Take Courage: A Call to Stand Firm in Faith

Is that he is alive.

And because he's alive, our sins can be gone.

We sang that good gospel song that I hadn't sung in a long time.

And they're buried in the depths of the deepest sea.

How many of you are glad for that today?

That's something we can rejoice in and builds our confidence

in what we're doing today and worshiping King Jesus and coming

to church to hear his truth.

And then we sang a challenging song for all of us.

And I was encouraged by the youth Sunday school this morning.

And it was our theme at camp this past summer.

The teens remember the theme was Take Courage.

And brother Jeremiah spoke.

I was in the guy's class over there on being courageous.

And we sang a song about that.

Did we not?

Stand up, Stand up for Jesus.

Right?

We need to have commitment to stand in.

The confidence in the resurrection and the confidence in

our salvation gives us the confidence to stand.

And then we sang Standing on the Promises of God.

We have a lot to be thankful for today.

A lot to firm us up and strengthen us to have more faith,

not less, to not fear, but to walk forward and to trust God and

to know he hasn't left us alone individually as families and

yes, as a body of believers as well.

And I've been encouraged by those songs this morning.

I hope that when you sing that you will always think about what

you're singing and not just let it go in one ear and out the

other.

It's not just a time filler, it's discipleship.

And so thank you to all the musicians and.

And I was thinking as the lady was singing the lighthouse song,

how fitting that was.

I love lighthouses.

How many of you know the song Let the Lower Lights Be Burning?

Right?

So there's a whole story about lighthouses that are manned.

Lighthouse, the main lighthouse.

Jesus Christ.

We are the lower lights.

We are to carry the light of the lighthouse.

Jesus Christ.

And because he's given us the light, we are to bear that light

out as lower lights.

That's a challenge to us every single day.

So thank you for the song as well.

And I was asked to also sing before I preach.

I hope that's okay with you.

But I'd like to sing a song that will get to Isaiah 40 and still

try to get you out on time.

I promise to try to do that.

I actually saw a skit about that just recently about long winded

preachers.

So I can't be a long winded preacher today.

But we'll do our best to get you out on time and I want to encourage

you to be back tonight as well.

Be back in the evening service.

I want to preach a message tonight just to tell you in advance

that I hope can be an encouragement to you from the testimony

in the life of the Apostle Paul.

And the title of the message, I'm going to give it to you in advance,

is the Energy to endure.

The Energy to endure.

And what is it that's going to gird us up and strengthen us and

give us the energy to continue to move forward faithfully.

And so I hope you'll be back this evening.

Now, just before I preach, I'd like to share a message in song that's

entitled His Grace is Greater God's grace is the only way of salvation

God's grace is the only way of strengthening our lives God's grace

is the only place of satisfaction for our life God's grace

is the only way through suffering and hurting and challenging

times as well.

But we can trust and depend upon his grace because his grace

is greater than all of our sins.

Lift your eyes to a distant hill in another time and place See

a cross standing stark and still A reflection of God's grace

God's own Son, a sacrifice pure and holy Spotless Lamb and though

he paid so great a price Was it enough for a sinner that I am?

His grace is greater his grace is full and free his grace is infinite,

reaching even me so freely given for all who will believe God's

grace is higher God's grace is deeper his grace is greater than

all our sin.

Marvelous infinite matchless grace Freely bestowed on all who

believe all who are longing to see his face Will you this moment

his grace receive a helpless soul?

I run to him bruised and broken Deep within gentle arms outstretched

for me Let me know the love that sets me free his grace is greater.

His.

Grace is full and free his grace is infinite, reaching even

me so freely given for all who will receive God's grace is higher

God's grace is deeper his grace is greater than all our sin.

Grace that is greater than all our Sarah.

We're looking to the Scriptures today.

In Isaiah 40, Isaiah means Yahweh is salvation.

Isaiah's prophecy is one of the most well known places where

we can go to show that God's promises are still being fulfilled.

We can see the the prediction of the Messiah and the prophecy to

the people of Israel of Him and specific ways.

Some of the most well known prophecies are there.

We see them of his birth.

We see them of his life.

We see them of, yes, his crucifixion in Isaiah 53, one of

the greatest passages that declares what's going to happen to

King Jesus because he loves us.

And Isaiah is a wonderful book.

It's a book that the first half brings out the judgment upon

the people of God.

God always brings judgment upon sin.

Do we know that today?

And God spoke a lot against the nation of Israel in confrontational

ways, in ways of disappointment.

And yet he always fulfills his promises to the people of God when

they come back to Him.

And the second part is the grace of God.

The whole second half brings out the promises of God, the comfort

that's going to come, the restoration of the people of God.

And where we're looking is right smack in the middle.

It's the beginning of that section.

And in chapter 40 it starts with those words, comfort ye, comfort

ye, my people.

How many of you know today we still need the comfort of God?

We still need to walk in, know that he is going to fulfill what

he says he will do.

It was John Stott that said this about prophecy and prophetic

passages.

Of particular importance is this principle with which I think

all of us would agree that the New Testament writers themselves

understood that the Old Testament prophecy did not just have

a single effect, but usually a trifold effect.

Past, present and future.

The past fulfillment was an immediate or historical fulfillment.

We see that in the life of the people of Israel, the present is

an intermediate or a gospel fulfillment of the prophecy of the

Messiah.

Praise the Lord for that.

But the future is ultimately an eschatological fulfillment in

the new heaven and the new earth.

How many of you looking forward to that?

So we have more of the promises of God than the people that

were defined for us that walked in faith in Hebrews chapter

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

11, who never, never had all the promises fulfilled that we've

had fulfilled.

But we have yet unfulfilled promises that are still yet to come.

And that is a reminder to us that this passage of Scripture was

not just for the people at that moment, and not just for the

people in the early church age moment.

But this is for the people of God still today.

And this passage brings great encouragement.

There's probably no more encouraging passage, in my opinion,

in the whole Old Testament than Isaiah 40.

Maybe you're like me, you just love this chapter.

Now, for sake of time, we won't be able to read the entire

chapter right now.

But for our text today, can we just begin reading towards the end

of the chapter Isaiah 40, beginning in verse 25?

To whom then will you liken me, or shall I be equal?

Saith the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes on high and behold who hath created these things

that bringeth out their host by number.

He calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for

that he is strong in power.

Say the last three words together.

Not one faileth.

One more time.

Not one faileth.

That's a great three word statement there.

And then notice the rhetorical questions again.

Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel?

My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from

my God.

Hast thou not known?

Hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator

of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary.

There is no searching of his understanding.

He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he

increaseth strength.

Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall

utterly fall.

And read out loud, verse 31.

You probably already know it, maybe have it memorized together.

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up with wings as eagles.

They shall run and not be weary.

They shall walk and not faint.

This chapter is challenging us, as one commentator said, to consider

how absurd it is to lose faith in the One who in relationship to

earth is all powerful, all wise, dominating, with no God to

challenge him, check him or rival him.

He is King of Kings, sovereign Lord of the Universe, in charge of

the world, down to the smallest minute details, so that

everything is in its place, nothing overlooked and nothing lost.

How could we ever question, how could we ever walk away from

trusting Him?

But we do.

And that's why the theme of this passage, I believe, is in that

very last verse.

It relates to this command to wait upon Lord.

Have you ever had to wait for something?

How many of you have been to a restaurant that wasn't worth waiting

for right before?

Okay, we all.

We all go to restaurants.

We sign in our name and we sit and wait.

We sit and wait.

And we sit and wait.

There are a few restaurants that are worth waiting an hour for.

Most of the time you're spending way too much money at those

types of restaurants.

I'm kind of the in and kind of out.

In and out.

Yes, in and out Burger.

But I'm kind of like the in and out type of person.

I don't really want to wait a long time for my meals.

Anybody else with me on that?

I'd rather go spend less money, still get decent healthy food.

At maybe a faster fast food place like Chipotle Mexican Grill

or something like that, or even Subway.

Then sit and wait for an hour for a meal that comes in is really,

really small.

Just recently I took my wife on a, on a trip for our 30th anniversary.

And we were commenting on this because we went to a couple really

nice.

Only actually two or three really nice restauran.

Because the rest of the time we're like.

That just doesn't do it for us.

You sit and you wait to get seated and then you sit and you wait

to order.

And then you sit and you wait to get the food.

And when the food came, it was like gourmet styles.

Yes, Very, very, very tasty, but way too small in my opinion.

Portions are important to me.

Anybody else with me on that?

Anyway, we've all been to restaurants where we had to wait

there.

Have you ever been to the dmv?

Oh my.

We do a skit about the dmv.

And you wait, you wait, you wait.

And just, just in time to get up there to tell them you don't.

For them to tell you you don't have what you need.

And then you have to go home and get that and come back, pull

a number and wait and wait and wait.

How many of you been frustrated in the dmv?

It's pretty much a known, known thing, right?

Why don't they make that a whole lot easier?

I don't understand that.

How many of you have ever been to an amusement park and you get

in a line and when I was a kid, every amusement park ride was

worth the wait.

When I became a parent, none of them was worth the wait.

Some of you understand that what I'm going to talk about today

is that we as God's people need to recognize that it is worth

waiting for the Lord.

And I want us to see three Bible principles from this chapter,

Isaiah 40, that we need in our lives, every one of us individually

and as families and as a church, that we would understand

that God is worth waiting for.

And I want us to see the principles that will prove in our

lives, according to this text, that God is worth waiting for.

Because we can say amen all day and we can say we want to trust

God today.

But what is it?

What does it really mean?

It's kind of cliche ish to say, well, just trust God.

Well, just trust God.

Well, let's look at what that really looks like.

I want you to notice first of all, in this text today, we can prove

that God is Worth waiting for.

When we acknowledge and admit, number one, admit the tendency of

man.

We need to admit the tendency of man.

Several times in this passage of Scripture, God, through Isaiah

speaks to us and speaks to them and says, who are you going

to compare unto me?

He talks about the tendency of man to build up idolatry in their

life.

He talks about how the things of the earth that should be growing

strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace have become much

more attractive.

And he talks about how they have made unto themselves idols.

Did you know that this is a tendency of all human beings?

We're all made to worship something, and our faith is not completely

sight.

And so we have to walk forward in faith, worshiping a God that we've

never seen, studying and knowing his word that he's given

to us, and trusting him and not living in idolatry.

Notice verse 18 with me.

And when it says this, to whom then will you liken God?

Again, a rhetorical question.

You can't liken God to anyone, or what likeness will you compare

unto him?

But he acknowledges that they were doing this.

The workman melts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth

it over with gold and casteth silver chains.

He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth

a tree that will not rot.

He's talking about other gods, other idols.

He seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image

that shall not be moved.

Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

He's questioning again.

Just like in our life, Do.

Do we have times where we set up idols in our heart, things that

are more important to us than God?

And the answer is yes, we do this.

The Bible in the New Testament says, seek you first the kingdom

of God, and all the other things will be added unto you.

We may not make idols of stone or idols of wood or idols that we

put up like a little Buddha in our.

In our house or like some places around the world.

But we have just as much idolatry in American Christianity,

and the idols have to come down.

We need to recognize that's a tendency for all of us to take God

off his rightful place and to let other things be more of a priority.

Can I say to you, cast out the idol.

Put Christ and God and his word and your faith back on the throne

of your life?

If you need to do that today, you're not waiting on the Lord.

You're not trusting him.

If there's idols in your heart.

So they had a tendency towards idolatry.

Verse 25 says, to whom then?

Will you liken me again, or shall I be equal?

This was clearly a problem, and it's still clearly a problem

today.

Our tendency is to place other things more important than God in

our life.

And there's a lot of questions we could ask ourselves to ask today.

If God is the priority of our life, where we spend our time, where

we spend our money, what's important to us?

What do we think about?

How much do we love His Word?

How much time are we spending in His Word?

How important is church to us?

And the ability to come and gather and not forsake ourselves

together as the manner of some is.

But so much the more, as we see the day approaching, you see,

when God is first placed on our throne, then the choices we make

show that.

So I hope that that will be a challenge to us to look deeply into

our heart to see if there needs to be any idols cast out of

our life.

But the second tendency that we have is not only of idolatry,

but is coupled in this idea of doubt and fear.

We have a tendency to doubt, and we have a tendency because of

that doubt.

It leads us to fear.

Verse nine says, O Zion, that bringeth good tidings.

Get thee up into the high mountain, O Jerusalem, that bringeth

good tidings.

Lift up thy voice with strength.

Lift it up.

Be not afraid.

Say those three words with me.

Be not afraid.

Did you know there's 365 times in the King James version of the

Bible that it says to fear not or be not afraid, or in some way

or form or fashion tells us to trust God and not to fear.

That's because all of us have that tendency in our humanity, in

our finiteness.

He's infinite.

We're finite.

And so in our finite beings, we have a tendency to place things

out of sorts.

And it leads us to doubt God.

It leads us to be afraid.

It leads us to fear.

Notice verse 15.

Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket and are counted

as the small dust of the balance.

Behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

If God can control the nations and hold everything together, why

are we questioning if he's in control of our own lives, why are

we fearing?

Why are we doubting?

Verse 27 says, your way is not hid from the Lord.

God is in all places and in all times and in ever present with

us.

And he is a God that is near us.

He hasn't forgotten you.

And our tendency in our humanity is to doubt God, God's promises.

And because of that doubt, it leads us to fear.

Maybe you look at the news and maybe you see the world affairs and

maybe you are like some of the people in scripture.

Why do the heathen rage?

Why does it look like all the bad people are getting away with

the bad things?

There's confusion, there's fear, there's doubt.

And the devil wants to bring even the world affairs into our lives

as we watch the news to cause us to doubt in a God who's in control

and he's working out all things for our good to them that

love God, to them are called according to his purpose.

That God hasn't left us alone, that he, he is still with us, he's

still in control.

There's no reason to fear, there's no reason to doubt.

But we've got to.

If we're going to ever properly trust God.

We have to admit our tendencies and put up guardrails

and boundaries around around idolatry.

To put up guardrails and boundaries around doubting and fearing,

which leads to faithlessness.

It leads to strangling us and paralyzing us.

And it's exactly what the devil wants to do.

God wants to use you, the devil wants to abuse you.

And I'm telling you, if you live in fear and you live in doubt,

you're definitely going to be going to be paralyzed in your Christian

walk.

And we have to acknowledge that that is present, that is there.

Don't you think?

That's why 365 times in the scriptures it tells us not to fear,

not, not to, not to be afraid.

Be not afraid.

Then there's a third thing.

And then we'll move on to point number two, a third tendency

that we have that comes in here and that is self dependence.

Trusting in our own way, thinking that we can do it without

God.

Even the use verse 30 says even the youth shall faint and be

weary.

It's specifically referring to this idea that even when you think

you have the strength of the youth, that you're in your prime

of life and you got, you got it all together and it seems like

everything's going well even then you're going to faint and utterly

fail.

You will utterly fall.

It says if you do that in your own strength.

He's literally dealing with a self dependent mindset.

This is something that is so easy to come into our lives.

We show our declaration of dependence upon God by how much we

Spend time in His Word.

How much we spend time on our knees, that builds our confidence,

it builds our faith, it helps us not to fear, and it helps us to

know our weakness.

Micah 6:8 says, he has showed the old man what is good and what

Micah 6:8

that the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, love, mercy, and

to walk humbly with thy God.

You see, when you think you got it all together, when you think

you can handle it, when you think you can do it in your own strength,

you're thinking wrong.

God resists the proud, but he gives grace unto the humble.

But let's just be honest.

We all have a tendency to think we've got it under control,

or that if we maneuver things right and manipulate things right

and we say the right things or go the right places and we do what

we do without God, it's always going to miserably fall.

Even if you're a strong person, even if you have good charisma,

even if you are a personality that kind of woos and wins people,

without God, it will miserably fall.

And we all have that tendency.

Instead of trusting, truly trusting God, we have a tendency,

because we don't see him, to trust our own way.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.

Lean not to thine own understanding, but in all your ways.

What?

Acknowledge him, and he shall direct your path.

All right.

So the first way that we can prove as individuals, as families,

and as a body of believers that he is worth waiting for is number

one.

We have to continually admit and advise ourselves and put boundaries

up for our own sinful tendencies that are clearly instructed

in this text.

But number two, I want you to notice we need to, number two, acknowledge

the truth about God.

There's probably no single chapter, the Old or New Testament,

that better declares the nature of our great God than Isaiah

40.

And we must acknowledge him for who and what he is.

Theme verse of our Christian camp is Philippians 3:10, which the

Philippians 3:10

young people could probably say with me, I won't make you do

that, but we say it at every single meal, that I may know him,

and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of

his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.

The whole point of life is to know our great God.

The whole point of salvation is to have a relationship with God.

It's not just to give us a home in heaven that's really, really

nice to have.

It's not just to give us a changed life, which is really, really

good to have.

But the priority is that we can have A relationship with the

God of Heaven that he longs to know you, and we ought to long to

know Him.

And the people that do know their God will be strong and do great

exploits.

So, number two, if we're going to prove that he's worth waiting

for, then we better get to know our God.

What can we find out about our God in this.

In this chapter?

First of all, he is Our Creator.

Verse 28 says he is the creator of the ends of the earth.

Verse 26, who hath created the heavens.

It references the fact that he names all the stars, puts the stars

there, and he knows them all by name.

No scientist has ever even been able to account for how many

stars there are.

And the universe will blow anybody's mind in our humanity.

But God knows them, created them, and knows them all by name.

He weighs the mountains in his scales.

I particularly like where he says he.

Down here, where he says verse 12, who hath measured the waters

in the hollow of his hand.

God can measure the waters of all the world in the hollow of his

hand.

That's pretty big hand, wouldn't you say?

He meted out the heavens with a span.

The span is from the thumb to the pinky.

God holds the entire universe right there.

It's pretty big.

God creating God.

We better know that he's creator.

Why is evolution such a damaging lie in our world?

It is exactly that.

It is a lie.

Why is it received?

There's so much ill logic in evolution anyway.

I was recently on a situation, I was going to a museum or something

and they.

It was all I could do not to speak up, but there was a crowd of

people and it probably wouldn't have been the right place,

but they were telling us millions and billions of years and

they were talking about evolution.

And there's so much illogic to evolution.

It takes actually more faith to believe evolution than it does

to believe in a creator.

And this text is actually forming questions like, you know

that I'm the creator.

And really, Romans 1 says, everybody will know that.

And they are without excuse because God is evidencing himself

as Creator God.

How many of you are glad for that today?

He's creator number two.

He's controller.

Everything is under his watch and under his control.

Verse 22 says, he sits upon the circle of the earth.

A little side note there that'll maybe help us to know that

the Earth is not flat, it is definitely round.

He sits on the circle of the Earth, stretches out the heavens

as a curtain, spreadeth them as a tent to dwell in.

I mean, our God is in control.

He is sovereign Lord, you say.

Yeah, it doesn't make sense.

It doesn't have to make sense.

You won't understand because you're not God.

But what God is doing with all the affairs of man, he brings up

kings, he takes down kings, he orders and he orders things to be

done.

He allows, I would definitely not say he orders and is happy with,

but he allows evil to take place.

And I'm shaking my head like you are with a lot of the evil in

the world.

How can God continue to let that go?

But I sure am glad he let my evil go so that I could come to grace

in God and have salvation through Jesus Christ.

So let's not be, let's not be two faced in that.

Because if he would have judged evil immediately, we'd all

be dead and in hell.

But I'm so glad in his wrath he remembers mercy.

Just remember that when you look at the world, in his wrath,

judgment is coming, judgment is falling.

He doesn't look kindly upon sin and he is orchestrating the affairs

of men.

And he is doing that for ultimately the end times, the eschatological

part that we talked about, that God's will is being done, God's

way is being done.

And ultimately we're going to see him take us out of this old world

to that which is real and that which is lasting and that which is

eternal.

Because he's in control and he's ordering it all.

And I think it really builds our faith when we see Old Testament

prophecies perfectly fulfilled in the New Testament.

And it helps us to see that God is truly in control.

Number three.

He's not only creator, he's not only controller, but he's counselor.

Verse 13 through 15. Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord,

or being his counselor, hath taught him.

Here's the idea here.

Has anyone had to teach God anything?

And the answer is no.

It's another rhetorical question.

With whom took he counsel?

Did God ever have to get counsel from someone who instructed

God and taught him in the path of judgment and taught him knowledge

and showed to him the way of understanding?

And the idea is nobody had to counsel God about anything.

His ways are best, his counsel is just, his statutes are right,

more to be desired.

Are they than gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb?

Moreover, by them as thy servant warned, and in keeping of

them there is great reward.

How do you receive the counsel of God right here, the whole counsel,

it's given to you right here is all we need for life and godliness

and the wonderful truths of the Word of God.

How much are you making of the Word of God?

How much are you getting to know God as the Counselor?

He is the Counselor.

All right, so he's the Creator, he's the controller, he's

the counselor.

Verses 1 through 11, we won't read them all, but the very first

verse, already acknowledged.

Comfort ye, Comfort ye, my people.

The whole text is bringing comfort to a people that were waiting

for the salvation of the Lord.

Aren't we still waiting for the ultimate end?

Well, God is bringing comfort to all of us.

Jesus Christ said, I will leave and I will give you another

comforter.

We have the Holy Spirit within us.

From the moment you get saved, he's with you.

He's your comforter.

Don't believe what some other false teachers are saying, that you

have to get the second blessing of the Holy Spirit.

No, you get the whole Holy Spirit.

The moment you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

The Spirit of God comes in to be your ultimate comfort, resting

in the Word of God and in the Spirit of God.

In the comfort of God, he is our comforter, no matter what you're

facing, no matter how hard the difficulties, because they are all

coming and they come our way, and sometimes in droves.

And they come in unique ways.

James chapter one says that.

How can we rejoice in our suffering now?

Rejoicing in our suffering is not exuberance.

It's deep faith in a God who we know is still in control.

It's not a lack of mourning, it's not a lack of tears.

It's not like just girding ourselves up when life is hard and

never showing signs of any emotion.

That's not what we're talking about here.

True joy is.

We can make it through the morning because notice what Jesus

said in the Sermon on the Mount.

Blessed are you that mourn, for you shall be comforted.

So when you know the comforter, you can mourn with joy.

You can grieve yet rejoice, folks, that without God is impossible.

But with the comforter, with the comfort of God that has come

to all of our lives, we can respond that way in faith.

He is comforter, Creator, Controller, Counselor, Comforter.

Hold on.

He's also chastiser, verse 23 through 24, and verse 18 through

20.

Let's look at verse 23 and 24.

That bringeth the princes to nothing.

He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

Yea, they shall not be Planted, Yea, they shall not be sown.

Yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth.

And he shall also watch this blow upon them, and they shall wither.

That's all it takes from our great God.

Just.

And the whirlwind shall take them away as what?

Stubble.

Hey.

So when you look at the world's leaders and the ones that

are affecting our world with all kinds of wickedness, and you

wonder what God's going to do to them.

All he has to do is blow and he's going to make them a stubble.

And again, may I remind us all that God is not only the chastiser

of the wicked ones, the ones that are away from him haven't received

him.

The ones that are doing evil of the world, but whom the Lord loves,

He chastens.

He's chastening us.

He's blowing in our lives his chastening hand.

He's making our sinful way to be of nothing and the godly way to

be right.

Blessed is the man that walks in the Godly way.

Psalm 1 says, Clear distinction between that person who

goes his own way and the one that goes God's way.

He is chastiser.

He's always trying to get us back into his way.

Is there something that needs to change in your life today to get

you back in the way of God?

The Bible says, ponder the path of thy feet.

Let all your ways be established.

Turn not to the right hand nor to the left.

Remove your foot from evil.

I plead with you individually and as a congregation.

Remove the evil and get yourself in a plain path, the path

of God.

Listen to the chastisement of the Lord in your life.

And he that confesses his sins, he is faithful and just to

forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It is a really good thing to be confronted and to be chastised

by a loving God.

I'm so glad I had a parent.

I had parents that chastened me.

They took the Board of education to the seat of learning.

That's what they did.

And I'm thankful for that.

I wasn't always thankful for that.

I didn't always understand that.

And you may not always understand it, you may not always

be thankful for it.

But when you mature, you'll look and you'll say, boy, I really

needed that.

And it really directed my path.

God is chastiser.

He's not going to let you get away with evil.

He's going to take down.

He's going to take down those and blow upon them and make them

as stubble.

And then he's caregiver.

He hasn't forgotten you.

Verse 11 calls him the good Shepherd.

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.

He shall gather the lambs with his arms and carry them in his bosom.

This is our God who takes us up.

The Lord is our shepherd, I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.

Whatever you're facing, God is caring for you.

I sent a text to a friend of mine who's going through some serious

deep trials right now.

Cast all your care upon him, for he careth for you.

It's hard to carry burdens if you're trying to carry them alone.

It's still hard even when you know God is caring for you.

But how much better when you rest in the all caring love of our

our caregiver, Our shepherd who leads and guides us.

And then he's our confidence.

Verse 29 he giveth power to the faint.

So don't faint in the day of adversity, because if you do, your

strength is fall, is small.

Gather the power, the confidence from God Almighty to make

it through whatever God is leading you through.

For he is our confidence.

He brings strength to the weary.

He helps us to run and not be weary, walk and not faint.

All right, so this is our God.

Number two is to acknowledge him, to know Him.

The people that do know their God will be strong and do great exploits.

Spending so much time understanding our own tendencies

will definitely lead us to a trust in that type of a God.

Acknowledge who God is.

And then third, I want you to notice we have to apply what we know.

We have to apply proper trust in God.

And this is where verse 31 comes into play.

God lays out our tendency.

We're going to struggle.

We're going to be weak.

We're going to faint.

We can't do this without the caregiving, controlling Creator comforting

God.

We can't do life without Him.

Do you believe that today?

So therefore you need to wait on the Lord.

Wait on the Lord, he says, and you will renew your strength.

They will mount up with wings as eagles.

You will run, not be weary.

You will walk and not faint real quickly.

Lamentations 3:25 this is not just a text here.

Lamentations 3:25

This is all through Scripture.

The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that

seeketh him.

Psalm 33:20 Our soul waiteth for the Lord.

Psalms 33:20

He is our help and our shield.

Psalm 27:14 Wait in the Lord and be of good courage.

Psalms 27:14

And he will strengthen thine heart.

Wait, I say, on the Lord.

Micah 7:7.

Micah 7:7

Therefore I will look unto the Lord.

I will wait for the God of my salvation.

My God will hear me.

And we could literally quote verses, verses all afternoon from

this idea of waiting on the Lord.

There is a sense of patience, but it's more a sense of.

Of trust.

So as we don't see everything that God is doing, we're patiently

depending on Him.

And I want to just encourage you about what that waiting looks

like.

Andrew Murray said this.

Let waiting be our work as it is His.

And if his waiting is nothing but goodness and graciousness, let

ours be nothing but a rejoicing in that goodness and a

confident expectancy of that grace.

Wait on the Lord.

What does it mean to wait on the Lord?

Because like I said earlier, it's easy to say, well, just trust

in God.

That's a really easy thing to say.

But what does that simple phrase mean?

Number one?

It means daily searching the Word of God for wisdom, for thinking

and living daily and moment by moment, trusting in the promises

of God and being faithful to them.

Which is number two.

Daily and moment by moment being obedient to.

To the commands of Scripture.

Listen, you are not trusting God if you're not obeying something

of the word of God.

We're not really properly trusting him if we're being disobedient

to his commands.

Daily and moment by moment.

Number three, fighting the fight against the world, the flesh

and the devil.

If we're properly waiting on the Lord, then we're willing to fight

against the enemies of the cross, the enemies of our faith.

And we're going to stand up, stand up for Jesus.

And we're going to fight against the world.

We're going to fight against the flesh, we're going to fight against

the devil, for those things are going to take us down.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

It is daily and moment by moment, then resting in his plan

and his perfect will, in spite of a lack of human perspective and

understanding.

So when our perspective is skewed in our humanity and we have

a tendency to not lean into the Lord, and that's the moment we

need to lean even more into the Lord leaning on the everlasting

arms.

And he has plenty of strength to go around.

What a fellowship, what a joy divine.

To lean on the everlasting arms of God.

And moment by moment, daily is.

Is the idea here.

This isn't just a one time.

I'm going to trust God.

No, this is an ongoing perpetual thing.

Daily understanding his word and wisdom, living it out in obedience

and fighting the good fight of faith and trusting his perfect will

in spite of our understanding.

And then daily and moment by moment, moment more on this tonight,

enduring and anticipating our eternal home.

For we are called to wait on the coming of the Lord.

And while waiting, we are to be working.

And while working, we are to be warning be involved in the soul

winning efforts of the church.

I notice you're starting up your soul winning campaign.

You should be there.

Because part of our waiting in the Lord is not sitting around.

No, it's working and warning other people and getting out and

being busy for the Lord.

But the coming of the Lord is nigh.

And moment by moment, day by day, having confidence that he is

going to come looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing

of our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

So when we do these things, we get total confidence in God and His

Word, total obedience to his, his will and his plan for our life.

Then the spiritual lens of discernment comes into our life.

We can walk in the midst of the day and be in the light.

In the darkness, the light will shine brightly out of us.

This is what he means when this is the only way to run and not

be weary.

This is the only way to walk and not faint.

Running is the exceptional demands of life.

Do you have stuff in your life right now that's just over the top?

It's like not the norm.

It's stuff that's going on.

Well, God in His strength can give you the strength to run.

The walk, some said, is the ordinary daily grind.

That's the getting up and doing the same thing over and over

again.

Going to work, you know, being busy about your life in Christ, raising

your kids, all the different things that are just normal life.

And our walk and our running can be nurtured and strengthened

as we wait on the Lord.

But it must be applied properly.

We're not waiting on the Lord just because we show up to church.

We're not waiting on the Lord just because we claim we're a Christian.

We're waiting on the Lord when we do what he calls us to do.

And we do it daily and moment by moment.

And when we fall, we.

We get back up and we faithfully pursue Him.

God is looking for that type of Christian today.

That's what you and I can be.

You as an individual, you as a family.

This congregation can see.

The strength of God can be renewed in your life so that you

can run and not be Weary and you can walk and not faint.

God has not left you alone.

And he is worth waiting for.

Whatever the weight is.

God is doing his work.

So restaurant may not be worth waiting for, and definitely a ride

at Disney World may not be worth waiting for, but God Almighty

is.

So I call you to wait on the Lord.

If you're here today and you didn't, you came to church, but you

don't know Christ as your Lord and Savior.

This Testimony of Isaiah 40 is a prophecy of the Messiah that came

for all of us.

For it's a prophecy of the comforter, Jesus Christ.

It's a prophecy predicting that he is going to come in the future

to make all things right, which he did.

He lived, he walked on this earth.

He suffered and bled and died.

He rose from the grave.

And the Gospel account, the death, burial and resurrection of

Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation.

It's only through Jesus Christ.

So if you're here today and you've never trusted in Jesus Christ

as your Lord and Savior, I say wait on the Lord, trust him, believe

on Him.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Today can be the day of salvation for you.

I plead with you, don't leave this place.

Not sure, living in doubt, not sure of your salvation.

God wants you to be sure of that.

And by faith, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt

be saved.

And then my final appeal is for all of us as believers in the

midst of a wicked world and desperate days and times of trial,

as we go about our business of life, may we ask God to help us to

run and not be weary and walk and not faint.

May we ask God to help us prove in our lives that he is worth

waiting for by admitting our tendencies and setting up guards

and boundaries around our tendencies, knowing where we need

help and getting that help, and then trusting in our great God

and knowing him better.

Creator God, comforter God, caregiving God, et cetera.

And then applying that by daily investing our lives into knowing

His Word, being obedient to it, staying in his pathway, being

faithful.

Because that's when God blesses with strength he will prove

that he is worth waiting for.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes as our heads are

bowed and our eyes are closed?

We'll have a hymn of invitation in just a moment.

And I want to just encourage you to respond to this personally

in your life and pray before the Lord and maybe confess some area

of your life or just declare your dependence on him again.

Trust in him and walk in his peace.

And maybe you're facing some hard times, and maybe you just need

to get on your knees and you need to just tell the Lord, I'm trusting

you, you're in control.

I believe you.

But maybe there's a sin that needs to be confessed.

A way of fear in your life, a way of doubt in your life, a way

of idolatry in your life, a way of sinfulness in your life.

I want to encourage you to confess and forsake that today there'll

be a pastor here at the front.

If you are here without Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, today

is the day of salvation for you.

I plead with you to come to Christ.

Just step from your seat and tell the pastor here at the front,

one of the pastors that's here, and I want to encourage you

to go and trust Christ as your Lord and Savior.

We'll send somebody with you to show you from the Bible how you

can be saved.

So with heads bowed and eyes closed, let's just quietly stand

to our feet.

The hymn of invitation is cleanse me 534.