But we'll begin our worship this evening by singing to God's praise.
We're going to sing in Psalm 57, in the Sing Psalms version.
Psalm 57, page 74 of the psalm books.
We'll sing from verse 1 to verse 5, the tune is Selma.
Have mercy on me, Lord, to you my soul holds fast.
Your covering wings will shelter me until the dangers pass.
I cry to God, most high, to God who answers me.
For he fulfills his purposes for me most perfectly.
We'll sing from verse 1 to 5 to God's praise.
My wings will shelter me until the dangers pass.
I cry to God, most high, to God who answers me.
For he fulfills his purposes for me most perfectly.
He sends his help from heaven and sends me from above.
He will be close to see my light, no senses to above.
I live with savage peace.
I dwell in my own strong.
With men who speak with piercing words,
A sharp sword is their tongue.
above the highest heaven, O God, exalted thee,
And over all the earth below,
His greater majesty.
Let's unite our hearts in a word of prayer.
Let us pray.
Our Father in heaven, as we come before you again this evening hour,
we do thank you that we can come with boldness,
that we can come with confidence to you,
to that throne of grace.
But we come humbly before you as well,
recognizing who you are,
recognizing that you are a sovereign God over all,
all of creation and all of your people,
that you are the one who is all-powerful and almighty.
And yet we thank you for the confidence of the psalmist
in these words that we have sung,
that he cries to God, most high,
to God who answers me.
And we pray, Lord,
that we would have that assurance and confidence,
even as we offer up our prayers together here,
but also in our own personal devotions to you,
in our times of prayer,
in our own quietness,
in our homes,
or whatever we might offer up prayer to you,
in the quietness of our hearts,
that we would come in that way,
recognizing that we are in that relationship with you,
that we speak to you as the Lord and God of heaven,
but also to the one who is our Father.
And in that, there is such a bond,
a wonderful, loving relationship with your children as we are.
And we thank you that you do listen,
that you do hear our prayers,
and that in our prayers, Lord,
you are able to fulfill your purposes
and fulfill them, as the psalmist says,
for me most perfectly.
And in that, Lord,
we seek your will to be done.
For your will is that perfection.
And teach us, Lord,
not to seek our own will,
not to have our own desires fulfilled,
but that all that we do
and all that we seek to do
for ourselves or for others,
that it would be according
to your great and mighty purposes.
And we do thank you for the fact
that you are the one who sends help,
as the psalmist says,
help from heaven above,
that you send your truth and love,
and that we have your word
to remind us of that.
And as we hear from it again this evening,
may we see it as your truth,
and may it speak to us
that full truth,
not just our own thoughts, Lord,
but that they would be your words
that we hear,
the words that remind us
of your steadfast love
towards your people,
the strength that you are able
to give in our weariness,
that hope that you give
in the midst of all that dismay
that surrounds us at times.
And we do pray, Lord,
that you will hear us all
as we offer up our prayers
and hear us as your people
far and wide.
For we thank you that today,
and especially as it's your day,
the Lord's day,
a day where,
from the rising of the sun
to its setting,
from north, south, east, and west,
your people have been
and are and will call on your name,
that worship will be offered up to you
as the true and living God,
that in the midst of all the other idols
and false gods that are worshipped,
we thank you for the multitude of people
who gather in your name
in small numbers and places
and in large numbers and other places,
but all together we seek
to lift up our praise
and our prayers to you
and to join in that wonderful chorus of heaven
where praise is made before you,
where we know, Lord,
we have a Saviour
who is seated at your right hand.
We have our Lord and our God,
the Lord Jesus Christ,
the one who,
as we offer up our prayers,
we do so in and through
his mighty and powerful name.
And Lord,
we do commit ourselves
into your care
and into your keeping
as a people,
as a congregation,
as homes and families,
as a community.
Lord,
surround us with your presence,
the very thing that we so often
take for granted,
that you are with us,
that you will be near in all things.
And yet,
as we even read your word this evening,
we see how quickly,
as a people,
we can turn away,
as we can forget you,
Lord.
And so as we go on,
even in this week ahead,
may we go knowing you with us
and asking you to be with us,
asking that you would guide us
and help us
and lead us
along life's journey,
that we would make our ways
according to your paths,
that we would follow your ways.
Teach us in them,
Lord, we pray.
And we just ask your help
and your strength
in all of these things.
May you bless us
as a congregation here.
We thank you
for the fellowship
of your people.
We thank you for visitors
as we have been seeing
over these last weeks,
coming from all different places.
People home on holiday
and people just passing by
and coming to worship with us.
We thank you for that fellowship
and the bonds
that there is in Christ.
Christ.
We just pray to see
that unity and fellowship blossom.
We pray, Lord,
your protection over us
as a people,
that you would unite us together
in your word
and according to your truth
and lead us in your ways
as a people,
even in this time
and these months ahead, Lord.
May we know your will
and your purpose for us.
We pray, Lord,
for every home and family here.
We thank you
that we can remember each other
at the throne of grace
and to do so not just publicly
but in our prayers as well, Lord,
that you would keep us
prayerful for one another.
Even as we think of those
who are unwell,
those who are going through times
of distress in different ways.
We think of people
who are in different needs
at this time, Lord,
and thankful that
even when we don't know
their names,
that you do
and that we can come
prayerfully for them.
We do have particular prayers
for people as well
as we have mentioned this morning
and seen with Scott
and Fiona and the girls
and they're moving to Harris.
We pray for them, Lord,
for you to go with them,
to be their shepherd,
to be their help,
to guide them
and to help them
in this next phase
of Scott's training.
May you bless them
in the congregation
of North Harris,
help them to settle there
and to make new friends,
to be a blessing
to those there
and help Scott
in his studies
over this coming year
as well
and in his preaching,
lead them and guide them
and be his help
and strengthen it all
and may they know
your blessing with them.
And we do pray, Lord,
for others
who are training
for the ministry.
We thank you
as we have heard
in these last weeks
of the congregation
of North Uist
and David Fergson
accepting the call.
We thank you for that
and we pray for him
and Catherine and Duncan
as they move
and as they settle
into a new home,
a new community
and especially
into a new congregation there.
We ask that you
will lead them together
and bless them
as a people there.
May your church flourish
in the North
and Uist
and also in the South
as well
as we pray
for the congregation
there as well.
We do pray
for our seminary
as well
with all the students
who have finished.
Some may be waiting
on a call as well.
We pray
for your leading
and guiding to them
and for other inductions
that will be taking place
in these coming weeks
as well.
We thank you for that
and pray that you will
provide more and more
gospel ministers,
those who will
go out with the good news
and proclaim it
throughout our land.
We thank you
for our seminary
and for the professors there
and for all the students
who will be starting back
in these next few weeks.
We pray your blessing
and help towards them
and that you will
be with them, Lord,
in this coming year.
We thank you too, Lord,
that we can commit
the disarray
that we see around us,
our nation,
in so much turmoil
and the world
in so much disarray.
When we think of
leaderships and contests
going on in America,
we think of turmoil
in the Middle East
and the Ukraine
and the tensions
in North Korea
and the Far East
as well, Lord.
There are so many things
going on around us
and so many things
that we do not even know about.
How your people
are persecuted,
how your church suffers
in so many different ways.
And yet we thank you
that you are the light
to this world,
that you are the one
who is able
to powerfully bless
and to bring peace,
to bring stability,
to bring your goodness
upon us.
We do pray that,
to know it
throughout our land,
near and far.
And so we commit ourselves
into your hands now,
Lord.
We ask that you will bless us
as we turn to your word,
that you will lead us into it
and the singing of your praise
help us to lift up our voices
in thanksgiving to you,
that you will give us voices
that will rejoice in you
and hearts that will
proclaim you
and that the joy of the Lord
would be our strength.
We ask, Lord,
that you would forgive us
for all our sin too,
that you would have mercy upon us,
that you would cleanse us anew
by the precious blood of Christ
as we come in his name,
offering up all of these things,
thankful for a glorious
and a wonderful Savior,
a precious Savior.
May he be more and more precious
to us each and every day
and may you love us
through him
and do us good
as we ask all these things
in the precious name of Jesus
and for his glory.
Amen.
We again sing to God's praise
this time in Psalm 121
in the Scottish Psalter version.
Psalm 121.
Find this on page 416.
Psalm 121 on page 416.
I to the hills will lift mine eyes
from whence doth come my need.
My safety cometh from the Lord
who heaven and earth hath made.
We'll sing the whole of this psalm
and the tune is Denfield.
We sing to God's praise.
Amen.
I to the hills will lift mine eyes
from whence doth come my name.
I sit ye calm and from the Lord
who then on earth hath made.
Thy foot in no place
like nor will
he sombered at the gate.
Behold thee that keeps Israel
He sombered at the gate.
The Lord be keeps the Lord thy shape
on thy right hand the same.
Thou good by night
thee shall not smite
nor yet the sun by day.
God the Lord shall keep thy soul
He shall
grace where thee come all hell
and forth thy going
and hand in
God be forever well.
We'll turn and read together
in God's word now
in the book of Isaiah
in the Old Testament.
Isaiah chapter 40.
We're going to take up
our reading at verse 9.
Isaiah chapter 40
and at verse 9
you'll find it around page 724
of the Bibles.
Isaiah 40 is almost like a turning point
in the book of Isaiah
where it begins
a new kind of section
where the people of God
have been
we've been seeing them
becoming more and more unfaithful
up to this point
up to chapter 39
and God has been warning them
and then in chapter 40 onwards
it's more about how God
is going to restore his people
and we see that in this chapter
when it begins with these words
comfort, comfort
my people
says
your God.
We're going to take up
our reading at verse 9
and we read there
of the greatness
of God.
Get you up
onto a high mountain
O Zion
herald of good news
lift up your voice
with strength
O Jerusalem
herald of good news
lift it up
fear not
say to the cities of Judah
behold
your God
behold
the Lord God
comes with might
and his arm
rules for him
behold
his reward
is with him
and his recompense
before him
he will tend
his flock
like a shepherd
he will gather
the lambs
in his arms
he will carry them
in his bosom
and gently lead
those that are
with young
who has measured
the water
from the hollow
of his hand
and marked off
the heavens
with a span
enclosed
the dust
of the earth
in a measure
and weighed
the mountains
in scales
and the hills
in a balance
who has measured
the spirit
of the Lord
or what man
shows him
his counsel
whom did he consult
and who made him
understand
who taught him
the path
of justice
and taught him
knowledge
and showed him
the way
of understanding
behold
the nations
are like a drop
from a bucket
and are accounted
as the dust
on the scales
behold
he takes up
the coastlands
like fine dust
Lebanon
would not suffice
for fuel
nor are its beasts
enough
for a burnt offering
all the nations
are as nothing
before him
they are accounted
by him
as less than nothing
and emptiness
to whom then
will you liken
God
or what likeness
compares with him
an idol
a craftsman
casts it
and a goldsmith
overlays it
with gold
and casts
for it
silver chains
he who is
too impoverished
for an offering
chooses wood
that will not rot
he seeks out
a skillful
craftsman
to set up
an idol
that will not
move
do you not know
do you not hear
has it not been told
you from the beginning
have you not understood
from the foundations
of the earth
it is he
who sits above
the circle
of the earth
and its inhabitants
are like grasshoppers
who stretches out
the heavens
like a curtain
and spreads them
like a tent
to dwell in
who brings
princes to nothing
and makes the rulers
of the earth
as emptiness
scarcely are they
planted
scarcely sown
scarcely has their
stem
taken root
in the earth
when he blows
on them
and they wither
and the tempest
carries them off
like stubble
to whom then
will you compare me
that I should be like him
says the holy one
lift up your eyes
on high
and see
who created these
he who brings out
their host
by number
calling them all
by name
by the greatness
of his might
and because
he is strong
in power
not one
is missing
why do you say
oh Jacob
and speak
oh Israel
my way is hidden
from the Lord
and my right
is disregarded
by my God
have you not known
have you not heard
the Lord
is the everlasting God
the creator
of the ends
of the earth
he does not faint
or grow weary
his understanding
is unsearchable
he gives power
to the faint
and to him
who has no might
he increases strength
even youths
shall faint
and be weary
and young men
shall fall exhausted
but they
who wait
for 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
amen
and may God bless
that reading
of his word
but before we come
to look at this passage
we're going to sing again
to God's praise
in Psalm 89
Psalm 89
page 345
the Scottish Psalter version
we sing from verse 13
down to verse 18
Psalm 89
at verse 13
thou hast an arm
that's full of power
thy hand
is great in might
and thy right hand
exceedingly exalted
is in height
we'll sing from verse 13
to 18
the tune is Evan
and we sing
to God's praise
thou hast an arm
that's full of power
thy hand is great in might
and thy light
and thy name is great in might
justice and judgment
of thy throne
are made the dwelling place
mercy
and Prob tranquility
and
In brightness of thy face, O Lord,
they ever art shall go.
They in my name shall all the day
rejoice exceedingly.
And in thy righteousness shall be
exalted thee on high.
Because the glory of Israel
doth only stand with thee.
And in thy favor shall our heart
and thou praise all did thee.
For God is our defense and team
to us of safety bring.
The holy one of Israel
is our almighty king.
Amen.
We turn back to our reading in Isaiah chapter 40.
And as I said this morning,
today we're thinking about two different ways
we could maybe sum up what the Bible is about.
If we were asked by someone,
as I was saying this morning,
maybe you've been reading a book
or watching a movie
and you've been speaking to someone about it
and they've asked,
well, how would you sum it up?
What would make me want to watch that
or read that?
How would we approach that
when we think about the Bible,
the scriptures that we have before us?
When we think of inviting people along to church
to come and hear the word of God,
how do we explain to them
what we're inviting them to
and why they should take it seriously,
why they should listen to the invitation
and come and hear what this word has to say?
This morning we were looking at
the theme of sinners in need of salvation.
That is what the Bible tells us
from beginning to end.
We were looking at 1 Thessalonians chapter 2
where Paul is writing,
concerned for the church at Thessalonica,
they are concerned for their faith
and how they are going.
A church that has seen sinners come to salvation.
And that wonderful good news of the gospel
is that there is a saviour for sinners.
So we thought of that this morning,
sinners in need of salvation.
But coming to faith is just the start.
Going on in faith is what it's about as well.
And how are we encouraged to go on?
Well, again, the Bible speaks to us of this.
It reminds us of how we go on.
We go on not in our own strength,
but in the strength of the Lord.
And another way of we can summarise the Bible,
especially in a world that is so weary
and heavy laden with so many different things
in these days,
is to say, well, in this word,
you find a God who says to the weary,
come, come to me and find refreshing in me.
Find renewal in me.
Find strength in me.
And that's what we see in this wonderful passage.
Isaiah chapter 40.
As you come to the end of this chapter,
where our focus will be really from verse 27
to the end of the chapter.
We can read there at verse 30.
Even youth shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted.
But they who wait for 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.
The word of God is full of so many promises.
Promises of God.
And you read through the word of God,
and you find so often in the midst of God's people,
so often turning away,
as we'll see here in Isaiah,
so often the people turning away from God,
going in their own direction,
and yet God is still faithful with his promises.
God is still faithful with his invitation to people
to come to him,
to return to him,
to find rest with him.
Despite unfaithful people,
God so often showers blessing upon them.
And it's important to remind ourselves, too,
of these promises.
Promises that God will be with us.
Promises that God is there to help.
And promise, like we see here,
as those who wait on the Lord,
those who are maybe feeling faint and weary,
if you wait on the Lord,
he shall renew your strength.
He keeps us going.
He keeps us going on.
You could look at this passage and say,
the people themselves have brought it upon themselves,
just this array that they find themselves in.
And they are being taken captive by a nation called Babylon.
This is what is in store for them because of their disobedience.
So they've brought it on themselves,
and yet they are shown the love of God in the midst of it all.
And isn't it wonderful that God still shows that love,
still shows that patience towards us as a people,
still longs for us to come to him,
and gives us this promise even today
that when we wait on the Lord,
he renews our strength.
Renews our strength.
He gives us hope.
A man named Viktor Frankl,
an Austrian man,
he was a famous and a leading psychiatrist
before the Second World War began.
But during the Second World War,
he was captured and taken prisoner,
and he was imprisoned in concentration camps,
one of which was Auschwitz,
as well as another three concentration camps.
He lived through that.
He lived until he was 92,
died in 1997.
But in looking back in his experience
in the concentration camps,
having been a psychiatrist,
he was obviously observing people.
And he said as he observed those who were imprisoned there,
he made out that what separated the survivors
from those who died in the concentration camps
wasn't so much physical health and strength,
he said,
but hope.
Those who had hope,
something to look forward to on the outside,
something to keep them going,
he said they were more likely to survive.
Even a physically well person could go into a camp,
and within a short space of time,
because of having no hope,
they could perish.
But those who were weak and fragile,
but still had hope,
they often survived.
And as we look at Isaiah writing
to the people of Judah and Jerusalem here,
we see that he is writing to give them this hope.
And it's in the midst of kind of dismay for them.
They're in a time of despair
because of what they're being told is in store for them,
being taken captive,
being taken prisoner.
But they are told to focus on the Lord,
to keep their focus on him,
and that he gives this promise
that when they wait on the Lord,
he shall renew their strength.
He shall renew their strength.
And it's a message for our world today.
If you want to think about
why you should invite someone to come to church,
if you want to think of it in this way,
you think of sinners in need of salvation,
we need Christ.
But we also have this too,
that when we feel weary,
when we feel tired in this world,
when we feel such a sense of dismay,
when all the chaos that we see around us,
that the Lord gives hope.
The Lord gives hope of something better.
The Lord gives hope of a renewal within us,
a rejoicing within us,
that he renew every strength,
that we might mount up on wings like eagles,
and run and not be weary,
and walk and not faint.
That is his promise as we look to him.
And so we want to ask people to come
and find that for themselves.
We want to have it ourselves as well.
We want to have that hope and assurance
and comfort ourselves.
So when we are offering it to others,
we're talking through experience,
that this is the Lord who has helped me.
This is the Lord who has renewed my strength.
And I want us to look at three things in this passage.
First of all, we see a weary people.
Then we see a great God.
And then thirdly, we see a glorious promise.
So we begin with a weary people.
And you ask yourself,
well, what has left them in this state?
So you come into chapter 40.
What has left them in this state
where their future looks so bleak,
when they're going to be taken captive by Babylon?
Well, you see it by just going back
a couple of chapters.
Chapter 40 is, like I said,
like a turning point in the book of Isaiah.
Some people describe it as the Old Testament
and the New Testament,
and there's a split, a moment of divide,
and that this is where the divide is
in the book of Isaiah.
So in the previous chapters,
there's been hope that everything's going to be well,
but they're looking for that in the wrong place.
And you see it in chapter 38,
how quickly, in chapter 38 and 39,
how quickly people can change.
There's this man called Hezekiah
that you read of in chapter 38.
Hezekiah was ill,
and he pleads with the Lord.
He pleads with the Lord for help
and healing both for him and his city.
And in chapter 4,
in verse 4 of chapter 38,
it says,
Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah,
Go and say to Hezekiah,
Thus says the Lord,
the God of David your father,
I have heard your prayer,
I have seen your tears.
Behold,
I will add 15 years to your life.
I will deliver you and this city
out of the hand of the king of Assyria,
and will defend this city.
And you think to yourself,
What a wonderful blessing.
Hezekiah,
his prayer has been heard,
his tears have been seen,
and the Lord has answered.
And it's a wonderful time, you think.
And then you go into chapter 39.
And what's Hezekiah doing now?
Hezekiah has these Babylonian envoys
who have come.
They've come to see Hezekiah.
They've come to see his abundance of wealth.
And he's almost led in by them.
And he thinks,
Here is someone I can be friends with.
Here is someone who will help me.
And yet all he is doing
is throwing God's promises back in his face
and saying,
You're now going to rely on this nation.
And you don't realize
what danger you're putting yourself
and your people into.
And the irony is,
if you read in verse 8 of chapter 39,
it says,
Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah,
The word of the Lord,
yet you have spoken, is good.
And this is it.
For he thought,
There will be peace and security
in my days.
Through his own wisdom,
through his own understanding
of the situation
of what he was going to do
with the Babylonians
and make this relationship
that he felt would bring peace.
He couldn't have been further
from the truth.
He thought,
There will be peace and security
in my days.
And that's so often
when we look to our own devices
in this world.
When we look at our nation,
so many have said,
We will have peace
through this or that
or the next thing.
And yet there's no peace.
There's more turmoil,
more trouble,
because we're not listening
to God.
And then you come into chapter 40
and you realize that this peace
that Hezekiah had hoped for,
it's not going to be.
Not at this moment.
Isaiah begins with chapter 40
with comfort.
Comfort, my people,
says the Lord.
With that assurance
that the word of the Lord
stands forever
in verse 6 to 8.
And that's what leads us then
into the rest of chapter 40
where we see
the goodness of God.
But this weedy people,
they don't see it.
And when you look at verse 27,
you see God
speaking so directly
to the people there
and challenging them.
Saying,
Why do you say,
O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel?
My way is hidden
from the Lord
and my right
is disregarded
by my God.
So this is the situation.
The people are groaning
and they're groaning
towards God.
That their ways
are hidden.
That His understanding
is just not there.
They're disregarded
by God.
That is the way
they see it.
And today people cry,
There is no God.
We don't want God
over us
and yet there is dismay.
There is so much
that is wrong
in this world.
But we push God
and then if they do
say anything about God,
well,
where is God?
He's disregarding us.
He's not interested.
He's cruel.
He's not kind
to His people.
He allows so much suffering
in so many different ways.
It's a very cry
that we have here
in verse 27.
My way is hidden
from the Lord
and my right
is disregarded
by my God.
But you notice
something here.
The way the people
are speaking of God,
they still hold Him.
The Lord is Yahweh.
That is the word
that they're using here,
Yahweh.
And it's my God.
We could almost say
that we've gone
further away from that.
People speak of God
as, well,
He's your God.
He's got nothing
to do with us.
He's not our God.
He's your God.
And so,
we are in disarray.
We have a people
around us
who are weary.
And it's all because
God is pushed away.
And when you look
at it here,
the people's faith
is challenged
in the way that
they say,
God does not love us.
God is not interested.
God is,
our ways are hidden.
Our ways are disregarded
by God.
And behind it
is that fear
that God
is unloving.
He's not interested
in them.
That's their take.
And yet,
what's happened
is that they are blind
to God.
We can all say,
I'm sure,
at some point,
we've asked questions
of God.
We've asked God,
I'm sure,
where are you?
What's going on, Lord?
Are you not interested
in what's happening?
We all have these moments.
But God so often speaks
to remind us
that he is there.
But as we mentioned
this morning,
there is an opponent
against the gospel.
There is an enemy,
and that is Satan.
And again,
we have to see him
in the midst of this,
that there is Satan
here as well,
planting seeds of doubt,
making people ask
questions of God.
Does he really love me?
My way is hidden
from the Lord.
My right is disregarded
by my God.
That's not God speaking.
That's Satan
putting doubts
in their mind.
John Knox,
the famous
Scottish reformer,
he once spoke about it
in this way,
reminding us that
the way of Satan
is not a new way.
He said,
By what means
Satan first threw mankind
from obedience to God?
The scripture bears witness
to this,
by pouring into their hearts
that poison
that God
did not love them.
Now that's the way
that Satan came
to draw mankind
away from obedience to God.
To put that doubt,
that seed,
that poison,
that God
does not love them.
Despair and doubt
is one of Satan's
greatest weapons
against the Lord's people,
against all people,
against all mankind.
To say,
God is not interested.
To leave us in that place
where we think,
my way is hidden
from the Lord.
My right
is disregarded
by God.
That he's not interested
in us.
We lose hope
in that.
But that is not
how God
leaves his people.
That is not
what we see
as we read on
in this passage.
That there is
so much more
that if Satan
attacks,
we are to turn
to God.
And that's what
the role of Isaiah
is as the prophet
in the midst
of this.
to bring the people
back to God.
To bring him
back to see that
no,
he's not forgotten.
He's not disregarded.
It's not that he
doesn't love you.
That he can bring good.
As the hymn writer
says in the hymn
before the throne
of God above,
when Satan
tempts me
to despair
and tells me
of the guilt
within,
upward
I look
and see him
there
who made an end
of all my sin.
Upward
I look.
We look
to God.
And that's exactly
what Isaiah
is doing here
as the Lord
speaks through him.
For the second thing
we see here
is a great God.
A great God.
And you see that
in verse 28.
Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The Lord
is the everlasting God,
the creator
of the ends
of the earth.
He does not faint
or grow weary.
His understanding
is unsearchable.
We look up
to God.
We look up
to him
who is
the everlasting God,
the creator
of the ends
of the earth.
So often
in despair
in these times,
these moments,
we can take
our eyes off God
and we lose sight
of him.
We can't see
a way forward.
We forget
that God's been
faithful in the past.
We forget
the hope
that God gives
for the future.
We just look
at the here
and now
and we don't
see God.
But here
is Isaiah
saying,
look up.
Just like
Psalm 121
spoke of
when we think
of
I to the hills
will lift
mine eyes.
There was this
danger
in the Psalms
saying,
where will my
help come from?
My help,
my safety
comes from
the Lord
who has made
heaven and earth.
And Isaiah
is focusing
the people here.
You have known,
you have heard,
he is saying
in verse 28.
You know all
about God
but you've lost
sight of him
and God
is there
for us today.
He's saying,
have you not heard,
have you not known
the Lord
is the everlasting
everlasting God.
Something our
nation knew
so well in the
past and has
forgotten.
Something even
the churches
today have maybe
forgotten to a
certain extent.
We've forgotten
what we know
and what we heard
of God.
But God
is the everlasting
God,
the creator
of the ends
of the earth.
He is our
only help,
our only hope
in the midst
of everything.
He is all
powerful.
He is all
knowing.
There is no
situation that
lies out
with his
control,
out with his
knowledge.
It's not that
he's sleeping.
It's not that
he's not there.
He does not
faint or
grow weary.
His understanding
is unsearchable.
We think we
have wisdom.
We think we
have understanding.
It is nothing
compared to
his.
And that is
what we
remember.
That is
what we
are to
hold on
to ourselves.
If we
think of
inviting
others to
come and
hear this
message,
this gospel,
this good
news,
how do we
know God
ourselves?
Sometimes it's
easy to tell
others that
God is good,
that you need
God in your
life.
But do you
tell yourself?
Do you
remind yourself
of the
greatness of
God?
Do you
remind yourself
as you look
at God's
word?
Here is
the Lord
who is the
everlasting God,
the creator
of the ends
of the earth.
And he is
the one who
had mercy
on me,
a sinner.
Isn't that
amazing?
That God
loved me,
that he would
give his son
for me.
The creator
of heaven
and earth
is interested
in us.
So the
doubts that
Satan puts
in,
my way is
hidden,
my right is
disregarded,
that God
doesn't love,
it's dismissed,
it's dispelled
as we see
God in all
his greatness.
The writer
and minister
John Flavel
from many
years ago,
he once
said this
and it
shows the
importance
of listening
to the
word of
God.
He said,
one word
of God
can do
more than
10,000
words of
men
to relieve
a distressed
soul.
One
word of
God
can do
more than
10,000
words of
men
to relieve
a distressed
soul.
And isn't
it amazing
that God
speaks to
us.
That even
as we look
at these
words tonight,
here is God
speaking to
us.
Have you
not known?
Have you
not heard?
The Lord
is the
everlasting
God.
As he
speaks to
us,
but those
who wait
for the
Lord
shall
renew
their
strength.
They
shall
mount
up
with
wings
like
eagles.
God
speaking
to
us.
But are
we
anchoring
ourselves
in that
word and
in his
promises?
Someone
once
described
it as
looking to
the
icebergs
that you
see around
the cold
waters of
places like
Greenland.
When you
see icebergs
in these
areas,
you see
that there
are different
kinds of
icebergs,
different sizes
of icebergs.
Some are
small and
some are
very large.
And as
you observe
them,
you can
see that
they may
be very
often going
in different
directions.
The small
ones might
be going
one way
and the
larger ones
going another
way.
And how
is this?
Why is
that?
The person
said the
explanation is
simple.
The winds,
the surface
winds,
move the
little ones,
whereas the
large ones,
what moves
them is the
currents of
the ocean
underneath.
And they
used it as
a way of
illustrating
how our
lives are.
They said
the wind
represents
everything
changeable,
unpredictable,
and distressing.
That can
just blow us
in different
directions.
But they
said operating
at the same
time with
these gusts
and winds
is another
force,
another
more powerful
force.
And it's a
sure movement
of God's
wise and
sovereign
purposes,
the deep
flow of
his unchanging
love.
And we
can be
tossed around
by the
winds as
James in
the New
Testament
describes.
And that's
when Satan
puts these
doubts in
that blows
us off
course.
But Isaiah
is bringing
them back to
be grounded
in the
word of
God.
With that
deep flow,
that
undercurrent
of his
unchanging
love.
Because there
is the
greatness
of God.
So we
see here
the goodness
of God.
The final
thing we
want to
see here
is the
promised
renewal.
A precious
promise.
God's
greatness is
something that
at times we
just cannot
describe.
How do
we describe
the greatness
of God,
the love
of God
towards us,
especially when
you think of
it in the
midst of
times of
dismay?
I'm sure
you've heard
it before
described,
maybe I've
used it
myself,
of how
someone
describes a
jewellery
shop and
how they
display
diamonds.
And very
often you
find that in
a jewellery
the most
precious
diamonds are
displayed with
a black
background.
And the
reason for
that is that
the darkness
shows the
beauty of
the diamond
in an even
greater way.
And how
often we
think of the
word of God
in that way,
how there is
a darkness
behind things,
and yet you
see the
beauty and
the greatness
of God
shining in
the midst
of darkness.
And here
is Isaiah
speaking to
a people,
people who
are questioning
God,
people who
are anxious
and worried
and afraid,
and yet
Isaiah is
shining that
light into
the darkness
and showing
the beauty
of God
and the
hope that
God gives.
And he
says it in
verse 18
earlier on
here,
he's reminding
them of
where else
are you going
to look,
to whom
then will
you liken
God,
or with
what likeness
compare
him?
Is he
like the
idols,
he goes
on to
speak,
idols that
can do
nothing.
But then
he goes
on in
verse 21,
do you
not know,
do you
not hear,
has it
not been
told from
the beginning,
have you
not understood
from the
foundations
of the
earth,
how God
is the
one who
inhabits
above the
earth,
the one
who is in
control.
He is
the one
who has
power over
all things.
And so
it is this
God that
we have
who gives
us strength.
He is the
one who
doesn't faint
or grow
weary,
whose
understanding
is unsearchable,
he is the
one who
gives power,
who gives
strength.
He gives
power to the
faint and to
him who has
no might,
he increases
strength.
So when we
are weary,
when we are
dismayed,
when we are
tired,
when we
are all
of these
things,
he gives
us his
power.
And when
you take
these verses
forward,
when you
look at
them in
the context
of the
New Testament,
it so
much points
to Christ.
They are
pointing us
towards
Christ.
And we
see there
his glory
shine on the
cross in
the midst
of that
darkness.
And although
as we've
looked at
recently,
as you're
looking at
what happened
at the
cross,
the people
who were
questioning
and the
people who
were downcast,
the two
on the
road to
Emmaus
we were
looking at
last week,
they felt
that hope
was gone.
And yet
God was
doing an
amazing thing.
God was
doing something
beyond our
understanding.
His
understanding
is
unsearchable.
To us
it seems
to make
no sense,
the cross.
And yet
there we
see where
we will be
renewed,
where our
strength comes
from.
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.
You think
of the
disciples
after they
met with
the risen
Lord.
Lord,
met with
all these
people who
met with
God,
the risen
Lord.
No more
were they
faint and
weary.
You think
even the
two on
the road
to Emmaus
who had
been downcast
walking almost
all day
to Emmaus
from Jerusalem
seven miles
and yet
it seems
like there
was no
time at
all until
they were
back in
Jerusalem
when they
had
recognized
Jesus.
They
weren't
faint,
they
weren't
weary.
Their
strength
was
renewed.
And that
is what
the Lord
does.
That is
what the
Lord does
for his
people.
And that's
what verse
31 gives
to us.
It's a
beautiful
and a
wonderful
promise
that this
is what
he will
do for
you and
for me
as we
put our
trust in
him.
It seems
to have
a future,
future,
but it's
also for
the present
that he
is able
to actively
renew us
day by
day to
strengthen
us each
and every
day.
It is
the Lord
who does
it.
I listened
to a
short
testimony
today of
a woman
and she
began by
saying this,
people
can't
change.
She wasn't
saying it
meaning it.
She was
saying it
having heard
it so
often in
her own
life.
People
can't
change.
I.e.
what they
were saying
to her
was,
you
can't
change.
And for
so long
in her
life that
seemed
to be
the case.
And she
said,
I was
hung over
every day.
This was
her life.
She describes
herself as
the meanest
atheist.
God just
meant nothing
to her.
And anyone
who had
any interest
in God,
she was
the meanest
atheist
towards
them.
This was
her life.
People
can't
change.
But now
she's
saying that
is not
true.
She has
been sober
ten years.
A believer
and a
bright witness
for Christ.
And she
said,
once you
meet God,
you cannot
but be
changed.
She met
the living
God.
And she
also said
this,
if you
believe
people
can't
change,
it's
because you
haven't
met God.
God is
the one
who is
able to
change
any.
And
testimonies
are always
such a
powerful
reminder
for us.
Powerful
reminder of
how God
transforms
life.
And that
is what
the gospel
does.
That is
what Christ
does for
sinners.
Sinners
in need
of salvation,
there is
Christ.
And the
weary
in need
of refreshing
to go
on,
there is
Christ.
It's
all of
him.
He
saves
and he
keeps
and he
keeps us
going.
Even
youths
shall faint
and be
weary
and young
men
shall fall
exhausted.
But they
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.
Isn't
that a
wonderful
promise
of the
renewing
power
of God?
A
weary
people
see the
greatness
of God
and go
on in
his
strength.
Let us
pray.
God
to
God
to
God
to
God
is
powerful.
That
one
word
from
you
is
worth
more
than
10,000
words
of
men.
And we
thank you
that you
speak
and that
your
word
is
truth
and that
your
word
is
life.
We
thank you
that your
word
renews
even when
renewal and
change seems
impossible for
us.
And we
pray,
Lord,
that your
word
will be
actively
powerful in
our hearts
and in
those around
us.
It will
be
renewing
and
refreshing
to us
that even
in the
midst of
the times
of
weariness
we can
all
experience
that we
will know
that
renewing
strength
of the
Lord,
that we
shall know
what it
is to
mount up
with wings
like
eagles,
that we
should know
what it
is to
run and
not be
weary and
walk and
not faint.
We thank
you that
that is
through
your
strength
given.
So may
you bless
us with
it and
watch over
us we
pray in
Jesus'
name.
Amen.
We're
going to
conclude by
singing in
Psalm 89
once again
in the
Scottish
Psalter.
Psalm 89
at verse
33.
page
347
of the
psalm
book
psalm
89
at
verse
33.
Yet
I'll
not
take
my
love
from
him
nor
false
my
promise
make
my
covenant
I'll
not
break
nor
change
what
with
my
mouth
I
speak.
We have
that
assurance
of God
keeping
his
promises
and
keeping
his
love
towards
those
who
are
his
own.
Psalm
89
verse
33
and
the tune
is
Effingham.
Yet
I'll
not
tame
my
love
from
him
nor
false
my
promise
may
I
can
that
child
of
pain
or
change
what
with
my
love
I
say
yet
I
look
in
once
by
my
holiness
ham
van
The Lord shall pass the sun before the dust for rain.
If like the moon shall ever be,
He's done with steadfastly,
And I to the which in the air
Doth witness faithfully.
After the benediction, I'll go to the door to my right.
We'll close with a benediction.
Now may grace, mercy and peace from God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest upon
And abide with you all now and forevermore.
Amen.