God Will Do A New Thing

Text

Isaiah 43:14–21 NASB95

Thus says the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, “For your sake I have sent to Babylon, And will bring them all down as fugitives, Even the Chaldeans, into the ships in which they rejoice. “I am the Lord, your Holy One, The Creator of Israel, your King.” Thus says the Lord, Who makes a way through the sea And a path through the mighty waters, Who brings forth the chariot and the horse, The army and the mighty man (They will lie down together and not rise again; They have been quenched and extinguished like a wick): “Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. “Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert. “The beasts of the field will glorify Me, The jackals and the ostriches, Because I have given waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My chosen people. “The people whom I formed for Myself Will declare My praise.

[[Where are we?

We are in a portion of the book where God reminds the people that even though He judges, He also saves.

It is filled with themes of hope, restoration and comfort for God’s people

What’s the message?

Even though the crisis will come, God will deliver on His promises

Even though they will face this form of judgement, God will still be with them

Ahaz had a time of crisis and trusted in himself and his own ingenuity....and Failed!

Hezekiah had a time of crisis but he eventually trusted God and was saved]]

Even if things look bad or even impossible - God!

God Will Do A New Thing

Isaiah 43:14–15 “Thus says the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, “For your sake I have sent to Babylon, And will bring them all down as fugitives, Even the Chaldeans, into the ships in which they rejoice. “I am the Lord, your Holy One, The Creator of Israel, your King.””

#1 - A Declaration of God’s traits

Appl. It’s good that is never shy to let us know who we have in Him - this should be the first thing you see in every situation

The LORD - His Covenant name

Redeemer - His Saving Name

Holy One - His Unique Name

Creator of Isarel - His Powerful Name [And it’s a power that works for you

Your King - His Sovereign Name

#2 - A Declaration of God’s track-record

Isaiah 43:16–17 “Thus says the Lord, Who makes a way through the sea And a path through the mighty waters, Who brings forth the chariot and the horse, The army and the mighty man (They will lie down together and not rise again; They have been quenched and extinguished like a wick):”

God, through the prophet, calls their their mind back to a specific and significant incident in their history

[Refer to Slides]

This is a reference to the greatest act of salvation in Israel’s history (referred to over 200x)

Then God says something strange

Isaiah 43:18 ““Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past.” (KJV - “remember ye not the former things”)

Why does God make this statement?

The following verse gives an indication

Isaiah 43:19 ““Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.”

To Israel, they are reminded of salvation from Egypt but are encouraged that God can work in a great/greater way now.

What God will do with this new threat is do a new thing

That’s why He asks, “can you not see it?”

That is just the thing:

Sometimes looking back causes us to limit what we think God could do now

God’s past achievements should not become His present ceiling

Don’t limit what God could do by what He did do

Stop shackling God, putting Him in a straight jacket, boxing Him in

APPL.

When God brought you out of your mess, addiction, struggles - Don’t think that’s the best He can do

When you were struggling in the marriage and God saved you

When you were facing all the darts and God delievered you

When you had a traumatic and abusive childhood and God brought you out

When you were riddled with grief and He held you in His comforting arms

Don’t think that it was God at His peak - He can still do a NEW THING

God did some amazing things in the church, but don’t limit God by thinking that was the best He could do - GOD CAN (STILL) DO A NEW THING

It’s easy to look at all what did in the good ole days, was God at the peak off His power....but it’s not. That’s human thinking!!!

God has kept us for over 50 years but don’t think He can’t keep us for 100 years

When the numbers were 300. Do we think God can do better? Or do we think that’s the best it will ever get? - Don’t think that 500, 1000 is out of the ball park

God can bring us out of a crisis and do a new thing

We didn’t have Babylon but we had a crisis - COVID19

E.g. - many people thought we would lose the young people during Covid - But that was the one group that not only survived, but grew in the midst of the pandemic

Some of us are still dealing with the fallout from Covid

God can still do a new thing.

God is still an able God

Ephesians 3:20 “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,”