Sermon Central
-
The Yoke Will Be Destroyed!
Contributed by Mark Croskey on Jan 23, 2011 (message contributor)
Summary: This sermon deals being free from everything and everybody who yoked you and allowing you to experience the greatness that God has placed inside of you
AND THE YOKE WILL BE DESTROYED
Isaiah here speaks to the children of Israel reminding them that the Assyrians were only able to oppress them because God allowed it.
This makes it helpful for me to understand that there is nothing that happens in my life by accident.
That nothing in my life happens by happenstance.
Now you need to understand that God does not nor has He ever promised to give you everything that you want.
You see His image and His Character is solid in spite of what you or I might think or feel—in spite of what kind of picture the world (or the church for that matter) tries to paint or portray Him as.
He is who He is—He is who He says He is—He always has been and He always will be God and there will never be a replacement for Him regardless of what does or does not happen the way you or I think that it should.
Whatever God does is always perfect and it’s right no matter how wrong we feel about it!
Everything God does, He does out of His love for us, and His love is perfect, but the perfect love of God also has judgment.
The Bible says that “For whom the LORD loveth He correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth”
It is simply a sign that you belong to God when He chastens you
And I don’t know about you, but I appreciate the correction of the LORD.
I appreciate strong ministry
I appreciate conviction—because some people have gotten beyond conviction—nothing convicts them anymore—nothing bothers them anymore
And the very fact that God would challenge you about your behavior or your attitude or your lifestyle is a sign that He loves you—and that He has a plan for your life—and that He has an agenda for you
So whom the LORD loves He corrects and that defines me as a son and not a fatherless child (you can read between the lines)
The Bible says that if I endure chastisement, it proves my sonship.
Not by how I shout or sing or preach or pray or speak in tongues; but when I can endure the chastening of the LORD it is a sign that I’m actually His son.
There are many people who started with Jesus, but when it got tough they went away.
Jesus asked Peter “Wilt thou leave me also?” and Peter answered “Wither shall I go, for thou hast the Words of eternal life”
I don’t know about you, but there has been times when God has laid the wood to my life real tough, but I had to stay because in Him are the Words of eternal life.
I’ve been in some tough places and I’ve gone through some dark days and things have not always gone the way that I wanted them to go; but because I am a son, I am joined to Him—His divine DNA is in me—and I belong to Him and He belongs to me—I am His son and He is my Father and my God.
When I do well, I’m His son and when I completely blow it and mess up—I’m still His son.
The Bible tells us in Galatians 4:6 that “God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts crying out, Abba, Father!”
And so it is through the indwelling Holy Spirit that we are connected to God and also through whom we are corrected by God.
In the text, when God begins to deal with Israel, He says “the Assyrians have attacked you because there were areas in your life that God was not pleased with.
And God will often use adversity to get your attention.
Sometimes we’re not focused
Sometimes we’re not committed
Sometimes we take Him for granted
Sometimes we take our own lives for granted…….
So we go through adversities to get us back in line and cause us to re-focus our attention on Him.
So now through the oppression of the Assyrians, it drove Israel to prayer…..
Nothing will make you pray like trouble!
People, who normally don’t pray, will pray when they’re in trouble.
People who have never prayed before will pray when they’re in trouble.
You’d be surprised how people can pray when they get a bad report from the doctor……
Or when their jobs are in jeopardy……and the list goes on……
There are just certain things that will rattle you and bring you to a point of prayer…..because what God wants to do is to bring you around full circle where “He” has your full and undivided attention.
The problem is, once He has gotten your attention, and you have lined up with His purpose, the enemies and adversities of life tend to “linger” in your life and all of a sudden you’re doing all you know how to do to serve Him, yet there is a yoke of bondage around your life.
