Scripture Reading: Psalm 103-107, Exodus 15 (any material that recounts God’s acts of power or illustrates his people actively remembering his mighty works)
As you read the Bible you will come across statements said by others that in your heart you will want to be able to say yourself. For example when you and I read of Joshua saying… "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD" Joshua 24:15
Does not your heart cry out "Yes that’s what I say to! This describes where my heart is at and what I want for my family"
Another example of a statement in the scriptures that you in your heart most likely wants to personally say is this…. "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enable me to go on the heights" Habakkuk 3:17-19
Doesn’t having a heart like Habakkuk’s appeal to you. Does not his conviction ring as something you would like to be able to say "No matter WHAT I’m going to delight in God and trust in Him, because he is my strength and will carry me home"
Which one of us does not long to say as Paul did "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing." II Timothy 4:7-8
I trust that these are statements that you yourself have said and affirmed. I trust that in your hearing of these 3 scriptures that in your heart you have said YES LORD I want that to be me. That describes where I’m at with you. There words perfectly reflect my sentiments.
Today we are going to consider Isaiah 26:8.
My prayer is that the words of Isaiah 26:8 will strike a cord in your hearts. My prayer is that the declaration and heart reflected of those speaking in Isaiah 26:8 will also find a place upon your lips. I trust that upon examination of this text that you will want to say "This is the kind of person I want to be! That’s where my heart is at. This is what I want to be able to say to God"
READ v.8
Here in our text Judah is pictured as a land that will one day have God as her wall of protection. A time was coming when the land of Judah would be a place of safety and refuge against her enemies. Yes her enemies would still exist but God himself would march out against them to destroy them. Judah is also pictured as a place, a city open to the godly the world over –to them her gates are open.
Within the land and the city are godly inhabitants. There lives have not always been easy, particularly so as the followers of God. Yet faithful they have been.
Isaiah envisions the godly inhabitants of the protected city saying the words of v.8. This is their confession to God. This is their joy. This is the kind of people that they have been in the midst of hardship and trial as they had waited for God. In v. 8 they as it were are pictured as reporting to God.
I trust that the words that the people of Isaiah 26:8 are pictured as saying reflect your heart, the kind of person you want to be. I trust their confession is one that you want to make.
FIRSTLY I want to say "Yes, in the way of your judgments, O LORD, have I waited for you"
I want to be able to say to the Lord "Faithful to all of your standards and laws I have been throughout the years I have eagerly waited for your coming and deliverance of me from this sin filled world". This is what I want to be able to joyfully proclaim
The challenge for us presented in the first part of this verse is being men and women who are 100% committed to being submitted to all of God’s laws/standards/rulings.
The godly folks of Isaiah 26:8 are pictured as positively affirming that to God’s laws they have been wholly faithful. Through the days, weeks, months, years, of waiting for God to deliver them from the oppression and hardship they found themselves in they stayed faithful to God and his rule.
The word here for "judgements" is a judicial, legal term that speaks of the rulings of God. God as it were has came out with various pronouncements and rulings regarding how we, his subjects are to live. He is the judge, He is the one who has drafted all the requirements for how we are to live life here on earth. He is the one who is the decider of whether a person has been faithful to these as well.
Q What are some of God’s rulings or judgments that he has issued from his throne?
Surely you and I can think of a variety of rulings God has made for how we are to live our lives in his presence. Of course you and I both know that its our love for God and our appreciation of Him which motivates us to obey his commands.
Bottom line: God’s word furnishes us with the will of God. The will of God outlines for us how he expects us to live and the kind of people he has designed us to be.
Key: you and I committing ourselves to be fully obedient to what we know to be the will of God.
Key: you and I committing ourselves to not be compromisers
Our collective problem is 2 fold: our resolve to be fully obedient is sometimes weak and secondly, we have a great problem when it comes to compromising.
I would like to address a couple of areas where I know that as Christians we fall short when it comes to our being men and women who live a life obedient to the rulings/standards/ laws of God. The things I am going to list are not just an Islington Baptist problem either
1. Sexual purity
2. Stealing: (steal music, software, tithe money, taxes from the government)
3. Honesty
4. Tongues
Q What kind of men and women ought we to want to be as we wait for God to come for us or take us home?
Men and women who are completely submitted to obediently living according to God’s standards.
When I stand before God and even know I want to be able to say "Yes, In the way of your judgments, O LORD, have I waited for you"
I know I have a ways to go in being this kind of person, but this is the kind of person I want to be. It’s the kind of person the Spirit of God wants me to be……
BEFORE WE MOVE ON NOTE THIS: our text speaks of "waiting for God"
-the word for waiting means expectantly, eagerly.
-the word and phrase speaks of the fact that time has passed and that faithfulness in the wait is required
I trust you have a sense of expectation regarding our Lord’s coming. I trust this prayer that I have often mentioned before is on your lips "come Lord Jesus come!"
The reason Jesus has not yet returned to get us yet is that God is patient, not wanting anyone to perish but all to come to eternal life. His return will be sudden and by and large unexpected. You are I are not to fail in our hope or in our faithfulness to the words and standards of God.
A few weeks back we considered the parable of the persistent widow. A parable which is all about our being a people of constant prayer, not repetitive, but constant prayer in these the last and trying days. The parable ended with this question "when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith upon earth"
Isaiah 26:8 is spoken by people who persevered, waiting for God in spite of all of the trials. They didn’t up in their faith in God or in their being faithful to him. They waited for him and received their reward.
THE SECOND CONFESSION THAT ISAIAH PICTURES THE SINGERS OF THIS SONG MAKING IS THAT THE DESIRE OF THEIR SOULS HAS BEEN FOR GOD’S NAME AND REMEMBRANCE
The latter part of v.8 is a passion statement! These folks are portrayed as being passionate for God. They really love Him and his ways and its more than apparent that their hearts desire is that every tongue be found praising him and worshipping him the world over.
Listen to these words from Psalm 69:6-9
"May those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me, O Lord, the LORD Almighty; may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me, O God of Israel. For I endure scorn for your sake, and shame covers my face. I am a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my own mother’s sons; for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me."
THAT IS PASSION FOR GOD!
CONSIDER ALSO: Psalm 27:4 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
THAT REFLECTS A PASSION FOR GOD, A SOUL THAT LONGS FOR GOD
CONSIDER ALSO Psalm 42:1-2 "As the deer pants for streams of water so my soul pants for you O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Where can I go and meet with God?
THAT REFLECTS A PASSION FOR GOD.
I trust that in your heart there is a desire to be able to be the kind of person spoken of in Isaiah 26:8. I trust that in your heart you desire to say "My soul longs for your name and for the remembrance of you.
THE KEY TO OUR BEING OBEDIENT IN ALL MATTERS UNTO GOD LIES IN OUR HAVING SOULS THAT LONG FOR GOD!
-when our hearts are right the right behavior is going to be there. When God is everything to us. When our souls long after him, when the words "I surrender all" are our true motto: then being the kind of person of the first part of v.8 is going to be there.
QUESTION: IS THE PASSION FOR GOD THERE IN YOUR LIFE AND IF NOT WHERE HAS IT GONE?
Passion for God, a heart consumed by and with Him is not just something you can intellectually decide to have.
If you’ve lost your passion for God. If your priorities in practice have been self 1st, kingdom 2nd then I would propose to you that probably one of the areas of your life with God that has gotten messed up regards this: you lost your sense of wonderment when it comes to God, his glory, his power, and his workings.
-for the most part you and I are guilty of taking God for granted. Like a child who takes all their parents giving, sacrifice, labor, etc for granted. Like certain spouse who take their other half for granted.
Have you lost your sense of wonderment?
-do you take for granted the very breath you take, the fact of the suns daily rising, the wind, the rain, the fact that our planet is a perfect distance from the sun and in a perfect orbit
Sure we do, these things are "normal", they are "expected"
What we need is a fresh appreciation of God. A little refresher course. We need our memories jogged. We need to relearn the meaning of the word "thankfulness". Then perhaps our passion for God will come back
One of the words used in our text is "remembrance". It’s a perfect word. Our problem: when it comes to our remembrance of God, let alone those around us, we are lacking.
When great things happened in the life of the Israelite nation what did they do?
They often wrote songs about what had happened. Check out the song of Miriam and Moses Exodus 15. Not only did they write memorable and catchy songs but parents were ordered to instruct their children and their childrens children. God’s mighty acts and his glory were to be remembered, retold, relived.
You and me, we forget what God has done for us. One way to not forget is to hear regular testimonies from each other……..
In Revelations 4:11 it says "You are worthy our Lord and God to receive honor and glory and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being"
There’s a tonne of reasons available to lead us to the point of having the same heart of our friends here in Isaiah 26:8. Our redemption, answer to prayer, the glory of God seen in the creation.
CONCLUSION
My prayer is that you will say with me
"I want to be the kind of person found in v.8 of our text. I want to be able to say to God
1. "I’ve been faithfully waiting for you Lord, I’ve been living according to your law and commands"
2. I also want to be able to say to God "I spent my life living for you, burdened deep in my heart for your ways and glory. I spent my life consumed by and with your person and glory and my hearts desire was that those around come to that same fine appreciation of you."
In I John 5:3a it says "This is love for God, to obey his commands…"
As we have consider today’s text and its applications this much is true: A consuming passion and love for God is indeed what will drive our obedience.
Don’t just obey God for the reason "it’s the right thing to do" obey him because you love him
Also, If you’ve lost your sense of wonderment and awe, you need to get it back. Start by asking God to forgive you for taking Him for granted, be a better student as it relates to his activity and working in your life, and familiarize yourself with God and his person by getting into his Word.
SONGS
I will sing the wondrous story
I will sing of my redeemer
He touched me
I would be like Jesus
