GRATEFUL TO GOD FOR A NEW THING Isaiah 43:16-21 November 24, 2013 Dr. Danny Forshee

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1 1 GRATEFUL TO GOD FOR A NEW THING Isaiah 43:16-21 November 24, 2013 Dr. Danny Forshee - I am doing something today that is most unusual for me. I had planned to preach one sermon, but felt led to change the sermon and preach this one instead. It made for a busy day yesterday, but that is ok for I feel this is what I am to do. - Every morning in my quiet time I read a chapter in the Book of Proverbs. I have been doing this close to ten years and this practice has become a way of life for me. I learned this discipline from my friend Pastor Johnny Hunt. Pastor Johnny said he tried to stop one time, but said he had to get back to this discipline, as it was such a blessing to his life. I have not ceased and most likely will not until the Lord takes me home. Also, as part of my daily quiet time with the Lord I read through the Bible. I will read the same passage for two days in a row to help me really grasp and remember what I read in the morning. Then I use the remainder of the day to pray those Scriptures back to the Lord. Currently I have been reading through the Old Testament Book of Isaiah. What a wonderful book it is! - Isaiah was an 8 th century prophet to Israel for over 40 years ministering at least from about 740 BC to 700 BC. His lengthy ministry occurred during the Assyrian takeover of Samaria and he prophesied of the judgment of Babylon and also how the Babylonians themselves would be judged. Isaiah even calls out the name of the ruler who would overthrow the Babylonians; he gives the mane of Cyprus the king of the Medes and Persians in Isaiah 45:1. - Though a prophet who delivered hard messages from God, he also gave wonderful words of peace and promise to the people of God. Isaiah 9 contains rich prophetic words regarding the coming King; vs. 6 says, For unto a Child is born, unto us a Son is given. Handel s Messiah contains these powerful words speaking of the Christ to come. Another favorite passage in Isaiah is 26: You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. 4 Trust in the LORD forever, For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength. My wife prays this prayer for me especially as it relates to the demands and trials of ministry. And then there is Isaiah 53 that contains some of the most specific prophetic texts pointing to the Suffering Servant, the Coming Messiah. Read Isaiah 53:9. - Our text today speaks of God s redeeming, intervening power, how He will do the impossible, and how He will do a new thing. And God surely did these things in Isaiah s day as He spared Jerusalem from the hands of the Assyrians, and Isaiah even gave the name of the coming deliverer for

2 2 Israel 150 years before his life, and God certainly did a new thing when He came as the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53 to die for the sins of the world. - It is good to know our text within its context, but could God be ready to do a new thing in your life or in the life of your family and even in the life of our church? God has not changed. He still works miracles in the midst of mayhem and conflict. He still makes a way when there is seemingly no way, and He continues to do new things. Keeping the historical context in mind, let us read our text also with this thought in mind what is God saying to you and your present circumstance? What promises can you claim from our text? - All of us face hardship and trying times. Some in our church are facing some very difficult times during this holiday season, and I believe God has given me this message because there are some that need to know that God is in control; He delivered in the past and He can deliver you in the present, and He will deliver and come through for you in the future. - Read Isaiah 43: Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea And a path through the mighty waters, 17 Who brings forth the chariot and horse, The army and the power (They shall lie down together, they shall not rise; They are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick): 18 Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert. 20 The beast of the field will honor Me, The jackals and the ostriches, Because I give waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My people, My chosen. 21 This people I have formed for Myself; They shall declare My praise. - Let us be thankful for who God is, be thankful for the past, but not dwell on it, and let us be thankful for what He will do. I. THANK GOD FOR WHO HE IS (VS ). - During this Thanksgiving season it is always good to reflect upon the greatness of our God, His unlimited power and resources, and how awesome He is. - Isaiah knows of the power of God. In vs. 1 He speaks of the power of God and how God created, formed, redeemed, called, and possessed His

3 3 people. They should not fear in light of who God is. He is not one of the puny idols or false gods, or carved images; rather, He is the God who creates and redeems His people. There is none like Him. - Read Isaiah 41: Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. - Both in this text and in 43:1 he tells them not to fear. - When we face hardship and difficulty, when the rug of life is yanked from under us, when your child rebels against you, when the doctor says you have an aggressive form of breast cancer, when you are told there will be major changes in your job, or you will be transferred to another state, or when you lose your job, the first thing we often do, our default position is not to trust God, but to be overcome by fear. In those hard moments we forget how great and powerful God is and all we can focus on is how formidable and strong our enemy is or how the odds are stacked against us. - Vs. 16 God makes a way in the sea and a path through the mighty waters. This points to the power of God in the Exodus how He split into the Red Sea miraculously and allowed Israel to pass through but covered their enemies, the Egyptians, in a watery grave. SHOW SCENE IN THE BIBLE SERIES. - I think of the song by the Cathedrals, Standing there at the Red Sea God s people began to complain Soon Pharaoh and His mighty army Would take us in bondage again. Stand still and see the salvation Of the Lord, Moses cried Then God parted the waters And they crossed to the other side God delivers again, oh, my God delivers again When it seems that all is lost, He reaches down His hand When all the forces of evil have to flee at His command Just when things look hopeless, my God delivers again. - Vs. 17 very descriptive of what happened to the Egyptian army. - One of the reasons I enjoy teaching theology on Thursday mornings is to show our people who God is, and the more you study who He is and how incomparably awesome He is, it increases your faith and when the trials of life flow over you like a mighty torrent, you not only survive, but also thrive because you know who God is and nothing is too hard for Him. II. DON T DWELL ON PAST VICTORIES (VS. 18) - It is one thing to remember how God acted in the past; in fact we should never forget and always keep before us the reality that God has acted numerous times on our behalf. But the danger is we get stuck in the past and relegate and limit God to only what He did in the past. - Look at vs. 18; I think this is precisely what Isaiah is telling the people of God. If you are always focused on what God did, you do not allow room for what God can do and will do!

4 4 - There are times when we can only think about what God did. I see churches do this all the time. Wow, do you remember the good ole days when the church did this or that, or when God won one victory after another? And usually it is stated in a way to condemn. God worked in the past; what is wrong with us or what is wrong with you? We get stuck in the past, in the days of yesteryear, and we cannot imagine God doing anything of significance because well God has already done great things with us in the past. - To thank God for past victories and remember how wonderful God worked in the past is one thing, and we should do that. We should never forget. But to stay there and never come out of the past makes us pretty useless for the present, not to mention of no usage for the future. - I came out of a meeting with a group of men in our church last week and walked away and asked who is Felix Dailey and where did he come from? Here is this 85-year-old man who is as current as he can be. He asked something way out of the box and said have we considered doing this and what would that look like? I want to be like that. We have bought the devil s lie that when you get old you can quit dreaming, be angry, sour and bitter, and make other people s lives miserable because you are miserable. So many aren t like that I think of people like Judy Stone, Winn Pinkston, and our former pastor, Harold O Chester. Age does not make you old, attitude does. III. THANK GOD FOR NEW THINGS! (VS ) - Vs Israel s future Exodus will be when God would lead His people out of captivity. - God, who in the first Exodus brought Israel out of Egypt and drowned the Egyptian army, would do an even greater thing. Therefore forgetting the past (v. 18), Israel should realize God would do a new work. In this new Exodus, the return from the Exile, the Jews would be going through desolate desert land where God would provide water and streams in abundance (cf. 35:6 7; 41:18; 44:3 4). Therefore His Chosen People (cf. comments on 41:8 9), whom He created (formed; cf. 43:21; 44:2, 24), would praise Him (cf. 42:10 13). 1 - Malcolm Gladwell has written a new book entitled, David and Goliath. This is an interesting and motivational read. He thinks we got David all wrong; he was not the one in trouble, but the giant was! David did a new thing; he did not fight in the conventional manner, but changed the rules. He tells the true story of a group of 12-year-old girls basketball team in California called Redwood City who did the unthinkable. They played basketball in an unconventional manner and beat teams much better than 1 Martin, J. A. (1985). Isaiah. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck, Ed.) (Is 43:16 21). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

5 them. They were unafraid to try new things. Their coach Vivek Ranadive was from India and attended MIT and knew very little about basketball, but decided that the only chance his team had was to full court press the other team and make it hard for them to get the ball inbounds in 5 seconds and if they did, make it so that they could not cross the half court line in 10 seconds. They played one team from East San Jose and they were a great team and had played together for years. But Redwood went up 20-0 and the coach started screaming at his girls because this much inferior team was beating his team, and when you scream at 12-year-old girls as a coach, then you are toast. They beat much better teams and made it all the way to the third round of nationals. Gladwell then told the true story of the Fordham University Rams and how they traveled in 1971 to Un of Massachusetts to play the Redmen and their star player Julius Erving, or Dr. J. UMass had not lost a home game in 2 years. The Fordham Rams were outmatched and outsized and everyone predicted a blowout win for UMass. But Coach Digger Phelps and the Rams put on a full court press and did the unthinkable and won the game. Phelps did not use the press that way again the next year and most do not use the full court press as it takes much discipline and precision. But there was a skinny guard on the UMass team named Rick Pitino who did not play that day but absorbed the power of the press and has used it to his advantage at two schools and has won two national championships, the latest was just last year as Louisville won it all. Pitino said they practice for 2 hours and the players are moving 98% of the time so their heart rate never rests. Yes a bit unconventional but it works. (See Gladwell, p ) - Vs. 20 God refers to Israel as My people, and My chosen. God acts on behalf of His people. He works in ways that can only be attributed to Him. When we are at the end of our rope, and the only thing we can see is the water ahead and the enemy behind, God sees open paths. And if we wait on Him, trust in Him, we will see the salvation, the deliverance that God provides for His people. - Vs. 21 the end result is God is praised, now get this, not so much for what He did in the distant past but what He just did! God desires fresh praise from His people for fresh victories He grants to His people. I want to be among those that are praising God for what He did recently, just yesterday or today, not what He only did in the distant past of yesteryear. - God has not changed. He is still the all-powerful God He has always been. We should thank Him for who He is and what He has done, and be glad for the past victories but not stay in the past. Look for what God will do in our generation, in our church. I know most churches are in decline and we are not as large in numbers as we used to be. I know 92% of people in Austin do not attend church. I know we have large debt that prohibits us greatly for what could we do with $57k a month! But you and I need not despair. God wins and sometimes He calls on us to do things a bit differently; our methodology must remain fluid and flexible. Believe the 5

6 6 Bible and trust God and ask God what does He want to do, and how does He want to do it through us. - What is the Spirit of God saying to His church here at GH? What new thing does He want to do? What will it look like? Will it compromise our theology? No. Will it change our methodology? Yes. You don t put new wine in old wineskins or else they will burst. INVITATION - Since this is a different sort of message and in light of the fact that I did not wait to preach it later but today, then you are here today not by accident. Someone needed to hear this message, and I think all of us especially in leadership here at GH needed to hear this sermon. The future is as bright as the promises of God. I am excited to see what He does. - If you do not know the Lord then you are missing out. Let us encourage you and introduce you to Him. God loves you and does not desire that you perish but that you believe on Him and repent or turn from your sins and be saved. If you are looking for a church home, come and let us share with you what it means to be a part of our church family.