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Pastor Brant Seacrist

DECEMBER 29, 2019

"HOLY EXPECTATIONS"

TEXT:  ISAIAH 51:  9-16
READING: PSALM 66: 1-20

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SUBJ: Living with the expectation and desire of all that God can do and all that He has promised and praying for the same.

AIM: That we may leave off being intimidated by the things of this world and rather that we might rest in the strength and accomplishments of our redeemer God.

INTR: We find the Gospel throughout the book of Isaiah and rejoice to find an identity with the revelations given to the prophet of old and even the ability to claim the promises made then.
1. The setting of Isaiah’s prophecy is before but in anticipation of the captivity, but reason of confidence is found despite what is coming.
2. Our identity with this passage is twofold: that this is the same God and Christ who came and that it is the same salvation that we have received.
3. A third thought is that the prayer of the prophet may be very well suited to the conditions in our day and so we should so endeavor to call upon the Lord in the way he did calling the Lord to what we know He is able to do and that would be to His glory.

THESIS: There is, and must remain, a desire for divine manifestation so as to cause the world to see His power and His glory and we are to plead for it as they did of old.

I. The cry of the prophet (vv. 9-11)
1. It is obvious that Isaiah sensed the need while the people went about seeking their own ways.
2. And so, he called to remembrance times of the manifestation of the power of God and the glory that was seen by the people.
1) Specifically, they would remember Egypt (Rahab) as a picture of redemption and so should we.
2) Specifically, they would remember Pharaoh (the dragon) and so
3) Satan with the various personages with whom he had to do.
3. There was a sense of forsakenness such as had been known at other times just before a deliverance. And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. Judges 6:13.
4. How does it seem to you today? What do we see as an outcome? What shall we do?
5. The desire for the glory of God and the salvation of the Lord’s people prevailed and so the implication that the Lord was sleeping?
6. The appeal is made to the Red Sea deliverance and its depiction as a picture of salvation – “a way for the ransomed to pass over.
7. And in this way the redeemed of the Lord return:
1) They will not come as impoverished prisoners but with singing – The New Song of redemption.
2) They will come with joy on their heads – note references to crowns in other places and
3) They will obtain joy and gladness continually – sorrow and mourning cannot abide this.

II. The Response of the Lord (vv. 12-14)
1. And we remember 1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins. Isaiah 40:1-2.
2. A testing question from the Lord: “Who art thou?”
1) That you should be afraid of a man who shall die or the
2) Son of man who is as the grass?
3) Implication: The Lord would come into the world and suffer and die but then raise again never to die again – and so they that are with Him.
3. That you should forget:
1) Thy maker – we know of our divine origin both naturally and spiritually.
2) Who has stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth.
4. That you should fear the fury of the oppressor – it is vanquished: And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Hebrews 2:15.
5. The exile shall be delivered from the pit (of sin and oppression) and he shall not perish on the way back.

III. The assurance of salvation (vv. 15-16)
1. The divine declaration goes thusly: I am the Lord thy God and I divided the sea and will divide it for you as well.
2. I have put my words in your mouth (that is the promises and assurances given us in His word and fulfilled in the work of Christ and His cross and resurrection). The promises are all “yea and amen in Him.”
3. Covered with His hand and so protected from soul’s destruction: And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me; Isaiah 49:2.
4. The heavens are planted, and the foundations are laid and
5. I say, “Thou art my people.”
6. Need we say more! Let us cry as did the prophet.