Isaiah 40:27-31, What Are You Waiting For?

Isaiah chapter 40 from verse 27 to 31 hear the word of the

Lord Why do you say Oh Jacob and Speak Oh Israel My way is hidden from the

Lord and my right is disregarded by my God Have you not known? Have you not heard the

Lord is the everlasting God the creator of the ends of the earth He does not faint or grow weary.

His understanding is Unsearchable he gives power to the faint and to him who has no might he increases strength

Even you shall be faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings

Like eagles, they shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint

May the Lord had his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word Christmas Day, so the waiting on Christmas is over for many people

Presidents have been opened the speculation about what might have been in those boxes is over the wonder is

Answered and the children's dreams about what it might appear for them have come true and hopefully exceeded

When I was a kid I would count down the days come about December I'd start counting down the days to Christmas waiting eagerly for the the day when surprise gifts would appear in the living room on Christmas morning the one morning

I'd be sure to get up early One year when I was about nine I was I guess I'm so eager to be down there as soon as I could in that living room that There's no impatient for the moment and Christmas morning when

I could get the gifts that I slept on the stairs From our upstairs

Bedrooms, I wanted to save you know, the two or three seconds that it would take to get from my bed Downstairs save a few seconds to get out of bed to go downstairs.

So I figured why not sleep on the steps? Sometimes you just can't wait right when when that thing is near you can't wait anymore.

Well, what are you waiting on? Maybe not your gifts. Did you get them already? If not, you might still have to wait for a little while maybe you got a gift card

This is a promise that there's this thing you want you can have it, but you don't have it right now

You still got to wait a little bit wait for tomorrow for the stores to open now Some people hate that this gift card this promise that you could get the thing like a

GameStop You can get that game or the system you want, but you don't actually have it yet To have to wait another day.

They want it now The Christmas season is often sold as a time to go wait for the birth of Christ prepare ourselves for his coming as If and I don't think people often when they say that they don't mean to imply but there they are implying whether they mean it

Or not as if he hasn't come already a couple of weeks ago I I saw

Advent sold as a time when we learn to wait, you know We're this is Advent season.

We're learning to wait. I thought wait for what? You know Jesus is already born Some people are trying to make it when they do that.

They're trying to make it sound more dramatic You know put it in the present tense, you know, Jesus Christ is born today to make us feel that we're in the drama

Personally right now instead of just kind of remembering something that's already passed But when they do that, they inadvertently suggest that the

Sun is coming again every December 25th and some people

Some people from some traditions purposely suggest that as if we have to wait on him again

Almost as if he's being born all over again now most Protestants when it says that that's not what they mean

When they're when they talk like that about Christmas, but they don't understand that that kind of cyclical re -experiencing of Christ's birth

Is exactly what some of the people who gave us these holidays originally what they what they meant after all

We don't talk like that about other holidays there are remembering something in the past Do we you think it you would think it's weird if every

June we were told we have to we're waiting To declare independence from Britain there were no prepare yourself to make your declaration to King George on July 4th you go, huh?

What are you talking about? We're not waiting. We're not preparing. We're remembering and celebrating

Something that's already done something that's already accomplished this past, but there are some things we are still waiting on We're not waiting when

Jesus to come as a baby the Son of the flesh But we are waiting on him to come again is joy to the world.

The Lord is Come is it about Jesus's first coming or about his second coming?

I don't really know actually He's purposely and ambiguous about that as Isaac was you'd have to ask as it was we remember if we celebrate one

Coming and we wait for Another we're in between what we remember and what we're waiting for You need to know though while we're in between What you are waiting on and what you remember?

God here in Isaiah chapter 40 tells us both to remember what's already passed what's accomplished and To wait we see that here in three parts and I'm borrowing from a pastor

Liam Gallagher for by outline first God confronts our doubts that he jogs our memory and Finally, he increases our strength

If if you forget what's past What's been accomplished already? If you think everything is wait, everything is still something to anticipate for the future nothing accomplished yet Then you'll be liable to doubts

You begin to wonder. Well, is he ever really gonna do anything? Here the survivors remember in where we are in this context in Isaiah chapter 40

The survivors of the Assyrian attack on Judah mostly in Jerusalem They have doubts

Now you think they'd be celebrating what God has already done What's he accomplished for them the

Assyrian army had been poised to lay siege to Jerusalem They ravaged the rest of the country and then they targeted

Jerusalem. They were laid siege to it destroy it The end result of that would have been a massacre men impaled and flayed alive others butchered and everyone else hauled away as captives as They see the city behind them going up in flames

But the angel the Lord massacred the Assyrian army instead Recorded as a

Greek historian as the result of a plague and so Jerusalem was spared now you'd think having seen that That they'd be celebrating with gratitude what

God's already done But we have a tendency to take for granted past blessings, you know, no matter how great

We just okay. Let's accomplish and we'll go on we always look for the next thing waiting for what the next blessing

Accomplishment that we need waiting for what you want next can eclipse What you've already been given

You may have already taken for granted here we are not even noon yet on Christmas Day and you may have already taken for granted the gifts that you were given today and Begun to think about What do

I need next? So it never stops always waiting never celebrating what's already accomplished

But what you've already been given but today Today we should celebrate

What's been done in the past what's accomplished joy to the world the

Lord has come Here they've seen the Lord delivered them in Jerusalem But they're so focused on what they've suffered what they've been through that they then express doubts

The Lord confronts their doubts in verse 27. Why do you say Oh Jacob Why do you speak

Oh Israel? Why are you saying this? What he's using both the old and the new names for the nation

Jacob and Israel why are you saying My way is hidden from the Lord. I was

God doesn't see me. He doesn't know what's going on He doesn't see they're saying all that.

We suffered all the destruction has come our way cities of Judah They've been destroyed the thousands of people have been killed and dragged away as prisoners the houses that have been burned down the livestock

That's been stolen God hasn't noticed it at all What do you tell such people even though they've just been delivered by the

Lord you tell them but first remember Remember what he's already done

Celebrate the gifts you already have But they're saying in verse 27 my right literally my justice.

Otherwise, what's justice for me? I Didn't get justice. My justice is

Disregarded by my God, I've got injustice. God hasn't seen it. I've suffered they sound very

American here Don't they might I didn't get my rights He's not protected my rights We had been giving him worship.

They think we've been we've been giving to him our money We've been sacrificing but keeping that temple going and we expect him

To protect our rights to keep us safe from invasion. We paid our premiums

We expect the coverage, but we didn't get it. That's what they think. That's their doubts and God confronts them

What about you? Has God done things for you? Delivered you from sins and from from darkness is provided for you what you needed.

He opened doors He's he brought you thus far But you're so focused on that next thing you need

The thing you're waiting on now You begin to doubt if he sees you if he's he's hearing you if he's paying you any attention

You're so focused on what you've suffered the disappointments the betrayals the gift.

You didn't get the relationships. You don't have That you have doubts

Well here he confronts your doubts remember What he's done already then remember who he is and Then yes wait

So he confronts their doubts and then second he jogs their memory. Have you not known?

Rhetorical question that yes, you've obviously known Known his past tense notice that have you not known?

Oh, if you knew this before and playing is something they used to know but they don't know it anymore You ever had that haunting feeling?

You read something or you heard something and you realize wait I used to know that You need to keep hearing so you'll not forget

What you know? That's why it's a good idea to be continually reading your Bible every day. Try to read it through in 2023 try that.

Mr. Perry said that he read the Bible through once a year that way What you know?

Does it become something that you? Had known Have you not heard he's jogging their memory.

They've heard this before and yet they doubted it Anyway, they had heard that the Lord notice all capital letters there verse 28 meaning

Yahweh the I am The one that they they've heard but forgotten and so they're now doubted

Wondering where God is the Lord is Four things he says the

Lord is among many others But here's the four he focuses on first he jogs our memory that the

Lord is Everlasting the word for everlasting means he's long enduring unending from antiquity the ancient past the original beginning to futurity

Continuing into the future perpetually He's the opposite of the all -flesh Which is grass remember in verses six to eight those good but temporary things that the beautiful things

The that the breath of the Lord blows on and they wilt away the princes the authorities who seem so powerful

But scarcely does their term start when it's all over The Lord is not like that He doesn't fade.

He doesn't wither. Is it blown away? This means that he is not affected by time in any way is over time.

He's beyond time He doesn't change or develop. He doesn't get soft in his old age Like some people are just cynical with experience like other people and theology.

This is called the immutability of God The fact that he is unchanging You know to change and you and I change either get better or get worse

But for God to change he would have to either get better or worse, but since he's perfect There's nothing better for him to evolve to to grow to and since he's perfect.

He's not going to decline He's not gonna become worse Even when God becomes him became a man incarnated in Jesus He didn't change his divine nature remain the same

What we remember today is it is not a change in God, but the birth of a man

Who is always God? He's the everlasting God He's not an idol.

That's something made by craftsmen or marketing people to sell. Well Something made with skill something people make to look stable and Beautiful.

Remember our gods are whatever we think is stable They made idols back in verse 20, so they wouldn't fall over.

So they appeared stable. Of course, they really weren't We make gods out of whatever we think is everlasting Relationships we think will last forever money that we think we can buy stuff that will last

Athletic achievement get a trophy we think will last politics Whatever things we think are really important that will last will make an impact

But all those things even when good Aren't everlasting and some don't make good gods

Only the true God is everlasting and we need to remember that when we're tempted to make gods out of temporary things

Second he jogs our memory that the Lord is the creator of the ends of the earth

He's not created like we are like our idols on the gods We create for ourselves to serve ourselves as as we've seen what we know that the universe was created and it could not create itself

No atheist mockers like to say well The Lord is just another God created by mythology like the

Assyrian men outside Jerusalem The Lord is just like any of the other gods of these other nations And he's not gonna be able to withstand us and of course then the

Lord destroyed them But someone has to have created the universe Now if you confront the mockers of our day with that fact, well, they'll fume and they'll huff and they'll puff and they'll deny it

And they'll insult you But it's still true these there simply must be a creator a first cause a prime mover and here the

Lord is reminding them and you That he is that one and we need to remember that with scoffers our own doubts

The consumerism of a modern Christmas they tempt us to think that he's he's created to Something cooked up to sell to make us feel good.

Maybe created to serve us No, he's not third

He jogs our memory that the Lord does not faint or grow weary He doesn't collapse

From exhaustion He's never tired. He's never needing to recover from some exertion from sure

He just got done even when Genesis says that he rested from his work of creation It doesn't say he did it because he got tired he created the universe with a word and then he may form the earth habitable for us and Wasn't in the least bit drained by any of that He didn't need an energy drink to replenish himself a nap to recover

You need to remember that in case one day you're wondering why God isn't doing for you What you want him to do and you wonder is he just too tired?

To get around to me He isn't fourth he jogs our memory that the

Lord's understanding is Unsearchable that's beyond our ability to learn we could never grasp it

We could not master it even if we gave our whole lives all our time to doing nothing but Studying and meditating to get wise like he is he has an infinite wisdom.

And so he knows what he's doing Even when he lets a

Syrian armies invade Judah. We need to remember that when we're doubting whether he knows what he's doing

When he allows whatever in our lives Why he's given me this

Spouse are not giving me one why my kids are like this Why my business is it booming?

Why I'm not successful Why God allowed death to take someone? Does he not understand?

Yes, he does So we have doubts that he confronted by Jogging our memory with who he is

But what are we to do now? The Assyrians have ravaged the country The biopsy has come back and the diagnosis is bad

The family is in trouble The business is failing I'm alone

The Lord is everlasting the Creator. He's tireless. He's infinitely wise

Remember that but what do I do now? Now You wait

Are you tired Well, that's okay because you're not God You're not tireless so rest and wait third part in verses 29 to 31

God increases our strength He gives power to the faint to those who are on the verge of collapsing of giving up he

Rejuvenates them the ones you're feeling like they can't go on another

Step if only they'll cast themselves on the Lord. He'll renew them If you have no might no power

Remember who he is. He's a faint. He doesn't run out of power He doesn't need a recharge like your phone now.

He recharges He'll recharge you if you'll wait and Verse 30 even you shall faint and be weary and we can always comment on how

Much energy little kids have running around Having a hard time sitting still for the sermon so they have to go behind.

They're so energetic But even they get tired Take a nap

Young men shall fall exhausted I've seen well -trained track athletes men who have developed their bodies to the maximum of endurance and strength

Collapse and exhaustion After having a run as hard as they could You saw that in the chariots of fire video an

Olympic athlete trained to run the steeplechase Done can barely stay up on his feet staggering to the bench.

I know exactly how that felt No matter how well conditioned you are You'll run out of strength

But In contrast to those energetic kids Running around all the time then they have to take a nap young athletes

So well trained but still wear out but Those who wait for the

Lord in verse 31 Literally, it's waiters for the

Lord They're different. The emphasis is on the fact that they are people are waiting on The Lord it's not that the waiting kind of just automatically naturally rejuvenates like resting between sets of weightlifting

So your muscles can recover and so now you can lift a little more when I ran the steeplechase

I was wiped out. I didn't think I could run another race that day But a couple hours later after a break

I ran the 5k made my fastest I've ever the body recovers kind of naturally but here it's not just That not just a rejuvenating power of a little break

It's not the waiting that gives you strength But the Lord you are waiting on those who are waiters of the

Lord to be a waiter on the Lord is to wait patiently in restful trust receiving his word meditating on his promises reflecting on his glory wondering at his creation and his incarnation

Casting yourself on him and complete confidence Like you're trusting in that Chair to hold you up right now.

Now if you were afraid that any moment that chair might collapse You'd be kind of kind of crouching probably sitting right on the edge of it

Ready at any moment to hold yourself up The chair gives away your legs tensed

You wouldn't be really rested but now All for all I can tell you all appear to be resting on those chairs

Because you trust them if you have that kind of trust in the Lord You're a waiter on the

Lord Then he will share with you some of his boundless untiring power that power that he has maybe you're waiting on him to give you a

Victory over some sin in your life or breakthrough in your family

Or to release your children like the people of Jerusalem were released from that siege

Maybe even waiting for freedom from something from sin something in your family they had to wait the people of Jerusalem had to wait even while they were mocked or they were threatened and You might have to wait

Even when people around you doubt you maybe mock you You wait by trusting you meditate on his word you do your duty

You enjoy his coming you celebrate what's already been done. You remember what he's accomplished

Especially on this day So he gives you strength to give you the strength you need in that last verse

Straight to do three things to fly To run to walk you'll be able to if you're a waiter on the

Lord to fly like an eagle and that's supernatural Because you're not an eagle But he'll give you the strength the ability to fly like one to supernaturally to overcome

The world to fly over all the ways that the world tries to hold you down Fly over the depression and the doubts the temptations to its conforming power

You'll fly like an eagle now first before that happens

The great eagle might push you out of the nest where you've been waiting and resting He might push you out and you feel like you're free falling

You're wondering if you're gonna go splat on the rocks below, but then the great eagle comes

Underneath you and you fall on him and you've mounted the great

Eagles wings and You're flying on him If you feel like you're free falling right now

It's okay Just wait Soon the great eagle will be below you and you'll find yourself mounted on eagles wings flying

If you're a waiter on the Lord, he gives you the strength to run My track coach said that running is the hardest work that the human body does

Running here is the exceptional demands that the testing the fiery trial of your faith

When you have to exert yourself as hard as you possibly can and you don't know how much longer you can keep

Doing this keep putting up with these people keep bearing whatever you're bearing keep resisting temptation

Keep saying no to something your flesh craves. No your anger or your love or your greed

Keep fleeing the devil running as hard as you can stretching your endurance gasping for breath

You feel like they're about to collapse straining every muscle And you're running and then instead of collapsing and exhaustion your power is renewed

If you're a waiter on the Lord and gives you the strength you need to walk Now flying like with Eagles wings is supernatural overcoming and running is the fiery trial

Then walking is the daily grind it's getting up every day doing your job

Praying and reading your Bible even when you don't feel like it even when you hit Leviticus Coming to church, even when it's not exciting

Your daily walk you're able to walk with the Lord like eating remember just a closer walk with thee and You're able to do it day in and day out

Because you don't faint you don't give up. You don't say stop the world. I want to get off you waited on the

Lord and He renewed your strength He renewed you because of what you didn't have to wait on because Jesus the

Holy One has Come the word became past tense flesh.

You don't have to wait for that to happen again He's not doing it all over again every year We're celebrating that already.

He's done the supernatural He brought down Satan from heaven and so we can trample on him and not be hurt

He's taken the wrath of God so that God can now say to us comfort

Comfort my people. He's made you his people that's supernatural So that we can have tidings of comfort and joy and he's given us a spirit so we can be born again

We can be adopted sons and daughters of God and cry out. Ah, but father we can run from temptation

We can flee from the devil and walk in the spirit every day. You don't have to wait for any of that Rather you can now wait on the

Lord because of all that This is the day about what you don't

Have to wait on so because of what you don't have to wait for now you have tidings of comfort and joy and now now