How Great Is Our God!

Isa 40:9

9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"

ESV

How Great Is Our God

 (Is. 40:9-11)

Intro:

              A.  Illustration about the weight of sin.  (use many books until the weight gets too much to hold)  While one sin may not feel like much, what happens over times is that our sins continue to add up within us.  It gets to the point where we can’t bear that weight anymore more.  But the truth is, God desires to take away my sin.  I just need to let it go.

              B.  There is a time and place for being told about your sin.  Not everyone feels guilt.  In fact, we live in a society that wants to do as much as possible to not feel any personal consequences for our actions.  We have found ways to blame others for our own actions in part because we don’t want to believe we are ever guilty or at fault.

              C.  But today, I want us to hear the beauty of what it means when God steps in and takes away the burden of sin.  I want us to see the calling from God is for us to wait upon the Lord.  I want us to see how great is our God.

              D.  Prayer

I.  The Voice of Love

              A.  This chapter opens with loving words (Is 40:1-2).  God knows the consequences Israel and Judah are facing due to her sin, but that doesn’t mean God has quit loving his children.  He tells Isiah to speak comfort to them.  Jerusalem would fall.  The temple would be destroyed, but all hope was not lost. 

              B.  Salvation has come!  Jesus is alive!  My sins can removed as far as the east is from the west.  I am a new creation in Jesus Christ.  There is so much that I can be thankful for even during the difficulties of this life.  It is not that we are without pain and suffering, it’s that our God is with us in our pain and suffering and has remove the guilt of our sin and the consequence of spiritual death. 

              C.  God’s greatness is seen in his comfort given to us who iniquity has been pardon.  I am free from sin!

II. The Greatness of God

              A.  King David lived about 250 years before Isaiah.  The great song and poem king gave these words (Ps. 145:1-9).  Isaiah words speak to God’s greatness because of his love for us.  We spoke them as the church just moments ago, (READ Is. 40:9). 

              B.  We don’t serve a dead god.  We don’t serve a powerless being.  We serve the creator of heaven and earth.  The one who loves us.  That’s Isaiah’s message.  Keep reading (Isaiah 40:10-11).  Isaiah wants us to see the power and the love of our God.  This is not pie in the sky wording from Isaiah and God himself. 

              C.  I am leaving, you will be without a preacher for a period of time.  This church family has different viewpoints, different personalities, and different ways in which we believe Jesus wants to be reflected in us.  But for a moment, take your eyes off of the current situation in this congregation and look at God.  Behold your God.

              D.  God comes with power and might?  Do you believe that?  Is God strong enough to help this church become His church and not our church?  We know the answer – Yes.  But we have to focus on God.  We have to see Jesus and desire to be a disciple of Jesus.  We have to know that the one who sits above the circle of the earth, who stretches out the heavens, is the one who is in control if we will bow to Him.

              E.  Hear the word of Isaiah (READ Is. 40:26).

III.  Wait Upon The Lord

              A.  Sometimes we get tired.  Sometimes we get weary.  Sometime it’s hard to keep on keeping on.  Sometimes our dreams do not become reality.  Isaiah speaks to the people (READ Is. 40:27).  Hear what people are saying in the days of Isaiah, “God doesn’t see me and doesn’t really care about me.”  Yes, sometimes even a Christian may feel like they are alone in this world and God is no longer active in their life. 

              B.  Hear the true answer (Is. 40:28). Isaiah is seeking to rebuild their confidence in God.  Look at how he describes God:  Jehovah is the everlasting God, the Creator of the earth.  Our God doesn’t grew tired or have to catch his breath.  In fact, God’s wisdom and understand is so great that we can’t even begin to try and figure God out.  Isn’t that part of our problem?  We want a God we can figure out.

              C. Don’t get too comfortable figuring out God.  I appreciate that God has given us the Bible and within it has shared the good news of salvation for all mankind.  I am thankful that Jesus loves and died for my sin.  But if you push me to figure out how the Trinity works, how much grace God will give to any one individual, why terrible things happen to very faithful believers; I will admit I don’t those answers, but I am okay just trusting that God does. 

              D. Isaiah reminds me of what I need to know:  Listen to these powerful verses (READ Is. 40:29-30).  God empowers His own.  There is a vast difference between what mankind can do on his own and what a person can do who is empowered by God.  Take your great young athletes.  They are physically and emotionally fit.  They train hard and achieve great things, YET, there comes a time when even their strength fades.  Whom does God empower? (READ vs 31)

              E.  The phrase “wait upon” is not “do nothing and just see what happens” attitude.  Isaiah uses a phrase that is active.  NIV says “those who hope in the LORD.”  It’s the idea of putting your faith and trust in God knowing that He, and He alone, can do for you, what your own strength cannot do. 

              F.  When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were told to bow before the idol or face a death by fire, King Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands? (Dan. 3:15).  Their answer is what it means to “wait upon the Lord.” (Dan. 3:16-18).  

              G.  I might soar as if I am empowered with the wings of an eagle, I might run a great race and now grow weary, or I might find myself walking the journey of life without quitting, and all I do so by his might, not my own.

Conclusion:

              A.  For you and me, we need to put our trust in the God who divides water, knocks down walled cities, raises the dead, but most of all, defeated sin so that I might live.

              B.  I am reminded of the words Paul said to Timothy in 2 Tim. 4:7-8.  As we leave here today, let us wait upon, hope in, put our faith and trust in the God who keeps us going. 

Because of Jesus,

Jeffrey Dillinger, minister