Revival and Return

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 88

Scripture reading: Mat 6:9-13

GMC I was glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord!

So today, quickly, Because we have a pot luck to get to and have already had a wonderful time of sharing by the Millers on what they have been doing serving in Morocco, but you all know me, and we don’t stop this train for anything, so lets make sure we dive into Isaiah, just for a little while.

So today we are looking at Isaiah 63:15—64:12. For those of you who are curious, there are only three more sermon in the book of Isaiah, well really only two IN Isaiah and one ON Isaiah, but either way, we are nearing the end. and as we near the end, for this portion in particular, I would like us to just realize the weight of all that has come before. What has been said, what is going on? and maybe try and place ourselves in the midst of feeling what the people must have been feeling when this was written.

We have mentioned multiple times that this final portion of Isaiah is really all about revival. We have heard the calls to come back, return to the lord repent and trust in God, we have seen the work of the suffering servant who will redeem for himself a people to be God’s people. And we have been in this final portion over and over again hearing the calls to revival, to see his wrath, to fear the Lord to come to him in submission and repentance.

But we need to realize that there might have been a feeling amongst the people that doesn't necessarily feel like all that has been said will come to pass. Lets imagine, if you will, that you have prided yourself, your WHOLE LIFE, as being the “people of God. Like that is literally how you define yourself as a nation as a people, as a culture. But yet it feels like your enemies are victorious. In the war that you are fighting you are loosing, if you come a little later you are in captivity, if you come a little later than that you are still in captivity but you might be thinking about going home soon, but nay way you slice it it doesn’t feel like the way that you think it should feel like to be the people of God.

And maybe that's really the problem. We all have in our minds and in our heats and in our thoughts an idea of what it will look like for me when I am God’s people. And the situation that they find themselves in doesn’t match what they think it should. Dare I say that for many of us that could also be true. The situation that we find ourselves in doesn't feel like we think it should. And so you have a thought, and a feeling that you get: “Maybe God abandoned us”. For these people it would be: we are in captivity, we have been taken over, our land was taken form us and we were taken from the land. And not just any land, but the land that was promised us by God! So God abandoned us. Maybe for us the feeling is: All this covid stuff, the world is going crazy, Its the politics, its the whatever we face we think: maybe God just abandoned us!

well our Text today, again Isaiah 63:15-the end of 64 will address that very thought. and so Quickly I want to run through it, look at how the people have their mind change so that we can quickly realize that we may need to undergo a similar thought. But before we dive in lets begin with a word of Prayer.

PRAY

So today we will just walk through this passage, jut walk through it and see the heart of the people towards God. we start with, as I described THE PEOPLE FEELING ABANDONED

The people feel ABANDONED …

in verse 15 we open and, reading 15-18 as our first section. But this section opens with he people feeling like God might not even SEE them. that's a serious level of abandonment.

READ: Isaiah 63:15-19

God, Look down form heaven, look upon us because we feel abandoned. Your zeal, your might, your compassion, we don't FEEL them any longer God, you abandoned us.

You were our father. Abraham,, we cant even identify with him, Isreal, they don’t want us and yet we still FEEL like we should be your people, you were our father, you were the “redeemer from of old” that was your name, so why do we feel unredeemed.

verse 17. O lord why do you make us wander from your ways, God why did you do this, God why did you abandon us? We were your people we did have our land verse 18 for a little while. But our enemies tramples it. We now have nothing. The thought here, to say it in a rather bold way is: God this is your fault.

God you left us here. God you are up there, sitting on your holy mountain while we languish away down here. So God are you unaware? Do you not see us, do you not know how we feel. Have you abandoned us.

To the people’s credit, they feel this way yes, but they will not turn their backs on God. For they realized that the only solution to their predicament IS God.

So the first think I would like to encourage us with is to note that what the people did right here was their response to the feeling and they PRAY FOR GOD’S RETURN.

… and pray for GOD’S return.

64 starting in verse 1

READ Isaiah 64:1-5a

What is the solution to the peoples feeling of abandonment? verse 1: Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down. Literally, that God would Tear open the heavens and enter in. God We pray that you would be with us. The peoples solution to the feeling of abandonment is to say: God we need you here with us!

No truer words have ever been spoken. When we feel like God has abandoned us, the beautiful truth, the thought that holds this together is, what I really need is God’s presence. What i need is the love, the compassion yes, but here what we need is the power of God on display. What they pray for is not that they feel better. What They pray is that God come rend the heavens, tear the heavens apart and enter in. That God would burst into creation and make his power known. That he would come with the power of faire, like a faire that kindles brushwood and makes water boil. that the nations, the world, would tremble at his presence. What they pray for is that God would move in power verse 3: when you did awesome things. things that they weren’t even looking for so they pray: God we don’t even know what you might do what you can do what you will do, but we just want you to DO!

The solution to our abandonment is for God to return, but quickly they confess: God meets with those who joyfully work righteousness. He is there with the ones who remember his ways. and so this is where the people really get it right. If this is the truth: that God meets with the righteous one and the one who remembers the ways of God, then there is a realization that maybe it wasn’t God who abandoned US, the people realize THEIR ABANDONMENT, they have abandoned the ways of God!

The people realize their ABANDONMENT …

Picking up in the second half of verse 5.

Read: Isaiah 64:5b

SO quickly God comes and he meets the righteous God comes and he meets those who joyfully work in righteousness and those who remember his ways BUT WE sinned. WE have been a LONG TIME in our sins. verse 6 and following:

Read Isaiah 64:6-7

Tons of things here, but QUICKLY: we have ALL become like one who is unclean, so ALL have sinned.

All our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. Here’s the thought: there is nothing that I can put my hands to that is not corrupt and sinful. Even the righteous things I do, no matter the angle or thought if I am coming in my own strength and might there are polluted by sin. So we fade. Fade like a leaf in Autumn.

verse 7. there is NO ONE who calls upon your name. It is a universal problem. Paul later quoting in Romans would say: no one is righteous, no not one! There is no one who looks to take a hold of God. There is NO ONE who does not melt in the hand of their own iniquities. There is the important part.

You have hid your face from us, this is the last half of verse 7. for you have hidden your face from us and you have made us ment in the hand of OUR iniquities. Here is the realization. It was not our adversaries that Caused this to happen it was not other things that other people have done it was not some EXTERNAL thing that caused these feelings of abandonment. It was ME. it was MY iniquities, the things that I have done. I am the one who has abandoned the ways of God!

Here is then the realization: I may feel like God has abandoned me, but that is not what has happened. Maybe it is I who has abandoned God! So what, therefore, is the solution? It is TO MAKE A HUMBLE REPENTANT RETURN!

… and make a HUMBLE return.

READ: Isaiah 64:8-12

They return. God we have abandoned you, there was no one who called upon your name but now we God desire to be your people. We sing this song from time to time: You are the potter, i am the Clay. But do we realize the weight of what we are saying when we say those words? Even when we read them here? You are the potter, I am clay. We are literally saying God whatever you want to do with me to me in through me. Whatever YOU want to do I am the lump of clay to be fashioned, formed, molded, broken, put in the fiery kiln for your good pleasure. Do whatever you will. This is a humble position acknowledging God is sovereign Lod of Heaven and earth, and we are not.

So do what you will God! No longer will I walk in my sin and shame. no longer will I be one who does not call upon your name, instead, God, verse 8, work in me. shape me and mold me as you will. this is a position of humility.

Verse 9. Be not so terribly angry oh God. it is interesting, as we train our kids and we talk about how to make apologies and what it means to be apologetic and even repentant and things like that, we can see a lot of truth in verse 9.

Verse 9 doesn't offer any sort of excuse. “God you know it’s just so hard, I mean, I’m not perfect.” “well, I just couldn't face the temptation, I mean, you don’t know what it was Like when I faced these things and so yes I sinned BUT...” There is just a humble request: Be not so terribly angry and remember not our iniquity forever! Please Lord, we are all your people, we need your forgiveness.

This portion of Isaiah I called “revival and return” because often when we think we need revival what we are expecting is God’s return. And in some sense and in some way that is when revival comes, when God does return, but the more important and more fundamental issue is: Revival happens when WE return to God. On an individual level revival happens when we return ourselves, our own hearts in humble submission to God in repentance and confession. And we come to him seeking new life restoration and healing. In our lives revival happens when we return to God in HUMBLE submission saying: you are the potter we are the clay, we are the work of your hands do what you will with us. It happens when we say “God forgive me” Be not so terribly angry. When we trust in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ our Lord. Who purchased salvation for us, who endured the wrath for us so that we could be called the people of God verse 9.

We find healing when we return to the Lord.

Revival, and we ear this word and we often think: this is some giant big movement of God, but the picture painted here is a movement of our hearts back to God. and I promise you we will see in the subsequent passages, he will move in return. I would encourage you this morning, when you FEEL abandoned, the solution is God’s presence and power manifested in our lives. But maybe, just maybe the realization that needs to occur is that it is not God but us who are far away, so we must humbly come back to him in love and devotion.

lets PRAY!