The Way Of Faith (28/02/1999)

Isaiah 51 is our chapter for tonight. Which way are we going in this life and beyond and who do we listen to? Are we going the way of faith in the one true God and everlasting life or are we going the way of the world? Perhaps some of you here tonight have just begun the way of faith in Jesus Christ through the mission at Newcastle University this past week. Maybe others of you are still unsure or have even been close to giving up the way of faith. Apparently in Germany there's a drinking fountain with the inscription on the bowl, 'Come and drink'. The problem is that when you come closer, it quickly becomes apparent that there is no tap, no lever, no handle to be seen anywhere on it. At that point some people give up and go away frustrated and thirsty. The secret is that you have to lean forward in faith, and at that moment a hidden beam will be broken, and a jet of water will spurt up for you to drink. Those going the way of faith, according to Isaiah 51:1,4 &7, are those who pursue righteousness and seek the Lord, those who have a personal relationship with God through faith in Christ. Those who have confidence in the faithfulness of God and the reliability of his promises, to live by faith in the present in the light of what God is going to do in the future, to believe his Word and to have God's law in our hearts which means to belong to him and be saved. The way of faith in Christ is the way to the fullness of eternal life. But while we are still in this world, the Babylon of today, the way of faith is not easy is it? Jesus never said it would be. There will be mocking. We will feel on our own sometimes. It involves following in the way of Christ - the suffering and the glory. It involves stepping out in faith. It involves believing that God will keep his Word. It involves trusting God that he does forgive. It involves trusting God for a future hope we can't see. Here in Isaiah 51 God's people had discovered that the way of faith is not easy while in exile in Babylon. Some were giving up on the hope of salvation and freedom. Others, the faithful remnant, were still going the way of faith and hope but were struggling with doubts about God's faithfulness and doubts about themselves as God's people, with persecution and with feeling outnumbered. They believed God was going to act but when? Perhaps some of us here tonight are finding the going tough at the moment. Maybe home or school or work or college is difficult and we feel pretty much on our own there as a Christian. We're fearful of stepping out in faith. We're discouraged by the response of others to our faith and we've lost sight of the future hope. Will Jesus really return? some of us ask. Well for those of us who are going the way of faith but feeling under pressure from the world and guilty about our lack of faith the Lord God has some words of comfort and encouragement for us to listen to in Isaiah 51. "Listen to me", he says. Have faith in fact not feeling. And how vital it is to a growing faith that we do, that we do listen to him through his Word, through hearing it preached and through our own Bible study and prayer. Romans 10:17 insists that,

"Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ."

Yet a recent survey from Scripture Union showed that 60% of churchgoers in this country never read their Bibles outside church. Are we part of that statistic? We must feed on God's Word, it is our daily bread. But we are tempted not to rely on God for spiritual feeding. Jesus was tempted in a similar way in the wilderness. He said, "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God". So are we listening to him now? First, LISTEN TO ME Look at vv.1,4&7.

"Listen to me, my people, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord. Listen to me, my people, hear me my nation. Hear me, you who know what is right, you who have my law in your hearts."

That is to say, listen to me my faithful remnant in Babylon. Listen to me my people in the world. Listen to me those of you who have confidence in the faithfulness of God and the reliability of his promises. Listen to me those of you who have grasped the heart of true religion: a personal relationship with God and holiness of life. Those of you whose expectation of what God will do in the future shapes how you live in the present. Those of you whose character and behaviour are shaped by the word of God. Those of you who nevertheless are troubled because you are so few in number and so despised. Three times we are called to listen to God in the first 8 verses of Isaiah 51, to be reminded that he is faithful to his people, that he has always looked after us and always will. He wants to encourage us in the way of faith and hope. In the first three verses he encourages hope in us by telling us to look back at the past. In days of discouragement it can be good to look back, to see God's faithfulness in the past and so be encouraged for the future. "Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many." Here is the example of Abraham and what God could do with one man of consistent faith. From this one faithful man and Sarah came a whole nation as numerous as the dust of the earth and the stars of the heaven. The faithful remnant leaving Babylon was small and weak, but God was able to increase them into a mighty nation and turn their ravaged land into a paradise. We too may only be a small faithful remnant but God can use the smallest nucleus as Jesus illustrated in the parable of the mustard seed (Lk 13:18-19). Perhaps some of you have been discovering that in the university mission of this past week. But as one writer explains: "This growth is only for those who actively pursue God's way and seek the Lord as a priority. For such, in the worst days of barrenness, there comes hope (v.3)". "Be comforted", said God to his people, "the best is yet to come". And he says to us today, "I will surely comfort you and show you compassion". And we will be with him in paradise. The best is yet to come for those whose faith is in him, for those who belong to him. In vv.4-6 God tells them and us to look ahead and to realize that justice will come to Babylon and the world and that his people will be vindicated. Look at the use of the word my in these verses- my people, my nation, my justice, my righteousness, my salvation and my arm. Here is the grace of God. God doing for his people what they and we do not deserve and cannot do for ourselves. For both Jews and Gentiles (v.5) who wait in hope for his arm and put their faith in him. V.6, which is echoed in 2 Peter 3:10, looks ahead to the time when heaven and earth will pass away but not God's righteousness and salvation. As with Christ's word they will last forever (Mk 13:31). For those who belong to him God's salvation will last forever and His righteousness will never fail and will be displayed in a special way when Jesus returns and establishes his Kingdom on earth. And in these verses we see references to the servant, to Jesus the Saviour whose rule (v.4) would bring justice and who would be the light to the nations as we saw in Isaiah 42 and 49. "I am the light of the world", says Jesus in John 8:12. God will act: the servant would come and will come again. In Christ we have a sure and certain hope even if life is difficult now in Babylon. In vv.7-8 God tells us that there is also hope in the present. The people of God often look so weak and insignificant but with God on our side we are strong. We are to look within where we find fear or faith. Why should the nation fear men when God is on its side? Why should we fear men when God is on our side? Isaiah 12 says,

"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid."

And Romans 8 says,

"If God is for us, who can be against us?"

Those who mock God's people will one day be wearing nothing more glorious than cankered garments. Just like the enemies of the servant. The faithful people of God follow in the footsteps of the Servant of the Lord. They will share in his sufferings, but they will also share in his vindication. To have God's law in our hearts means to belong to him and be saved (Jer. 31:31-34). As v.8 states the moth and the worm shall destroy the enemy, but God's salvation will endure. Moths and worms don't do their work very conspicuously but they do work efficiently. The seeds of destruction were already in the Babylonian Empire, but its leaders did not know it. The same is true today. Do you have fear or faith? "Faith", says Hebrews 11, "is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." So there is hope as we look back and see God's faithfulness in the past and the people of faith; and as we look ahead and in the present as we look within and find faith. The way of faith is not easy but we have faith in a great God who is working his purposes out. In the end sorrow and sighing will flee away and instead there will be gladness, joy and singing (v.11). The ransomed of the Lord, both Jews and Gentiles, will return to Zion, the city of God. We will enter it with singing, and joy will be our crown forever. Continue in the faith, or tonight put your faith in Christ for the first time and know God and eternal life. Isaiah now gets really excited by this hope and he can hardly wait for the dawning of that final day, beyond the present return from Babylon to the more glorious future one. He can't wait and so gives the first wake up call of this chapter to God himself! Which leads us on to my second heading: Secondly, AWAKE, AWAKE! O ARM OF THE LORD Look at vv.9 & 10. Isaiah is confident that the strong arm of the Lord has lost none of its ancient power. Surely the one who had parted the Red Sea, defeated Pharaoh and redeemed his people from Egyptian bondage is able to bring his people to their final resting place. Isaiah doesn't doubt God's ability or will or that it will happen as we've just seen in v.11 and as God promises in v.5. But this man of faith is getting impatient. 'Do it now' Isaiah seems to cry, 'Do it now'. The Bible ends with a similar cry in Rev. 22:20,

"Jesus says, 'Yes I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus."

Amen?! Yes, it should be our cry too. This cry of Isaiah's is answered by the challenge of my next heading, the second wake up call of Isaiah 51: Thirdly, AWAKE AWAKE! O JERUSALEM v.17 As one commentator puts it:

"In other words, the ball is struck very firmly back into the human end of the court. It's not the Lord who needs to awake, but his people! It's not inactivity on his part which is blocking the fulfilment of what he has promised to them, but their own spiritual torpor or inactivity". (Webb)

So this challenge is not directed back to Isaiah who had cried out for God to act now previously. No, Isaiah's own eagerness is admirable. The problem is the lack of such eagerness in others. As we read in 2 Peter earlier,

"What kind of people ought God's people to be?"

Answer:

"You ought to live godly and holy lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming".

What kind of lives are we living? Are we looking forward to the day of God? Are we speeding its coming? Or do we need to wake up? To step out in faith. To go to Armonia this summer. Someone has said that faith is spelt R I S K. Well to go back to vv.12-16 to begin with. Look at vv.15-16.

"I am the Lord your God…and… You are my people".

God is stressing his commitment to them. He's affirming that the covenant between himself and his people is still intact. That was and had been the bedrock of their security and comfort. Therefore, vv.12-14, they had nothing to fear and nor do we. Again, "If God is for us, who can be against us? V.12: "I am he who comforts you". The Lord Almighty is his name. Don't be afraid of mortal men, who are but grass; and don't live in terror because of the wrath of the oppressor. Babylon's wrath was and is insignificant compared to the mighty wrath of God. The prisoners of the exile will soon be set free and I have covered you with the shadow of my hand - yes I who set the heavens in place. We are secure in his hand. Our security is in God's commitment to us. A commitment that will never fail. But security in God does not justify inactivity. No it calls for decisive action, as in v.17 - "awake and rise up O Jerusalem". To go back to 2 Peter. We are to live in the light of Christ's second coming and to hasten his coming. We are to pray, evangelise, live holy lives and make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Even though that might be costly and even though we might be fearful of doing so in Babylon so to speak. Fear can paralyse us but being secure in God and in his love for us should set us free to serve and be. But as vv.17-23 make clear fear is not the only thing that paralyses. So does a sense of being condemned, of being under judgement. And Jerusalem knew so. For she had experienced it. God had given her the cup of wrath to drink, and she had staggered and fallen under its potent impact (vv.17-20). But in vv.22-23 she is told that God's wrath has been removed. The cup has been taken from her by God and given to her enemies. The cup which Jesus was to drink on the Cross (Mk 10:38; 14:36). Therefore she is not condemned any more; she is forgiven. Just as we are forgiven if we've repented and trusted in Christ. But although that is true she is still 'labouring under a sense of condemnation'. Do we fall into that trap? Romans 8:1 says,

"There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus".

Do we believe that? So Jerusalem Awake. Rise up.

"You are not condemned, and you must not go on behaving as though you are."

Even if you are still in exile. Even though little has changed with regard to your circumstances. Even though there is still terror and the oppressor on every side (v.13). We too must awake, rise up and stop behaving as though we are condemned. We too must respond to God's Word with faith and confidence. For "it is the word of God, the gospel of his grace, that sets us free. And what relief it brings to those condemned by care and circumstance!" (Webb) Are we listening to him!

The Way Of Faith	28/02/1999 at 6.30pm
Isaiah 51	Jesmond Parish Church

A sermon preached by Jonathan Redfearn
Isaiah 51 is our chapter for tonight. Which way are we going in this life and beyond and who do we listen to? Are we going the way of faith in the one true God and everlasting life or are we going the way of the world? Perhaps some of you here tonight have just begun the way of faith in Jesus Christ through the mission at Newcastle University this past week. Maybe others of you are still unsure or have even been close to giving up the way of faith. Apparently in Germany there's a drinking fountain with the inscription on the bowl, 'Come and drink'. The problem is that when you come closer, it quickly becomes apparent that there is no tap, no lever, no handle to be seen anywhere on it. At that point some people give up and go away frustrated and thirsty. The secret is that you have to lean forward in faith, and at that moment a hidden beam will be broken, and a jet of water will spurt up for you to drink. Those going the way of faith, according to Isaiah 51:1,4 &7, are those who pursue righteousness and seek the Lord, those who have a personal relationship with God through faith in Christ. Those who have confidence in the faithfulness of God and the reliability of his promises, to live by faith in the present in the light of what God is going to do in the future, to believe his Word and to have God's law in our hearts which means to belong to him and be saved. The way of faith in Christ is the way to the fullness of eternal life. But while we are still in this world, the Babylon of today, the way of faith is not easy is it? Jesus never said it would be. There will be mocking. We will feel on our own sometimes. It involves following in the way of Christ - the suffering and the glory. It involves stepping out in faith. It involves believing that God will keep his Word. It involves trusting God that he does forgive. It involves trusting God for a future hope we can't see. Here in Isaiah 51 God's people had discovered that the way of faith is not easy while in exile in Babylon. Some were giving up on the hope of salvation and freedom. Others, the faithful remnant, were still going the way of faith and hope but were struggling with doubts about God's faithfulness and doubts about themselves as God's people, with persecution and with feeling outnumbered. They believed God was going to act but when? Perhaps some of us here tonight are finding the going tough at the moment. Maybe home or school or work or college is difficult and we feel pretty much on our own there as a Christian. We're fearful of stepping out in faith. We're discouraged by the response of others to our faith and we've lost sight of the future hope. Will Jesus really return? some of us ask. Well for those of us who are going the way of faith but feeling under pressure from the world and guilty about our lack of faith the Lord God has some words of comfort and encouragement for us to listen to in Isaiah 51. "Listen to me", he says. Have faith in fact not feeling. And how vital it is to a growing faith that we do, that we do listen to him through his Word, through hearing it preached and through our own Bible study and prayer. Romans 10:17 insists that, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." Yet a recent survey from Scripture Union showed that 60% of churchgoers in this country never read their Bibles outside church. Are we part of that statistic? We must feed on God's Word, it is our daily bread. But we are tempted not to rely on God for spiritual feeding. Jesus was tempted in a similar way in the wilderness. He said, "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God". So are we listening to him now? First, LISTEN TO ME Look at vv.1,4&7. "Listen to me, my people, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord. Listen to me, my people, hear me my nation. Hear me, you who know what is right, you who have my law in your hearts." That is to say, listen to me my faithful remnant in Babylon. Listen to me my people in the world. Listen to me those of you who have confidence in the faithfulness of God and the reliability of his promises. Listen to me those of you who have grasped the heart of true religion: a personal relationship with God and holiness of life. Those of you whose expectation of what God will do in the future shapes how you live in the present. Those of you whose character and behaviour are shaped by the word of God. Those of you who nevertheless are troubled because you are so few in number and so despised. Three times we are called to listen to God in the first 8 verses of Isaiah 51, to be reminded that he is faithful to his people, that he has always looked after us and always will. He wants to encourage us in the way of faith and hope. In the first three verses he encourages hope in us by telling us to look back at the past. In days of discouragement it can be good to look back, to see God's faithfulness in the past and so be encouraged for the future. "Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many." Here is the example of Abraham and what God could do with one man of consistent faith. From this one faithful man and Sarah came a whole nation as numerous as the dust of the earth and the stars of the heaven. The faithful remnant leaving Babylon was small and weak, but God was able to increase them into a mighty nation and turn their ravaged land into a paradise. We too may only be a small faithful remnant but God can use the smallest nucleus as Jesus illustrated in the parable of the mustard seed (Lk 13:18-19). Perhaps some of you have been discovering that in the university mission of this past week. But as one writer explains: "This growth is only for those who actively pursue God's way and seek the Lord as a priority. For such, in the worst days of barrenness, there comes hope (v.3)". "Be comforted", said God to his people, "the best is yet to come". And he says to us today, "I will surely comfort you and show you compassion". And we will be with him in paradise. The best is yet to come for those whose faith is in him, for those who belong to him. In vv.4-6 God tells them and us to look ahead and to realize that justice will come to Babylon and the world and that his people will be vindicated. Look at the use of the word my in these verses- my people, my nation, my justice, my righteousness, my salvation and my arm. Here is the grace of God. God doing for his people what they and we do not deserve and cannot do for ourselves. For both Jews and Gentiles (v.5) who wait in hope for his arm and put their faith in him. V.6, which is echoed in 2 Peter 3:10, looks ahead to the time when heaven and earth will pass away but not God's righteousness and salvation. As with Christ's word they will last forever (Mk 13:31). For those who belong to him God's salvation will last forever and His righteousness will never fail and will be displayed in a special way when Jesus returns and establishes his Kingdom on earth. And in these verses we see references to the servant, to Jesus the Saviour whose rule (v.4) would bring justice and who would be the light to the nations as we saw in Isaiah 42 and 49. "I am the light of the world", says Jesus in John 8:12. God will act: the servant would come and will come again. In Christ we have a sure and certain hope even if life is difficult now in Babylon. In vv.7-8 God tells us that there is also hope in the present. The people of God often look so weak and insignificant but with God on our side we are strong. We are to look within where we find fear or faith. Why should the nation fear men when God is on its side? Why should we fear men when God is on our side? Isaiah 12 says, "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid." And Romans 8 says, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Those who mock God's people will one day be wearing nothing more glorious than cankered garments. Just like the enemies of the servant. The faithful people of God follow in the footsteps of the Servant of the Lord. They will share in his sufferings, but they will also share in his vindication. To have God's law in our hearts means to belong to him and be saved (Jer. 31:31-34). As v.8 states the moth and the worm shall destroy the enemy, but God's salvation will endure. Moths and worms don't do their work very conspicuously but they do work efficiently. The seeds of destruction were already in the Babylonian Empire, but its leaders did not know it. The same is true today. Do you have fear or faith? "Faith", says Hebrews 11, "is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." So there is hope as we look back and see God's faithfulness in the past and the people of faith; and as we look ahead and in the present as we look within and find faith. The way of faith is not easy but we have faith in a great God who is working his purposes out. In the end sorrow and sighing will flee away and instead there will be gladness, joy and singing (v.11). The ransomed of the Lord, both Jews and Gentiles, will return to Zion, the city of God. We will enter it with singing, and joy will be our crown forever. Continue in the faith, or tonight put your faith in Christ for the first time and know God and eternal life. Isaiah now gets really excited by this hope and he can hardly wait for the dawning of that final day, beyond the present return from Babylon to the more glorious future one. He can't wait and so gives the first wake up call of this chapter to God himself! Which leads us on to my second heading: Secondly, AWAKE, AWAKE! O ARM OF THE LORD Look at vv.9 & 10. Isaiah is confident that the strong arm of the Lord has lost none of its ancient power. Surely the one who had parted the Red Sea, defeated Pharaoh and redeemed his people from Egyptian bondage is able to bring his people to their final resting place. Isaiah doesn't doubt God's ability or will or that it will happen as we've just seen in v.11 and as God promises in v.5. But this man of faith is getting impatient. 'Do it now' Isaiah seems to cry, 'Do it now'. The Bible ends with a similar cry in Rev. 22:20, "Jesus says, 'Yes I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." Amen?! Yes, it should be our cry too. This cry of Isaiah's is answered by the challenge of my next heading, the second wake up call of Isaiah 51: Thirdly, AWAKE AWAKE! O JERUSALEM v.17 As one commentator puts it: "In other words, the ball is struck very firmly back into the human end of the court. It's not the Lord who needs to awake, but his people! It's not inactivity on his part which is blocking the fulfilment of what he has promised to them, but their own spiritual torpor or inactivity". (Webb) So this challenge is not directed back to Isaiah who had cried out for God to act now previously. No, Isaiah's own eagerness is admirable. The problem is the lack of such eagerness in others. As we read in 2 Peter earlier, "What kind of people ought God's people to be?" Answer: "You ought to live godly and holy lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming". What kind of lives are we living? Are we looking forward to the day of God? Are we speeding its coming? Or do we need to wake up? To step out in faith. To go to Armonia this summer. Someone has said that faith is spelt R I S K. Well to go back to vv.12-16 to begin with. Look at vv.15-16. "I am the Lord your God…and… You are my people". God is stressing his commitment to them. He's affirming that the covenant between himself and his people is still intact. That was and had been the bedrock of their security and comfort. Therefore, vv.12-14, they had nothing to fear and nor do we. Again, "If God is for us, who can be against us? V.12: "I am he who comforts you". The Lord Almighty is his name. Don't be afraid of mortal men, who are but grass; and don't live in terror because of the wrath of the oppressor. Babylon's wrath was and is insignificant compared to the mighty wrath of God. The prisoners of the exile will soon be set free and I have covered you with the shadow of my hand - yes I who set the heavens in place. We are secure in his hand. Our security is in God's commitment to us. A commitment that will never fail. But security in God does not justify inactivity. No it calls for decisive action, as in v.17 - "awake and rise up O Jerusalem". To go back to 2 Peter. We are to live in the light of Christ's second coming and to hasten his coming. We are to pray, evangelise, live holy lives and make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Even though that might be costly and even though we might be fearful of doing so in Babylon so to speak. Fear can paralyse us but being secure in God and in his love for us should set us free to serve and be. But as vv.17-23 make clear fear is not the only thing that paralyses. So does a sense of being condemned, of being under judgement. And Jerusalem knew so. For she had experienced it. God had given her the cup of wrath to drink, and she had staggered and fallen under its potent impact (vv.17-20). But in vv.22-23 she is told that God's wrath has been removed. The cup has been taken from her by God and given to her enemies. The cup which Jesus was to drink on the Cross (Mk 10:38; 14:36). Therefore she is not condemned any more; she is forgiven. Just as we are forgiven if we've repented and trusted in Christ. But although that is true she is still 'labouring under a sense of condemnation'. Do we fall into that trap? Romans 8:1 says, "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus". Do we believe that? So Jerusalem Awake. Rise up. "You are not condemned, and you must not go on behaving as though you are." Even if you are still in exile. Even though little has changed with regard to your circumstances. Even though there is still terror and the oppressor on every side (v.13). We too must awake, rise up and stop behaving as though we are condemned. We too must respond to God's Word with faith and confidence. For "it is the word of God, the gospel of his grace, that sets us free. And what relief it brings to those condemned by care and circumstance!" (Webb) Are we listening to him!
For more sermon transcripts visit http://www.church.org.uk

The Way Of Faith

A sermon preached by Jonathan Redfearn