"God Will Make A Road In Your Desert"
Isaiah 43:19 * November 9, 2003
Chester’s First Baptist Church, Chester, Illinois * Mike Fogerson, Speaker
Introduction:
A man fell off a cliff, but managed to grab a tree limb on the way down. The following conversation ensued:
"Is anyone up there?"
"I am here. I am the Lord. Do you believe me?"
"Yes, Lord, I believe. I really believe, but I can’t hang on much longer."
"That’s all right, if you really believe you have nothing to worry about. I will save you. Just let go of the branch."
A moment of pause, then: "Is anyone else up there?"
B Historical Background:
Isaiah is one of the longest and most important books of the Old Testament
His Prophet career began during a time of relative peace and prosperity under Judah’s King Uzziah & Jotham.
As King’s changed so did the political climate
Under the reign of King Ahaz, Assyria became a super power and deported Judah’s sister Kingdom, Israel. (Israel entered into Babylonian captivity in 722 B.C.)
For 21 years, Isaiah urged his King Ahaz to stay faithful to God.
(ISA 26:4 Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.)
Ahaz didn’t listen. In 701 B.C., Assyria came blazing into Judah. . .and she fell.
C Sometimes it’s hard to trust God. Today, we are going to hear a message, "God Will Make A Road In Your Desert." This lesson will help us trust God in the tough spots in our lives. (HISTORICAL BACKGROUND)
a "Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness," Is. 43:19 NAS
b Isaiah assured a captive Israel that God would bring them out of their Babylonian oppression. (ETS)
D God provides a way out of the desert for his own. (ESS)
a I hope you will stay faithful to God while you are drudging through the deserts in your life. (Objective)
b Why trust God to make a road in your desert? (Probing Question)
T.S. Let’s look at two reasons why we can trust God to make a road in our deserts.
I The first reason why we can trust God to make anew road in our desert is. . . . GOD SAID HE WOULD DO SOMETHING.
1 "Behold, I will do something new. . ." NAS
A What was God’s greatest work/marvel/miracle in the mind of the Israel?
(Exodus from their Egyptian captors)
a DT 32:18 You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth.
*Sin sent Israel into Egyptian bondage 800 years before Isaiah.
*Sin sent Israel back into bondage in the time of Isaiah.
b Any time God delivered Israel, it was always through a desert.
*What is your greatest need in a desert? (Salt, Crackers, Tabasco?) H20!!
B When God took Israel out of Egypt he brought them water from a rock.
EX 17:5 The LORD answered Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. [6] I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.
God gave water from a rock in the first captivity in Egypt. . .and the second captivity in Babylon as well.
ISA 48:21 They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and water gushed out.
a The Old Testament refers to God as "The Rock" dozens and dozens of times.
*Gen. 49:24 But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
*Duet. 32:4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.
2 Sam. 22:32 For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?
b ISA 44:8 Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one."
*Israel’s greatest need was delivered by and from THE ROCK.
*God was going to do something. . .NEW!
*Isaiah is pointing ahead some 700 years to Calvary.
2 What is our greatest need in our deserts? WATER (What the Israelites?)
A I Cor. 10:1-4 1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. [2] They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. [3] They all ate the same spiritual food [4] and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
a Who was the ROCK Israel drank from? CHRIST!!
b What does The Father bring out of the ROCK?
*John 19:34 ". . .one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water."
B The Rock poured out NEW living water on the Cross!!!
a Jesus offered a Samaritan women this water in John 4:14 "but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
b We were dying in the desert our sin; hopeless, lost, without direction, and with no water to drink! (God did something!!)
*He struck the Rock and out came living water!
C God saw our need so he did something!!
a If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer.
b But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.
*To a Jew, the greatest thing God ever did was deliver them from bondage.
*To a Christian, the greatest thing God ever has done was to deliver them from bondage!!
T.S.: Not only did God commit to providing the captives needs; he also provided a way out of captivity.
II The second reason why we can trust God to make a new road in our desert is. . . When God says he will make a new road in the desert, he makes a new road in the desert.
1 ". . .I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert," Is. 43:19b
A God made a way for Israel to get to where they belonged.
a There was not an obstacle that couldn’t be obliterated! God made a road back for his people.
b He parted the Red Sea (Moses), Jordan River (Joshua). . .just so his children could be with him.
B When Israel wandered away. . .God went after them!
a God sent Moses, Joshua, Jonah, Isaiah and a dozen other prophets just like Isaiah!
b Why did he keep sending prophets? To build roads back to him!
2 Some of us are in our deserts today.
A There are many kinds of deserts.
a People, sickness, Fractured relationships, financial, . . .
b Some of the deserts we’ve caused by our own sin. Other deserts have claimed us.
B If God is going to build a road in your desert. . .you’ve got to be in a desert!
a Deserts aren’t fun, none of us like them,. . .God does use them!!
b Whether we’ve made the desert or we simply find ourselves in them. . God will use them to draw us to him!
3 During the war in Vietnam, a young West Point graduate was sent over to lead a group of new recruits into battle. He did his job well, trying his best to keep his from ambush and death. But one night when they had been under attack, he was unable to get just one of his men to safety.
The soldier left behind had been severely wounded. From their trenches, the young lieutenant and his men could hear him in his pain. They all knew any attempt to save him – even if it was successful -- would almost certainly mean death for the would-be rescuer.
Eventually the young lieutenant crawled out of hiding toward the dying man. He got to him safely but was killed before he could save himself.
After the rescued man returned to the States, the lieutenant’s parents heard that he was in their vicinity. Wanting to know this young man whose life was spared at such a great cost to them, they invited him to dinner.
When their honored guest arrived, he was obviously drunk. He was rowdy and obnoxious. He told off-color jokes and showed no gratitude for the sacrifice of the man who died to save him. The grieving parents did the best they could to make the man’s visit worthwhile, but their efforts went unrewarded.
Their guest finally left. As the dad closed the door behind him, the mother collapsed in tears and cried, "To think that our precious son had to die for somebody like that."
That’s what Jesus did.
*The cross reminds us that God would pay any price. . .build millions of roads. . .pave them with the blood of his son BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU!
CONCLUSION:
Isaiah assured a captive Israel that God would bring them out of their Babylonian oppression. (ETS) God provides a way out of the desert for his own. (ESS)
A We’ve looked at two reason why we can trust God to make a road in our deserts.
a God said he would do something.
b When God says he’ll make a new road in the desert, he makes a new road in the desert.
B I hope you will stay faithful to God while you are drudging through the deserts in your life. (Objective)
a Die in your deserts
b Allow God to make a road! Get on it!
C Why trust God to make a road in your desert? (Probing Question)
Philip Yancey, in his book "Reaching for the Invisible God" describes the way God get’s blamed for things in this way.
"When Princess Diana died in an automobile accident, a minister was interviewed and was asked the question "How can God allow such a terrible tragedy?" And I loved his response. He said, "Could it have had something to do with a drunk driver going ninety miles an hour in a narrow tunnel? Just How, exactly, was God involved."
Years ago, boxer, Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, killed a Korean opponent with a hard right hand to the head. At the press conference after the Korean’s death, Mancini said, "sometimes I wonder why God does the things he does."
In a letter to Dr. Dobson, a young woman asked this anguished question, "Four years ago, I was dating a man and became pregnant. I was devastated. I asked God, "Why have you allowed this to happen to me?"
Susan Smith, the south Carolina mother a couple years ago who pushed her two sons into a lake to drown and then blamed a fictional car-jacker for the deed, wrote in her confession: "I dropped to the lowest point when I allowed my children to go down that ramp into the water without me. I took off running and screaming, ‘Oh God! Oh God, no! What have I done? Why did you let this happen?"
Now the question remains, exactly what role did God play in a boxer beating his opponent to death, a teenage couple giving into temptation in the back seat of a car, or a mother drowning her children?
Is God responsible for these acts? To the contrary, they are examples of incredible human free will being exercised on a fallen planet. And yet it’s in our nature as mortal, frail, fallen people to lash out at one who is not, that being God."
