:1-2 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you
The word Elder actually means overseer
They are to be watchmen on the wall looking out for attacks from Satan
When they come they are to warn the people
Vs. 10 His watchmen are blind, without knowledge, silent dogs that don’t bark
Isaiah calls them silent dogs
That is hard today because we don’t want to say anything bad or call people out
Leaders who don’t not only don’t protect people but open the door for them to be led astray
Is 65:6-7 On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent.
WWII Internment camps
In college I had to read books on diversity
One of the writers I read was a Japanese lady who grew up in California during WWII
Her and her family were taken to internment camps
They way they were convinced to go into the camps was that they were told they were being protected
The girl observed that if they were being protected why were the guards guns pointed inward, not outward
One of the challenges of leadership is to make sure our focus is outward, not inward
We need to be watchmen on the wall
Last summer when I started Isaiah I felt strongly God was leading us into a time of the Holy Spirit moving strongly in our church
For the first seven weeks God did amazing things, the altars were full, people were hungry for the Holy Spirit
Then the attack of the enemy came and our focus turned inward trying to blame the problems on inside things instead of seeing it as a massive spiritual attack
Unfortunately the Spirit was quenched and many households were led astray by a lot of lies and deceit and instead of being silenced by the watchmen it was allowed to spread
It has taken us six months to crawl out of that mess
Vs. 1 The righteous man perishes
The fallout of watchmen who don’t warn is that righteous and devout men are taken away
Fortunately God takes care of them
As a church we need to be attuned not only to the word of God and the Spirit but also what the leadership is saying
When they are warning we need to stay away
When true leadership is acting according to Scripture Revival is ready to break out
Idols Removed vs. 57:3-13
The third step to a church that is ready for revival to remove the idols
The number one thing that will prevent revival in a church is not sin but idols
Sins can be repented of but idols need to be torn down
You can pray all day for God to forgive you of idol worship but if it isn’t removed it remains
Isaiah hits close to home on where these idols exist
Vs. 8 Behind the door and the doorpost you have set up your memorial
Often times our idols are hidden behind a facade of good christianity
We keep them where no one else can see them
Maybe it is pornography or some other secret sin
Maybe it is something we keep under wraps and only do it where no one can see it
Is 2:8 Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made
Whatever it is, for God to work, they need to be torn down
This means taking real steps and actions to get rid of the idol
Remove it from your house and life… get rid of it
Is 30:21-23 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 22 Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!” And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures,
Vs. 12-13 Your righteousness and your deeds will not profit you, let your idols deliver you
John 8:41-42 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.
Hearts that are Contrite vs. 57:14-21
The fourth step to see a revival of our heart is to have a heart that is contrite
Vs.14 Build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction
This is referring to building a highway that rises above the rubble
God is telling us to rise above
Remove every obstruction that gets in the way of us worshipping God
Make the path to God easy
Google Maps
Vs. 15 I dwell with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit
The Holy Spirit will only dwell in a humble heart
It won't compete with pride
Contrite: To be humble and repentant before God, crushed by the sense of guilt and sinfulness.
The basic meaning is to be crushed or beaten to pieces.
This meaning appears in the crushing of the golden calf or the crushing of grain during threshing
In Ps. 9:9 the poor are referred to as the crushed and assured that God is their “refuge”.
They can thus come to God in prayer, knowing what God wants is a broken spirit and a contrite heart. God will revive the spirit of such a one.
Ps 34:18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Ps 138:6 For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.
Vs. 16 I will not always be angry
Vs. 21 There is no peace for the guilty
Closing:
