Isaiah 57 — Phil Beach Jr.

God's Presence With the Contrite and Humble

This is a scripture that parallels the one that we read in Isaiah chapter 51. Now Isaiah chapter 57, verse number 15. For thus saith the High and the Lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell, that is God's place of abiding, where God's power, God's presence, God's holiness, His life, I dwell.

The Holiness and Sovereignty of God

This is the Lord Beloved who spoke the worlds into existence, whose word holds them into place right now, whose word is holding the earth on its course and the planets and the stars, whose word is speaking to the ocean saying, go so far and then stop.

This is the one who's speaking now. This is not the word of a man speaking, but this is God's declaration. Thus saith the High and the Lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, that is, whose name is set aside.

His name is like no other name. His name is like no other name. He's not like the children of men. He is different. The Bible says that Jesus is undefiled and separate from sinners. I dwell in the high and holy place and with Him also, that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Yielding to God's Work of Brokenness

Here God declares, Beloved, that not only does He dwell in the holy heavens where He inhabits the heavens, but He also dwells and makes His abode with the contrite, the broken, and the humble. Beloved, you must understand that the power and presence of Jesus Christ will not be in your life unless you ask God to give you a broken heart.

And then when He gives you the opportunity, yield. Are you a bossy person? God will bring into your life someone that will want to tell you what to do. And that's your opportunity to break. Oh, how we miss divine opportunities to become more like Jesus because we're so self-centered.

Are you impatient? Oh, God will allow something to come into your life and you will have to learn patience. Do you want the fullness of God's blessing to be in your life? When I say the fullness of God's blessing, I mean the fullness of His love, the fullness of His Spirit, that beautiful presence of Christ that enables you to respond in Him, react with Him, not in the flesh.

That beautiful presence of Christ that enables you to bless them that curse you, to pray for them that despitefully use you, not to wish evil upon somebody, not to seek vengeance in your heart toward those who have hurt you.

This is a broken and a contrite heart. But you can't find a broken and contrite heart apart from the presence of God and His Word. The Word of God and the presence of Christ gives you a broken and contrite heart.

You cannot find it apart from Him. Christians are looking for formulas. They're looking for books and paperbacks in order to become like Jesus. Beloved, God knows no such thing. You become like Jesus by spending time with Him.

Becoming Like Jesus Through Scripture and Fellowship

That's how you do it. You spend time with Him. You spend time in His Word. As dear children desiring the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby. How many remember what the Sadducees or the Pharisees, I'm not too sure which, said about James and John when they preached?

They said, we took note that they were with Jesus. You want to be like Jesus, hang around Jesus. We've mentioned it many times, the book of Proverbs is full of it. You hang around an angry man and you're going to get a temper.

You hang around a conniver and you're going to become a conniver. You open up your heart to someone who's got a filthy mouth and you're going to have a filthy mouth. You sit in front of that television and allow your mind and your heart to take in that garbage and you're going to become just that.

You're going to become just that, beloved. If the chief desire in your life is to be like Jesus Christ, you're going to find company with him. Listen to this now, in his church, to be your chief joy. Don't believe anybody who says, I love God, but can't stand the church.

They're phonies. They're deceived. You cannot love he who has begot without loving those that are begotten. You cannot do it. Christianity is not living an island all by yourself. It's just me and Jesus.

No. Christianity is communion with God through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God and fellowship with those of like precious faith. Those who avoid Christian fellowship avoid it mostly because when they get involved with other Christians, it means they have to change.

Their own sins of selfishness and jealousy are exposed and they don't want that to happen. So they create their little old euphoric Christian world. They've been hurt. But beloved, God's will is not that we ostracize ourselves from one another.

And when I speak of church, I'm not exclusively talking about the gathering together as Christians in an assembly like this. I mean seeking fellowship with Christians throughout the week. Our chief joy should be fellowshipping with the church.

The Early Church and Shared Christian Life

The early church knew nothing other than fellowship one with another, helping one another, learning about Jesus from the apostles' lips. You remember the apostles spent almost four years with Jesus. And I would imagine that the church in Jerusalem when it was born after the day of Pentecost, boy, they were privileged folk.

Can you imagine hearing from the apostles the very experiences that they had with the Son of God? What do you think the church learned about mostly in the early days of Jerusalem? They learned about Jesus.

They learned about the things that happened. You can only know Him by spending time with Him and by spending time with other Christians. Don't hang around with people that are like you. Find people that aren't like you, that love the Lord, and learn to accept them without judging them.

And let what they are rub on you, and let what you are rub on them. You know, Jesus picked 12 and they were all different. And you know what they had to do? And this is what the Christian church doesn't want to do.

They had to learn to live together, get along. They had to learn to love each other, get along together. Nowadays, it's easy if you don't like someone in a church, you go to another church. They couldn't do that back then.

There was only one church. You didn't like something, you had to deal with it. You know, you couldn't go to the first Jerusalem church on Fifth Avenue and then decide to go to the second Jerusalem church on Twelfth Avenue.

There was one church, there was 12 apostles, there was one Christ, there was one faith. And then if you didn't like the guy who got saved, you need to learn to like him. Now we just avoid. But beloved, we do it to our own detriment because we never grow up as Christians.

We never grow up when we avoid, when we run rather than confronting. So as we read in Psalm 51 earlier, and we just read in Psalm 57, I dwell in the high and holy place and with him also that is a contrite and a humble spirit.

Contrition as Christian Maturity

A contrite and humble spirit is an attitude of the heart that lies in a posture of weakness before God. It is not being a perfect Christian without fault, but it is being a Christian that when a fault is discovered, you humble yourself and confess it before God and get things right.

This is Christian maturity. And the Bible says that God dwells with such who have this kind of an attitude and the blessing of God and the fullness of God's presence and blessing will be in your life.

Ephesians: Salvation's Facts and the Believer's Walk

This is why the Apostle Paul spent three chapters in the book of Ephesians discussing the glorious facts about our salvation. We were redeemed by the blood. We were saved. We were raised up with Christ.

We sat down together with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We had received the spirit of promise. Then he prayed that we would be filled to all the fullness of the love of God. Then what happened?

He went from chapter three to chapter four. Then in chapter four, he comes way out of the heavenlies, right down to where people walk. And he starts saying, now walk right. Why? Because Paul knew that though we were partakers of the gift of salvation and recipients of the Holy Ghost, if there were things occurring in our life that were not pleasing to God, the Lord would not dwell with us.

The blessing, the fullness of what we are in Christ would not be able to manifest itself. So Paul spent Ephesians 4, 5, and 6 teaching us how to walk right through the power of the Holy Ghost so that we won't forfeit and cancel the mighty blessings that are ours in Christ through the indwelling spirit of God within us.

So we must understand these two aspects of our Christian life. We must understand the facts of what God has done for us. Then we must understand the practical life that God wants us to live. And we cannot live a life pleasing to God apart from brokenness and contriteness.

Repentance, Restitution, and Abiding in Christ

A broken heart is a forgiving heart. A broken heart is a repentant heart. A broken heart is a grieved heart when it discovers that it hurts somebody. A broken heart seeks restitution. A broken heart is a heart where the love of God is flowing.

And a broken heart can only be found abiding in the vine through the power of the Holy Spirit. As we continue to discover more of Jesus Christ, the fullness of His blessing in our lives, may we remember that God is high and holy, but He dwells also in us.

As you become more acquainted with the Holy Spirit, and as you allow the Lord to establish in your life a relationship with Him, these things will begin to operate in your life. God will continue to deal with the heart issue, but as He continues to deal with the heart issue and brings you to the place where you must repent and turn from sin, He will then, in its place, fill you with more of His resurrection life, more of the glories of heaven.

The two go hand in hand. You cannot know His love until you've seen your own hatred. You cannot know His patience until you've seen your impatience. You cannot know His tender way of speaking to people until you have seen your harsh, spirit-hurting way of speaking to people.

And once you've seen what you are, God must then lead you to a place of repentance where you're truly sorry, and you really want God to deliver you from that wicked way. And then God will begin that work of appropriating His life in exchange for your old way.

A Communal Journey of Faith

So we're all on this journey together. I want to encourage everybody to ask God to revive within you a desire to get to know other Christians. Open up your heart to them. Fellowship with other Christians, it's so important.

And let God work in your life through other people, through the Word of God, and He will indeed be glorified in our midst. Does anyone have anything I'd like to share? We're about to close. Great. Psalm 51.

Approaching God for Grace

Living in this world, we'll constantly seek, for the influence of this world, we'll constantly seek to give you a hard, calloused, insensitive heart before God. And it's a dry place. But thanks be unto God that we have access to the Lord.

Boldly, we can come before Him. By the blood of Jesus. And there receive help and grace in time of need. Amen. Well, praise the Lord. There's no other.