Who Made Who?

Okay, Isaiah forty three through forty four twenty three. So

it's forty three twenty two through forty four twenty three.

I know in your bulletins it says just through eight.

Now I'm not gonna let you get off that easy.

We're going in the whole inch all out of this morning.

So and for the purposes of our focus and concentration,

if you're able, I'd encourage you to stand for the

reading of God's word and you can read along as

I read aloud Isaiah forty three twenty two all the

way through forty four, verse twenty three. Yet you did

not call upon me, oh Jacob, But you've been weary

of me, Oh Israel. You've not brought me your sheep

for burnt offerings or honored me with your sacrifices. I've

not burdened you with offerings or wearied you with Frankinson's.

You've not bought me sweet cane with money or satisfied

me with a fat of your sacrifices. But you've burdened

me with your sins. You've wearied me with your iniquities.

I I am he who blots out your transgressions for

my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

Put me in remembrance. Let us argue together, set forth

your case that you may be proved right. Your first

father sinned and your mediators transgressed against me. Therefore I

will profane the princes of the sanctuary and delivered Jacob

to utter destruction and Israel to reviling. But now here,

oh Jacob, my servant Israel, whom I have chosen, Thus

says the Lord who made you, who formed you from

the womb, and will help you. Fear not, Oh Jacob,

my servant jeshurin whom I have chosen. For I will

pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the

dry ground. I will pour my spirit upon your offspring,

of my blessing on your descendants. They shall spring up

among the grass like willows by flowing streams. This one

will say, I am the Lord's Another will call on

the name of Jacob. Another will write on his hand

the lords and name himself by the name of Israel.

Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his redeemer,

the Lord of Hosts. I am the first, and I

am the last. Besides me, there is no god who

is like me. Let him proclaim it, Let him declare

and set it before me. Since I appointed an ancient

peace people, Let them declare what is to come and

what will happen. Fear not nor be afraid, for I

have I not told you from of old and declared it.

And you are my witnesses. Is there a god beside me?

There is no rock? I know not any All who

fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in

do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know that

they may be put to shame. Who fashions a god

or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? Behold,

all his companions shall be put to shame. And the

craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them

stand forth. They shall be terrified, and they shall be

put to shame. Together. The ironsmith takes a cutting tool,

and he works it over the coals. He fashions it

with hammer, and works it with his strong arm. And

he becomes hungry, and his strength fails. He drinks no

water in his faint. Your carpenter stretches a line, marks

it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes,

and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into

a figure of a man with the beauty of a

man to dwell in a house. He cuts down cedars,

chooses a cypress tree or an oak, and lets it

grow strong among the trees of the forest. Plants a cedar,

and the rain nourishes it, and then it becomes fuel

for a man. He takes a part of it and

warms himself. He kindles a fire and bakes bread, and

also he makes a god and worships it. He makes

an idol. He falls down before it. Half of it

he burns in the fire. Over half of it he

eats meat he roasted, and is satisfied. He also warms himself.

Is ah, I'm warm. I've seen the fire. And the

rest of it he makes into a god, his idol.

He falls down to it and worships it. He prays

to it. He says, deliver me, You're my God. They

know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut

their eyes so that they cannot see, and their hearts

so that they cannot understand. No one considers, nor is

their knowledge or discernment. To say, half of it I

burned to the fire, and also big bread on his coals,

roasted meat and beaten, And shall I make the rest

of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a

block of wood? He feeds on ashes. A deluded heart

has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say,

is there not a lie in my right hand? Remember

these things, oh Jacob and Israel, for you or my servant.

I formed you. You are my servant, Israel. You will

not be forgotten by me. I have blotted out your

transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist.

Return to me, for I have redeemed you. Sing, Oh heavens,

for the Lord has done it. Shout o depths of

the earth, break forth into singing, O mountains, oh, forest,

and every tree in it. For the Lord has redeemed

Jacob and will be glorified in Israel. This is the

word of the Lord. You may be seated now. It's

fun to read. We've been saying that this part in Isaiah.

Here is a place where God is speaking to the

people who have been in a place of discipline, a

place of spiritual desolation, and God is declaring to them

where to look for hope, where to look for spiritual

refreshment and for us, different time, different place. There are

some things that are quite different about our circumstances, but

there are aspects that are so similar that Paul writes

in Romans, these things are written for our instruction that

we might have hope. And the hope that God is

calling his people to is a hope of refreshment, a

hope of spiritual refreshment and restoration. The question I want

to explore this morning is this, what is the foundational

basis for spiritual refreshment? What is the foundational basis for

spiritual refreshment refreshment. I know that the title says who

made Who, and that's going to be related, but the

key question, what's the foundational basis for spiritual refreshment? We're

going to look at that as we cover all of

this scripture text this morning in and there's a number

of moving parts here, so it's going to take kind

of a quick sketch, but it's going to start like this.

First a comparison, a comparison, and then we're going to

look at the foundational basis for one of those types

of living, our alternative and the path forward. So first

the comparison between two kinds of relationships with God, the

foundational basis for what is spiritual refreshment, the alternative, and

the path forward. So four pieces to this sketch. I'll

remind you as we go, because I know that's a lot.

We'll start with the comparison. Here we go comparing two

kinds of relationship with God. The first one is this

spiritual weariness. That's the first piece of this sketch that

we see in Isaiah. Spiritual weariness. The people have essentially

this to say God is tiring. Man, what a burden.

God and his ways are always having a go to church, man,

I know, go to church like every week. Now, I

was a kid who was three times a week. I'm

just telling. I'm just saying three times a week. And

these folks are these folks are like God is tiring

to us. He is I'm weary of God. And God

responds and he keeps responding. They say that God is

tiring in verse twenty two. And then God says, listen,

I don't know why you're tired. I sure haven't worn

you out with worship. That's not really happening, And that

the folks are in a different place. There are a

whole whole parts of the worship that these people would

have had that aren't a part of their lives. He's like, look,

there are all parts of all kinds of all kinds

of parts to worshiping me that you're not even doing.

I don't know why you're tired. You've worn me out

with sin verse twenty four. I'm the one who forgives you.

I'm the one who blots out your sin verse twenty five.

And yet you're tired of me, he says, put me

in remembrance. Remind me of this track record that we've

got here. Your first father sinned. I honestly don't know

if he's talking about Adam or if he's talking about

Abraham or talking about Jacob. Well, all of them sin.

So take your pick. And your priests and your kings

have had a very poor showing. So, in other words,

verse twenty seven, my discipline of you is right. This

reminds me of kind of like a married couple who

are squabbling, finger pointing, blaming one another. Except for and

you know, that's an analogy that God uses himself. So

I feel like I'm in safe territory there, except for

in this argument, one of the spouses is for sure right.

Ever been there, ever been in one of those squabbles

where the other spouse just makes her point so clearly,

not viciously, but she just lays it out, here's what

you need to keep in mind. And you see it

and you're like, oh, you are for sure right. And

here I was trying to shift the blame, trying to

say this situation was your fault. God's like, if you're

tired of me, it's not because of me. This sort

of heart posture actually doesn't seem very far away, seems

pretty familiar right here, this picture of quietly resenting God

projecting blame, religiously active but spiritually resistant, like the Pharisees

from John five, who Jesus said, you search the scriptures

because you think that in them you have life. Man,

you're getting after it, but they point to me, and

you refuse to come to me. You refuse to come

to me myself. You're very busy with my things, but

you won't come to me myself, or like the older

brother from the parable in Luke fifteen, whose relationship with

the father is mostly duty. In fact, his relationship with

the father is I think well described as moral fatigue,

self pity, masked as faithfulness. Un listen unless you lest

you misunderstand me. I am not like really speaking about

unbelievers mainly. I mean, certainly, if you don't know God,

you are not in a position to be refreshed by him.

You will certainly have a relationship of resistance toward him.

But I'm also speaking to believers. Consider the church and

lay out a sea from Revelation chapter three. To whom

Christ says, you're neither hot nor cold. You say, you say,

I don't need anything. I'm good, and you don't even

realize you're poor and blind. You need pure gold for me.

You need white garments from me. You need the healing

of your eyesight from me. He's saying that to a church.

He's saying that to a group of Christians. You need

spiritual refreshment. You need me. Well, that's really the other

kind of relationship that we're comparing here. On one hand,

spiritual weariness. But then God gives us this picture of

spiritual refreshment. Starts in chapter forty four. He starts by

reassuring them. Now that's a great place to start for

spiritual refreshment. Give me reassurance. He says, you are my servant.

You are my chosen. I have made you, I have

formed you, and I will help you. You don't have

to be afraid. You're my chosen. Okay. If I'm gonna

be spiritually refreshed, that's where I want to start. Am

I yours are you mine? And he moves on. He says,

I will replenish you. I'm gonna pour out water. I'm

gonna pour out streams on a dry land. I'm gonna

pour out my spirit. I'm gonna pour out my blessing.

You're gonna be like like willows that grow up by streams.

Reminds of Psalm one. He will be like a tree

by streams of water. Replenished. I am. I like to kayak.

I got into it along the way. I think this

summer I probably took like two or three trips down

the San Marcos River. I love it. The thing I

love most about it is that sense of life and

vibrancy and vitality that is there. You're just You've got

trees growing up on the banks, and they're never gonna

run out of supply. They're never gonna stop being healthy trees.

They are literally they've got their roots dipping in the river.

I don't know if it's possible for trees to be jealous,

but I can't imagine how jealous a tree in a

field is over a tree by the river. And God says,

this is the kind of replenishment I am going to

give you. I am going to pour out my spirit

on you, and you are going to be like a

tree that never runs out of supply, and I'm gonna

reignite you. There will be those who say I am

the Lords. There will be those who write my name

on their hands the lords. Your devotion towards me will

be reignited. You'll be reply. I mean, I'm not really

a tattoo guy, but that's probably the only thing I

would do right the lords. Maybe the lords don't tempt me.

Do you have a category for this kind of relationship

with God? Reassured, replenished, reignited, spiritual vitality. I am his

and He is mine with joy. Listen. If you're not

a Christian, you need to understand that is what Christ offers.

That is a picture of what Christ offers forgiveness in

him and relationship with God that is marked like this.

He says in John chapter seven, what I offer you

is living waters that never run dry. But if you

are here as a believer, which most of you are,

I know that often you stop drinking. That the restoration,

the restoration of the joy of your salvation, the movement

from spiritual weariness to spiritual refreshment is needed in your life.

As Jesus says to the church in emphesis in Revelation,

you have lost your first love. Come back to your

first love, it's me. Well, here's our key question. What

is the foundational basis for one kind of relationship with

God over the other? What is the foundational basis for

moving from one to the other? And I asked that

not as a mere retrospective, right, like this is just

about them? Then this isn't just like a historical Look.

No again, Paul writes these things for our instructions that

we would have hope. But I'm also not asking that question. Comprehensively,

moving from spiritual weariness to spiritual refreshment may involve all

kinds of things. There may be all kinds of things

that God chooses to be a part of that. That's

not what I'm asking what all, what comprehensively is involved.

What I want to know is what's the foundational basis.

What is at the root of it all? And here's

the answer. And this is what takes us from point

one to point two. Foundational basis is God himself. It's

God himself, he says in verse six. Thus says the Lord,

the King of Israel and his redeemer, the Lord of Hosts.

I am the first and I am the last. Besides me,

there's no God. It's me who is like me. I

am the one that declares this. I am the one

that does this. There is no rock besides me it.

Notice he doesn't say, you obeyed your way back to me.

I'm not saying that obedience isn't import I'm just saying

it's not the foundational basis of this relationship. He he

doesn't say, you've prayed and studied your way back to me.

I'm not saying prayer and study aren't important. I'm just

saying it's not the foundational basis. It's not at the

root of all of spiritual refreshment. He doesn't say, you

know what the time was right. I'm not even saying

that God's sense of timing isn't important. There was certainly

a key ingredient here was his design of time. What

I'm saying, though, is that none of those things are

the foundational basis of moving from spiritual weariness to spiritual refreshment.

The foundational basis for this kind of spiritual refreshment is God,

God himself. He says, I am the first, I am

the last. The rescuer rescues, the redeemer, redeems, the savior saves.

He declares it, and he does it, as Titus three says,

he saved us not because of works done by us

in righteousness, but according to his own mercy. I want

to say this with some precision. Those who belong to

the God who does whatever he declares don't have foundational

control over grace except belonging to the God who does

whatever he declares. Those who belong to the God who

does whatever he declares don't have foundational control over grace

except just belonging to the God who does whatever he declares.

And that's a good thing. It is a good thing

for the most gracious and merciful God to actually be

in control of grace and mercy, not us. Is way

better for us that He be our gracious rescue, but

Christ be the location of our hope. And not our

own christianie stuff him himself. He is the one who

extends grace, which we earnestly trust by faith right Phesians two.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and

that's not your own doing. It's the gift of God,

not a result of works. So that no one may boast,

For we are his workmanship. He made us, we didn't

make him. He designed us, We didn't design him. God

himself is the foundational basis of our spiritual refreshment, and

not a God of our own making. Though the bent

of our fallen human heart is away from God himself.

It's towards our own alternatives. It's toward our own designs.

And that's actually the picture that we get next. So

we've seen this comparison between these two types of relationships

with God. We've seen the basis of spiritual refreshment. That's

where we want to be. It's God himself, and yet

our hearts tend towards this alternative, creating our own rescue.

Here's the picture quick sketch here starting in verse eight,

of all who fashion idols, and notice that the focus

is on the makers of idols, the craftsman as it

says in verse eleven, right, not just on idols in general,

which Isaiah has had a thing or two to say about.

Now he's talking about those who create idols. He says,

they are going to wear themselves out. You think God

is tyrant, idols will certainly wear you out Verse twelve.

You're gonna get faint. You're gonna work at it, but

in doing so, you fool yourself. You're deluded. It's hilarious.

It's actually a hilarious sketch. Right, Oh, we're working so

hard at creating this thing. I put half of it

in the fire, and I bake bread over it, and

I eat, you know, smoke some barbecue with it, and

the rest of it is going to be my God.

I've worked really hard at it. I have designed my

own rescue system. It's meant to be a satire on

how ridiculous it is to count on a god of

our own making, But how many of us are looking

to a God who is at least in part of

our own making. We have our own designs for who

God must be, and how he must act, and what

he must do, what his word must say, what he

must require and mustn't require and we have shaped our God,

or at least parts of Him, in our own designs,

and not a single part of those designs will be

a rescue, and every part of those designs will be

a delusion. Is not much different than our own self

rescue efforts. As it says in Romans, here are two

parallel passages in Romans. Romans one, they exchange the truth

about God for a lie and worshiped and served the

creature rather than the Creator. Well, what is the most

common idol we set up? Once parallels in Romans ten.

Being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to

establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.

The most common idol we set up is self righteousness.

Like the Pharisee at prayer in Luke eighteen, he's there praying, Oh,

thank you God that I'm not like them. I thank

you that you have given me an object of trust

than it is myself. Crafting an idol out of anything

will certainly wear us out. The idol of self righteousness

will wear us out faster than any other. I know.

It will delude us, and it will not deliver us.

And say, okay, well, believe that God himself is the

foundational basis for our spiritual refreshment. So what do I do?

Is this an entirely passive process? I mean, if God

is the basis, do I just you know't fold my

arms and say, all right, God, whenever you're ready, I'm

waiting for refreshment. It's not passive, which brings us to

our fourth piece of this sketch. We've seen the comparison

of these two types of relationships. We've seen the basis

for spiritual refreshment. We've seen the alternative that we're bent

towards creating our own. Here's the path forward. Look to

God himself. Actually look to God himself. It's not passive,

he says in verse twenty one. Remember these things. Remember

Remember who I am, Remember what I have declared, Remember

what I've done, Remember how we've been, and returned to

me Verse twenty two. Return to me. Look to me

for rescue and relationship. Your mind your mine. You're my servant.

I formed you. I've blotted out your sins. I have

redeemed you. I've done these things. Not your own self discipline,

your prayer life hasn't done these things. Your Bible reading

plan hasn't done these things. Your church attendance hasn't done

these things. Your careful, meticulous navigation of not breaking any

of the rules so that you can continue to look

good hasn't done these things. I have done these things.

But all of these things are good, believe me. But

all of them can be maneuvers of the heart to

keep the actual living God at arm's length. And I

am going to just spend my time doing my churchy

things and my Christian things and never actually engage in

a relationship, or not for a long time with the

living God who's actually calling me into relationship with him.

And before long, your heart says, God is exhausting. Yeah,

as you've designed him. But if you would return to me,

if you would call out to me, then he gives

us this picture of spiritual refreshment in verse twenty three.

The heavens and the earth called to sing, the mountains singing,

every tree singing. Why, because He has done it. The

Lord has done it. God himself is the foundational basis

of spiritual refreshment, and he calls us to look to

him for it, actually him. Listen, If our times in

prayer aren't actually looking to him, I don't know what

they're for. If our time and his word isn't looking

to him, I don't know what they're for. If we

gather here together on Sundays as a matter of scheduling

and do not look to him for relationship with him,

for refreshment from his hand, I don't know what it's for.

He is the basis of our refreshment.