Series: Isaiah
Title: The LORD Who Waits
Text: Isaiah 30: 18
Date: June 27, 2010
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Against the counsel of God, against the counsel of God's prophet Isaiah, Judah looked to Assyria to defend them against their own countrymen in Israel. Then after Assyria devastated Israel the Assyrians turned their sights on Judah. They approached in great numbers. The inhabitants of Judah were afraid.
Isaiah said in chapter 30: 7: I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still….15: For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.
Again, instead of heeding the word of the LORD, instead of listening to Isaiah, this time the children of Judah looked to Egypt for help. They were willing to pay whatever price and become the slaves of Egypt as their fathers because their fear of man left no room for faith in God.
Application: As parents we tell our children how we will do a particular thing. When our children do not understand why or when it seems to them impossible for us do as we say we will or when it requires them to wait, they sometimes question us.
Sometimes we say, "Do it because I said so." We expect them to believe us, to trust us, to do as we say, to wait on us, because we are their parents. We have thought about what we are telling them. And we expect them to respect that we are the one God has given to have the rule over them.
We can enter into that when it is our children doing it to us, but we have a problem with it when we are the ones who are heeding the word of God, heeding the word of those God has given to have the rule over us--we grow impatient and sometimes even say, "No!"
So it was with the children of Judah. They said No to God by saying no to Isaiah. Therefore God sent Isaiah with the message that Judah would be brought to nothing.
Isaiah 30: 16: But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: [ye shall flee on horses from the enemy] and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. 17: One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.
Yet, in the midst of all this we find a remarkable word in the next verse, our text today:
Isaiah 30: 18: And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him!
Proposition: As we behold the LORD waiting that he may be gracious, may the LORD teach us this morning to wait on him. Submission is the way of happiness. A condescending, self-exalting spirit is the way of discord and trouble. May he teach us to honor him by waiting on him.
Divisions: Our divisions will be each statement in verse 18.
I. V18: THEREFORE WILL THE LORD WAIT, THAT HE MAY BE GRACIOUS UNTO YOU…
The "waiting" of our God is his longsuffering, his forebearance, his goodness.
A. In Adams day: the only reason that the LORD did not immediately destroy the world when Adam plunged the entire human race into spiritual death is because God had a chosen elect remnant which he had given to Christ before the world began--"Therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious to you"
B. In Noah's day: "the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water." (I Peter 3: 20)
C. In Lot's Day: the only reason the LORD waited before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah is until his chosen child Lot was delivered.
D. In Isaiah's day: the only reason God did not immediately destroy Judah when the majority defiantly said, "NO" and looked to Egypt is because the LORD had a chosen remnant in Judah.
Isaiah 1:9: Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
V18: "Therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious to you."
C. In our day: all around us we see a world saying "NO GOD!", trying to save itself from itself and yet becoming more and more ravaged by its own hand. Yet, even now, the only reason God has not destroyed this world is because he has an elect remnant scattered throughout the world. To that remnant the Lord says, "Therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious to you" (2 Peter 3: 3-9)
Application: the time of quickening and conversion of each child of God is set by God. The time when God shall deliver out of this present trial is set by God. The time when God shall deliver us out of this world for good is set by God. And God's time is the best time. THEREFORE WILL THE LORD WAIT, THAT HE MAY BE GRACIOUS UNTO YOU…
II. AND THEREFORE WILL HE BE EXALTED, THAT HE MAY HAVE MERCY UPON YOU
The LORD sees to it that he receives all the glory from those he saves.
A. First, he brings us to behold our nothingness.
He waits till his child is brought to our lowest, for we must be made to know our own sin and guilt, our total inability and ignorance, the rebel has got to be broken, the stiff neck made to submit. The LORD's waiting is not some helpless hope that his children will turn to him. As he waits he works all things together to bring us to behold him exalted. (Turn to Hos 2)
Hoshea 2: 8: For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. 9: Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. 10: And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand. 11: I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. 12: And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. 13: And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD. 14: Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
He holds back the sword of justice. He passes by repeated rejections of him (v 15.) And He shall not fail. Notice the certainty of the text: the "shalls" and "wills" (vv18-23.) God waits until his elect are made to cry for him (v. 19). As soon as he hears your heart’s cry, he will answer you. But you will exalt him for putting the cry in your heart. The publican would not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven but smote upon his breast and begged God, "Have mercy on me a sinner!"
B. We will behold the LORD exalted when he makes us to behold Christ Jesus the Son of God.
Because Christ was coming through the tribe of Judah, and must be lifted up, Judah was spared. (Is 7; 14)
Christ Jesus had to be lifted up on the cross as the Substitute for those given him from eternity that God's righteousness might be manifest--God will by no means clear the guilty. Every elect child of God must die in their Substitute that God might be both Just and the Justifier of all who believe. Christ Jesus the Lord had to be exalted to the throne of God, as a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance, pardon and eternal life to each one he redeemed.
John 17: 2: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Romans 14: 9: For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
Christ Jesus had to be exalted--lifted up--on the cross that he might be exalted through the preaching of the cross and draw all his people to himself and save them.
John 12: 32: And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
John 3: 13: And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
In the day of his divine visitation, in the day he delivers us from the trial, in the day he delivers to his throne in glory…GOD WILL BE EXALT IN THE PERSON OF HIS SON BEFORE EVERY ONE…THEREFORE WILL THE LORD WAIT, THAT HE MAY BE GRACIOUS UNTO YOU, AND THEREFORE WILL HE BE EXALTED, THAT HE MAY HAVE MERCY UPON YOU…
III. V18: FOR THE LORD IS A GOD OF JUDGMENT.
Proverbs 16: 6: By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.
A. First, the Lord is a God of justice.
1. When we behold mercy and truth (justice) kissing in harmony through the substitionary, sin-atoning death of Christ's Son we can be sure that God will deal with us, and our brethren, in perfect discretion. As we see this awesome display of discretion on the cross in this wisdom by which mercy and truth have met together, we can be sure the Lord will do what is best in our lives. The LORD is a God of discretion.
He will not allow one who he has everlastingly loved to perish.
Isaiah 30: 20: And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: 21: And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
He will come in the best time, in the best way, and do what is best for those he everlastingly loves. He observes a limit in chastening his children, so that he does not ruin but only promotes our salvation. And he knows what each child in particular needs at all times. Isaiah 28: 23-29--he is wonderful in counsel and excelling in working. V18: FOR THE LORD IS A GOD OF JUDGMENT.
APPLICATION
V18: Blessed are all they that wait for him.
Blessed means happy.
Impatience, restlessness and worry provides no happiness. But to wait on the Lord--to believe the Lord, to expect your God to do right unto you, to be still and to patiently wait to see his salvation is great happiness! Those who wait on the Lord do so because the LORD waited to be gracious to them, he exalted himself and abased them that he might be merciful to them, and he has made us to know that our God is a God of judgment. When we know that our strength is to wait on our God who is the God of all strength. We know that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and confidence is our strength.
Proverbs 20: 22: Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.
Proverbs 27: 18: Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.
· Blessed is the sinner who waits in saving faith before Christ and will not go away.
Illustration: Canaanite woman-Mt 15
· Blessed is the believer who waits at the feet of Christ to hear his words and worship him.
Illustration: Mary - (Luke 10:42); The Woman who washed his feet (Luke 7).
· Blessed is that believer who waits for the Lord's return. Those in Isaiah's day were waiting for Christ to come the first time. We are waiting on his return.
Lu 12:37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.
Read verse 18 again and in every trial and every time when the way seems difficult remember these 4 things.
Amen!