Heart Agenda (Certainty) Fire Lighters

Book of Isaiah transports us past time of Saul/David/Solomon to era of many kings of Judah & Israel Up to this point / COI history was a see-saw affair of trusting God or not / Some kings did / some did not / Some relied on God / others on foreign powers / own powers / to fight / find their way

First part of the book / speak of Ahaz / Hezekiah who demonstrated trust in God / but then it began to fade / the more they trusted in self / the more it seems like a death sentence

Now we see them overrun / Jerusalem destroyed / COI carried off into Babylon

Here in Babylon / what would they do? Continue to believe promise of hope? Or would loss of city / significance & God’s judgment be too much for them? Repent? Or turn away once more?

God knew battle in their hearts / as He gave the people these words

Isaiah 50:10–11 Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let the one who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on their God. But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment.

Then directly after this we see a promise of hope / restoration

I. The Heart Agenda (Certainty)

A. God’s First question / questions their trust in God

Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant?

1. He is questioning them / even in exile / will you believe in me? Or like Kings before / go astray / rely on own power

a. The question is then responded with instruction / speaks to two groups of people

Let the one who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on their God

Meaning the ones who fear God / the ones who trusts in Him / even in times of darkness

2. What darkness? Like Hezekiah / when surrounded / believed God for deliverance / light and way through

a. But now because of rejecting God / temple destroyed / from all appearance God has abandoned them / left in the dark

They still can believe God for a promise

B. Second Group Addressed

But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches,

1. Who are these people? What does it mean to light fires / provide yourselves with flaming torches

a. Clearly a reference to using your own strength / ingenuity to shed light on a dark situation / finding your own way out of any uncertainty you are facing!

Picture of people equipping themselves out of earthly resources to deal with earth’s dark experiences

Making your own way out of any situation / without trust in God

Means choosing to live by CERTAINTY / rather than FAITH

2. Warning

But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment.

a. Little irony here / those appearing in darkness / but trusting God / have a hope / promise

b. Those walking in handmade light / end up in torment / ultimate darkness

FEAR THE LORD AND TRUST / OR LIGHT YOUR OWN FIRES AND CREATE YOUR OWN DESTINY / YOUR CHOICE....

C. Heart Agenda of Fire lighter is CERTAINTY

A man named Jack was driving on a dark country road one night when he got a flat tire / He saw a cabin in the woods and began to walk towards it / He told himself that the person who answered the door would be angry / irritated for the interruption / In fact, the person would probably harm him / He was probably a truly terrible person / Who else would live out in the woods away from people? Jack convinced himself that the person who lived in the cabin was a menace to society so he went back / froze to death on side of the road / trying to fix it himself / few days later found by the man who lived in the cabin / who drove up in what else? His tow truck / as he owned a tow truck company

1. Want everything to be clear / no mystery / no confusion / step by step instruction / no faith involved

a. I will light my own light / make it on my own

How does this apply to us today? Let’s look...

2. First: There is darkness / uncertainty in battle was their darkness / they would send out spies / see how many troops / horses/ what kind of weapons / armor / then compare / how do we line up against them?

a. Then create a strategy / formulate options / If opposing army looks more powerful / look for options / create alliance

Use own planning / manipulation / resources

2. Of course other option is trust God / BUT / that’s beyond our control / no certainty

D. Decisions Decisions

1. In this darkness God send a promise / now comes analysis of the heart / what does the heart do?

a. Wait on God / or make things work in foreign land / so we question God

Maybe it’s not so bad here after all / maybe God has left us / being in this situation not great / but it works!

2. We are no different / we love to follow a formula to a certain end

Books “Five steps to Success” “Seven Keys to being highly effective” “10 Lessons to be Fruitful”

a. We want answers / NOW! / quick / guaranteed / easy is what we want

b. Certainty… not trust is what sells today!

When our heart agenda is certainty / What do we do with God in dark times of life?

Covid bothered most Christians / talk to people / is it God’s judgment? / is God saying something? Is this how it ends?

3. What do YOU do in times of uncertainty? Trust promises of God / find our own way out

a. If we are tempted to find our own way out / what are we so afraid of?

II. The Issues of the Heart

A. Heart Fear

1. I don’t think there’s anyone who loves the dark / pitch black / have to walk slow / confusing

a. Things we ask: What job / which relationship / how to parent? what ministry approach? What do I do now?

1. All these spell confusion / We hate confusion / someone just tell me which way to go!

b. For COI / in exile / wait on God? / will He answer? Will it be the way I want Him to answer? What if we don’t like the way He gives us?

2. Reminds me of COI / Mt Sinai / they wanted certainty / thought they were forgotten / so the chose another way (fire lighter way)

Exodus 32:1–6 (NIV)

When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

a. Just 40 days / patience ran out / God / and their leader disappeared / confusion / uncertainty set in

So… find another way / make a god to lead them / how quickly they forget all God has already done for them

We are not so different / we know promises like God will provide

But when tough times hit / we can be so quick to get up / move our family to chase money / pull family away from God

When we feel like God isn’t giving us the spouse we dreamed up / we start looking outside the church

We won’t go pioneer because of the uncertainty / play it safe / keep all the control

B. Heart Demand

1. What is really in your heart? Faith / trust / patience / peace… or a deep longing for certainty / fear of confusion & mystery

I can remember a time / early in our salvation / we wanted to go to conference / we didn’t have a lot of money / it didn’t make sense to go financially / but we knew how good it would be for us to go / then of course / while we were there / they took an offering / I felt God telling me to give the $500 I had left in my account / that was all I had in there! / What do you do? (More in this later)

a. According to what agenda do you order your life?

My heart wants to know the right gift to buy my wife / right car to buy my kids / right vacation spot for family / because I hate confusion / If we are all honest / we all want life to work out the way we want it to / according to our plans

Matter a fact / we want others / including God to get on our agenda

b. When there are questions without definitive answers do we seek formula / light own fire / or wait / patience / trust God

2. Like Peter / saw storm around him / told to walk on water / he has a choice / probably sounds more reasonable to control surroundings

a. Much harder at times to just take God at His word

C. Heart Problem

1. While we demand certainty / opposite is trust

a. If we allow our heart to make demands / out of fear of confusion / it will lead to heart / unwilling to trust God

Our hearts don’t want to trust an invisible God / rather choose a visible idol / like they had in Egypt

So they forgot / not only promise/ but the plagues / passover / pillar of fire / visible presence of God

All forgotten in a moment of silence

2. Torch or trust? Your own Fire or Faith?

a. In uncertain times / do you really wait on God? placing trust in Him alone?

b. Or afraid of darkness / confusion / you seek to avoid uncertainty by setting out your own path / with your own torch / creating your own light?

3. Final thought / maybe you equate certainty / light / equal God’s favor / blessing in your life.....?

a. Blessing / Certainty may not have anything to do with the true light

May have everything to do with fire lighting

We deceive ourselves into thinking the GOOD LIFE is the same as God’s will for our us

In all reality / we just project our hearts desires onto God’s to-do list

John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Sometimes trouble is found / smack dab in the middle of the will of God for your life!

Promise of peace even in trouble / if we trust God / not own own idea of a good life

III. God’s Heart Agenda

My heart wants to order my life through certainty / God wants… through life, to order my heart.

A. Trust or God’s way orders my life for God

Back to the conference we went to / the $500 / I wrote a check and gave the $500 / that was one of the hardest things I had to do early on in my walk with God / It was in that conference / only one I ever went to / Pastor M had men stand who would commit their lives to preach the gospel ‘ I can remember standing that night / on the drive home questioning my own sanity / questioning how we were going to make it / Got home Saturday / church Sunday / when I went into the office Monday / there was a check in my box for..... $500

1. Why couldn’t I have got the check before I went to conference? So I could have given with CERTAINTY?

a. Got check on Monday / I realized it was an opportunity for me to show God / I trust Him

He already had it planned out!

2. Back to Sinai / COI / lighting torches / melting gold in furnaces / making idols / what were God / Moses doing on mountain?

a. At exact time people were running away from him.... creating own paths

b. God was delivering His plans for the tabernacle

God was taking 40 days to show Moses how to prepare a place / where God would come / dwell among His people

God wanted to be with them / he wanted to be their light / their certainty

But they couldn’t wait

3. To those in exile / through Isiah / God gave a word of hope / to those who would trust Him / beyond darkness surrounding them

a. The hope of a Messiah to come / dwell with them / forgive them of sins / He did come after 400 years of silence

10. Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let the one who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on their God.

1. He has also promised He is coming again

a. To be with You / fully / finally

1. You may feel forgotten / in darkness / confusion / Like God is not interested / He doesn’t have your interest at heart

a. It’s your choice / Torch or trust

B. To answer that question / ask yourself / What is God doing now?

1. Answer found in upper room / Jesus came / dwelt with them / gave them certainty / now getting ready to leave

a. Peter “Lord where are you going?”

b. Jesus “Where I am going you cannot follow now, but you will follow later”

Jesus knew their uncertainty / so he calls them to trust in midst of uncertainty

John 14:1–3 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

2. We know these words / but I bet they meant so much more to them on that day

In ancient times / when a couple would get engaged / it was like getting married / he would go off to build a home / she would wait for his arrival to bring her to new home / for some / if they were good builders / might be a shorter wait then for those who we’re as good at home building / But the bride would not be surprised to see groom depart / she knew it was covenant / so she would begin to prepare for his return / His return was certain / she would live different / something different about her / she would stop building for herself a future in her village / the certainty of grooms return gave her new purpose / life worth living to the full

a. Disciples / in that moment knew what He was saying

They knew they would have to wait for a while / and trust

But they knew their trust / would turn to certainty / upon the return of the groom

3. What about us? We have same promise / same hope

a. Can people look at our lives / see it’s being lived according to one purpose? His return?

One day / a great noise will be heard / wedding celebration will begin

Revelation 19:6–7 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.

a. How will you be found? Making yourself ready / living in faith / trust?

God’s heart agenda / to have hope in a certain future / to be ready / preparing without fear / trusting Him

4. God is constantly teaching us to trust / seeking to move us away from idolatry of certainty / self-reliance

a. He doesn’t want us to walk in light of our OWN fire / knowing that end leads to torment

Take words or wisdom

Proverbs 3:5–6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

b. Without lighting fires / trust the one who is the Light!

No torch / just trust

The one who fears the Lord / is one who trusts in the one who is the light / even during times of darkness / knowing the darkness will not overcome it

John 1:5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

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