Series: Isaiah
Title: Prayer Answered
Text: Isaiah 51: 12-16
Date: March 3, 2013
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Today our text is our
Mediators answer to our prayer. As we read our text, I will give you our
divisions.
Divisions: 1) Our Savior reminds us God is our
Comforter and Creator—v12: I, even
I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest
be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which
shall be made as grass; 13: And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath
stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast
feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he
were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor? 2)
Our Savior reminds us God is the Lord of hosts—v14: The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he
should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. 15: But I am
the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is
his name. 3) Our Savior reminds us his purpose in all things is our
salvation—v16 And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I
have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and
lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.
Title: Prayer Answered
Proposition: The
answer Christ gives from the Father into our hearts is to correct us and remind
us that his very purpose for creating this world and for all that comes to pass
in it is our everlasting salvation.
I. CHRIST OUR MEDIATOR REMINDS US GOD IS OUR COMFORTER AND OUR ALL
POWERFUL CREATOR
Isaiah 51: 12: I, even I, am he that comforteth you:
Christ is our Comforter, our
Consolation. He reminds us God shall continue to comfort us.
Isaiah
51:3: For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places;
and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of
the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice
of melody.
Isaiah
66:13: As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall
be comforted in Jerusalem.
Christ comforts us so we can
comfort one another.
2
Corinthians 1:4: Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able
to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves
are comforted of God. 5 For as the
sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
John
14:18: I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
Application: Brethren, the LORD says, “Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people.” So let us seek to
be a comforter to one another, brethren.
I can assure you that as you seek to comfort your brethren, the Spirit
of God will greatly comfort you.
So the Lord asks us a
question, in verse 12, “who art
thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the
son of man which shall be made as grass?” Man is not one we should fear.
Isaiah
40:6: The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass,
and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: 7 The
grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon
it: surely the people is grass. 8 The
grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for
ever.
We saw before, after
declaring that his word shall proceed from him, Christ said the same thing in
verse 7:
Isaiah
51: 7: Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart
is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their
revilings. 8: For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall
eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation
from generation to generation.
Application: What are some ways you and I fear
man?
1) A young believer is out
with friends. The group wants to do something you know is not honoring to your
Savior. But you are fearful of what they
will think of you if you walk away, if you call home, if you tell them to let
you out of the car. The Master says, “who
art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die.”
2) Someone comes to hear the
gospel. They know they are hearing the
gospel. But because of the influence of family or friends they stop coming.
That is “fearing man”, rather than God.
3) Maybe it is something fiercer
than those examples. On one occasion
rulers in government threatened Peter and John, commanding them not to preach
Christ to the people:
Acts
4: 19: But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in
the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. 20: For we
cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
Those days are coming again.
I showed you last time that Christ has worked a definite repeated order of
events throughout history. The pattern is: bondage before deliverance. Pharaoh bound Israel then the LORD came and
delivered his remnant. Babylon bound Israel then he came and delivered his
remnant. The elect were bound in Jerusalem when Christ came in person and set
them free.
This world will once again
persecute the church then Christ shall come the second time and deliver us.
Things will get very bad before Christ returns the second time. We have never really been persecuted for the
gospel. Those who don’t have root to
stand with us now, they will surely be on the side of our persecutors in that
day for fear of men. What will we do as
days get worse and worse? Cling closer to our Redeemer. Christ is our
Comforter—cling to him.
Illustration: The
buffalo calf and the wolves.
Christ reminds us that not
only is God our Comfortor but our Savior is God our all-powerful Creator in
verse 13: And forgettest the LORD thy
maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the
earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the
oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the
oppressor?
Our Maker “stretched forth
the heavens.”
Is
40: 12: meted out heaven with the span…22: stretcheth out the heavens as a
curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
He made all things for
himself—even the wicked for the day of
evil—even the oppressor—that he
might make his power and mercy known on you whom he has called. So he asks, “Why have you “feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as
if he were ready to destroy?” “Where is the fury of the oppressor?” Where
is Pharaoh? The king of Assyria? The king of Babylon? The scribes and
Pharisee’s who tried to silence the gospel?
Isaiah
54: 5: For
thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and
thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be
called…15:…whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for
thy sake. 16…I have created the waster to destroy. 17: No weapon that is formed
against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in
judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
We vainly imagine that if we
get the favor of the “man in charge” then we can get judgment to go in our
favor. But the judgment of the elect of God is in his hand.
Proverbs
29:26: Many seek the ruler’s favour; but every man’s judgment cometh from the
LORD.
Luke
12:4: And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body,
and after that have no more that they can do. 5: But I will forewarn you whom
ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into
hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
Application: Sinner, one of the reasons you have
never openly confessed faith in Christ is because you fear men: you fear the
reproach of friends or family. Take for example: a man who believes but has
never confessed Christ publicly in baptism because he fears offending a family
member—that is fearing men. If you fear God and believe on Christ then confess
him. The Lord may use your witness for the good of your family member.
II. CHRIST OUR SAVIOR REMINDS US THAT OUR GOD IS THE LORD OF HOST
Isaiah 51: 14: The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed,
and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. 15: But
I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The
LORD of hosts is his name.
When men become captives,
they hasten to be loosed, so they won’t die chained in the pit, so their bread
should not fail and they die in the prison house. Sinner, you are captive to sin. The pit you are in is the
pit of your own corruption, of sin and death. Your bread has failed. You are
“without God, without Christ and without hope in the world.” You have no bread, no life.
Isaiah
50: 1: Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your
transgressions is your mother put away.
Believer, we too become
captives in many ways even after the Lord Jesus calls us. But we have no
excuse. It is the fear of man, it is our fleshly man, our unbelief. Our Lord says the problem is worsened when we
see our captivity, then try to hasten our deliverance by our own hand, he says,
in verse 15: But I am the LORD
thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is
his name.
Believer, you who have truly
been born of the Spirit of God, Christ our Savior is “the LORD THY God.” And
you who have never confessed Christ, it may just be today, that the Lord is
revealing in your heart that he is the “LORD thy God!” Only the LORD God can
save us.
Like as Christ divided the
sea, whose waves roared for his ransomed to pass over, Christ divided the sea
of sin and death for his elect on the cross. He bore the fury of the waves of
just judgment in his own body on the tree in the place of those given him of
the Father. Now, the law’s yoke is removed off his people so we can walk freely
across the sea on dry ground. He divided sin off his people as far as east is
from the west. He conquered death by his death, as he conquered the Red Sea
Job
33:24: Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to
the pit: I have found a ransom.
The LORD of hosts is his
name. The GodMan Mediator has all power in heaven and in earth given as the
reward from the Father for accomplishing so great salvation for his people.
Colossians
2:15: And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of
them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Christ is the Lord of the
armies in heaven and earth. The king of Babylon said himself:
Daniel
4: 35: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he
doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of
the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?
Therefore our Sovereign
Savior is able to save in every way: in a natural sense, over all government,
and in the spiritual sense. He is the LORD of lords; —the LORD of hosts is his name!
Application: Sinner and saint, look to no other. The
largest most ferocious and furious oppressor in this earth is a little ant in
the hand of God our Redeemer—
Proverbs
21:1: The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he
turneth it whithersoever he will.
III. CHRIST OUR SAVIOR REMINDS US THAT THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH HE IS
DOING ALL THINGS IS OUR SALVATION
Isaiah 51: 16: And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have
covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay
the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.
It is the Lord our Redeemer
who has called us, “And I have put my
words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand.” He put his words in our mouth, like the
Father did him when he came and redeemed his people. I stand here before you this hour a helpless,
powerless, earthen vessel. But I stand here as one in whose mouth the LORD of
lords has put his words. I stand here
with absolutely no power to take my next breath, but I stand here covered in
the shadow of his hand.
The purpose for which he
gives us the words of eternal life, is that he might accomplish the purpose for
which God the Father sent him. He says in verse 16, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and
say unto Zion, Thou art my people.
The new heavens and the new
earth wherein dwelleth righteousness are the heavens and the earth spoken of
here. Christ plants the new heavens by planting his word in the hearts of each
of his people through the hearing of the gospel. Christ lays the foundations of
the earth by laying each of his elect upon Christ our one Foundation. Because
the purpose which God the Father purposed in himself was:
Ephesians
1: 10 That in the dispensation of the
fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both
which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
So that God who is
invisible, might bring his elect children together in the GodMan, so that we
might see God face-to-face in the face of Christ Jesus, and God might “say unto Zion, Thou art my
people.” You see Zion is his people, not a mountain of dirt in the middle
east. His church is his people: not a
building of sticks and stones. His kingdom is his people, not a political
kingdom in this sin-cursed earth.
He made this heavens and
earth so that after all came under the curse he might show his glory, make his
power known, his grace known, by saving a remnant into that new heavens and new
earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Everything there is the creation of the Lord our Righteousness. God the
Father entrusted the work to God the Son and “he shall not fail, till he hath
set judgment in the earth and the isles—all his elect from among every nation
in this earth—shall obey his word.
God who preserves us is the
God of absolute, unalterable purpose; and his purpose is the purpose of grace,
to save us from our sins into his presence, perfect and spotless so that we can
have perfect communion with him. So sinner cast your care into his hand. And brethren, fear not.
Romans
8: 31: What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us?
Illustration: We are so fearful because we think our
stuff is our security. Our worry hinders us from communion with God our Father.
Imagine if Scott were in a far country. One of you called him and said,
“William has Christine and the children locked out of the house. He is saying
that he is worried, that he needs a roof over his head, he needs clothes, he
need food. So he has them locked out because he can’t afford to share with them
anything in his house.” Then Scott calls
me and tells me to go and tell William, “Son, why are you worried? I own the
whole house, everything in it, the ground it sits on and I own you. I will
provide everything for you.” Well, brethren, God our Father has sent me here
today with this message for you, his children, “All that we call our own belongs
to God, and by purchasing us with his blood, we belong to God.”
Romans
8: 32: He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how
shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Fear
not man! Fear the Lord! Cast all care
into his hand and rest in him.
Amen!