A DRY AND THIRSTY LAND

Introduction

-To say that the year 2020 has been crazy would be an understatement. It makes you wonder what’s next (are we going to see talking

apes riding horses carrying rifles or what????)----and we’re not even halfway through it yet. Not at all what we expected for the new year...

-But I want (for a moment) to take a consideration of the spiritual reasonings that some of these things are happening and the spiritual results of what has happened.

-When you consider just what has happened over the last two weeks:

~An African-American man was murdered because his life was held to have no significance.

~Looting and rioting and anarchy ensued because life and property were held to have no value.

~All of it is sin—but consider the spiritual atmosphere that allowed these things to occur.

-There has been for decades a spiritual drought and dryness in the world, but more specifically in the nation. People have sought for their soul’s satisfaction in temporal, earthly things, to the neglect of the eternal God, and now we are reaping what we have sown.

-God, through the prophet Jeremiah, cried out against a people who do this:

Jeremiah 2:12–13 (ESV)

12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord,

13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

-Even the church as an institution has left itself dry and thirsty because it has become more concerned over its buildings and programs and parties rather than ministry and the state of souls.

~We have not drunk from the waters of life in Christ, but instead have drunk from the waters of pride, arrogance, materialism, sensuality, entertainment, sports, worldliness, fleshliness…

~As a result, the spiritual state of the land is dry and thirsty, which is a breeding ground for the sins we have seen on display: racism, murder, theft, destruction…

-But then I also want to point out the effects that current events have on us—because we have not been able to meet in almost 3 months and not been able to receive the encouragement of being around God’s people, we are left dry and thirsty in our souls; and the worry that we allow to come to us because of fear of disease or fear that violence will find its way to us has sucked any spiritual vitality right out of us

~Not only is our nation a dry and thirsty land, but our very souls are dry and thirsty. Now, we might not be able to do anything about other people’s spiritual conditions (other than prayer and sharing the gospel) but we can do something for ourselves—and hopefully today will get us headed in a right direction.

-Just before our passage, God had just given a prophecy of judgment against Judah—in a few short years (150-200ish) they would be taken captive and carried away. Their nation would literally become a dry and thirsty place, but they themselves would also become a dry and thirsty people personally.

~But then after this pronouncement of judgment comes our passage where God promises a time of refreshment and renewal for the faithful

-So, during our own troubles and tribulation and worries that leave us spiritually dry and thirsty, God offers us refreshment and renewal as well.

~I pray that this is something that we align our lives with and receive gratefully from the hand of the Lord.

Isaiah 44:1–5 ESV

1 “But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! 2 Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen. 3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. 4 They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. 5 This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s,’ another will call on the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’ and name himself by the name of Israel.”

-How does God renew us during a time of spiritual dryness and drought?

I) Receive peace from your covenant relationship (vv. 1-2)

-When you look at the first two verses, God is talking very soothingly to His people with words of their special status with Him

~Look at these wonderful words:

I chose you

I made you

I formed you

I will help you

~And so, because of these, you need not fear, you can have peace

-These aren’t words just spoken to anybody—He speaks these words to Israel because (as it says several times in those verses) they are God’s servant—and, He even calls them by a term of endearment JESHURUN which means one who is upright

-God is speaking to a people who are near and dear to His heart, a people with whom He has made a covenant=a special agreement built on promises

-Who are God’s covenant people now? It is the church—those who have trusted in Jesus Christ who made a new covenant through His shed blood on the cross

-And so, if you are a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, you have a covenant relationship with God, and these words of joy and promise are for you. He says:

I chose you

I made you

I formed you

I will help you

~And so, because of these, you need not fear, you can have peace

-What God is saying is that because I have an unbreakable, eternal covenant with you, you do not need to fear because I will never abandon you, I am fully committed to you, and I have divine oversight over your life

-This is God saying to us that regardless of circumstances, I am yours, and you are mine

~Regardless of a virus that very much is a threat, and even if you do get sick, I am yours and you are mine

~Regardless if your entire society should collapse, I am yours, and you are mine

-I heard a story about a train traveling through the night in a very violent rainstorm. The lightning flashes were almost blinding, the rain hitting the windows was deafening and the strong gusty winds rocked the train from side to side. When the lightening flashed and lit up the darkness, the passengers could see the rising water along the tracks. This created terror in the minds of the passengers. Several passengers noted that through all the noise, lightening and wind, one of the passengers, a little girl, seemed to be at perfect peace. The adult passengers couldn’t figure out why the little girl was so calm during all this excitement. Finally, one passenger asked her, “How is that you can be so calm when all the rest of us are so worried about what might or could happen?” The little passenger smiled and said, “My father is the engineer.”

~She belonged to the father, and the father belonged to her—she knew the father would protect her and take care of her because of their relationship, so she could be at perfect peace.

-God says to His covenant people, His church, fear not, be at peace, I am yours, and you are mine

II) Revive yourself in the Holy Spirit’s ministry (vv. 3-4)

-A dry land where the grass is dying needs refreshment. A man lost in the middle of the desert is thirsty and needs refreshment.

~What is true in the physical world is true in the spiritual world—the world in its spiritual depravity needs something life-giving from God; a Christian who is at the end of his/her rope needs a renewal from the Lord

-This is something that the nation of Israel desperately needed then and would need after its long captivity in a pagan land—they were nationally and individually a dry and thirsty land

-Therefore, God gives them this word:

Isaiah 44:3 (ESV)

3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground

~This picture would really stick in the minds of the Jews. They were an agricultural society that depended on their ability to grow crops and take care of animals.

~Times of drought were devastating because of the destruction that it brought to their crops and animals and the disruption it brought to their livelihoods

~But this is all a picture—a metaphor. God says that just like your land suffers drought, so you will suffer a dryness of soul that seems to suck the very life out of you.

~That might describe some of you. It most definitely describes the spiritual state of many churches and the nation.

-God says He will pour water and give streams—that which will renew, refresh, and revive. And this comes from His Holy Spirit.

~Churches without the Holy Spirit are dead and dry and dusty

~Nations without the Holy Spirit are pagan and under the dominion of the evil one

~Christians, although indwelt with the Holy Spirit, when they are not filled with the Holy Spirit are listless, lethargic, and lifeless

-And so, we need the Holy Spirit to do a spiritual work in us that gives us vitality and vigor

~First, we need to ask for the Holy Spirit to refresh us. Jesus told us:

Luke 11:13 (ESV)

13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

~We ask God to cause the Holy Spirit that indwells us to do a work in our hearts. But we receive not because we ask not.

-Then, we need to stay close and not wander from the revitalizing work of the Spirit—and God will use His Word to keep us close. We’re told in Psalm 1 that a spiritual person’s:

Psalm 1:2–3 (ESV)

2 ...delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

-Then we must not quench the Spirit or grieve the Spirit through unbelief and sin. And us non-charismatic types can’t be afraid of the power or work of the Spirit in our lives.

~We have seen what decades of Spirit-less Christianity has led to—a Christianity that has relied on worldly means and fleshly strength. Now is the time to not limit the Spirit’s work.

-And so, we open ourselves to the Spirit’s works and roles in our life. According to Scripture:

1. The Holy Spirit is a helper who teaches and reminds.

2. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin.

3. The Holy Spirit dwells in believers and fills them.

4. The Holy Spirit is a source of revelation, wisdom, and power.

5. The Holy Spirit guides to all truth

6. The Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts.

7. The Holy Spirit is a seals the believer.

8. The Holy Spirit helps in a Christian’s weakness and intercedes for them.

9. The Holy Spirit makes believers new and gives them eternal life.

10. The Holy Spirit sanctifies and enables believers to bear fruit in their lives.

-And that last one is pictured in v. 4—a believer filled with the Spirit, a church empowered by the Spirit, a nation led by the Spirit will spring up like bountiful plants next to a stream

~believers will overflow with the fruits of the Spirit:

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Gal. 5:22-23 ESV)

-There was a story about a man who was in the Utah desert, and after 10 hours of no water died even though several sources of water were within reach.

~The source was there, but he did not find it or seek it. How many of us are like that? Your revival and renewal dwells within you, but are you seeking, asking, and knocking for it?

III) Rest in your eternal identity (v. 5)

-V. 5 (I guess you could say) is the result for when the people receive peace from their relationship with God and revive themselves in the Spirit.

~They begin to identify themselves with their Lord. They say I AM THE LORD’S. That is the identity that gives them their meaning and their purpose and their value.

-And that is the source of our meaning and purpose and value. We are dry and thirsty people because we think our value is in our earthly relationships or in our earthly possessions or in our earthly fame and recognition (or maybe our value is in the lack of these).

~But God said of Israel, and says of us, our souls will rest when we say I AM THE LORD’S and that is good enough for us.

-When you are in Christ, that is your identity. Your identity is not your race…is not your political affiliation…is not your sports skills or academic achievements…is not bound up in your looks or your weight or your handicaps or your connections or your ________

~The only identity that matters for now and eternity is your identity in Christ.

-Once you are at peace in your covenant relationship with God (knowing He will never leave you nor forsake you), and you are alive in the Spirit drinking fully from His life-giving power, then you are able to rest in who you are in Christ.

~In Christ you are perfect and loved and accepted, and there are not buts about it.

~People hear this and they begin to say BUT what about this, BUT what about that. Just stop. There are no buts—in Christ you find your rest, and in rest you are renewed

-Churches that try to make their identity about the number of programs they offer and how hip and relevant they are and about the size of their building and the fame of their pastor are going to remain dry and thirsty lands

-Nations that try to make their identity about how tolerant of everything they can become and how far they can get from biblical morals will remain dry and thirsty lands

-Christians who are more in tuned with the world than they are with the Word and the Spirit, who care more about what people and the church and the world are doing for them rather than what they are doing for people and the church and the world are going to remain dry and thirsty lands

-But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Conclusion

-It is said that there are parts of the Atacama Desert in Chile that has not received rainfall in over 400 years. There is literally probably no drier or thirstier place in the world.

-And yet a Christian with peace or power in the Holy Spirit is just as dry. Turn from this world and seek refreshment from the only source…

-And a person who has never trusted in Christ is even drier that that. You will walk this earth in a spiritual drought, and then find yourself in the eternal fire….