[audo:http://www.bethelbentonville.com/wp-content/uploads/090322PM%20The%20King%20is%20Still%20on%20the%20Throne.mp3|titles=The King is Still on the Throne|authors=Justin Williams]
This audio is a message preached by our Youth Pastor, Justin Williams and is based on Isaiah 6. You can read Justin’s blog at Justin’s Refuge.
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Based on Isaiah 9:6-7
ONE GREAT TRUTH: People in darkness have only one hope and it is found in a child – Jesus, who grew up to be the Savior of the world!
“Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.” -Micah 7:8
When I was rather young, I went sledding down Bowling Green’s “Hospital Hill” one snowy day with my brother and my Dad. I was so excited about taking my first run on my own, but something went terribly wrong. there was a snowdrift covering a stump and I hit it head on. The sled went down, I went up (and what goes up must come down) and I hit the ground and lay flat on my back. My wind was gone, I felt I couldn’t breathe, and I was panicking. In moments my brother and my Dad were there to check on me. But the instant they saw that I would survive, their concern turned to jubilation. They laughed! They laughed hard! And I must admit, it was probably funny.
Others often take our calamity lightly. Our pain and our suffering, to us, is always immense. We see the world from a darkened valley while the masses look on from the cliffs and mountain peaks. Our enemies especially take advantage of every opportunity to rejoice in our tragedies. But for the Christian there is a great promise – our calamities are but for a moment. Micah, the contemporary of Isaiah, knew what would befall Israel in a matter of decades. He knew of their coming captivity and the suffering they would endure under slavery to Babylon.
The nations around Israel could rejoice at her defeat, but Micah, speaking under inspiration of God gave warning to the nations. Rejoice not! We have not been destroyed, we shall rise! Darkness is inevitable, it will consume half of every day. Falling is part of life. But Micah reminds us that for all of the failures of the children of God, there will be a rising in the end. For the darkness we endure here, there is the light of God’s presence and the revelation of His promises. The future is bright, our hope endures. As children of the King, we shall rise and reign! Take courage, be hopeful, the end is not yet!
“But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” -Isaiah 66:2 (ESV)
A man was given a Bible as a gift. Often Bibles will have imprinted on them the new owner’s name, but this particular gift Bible did not have an engraving on the front, but on the back. Only one word was engraved, “TREMBLE.” Inside the giver had written a reminder of Isaiah 66:2.
Do you tremble at God’s word? This trembling can certainly convey a variety of feelings. Trembling can represent an anxiousness and anticipation. Trembling can represent an overwhelming joy. But in this case, trembling represents a fear, reverence, and awe. When we come to grips with the magnitude of God through His perfect Word, we are prompted to tremble.
What an awesome book, the Bible! What an awesome God! He is robed in majesty, seated on the throne of heaven, ready to come with judgment in His hand. When God speaks, we ought to listen. When our Creator whispers through the veil into our ears, we should immediately stand to attention. Yet the Almighty often goes unheeded. His words are neglected. His voice is ignored. Oh, that we would learn to TREMBLE.
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; His glory fills the whole earth.” -Isaiah 6:3 (HCSB)
God’s holiness cannot be defined in terms of human goodness for “there is none good, no not one.” Instead, we must realize that God’s holiness speaks of His transcendent perfection. To say that God is holy does not merely mean that He is ultimately moral, but rather that He is completely removed from anything imperfect. His holiness is defined by His separateness.
God’s glory cannot be defined in human terms either. His glory is the outward manifestation of His holiness, His infinite worth. His holiness is the shining radiance, the majestic splendor of His ultimate worthiness. Isaiah said that the whole earth was filled with His glory. All of creation screams that God is holy, transcendent, and set apart. All of His creatures testify of His creative power and genius.
Only human beings fail to bring God glory and one day “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.” Have you yet caught the vision of Isaiah concerning our holy and majestic Lord? Only when He is the object of your devotion will He receive glory from your life, and only when He receives glory from your life can you fulfill your God-given purpose for existence. Have you called Him Lord yet? Will you call on Him as Lord today?
“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.”—Isaiah 40:15
I was in a conversation recently with a friend in which we were talking about the biggest issues facing humanity. I believe that the biggest issue today is spiritual blindness, that if people don’t hear and receive the gospel, they will spend eternity in hell. My friend gave me a rather funny look.
You don’t hear about “spiritual blindness” on any major news network. We focus on AIDS, poverty, the war in Iraq, stem-cell research, partial-birth abortion, and whatever other hot button issues sell advertising time. We begin to think as though these are the “big” issues. Let’s expand our worldview for a moment.
Most people live life looking through a microscope. They survive every day, seeing only those issues which directly and immediately affect their own lives. Others live life looking through binoculars. They are able to see some of the major issues facing people around the world, such as the issues discussed above. But Bible-believing people ought to live life looking through a telescope from outer-space. We ought to have the highest perspective on the world’s problems.
While everyone else may focus on day-to-day problems, or even problems facing nations, Christians ought to see the world from God’s panoramic perspective, and spiritual blindness is on the very top of His list of issues facing the world. What’s your world view?
“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” -Isaiah 8:20
In our economy, Christians are on trial. The New Testament calls believers “witnesses.” In God’s economy, the world is on trial. The world is always testing people of Christian faith to see if our faith is reasonable, to see if we are truly enlightened with knowledge. Are we backwoods Bible-thumpers or intelligent and viable thinkers?
God, on the other hand, has the world on trial. God’s Word declares that we must run to the law and to the testimony as the standard of absolute truth. Whatever is not in agreement with God’s Word results not from enlightenment but from spiritual darkness. The world is failing the test, along with much of so-called Christianity. But there is always the steadfast hope of triumph for those who choose to be truly enlightened, running to the truth of God’s Word as the highest and loftiest standard of truth.
What we need today in Christianity is not a new and sensational outpouring of emotionalism. We do not necessarily need a more refined and high-class pulpit from which to bellow an intellectual mileu of theological arguments. We need a new, old-fashioned enlightenment from God’s perfect Word. We need a new hunger for the depths of the riches of the knowledge of God from the pages of sacred Scripture.
Here’s the charge today, run… “to the law, and to the testimony” for a new, old-fashioned enlightenment based on the absolute truth of God’s holy Word!
“Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil.” -Isaiah 1:16
Some people have the mistaken assumption that the God of the Old Testament is a harsh God and the God of the New Testament is a soft God. The reality is that God’s character has never changed at all. He said through the prophet Isaiah, “cease to do evil…” He said through His Son, “go and sin no more…” He is loving, but harsh toward our sin. He forgives, but He has high expectations as well.
Repentance is sometimes misunderstood as being the same as confession, but repentance means to change the way we think. It involves confession, which means to agree with God about our sin. So if we confess our sins, thereby changing the way we think about our sin, then the follow-through will be a ceasing, a forsaking. God is patient and knows that we often make the same mistakes repeatedly. That does not, however, lessen His expectations for us, nor does it weaken His potential to work in us.
If you feel like your sins are impossible to overcome, remember this truth: God would never command you to do something you are not capable of doing in His power, such as ceasing from sin. Instead, He wants you to learn to rely on him for “it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13) The desire to cease from sin comes from Him, as does the ability. Before you can cease from sin, you must surrender to Him.
Based on Isaiah 43:18-21
The passage we are reading is quoted out of context quite often. I have heard well-meaning Christians say, “God says He will do a new thing… well this is it!” But what exactly is it that Isaiah is talking about? Remember that Isaiah very accurately prophesied of the Babylonian captivity to come. He gives the reasons, the indictments for which God is bringing the captivity as judgment.
What is the new thing that God will do? It’s a prophetic statement about the re-gathering together of Israel. Please don’t misunderstand the text, which was written with a direct application to the Jewish people. What is the principle we learn from it today? It gives us great insight into the character and heart of God. I believe we can learn some great lessons from God’s Word to Israel as we approach a new year…
God says that if we’re to move forward with the confidence of God, there are some things we need to completely forget but there are always things we must remember as well. Let’s sort it out.
A. What to carry.
1. The Word of God.
2. The work of God among His people.
3. The positive responses of God’s people.
2 Thess. 2:15 – “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.”
B. What to bury.
1. The sins of our past.
Ps. 103:12 – “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”
2. The suffering of our past.
Here are two important questions for some self-evaluation as you start your new year:
1.) What do I need to bury from my past? What will hinder me from living for Jesus in ’06?
2.) What is something God has given me in 2005 that I need to carry with me?
One of the most prominent ways we often face the new year is with fear and intimidation. We’re afraid of change, of the unknown, of the uncertainties of life. But God always gives us reason to “fear not.”
A. When we are lost, He has a map for us.
B. When we are thirsty, He has a river for us.
C. When we are afraid, He has a Word for us. (go back to verses 1-3a)
What are you facing in 2006 that you need to pray about today? What do you believe God is going to lead you to do this year that you need to be ready for?
Notice something about this statement. God makes it through a prophet to a people who are being very rebellious. Isaiah’s message has been one of judgment because the people are backslidden. But here God looks at His people and says, “They will show forth my praises.” God looks at Israel and He sees what they can become.
We can look forward to the ways in which God might use us this year if we are fully surrendered to His will. We can also look forward to the great worship service in the sky when all of God’s people will be gathered together.
Philip. 2:10-11 – “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Are you looking forward to 2006? If Jesus is in charge, then you can anticipate God being active in your life this year. What are you praying for God to do in your life this year? What kind of growth do you want to see?
Resolutions are faulty only because they are uttered by such weak lips. In reality, it’s good to make commitments to God periodically. Jonathan Edwards made some great resolutions at a very early age and one was to meditate more upon his own impending death. Another was to always be doing what he would want to be doing if he knew Jesus was going to come in the next hour.
What if Jesus came today? Are you prepared for His coming?
Brandon is first and foremost a follower of Jesus Christ. He's a husband to Angie and a Dad to Ella Grace and Samuel David. He's a Pastor to Bethel Baptist Church, Editor of Fuel Your Blogging and also a logo and web designer.
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