When we are faced with anything that is terrifying to us, this is where we need to go. This is to behold your God. Look, get your eyes on Him. Whatever comes, it is invigorating to be aware that He's not weakened by these things.
He's no less in love with me, regardless of what happens. Satan is counting on Christians to cave in, with fear, and just be in turmoil. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Isaiah.
Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Isaiah chapter 40 as he begins a brand new message called Our Awesome God. Isaiah chapter 40, the title is Our Awesome God. We left off at verse 9.
I'll just review briefly, and then we'll go right to verse 10. But before I do, Psalm 47 to 4, the Lord Most High is awesome, a great king over the earth. And here's a verse from Isaiah 64 about the awesomeness of God that in a small way I benefited from yesterday. Isaiah 64 verse 3, when you did awesome things for which we did not look. And, well, if I think about this ministry, how many things God has given that I never asked for that are essential.
I'm so glad he gave them. The small thing was, well, I like to sit in my garage and study and prepare. The weather permits. And yesterday there was this unusually large horsefly that kept coming in, harassing me. So I said, well, I've got to kill this thing. So I got a tennis racket, and I was creeping up on him because he landed, she landed, and then she flew another six feet.
Man, I'm not going to be able to get this thing. And then she took off again, and right when she took off, she got about four feet off the ground, this bird swooped out and grabbed it. When you did awesome things for which we did not look. And he flew up 50 feet to this oak tree, and just, man, had a great meal.
And I was not bugged anymore. So there's just a lighthearted story. But anyway, to be in awe, to be in wonder, amazement at the splendor of God. Well, Isaiah was, and he articulates that for us. But just going back to verse 9, Oh Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain. Oh Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength.
Lift it up. Do not be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God.
And so we discussed this last session, just want to go over it again. God wants his people to trust him, and he wants his people to love their faith. And that's what he's telling Zion, and which has got all of the Jewish people, and including Jerusalem. Zion had grown to have a broad meaning, but he wants us to love our faith, to be as a lighthouse that warns of shipwreck, but also as a beacon, runway lights, to show where to land, inviting outsiders to belong.
That is what Christianity is supposed to be, loving to tell the truth that we have embraced. And so fear not, he says, keep your eyes on God, behold your God. And this is, of course, the key to life, beholding God. Verse 10 now, behold the Lord Yahweh shall come with a strong hand, and his arms shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. I think it is invigorating to be conscious of God's power, of his strength. And that's what the prophet is communicating, not losing sight of the fact that Isaiah lived under that Assyrian threat all of his life, and he never allowed that to push out of the way his trust and faith in God, and his joy in his faith. It comes out so poetically in these last 27 chapters of his book. Nehemiah, when faced with great threats of violence by the opposition when they were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, he said to the people, Nehemiah 4.14, and what I like about these kinds of verses, that they're not emotionally driven, there's emotion in them, but they're not just, you know, just trust God, brother. There's more to it than that.
There's a resolve. There's a determination to face whatever God is going to allow, whether he comes and delivers me from the beast, or I'm devoured by the beast. I'm going to trust God.
There's a whole lesson of the three men, and it was before the furnace in Daniel chapter 3. Whatever you say, King, that's on your side, but on our side we're trusting God. Well, Nehemiah said it this way, and I looked and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, do not be afraid of them.
Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses. And when we are faced with anything that is terrifying to us, this is where we need to go. This is to behold your God. Look, get your eyes on him. Whatever comes, it is invigorating to be aware that he's not weakened by these things.
He's no less in love with me, regardless of what happens. Satan is counting on Christians to cave in with fear and just be in turmoil, and with that comes the dimming of the light. That's what he wants. So the prophet says, behold, his reward is with him and his work before him.
Now he's getting them to look into the future. Well, he is the reward. We learn that in our New Testaments. Now I cannot earn, no one can earn salvation. It is a gift from God to all those who choose to accept his invitation. There is the great distinction between the salvation that he gives to those who believe, which is from grace alone, and the rewards for service as those who are saved.
Two different things. God gives unmerited salvation based on Jesus Christ. He never gives unmerited rewards. He does not reward us for what we did not do. We have to earn the rewards, not the salvation.
So don't come up and say, you know, we the two. They're two different things, and I'll give you two verses in a minute in case you're still undecided, which you shouldn't be. So, rewards have to be earned. John warned that we don't lose these rewards. John, second letter, chapter 1 verse 8, look to yourselves that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we receive a full reward. Revelation 22 12, and behold, I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work. And so Isaiah says his reward is with him. And we respond, Lord, you are the reward casting our crowns back at his feet in symbolic language of the saying, we're not worthy.
We're just glad to be here. So verse 11 now, you know, as you're reading this, this in Isaiah, you say, boy, the New Testament sure has clarified or magnified much of what this Old Testament prophet taught the people. He's teaching them doctrine, right understanding of God from Scripture so they can face life. Verse 11, he will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and greatly lead those who are with young.
This is sovereign care. The sovereignty of God is not synonymous with tyranny. God is not a bully.
He does care. And the metaphor of God as shepherd runs throughout Scripture. It is one of its enduring features. For instance, the Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want. He's got it covered. That's what that means. It takes faith to get there and many have done it, are doing it and will continue to do it and there'll be more. When Peter stumbled in a great way, denying the Lord under pressure, the Lord rebuilt him and sent him out, did not penalize him. He entrusted him with a larger ministry and it was the shepherd's ministry. Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep.
That's a big commission. And Peter would later write to other pastors, shepherd the flock of God, 1 Peter 5-2, which is among you, serving as overseers. He did just what the Lord told him. He fed the sheep. He tended to the sheep. He fed the lambs. It says here in verse 11, he will gather the lambs in his arm. So he continues with the metaphor of the shepherd. And I'll comment on all these metaphors somewhere in the middle of all this, but here is a gentle word of consolation for those who have been scattered. The Jewish people that will be in the Babylonian captivity, they're going to read this.
He will gather his lambs in his arms. God has not abandoned us to the Gentile world, even though most of the Jews remain content, not or to not return to Israel. They stayed in the Gentile world. They had learned business and what they were doing unwittingly was preparing synagogues all over the civilized world for centuries later, about 500 years later, for the apostles to travel to preach the gospel. How many times have we read about Paul going into a synagogue in a Gentile land and beginning to preach and make converts there? God is in control. Not only did he put the synagogues there, he paved the roads to them and he used the Roman army to do it. Not only did he pave the roads, he centralized the language that everybody could understand Greek. And we have our Greek New Testaments because of it. So God, he made the pathway, he made the place, and he gave the language. And here we are.
It continues here. He will gather the lambs with his arm, Mark 10. This is this endearing picture of the Lord taking up the children. He took them up in his arms and laid his hands on them and blessed them. Later Isaiah will say to the older believers that he will not forsake them in their older years.
He will be with them. God does not love the children more than he loves us. He sees the children as more vulnerable than the adults and therefore he sends out this warning, if you mess with the little ones it would be better if someone tied a millstone around your neck and cast you into the sea because the judgment you're going to get for daring to violate the innocent, the defenseless, is going to be more severe than you could ever withstand. But that does not mean he does not love. God's love doesn't fade.
That would be terrible. Well God used to love me when I was six and now that I'm 66 he's not so interested in me. No, see the adult is more useful than the child.
The child is more vulnerable than the adult. God balances these things and so must we. And it is I think a rude approach to suggest that you know you know God's faith dims as life begins to steal from us our youth. It's quite the opposite.
Oh not the opposite because it doesn't increase it just remains steady. Anyway he says he will carry them in his bosom. These are those that could not keep pace with the flock. He will gather the lambs with his arms and carry them in his bosom. They can't keep up so he'll pick them up.
He does this to us. Now the bosom is metaphor for close proximity, very close proximity. Lazarus was in the bosom of Abraham. Well he wasn't holding him in his arms up against his chest.
He was there with Abraham. And he says here and gently lead those who are with young. Well the mother sheep requires special care and that's what he's pointing out that God is sensitive to these things. He's not oblivious.
You say you know I got so many things in my life that I want and I can't have and I want them so much. God is not saying I don't care about that. At that point it's up to us to trust God and his methods. Jacob who had to learn the hard way like everybody else to trust. So he's coming back and he heard Esau's coming to meet him with 400 men. The last time he saw Esau, Esau was going to kill him. So he doesn't know 20 years later where this is going to go. In fact he's thinking it's going to be bad. He comes up with a strategy but he goes forward nonetheless. He's got nowhere to go.
He's got Laban in back who's taken an oath to kill him if he crosses the stones at Mizpah or go forward. He has already wrestled with the Lord over this matter. The Lord blessed him and on the strength of that blessing with fear he advances. And so Jacob comes and hugs him and braces him and there's this outpouring of human love. Now human love is not agape love. Peter had human love and had to learn agape love for the Lord and that's why he said it's not so. You're not going to the cross Lord.
Well that's human love. Agape love said Lord thy will be done. Anyway Peter learned that Jacob, so Jacob makes this statement when Esau says come with me. You know with his 400 men on camels or donkeys, mules, whatever they were riding. And he says come with me and Jacob says said to him my Lord knows that the children are weak and the flocks and the herds which are nursing with me and if men should drive them hard one day all the flock will die.
And he builds on a little bit more in the next verse but I'm not going to read it. And so there you have the shepherd being gentle. He will gently lead those who are with young. God is sensitive to these these things. So after Isaiah the prophet communicates God's care and remember he started this next level of Isaiah with comfort my people make straight their path and single pointing to those coming back from Babylon but also beyond in the days of John the Baptist repairing the path for Messiah to save sinners. And then of course he goes on and says behold your God caring for his people like a shepherd cares for his flock. Now based on establishing these uh characteristics of God these attributes and features of his personality he's now going to lay out the awesomeness of God because many of those Jews weren't believing it they were following the idols they they weren't full-blown followers of Yahweh. Some mingled it some had become apostates and some sat on the fence and there were others that were part of the remnant and the prophet is always working to build up believers and that's now verse 12 he is going to unleash just sermon poetic sermon on God and his awesomeness and it makes its point. So verse 12 now speaking of the God of the Jews the God of Abraham the God of the apostles he says who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance. So now he's first presenting the majesty of God by comparison to the false gods which are pathetic joke and that's the point of the prophet. God is greater than anything on earth verses 12 through 20 and then verses 21 through 26 he's greater than anything in heaven he's far above principalities and powers and it just he is well Colossians 1 speaking of Christ the creator for by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth and heaven is the spiritual realm that other dimension visible and invisible there's your spiritual realm and sometimes the two they they tangle up he continues whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created through him and for him he is in control the new testament matches the old testament or should I say the old testament matches the new idols are not self-existent they're handmade whereas God is self-existent and is offended by those who attempt to make things in his image he says who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand so he sees God is big you know big enough to scoop up the oceans and say let's put about this much water on the earth the greatness of the shepherd in verse 11 is his bigness that there's more to him than just being a shepherd worthy of adoration that's worship distinct from all of others now worship rises or falls in any church or person depending on attitude if their attitude has God as small whether they see God big or little that will determine the caliber of their faith David in the 34th Psalm oh magnify the Lord with me and exalt his name together well magnify doesn't mean make bigger makes look bigger but it doesn't make bigger we can't make God bigger and you magnify something it's retains its size just the appearance your attitude changes towards it because you see more of it so we can see God big or you can see him little that's not advisable to refer to God as the man upstairs reveals a concept of a small God it's void of holiness it is void of so much of his majesty it is a title unworthy of God so if someone says well you know the man up so whoa I don't know maybe your God is the man upstairs my God is the God in heaven who rules over all creation he's not worthy of being referred to as a man upstairs kind of creepy anyway who's upstairs I need more than just such a vague description and so if your God is little then your faith is smaller if your God is big then your faith will be greater that's what Isaiah is saying that's what David was saying the 10 unbelieving spies that went into the promised land saw God too small to take the promised land and give it to them by their own words they saw God smaller than the enemies numbers 13 verse 33 this is the voice of unbelief these are the voices a chorus of those who see God as smaller than problems there we saw the giants the descendants of Anna came from the giants Moses inserts that but then now back to their words and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight so we were in their sight we felt so tiny and they felt so big that's their story now Caleb and Joshua saw it the other way around in Numbers chapter 30 before they give you their little pathetic speech we pick up Caleb and Joshua then Caleb quieted the people before Moses could you see Caleb you know we know he's a rough guy he's in his 80s he said I can still fight and so Caleb when it says he quieted the people he just took his sword out everybody shut up no I don't need to do that but that's I like that anyway Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said let us go up at once and take possession for we are able to overcome it but the men who had gone up with him said we are not able to go against the people for they are stronger than we and so there is you know the inhabitants were giants and they were grasshoppers but God in verse 22 of this chapter says it's actually the other way around look at verse 22 of Isaiah 40 it is he who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers that is seeing God is big now it continues here in verse 12 he measured the heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure the distance between the thumb and the pinky is a span let's make about that big again it's poetic language it's divine design and it involves engineering or you can actually see sort of someone baking a cake or a pie you know you put a little measure of this a little bit of that they don't know just how much to put when it says he weighed the mountains and scales and the hills and a balance it is the language we can appreciate we applaud this kind of approach because how else can the prophet describe the bigness of God there's nothing in his creation bigger than him part of a thing can't be bigger than the thing itself it's a fundamental and God did not make Jupiter say wow I overdid it on that one hey that's bigger than me and it is not verse 13 who has directed the spirit of the Lord or as his counselor has taught him verse 14 with whom did he take counsel and who instructed him and taught him in the path of justice who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding these are rhetorical questions of course true God needs no advice there's no advice you can give to God God let me give you some let me give you a point a tip here it's just insane that's not your flesh talking that's stupidity talking full-blown ignorance thanks for tuning in to cross reference radio today cross reference radio is a ministry of pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel mechanicsville in Virginia if you'd like to learn more about this ministry we invite you to visit our website crossreferenceradio.com you'll find a number of teachings from pastor Rick available there we also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast when you subscribe you'll be notified of new editions of cross reference radio just search for cross reference radio on your favorite podcast app you can also follow the links at cross reference radio.com we're glad we were able to spend time with you today tune in next time to continue learning from the book of Isaiah with pastor Rick right 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