Waiting on the Lord
Notes
Transcript
The Commandment to wait on God
The Commandment to wait on God
5 That is, the Lord God of hosts. The Lord is His memorable name.
6 So you, by the help of your God, return; Observe mercy and justice, And wait on your God continually.
We are commanded to wait on God continually.
The same way we are to observe mercy and Justice ( be merciful and do justice), God expects us to wait on him continually.
We are a people who wait upon their God.
Things we have to wait on God for
Things we have to wait on God for
1.Salvation
1.Salvation
26 It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the Lord.
Two forms of salvation; Physical salvation and spiritual salvation.
(Temporary)Physical salvation
(Temporary)Physical salvation
Physical salvation (temporary): God delivering us from dangers in the physical world. Temporal problems that are not of eternal consequence.
This includes for example, different problems and situation we face in this physical world that we need God to save us from.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of them all.
He guards all his bones;
Not one of them is broken.
(Ultimate) spiritual salvation
(Ultimate) spiritual salvation
Spiritual Salvation (ultimate): God delivering us from dangerous in the spiritual world. Delivering from things that are of eternal consequence. Deliverence from Sin, from this sinfull body.
so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
When he is revealed, he is coming to save those who eagerly wait fro him
To save them from what?
10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
From the wrath of God that is to come upon all the world.
20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
He is going to deliver us from this vile body and we will literarly put on his glorious body
23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.
20 He guards all his bones; Not one of them is broken.
God wants us to wait on him for all of our salvation, because he is our savior, not ourselves.
2 Wait for God’s counsel
2 Wait for God’s counsel
13 They soon forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel,
Not only do we have to seek God’s counsel but we have to wait for it
What does it mean to wait on the counsel of God.
The story of King Saul and Samuel will explain to us what it means
8 You shall go down before me to Gilgal; and surely I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and make sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, till I come to you and show you what you should do.”
King Saul was to wait for Samuel 7 days and Samuel would come and give him counsel concering what he should do
8 Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him.
9 So Saul said, “Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.” And he offered the burnt offering.
10 Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him.
However, King Saul waited for 7 days and Samuel did not come. So he felt, consedering his circumstances, justified to take matters into his own hand and follow his own counsel and offer the burnt offering.
Sometimes, when we pray and seek the Lord for his counsel concerning a matter. We have a certain expectation, that God will give us his counsel with a set period of time and if he does not, we feel justified to follow our own course. However, we must learn to wait for the counsel of the Lord.
3. Wait for the Justice of God
3. Wait for the Justice of God
14 Although you say you do not see Him, Yet justice is before Him, and you must wait for Him.
When we face situation that seem’s unjust , they are two temptation that come our way
to take mattter into our own hand and bring avenge ourselves by repaying evil withe evil. Spiritual vigilanties.
22 Do not say, “I will recompense evil”; Wait for the Lord, and He will save you.
19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
We must not avenge our selves but we must wait on the Lord, so that he can avenge us
2. To doubt the Justice of God , and conclude that there is no justice and condem God as unjust God.
For example Job
17 You have wearied the Lord with your words; “Yet you say, “In what way have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil Is good in the sight of the Lord, And He delights in them,” Or, “Where is the God of justice?”
We must wait on God for Justice, he is the one that sends forth judgment on our behalf, he will avenge us and he will make things right.
4. Wait on the promise word of God.
4. Wait on the promise word of God.
1 I will stand my watch And set myself on the rampart, And watch to see what He will say to me, And what I will answer when I am corrected.
2 Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.
God’s Vision for the Churc, for our life is his Word, it is his promise.
Abraham waited for the word of promise, and God fullfilled it.
In order to see God to fullfill his word we have to wait for it.
God’s promise to those who wait on him
God’s promise to those who wait on him
There are 7 promises in the whole Bible for those who wait on the Lord
1. He will renew their strength
1. He will renew their strength
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who wait on 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.
14 Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!
When we wait on God, our stregth can wear out, our heart can fail us. We will become weary.
It is not what we feel that is important, it is what we do that is important
3 I am weary with my crying; My throat is dry; My eyes fail while I wait for my God.
However, if we hold on and continue waiting on the lord irregardless of the weariness, God has promised to renew our strength.
2. They will be honored
2. They will be honored
18 Whoever keeps the fig tree will eat its fruit; So he who waits on his master will be honored.
Abraham was honored by God because he waited upon his God.
As long as we wait upon him he will honor us
3. They will inherit the earth
3. They will inherit the earth
9 For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the Lord, They shall inherit the earth.
What does it mean to inherit the earth, is it inheriting the land. The earth is going to be destroyed, so are we inheriting something that is going to perish NO!
Inheriting the land,means inheriting souls. This is a biblical term used to refer to people that inhabit the earth collectively.
22 “Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
Is God speaking to the earth, or the poeple that are in the earth? the people are the ones that need salvation, not the earth.
8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
“the nations’ and “the ends of the earth” are reffering to the same thing.
This is talking about people, souls.
When we say Lord give us this land as our inheritance, are we speaking of the physical land or are we speaking of the people of the land?
4. God will act for them
4. God will act for them
4 For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him.
God will act for those who wait on him
37 “For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.
He will come and, he will act in your behalf. He will do his part.
5. They will never be ashamed
5. They will never be ashamed
22 Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations, And set up My standard for the peoples; They shall bring your sons in their arms, And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders;
23 Kings shall be your foster fathers, And their queens your nursing mothers; They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, And lick up the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord, For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.”
God will never put you to shame, for waiting on him.
He will never leaving hanging
6. God will be good to them
6. God will be good to them
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him.
Those who wait upon the lord will see the goodness of God.
David was convinced that those who wait upon God will seehis goodness.
13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.
14 Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!
7. They are blessed
7. They are blessed
18 Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him.
The belssing of God is upon those who wait for him.
Having just heard all of these wonderful pormisess, we must now turn to what we must do and not do when we are waiting for the lord.
What one must do when waiting on the Lord
What one must do when waiting on the Lord
1. You must keep the way of the Lord
1. You must keep the way of the Lord
34 Wait on the Lord, And keep His way, And He shall exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.
The example of the people of Israel
Moses went up to the mountain of God and he told the Poeple this:
13 So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God.
14 And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Indeed, Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them.”
Many time the Lord will visit us and bring to a certain level of spiritual walk with him, a level of consecration
He will depart for a season and tell us to wait on him in the same place he left us, in the same way and path he placed us in.
The people of israel after 40 days decided not to wait any longer and began they turned from the way
Exodus 32:1–8 (NKJV)
1 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”
2 And Aaron said to them, “Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”
3 So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
4 And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!”
5 So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.”
6 Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.
8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ ”
The people had turned from the way of the Lord and cast of every restain
25 Now when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies),
Don’t break your restain
1 Hear the word of the Lord, You children of Israel, For the Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “There is no truth or mercy Or knowledge of God in the land.
2 By swearing and lying, Killing and stealing and committing adultery, They break all restraint, With bloodshed upon bloodshed.
2. Wait on the lord Quietly or silently
2. Wait on the lord Quietly or silently
26 It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the Lord.
Do not speak anything against God, don’t complain
Do not be like Job
Job decided he will speak and said
11 “Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
1 “My soul loathes my life; I will give free course to my complaint, I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
His speach was not only words without knowledge but also his speach was like those of wicked men.
36 Oh, that Job were tried to the utmost, Because his answers are like those of wicked men!
Be silent before the Lord, and have a meek spirit.
1 Truly my soul silently waits for God; From Him comes my salvation.
5 My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him.
3. Be alert, do not sleep nor slumber
3. Be alert, do not sleep nor slumber
35 “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning;
36 and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.
37 Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.
Let us be alert in prayer, not slumbering but being sober.
Let us not be distracted by other things so that when the visitation of the Lord comes we don’t recognise it and so thereby miss it all together.
Let us pray that God may stregthen our heart to wait on him as we ought to.
4. Rest in the Lord
4. Rest in the Lord
7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.
8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.