1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:06,000 Morning, everyone. Would you open your Bible at Isaiah and Chapter 40? That’s just been 2 00:00:06,000 –> 00:00:11,340 read to us. It’s going to be our focus for this Advent season. Just over three weeks 3 00:00:11,340 –> 00:00:15,980 to go till Christmas. You’re probably feeling that you have more than enough on your plate, 4 00:00:15,980 –> 00:00:21,219 more than you know how to handle. It always strikes me that this is the season of great 5 00:00:21,219 –> 00:00:26,940 joy, of course. It’s also a season, I think, of the year in which the cumulative weight 6 00:00:26,940 –> 00:00:32,299 of all that has happened in the course of our lives easily catches up. 7 00:00:32,299 –> 00:00:36,320 I’ve had several conversations, even in the last week, just with folks in the congregation 8 00:00:36,320 –> 00:00:40,500 who’ve said to me something along the lines of, it’s been a really difficult year in our 9 00:00:40,500 –> 00:00:45,340 family. And then they’ve listed off one thing in another. And it’s almost as if coming towards 10 00:00:45,340 –> 00:00:51,700 the end of the year now, there is a sense of being worn out, run down, stretched thin 11 00:00:52,060 –> 00:00:57,459 the cumulative weight of all that goes into our lives through a year. 12 00:00:57,459 –> 00:01:02,900 Someone described it to me a few days ago as a kind of collective weariness, and I think 13 00:01:02,900 –> 00:01:08,800 that that’s a good description. And I’ve been asking the question then, what is the answer 14 00:01:08,800 –> 00:01:15,800 to collective weariness? Where would we look in the Bible for help when we feel jaded and 15 00:01:15,959 –> 00:01:22,959 discouraged and generally worn down? And my mind, of course, has gone to Isaiah in chapter 16 00:01:24,459 –> 00:01:30,419 40, and to the words that have been read for us today, especially the last verse of the 17 00:01:30,419 –> 00:01:37,419 chapter, verse 31, “‘They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.’” That 18 00:01:39,300 –> 00:01:45,120 speaks to me. I’m sure it speaks to you. I find myself saying, Lord, that’s what I need. 19 00:01:45,279 –> 00:01:52,279 But how do I get there? I’m asking the question, how do I get to Isaiah chapter 40 verse 31? 20 00:01:52,660 –> 00:01:57,059 How do I get there? And it strikes me when you ask the question, how do we get to Isaiah 21 00:01:57,059 –> 00:02:02,660 40, 31? It might be that verses 1 to 30 have something to do with the answer. And so that 22 00:02:02,660 –> 00:02:08,440 is where we’re going to camp out over the Advent season. And as many of you will be 23 00:02:08,440 –> 00:02:14,839 very well aware already, we’re going to find that Isaiah chapter 40 is packed full 24 00:02:14,839 –> 00:02:22,419 of anticipations of the birth of Jesus Christ, who of course is our hope and is our strength. 25 00:02:22,419 –> 00:02:27,100 And so that’s the journey we’re going to take in the run-up to Christmas. 26 00:02:27,100 –> 00:02:31,380 But I want to begin today with this promise at the end of the chapter. This promise of 27 00:02:31,380 –> 00:02:39,039 renewed strength. And so do please look with me at verse 27, why do you say, O Jacob, and 28 00:02:39,039 –> 00:02:48,940 speak O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God? 29 00:02:48,940 –> 00:02:55,839 Now remember straight away, when you see Jacob and then you see Israel, we’re talking here 30 00:02:55,839 –> 00:03:02,320 about God’s people. Here are the people that God has redeemed, the ones he brought out 31 00:03:03,220 –> 00:03:10,220 and said to them, I will be your God and you will be my people. Israel. Jacob. So here 32 00:03:12,539 –> 00:03:19,539 we have God’s people speaking. And what are they saying? Well, they’re saying, my way 33 00:03:21,119 –> 00:03:28,119 is hidden from the Lord and my right is disregarded by my God. So here’s God’s people, and they’re 34 00:03:28,360 –> 00:03:35,360 not happy. Things have not been going their way. They feel that God has been letting them 35 00:03:35,679 –> 00:03:41,580 down. And what’s particularly significant is that this thought or pattern of thinking 36 00:03:41,580 –> 00:03:48,460 has settled in their minds so that literally the words say and speak here, they’re actually 37 00:03:48,460 –> 00:03:55,460 in the continuous tense. So literally translated, God says, you keep saying my way is hidden 38 00:03:55,899 –> 00:04:02,119 from the Lord. You keep speaking about how your right is being disregarded and so forth 39 00:04:02,119 –> 00:04:06,020 and so on. So understand what we have here. In this passage 40 00:04:06,020 –> 00:04:11,619 that I’m sure is very, very familiar to most of us, here are people who have been stretching 41 00:04:11,619 –> 00:04:17,940 themselves out in faith. They’ve been going the extra mile. And they have had an increasing 42 00:04:18,079 –> 00:04:25,079 sense that somehow God has let them down. I had some time ago breakfast with a man who 43 00:04:28,859 –> 00:04:33,760 was feeling, I think something of this frustration, and he brought his journal to the breakfast 44 00:04:33,760 –> 00:04:40,040 with me, and he put it on the table as the breakfast was served, and he said, Pastor, 45 00:04:40,040 –> 00:04:43,899 I want you to see that I’ve been praying and I’ve been reading the Bible and here’s 46 00:04:43,899 –> 00:04:49,000 my journal was the proof of it. And then he said, now these things are happening in my 47 00:04:49,000 –> 00:04:56,000 family and so forth and so on. How is this? You see he was feeling exactly what these 48 00:04:56,339 –> 00:05:02,100 people, God’s people, were feeling in these verses here. My right is being disregarded. 49 00:05:02,100 –> 00:05:09,100 I feel I’ve extended myself. I’ve been praying and I’ve been living sacrificially. And some 50 00:05:09,859 –> 00:05:14,980 of you know what this is like. You have been serving the Lord for many years. Some of you 51 00:05:14,980 –> 00:05:21,420 have been extending yourselves in genuinely sacrificial living for the sake of Christ 52 00:05:21,420 –> 00:05:25,779 and for the advance of the Gospel, and you may come to a place of saying, Lord I’ve been 53 00:05:25,779 –> 00:05:32,779 working flat out for You. And Lord you know that I do this because I love you. But after 54 00:05:33,320 –> 00:05:37,899 all these years and after all these prayers and after all these sacrifices I have some 55 00:05:37,899 –> 00:05:48,260 questions. Why have you not sent revival? Why has there not been greater blessing? Why 56 00:05:48,260 –> 00:05:52,720 have you allowed these difficulties in my family, these pressures in your church. Why 57 00:05:52,720 –> 00:05:58,299 have you allowed this great decline of faith that we are seeing in this nation that we 58 00:05:58,459 –> 00:06:09,540 love?” And these are real questions, and they arise in the hearts of faithful people, and 59 00:06:09,540 –> 00:06:18,000 they lurk in the hidden places of the believing heart. And you know what, they sap your strength. 60 00:06:18,000 –> 00:06:26,500 And, I want you to notice what God does here. He brings this disappointment out into the 61 00:06:26,640 –> 00:06:32,660 open. He won’t let it lurk in the secret place of the heart. You know, why do you say? 62 00:06:32,660 –> 00:06:38,779 This is your little pattern of thinking. God’s bringing this out into the open so that it 63 00:06:38,779 –> 00:06:44,980 can be addressed. And so God is asking the question. And God says, now why do you say, 64 00:06:44,980 –> 00:06:50,380 O Jacob? Why do you keep speaking, O Israel? My way is hidden from the Lord and my right 65 00:06:50,380 –> 00:06:56,260 has been disregarded. God is asking the question. And here’s the very good news for us today. 66 00:06:56,579 –> 00:07:05,420 That God is not asking the question in order to condemn us. He asks the question in order 67 00:07:05,420 –> 00:07:12,220 to comfort us. And you say, where do you get that from? You just turn back if it’s on the 68 00:07:12,220 –> 00:07:17,940 page before to the first verse of this chapter. What is the whole chapter about? What is the 69 00:07:17,940 –> 00:07:26,260 first word? Comfort. Comfort my people. And then do you notice immediately that God says, 70 00:07:26,260 –> 00:07:32,640 speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Here are God’s people and they’re feeling jaded and they’re 71 00:07:32,640 –> 00:07:37,459 feeling discouraged and so God does not come to them with some sort of demand, He comes 72 00:07:37,459 –> 00:07:43,920 and He speaks to them very tenderly. And so when we hear this question at the end of the 73 00:07:44,459 –> 00:07:50,019 comes right from the mouth of God to His people. And therefore, to us today, we are to hear 74 00:07:50,019 –> 00:08:01,000 a tender tone in God’s voice. Isn’t this wonderful? When there is tension in a relationship between 75 00:08:01,000 –> 00:08:09,480 God and his people, God reaches out. See, God is not like a father who turns a blind 76 00:08:10,179 –> 00:08:16,059 eye to tensions in his own family. It probably happens in some families over Thanksgiving 77 00:08:16,059 –> 00:08:19,799 and all kinds of tensions. Just turn a blind eye to it. Just get through the day and all 78 00:08:19,799 –> 00:08:25,839 this. Let’s pretend everything’s all right. You never find God acting in that way. No. 79 00:08:25,839 –> 00:08:32,960 He is a Father who loves his children way too much for that. And so where there is tension, 80 00:08:32,960 –> 00:08:38,119 He moves towards the problem. He says, now let’s get this out into the open. We need 81 00:08:38,159 –> 00:08:42,380 to talk. Let’s get this on the table. Let’s get it resolved. 82 00:08:42,380 –> 00:08:48,880 Now, why are you saying this? He’s asking the question. And of course you do this whenever 83 00:08:48,880 –> 00:08:53,299 there is tension in a relationship with someone you really love. What do you do? You reach 84 00:08:53,299 –> 00:08:56,960 out to them. You say, well now things are not between us as they were before. Now our 85 00:08:56,960 –> 00:09:01,320 relationship means way too much to me to let it slip away. Now tell me, what have I done? 86 00:09:01,320 –> 00:09:07,099 How have I disappointed you? And that’s exactly what God is doing here. He’s reaching out 87 00:09:07,099 –> 00:09:12,799 to his tired and his weary and his discouraged people, and he brings the hidden thoughts 88 00:09:12,799 –> 00:09:18,159 of the heart out into the open so that they may be addressed. 89 00:09:18,159 –> 00:09:27,159 Now, I love what happens next. So God comes, and very tenderly He asks this question to 90 00:09:27,159 –> 00:09:34,659 His discouraged people. But you know, when you are tired and worn out, you really don’t 91 00:09:34,659 –> 00:09:39,539 know how to answer God’s questions, do you? God says, why are you saying this? Why are 92 00:09:39,539 –> 00:09:46,799 you thinking this? I don’t know, I’m just worn out, I don’t know how to answer. 93 00:09:46,799 –> 00:09:51,719 And so very wonderfully, God answers His own question. Thank God that when we don’t know 94 00:09:51,719 –> 00:09:57,280 how to answer His questions, He does. And I want you to notice the answer that God Himself 95 00:09:57,700 –> 00:10:06,979 tenderly gives to us as He ministers to us to strengthen us in these passages of life. 96 00:10:06,979 –> 00:10:13,000 The answer really comes in two parts. Here’s the first. Lean into the truth that you know. 97 00:10:13,000 –> 00:10:20,880 In a time of weariness, of jadedness, of feeling that the cumulative events of life are catching 98 00:10:20,880 –> 00:10:28,119 up with you. Lean into the truth that you know. And first, in particular, the truth 99 00:10:28,119 –> 00:10:31,020 that you know about God. That’s verse twenty eight. 100 00:10:31,020 –> 00:10:39,520 16. Have you not known? Have you not heard? 17. The LORD is the everlasting God, the creator 101 00:10:39,520 –> 00:10:44,760 of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, and his understanding is unsearchable. 102 00:10:44,760 –> 00:10:55,099 Now, here’s a very important principle. That God reminds his people of what they already 103 00:10:55,099 –> 00:11:03,520 know, do you not know? And what they have often heard. In other words, faith is not 104 00:11:03,520 –> 00:11:12,059 strengthened by discovering something new. Faith is always strengthened by coming back 105 00:11:12,059 –> 00:11:17,940 to what we have already heard and what we have already known. That is why, for example, 106 00:11:17,940 –> 00:11:22,119 even this morning we are going to gather around the Lord’s table. Why do we gather around 107 00:11:22,119 –> 00:11:28,140 the Lord’s Table? Because faith is strengthened not by coming to some grand new discovery, 108 00:11:28,140 –> 00:11:32,599 but by coming back to that which we have heard and that which we know, Christ crucified and 109 00:11:32,599 –> 00:11:37,640 risen for us. It’s as if in the Lord’s Table where we’ll come to it in a few moments 110 00:11:38,080 –> 00:11:45,080 the Lord is saying to us, Do you not know? Have you not heard? And pointing us to Christ 111 00:11:45,479 –> 00:11:50,260 and to all that is ours in Him? That’s how faith is strengthened. 112 00:11:50,260 –> 00:11:56,119 Now, what is it in particular here that every believer knows and every believer has heard 113 00:11:56,119 –> 00:12:01,460 that God says we need to lean into in our times of weariness? Notice four things in 114 00:12:01,460 –> 00:12:08,460 the one verse. First, God is your creator. The Lord is the creator of the ends of the 115 00:12:10,820 –> 00:12:17,820 earth. Remember this. He formed you in your mother’s womb. He gave you life. He chose 116 00:12:22,900 –> 00:12:29,900 to do it. He made you. And He did this with the purpose of redeeming you. Brother, sister, 117 00:12:30,900 –> 00:12:37,900 he purchased you with his own Son and he’s infused his own life into you, recreating 118 00:12:42,219 –> 00:12:49,219 you in Jesus Christ. And what God makes, He sustains, He keeps. And that’s why it says 119 00:12:52,820 –> 00:12:59,719 God does not grow weary, He does not faint, He does not grow weary. He’s made you and 120 00:12:59,719 –> 00:13:04,520 that is your guarantee that He will sustain you and that He will guard you and that He 121 00:13:04,520 –> 00:13:11,520 will keep you, He’s invested his Son in redeeming you. And He never runs out of resources, 122 00:13:13,440 –> 00:13:20,440 He never tires of His people. There’s never a time where God looks at you and says, 123 00:13:22,320 –> 00:13:29,320 where do we go from here? He’s your creator, He does not grow tired or weary, He works 124 00:13:29,419 –> 00:13:36,419 on an everlasting timescale, the Lord is the everlasting God. Think of the time that is 125 00:13:37,820 –> 00:13:44,820 at the disposal of God. We feel how very short time is but think of the time, the generations, 126 00:13:45,460 –> 00:13:52,460 the ages that the creator of time himself has at his disposal as he works out his purpose. 127 00:13:52,739 –> 00:13:59,739 We see only a tiny bit of it. Who knows whether the granddaughter of your rebel son will turn 128 00:14:03,539 –> 00:14:09,159 out to have such a testimony as you could never imagine and that God’s preparation 129 00:14:09,159 –> 00:14:16,159 would run for three generations. He is the everlasting God and no one can fathom His 130 00:14:16,679 –> 00:14:23,679 understanding. Don’t expect to understand the mind of God. Because Isaiah says here, 131 00:14:29,840 –> 00:14:35,400 His understanding is unsearchable. It is beyond you and it is beyond anyone else that you 132 00:14:35,400 –> 00:14:42,400 know. No one else can explain to you the mind of God. It is the mind of God. And yet He 133 00:14:43,260 –> 00:14:50,260 created you. And He is the one who does not tire, who does not weary, who is going to 134 00:14:50,280 –> 00:14:57,280 sustain you. so in these times lean into what you know about God and lean into what you 135 00:14:59,140 –> 00:15:06,140 know about yourself. There’s a good dose of biblical reality in verses 29 and 30 with 136 00:15:07,020 –> 00:15:14,020 regards to ourselves. Look at the words that are used to describe us in these verses 29. 137 00:15:14,200 –> 00:15:21,200 He gives power to the faint. To him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths 138 00:15:23,179 –> 00:15:30,179 faint and are weary and young men shall fall exhausted. There’s the fourfold description 139 00:15:31,039 –> 00:15:38,039 of our human nature. Faint, no might, weary, fall exhausted, a healthy dose of Biblical 140 00:15:41,539 –> 00:15:48,539 reality. That’s us. And not only is that us in our frail humanity, but it is at our best 141 00:15:52,179 –> 00:15:59,179 in humanity. That’s why it says that even youths faint and are weary because youths 142 00:16:00,320 –> 00:16:05,400 have more energy, as we discover with every ten years of our lives. Those who are younger 143 00:16:05,400 –> 00:16:09,359 are given the gifts of remarkable energy. Parents think they’ve got way too much energy 144 00:16:09,359 –> 00:16:15,799 and all the rest of it. But even youths are faint and are weary. And then notice this 145 00:16:15,799 –> 00:16:22,799 God says, and young men shall fall exhausted. The phrase young men literally means picked 146 00:16:23,020 –> 00:16:30,020 men. And the image here is of an athlete in superb condition. And think of the Olympic 147 00:16:33,419 –> 00:16:40,419 selectors, picking the team to represent the US. And here are these athletes and they catch 148 00:16:40,619 –> 00:16:47,619 the eye of the selector, picked men. And so they’re on the team because of their prowess. 149 00:16:47,619 –> 00:16:54,619 And so even human strength at its highest point, at its selected point, even that, even 150 00:16:57,440 –> 00:17:03,200 picked men shall fall exhausted. So you look even at great athletes at the end of the marathon, 151 00:17:03,200 –> 00:17:09,459 at the end of the Ironman, or whatever it is, and you see they are weary and fall exhausted 152 00:17:09,459 –> 00:17:16,260 and some look faint. Why is that? Because their bodies have been pushed to the limit 153 00:17:17,060 –> 00:17:22,339 and that’s exactly what we’re being told here, that there are limits to all human endurance. 154 00:17:23,540 –> 00:17:30,420 And that is why Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 he pictures the human body as what? A tent. 155 00:17:31,540 –> 00:17:39,540 Not very flattering description, is it? We live in this tent, not a palace of stone 156 00:17:39,540 –> 00:17:50,500 held up by marble pillars but a temporary canopy made of canvas and held up by ropes 157 00:17:51,859 –> 00:18:00,260 that stretch and sag. And you look at the fitness of younger people and they’re kind of like a tent 158 00:18:00,260 –> 00:18:05,859 set up real taut and then you get older as the decades pass and the ropes are beginning to sag. 159 00:18:05,859 –> 00:18:12,099 Does that picture work for you, you know, a little bit of a droop in the ridge. Listen, 160 00:18:12,099 –> 00:18:16,739 one day this tent’s going to be torn down, was never made for eternity, there’s going to be 161 00:18:16,739 –> 00:18:23,060 a Resurrection body for that. Now what does all this tell us? Why is all this truth being 162 00:18:23,060 –> 00:18:29,619 given to us? For this reason, no Christian should be surprised at the experience of weariness. 163 00:18:30,260 –> 00:18:36,660 God has placed this treasure of Christ’s wear in jars of clay, 164 00:18:37,219 –> 00:18:42,739 and we live in this earthly tent that one day will be torn down, and the experience of weariness 165 00:18:42,739 –> 00:18:49,540 that may come to a Christian has come to the best of believers, the strongest of believers, 166 00:18:49,540 –> 00:18:56,260 David and Elijah, John the Baptist. And when it comes to you and when it comes to me, 167 00:18:56,260 –> 00:19:03,060 here’s what we have to do, we have to lean into the truth that we already know that God has made 168 00:19:03,060 –> 00:19:09,219 very clear to us in the Scripture. The truth about God, the truth about ourselves. John Calvin said 169 00:19:09,219 –> 00:19:15,300 so wonderfully on one occasion that nearly all the wisdom we can possess is in two parts the 170 00:19:15,300 –> 00:19:18,979 knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves, that we never possess the one without the other, 171 00:19:18,979 –> 00:19:27,219 very profound, and here God is saying to his people now you need to lean into the truth of 172 00:19:27,219 –> 00:19:34,739 the knowledge of who you are and the knowledge of who God himself is, here’s what you know about God 173 00:19:34,739 –> 00:19:40,520 he’s your creator he will never abandon you, he will never faint, he will not grow weary, and he 174 00:19:40,520 –> 00:19:46,380 works on a vast timescale so that what he is doing ultimately is beyond the range of what you can 175 00:19:46,619 –> 00:19:54,040 imagine, I don’t even try and here’s what you need to know about yourself you are not God, you are a 176 00:19:54,040 –> 00:19:58,760 created being with limits to your own strength and your own endurance, you will become weary, you 177 00:19:58,760 –> 00:20:03,500 will know what it is to feel spent, and to feel exhausted, and that should never take you by 178 00:20:03,500 –> 00:20:14,459 surprise, God knows our frame, and he remembers that we are dust, so lean into the truth that you 179 00:20:14,459 –> 00:20:21,300 know. But that’s not the whole answer. That’s the first thing and it’s the necessary step that will 180 00:20:21,300 –> 00:20:27,920 get us to the second, which is this, lay hold of the hope that you have, lean into the truth that 181 00:20:27,920 –> 00:20:35,400 you know and lay hold of the hope that you have, and again this comes in two parts. Do you notice 182 00:20:35,400 –> 00:20:42,000 here that he gives us the gift of strength, he speaks about God giving verse 29 and then he tells 183 00:20:42,180 –> 00:20:47,060 us about how to receive this gift. So the giving of the gift and the receiving of the gift, 184 00:20:47,060 –> 00:20:53,420 both very clear here. So lay hold of the hope that you have. Notice the gift of strength in 185 00:20:53,420 –> 00:21:03,900 verse 29, he gives, God gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 186 00:21:04,119 –> 00:21:14,520 That’s wonderful word. Gives, gives, he gives, God gives. So here we’re reading about a particular 187 00:21:14,520 –> 00:21:19,780 action of God in relation to his own people at times when we feel discouraged, our strength 188 00:21:19,780 –> 00:21:27,180 depleted, our faith burning low, what does God do? He gives power, he increases strength, 189 00:21:27,300 –> 00:21:33,819 the particular action and work of God. How does God do this? Well, we’ve just read that 190 00:21:33,819 –> 00:21:38,439 God himself does not grow faint or grow weary, and the way in which he gives strength to 191 00:21:38,439 –> 00:21:48,040 the weary is that he gives us himself, the unwearying God. The Spirit of the God who 192 00:21:48,040 –> 00:21:56,619 never runs out of resource. And this is not, folks, I mean this is not some kind of zapping 193 00:21:56,800 –> 00:22:03,719 with power that moves an exhausted Christian into instant bionic overdrive. I mean it’s, 194 00:22:03,719 –> 00:22:10,719 it’s not that. The effect of this renewing of strength that is the gift of God to his 195 00:22:10,719 –> 00:22:18,939 people is that God’s people just keep pressing on. They keep running, keep walking. They 196 00:22:19,300 –> 00:22:25,819 keep pressing on. And it’s an amazing thing. If you want to know 197 00:22:25,819 –> 00:22:31,760 how it feels, let me give you two descriptions of it from the New Testament, from the experience 198 00:22:31,760 –> 00:22:35,819 of the Apostle Paul. This is what it was like for him, and so it’s what it may feel like 199 00:22:35,819 –> 00:22:40,859 for you and for me as well. One description is in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 200 00:22:40,859 –> 00:22:46,660 7. This is where Paul talks about the treasure of Christ being placed in these jars of clay, 201 00:22:46,660 –> 00:22:54,060 this frail reality that is my life. And he says this is what it’s like. We are afflicted 202 00:22:54,060 –> 00:23:00,459 in every way, there’s the stress, but we are not crushed. There’s God giving the strength 203 00:23:00,459 –> 00:23:06,420 to continue. We are perplexed, there’s the pressure, but we are not driven to despair. 204 00:23:06,420 –> 00:23:12,400 There’s God renewing strength to keep going. We are persecuted, but we are not forsaken. 205 00:23:12,400 –> 00:23:16,640 We are struck down, but we are not destroyed. We are always carrying in our body the death 206 00:23:16,640 –> 00:23:21,339 of the Lord Jesus so that the life of the Lord Jesus may be revealed in us. That’s the 207 00:23:21,339 –> 00:23:25,939 reality of Christian experience, is God renews your strength. 208 00:23:25,939 –> 00:23:30,699 Another way in which Paul describes it is in Colossians chapter 1 in verse 29. He’s 209 00:23:30,699 –> 00:23:35,959 been talking about ministry, he’s been talking about his life’s work, he says, and the life’s 210 00:23:35,959 –> 00:23:41,699 work of the church. He says we proclaim him. That’s what we do, we proclaim Jesus Christ. 211 00:23:41,699 –> 00:23:49,719 And what’s it like doing that? He says in the next verse, for this I toil. Literally 212 00:23:49,719 –> 00:24:00,339 the word is hard labor. For this I toil. Notice the next word. Struggling. That’s tough. Struggling. 213 00:24:00,339 –> 00:24:07,140 How struggling with all his energy that so powerfully works in me. So here’s what it 214 00:24:07,140 –> 00:24:11,979 feels like. It feels like I’m working really hard. It feels like I’m toiling. It feels 215 00:24:11,979 –> 00:24:17,040 like I’m laboring. It feels like I’m struggling. But the very reason that I am struggling forward 216 00:24:17,040 –> 00:24:22,699 and not giving up is what? That He’s renewing my strength. That His energy is working powerfully 217 00:24:22,699 –> 00:24:29,260 in me. So the energy of God that is spoken of here does not make a Christian feel that 218 00:24:29,479 –> 00:24:37,420 or she is somehow soaring above the clouds. No. I toil. I labor. I sometimes feel discouraged. 219 00:24:37,420 –> 00:24:44,300 I sometimes feel exhausted. But here is why I don’t give up. Here is why I keep pressing 220 00:24:44,300 –> 00:24:57,020 on. God gives power to the faint. So there is the gift that God gives and then of course 221 00:24:57,020 –> 00:25:02,839 the question is how am I to receive it. And notice that that’s where we come in. Verse 222 00:25:02,839 –> 00:25:14,780 31. They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. Did you hear God speaking 223 00:25:14,780 –> 00:25:25,339 that tenderly to you today? They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. 224 00:25:25,380 –> 00:25:34,180 What does it mean to wait on the Lord? Well, it means to look expectantly. It means eager 225 00:25:34,180 –> 00:25:44,979 anticipation. When I was a little boy, my grandparents used to come in my Aunt’s blue 226 00:25:44,979 –> 00:25:54,000 car every Wednesday at 630. And the reason they came every Wednesday at 630 was that 227 00:25:54,079 –> 00:26:00,520 every Wednesday at 730 was the prayer meeting, and we didn’t have a car. They picked up either 228 00:26:00,520 –> 00:26:06,359 my Father or my Mother, and one of them went with my Aunt and my grandparents. And my Grandma 229 00:26:06,359 –> 00:26:16,319 always had sweets in her bag, and she was always 630 when she arrived, and I can still 230 00:26:16,319 –> 00:26:18,219 remember quite vividly my Mother saying, 231 00:26:18,219 –> 00:26:26,780 �Where are you?� And I would say, �Watching at the window,� and I climbed up in my bedroom 232 00:26:26,780 –> 00:26:35,780 next to the curtain watching at the window. Grandma’s coming. She’s got good things in 233 00:26:35,780 –> 00:26:49,420 her back.� Eager anticipation, looking expectantly. Those who anticipate the help of God will 234 00:26:49,420 –> 00:27:00,459 renew their strength. And laying hold of the hope that you have is the natural result of 235 00:27:01,420 –> 00:27:07,219 truth that you know.� You see when you lean into what you know about God that He really 236 00:27:07,219 –> 00:27:13,959 is your Creator, that He does not grow weary, you will look to Him and He will give you 237 00:27:13,959 –> 00:27:20,959 strength and look at what is promised, �They who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. 238 00:27:21,500 –> 00:27:26,579 They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they 239 00:27:26,579 –> 00:27:32,540 shall walk and not faint.� At least one of the commentators asked the question, �Isn’t 240 00:27:32,540 –> 00:27:39,140 this the wrong way round?� I mean, it seems like we’re starting with soaring then we’re 241 00:27:39,140 –> 00:27:45,020 going to running then we’re slowing down to walking. What’s next? Grind into a standstill? 242 00:27:45,020 –> 00:27:51,180 I mean, it feels like we’ve gone the wrong way, doesn’t it? Of course, God never has 243 00:27:51,979 –> 00:27:57,239 it the wrong way round. Why is it placed this way? Let me suggest this to you. The strength 244 00:27:57,239 –> 00:28:04,239 for pressing on, whether it be running or walking, arises from what? It comes to us 245 00:28:04,280 –> 00:28:10,520 as we ascend by faith into the presence of the Lord and commune with Him. Now, that’s 246 00:28:10,520 –> 00:28:15,699 exactly what I’m inviting you to do in just a few moments� time around the Lord’s table. 247 00:28:15,699 –> 00:28:22,699 We come here to do more than remember a savior who died. We come here to commune with a savior 248 00:28:24,780 –> 00:28:31,780 who lives. That’s huge. And remember as you come that in His humanity He knew what it 249 00:28:32,339 –> 00:28:37,520 was to be weary, to be so tired that He could even fall asleep in a boat where there is 250 00:28:37,520 –> 00:28:44,520 a storm, that tired in ministry. And He knew as a young man what it was to suffer, what 251 00:28:46,079 –> 00:28:51,819 to stumble and to fall baring the weight of that cross after His back had been lacerated, 252 00:28:51,819 –> 00:28:56,500 His head had been beaten, His strength had been exhausted, He stumbles and He falls. 253 00:28:56,500 –> 00:29:03,500 He’s been there but He’s not there now. Where is He now? He’s at the right hand of the Father 254 00:29:05,579 –> 00:29:11,459 in glory and He’s there for you and He’s there on your behalf and He gives it spirit and 255 00:29:11,540 –> 00:29:18,500 there is hope for you in your struggle in Him as something of His divine power touches 256 00:29:18,500 –> 00:29:25,500 you in your human weakness and strength comes to us. As by faith we ascend into the presence 257 00:29:25,599 –> 00:29:32,040 of the Lord and we commune with Him – our living Savior. And here’s what will come 258 00:29:32,040 –> 00:29:37,180 from that. As you ascend to Him by faith and you commune with Him, you will find His strength 259 00:29:37,680 –> 00:29:38,680 to be with you as it comes to you. 260 00:29:38,680 –> 00:29:45,040 That’s what faith is, that’s how faith receives and you will just keep going, you 261 00:29:45,040 –> 00:29:48,660 will keep pressing on. Someone’s going to be saying – someone who’s sceptical, 262 00:29:48,660 –> 00:29:53,119 someone who says, oh I wish that was true, but where is the proof? I say to you today 263 00:29:53,119 –> 00:30:00,119 the proof is all around you! Brother, sister, you are the proof. Look back on your Christian 264 00:30:00,439 –> 00:30:07,439 life and ask this question, how in all the world am I still a Christian today? Think 265 00:30:08,959 –> 00:30:13,839 about all the questions that have perplexed you and some of them you’ve not answered 266 00:30:13,839 –> 00:30:20,119 yet, all the things that have disappointed you, all the things that have drained you. 267 00:30:20,119 –> 00:30:26,939 Look at all that you have come through and ask the question, why am I still a Christian 268 00:30:27,060 –> 00:30:32,239 today? And there can only be one answer to that question. You were saved because God 269 00:30:32,239 –> 00:30:40,119 laid hold of you and you have been kept because God has never let you go when His grace and 270 00:30:40,479 –> 00:30:46,400 His strength has been sufficient. And that just caught the mind of the imagination of 271 00:30:46,400 –> 00:30:50,619 John Newton who wrote that wonderful hymn coming out of his own conversion, Amazing 272 00:30:50,619 –> 00:30:55,959 Grace. He was gripped by the fact that after all that he had done, the wickedness of his 273 00:30:56,219 –> 00:31:03,219 life that God in His grace would save him, but it didn’t stop there. He was every bit 274 00:31:03,660 –> 00:31:10,420 as amazed that God would have kept him. Do you remember how he put it through many dangers, 275 00:31:10,420 –> 00:31:19,300 toils and snares? I have already come, but it’s grace that has brought me safe this far, 276 00:31:20,239 –> 00:31:27,839 and it is grace that will lead me home.” That’s the faithfulness of God, 277 00:31:28,719 –> 00:31:34,859 the eternal and inexhaustible God, the God who has come to us in Jesus Christ and who says to us 278 00:31:35,479 –> 00:31:44,260 in His Son, Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. 279 00:31:44,300 –> 00:31:50,760 Father, we want now to ascend by faith on the basis of the promise of Your Word to commune 280 00:31:51,920 –> 00:31:58,680 with our Living Saviour who loved us and gave Himself for us. So help us in Jesus’ name, Amen.