God’ Standard Aug 02
We have got to root out and tear down everything that is in opposition to the Lord
Isa 59:19: So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.
God’s standard is a standard of pure holiness and power.
1. In order for us to walk in this standard we will have to have a fear of the Lord
2. When there is no fear of the Lord the devil has a field day
3. He will come in like a flood
We must not accept anything short of God’s holiness and righteousness
It will be hard for us to get God to do something when our lives are not right before Him
In the first part of this chapter the word says
Isa. 59:1 Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear
v God has not lost His power
a. We have all the power we have in the New Testament to live a victorious life
b. Jesus said in Luke 10:19 behold I give you power over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
c. He said his “Hand is not shortened and His ear is not heavy… He has all the power that we need
Sometimes it is sin that separates us from the living God
a. It sometimes on our plate
b. Sometime s it is us that has to change
c. The Cross-of the Lord Jesus Christ is our standard
Quote from Alexander Maclaren in The Books of Isaiah and Jeremiah: “It is not because God is great and I am small, it is not because He lives for ever, and my life is but a hand-breadth, it is not because of the difference between His omniscience and my ignorance, His strength and my weakness, that I am parted from Him: ‘Your sins have separated between you and your God.’
Hands (1–3). God’s hand is unable to work when our hands are defiled with unconfessed sin.
Our prayers accomplish nothing Ps. 66:18: 18If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
His power is absent from our lives and ministries.
There will be an insincerity of our prayers with unconfessed sin in our hearts
In order to receive the ministry of deliverance
a. A person has to want to receive it
b. There must be a genuine and sincere repentance
c. An acknowledgement of our weakness in ourselves
d. And a dependency on the Spirit of the Living God
Isa. 59:10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noon day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men
a. If we do not have a personal relationship with the Lord we will “grope about in darkness”
b. There will be spiritual blindness and deafness and dullness of hearing
Israel’s ear was deafened they could not hear the Lord
Word shows that the Lord’s ear was not deaf
c. The light of the Word of God will scatter the darkness
1. IT WILL EITHER DRAW OR DRIVE YOU
Isa 6:9-10: 9And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 10Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
1. In these vs Isa was preaching to an arrogant and religious people
2. The more he proclaimed the Word of the Lord
3. The less response that He would get
4. IT TAKES A HUMBLE HEART TO RECEIVE THE WORD OF THE LORD AND RESPOND
c. What a difference it makes when we repent and return to the Lord
v We have light instead of darkness,
v Healing instead of disease,
v Righteousness instead of defilement,
v Glory instead of disgrace; and
I am reminded of the story of Josiah in 2 Chronicles 34 REFORMATION UNDER JOSIAH
a. 2 Chron. 34:1–2: Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. (2) And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left
1. Josiah did what was right in the site of the Lord
2. Not in the sight of people; But the LORD
2 Chron. 34:3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images
1. It is possible to serve the Lord amongst a perverse people
2. Josiah did it in the Old Testament with out the Spirit living inside him or Jesus
3. The Bible said while he was yet young… It is better to start young…
4. Josiah was only sixteen when he began to seek after God
5. He was twenty when he began his reforms in Judah
6. Josiah was twenty-six years old; he began the repair of the temple (that had fallen into despair under the reign of Manasseh 2 Chron. 34:8
Go to vs 14
Now that the temple had been repaired they made an amazing discovery
It was a copy of the Law of God
2 Chron. 34:14. And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD given by Moses
1. Josiah listened to this book of the law being read
Look at what happened in 2 Chron. 34:18–19 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes
2. Why did Josiah rent his cloths…. (Represented strong emotion)
a. Fear came upon him
3. He was dismayed when he heard the Word of God for the first time, because he and his people had strayed so far from God’s commands.
4. They discovered God’s standards and there neglect to live up to them
But not only did they discover their neglect and unresponsiveness THEY DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!
1. A return to the Word of God brings revival. Nothing else will bring revival
Josiah is a shaken up and wants to know what God is doing
In 2 Chron. 34:24–25 we see God’s message to Josiah
2 Chron. 34:24–25 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah:
Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched
a. First was a message of judgment
b. Then he sent Josiah a personal message of encouragement
2 Chron. 34:26–28 And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, so shall ye say unto him,
Thus saith the LORD God of Israel concerning the words, which thou hast heard;
Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the LORD. Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again
1. I believe we could have a revival today,
2. But first there must be a return to the Word of God
3. There must be a total commitment to the Lord
After this word from the Lord,
Josiah led the entire nation in a return to obedience to God’s standards
2 Chron 34:29-33: 29Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 30And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the LORD. 31And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant, which are written in this book. 32And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. 33And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the LORD their God. And all his days they departed not from following the LORD, the God of their fathers.
We have got to root out and tear down everything that is in opposition to the Lord
Josiah did what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord..
a. That is the way we will can walk under the protection of God….
Josiah had a good start and he walked in a lot of the power of God
a. But he had a tragic end..
b. It was because of disobedience
