Satan Be Quiet

That's Carter Conlon from the historic Times Square Church in New York City. Let every voice that is contrary to the voice of God be silent. God says, What I have said will be done will be done. What I have said I will do, I will do. I have decreed a purpose for your life, and there's no voice, and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn.

Devil, be quiet! That's Carter Conlon with an insight into this week's program. We're glad you're with us today on A Call to the Nation. Carter will take us to Isaiah chapter 40. It's an important message of both hope and comfort. God's power, love, and His source of strength will be highlighted here today. Both encouragement and comfort are displayed by God to those who will listen and obey. Let no one, especially not Satan, tell you otherwise.

Here's Carter right now. Satan, be quiet. Isaiah chapter 40, beginning at verse 25. This is God speaking through the prophet Isaiah. To whom then will you liken me? Or to whom shall I be equal, says the Holy One? Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, who brings out their hosts by number. He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power.

Not one is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel? My way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary.

His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might, He increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But 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. Keep silence before me, O coastlands, and let the people renew their strength. The Lord says to His people, Israel, lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things. That's verse 26, and brings out their hosts by number. He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power.

Not one is missing. Now, I know it's hard to believe in New York City, but there are stars in the sky at night. It's hard to see beyond the buildings and the smog that's ever so present here. But if you ever get a chance to go out to the country sometime, stop for a moment and look up into the sky, and to be stunned at the brightness, the beauty, in a sense, the permanence of every star that God has placed there. That's why He exhorts His people. He says, lift up your eyes and look up into the heavens, billions and billions of stars. And He knows each one by name. And Isaiah says, has He misplaced any? Has He lost any? Or has He forgotten any? Have they not been placed where there are for a purpose?

And what then could the purpose of each one be? You look up into the heavens because it was the stars that God told Abraham to look up into the heavens. He said, so your descendants will be as the stars of the sky.

Jesus Himself said in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5 verse 14, you are the light of the world and the city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. In other words, when He said these words to His people, His disciples, there was no electricity. There were no light bulbs. There were no spotlights.

There was nothing. The only light that most had outside, that is, would be the stars of the heavens that were the lights, in a sense, by night. The reflection of the sun, may I put it that way, on distant planets, bouncing back from them and from the moon towards the earth. And the stars for centuries have been used by navigators to find their way on a journey.

There's a permanence about them. God put the heavens. You know, the Scripture says the heavens declare the glory of God.

That's why Paul says in Romans, when everyone stands before God, there's no such a thing as anybody who's never heard. The heavens themselves are declaring the glory of God. And if anybody wanted to know, they would have asked, who is it that put these stars in the heavens? And God technically says, if they had inquired, I would have answered them. They're used to tell times and seasons.

They're used to give light when all around is dark. And they still provide us with a sense of awe at the magnificence of God's creative power. We're putting telescopes into space, and we're sending various vehicles out there, and we're still not even scratching any more than the surface of what's out there, of what God has created. No wonder Jesus said, in my Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there you may be also.

Can you imagine? The eye has not seen, the ear has not heard the things that God has prepared for those who love him. I tell you, when we are finally delivered from these finite bodies, and we are brought into the presence of God, there will be an explosion of knowledge. The Bible says, we will know as we are known. We will understand mysteries. We will understand things that we only can see dimly right now. There will be answers to all of our questions that we had about life and circumstances and situations.

What a day that is going to be. But until that day, we are the city set upon the hill. We are the fulfillment of the promise that God gave to Abraham, that your descendants will be as numerous as the stars. We are here to tell people, to show people the way to eternal life on their journey. We are here placed by God so that people could understand their times and seasons. We are here as light when everything around us is dark, and our lives should provide a sense of awe at the magnificence of God.

Your life should be that way and my life should be that way. We should be so transformed by the Spirit of God. We should have such a testimony that people who hear the words that we have to speak will say about God, surely he must exist because look what he's done in the life of this person that I've come to know. Listen to the words he spoke to Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 1 verses 4 to 12. Jeremiah says, then the word of the Lord came to me saying, now listen to what God says to Jeremiah, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were conceived, before you were formed, I knew you. Did you know that's who you are as well? God knew you.

He foreknew you. You were not an accident of some relationship or whatever. However you got into this world, I'm telling you, you were not an accident. God foreknew you and allowed you to be born for a divine purpose into this world. And he goes on, he says, before you were born, I sanctified you or I set you apart and I ordained you a prophet to the nations. Before you were formed, I knew you. And before you were born, I set you apart for a divine purpose in my kingdom. This is Jeremiah's response. He says, then said, I, oh Lord God, behold, I cannot speak for I am a youth. In other words, we will always come up with reasons why we can't fulfill what God has destined us to be. We look in the mirror, we look at our certificates or lack thereof. We look at our mistakes, we look at our present abilities or inabilities, and we come to the conclusion that maybe you have a divine purpose for my life, but God, how am I? I'm not capable of fulfilling it.

Well, that's true. You're not, neither am I, but he is capable of fulfilling his divine purpose through your heart, through your life as he is in mine. But the Lord said to me, do not say I am a youth or you shall go to all whom I send you and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, behold, I put my words in your mouth. See I've this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out and pull down and destroy and throw down and to build and to plant.

That's what Paul says. We have weaponry that is not carnal, but it is mighty through God to the what? The pulling down of strongholds. That's pulling down what needs to be pulled down and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. And that's building and planting what needs to be planted in the world around us.

We were not powerless in this world. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? And he said, I see a branch of an almond tree. Then the Lord said to me, you have seen well for I am ready to perform my word. What do you what do you see? Jeremiah said, well, I see just a little bit of a tree that you have ordained to bring forth fruit in this world.

And he says, you've well seen. You know, we look into our lives or we look into our own hearts and we see maybe a little bit of the fulfillment of the promise of God. Maybe there's just a beginnings of spiritual giftings. And he said to Jeremiah, although you only see a little part of what I'm about to do, the fruitfulness I'm about to bring forth through this tree, you've seen well because I am going to perform that in your life, which I told you that I would do. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Now in Isaiah chapter 40, verse 27, after leading Isaiah or the people of God to look into the heavens, look at the stars. None of them is missing. There are billions of them, and God hasn't lost one. And as a matter of fact, he knows them all by name. We know a few by name.

We know a few planets. We know several stars by names, but the billions and billions, God knows every name of everyone. He's put them in a specific place for a specific reason, and they are still there.

I don't know how many billions of years ago they were put there, but they're still there right where God put them for the purpose for which he put them there. And he challenges the people of Israel. He says, look into the heavens, and when you look there, consider because I placed you where you are for a divine reason. I know your name. I knew you before you were formed in the womb. I know the purpose that I have for your life, and you will bring glory to my name on the earth. You will. You will because I have ordained you to bring glory to my name.

So look at this. And then in verse 27, he says, so why do you say Jacob, the inheritor of the promise of Abraham as it is? Why do you say Israel? My way is hidden from the Lord. In other words, why do you say God doesn't see me?

Has anybody here said that recently? God, do you know where I am? God, do you know what I'm going through? God, don't you care that I'm perishing? Don't you know I have to pay my rent at the end of the month?

Has it escaped your attention? Do you not know me? Do you not know where I am? Why do you say my way is hidden from the Lord and my just claim is passed over by my God?

The just claim in our case would be the claim for not just eternal life, but an abundant life while we live on this earth. You say, God, if my life is supposed to be abundant, then why am I living so mediocrely? Why am I always fighting with all of these fightings within and fightings without and struggles in my mind and all these voices raising up against me say coming at me daily from my past or from the present or even from the future saying you will never amount to anything. You will never fulfill your calling. You will never be of any significance on the earth.

Why do you say this? God says to the people of Israel. Why do you make a declaration that's contrary to what I've said about you? I have made a decree over your life. I've told you what your life is going to be, not just eternal, but abundant. You will have a reason to live on the earth. I will change you from image to image and glory to glory by the Spirit of God. You will be born again. You will become a new creation in Christ Jesus.

The old things in your life will pass away and behold, all things will become new. I will give you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you. I will never leave you or forsake you. I will be a friend to you that sticks closer than a brother. I will walk with you. I will talk with you. I will keep you. I will cover you. I will empower you.

I will commission you. So Israel, why do you say? Why do you say that God doesn't see me? Why do you say that my just claim according to the word of God is passed over by my God? Why do you say that God doesn't see me? God doesn't hear me. God doesn't know me. God will not be faithful to me. Why do you say God doesn't see me? He has no divine plan for me or he's passed me by because he has seen some flaw or weakness or tiredness in my life and that's the voices we have to fight against all the time. Somehow God has made you the exception to everything is said about the universe. Everything he's ever said about any life that's ever been born into this world.

Suddenly you or me, we become the exception in our own minds. Then he goes on. He says, have you not known? Have you not heard the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth?

Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. Have you not known that he has been speaking?

Have you been listening to what he has been saying? You remember God said to Moses, how long will it be before these people believe me for all the things that I have shown them, all the signs and wonders that I've done throughout history, the things they know and the things that many have experienced starting at the new birth in Jesus Christ, starting at the fact I know there are people in here in this room, myself included, should be dead and in hell were it not for the mercy of God. You know that God saved you in that car accident at the time you choked in that restaurant.

I don't know what it is. You know that God saved your life for a divine purpose. Hallelujah to the lamb of God. If we needed no other reason to rejoice, that would be good enough. We should be dancing. We should be singing in the presence of God.

Oh, hallelujah. How merciful our God is when I think of the times that I could have been killed even as a police officer or even from my own foolishness over the years, and yet God preserved my life and brought me into his kingdom. I believe because he knew me before I was formed in my mother's womb. I believe that he ordained me for a purpose on the earth.

I believe that with all my heart. I believe that God is all knowing. We call it omniscient. He knows everything. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows all of it. He knows the path that my feet are going to walk on throughout my life. And I have been listening lately.

Oh God, I've been listening. Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 11. He says to his people Israel, I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and hope. And this was spoken to a people who knew that they had made mistakes and their mistakes had brought them into difficulty and captivity in a season in their lives. But God says, you think it's all over.

Listen to what David says in Psalm 139 verses 13 to 18. He says, for you formed my inward parts. You covered me in my mother's womb.

I will praise you for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made and marvelous are your works and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed and in your book they were all written.

The days fashioned for me when as yet there were none of them. Listen, David says, same as Jeremiah, David the King says, you saw me even before I was formed in my mother's womb. And not only that, you wrote a story about my life even before my life began. And you ordained my days, you ordained my path that was set before me. When's the last time you saw God like that? When's the last time you had an expansive view of God that he's not taken unawares. He's not just here enduring us. He knows us. He knows us inside out. He knows things about you that you don't know about yourself. He knows things about me that I don't know. He knows mysteries from the beginnings of time that I'm not aware of. And David said, you saw my substance being yet unformed.

You saw me and you wrote something about me in a book. David says, you have a book and you wrote my name in that book and you wrote my days in that book and you wrote what I was going to do through my days in that book before I was even born and breathed my first breath and cried my first cry out of my mother's womb. Oh, hallelujah. How precious he says also are your thoughts to me. Oh God, how great is the sum of them? If I should count them, they would be more than number than the sand.

Isn't that amazing? David says, God almighty, you're thinking things about you were thinking things about me before I was formed. You were thinking things about me when I was being formed in my mother's womb. You had written my life story in a sense before I was even born. And God, you're thinking so many things about me.

They're more in number than the sand. God almighty, God almighty. And the next line is when I awake, I'm still with you. And I think it's David saying, God helped me to get out of any slumber that's overtaken me. God, keep my mind active, keep me alive, keep me understanding these things. Now, have you not heard Isaiah? Have you not known the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary.

Hallelujah. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak and to those who have no might increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary. In other words, even the strong among us can't make the whole journey all by themselves.

And young men shall utterly fall. So human strength, in other words, won't take us to the end of the journey that God has for us. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. Now, this is an interesting concept because in the original language, the word wait means to be bound together as by twisting.

It's like you take two twist ties, you put them like this and you twist them together. And that's the concept of waiting upon the Lord. It means those who intertwine themselves with God, those whose hearts are engaged with the word of God, those who believe that what God says he's going to do is what he's going to do, will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles.

They'll run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint. Have you not heard that the one who loses none of the stars won't lose you? Hallelujah. I want to say that again.

The one who loses none of the stars won't lose you. The one who placed you in this world for a purpose will see that purpose in your life fulfilled as each star in the heavens fulfills its purpose. Even to this day, so too you will fulfill yours. So in verse 41 is the key. Now, after all of this, he says, keep silence before me, O coast land and let all the people renew their strength. In other words, let every voice that is contrary to the voice of God be silent. God says, what I have said will be done, will be done.

What I have said I will do, I will do. I have decreed a purpose for your life and there's no voice and every tongue that rises against you in judgment, you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. Let the reasonings of this world be quiet. Let my own heart, the voice of my own heart be quiet because the scripture says, if my heart condemns me, God is greater than my heart. Let my own heart be quiet from this day forward because God is greater. Let Satan himself be quiet. The accuser of the brethren whom God has justified, no one has the right to condemn.

What God has cleansed, nobody can call common or unclean any longer. Devil, be quiet. Satan, be quiet. You have no right over the people in this sanctuary.

You have no right over any mind, no right over any heart, no right over any life. These people belong to God. These are God's people.

This is God's church. Everyone in this sanctuary is going to fulfill the purpose that God has for their life when their hearts are in tune with him. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary.

They shall walk and not faint. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Keep silence every voice, every voice against the word of God and the will of God and the people of God. Keep silence Satan.

The devil has no right over the church of Jesus Christ, whose you are and always will be. Those who have placed their confidence and their trust in Christ. He's not a fickle God that takes off when things get tough. He doesn't abandon you when you think you're not going to make it through the storm.

He doesn't remove the covering of the blood of Christ when you make a mistake somewhere along the journey. He knows those who are his. You have within you a cry.

I'm a father. You might not feel like you're pleasing to God, but you can still call him father into you. He says, don't think I don't see you. Don't think for a moment I don't have a plan for your life. Don't think for a moment that I have no intention of using your life for my glory.

It may not be as magnificent as you think it should be, but it will be magnificent in the sight of God and it will bring glory to the name of Christ. Keep silence, he says. All you coastlands, let the people renew their strength. Hallelujah. And let the people renew their strength.

Keep silence. They that wait upon the Lord, remember, bound together with God. I put myself in the hands of God. I choose to believe his word over the frailty of my own heart and other voices that want to just convince me I'm nothing.

I choose to be bound together with God through Jesus Christ, through his word and by the power of his Holy Spirit. The message today has been brought to you by Carter Conlon from Times Square Church. For more information, log on to tsc.nyc. That's tsc.nyc. Plan to be with us next week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon.