Responding to God's Promises

Thank you, bro subscribe our bibles and turn to Isaiah

chapter fifty one, Isaiah fifty one. If you don't have

a Bible with you, just raise your hand and we'll

get you a bible or a bulletin or a pen

or whatever you need. Just raise your hand and keep

it up and catch the eye of one of our ushers,

and we'll get you a Bible. It's gonna be super

helpful for you because we're going to be moving through

over a chapter of dense Hebrew poetry this morning, and

so you'll want a copy of it right there for

you in your lap. That said, this is the last

we're gonna see of Isaiah for a little while, I know,

but we're gonna be talking about some Christmas truths here

at the end of this year, and then at the

start of twenty twenty six we're gonna be talking about

some things regarding prayer, as we usually open up the

beginning of each year with a word on prayer. So

this is we're gonna be looking at about a month

before we see Isaiah again. So enjoy why you can

there you go, Isaiah. Also, this is a good time

for me to remind you to fill out a connection card.

We ask everybody to do that. Whether you're a guest

here or you're a member here, please fill out a

connection card. It's important that we know you're here by name.

That's an important pastoral tool for us. If you are new,

you can leave some contact information as well. We'll follow

up with you. And after this service, there's a table

in the lobby. Let's connect there. I'd love to answer

whatever questions that I can about this passage or the

Bible in general. Also answer questions about what it looks

like to become a part of this local church. That's

where we start that process. It's a table called Step one.

There are other steps, and those steps walk you through

what it looks like to be a member here. You

might even just have questions about the gospel. Hey, we

have been singing about one who is born of a

virgin and died for our salvation. Could you give me

clarity on that? Love to let's talk. As a matter

of fact, tonight at my house, we're having dinner from

six to eight, and we are the purpose of that

dinner is to talk about gospel clarity with all who

have an interest to have that conversation. So come and

join us for dinner tonight, and we'll talk about the

gospel and what it means. All right, Isaiah fifty one,

We're going to go through chapter fifty two, verse twelve.

Everybody ready, all right? I want to start this way.

If you promise something to someone, how do you want

them to respond to your promise? This part's interactive trust.

I heard someone else say believe me right. What if

the scenario is like this. You write a generous check

to your friend as a gift, or maybe you to

your niece or nephew or son or daughter. Maybe you

know that they need that money and you write them

a generous check as a gift. You put it into

their hands and say I want you to have this,

and you want them to believe you. But month after

month goes by, you check your bank statements. They never

cash the check. HM. See, in the case of some promises,

believing and acting are connected. That's an action someone has

to take. They have to go and cash the check.

And something similar is at play here in Isaiah. God

is interacting with his people in this passage about his promises,

and in some good ways they believe him. But God

is pointing out something that is just as true here

and now as it was then and there. And I

think even if you're a non Christian here this morning,

it'll make sense to you. God makes some promises in

which our believing in them and our acting on them

are connected, and the passage proposes this question, how should

we respond to God's promises? As we read it and

consider it, you might notice that this interaction with God,

between God and his people is made of several poetic segments.

Each segment kind of starts with a double, like awake, awake, Oh,

I wasn't talking to you specifically. That's one of the

doubles awake or my people, my nation, And that's kind

of how you know that a new segment is started.

We'll read this together. We can listen for the kind

of action our confidence in God should call for, as

we have been doing before. I'm gonna ask you to

stand for the reading of God's word particularly helpful with

these long passages of Isaiah. Stay focused, and I am

going to try to read this in such a way

as you're able to sort of understand some of this

dense Hebrew poetry just in the reading of it, just

just kind of how we read it together. So you

read along as I read aloud Isaiah fifty one. Listen

to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord.

Look to the rock from which you were hewan, to

the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham,

your father and Sarah, who bore you. For he was

but one when I called him, that I might bless

him and multiply him. For the Lord comforts Zion. He

comforts all her waste places, and makes her wilderness like

her desert, like the garden of the Lord. And joy

and gladness will be found in her thanksgiving and the

voice of song. Give attention to me, my people, Give

ear to me my nation, For a law will go

out from me, and I will set my justice for

a light to the people's. My righteousness draws near. My

salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge. The

peoples the coastlines hope for me, for my arm they wait.

Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look to

the earth beneath, For the heavens vanish like smoke, and

the earth will wear out like a garment, and they

who dwell in it will die in like manner. But

my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never

be dismayed. Listen to me, you who know righteousness. People

in whose heart is My law, fear not the reproach

of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings. For the

moth will eat them up like a garment, and the

worm will eat them like wool. But my righteousness will

be forever, and my salvation to all generations. So God

has made these promises. God has called his attention, called

the attention of the people who pursue him to trust him,

to consider what he has done and what he is doing,

and what he will do. And now the people respond

with this awake, awake, put on strength, though arm of

the Lord awakes in days of old, the generations of

long ago. Was it not you who cut rayhab in pieces,

who pierced the dragon? Was it not you who dried

up the sea and the waters of the deep, who

made the depths of the sea away. For the redeemed

to pass over, and the ransom of the Lord shall

return and come to Zion with singing and everlasting joy

shall be on their heads, and they shall obtain gladness

and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. God

responds to that, I I am he who comforts you.

Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies,

of the son of man who's made like grass, And

have forgotten the Lord your maker, who stretched out the

heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. And you

fear continually all the day because of the wrath of

the oppressor, who sets when he sets himself to destroy.

And where is the wrath of the oppressor? He who

bowed down, who is bowed down, shall speedily be released.

He shall not die and go down to the pit.

Neither shall his bread be lacking. And the Lord your God,

who stirs up the sea so that it's waves roar,

The Lord of Host is my name. And I have

put my words in your mouth and covered you in

the hand of my in the shadow of my hand,

establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth,

saying to Zion, you are my people. So wake yourself,

Wake yourself. Stand up, oh Jerusalem, you who have drunk

from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath,

who have drunk to the dregs the bowl the cup

of staggering. There is none to guide her. Among all

the sons she's born, there is none to take her

by the hand. Among all the sons she's brought up.

These two things have happened to you. Who will console you?

Devastation and destruction, famine and sword? Who will comfort you?

Your sons have fainted. They lie at the head of

every street, like an antelope in a net. They are

full of the wrath of the Lord, the rebuke of

your God. Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted, who

are drunk, but not with wine. Thus says your Lord,

the Lord, your God, who pleads the cause of his people. Behold,

I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering,

the bowl of my wrath. You shall drink no more,

and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,

who have said to you bow down that we may

pass over. And you have made your back like the ground,

like the street, for them to pass over. Awake, Awake,

Put on your strength, O Zion. Put on your beautiful garments,

Oh Jerusalem, the holy City, for there shall no more

come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake yourself

from the dust and arise. Be seated, O Jerusalem, loose

the bonds from your neck, o captive, daughter of Zion.

For thus says the Lord, you were sold for nothing,

and you shall be redeemed without money. For thus says

the Lord God. My people went down at first into

Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.

And now therefore what have I here, declares the Lord,

Seeing that my people are taken away for nothing. The

rulers wail, declares the Lord, and continually all the day,

my name is despised. Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore,

in that day they shall know that it is I

who speak. Here. I am. How beautiful. Upon the mountains

are the feet of him who brings good news, who

publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation,

who says to Zion, your God reigns the voice of

your watchmen. They lift up their voice together they sing

for joy. For eye to eye they see the return

of the Lord to Zion. They break forth together into singing,

you waste places of Jerusalem. For the Lord has comforted

his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared

his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations,

and the ends of the earth shall see the salvation

of our God. Depart, Depart, go out from there, touch

no unclean thing, Go out from the midst of her.

Purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord.

For you shall not go out in haste. You shall

not go out in flight, for the Lord will go

before you, and the God of Israel will be your

rear guard. This is the word of the Lord. As

I said before we read, this interaction between God and

his people is made up of several poetic segments. But

I think we can really kind of look at them

in two halves. There are two halves to this interaction.

And as we look at these two halves, what we

look at are two important parts to responding to God's promises.

We'll call them response number one and response number two.

Two important responses to God's promises. Here's what we see

in the first one, response number one, have confidence in

the promiser. How should we respond to the confidence to

the promises of God? Number one? Have confidence in the promiser.

You know, the most important part of trusting a promise

is having confidence in the promiser. And then the first

half of these poetic segments, all the way through verse eleven,

if you're if you're marking them down right, the first

half is gonna get us. Through verse eleven, God is

calling for confidence in him. He keeps on saying, listen

to me, give attention to me. Listen to me. Consider

what I have done and what I am doing, and

what I will do. And most of God's promises are

made up of things that He has done, is doing,

and will do. And the people respond. It's interesting how

the people respond. Now, these are people who Verse one says,

pursue righteousness. Right, these are people who seek the Lord,

and they're starting in the right place. Confidence in the promise, sir, right,

that's a good thing. These are the kind of promises

that God makes. Verses one through three. He says, have

confidence in me and my comfort. I want my people

who pursue me to have confidence in me and my comfort.

He says. Listen to me verse one. Listen to me.

I can make your wastelands like an uncursed garden. I

give you comfort and life and joy and gladness and singing.

I can do it. I am doing it. I will

do it. He says, have confidence. Just think of Abraham.

Just look to the rock from which you were hewn.

I took that guy. He was as good as dead.

Those were his words. I'm as good as dead. I'm

so old I can't have kids. And God said, I

made a multitude out of Abraham. I turned a rock

into a seed. If I can do that, I can

transform your wasteles. I can bring you comfort and joy

and gladness and singing. I can do whatever. Trust me.

Look at my results, and we have received similar promises.

Comfort from him, life and joy and gladness in him,

gratitude and singing. If he can graft you in to

the family of Abraham through his work and the faith

he has gifted to you, you can have confidence in

him and his comfort. You're gonna trust his promises. It

starts with having confidence in the promiser, and he goes on.

He says, have confidence in me and my reach, and

verses four through six he says, give attention to me.

He says that again, give attention to me. Trust me.

My light will be for everywhere for all time. He says,

my teaching is going to go out. My light will shine,

my arm will reach. Everything else will fade away. This

is true. There is no place God can't reach. And

what he says will last will last, and everything else

will fade away. And God is saying, have confidence in

me and my reach. As Mike promises unfold. The way

to respond is to have confidence in the promiser, and

he goes on, have confidence me in me and my protection.

He says it again verse seven and eight. Listen to me.

Everything and everyone who threatens you will dissolve away, but

my righteous protection will be forever. Reproach, he says. Reproach

will be eaten up like old clothes by moths. There

will be no one left to threaten you. In an

ultimate sense, we have received the same promise, protection against

every enemy, spiritual and physical. According to his wisdom and

according to his will, he can do all the protecting

he desires to do, and has promised us ultimate protection

in Christ. And the response to his promises, first and foremost,

it starts with this. Here's the first response, confidence in

the promiser. These are the kinds of promises God makes here.

And these are the kinds of promises God makes you

in Christ. And if you you've come to know Him,

if you can recall his work, it is absolutely fitting

that you would listen to him and have confidence in

his power. And so with that confidence, the people here

call on the Lord to act. They say, awake, awake,

put on strength, o arm of the Lord. Right. They

recall his acts. They say, wasn't it you who defeated

Rehab which is a term for Egypt, So it wasn't

it you who parted the sea? They recall his acts,

and then they call on him to act. If you

will do this, then we'll get to return and we

will sing and we will obtain joy. All right, God,

wake up and do this thing. We have confidence in

the Promiser. Let's just stop the logic right there for

a second. This thing unfolds and takes a turn. But

what we should see right here is that there is

so much good here. There is so much that shows

a sort of confidence in the promiser, as he has

made his promises, as he has said, this is what

I've done, this is what I'm doing, this is what

I will do. And they say, we know you can

do it. Start doing things where we want those things done.

We have confidence in you. And the most important part

of trusting a promise, it's confidence in the promiser. I'll

show you what I mean one time, just one time

I held a check for over a million dollars. It

was it was back in Austin. I used to manage

a law firm, and I got a call from our

billing coordinator and she's like, you gotta come up and

see this check. All right, I'll be right there. I

go up there, and there's the billing coordinator and her

assistant and the accounting accountant and her assistant that all

get like all as they passed this piece of paper

to one another, and I walk in and they're like,

you want to touch it? Yeah? Whoa. You know, there's

absolutely nothing awe inspiring about me just cutting a piece

of paper and writing a one with six zeros. That's

that's nothing. That'd be nothing all inspiring about me doing

that on a check for my own checkbook. That's not

a million dollars. But this check, this check was good.

I can't remember exactly. I think it was from the

city of San Antonio or the city of Austin, I

can't remember which. Either way, I've paid property taxes in

both places. I know they've got the money. The check

was good. The check was good. That was the point.

We were there a bit awe inspired because we had

confidence that what was written on this check was a

promise that we could cash. No confidence know awe the

most important part of trusting a promise, it's having confidence

in the promiser. Church. Consider the one who makes you

these promises of comfort, these promises of protection. Recall his

acts in your life. Don't you already have a pile

of examples of His work on your behalf that call

for your confidence. And maybe you're a young Christian and

you can't say, well, I don't know that I've got

a pile. We'll talk. Just spend some time with some

others who have been walking with Christ for a few years.

They'll tell you have confidence in God. Whenever I drop

off my kids at my parents house, they're great parents house.

That's my only instruction to my grandparents. Well, yeah, my

wife also has the instruction, please keep them alive. And

then then our other instruction is just tell them what

God has done. See I was there, I grew up

there as a kid. I saw what God did. We

talked about what God did in our family as I

was growing up. And I don't want my kids to

miss out on the confidence in God that these testimonies

of His faithfulness may bring. Just consider the testimony of scripture.

It rings over and over again. Have confidence in God,

Have confidence in God. Look to the gospel work of

Christ himself. He befriended you when you were stuck in

your sins. He called you to entrust yourself and those

sins to him. He showed you a bloody cross where

he paid for them, and he showed you a tomb

where he buried them. And now he walks with you

as your risen lord and tender shepherd and calls you

to have every confidence in his every promise. That's his call,

over and over again. Listen to me, have confidence in

me all that I have done, am doing, and will do.

And the most important part of trusting my promises is

having confidence in me, the promiser. That's response number one.

How should we respond to the promises of God? Response

number one, have confidence in the promise. Now you may

have noticed these people, these good people, have a good

kind of confidence. But notice what they're saying. They're saying this,

all right, God, we have confidence in you, so we're

asking you to act. Makes sense. They're saying these promises

of yours they have this sort of already, but not

yet vibe to them. So God, wake up and do

those not yet things already right? You see in that

they're in that segment of that where they start with awake, awake,

put on strength, O arm of the Lord. What's God's

take on that? Well, he calls them to this next

part of responding to his promises. We'll just call it

this responding number two. Response number two. Act on the promises.

Act on the promises. You see, they have said we

have confidence in you God, so act, and God is saying, oh,

I have, and I am and I will. But here's

the other side of responding to these kinds of promises.

You have confidence, you act, and God starts by reaffirming

his power. You see it in verses twelve through sixteen,

He says, He starts again, I I am he who

comforts you, and stretch the heavens and lay the earth's

foundations and stir up the sea. You should not be

afraid of people. They're like grass. You are right to

put every confidence in me, but that confidence in me

has some implications for yourselves. God calls them to act

on his promises. He says, in verse seventeen, you're calling

me to wake up, wake up yourself. I'm telling you,

now stand up. And here's why. Because you have been

under my wrath and there was nothing you could do.

There was nothing your sons could do, right the strongest

of you, there was nothing you could do against my wrath.

But now I the God who pleads your cause. I

remove the cup of my wrath from you, and I

put it in the hand of your adversaries. That's his promise.

This is what I am doing. This is I this

is what I have done, this is what I am doing.

This is what I will do. And he calls on

his people to act on that promise, to wake up

and stand up. And Hebrews chapter two shows us how

we should receive this kind of promise, calling us also

saying through death, he destroyed the one who has the

power of death, delivered all though who were subject to

lifelong slavery. Right he took the cup of wrath himself,

so that it eternally passes from our hand and will

be poured out on the enemy. And now with Isaiah

fifty one, God calls Christians to wake up and stand

up as those who have been cleared and cleansed, and

hold fast to our confidence by refusing temptation, by refusing

to be afraid of the enemy, and by refusing to

be controlled by the enemy. God says, you're cleared, You're cleans,

Wake up, stand up, you have confidence in me, Act

on it. Act on my promise, and don't bow to

the enemy that you believe I have to feed it.

Then God ramps up the language. In verses one through

ten of chapter fifty two, he says, you told me

to awake and put on my strength. I'm telling you awake, awake,

put on your strength of Zion. So he says in

verse one, put on strength, put on holiness, those beautiful garments,

and loose the bonds from your neck. Verse two, walk

in freedom. Again. You have confidence in my promises, act

on them. When God uses his promises here to call

us forward, just like he does in Romans chapter eight.

In Romans chapter eight, he says this, if you buy

the spirit put to death the deeds of the body,

you will live. If you by the spirit put to

death the deeds of the body. And many of you know.

John Owen famously wrote my favorite book of practical theology,

Mortification of Sin, based on this verse. He says the

instruction that God gives us is if you by the spirit,

you have confidence in the spirit. You have confidence in

the spirit, then you put to death the deeds of

the body. You kill sin, you mortified temptation in your life.

And John Owen famously he's like, you know, a lot

of people say, well, if if it's the spirit's job,

then just let him do it. Said no, no, no,

you have confidence in the spirit. Then God says, I'm

calling you to do this in faith. I'm calling you

to do this in confidence. In me. I've got the power.

I'm the one who actually acts on all things that

truly matter. And now I'm asking you to pick up

your hand and do it. I have sharpened the sword,

I have made it battle ready. Will you swing it?

And if you won't, don't tell me you have confidence

in my promises. And he goes on verse three, Here's

what I've done, Here's what I'm doing. Here's what I'll do.

I'm bringing you freedom for nothing. You will pay no

price for redemption. That's God's announcement. That's what God says

of himself and his news. In verse seven, how beautiful

on the mountains are the feet of those who bring

good news? If you're a church kid, you've heard that

verse before and wondered what do beautiful feet have to

do with anything. The idea is this, if a messenger,

if a town was waiting for a message and the

messenger was coming, maybe there was a war or there

was some other critical thing going on in the country,

and they were waiting for a messenger to come, and

they saw the messenger making their way to the town,

you know, maybe down through the mountains, and they're like,

that's not good news. But if you saw that messenger

coming with a posture and a gate and a pace,

then you knew he's bringing good news. I like the

look of the way that guy is running this way.

That's beautiful. This is a beautiful run towards us. We

know what's coming is good news. God says, I've got

good news. I've got beautiful feet. I'm publishing peace, I'm

publishing salvation. I have happy news. And that's exactly what

Paul picks up in Romans chapter ten. He's quoting this

first saying essentially this, God says that the happy news

of his redemption deserves messengers. So if you're you're here

as a non Christian to use the language of this passage,

you are hearing from someone who has beautiful feet. I'm

telling you I've got good news. If you're wondering about

the gate and the posture and the pace with which

I bring you this news, just know it's beautiful. Because

the news is good. God is offering to you because

he paid the price himself. God is publishing peace to

you because he settled the account of your judgment himself.

God has a song of joy for you because in Christ,

he is drawing you into relationship with himself. It's happy news,

it's joy to the world. In fact, you are surrounded

by people in this congregation. Again, to use the terms

of this passage, you're surrounded by a whole room full

of people with beautiful feet. You could just ask them,

would you tell me what these songs of joy mean?

And why you get to sing them? It's because He's

taken us from darkness to light, from bonds to freedom.

And then, lastly, in that very last segment, in verse eleven,

God calls again for his people to act on his promises, saying, depart, depart,

touch no unclean thing. He's saying, in response to my promises,

stand up, walk in freedom, and purify yourselves, like he's saying,

I'm letting you out of this place, so leave you.

Ever find people who seem to be stuck in a

dirty cell, but the door is open, He's saying, depart,

I've opened the door. Depart, get out of here. Touch

no unclean thing. God has written a check. God has

made his promises regarding forgiveness and power over sin. God

has made his promises about open doors to escape worldliness.

Leave cash that check, swing that sword. Have confidence in

the one who promises a place of purity, and act

on that promise by being pure. Of course, Paul puts

it in Second Corinthians. Paul uses this verse in sewo

Corinthians chapter six. He says, God said I will walk

among them, So go out and touch no unclean thing.

And then he says this Second Corinthians seven, verse one.

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves

from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to

completion in the fear of God. How do we respond

to the promises of God? Have confidence in the promiser

and act on the promises. Since we have these promises, beloved,

just sit there like a bump on the log No,

let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit,

bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. We

bring holiness to completion because we act in confidence on

the promises that He has given us. He has promised

us that we stand holy before Him. Now the door

is open, leave unholiness behind. God makes some promises in

which our believing in them is connected to our acting

on them. Amen.