The Music of the Prophecy of Isaiah Pt. 1

[Music] open your Bibles with me to the prophecy of Isaiah Isaiah chapter 42 yes get out of here Isaiah chapter 42 [Laughter] first Perez's one through first number for our text words of verses 1 through 9 but i want to read verses 1 through 4 i will not have time to get to all of these but i want to read verses 1 through verse number 4 behold my servant whom i uphold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth i have put my spirit upon him he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles he shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the street a bruised Reed he shall not break and the smoking flax shall he not quench he shall bring forth judgment under truth he shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth and the Isles shall wait for his Lord thank you you may be seated the grass withers and the flower fades but the word of our God just and forever I want to talk this morning and for some subsequent Sunday's about the music of the prophecy of Isaiah the music of the prophecy of Isaiah other than perhaps the call of paul on the damascus road the call of isaiah is the most dramatic in the bible there are no words more exciting no words more poignant nor pregnant than the words of isaiah chapter number 6 in the year that King Uzziah died I saw also the Lord high and lifted up and his train filled the temple the house was filled with smoke at the voice of him that cried and Seraphim with six wings with two they covered their face with two they cover their feet and with two they did fly and they cried one to another holy holy holy the whole earth is filled with his glory and Isaiah said when I saw that beatific vision I said woe is me for I am undone I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean limbs and then he said the Seraphim took some live cold some burning coal from off the altar and and touched my lips and when he touched my lips my sins were forgiven my iniquity was purged then I heard the voice of God saying whom shall I send and who will go for us then said I here am I sin me what the book of Romans is to the new testament the book of isaiah is to the Old Testament meaning that it covers the themes of judgment and salvation in the most comprehensive manner israel's prophecy wrapped in isaiah is addressed to people living in three different time periods this this chapters 1 through chapter 39 of Isaiah condemned the eighth century Israelites for their idolatrous and immoral lifestyles the Assyrians would invade them and judgment would be brought upon them for their sins chapters 40 through 55 is addressed to the Jews living in exile in Babylon some 200 years after Isaiah's death he prophesied that their captivity was the Lord's discipline on them for their sins but one day they would return to the Temple in Jerusalem the final section chapters 56 through 66 is addressed to the Jews who had already returned before the temple was rebuilt the first section of Isaiah's prophecy is like the first books of the Old Testament there are 39 books in the Old Testament and the first 39 chapters of Isaiah represent the Old Testament books there are 27 of remaining books in Isaiah making 66 chapters and there are 27 chapters in the New Testament all books in the New Testament representing the completion of God's Word from judgment to salvation but both in Isaiah and births in Jesus Christ but in the midst of God's judgment is always the seasoning of Mercy right in the middle of Exile ik role is the music of the goodness and grace of a wise and great God there's a word in the text this morning brothers and sisters for us today there are times and we become weak and unusable to the Lord there are times when our life grows dim and the frame of our faith is nearly extinguished when those times come the music of Isaiah reminds us what a friend we have in Jesus all our sins and griefs to bear what a privilege it is to carry everything to God and prayer have we trials and temptation is that trouble anywhere we should never be discouraged for we can take it to the Lord in prayer allow me to share the realities of this text this morning so that I can preach to us from the music of the prophecy of Isaiah Isaiah writes about two plants in these verses particularly in verse number three he mentioned the Reed and the flags the two metaphors of verse number three are not altogether parallel a bruised Reed has suffered an injury which however is neither complete nor irreparable the damage to the bruised Reed is neither complete nor irreparable similarly the flax the smoking flax on the other hand is flax used as a wick in an old-fashioned lamp but the lamp the oil is almost out and it is partially lit because the fire is almost gone in the bruised Reed a process has begun which if the process continues the Reed will be destroyed but brothers and sisters in the flats in the other metaphor referring to the flax if the light is not all gone just a breath of God upon it will bring it back to life again so then one metaphor may refer to the beginnings of evil which can be avoided and the other the beginnings of incipient and incomplete good so then the servant of the Lord in verse number one who is not to break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoking flax who is Jesus himself is fitted for his work because he has no share in the evils which he would heal and none in the weaknesses which he has come to strengthen his perfect love his perfect manhood his perfect goodness has no flaws and no bruises his complete goodness is capable and needs no increase you cannot add to God's goodness the God it got because God is good without definition hear me brothers and sisters neither outward force or inward weakness can hinder his power to heal and the bless therefore his work can never cease until it has attained its ultimate purpose now wreaths are very common in the Middle East there are several varieties of reeds that grow in the Middle East but the kind most referred to in the Bible can grow to about twelve feet when they are freshly cut they are flexible and strong when they are dried they are stiff and strong I will not have time to get to the flax the smoking flax in this service I want to talk about that in the second surface but I want to compare those of us who are believers and who understand the Word of God to the bruised Reed in chapter 42 and fresh numbers number three in the text the rule that the Reed was bruised because it was influenced by some outside power a great wind a sudden blow the trotting of a passing animal the head is hanging down but is not broken the Reed is drooping but it hasn't snapped somebody here this morning can help me oftentimes before Christ we were bruised reeds we were drooping but not broken we were bent but we didn't snap because sin can cause your spirit to droop so might not help me preach it worldliness can cause your spirit to falter ungodliness can cause your soul to atrophy I need it I need a real sinner here this morning who's not hiding behind makeup and clothes and bags and shoes and you not hashtag this or hashtag that because coach don't make you who you are and gucchy don't make you who you are and shopping an email or make you who you are shopping at nostrils do anything for your salvation without Christ you are a bruised Reed see when you know who you are and and you ain't faking it on Sunday morning there is no man so bruised that he's broken and the spirit can't put him back together there's none of us in here who is so injured that the restoration of the Spirit is impossible no depravity so total that the Word of God can heal none of us are so far off that God can't come and get us hear me brothers and sisters the blood of Jesus I wish I had one or two more witness the blood of Jesus is the elixir the medicine for the horrible disease of sin it reaches to the highest mountain it flowed to the lowest Valley the blood that gives me strength from day today today today today today it shall never lose its path the blood of Jesus is capable of restoring the most abject the most worthless the most ignorant the most sensuous the most godless Christ hater alive none of us is beyond the reach of the Savior's love none of us is beyond the reach of the Savior's blood none of us is beyond the reach of the Savior's healing a bruise read that read be bruised because of sin in your life unconfessed sin in your life can cause your soul to droop it can cause your spirit to sag it could cause your music to be low your shout to be almost gone unconfessed sin sinning as if what you do don't matter how you live doesn't make any difference how you walk before your children is not going to impact their future how you live your life in the community is not going to make any difference in your witness brothers and sisters sin separates and if you are a child of God you hate the sin that made Jesus mourn and drove us from his protecting presence that boy out there in the far country in Luke chapter number 15 I wish I had a Bible reader he was having a good time he thought he was enjoying himself he sought until his money ran out and when his money ran out friends ran a good times ran out and then he took a job that no Orthodox Jewish boy whatever even consider feeding swine slopping hogs in a pen and he was so hungry because everybody had walked out on him that he almost ate slop with the Hogs but the Bible says he came to himself [Applause] and he remembered how many servants his father had with food to throw away and he said Here I am my father's child starving in a far country he started talking to him said somebody ought to help me here and when you get down low enough you start talking to yourself when things get bad enough you start talking to yourself when times get hard enough you start talking to yourself wow how many servers do my father'll have with food to throw away I tell you what I'm gonna do I'm arise and go to my father and I will say to him father I've sinned against heaven and against you and I'm no longer worried that it'd be called your son just make me a hot serve but while he was on his way talking to himself his father was back home looking for one of the things I love so much about God is that he's like motel 8 [Applause] he'll you keep the light on for you [Applause] and I want to tell somebody here who's walked away he'll keep the light on for he's at the end of the road waiting for you to come to your senses he's at the edge of the porch waiting for you to come back to his house and before the boy could get his speech out the father covered it and said bring my robe bring my shoes bring my ring and put on his finger because my son was dead but he's alive again he was lost and is found and they began to be merry sin can bruise you read but brothers and sisters not only does sin bruise the reed but a heart that is crushed by the consciousness of sin is a broken Reed I don't know what sin bruised you but when you become conscious of how much you've disappointed God and disappointed yourself that can bruise you read the Bible says a broken heart and a contrite spirit God will not despise wherever there is a touch of penitence there is present a restoring Christ he has a hand to destroy but that same hand that can destroy is the same hand that can build you back up let me see if I can make doesn't make sense I've been thinking about how to make the second point make sense let me let me use this illustration from about growing up years growing up as a child in my little town and units from in my mother and father's house on 728 south Beulah Street Eunice Louisiana 705 35 I remember as a child being terrified of my father when my daddy would see my name I would tremble all in my shoes because he was such an imposing figure in my life taller and bigger and stronger and my daddy had huge hands my daddy's hands were about this big when he shook your hand he covered your whole hand because he was such an imposing figure but but my father planted tomatoes and okra and peas in our backyard we had a garden every summer every spring in our backyard and my daddy planted okra and and field peas and tomatoes I like tomatoes right now I can go in somebody's yard and just take a tomato off the vine and just eat it with salt and pepper just right just sit right in the middle of the garden and just eat a tomato off the vine because I remember the sweet taste of those tomatoes in my daddy's yard but I was I was fearful of him and when he got home I would just go find something to do I would go find somewhere to be because I didn't want to be anywhere around because his voice just almost made the foundations of the house shake and he wasn't mean he wasn't a no-good he wasn't lowdown he was always there he was always protecting he was always providing but I didn't understand him I just I just stayed away from him because he was such an imposing figure but one of the memories that I cherished from my childhood is when my dad had got home from work during the time he planted his garden he would go in the garden and Johnny and I had run through there and looking for tomatoes that were not yet ripe but we were looking for Tomatoes and they weren't ripe yet and we would walk through his garden and and knock down some of the stalks that he had planted and some of the irons that he had planted and I was afraid that my father would kill us but my daddy went in that God and saw that we had knocked down those thoughts and he knew that we did it when he's going in the house and I thought he was going to get a belt to whip us but he came back with some string or some twine a little rag or something and he got in that garden with his big hands and took those tender plants and tied him back together and put him back in their place just as tenderly as a mother would attend to a baby and I saw how tender my father was with that plant he knew we did it but he was so tender with that plant that he never let us know he knew it and he just took care of the plant so we could have right tomatoes to eat can I make that make sense God knows that I lied God knows that our sin God knows that I taught down what he was trying to build up and even though he knew it he took his tender hands and put my broken life back together so that I could come here Sunday mornin and shout coz he picked up the broken pieces I need somebody here whose life has been bruised by sin and sins consequences you're still suffering from some consequences and the devil will try to make you believe that God doesn't love you but he takes his big hands and comes right in the middle of your broken life and with some string and some twine he'll put you back together so that he will put music in the midst of your misery did you hear that music in the midst of your misery you can't walk as fast as you used to but you still got music you can't see as far as you used to but you still got music you can't clap as loud as you once did but you still got music because one of the signs you know you've been saved is that there's melody in your heart to the Lord if you really want to worship be careful who you sit by if you really came here this morning to praise God take care who you worship with because everybody didn't come here to worship worship comes from a broken heart worship comes out of a contrite spirit you shout really loud when you've been forgiven you praise God with enthusiasm when you know your sins have been washed away you give God glory when you know you shouldn't even be here but it is of the Lord's master that you are not consumed is there anybody here praising God out of a sinful situation praising God out of a consciousness that just seems almost took you out but grace massive the goodness of God sin bruises you read the consciousness of sin repentance can bruise a tree but as I hurry finally there's some persons here who are bruised because of sorrow and loss and pain in your life you may be the last of your siblings everybody who was raised with is gone the older you get the worse situations get I'm starting to think I got a new thought and the same medical science this is not research I haven't I haven't been to school for this but I'm starting to think differently about dementia him and just just just bear with me for a minute I'm starting to look I haven't been this I haven't been to medical school I haven't done any research I haven't gotten this from in laboratory or I haven't talked to any doctor or scientist about this I'm just I'm just looking at this from a Christian perspective when dementia comes it may be that the person who is diagnosed is not the person with the dementia it may be that stuff is so different now stuff has changed so much that the presence of mine is still right the world is just emitting [Applause] because when you live godly in Christ Jesus there's some things in the world you don't recognize no more when you're a Christian the world gets more crazy and more foolish and more out-of-date as the days go by maybe nothing's wrong with their mind maybe something wrong with us because the longer you live godly in Christ Jesus this world is not your home you're a pilgrim you're a stranger and after a while if you live long enough nothing about this life starts to make sense because everything you knew to be right is gone mama is gone that is gone your siblings are gone good sense in your children gone family members who can help you down society that used to care about you go church folk who used to pray for you go here my brothers and sisters sorrow and calamities can bruise you but the healing hand of Christ is the only hand in the universe that can touch a bleeding heart and not bruise it the hand of Christ is the only hand that can touch a bleeding heart and not bruise it my brother my sister anybody here suffering from any sorrow suffering from any bleeding me there's a balm in Gilead to make the wounded hold that's a balm in Gilead to heal the sins sick so you gonna help me close this won't you I'm gonna tell you one or two more things about that Reed and then I'm going to be through that Reed when it is bruised it's almost useless it's almost worthless I wish I had help to close it but only when that Reed is bruised does it release a fragrance only when it's been hurt can you smell something from it [Applause] only when it's been bruised does it have a sweet aroma you miss that well maybe you'll get this only when that reed is cut and dried can you make a flute out of it and you know what you get from a flute music if God has bruised you he wants to get some music out of you if God has got you he wants to get some music out of you cuz you can shout till you've been bruised you can't really praise God until you've been bruised you can't really raise your hands and mean it until you've been cut you can't really shout God's praises until you've let God wound you I need some wounded people in here this morning I need some bruised people in here today that know that God has gotten some sweet music out of you because God has taken you through some things that you never would have made it out of weren't enough for the goodness of the Lord God's been good to you so your music ought to be all over this church your praise ought to be all through this worship y'all hallelujah ought to just go on from the time church starts until the time church is over and then you ought to go home shouting you ought to go to work shouting you ought to come back from work shouting because God is just getting music out of you he's taken some things away from you but you still give his man the glory he's removed some stuff out of your life but you still know how to shout and give God's name pray anybody can shout from job chapter 1 and verse number 23 that says the Lord gives anybody can shout when the Lord gives anybody can come to church when the Lord gives anybody can raise their hands when the Lord gives anybody can run around the sanctuary when the Lord gives but real faith a real shout real worship is when the Lord takes away when the Lord takes away can you still shout then you still raise your head can you still give him come on then come on help me testify the Lord gives and the Lord takes away blessed be the name of the Lord if the Lord open doors for you this is me if the Lord will good to you listen me if the Lord answered your power unless his name if the love tried you tears bless his means if the Lord opened the door listening me why don't you grab somebody why don't you hurt somebody shake somebody's hand gentlemen mark give the Lord gives and the lord of taken away blessed be the name of alone I'm in the world by myself but I want to tell God's thank you I'm also hold on of it but I want to tell God thank you is there anybody here know God's been good to you Kevin thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] you will never you'll never be a real worshiper until you can worship God when you take something away you'll never be a real Schauder until you can praise God when everything you depend on is gone I thought I couldn't live in this world without my mama but I'm living long enough to testify he's a mother for the motherless he's a father for the fatherless he's a friend in trouble he's a burden bearer he's a heart trixl he's a mind regulator he's a bridge over troubled water he's a way out of no way he's a bright and Morning Star he's a rolls of Sheriff he's a lily of the valley the Lord gives and the Lord takes away blessed be the name [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hallelu hallelujah and I knew you bruised Reed he shall not break brothers and sisters when you belong to the Lord you've been but you won't break you'll get weak but you're still standing look like you won't be able to make it another week but God will get in the midst of your trouble and care you hold on see what the end is gonna be reaping man dog [Applause] [Music] you be not weary in well-doing in due season you reap if you faint [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Lilly Grove Missionary Baptist Church

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Id: BoglgQwHRMg

Length: 43min 0sec (2580 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 01 2019